Sora Brontarion
Terror, True terror. My body betrayed me. Clammy skin, ragged breaths, uncontrollable tremors, and a crushing claustrophobia overwhelmed me as the emotions of all our classmates bled into my psyche.
I wanted to run. To escape and never come back. But those wishes meant nothing in this rift. There were no more training sessions, no more lessons, no more walkthroughs.
There was only survival.
We were in the deep end now, treading desperately to stay afloat in a place determined to drag us under.
Luckily, I had two life preservers.
Nerena, Voen, and I traveled through the vast jungle, following one of the rivers that led to the Pyramid at the center of the rift.
I felt some tension leave my shoulders, but not enough to kick the feeling for good, because the image of Professor Varn's infested body still haunted me.
Someone a stage above us had died in this rift. But what happened to them? How was the rift anchor destroyed? Who spoke those chilling words that echoed through the sky: "Let the feast begin"?.
"Nerena, how much longer till we reach the central pyramid?" I asked, ducking underneath a large branch.
Nerena's eyes batted back and forth between her tablet and the terrain ahead of her.
"About another hour or so."
"Alright," I turned and looked toward Voen, who was following a short distance behind me, his face twitching in pain.
"What's wrong, Voen?" I shouted, trying to project my voice over the excess noise of the flowing swamp below us.
He winced again.
"It's a lot. All of it is." He said, trying to cover his ears.
I bit the inside of my cheek and shot a small current of electricity back at him. I needed to reinforce whatever positive feelings he still had. I couldn't let him falter here.
If he did… We'd be in trouble.
As we continued through the jungle, I noticed the sky was fading, and fast. The orange glow slowly disappeared until, within minutes, the jungle was swallowed by complete darkness.
I quickly illuminated the area around me, cloaking my body in lightning to create a small sphere of light.
Then something changed. My skin began to itch.
I stopped in my tracks, searching for the source of the sensation, but there was nothing there. I scratched at my arms, yet the feeling refused to disappear. It only grew worse, slowly driving me insane.
"What's happening?" Voen and Nerena asked, walking over, Nerena's astral tentacles being the only illuminating source around us.
They seemed perfectly fine.
Was this a reaction to someone else's emotions? Or had I brushed against something poisonous in the jungle?
Then the itchiness progressed down my arms, to my back.
"Voen, can you check? I think I might have brushed up against a poisonous plant."
Voen took a step toward me, examining my arms under the light of Nerena's tentacle.
"I don't see any abrasions or rashes," Voen said as he continued to examine my arm.
Then Nerena started to itch her arms too.
"Voen, are you sure?"
Then I saw a small red spot appear on Voen's hand, causing him to itch.
"Voen, that looks like a rash is forming."
Voen's eyes widened.
My itch intensified, evolving into a sting that made my skin tender to the touch, getting worse by the second.
Voen dug in his pouch.
My hands started to bubble and blister.
I was paralyzed by the burning spreading down my arms to the rest of my body.
"Damn it, they fell out," he said as he stared at us.
"Voen, what is going on?" I said, my voice shaking with fear.
He looked down at the swamp and back at us, his face filled with unease.
"Alright guys, what we are dealing with is not a rash or poison. It's an extreme sunburn."
"Voen, this isn't the time for jokes. How can we get sunburned in the dark?" I shot back, waving my hand at him.
Then Nerena started to groan as her hands boiled and blistered.
"Crap," Voen said as he took another long look down at the swamp.
"Sora, I'm not joking. We're getting burned in the dark because we're being hit by ultraviolet radiation. We can't see it. Did anyone ever ask Cyrus what type of supernova this star went through?"
I looked at Nerena. She shook her head, grimacing as she fought through the pain.
I didn't ask him either.
"Voen continued, there is a good chance that we are caught in a radiation zone."
Dang it!
"So what can we do to combat it?"
"You're not gonna like this, but there is a native tree that produces sap called Croton lechleri, or better known as Dragon's blood. This sap is known to help treat burns and has anti-inflammatory properties. And you can only get the sap at the base of these trees." Voen said, scratching his hand profusely.
"And the base is in the swamp, isn't?"
Voen shook his head.
"Alright, we have no choice. I'll send a shock of lightning, hopefully killing anything in the swamp below us. Nerena, can you create a way for Voen to breathe underwater?"
She winced but gave me a thumbs up with her enlarged thumb.
"Alright then, Voen, we will cover you the best we can, but we need you to work fast."
"No problem, I should be able to hear the flow of sap inside the tree."
I nodded and conjured a large ball of lightning, illuminating the swamp before hurling it into the darkness.
Then I dropped down after it, my teammates close behind.
I just hope this works.
When we landed in the swamp, the cool water dulled the burning just enough to make it bearable. But I quickly realized my attack had done the exact opposite of what I'd intended.
Two glowing white eyes surfaced in the darkness, barely breaking the water's surface. They drifted toward us, silent.