As Ezekiel walked, he noticed that the trees around him weren’t what he was expecting. The trees all appeared to be the same species with large leaves about the size of his hand that were a dark green colour and as he passed by a low hanging branch he pulled a leaf off to examine one. It felt almost like rubber and when he tried to tear the leaf it even stretched slightly before splitting.

  “What kind of trees are these?” he asked Ilmarillion,

  “I do not know. I have not seen trees like this before and generally only pay enough attention to the plant life to ensure it is not a danger to myself or those around me.” she replied. “Now stop looking at the leaves and keep a look out for the creatures that are trying to kill you.”

  “Sorry, you’re right. I’m currently studying conservation and the environment and had several classes and assignments about native plants and these aren’t any plants that should be in this area. I’ve never even heard of a plant with leaves like this.” he said

  “That is because it is part of the rift and whatever land the rift has copied. Now stop using your mouth and start using your eyes.” she snapped at him.

  Looking away from the leaf and the faerie, he continued walking before something struck him on the side of the head. Glancing up, Ezekiel saw the faerie smirking and pointing to his right. Looking he saw the next cricket before it saw him, thankfully this one was on its own.

  He watched it from behind a tree trying to get a better idea of what the creatures were like. He saw it use its front legs to cut down a small tree in two quick swipes of its front legs before slowly cutting up the tree into smaller pieces and eating them. Seeing how easily it reduced the tree into a treat. It was probably more efficient than a wood chipper at destroying the tree. Imagining what the claws and mandibles could do to him made him shudder. He definitely did not want to be caught by one of these crickets.

  “Are you sure about this?” he asked Ilmarillion.

  “Of course. They are weaker than you and smaller than you. If all else fails just fall on it like you did the last. Now hurry up.” sounding annoyed that he had even asked.

  Dropping his backpack quietly to the ground and gripping his makeshift spear he tried to approach as quietly as possible, trying to use trees and bushes as cover. He had made it slightly over half the distance when he missed a dry stick on the ground that snapped loudly in the quiet forest.

  The creature turned instantly and started heading in his direction. After his experience with the first four crickets he fought in the rift he felt more confident. Not feeling as disoriented and panicked as he had the first time due to entering the rift and meeting a faerie definitely helped as well. Watching as it approached, he realised that they weren’t that fast and appeared to move at the speed of a jog. They could probably go slightly faster if they really wanted but he would easily be able to outrun them if he had to. So long as he didn’t get injured anyway.

  Taking a steadying breath he readied his spear as he let the creature draw near to him. As it got close he maneuvered around a tree forcing it to slow down even more. As it rounded the trunk he lunged forward. His spear easily pierced through its large compound eye and killing it in one blow.

  Feeling a rush of exhilaration, he exclaimed “I DID IT!”

  “You really did,” Ilmarillion said drily. “Good job. Enjoy dealing with the others now.”

  His excitement evaporated instantly. Looking around he saw two more of them coming at him from different directions.

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  “I’m an idiot.” he muttered.

  Looking between the two he decided to go for the one on his right first. Cutting to the side of the cricket he forced it to change its direction slightly to intercept him. Running past the cricket forced it to nearly come to a stop as it turned to follow after him. But he hadn’t gone too far but now he didn’t have a cricket approaching from behind, making him feel a little safer.

  Perhaps it was his confidence from the last kill or being worried about having to face two at once again, he could tell as soon as he made his first strike, that it was no good. His grip on the spear wasn’t firm enough and because the spear wasn’t straight his attack missed the eye. The spear scraped down the back of the cricket without even scratching its exoskeleton.

  It tried swiping at him but he had already started jumping back before the creature had even swung its legs down at him. Heart pounding he tightened his grip on the spear. Lunging forward, he successfully pierced the eye, dropping the creature instantly to the ground.

  Looking at the last cricket, he still had a few seconds before it drew near. Seeing an opportunity, he maneuvered around the dead cricket as it came near, forcing it to slow down and climb over its fallen friend or go around. As it hesitated determining how to approach him, he realised that he could still easily reach over the dead cricket with his spear. As the cricket moved around the body he struck out, over the top of the dead cricket piercing its eye. Instead of dropping instantly like the first, this one spasmed for a minute before going still.

  He once more felt a rush of exhilaration hit him. He couldn’t believe how good it felt to defeat the crickets. He wasn’t sure if it was due to putting his life on the line and the adrenaline rush it gave but it felt great.

  “I can see from your face that you are enjoying the feeling of absorbing the essence.” Ilmarillion said.

  “Really? I thought that was just like an adrenaline rush. Maybe the feeling of victory and surviving a near death experience or something as well.” Ezekiel responded.

  “Those feelings are probably mixed in with your body absorbing the essence. But after defeating the rift creatures you will have received some of the rift essence. It can be a euphoric feeling when you receive large amounts of essence at once. Especially for someone in your situation as you have next to no essence contained within you. You generally gain essence through daily life. Little bits here and there from doing just about anything. Most essence gains from daily life are so minimal you will not even notice the feeling. But destroying both the rift creatures and the rift itself give significantly more essence than you would from killing one of these creatures if it was native to your world. I can also tell you have next to no essence meaning any gains of essence are significant. If I killed one of these crickets I would barely notice the increase to my essence.” she explained

  “Now come on, you need to get moving, I do not wish to spend more time in a rift as weak as this, than I absolutely must.” she said before flying away.

  Feeling some relief at knowing what he felt after killing the creatures was essence related, he felt some relief. He had been a bit concerned that he was just enjoying killing creatures for no reason, even if the rift was apparently a threat to his planet…

  Jogging to catch up to Ilmarillion he asked her “you said rifts will destroy planets, right? How do you know rifts destroy other planets? Are you from a different planet, are you an alien?“

  “How old are you, Ezekiel? I thought you were a fully grown human, are you actually a child? it can be so hard to tell sometimes with other races. I know you are not trying to be insulting but calling someone an alien is rude, especially if they have been helping you. To me, you are the alien. Look at you with your great big legs and body, you do not even have wings to fly.” she responded.

  “Also if you want to continue this conversation, you should take care of those two crickets over there.” she said, gesturing ahead of her.

  Looking ahead he could just make out the form of two crickets. They were in a small, most likely cricket made clearing, as they were in the process of cutting down and eating the trees. Looking down he examined his makeshift spear. While it had served him better than expected, it was too unwieldy and crooked. It had already led to several of his attacks missing and almost getting him injured. He could also see the end was not as sharp as it was at the start..

  Back away to make some distance between himself and the crickets he searched for straighter and more suitable branches that he could use for a spear. Finding several long and straight