Page 38 of Aberrant Monsters
“Physiological damage. The longer a rift walker remains on the other side, the higher the risk of organ damage. Several rift walkers developed cancerous tumors. It makes sense, if you think about it. The other side isn’t the same as here; the composition of air, the radiation levels, they’re all different and our bodies are not evolved for that environment.”
“But an hour is okay?” Archie asked. “How did you determine that one?”
“Trial and error,” Quentin said. “An hour and under means no damage is done.”
“Surely going back over and over would have a cumulative effect,” Archie said.
“Our scientists concluded that it takes an hour for our bodies to even begin taking damage, so as long as a rift walker never exceeds that time, they’ll be fine.”
No, that couldn’t be right. “I was there for over an hour. I’m sure of it.”
He gave me a reassuring smile. “We examined you for damage. You’re clean, which means that you either weren’t there as long as you believe or that being bonded to the aberration healed you and will now protect you.”
“Wait…You think that she can stay longer than an hour now?” Archie asked.
“We’re banking on it,” Quentin replied.
“You want her to investigate the eldritch realm, don’t you?” Uncle Fred said. “Find out more about it.”
“Yes.”
“No. That wasn’t the deal you made with her,” Nandi pointed out.
Quentin’s expression hardened. “The deal is whatever the Order says it is.”
I held up my hand to stall the protests. “It’s okay. I want to do it. I want to know what’s out there.”
“What happened to your mother, you mean.” My uncle sounded weary. “What happened is something killed her. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you.”
“No one will touch her,” Telarion said. “No one harms what is mine.”
Silence followed his declaration.
Archie cleared his throat. “Well, that was almost sweet, until it turned psycho possessive.”
“Whatdoyou know about the eldritch realm?” Nandi asked Quentin.
“Just that there are regions. The flora, terrain, and seasons vary depending on which rift you take.” He flipped the chalkboard so a map of the city was visible with red pins stuck in it. “The pins are known rifts,” he explained. “Although they aren’t always active and open.”
“Wait, what stops the eldritch from constantly coming out of the rifts?” I was curious, because why wouldn’t the monsters just stream out into our world every time a rift was active.
“You have to understand that most of the eldritch denizens are nothing more than animals with basic survival and primal instincts. They probably don’t even understand what a rift is, and if they fell through one, they wouldn’t understand what had happened to them. From what we’ve surmised, not all of them can pass through. Some simply die on entry. Those that make it are the ones we need to watch for. They tend to be more evolved, more likely to do damage.”
And the rift walkers were the hunters of these horrors. The people who caught and took them back.
“We believe there is more to the eldritch realm. There may be civilization somewhere.” He paused with a slight frown. “The manner of your mother’s death confirms that. She was the best tracker, trained in combat to fight off any eldritch attacks and the source of much of the cryptozoology we have on the different eldritch species on the other side. But you must remember, an hour doesn’t leave much time for exploration. We have no real idea what lies farther than a two-mile radius from each rift, and most of the terrain seems to be the same.”
“So the rifts open up into the same area?” Nandi asked.
“It’s what we’ve concluded,” Quentin said. “The eldritch realm is another plane of existence that is somehow touching ours and we believe this collision has caused the rifts to occur.”
“So if there is a civilization on the other side, why aren’t they doing something about these rifts?” Archie asked. “Why not make contact?”
Quentin shrugged. “I don’t know. Believe me, we’ve asked the same questions.” He looked to me. “Your mother began charting the areas around each rift for us, building us a basic map. With the aberrant attacks growing in frequency, the Order needs someone who can investigate further.” His gaze flicked to Telarion. “It’s a shame you have no memory of how you became one.”
I looked over my shoulder in time to see Telarion’s eyes dim, and a dull pain sliced through my chest, forcing a gasp from my lips.
His gaze dropped to me, widening slightly, and then he tore it away, leaving my pulse pounding.
