Rhys was somewhat comforted as he stepped out of the portal into a forest. He had half expected to walk straight into a fiery pit since it was a black portal, so to see a normal forest was a relief.
However, when he turned to look at Barrow's men, they did not have the same looks of relief on their faces. In fact, they were on high alert and looked frightened. They each had their weapons out and were crouched low as if ready for an assault.
Rhys frantically turned around. He did not have the power of a core, so he had no superhuman ability, nor could he sense power or aura like they could. All he could do was try to stick as close to Barrow's group as possible and squint through the darkness, hoping to see whatever was out there before it attacked him.
Barrow had been planning this raid for a while. For years, he had been stuck raiding green portals where he could only hunt common monsters and trade in cheap gems. It had been his dream to raid an orange or red portal, where he could get his hands on some valuable monster hides and untouched gems. He had been searching on the dark web for any poached portals that he could take his team to, when he suddenly struck gold. Someone was selling a stolen black portal.
Although the price was high, Barrow knew he could not turn an opportunity like this down. Besides, the treasure trove he would find inside a black portal would be enough to cover its cost. It was an untouched, unraided world after all, so there were definitely things inside that could make him wealthier than his wildest dreams. Since he spent all his savings to buy the portal, he didn't have enough money for a gem evaluator, so he got hold of the next best thing. In district twenty, many gem traders knew about Rhys since he was good at identifying gems, and he was much cheaper than an evaluator, so Barrow decided to bring the kid along with him. Since he had limited time in the portal, Barrow didn't want to waste time picking up common gems; he needed the kid to tell him which were the good ones so his team didn't waste valuable time on the cheap stuff.
Barrow had been thrilled when he stepped through the gate; however, his mood instantly dropped once he breathed in the air of the dark forest. This place, the world beyond the portal, reeked of bone-chilling darkness. The aura was menacing, and for the first time since Barrow plotted this scheme, he began to doubt himself.
The core Barrow had absorbed when he was young was a common core that enhanced his physical traits and senses. In short, he was stronger and could hear and see much better than the average person. In the distance, at the very edge of the forest, he could hear them. Their spindly legs beat against the forest floor. Their steps were getting closer by the second, a whole legion of what seemed like monsters coming towards them.
"Men, we have to move!" He shouted to his troops. Immediately, they all began to run wildly through the forest in the opposite direction of the footsteps.
Rhys was the weakest member of the group since he didn't have an infused core, yet they gave all the bags and extra weaponry to Rhys to carry. As the group all ran ahead of him, Rhys struggled to keep up. Before long, he was panting with a stitch in his gut. Having spent most of his time in a quiet script store doing minimal physical activity, this marathon was excruciating.
Rhys was pretty much powerless and couldn't hear the hundreds of footsteps at the back of the forest making their way towards him. But out of instinct, he followed the group.
Finally, Barrow came to a stop. The forest came to an end at the mouth of a massive black lake. Looking across the lake, Barrow's worries slipped away, and his eyes lit up greedily. In the middle of the lake was a giant stone castle. It looked like a castle featured in old horror movies, or some of the countries that used to make up Europe. There was no doubt in Barrow's mind that he would find his treasure there. The only problem was the lake; he had no way to tell if monsters were swimming around in there..
Barrow kicked the ground in irritation as he tried to think of a solution. Suddenly, the sound of heavy breathing caught his attention. He turned around to see that brat huffing and puffing on all fours, sweat dribbling down his face, obviously exhausted from the run.
Barrow's face lit up as he eyed the boy, the perfect test subject. Even if he died and wouldn't be around to identify the valuable gems, Barrow would just load the backpacks until they were full. Surely they would still get some great gems.
Before Rhys could react, Barrow grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the black lake. Rhys immediately knew what Barrow was trying to do, and Rhys was having none of it. He kicked, punched, and fought as hard as he could. But ultimately, it felt like he was hitting a tire. Barrow was not in the least affected.
"There you go!" Barrow laughed as he flung Rhys into the black lake. "Swim to the castle doors there and try to open them for us."
Rhys angrily snarled at Barrow. "Are you insane? I'll die!" He shouted back. Barrow hadn't thrown Rhys very far into the lake. From where he was, he was only knee-length into the black waters.
"Well, you'll definitely die if you come back to the shore." Barrow and his group began to unsheathe their weapons. Arrows, swords, axes, and daggers shone dangerously in the starlight, making Rhys even angrier. An unspoken threat that he didn't need any clarification on.
He could swim the distance to the castle and still have a small chance of not getting eaten by whatever monsters were lurking in the water, or he could go back to the group, where they would definitely kill him.
Rhys gritted his teeth as he turned away from the men and slowly walked deeper into the quiet lake. He was furious, but there was no better choice. Honestly, he would rather be torn to shreds by monsters than give Barrow the satisfaction of killing him.
With each step that Rhys took, the water got deeper and colder, before long he was up to his chest in pitch-black, icy water. What made it even more unnerving was that he could not see through the water at all. There could be a giant crocodile right next to him, but he wouldn't know about it until it was too late.
Rhys's heart was pounding in his chest as he slowly swam to the castle. He could have swum faster, but he felt like any loud thrashing would wake up whatever was in the water. Rhys tried to stay calm, but sweat kept rolling down his forehead, and his heartbeat was out of control. Every swish of the water gave him a heart attack.
The giant stone castle was getting closer, just a few more meters, and he would be at the giant doors. Suddenly, a loud shriek echoed across the water. Rhys immediately shouted out in fear and spun around frantically splashing in the water, expecting a monster to be right behind him. However, he saw nothing. Puzzled, he looked up to see Barrow's men killing themselves laughing on the shore. One of them had made the noise to scare him on purpose.
"Idiots," Rhys cursed at them under his breath.
He did not find their prank amusing in the slightest. While they were guffawing on the shore, Rhys turned back around and swam the short distance to the castle and touched the algae-covered stone wall. The metallic doors in front of him were huge. On closer inspection, it looked more like a drawbridge that would lower onto the water than doors that would open out.
Rhys swam along the side of the wall, hoping there would be some kind of magic button that would open the doors. To his surprise, right next to the edge of the door was a lever. He reached up and grasped hold of the lever. His legs were getting tired of keeping him upright in the water, so he was thankful that he was able to rest them for a bit.
Rhys relaxed in the water and allowed his full weight to rest on the lever. As soon as he did so, a crack from within the door, then the sounds of old mechanisms churning within the walls. He watched in relief as the huge door began to lower, exactly as he imagined it would, just like a drawbridge.
Barrow and his men on the shore jumped for joy as they saw the castle bridge lowering.
Rhys swam over to the bridge and manoeuvred his tired body onto the flat platform, and pulled himself up. He was completely soaked in the black water and shivering from the bitter cold; his fingers and toes were numb and wrinkled. Rhys panted for a bit on the edge of the platform as he watched a few of the men on the faraway shore cautiously get into the water and begin to swim towards the bridge. Rhys turned away from them and stepped inside the castle. If he had any doubts before, he knew now that he could not trust those guys. If they ever needed someone to sacrifice, he was first on the chopping block.
Rhys wiped his wet black hair out of his eyes and slowly walked inside the castle. While the outside of the castle looked dilapidated and slimy with years of algae layered on the stone castle walls, the inside was luxurious. Polished floors, magnificent patterned carpets, and silver and crystal ornaments decorate the large hall. It was like something out of a fantasy novel. However, at a second glance, Rhys noticed the layer of dust covering everything in this castle. Although it was beautiful, he could tell that nobody had been there for a while. Whatever species had created this place seems to have left a long time ago.
As he stepped further into the castle, something caught his attention. He turned to his left to see two levers poking out from the wall. He stepped closer and saw that they looked similar to the lever he had seen outside. Except that above these levers were two symbols. Rhys frowned, examining the symbols on the wall. The symbol above the first lever was a series of small circles touching each other. What could that symbolise?
He took a few steps back so that he could see where the other members of the group were. He was glad to see that they were all still near the shore. Half of them had not even gotten into the water yet. Although they had seen Rhys get across safely, the fear was still present in their actions.
Rhys walked back to the lever and pulled it down. He walked back to the open drawbridge to see if anything had changed. To Rhys's dismay, he watched as large stone cylinders slowly rose out of the water and stopped just above the surface, making a convenient line of circular stepping stones for the group to cross the lake.
He groaned. He had just made it much easier for those bastards. The men all cheered as those who had been swimming pulled themselves up onto the stone path, and those on the shore eagerly stepped onto the stepping stone steps.
Rhys returned to the second lever and looked at the carved symbol above it. It was a strange little drawing, a thin oval shape with lots of little triangles at one end. Rhys tilted his head to one side to get a different perspective. However, no matter how he looked at it, he mused that it kind of looked like a worm with teeth.
"A worm with teeth..." he whispered as a dark thought crossed his mind.
He squinted back at the drawing and then collected his thoughts.
No...
"That can't be right..."
Rhys took a few steps back to see where the group was on the path. From where he stood, the members were about halfway across the stone path, too far away to see what he was doing with the levers. Rhys walked back to the second lever and put his hand on it. He wasn't a cruel person, and he wasn't one to hold a grudge, but they were the ones who provoked him first. They forced him to come on a suicide mission, threatened his life twice, pretty much made sure to ridicule him at every opportunity, and more importantly, they had threatened Gramps.
Rhys absentmindedly touched the throbbing burn mark on his forehead. The sting he felt when he touched it calmed him down strangely. The pain became a kind of resolution for him.
The only thought that remained in the back of his mind was a question of morality. Would he be able to live with himself if he were right about this lever?
"I can live with it."
Rhys pulled down on the lever with all his strength and calmly looked on as it snapped into place.