[Grand Void]

A mist of shadows embraced Neto.

Winter's breath blasted his face, neck, and hands. Everywhere clothes did not protect.

His body was weightless, floating in an infinite abyss, heading somewhere inside the spire.

When the cloak of oblivion slipped off, Neto found himself in a narrow, violet hall. Wherever he looked, gold speckled crystal looked back. He was definitely inside the tower.

"S-scary..." Toru muttered somewhere beside him.

Their pathway was lit by the glow of a million portals. Swirling vortexes that would take them to dungeons in the [Grand Void]. Cold sweat dripped down the back of Neto's neck, but he wouldn't back down.

For Neto, this anxiousness was ecstasy. All of those years paralyzed in a hospital bed left him nothing to do but imagine himself somewhere else, and most of that time that place was a fantasy world. He wouldn't let this opportunity stagnate in boredom.

Behind each portal, there was a cleared out- balcony which revealed Nornenheim from a bird's-eye view. These had been the lights sparking in the spires shadow. There were also rings with strange symbols, like the ones on Goren's letter.

"Do you know anything about these portals?" Neto asked. He took the letter out of his inventory and tried to compare symbols with the dwarves' drawings.

"Only that we should avoid Gold and reds for now..." Toru responded.

Golds and reds were labled as 'Dangerous' by Goren.

Most of the Portals were green, anyway. Neto began walking to one of them, but-

{Not that one.}

Neto stopped in his tracks. That wasn't Toru's voice. He looked around but only saw his anxious friend shifting around. Was Neto hallucinating again?

As Neto was panicking, Toru walked through the portal he'd been about to enter. Neto's jaw dropped. He'd been in his own world and accidentally baited his companion into potential danger.

"Goddamnit."

Neto jumped inside before he could talk himself out of it.

He immediately stepped into an enormous gazebo-like structure, surrounded by spectral grass and thickets of blood-red trees with jet-black leaves. He marveled at the stalactites above, radiating oceanic luster. Everything was translucent, showing off vesicles under lustrous fiber, bark, and skin.

This place seemed like the underworld's version of the Northern Greatwood.

Behind him, the portal stayed swirling. They would most-likely have to come back here if they wanted to leave.

"So, this is the [Grand Void]." He wondered.

"Psst." Someone said Nearby. Neto almost jumped out of his boots.

"Toru? Weird hallucination?"

"Shhh." Toru said. Neto looked around but couldn't see the kid.

"Where the hell are you, man? Why's your voice so close?.."

That's when Neto noticed the blood. In fact, all around the Gazebo, maimed bodies lay. Some were fresh, but most were decomposing. Each had cube-shaped sections of their body punched out, as if they'd fought the same enemy.

"Shit. Shit, shitshitshit..." Neto's throat contracted to stop his belly from emptying.

"I-I already tried taking the portal back... I think there's a cooldown." Toru whispered. "Just run to that cauldron and drink some of the Aether potion... I can identify from its scent."

Neto whipped his head around and found a steel cauldron with white fluid swirling about. It seemed to grow out of the gazebo, as if it were a plant. There were even vein-like roots forming up its side, maybe even depositing the fluid inside...

'An invisibility potion?' Neto wondered.

He ran over to the cauldron just as voices erupted from the cavern's horizon.

"Check if any more came through!!" a husky, feminine voice yelled.

Neto dared not look until he drank the fluid. He couldn't see Toru's footsteps, but heard a faint whooshing sound close by.

'Glug', 'Glug'

At that moment, Neto's entire body exploded. More accurately, he felt as though he'd become air itself, just like his dream the day before.

He could drift anywhere just by willing himself in a direction, but wouldn't make indents on the ground.

Dozens of adventurers were coming out of the tall grass, weapons drawn, smothered in fresh gore. The most unsettling part of all this was....

'They're from [Raincloud]?!' Neto was baffled by the familiar uniform.

Were they killing adventurers that came through this portal? No, likely they were robbing people on their way back...

A lean, yet well-muscled anthropomorph turned to a shady figure by her side.

Her hair was autumn-brown and her eyes were cruel slits of blue. Fox ears ruffled on the top of her head, and a puffed tail swooshed behind her.

She looked to be the leader of this gang, with refined clothes and a pair of unsettling, hooked swords at her waist.

"You can see through the dungeon's gift, right?" she asked.

This guy didn't have the cumulonimbus symbol... He pulled back the hood of his solid-red robe, revealing a handsome face.

The man's eyes were closed, but a rune shone on his head, same color as his clothes. His hair was a mat of auburn curls, waving in the breeze.

"I see one human, but he's one of [Raincloud]'s, Naka."

They couldn't see Neto, but Toru was in trouble… Why was he invisible to them?

If worst came to worst, he could summon Rakshasa and make a break for it...

Neto floated behind a nearby tree and waited for a sign. Maybe they were bluffing and Toru would swoosh by.

"Hey, kid. Stick with us for a bit or people like this man will hurt you." Naka addressed the invisible Toru, gesturing to the man in red. "He can see your mana, after all."

Pulling down the lapel on her coat, she revealed the same bar-code neck-tattoo Toru had. "The guild'll know immediately if we hurt one of our own. They'd hunt us down like dogs, but not him. We can protect you."

"A-alright..." Toru murmured.

Neto's heart sank. Was Toru really listening to these murderers? No, most likely he was trying to buy Neto time...

Neto's heart filled with rage.

He knew these guys would do something terrible to Toru if he didn't intervene, or make Toru do something terrible for them...

'I know this is hopelessly idiotic, but I can't leave him behind. Even if he is just an NPC...'

In that moment, Neto asked for Rakshasa to come out. As if it'd been waiting, his demon appeared from a puff of black smoke instantly.

It gestured for him to follow, tiny arms waving frantically.

'We have to save the kid over there!' Neto hoped his demon could read his thoughts. 'I know he's just an NPC, but I sort of baited him into this predicament…'

'Rakshasa!'

Neto's ghostly jaw dropped. Rakshasa could speak in his mind as well? Somehow the information his demon was trying to convey translated when spoken telepathically. It had said something along the lines of: 'We can save your friend, but you need to come with me first!'

Neto gulped. What could rakshasa have in mind? Was there some kind of weapon in this dungeon that the demon could sense?

Neto grew conflicted. He wanted to try and save Toru as fast as possible, but he knew one thing: if he couldn't trust Rakshasa, whose life depended on his, then he couldn't trust anything.

With that thought, Neto slipped away with his demon.