Onterrath (Part 2)

Hearing the question, Dunn and Jade stared at him with incredulous looks.

Their exaggerated reaction confused Liam. "What?"

"How can you not know what that represents?"

They didn't expect Liam to be so lacking in knowledge.

"I didn't know Sherthyr, the largest nation on the continent. How the hell am I supposed to know what the tiny little thing stands for!"

"Elves remain as myths to many people, but everyone knows that place." Not for the first time, Jade wondered about his past. "You always brush me off when I ask how you got stuck in the Rift, but let me ask you again. How did it happen?"

Liam ignored her question. There were a lot of things his friends didn't know about him, and he wasn't willing to explain it to them.

"Will I at least get to know when you fell into the rift?"

The secrets around Liam annoyed Jade.

In their group, Liam, Ioriel, and Lupa were tight-lipped about their past. It was doubly so for Liam. Everything she understood about him came from observation. He deflected or ignored any question directly related to him.

His response to her question was exactly what she expected. "Is that necessary?"

The question angered her to no end. Alisha would have asked him about it, and Liam would have no choice but to answer her. Hiding it even after a stranger got to know annoyed her.

"Yes," she insisted.

She knew Liam wasn't hiding it due to mistrust. It was how he was, but it still bothered her.

If he wasn't willing to open up, she would persist until he did.

Her tenacity surprised Liam. She wasn't the kind to pry into other people's details. It was Dunn and Ebrum's jobs. After contemplating the question for a moment, Liam found no reason to hide it.

"10 years."

"Oh. No wonder you remember nothing about this place. How old were you?" Dunn relaxed back into his chair as if Liam was telling him a soothing story.

"I was 4 years old."

Their casual attitude surprised Liam. He was expecting more of a reaction.

"You were just a kid," Dunn laughed.

"How did you surv…..." His laugh trailed off, realizing the meaning behind Liam's words.

He jumped up from his chair, letting it clatter to the floor.

"YOU WERE INSIDE THE RIFT FOR 10 F*CKING YEARS?"

"Oh, you are surprised." His reaction relieved Liam. The casual attitude in which Dunn took his confession made him wonder if surviving inside the Rift was a common occurrence.

"Where I come from, surprise isn't the word used to describe his expression." Jade found Liam's reaction to be unbelievable.

Sometimes she wondered if Liam was a genius or plain stupid.

Shrugging, Liam ignored her comment. "What about you guys?"

Dunn clicked his tongue. "I don't want to answer that, but I will satisfy your curiosity. 17 years old. 2 years inside the Rift."

"16 years old and three years inside the Rift," Jade said.

"Getting back to the topic, that" —Jade tapped the circle— "is Otread academy."

Liam disappointed their anticipatory looks by giving them a blank stare.

"He lacks common sense," Dunn muttered. It was the first time he saw someone having such an unenthusiastic expression when the academy was mentioned.

It was the most famous place on the continent and the destination of many people who dreamt of making it big.

"The academy is not just a place for learning. It has another significance. Every race and nation within Onterrath got together and established it. The four surviving races signed the non-aggression treaty in that place.

"Initially, Otread wasn't meant to be an academy. Resisting the invasion from the Rift and preventing wars between the surviving races was its main purpose.

"Over time, it evolved and turned into an institution. Every race sends their best talents to study in the academy. There, you will meet the most amazing geniuses from the continent. Getting into that place is a symbol of status and power."

"Remember this," Jade said with an earnest expression on her face. "No matter how powerful you are, you will only stay relevant if you enter the academy."

Liam digested her explanation. "What has it got to do with the current situation?"

"Do you remember the academy's main purpose?" Jade asked.

"To resist the Rift?"

"Yes," Jade said. "When the academy got information about the portal, they wanted to interfere, but the Theocracy adamantly refused."

"Why resist the extra manpower?"

"Officially, they believe the academy's intervention will make them look weak."

"Unofficially?"

"That is what we have to find out. I don't know Alisha's plan, but she definitely wants us for something big."

It was a cause for concern as Liam didn't like being involved in something he didn't understand.

While he was formulating a few escape plans, it was difficult to do so without having any information. He could only wait for Alisha's test the following day.

Thinking back to the previous topic, there was something he did not understand. "Is there a need to establish an academy to counter the occasional Rift portals? Establishing it to prevent wars makes more sense."

The Rift was weird in the sense that factions didn't exist. When a portal opened, no one guided the corrupted to invade the continent. The threat came from a few random ones stumbling onto the gate. On a continental scale, the danger was negligible.

Only Overlords could create factions, but they stood in opposition to the Rift. The numbers they could recruit were limited, and it was a far cry from being equal to a nation.

Dunn expected the question. "It's because there is a permanent Rift portal on Onterrath."

The tent fell into a deafening silence. The humor on Dunn's face had vanished. Liam turned towards Jade, expecting her to say it was a joke. Instead, she nodded, confirming Dunn's statement.

"That's impossible," he refuted. He did not want to believe it. After escaping from that place, he wanted nothing to do with it. "None of the three methods can open a permanent portal."

"Three ways we know," Jade corrected. "There may be alternatives we aren't aware of."

"Your explanation itself proved a permanent portal cannot exist." Liam pointed towards the map. If such a portal really existed, there was no way the nations could split the continent among themselves.

"I only know rumors about this and it is a highly guarded secret, so listen closely," Dunn said. "The continent I drew is not complete. During the first Rift war, the living beings couldn't resist the Rift's might. So everyone combined their strength and split the continent into two, stemming the flow of the corrupted. Even so, we escaped annihilation by the skin of our teeth."

Liam shook his head, unable to believe the explanation. The amount of power required to split the continent was beyond imagination. Many people must have sacrificed their lives to achieve such a miracle. History couldn't have forgotten something like that.

"What is a Rift war and why is it a secret?"

"On Onterrath, most of the battles against the corrupted are isolated and small. The Rift wars are different. The Rift throws a mighty attack at the surviving races, daring them to resist. Two such wars happened, and we barely managed to persist through them.

"The common people don't understand Rift. They consider the corrupted to be strange demons or people who fall victim to their own temptation.

"As for why it is not well known, will you tell the general populace an unstoppable force is out to destroy them? There will be chaos and panic. So, it is a heavily guarded secret."

The explanation was easy to understand, but Liam found it hard to believe.