Rift Duology #2: Rift of Shadow

Chapter 4: Schemes

-Jayden's POV-

After Keros shot me with the beam, I thought I got incinerated for a split second..
until I looked around and saw a cell.

It had gray stone walls with strands of moss growing from the cracks, and the bars seemed to be electrified and made of a different type of material.
I looked around and saw a circular room with cells identical to my own, and I saw a person with white hair and darkish skin.

"Albus!" I called out.
Something seemed off, though.. his skin seemed to gradually turn gray, and his hair was turning black.
"Albus?" I repeated.

"It's no use, newby. Once they breathe in the Darkmist, there's no saving them." A stranger, someone next to my cell said.

"Darkmist? What is that? What does it do?" I asked.

"Darkmist is a black and red gas that Keros created using the fragments. When breathed in, it corrupts the breathers mind and makes them fall under the control of Keros." they explained.
"He's already done this to many demigods, and that ice person was one of the first. Since it was a test, it took long. Now, the Darkmist is effective and quick. Our floor is getting smoked soon."

"What?! There's more floors?!"
I exclaimed. I couldn't believe it.. there were already enough demigods on this floor, but there were more? I didn't realize how much had changed in the past year. I didn't think it'd be this bad.

"Obviously. We're in Cassiopeia's Spine- you might know it as it's old name, the Polarian Skyscraper. It has hundreds of floors. At least, that's what the rumors say." they said.

"Hundreds of.. how many floors have been 'smoked'?" I asked.

"All of them. We're the last, supposedly we're the strongest. We'd only be used to be backup, to 'automatically' win this war. Not that I have a big ego or anything, but if we get corrupted, no one out there stands a chance." they replied.

"I know, I know.. Who're you? What's your name?"

"I'm Ellis! Child of Hate." they said.

"Hate? My father's Hate too! But, why doesn't anyone get out of here?" I asked.

"The bricks of our cells and bars are reinforced with Ominous Obsidian, so it kinda cancels out our powers." she explained.
"And no, nothing can break these bars. I've already tried."

"What if- what if we somehow lodge a brick out of its place, and use the Obsidian to make a makeshift weapon? It has magical properties. Maybe we can escape with it." I proposed and took out my dagger. Appearantly, they were so confident in people not escaping that they didn't take their weapons.

"Maybe, but it'll take too long. You have a few hours, at most. I already heard the guards talking about it." she said.

"I'll be quick." I responded and slid my dagger into one of the big cracks in the wall. I tried using it as a lever and pushing it forward, but it barely moved.
The Stygian Iron could only take so much before shattering, so I had to be careful.
Instead of pushing it out, I decided to shoot a powerful beam of wind from the crack to force the air forward.
And surprisingly, it moved much more than the previous technique.

It just reminded me of how I got the air ability into the dagger..

A long time ago, I was pretty much obsessed with freeing Ouranos, or at least what had remained, from the sky.
My goal was to kill Atlas, the Greek Titan of Endurance, and he had to hold the part of the sky that touched down into earth.

Fortunately, I failed. But, Ouranos' ghost did escape from Tartarus.
Once I realized my mistakes, I struck him with the dagger, which made the metal absorb his very life force.
Now, my dagger has part of Ouranos' power. The power to wield wind itself.

After around an hour, the brick finally came out and broke. Thankfully, a large chunk of the red obsidian had came off, and I picked it up.

"It worked!" I yelled at Ellis.

"You're too late.." Ellis said.
"The guards-" she pointed at the doorway.
"-have already arrived."

-Riley's POV-

"So if Keros gets the Power Fragment, he can destroy or even rewrite our realm?" I asked.
I expected it to be powerful, but not like this. A power like this should only be used as a last resort, if at all.

"Exactly, and with the news you bring, that seems to be his exact plan. The demigod army is somehow playing into this.. maybe an invasion?" Azure offered.

"It can't be that." Xavier said.
"He already overthrew the place most important to him, which was Mythos."

"Oh.. maybe as a distraction? I assume he still wants the power fragment. Maybe it's to distract or split the your team?" Azure said.

"I dunno, he took a lot of demigods for a distraction. Well, no matter what it is, we have to free them. I think Keros also took Jayus and Keros, and he took Albus a year ago. We have to save them." Xavier replied.

"No, no we can't. He's too powerful right now." Azure said. He was pretty.. anxious for a god. I suppose him being mortal right now was the reason.

"Why not? There isn't any weak spots, so we just have to try." I said.

"There is. A lunar eclipse will hinder the Rift's ability to cross realms. There's a partial one, happening somewhere around October 29th.
Because it's partial, it'll only weaken the Rift, but it'll be weak enough to invade them." Azure explained.

"That's only weeks away. But Keros will have an army by then- we won't stand a chance." Xavier said.

"But we will," Azure replied.
"Because during that time, we'll get the Power Fragment, and you'll level Keros and his army."