“I’m sorry… the Planar Lords are going to do what?”

  “We don’t have time to go over this again!” Leo growled, staring at their three temporary team members as they stood there with confused faces staring right back at him. “This plane isn’t colossal! It’s only gargantuan! It was all a ruse to get rid of the anti-Nexus gem holders you mentioned! As soon as they’re all inside this rift, the Planar Lords are going to collapse the whole thing, killing thousands of people!”

  “Leo… why would the Planar Lords do something like that?” Steel asked, his face hard as his voice took on a placating tone. “They’re functionally Gods. If they were truly annoyed by the anti-Nexus people, they’d simply order them to leave, and that would be that. Why bother with all this cloak-and-dagger?”

  “The Planar Lords aren’t nearly as omnipotent as you’d think,” Leo said, gritting his teeth as he practically felt the seconds slipping away between his grasp. Every minute they wasted here explaining everything was one minute closer to the entire plane collapsing out from under them. “If there’s one thing they fear more than anything else, it’s the formation of a new Nexus. Rather than wait for a plane to be discovered with the right conditions, which might draw a decent chunk of their cattle away from them and show others they could do the same, they decided to be proactive and take the first shot. Think about it. This is the largest migration of gem holders in history, right? What do you think will happen if they all head off to the new land, preaching about how it is going to become a new Nexus, only for the entire plane to collapse and all of their lives to be lost to the abyss? Nobody would ever risk leaving the Nexus ever again!”

  “I mean, that makes sense… But so what if a few thousand people leave the Nexus?” Willow frowned. “There are millions of people who worship the Planar Lords. That’s only a drop in the bucket.”

  “That’s probably how most people would see it, but I doubt the Planar Lords view it the same way,” Leo said, shaking his head. “I’d bet anything they view such an event more as the first crack in their otherwise impenetrable suit of armor they’ve hid behind all these years. Proof that their ‘perfect plane’ and rule might not actually be the best solution after all.”

  “Still, this is nuts, right?” Ember laughed, looking between him and Taylor as though waiting for one of them to crack a smile and finally admit it was all one big joke. “We’re talking about killing thousands of people. Collapsing an entire plane! The Planar Lords wouldn’t do something like that.”

  “They already have!” Leo all but shouted, causing the trio to flinch back as he began breathing heavily. “They collapsed my home plane right out from under me! They killed my father, killed everyone living peacefully in town! Just to try and erase any evidence that the Nexus is going to collapse one of these days!”

  While the trio stood there, looking like they weren’t sure if they should try and talk him down or simply turn and make a break for it, Leo blinked as he felt a familiar sensation press up against his side. Just as she did during all the nights he’d spent dealing with his grief over the loss of his home plane, Taylor wrapped her arms around him, giving him a reassuring squeeze, along with a small smile. She didn’t say a word, she simply held onto him, comforting him in the same way he comforted her whenever one of her painful memories finally returned to her.

  Taking a few deep breaths, Leo did his best to calm himself down. Once he was sure he wouldn’t lash out at them again, he gave the trio a pleading look.

  “The Planar Lords are bad people. They’re more than willing to kill others if it means protecting themselves. My parents are famous Cartographers. Fire Maw and the Frozen Killer. Agents of the Planar Lords broke into my house, killed my father, and collapsed my plane to try and hide any evidence he may have hidden about their discovery that the Nexus was slowly collapsing. I barely made it out with my life, and I’ve been trying to grow stronger and figure out a way to save the millions of people living within the Nexus ever since. Because when it finally does collapse, I can guarantee you the Planar Lords won’t do a damn thing to save anyone but themselves.”

  Leo wasn’t sure which part of his confession hit the three of them the hardest, but Steel, Ember, and Willow all stared at him with their jaws dropped. Finally, after a few seconds of shocked silence, Steel managed to recover first.

  “You’re not joking, are you?”

  “Not about a damn thing,” Leo confirmed. “My father’s dying words were a plea to find a way to save everyone. To find a colossal plane to move everyone to, which is why I came here. I still don’t understand how I’m supposed to go about moving everyone after confirming the plane is safe, but he supposedly left me some help for that.”

  Leo could practically feel the little brown box burning a hole in his pocket, and he clenched his fist as he forced himself to keep from reaching for it. He’d already managed to hit a soul rank of 17. Three more layers of cultivation and he’d finally be ready to open the box and figure out what gem was supposedly powerful enough to help him solve an impossible problem.

  “I don’t understand,” Ember said, laughing weakly as though hoping if he tried hard enough, this might still just be some big joke. “If the Nexus is truly collapsing… why aren’t they evacuating it? It would take ages to get everyone out of it to another plane.”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “The Planar Lords all have a soul rank of 50,” Steel answered, his gaze going hard. “I’m not saying I fully believe everything Leo is claiming… But the Planar Lords would be forced to dampen their souls if they were to ever leave the Nexus. To lower themselves in strength to tens of thousands of other gem holders. Like I said, in the Nexus, they’re Gods. But if they were to evacuate…”

  “They’d be just like everyone else, until they could reach another tier 50 plane, if they can even find another one,” Leo finished. As far as he knew, the Nexus was the only tier 50 plane that had ever been discovered. Add to that the plane being colossal and quite livable, and it truly was one of a kind.

  “But… why not just let everyone else leave,” Ember argued, looking between the two of them. “They can stay there and play God right up until the plane collapses around them!”

  “What’s the point of playing God without any subjects?” Steel frowned. “I wouldn’t say I’m anti-Nexus… but I’ve heard some things. People I trust who have had direct interactions with the Planar Lords have mentioned that the Lords don’t really view themselves as people any longer, but something more. They’d been alive for too long, basking in worship and their own raw power for too many centuries. The Nexus was settled thousands of years ago, and they’ve been around since the very beginning. That has to have an effect on one’s mind.”

  “They might not even be able to dampen their souls at this point,” Willow added in a hushed whisper, a look of horror scrawled across her face. “What if they’re intending to just go down with the Nexus, and take everyone else with them?”

  “I don’t know what they’re planning, but no matter what their end goal is, it involves leaving millions of people to die,” Leo said, looking pointedly at the three of them. “But before that, we have to worry about this plane first. Taylor and I are going to try and rush back to the rift in the hopes of warning everyone. We’re both only soul rank 17, but if we can make it to the base camp in the adjacent plane, we’ll have a better chance at fighting any agents sent by the Planar Lords to oversee this plan. If we can just explain everything and keep the giant migration of people from entering the plane, then we’ve won. I can’t imagine it will be that hard convincing a bunch of anti-Nexus people that the Planar Lords set this whole thing up as a trap for them. We can’t force the three of you to come with us, but honestly, I’ve come to like you guys, and I’d really rather not see you thrown into the abyss. Will you help us?”

  “I’m with Leo,” Taylor said, finally letting go of him as she cracked her neck, looking as though she were ready to throw herself directly at the Planar Lords themselves. “Come with us.”

  Leo looked between their three newfound friends, carefully taking in their differing expressions. Steel looked tired and resigned, as though he’d already accepted the truth and realized he’d suddenly been thrust into a fight where his opponents were leagues beyond anything he could ever dream of. Willow still looked more scared than anything, as if afraid the Planar Lords would jump out from behind the nearest tree and smite her with their awesome power. Ember was the only one who didn’t quite look sold on what they were claiming just yet, with a pained, hopeful smile still locked firmly on his face through sheer willpower.

  “Ember…” Steel started, turning toward his teammate. “It’s too soon to say if Leo’s telling the truth or not. But think of the consequences. If he’s lying, and we follow them back out, we lose nothing but a bit of time. Maybe another gem holder manages to claim that perfect beachfront property you and Willow are hunting for before you do. If he’s telling the truth and we stay…”

  “Then we die,” Ember finished, letting out a world-weary sigh as his shoulders slumped. “Yeah, I know. I’m with the kid. Let’s get out of here. Wouldn’t hurt to restock on some supplies at the base camp anyway. Willow, you in?”

  “Yes! We need to get out of here as fast as possible!” she said, staring at the ground as if convinced it would start falling out from underneath her at any moment.

  “Then that settles it,” Steel said, turning and nodding toward Leo as he adjusted the strap of his great sword stretching across his chest. “You lead, we’ll follow. But for your sake, I hope you’re right about this.”

  “For all our sakes, I hope I’m not,” Leo admitted, letting out a sigh of relief. While they hadn’t spent too much time with the trio, Leo had quickly come to like all three of them. They weren’t just friendly people, but competent fighters and good travel companions as well. Any one of them would make a fine Cartographer one day.

  With that, the five of them turned around and started running as quickly as they dared back toward the entrance rift. They’d covered quite a lot of ground over the past few days, and now they had to cover that same distance in a fraction of the time. With the number of higher-Grade magical beasts scattered through the forest, moving so fast was beyond risky, but they didn’t really have any other choice. The giant trees and dense underbrush made traveling in a straight line pretty much impossible, forcing them to take even longer as they ran in a loping, zig-zag pattern. Ember did his best to direct them away from any heat signatures, but they were moving fast enough now that he couldn’t catch them all in time.

  Every time they were forced to stop and deal with a swarm of dual-wolves swirling around them, or a camouflage spider dropping out of the treetops in an attempt to kidnap one of them, Leo swore, cursing the time each fight took from their ticking clock. Even with how they skipped cultivating, focusing purely on rushing as fast as they could, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were moving too slow.

  “You know, I only just thought of something,” Steel said, running beside Leo as they curved around yet another one of the countless trees. “This whole theory you proposed… how would the Planar Lords even manage to collapse the plane in the first place? The larger a plane, the longer it takes to actually get to the core, and all the gem holders within the plane should feel what’s happening. That would give them plenty of time to get out.”

  “I don’t know,” Leo admitted, not having thought quite that far ahead just yet. “The Planar Lords were the ones to reveal the plane’s existence, right? Maybe they did all that digging already when the plane was empty, and are now waiting just a hairsbreadth from the core, ready to collapse it when the time is right.”

  “Excellent assumption.”

  Leo’s eyes widened as an almost ethereal man appeared out of nowhere, stepping straight through the side of the tree they were running around. He had long, white hair with sparkling beads woven through them, and jet-black clothing that seemed to make his pale features pop. Before Leo could do so much as open his mouth, the man struck.

  Thrusting a hand through Steel’s chest and out the other side.

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