The creature stumbled through the forest.
The oxygen level on the made his vision hazy and disoriented him.
No wonder we never come up here, he thought.
The creature was still inside a rift and he could barely walk straight.
If he left, he would probably die immediately.
The creature leaned against a tree, trying to regain its bearings.
Something rustled in the bushes.
The creature knew the other monsters wouldn't dare touch him as he was above them in strength, even if he was only ranked 5.0.
The creature continued walking, determined to make it to the edge of the rift.
Temporal rifts like this were D-ranked, meaning that if any monster ranked higher than 6.0 walked in, the entire rift would shatter, releasing all of the monsters within.
The creature was only a scout, meaning that his bosses didn't want the rift to collapse yet.
Let's just get this over with, he thought.
The faster he scouted this place, the faster he could leave.
The creature picked up its pace.
He was slowly adjusting to the oxygen.
By the time I reach the edge, my body should be decently attuned to this amount of oxygen, he thought.
The creature found it strange that the closer he got to the edge, the fewer monsters there were.
He had been told little about this temporal rift by his bosses.
They must expect me to return and don't want me spilling info to the public, he thought.
The truth was, this was practically an execution.
The creature was a criminal who had murdered some family member of an elite.
They sent him out here with no info to kill him.
However, the creature hadn't given up yet.
If he managed to return, they would give him his freedom.
The creature suddenly stopped.
He had felt a change in the atmosphere.
He could sense soul energy.
The creature was suddenly no lingerie hazy and disoriented.
He moved stealthily and with purpose.
No ordinary monster could produce that much soul energy, he thought.
The creature heard voices and crouched in the bushes.
It raised its head and peaked over them.
Humans, the creature thought.
They were moving the bodies of several low-level monsters.
The creature could feel the excitement building in its chest.
Not only would it be free, but it would also be fed as well.
The creature leaped from behind the bushes.
It counted the humans. There were 5 of them.
There are more than I thought but it doesn't matter, he thought.
The humans all began to point and yell.
"I am Barak!!!" the creature yelled, "Face me and die!!!"
Benjamin's mother picked him up that day.
As he got into the van, he noticed the worried expression on his mother's face.
"What happened," Benjamin asked, turning to his sister.
"Dad still hasn't come back yet," she replied. Even though she looked rather unconcerned, Benjamin could hear the anxiety in her voice.
Out of the 15 years Benjamin had known his father, he had only come home late a few times.
He shook his head and dismissed the thought.
"I'm just sure he had a few more corpses to carry out," Benjamin said.
When they got home, Benjamin went outside to train.
Though he kept trying to fight, the doubts kept slipping into his head.
What if something happened? Is he okay? Will they find him in time?
Benjamin hit the tree in his backyard.
Because of his focus shifting, his grip was loose and caused the sword to fly from his grip.
Benjamin picked his sword up and was surprised to see that his hand was shaking.
I can't train like this, Benjamin thought.
He went inside and threw on his running clothes.
Maybe a run with Xander will help, he thought.
"Be back before dark," Benjamin's mom told him and Xander before they left.
The two jogged down the steps of their house and turned onto the street.
"What do you think happened to dad?" Xander asked.
"Probably a rift accident," Benjamin replied.
"Lindsay maintains that he was attacked by a demon," Xander said.
Benjamin looked at Xander.
"That's completely insane," Benjamin replied, "Demons don't come to the surface."
"Apparently there have been rumors of demons being spotted in low-level rifts," Xander said.
"Are you really going to let rumors swing your judgment?" Benjamin asked.
"Yeah," Xander replied.
"Alright then," Benjamin said, shaking his head.
"Do you think dad could beat a demon?" Xander asked.
"Yeah," Benjamin replied, "He did have a scale rank of 5.5 after all."
"Yeah, you're right," Xander said.
Benjamin could tell that he hadn't actually soothed Xander's worries. He still had a nervous look on his face.
My face probably looks the exact same, Benjamin thought.
They didn't find Benjamin's dad until Sunday afternoon.
By that point, he was dehydrated and delirious.
He was lucky to be alive.
Benjamin's mom had put the phone down shaking.
Benjamin was surprised she didn't cry.
They went to the hospital immediately.
His dad was sitting in his bed.
He was pale but looked relatively unharmed.
Benjamin's mom had immediately descended upon her husband, hugging and kissing anything she could reach.
Benjamin breathed a sigh of relief in the back of his mind.
At least his father was okay.
The doctor ran a few tests on Benjamin's dad before leaving to let the family catch up.
"What happened?" Logan asked.
"We were just working as usual, hauling monster bodies to the edge of the rift when something jumped from behind some bushes," Benjamin's dad recounted, "The creature spoke perfect English and declared that it was named Barak. It then proceeded to attack us. We were helpless against it. It blitzed all of my coworkers, sucking the soul energy out of their bodies. That's when I realized it was a demon."
Xander glanced at Benjamin.
"It began to drain my soul energy, but I was able to injure it before it could finish," Benjamin's dad continued, "The creature was incredibly strong. If I had to compare it to a human's strength, it would have to have a scale rank of at least 5.0. If one of my coworkers and I hadn't worked together, we all would have died. We were lucky that the bastard didn't use any abilities or weapons."
"Are there any lasting effects?" Benjamin asked.
"My soul potency was permanently lowered since it was able to drain so much of my soul energy. It shouldn't be too bad though, the doctor said I'd only lose 0.5 points or so. I'll be able to work again after my soul stabilizes."
"That's good to hear," Benjamin's mom replied, sighing in relief.
The doctor walked back into the room to talk to Benjamin's mom and dad.
They sent Benjamin and his siblings outside the room to wait.
While his siblings immediately began discussing their father's story, Benjamin was deep in thought.