Everyone was looking in the same direction, children and adults, enlightened and those who were not... They all reacted in the same way, they watched in terrorized silence.
On the outskirts of the empire all the clouds were gathering around the huge crack that reached the highest part of the sky, the intense red color of the crack and the thunderous rays made the crack look imposing in the immense darkness.
After a few long seconds in which not even a breath could be heard, people began to react.
People cried and screamed uncontrollably, others threw themselves to the ground on their knees while murmuring and a minority simply watched in silence.
"It's terrifying..." said Kaiser while observing with a serious look.
The clouds generated four circles around the crack, a pair on each side, these looked like eyes that were watching with malice.
"Attention!" a voice echoed behind the people.
It was the emperor, who was watching the dejected citizens from a balcony.
"Don't fall now, enlightened ones! Soon the abyss will release hundreds of nightmares that will interrupt the arrival at the crack, if we can't reach the crack this world will end!" shouted the emperor.
The enlightened ones began to say goodbye to their loved ones after hearing his words.
"There is no time! If you want to hug your loved ones again, come back alive!" added the emperor angrily.
Despite the emperor's cruel words, that was the harsh reality that had to be faced now.
"Open the doors!" he ordered, extending his hand.
The doors quickly began to open, if before the world seemed desolate and on the verge of destruction, now it was a place where even destruction was a more favorable situation.
When the doors opened the morale of the enlightened ones dropped even more, the earth was black and was destroyed by the previous tremors, from those cracks it seemed that magma was about to come out, which caused the air to be full of ash, preventing proper breathing.
The crack seemed to have been intentionally placed a few kilometers from the empire.
'Is he trying to make us late?' thought Safwane while clicking his tongue.
"He's trying to make us meet the nightmares to lower the number of enlightened ones" said Kaiser.
Safwane frowned.
"Levitate" said Kaiser.
After that order all the enlightened ones rose from the ground surprised, on the other hand Kaiser began to bleed from the nose and mouth.
"Fly quickly towards the crack" he ordered again.
The bodies of the enlightened ones quickly reacted and flew at high speed towards the crack.
'How powerful is it?' Safwane wondered as he flew towards the crack.
After a couple of long minutes, they arrived at the jaws of the crack, their presence was imposing. After a few seconds Kaiser arrived as well.
"Quickly enter!" shouted Kaiser as he wiped the blood from his nose.
The vast majority of the enlightened ones hesitated, except for five, who headed into the crack calmly.
"Where is Safwane?" asked Kaiser as he searched among the enlightened ones with his eyes.
A woman grabbed the prince by the shoulder.
She was blonde and had green eyes similar to jade, she wore clothes similar to those of a noble.
"If you're talking about the one who has his eyes covered, he has already entered the crack" said the young woman calmly.
After those words she walked into the crack, where the other four had already entered.
'Couldn't you have waited for me?' thought Kaiser annoyed.
On the other hand, the enlightened ones were still, watching the crack in terror. After all, the vast majority were of low rank and did not have much hope, although there were also those who had a high rank but did not want to risk their lives.
Kaiser snorted.
"Enter the crack," ordered Kaiser.
The enlightened ones began to move, despite the resistance they showed, they could not do anything. They began entering between constant pleas, but a shrill and heartbreaking cry echoed in the darkness, they were the nightmares which ran towards the enlightened ones.
'There are still a few left to enter... damn it, I have to spend more energy' thought Kaiser, but before he attacked, the nightmares fell to the ground crushed.
Kaiser was surprised.
But he could notice it, a human figure emerged from the darkness.
'Doesn't he have the same clothes as Safwane?' he thought while observing him with curiosity.
Kaiser shook his head.
'Anyway, thanks to him the enlightened ones have been able to enter' he thought again as he walked into the crack.
Inside the crack, Safwane moved through a dark forest.
'As I thought... They separate us when we enter the crack' he thought as he walked calmly.
Thanks to the ability to observe energy and echolocation, Safwane could tell if there was a nightmare near him.
But strangely, the ground did not generate sound, which made echolocation difficult. This was a deadly disadvantage for the enlightened ones, since they would not know if something was stalking them.
Apart from the ground, the trees were incredibly tall, letting out long branches, making the sky barely visible. From what could be seen, it was dark and with two moons at the top, one was white and the other was red. The light from these was the only thing that illuminated the place.
Safwane felt the presence of a nightmare behind him.
'Why doesn't it attack?' the young man thought before stopping his steps.
"They've surrounded me, huh?" said the young man, letting out a nervous smile.
Safwane had noticed how two nightmares waited on either side in front of him in silence. The other nightmare was behind him to attack the young man while he defended himself from the others.
'So they use their heads a bit.'
The young man was stopped and the nightmares waited for him to move.
Finally, he took a step forward and the nightmares got ready again, but Safwane took advantage of the silent ground to turn his foot and quickly attack the nightmare behind him.
The creature reacted late, barely able to defend itself with its long claws. The young man had attacked it using the katana sheath and now that the nightmare was defenseless, he used his other arm which had the katana and with force he cut the creature in half.
'This katana is good' thought Safwane excitedly with a smile.
The other two creatures attacked quickly after seeing that their plan had not worked. One of the nightmares used its long arms to try to cut the young man with its sharp claws.
Safwane took a step back, but the other nightmare was waiting for that and launched a bite, lengthening its jaw. The young man placed the sheath in his mouth, preventing him from biting.
"Do you like to bite?"
The young man grabbed the top of the nightmare and pressed down while hitting the bottom with a knee. Due to the hardness of the sheath, it pierced the mandible, causing the nightmare to scream in pain.
The other creature threw its claws at the young man again, but he grabbed the sheath that was piercing the other nightmare and with great force attracted the other nightmare, causing the claws to cut off its head.
While the creature's black blood splashed the surroundings and the nightmare did not have one of its claws, Safwane moved to the side, defenseless.
"Next time, choose your prey well," said the young man before cutting the nightmare in half.
Safwane sighed.
After killing the nightmare, he picked up the sheath of his katana and put it back.
"It's incredible..." Safwane muttered as he watched the suit and the weapon absorb the blood.
The young man walked forward again, noticing dozens of small creatures behind him, these were not strong enough as if they had just been born, because of that they tried to eat the nightmares he had killed.
Safwane could kill them and who knows, he could avoid future problems, but the young man was too lazy to fight again.
Also, he had not received the only advantage that the enlightened ones had in the rift, storing internal energy, which helped them recover and heal. Since he was not an enlightened one, this advantage was not available to him, so the more he avoided fighting the better.
After walking for a few minutes without receiving any interruptions, the young man could notice how the trees disappeared a few meters from him.
Safwane walked until he crossed the trees, a few meters in front of him there was a precipice, the young man approached the edge removing the blindfold from his eyes to see.
'Is this really made of a beast?' He thought while smiling nervously.
In the distance he could see a huge destroyed city, but Safwane's privileged view allowed him to see something much more incredible and terrifying, what surrounded the destroyed city was a huge swamp from which nightmares were constantly born.
'That explains why those weak nightmares were there...' thought the young man.
He didn't like that, because if being so close to the swamp he had already found creatures that could even plan an attack, what was waiting for them far away from here?
That thought was enough to realize how dangerous this place was.
'It smells awful...' thought the young man while he put the blindfold back on.
The smell produced by the swamp was putrefaction, and for the young man who had improved his sense of smell, this smell was practically unbearable.
"I guess I have to cross the forest again now," Safwane muttered, letting out a disappointed sigh.
The young man had appeared practically in the middle of the forest, being able to choose the direction in which to go. Confident in his abilities, he tried to leave the forest... now he had to cross it again.
Safwane snorted.
The young man's tiny bit of peace was interrupted by the heartbreaking scream of an enormous nightmare.