Lidien woke up brushing his ears from the flies that kept buzzing, disturbing his sleep nonstop.

Although he had tried to remove all the blood using his manipulation, he was stopped by Alva saying the scent of high-level predator blood and violent death created a natural barrier that kept larger beasts at bay.

Both of them were safe from predators lurking in the night, but not the flies that gathered around the remains rotting imperceptibly to their naked eyes.

He crawled out of the makeshift tent and met Alva now eating freshly picked fruits--only she knew where she'd found them--before throwing one to Lidien, who studied the unfamiliar-looking fruit before biting into it.

The taste was sour and tangy, with an unsettling metallic undertone that reminded him unpleasantly of the previous night.

"Alva… we'll follow the river going North, hopefully we have already passed the Long-Ears Territory."

Alva nodded, trusting Lidien's decision without a second thought.

They didn't have much to secure, thanks to Lidien's space ring… all of the fruits Alva picked were stored inside it, along with the boiled water now contained within the calabash.

However, their clothes still remained unchanged, making them look more like beggars than escaped slaves.

As the sun slowly rose from the east, illuminating the thick bushy trees… Lidien and Alva walked alongside the river, watching the blurry reflection of the blue sky, while their soft footsteps were hidden by the splash of water.

It was peaceful. So peaceful that Lidien almost mistook himself for being transported once again to a new world, if not for Alva and the Monarch being with him.

The sun was now at its peak, and as the sound of the river splashing grew louder, Lidien saw the edge of the waterfall at the edge of his vision.

Lidien slowly walked towards the misty edge of the waterfall, and as he looked down, he could see nothing but thick clouds forming below.

"What a view... by the way, Alva... do you know where we are now?"

Alva shook her head and scanned their surroundings, trying to find a way down.

Lidien took a helpless sigh; the map was left behind... inside his carriage.

As the only thing he could remember was the location of the major territory that ruled in the Savage Expanse, he wasn't sure what kind of civilization would be below the falls... or if there even was civilization down there.

"Follow my lead, Alva. We'll slowly descend the waterfall."

Lidien morphed his nails into claws, digging into the cliff wall as he slowly began his descent.

Alva followed his lead, maintaining a short distance where she could respond to Lidien whenever needed.

It took almost half an hour for them to only reach the cloud formation with their slow and safe descent... and another hour to see the end of the cloud formation.

And when Lidien exited the cloud formation, he was surprised to see nothing but the starry skies.

The sun that was at its peak was gone... including the clouds and Alva just above him.

This felt familiar, yet utterly alien--a disorientation reminiscent of his Dreamflow, but twisted and physical. A Rift.

"Hmpf"

Lidien was muffled; even his opened mouth couldn't produce sound, and only a small wiggling light literally came out of it.

Even the voice inside his head, his own or the Monarch's, only produced an incomprehensible mixture of lines as if a lost language forcing itself to come out from his mind.

Lidien tried to climb up, trying to exit the Rift that he had entered without knowing.

And it seemed that every time he tried to claw himself up, the wall flowed downward like inverted water, his efforts perfectly countered by the shifting stone, perpetually trapping him in the same relative position.

Until he saw Alva, materialized out of nowhere just beside him.

Her wide eyes scanned around, and as she opened her mouth to talk, what came out were lines forming from simple to complex patterns.

All the words, thoughts, and voices became complex suspended ignited runes that vanished along with their sounds.

Alva's eyes couldn't hide the shock, but when she saw Lidien's analyzing eyes, she tried to calm herself by catching her breath.

Lidien put his index finger on his mouth, signaling Alva to keep silent, which she seemed to understand, and he pointed down below... before resuming their descent.

Their descent didn't take long before they reached the ground, yet even their feet thumping on the ground seemed to be silenced when Lidien saw small runes come out of the damp ground.

He looked at Alva, before tapping the damp earth signaling her to sit down... Alva moved her head to the side as her eyes squinted and reluctantly sat, to which Lidien offered her a thumbs up.

Lidien put his finger on the damp earth and wrote... but the trenched dirt slowly formed back again, eliminating his chance to write words which both of them understood.

Alva looked at Lidien being frustrated, as his tapping on his own forehead became faster and faster, pulling his own hair every now and then.

Till...

The runic words, which came out of his head and mouth twisting and forming, into a language that both Alva and Lidien understood.

Lidien smiled, and with the last movements of his mouth, he produced a string of light that made Alva's eyes widen from surprise.

"Defend me."

Without another word, Lidien immediately paused the flow of his blood, abruptly pulling him inside his Dreamflow that put him on his knees, stopping the retch from the nauseous sequence.

The Monarch of Blood stood before him, smiling as he clapped and pointed toward his Crimson Shard.

"Go out, study... it'll be our key to learn the ancient lost language."

Since his Dreamflow was his own escape, the influence of the Rift's rules couldn't penetrate inside--unless, like the Rift of the Leaden Blood which was already inside, slowly coming out--making both Lidien and the Monarch able to speak freely.

"I came here just to confirm it from you... seems like I was correct."

The Monarch of Blood shook his head and stared at Lidien intently.

"Be careful, you might die by your words."

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