4 POV
At first all I felt was the warm comfort of my surroundings as I begun to wake up and looking up I saw the underside of the upper bunk bed.
Slowly as the brain fog cleared I became more and more aware of my surroundings.
I looked to my right to see 49 who was operating the computer, not having noticed me woken up.
"What happened?" I asked her
She turned around, momentarily startled. "Oh! You're awake. Well we can all explain that later, the others are getting the reactor stuff ready for transport."
"No no, I mean how is everyone?"
She paled slightly. "33 died, you and 7 were the only major injuries beyond that. We were barely able to get you out in time for the barricade with the cursed breaking down the barricade we placed on the doors deeper down. Then for the next few days we just simply waited for the creatures to go back into the deeper sections and then kill the stragglers who were left. The others are carrying the experimental reactor out now, actually they should be done by now."
33 had died. I knew of course that likely someone would die down here but having someone I had been with, fought with even. Die? That wasn't something I was ready for.
I hadn't been close to her granted but knowing that she was gone just like that was.. sickening.
"How is 7?" I asked
"A lot worse then you in full honesty. Nothing is broken or tared but its still pretty bad. A full recovery is basically a definite but it will take a while."
I let out a slight breath of relief.
"You said it has been a few days. How long was I out?"
She looked over at the bottom right corner of the display before responding.
"About two and a half days."
I tried to push myself out of bed and felt truly pitiful while doing so. I was so unbelievably weak that I was barely able to move but as I stretched and moved I found myself seemingly recovering from this quickly. It was painful but not much more beyond muscle pain. Which was actually surprising considering how hard the hits I took were.
Standing up on my feet was a weird sensation but that quickly cleared. I pulsed my roh and found my elemental resistance was still somehow active even during my sleep. Normally it required a mental focus but as little focus as it took it still was required.
Had my manipulation of roh gotten so good I could do it in my sleep or was this some freak thing caused by the circumstances.
There was only one way to find out.
I formed my roh into the form for motion sense and incredibly quickly my sight was gone, replaced my the otherworldly sense for all motion.
The range was not increased nor was I able to process it better, but it seemed like I was in general able to control roh better giving more room in my head to focus on understanding what I was seeing.
Amongst the faint wind and flowing grass I saw the outline of 13 walking towards the MTV.
I merely watched as he slowly walked up to the MTV and eventually opened the door. becoming eye to eye with me the moment he had opened the door.
"You're up!" He exclaimed in almost excitement before calming himself. "Nice to see you able to move so soon after you have woken up."
"I've told him not to but whatever." 49 said in an almost angry tone.
"You never did anything even remotely close to that, you just looked at the computer and said nothing." I rebuked.
"Really? I could have sworn I did. Whatever, we should head out."
I raised an eyebrow at this. "Have we got another mission already?"
"I mean yeah of course we have, we have actually spent far longer on this then we should have but we were given grace from some people being injured." 49 said while emphasising the word 'some'.
"Yeah my bad bro, I'll remember next time we are up against something far beyond what we can possibly kill that I should just not get injured." I responded mockingly
"Shut up and go drive." 49 commanded angrily but I could see a slight bit of guilt from the side of her face.
I didn't mention it though and walked up to the driver's seat.
Moving while keeping my motion sense active had become much easier and I was able to move as if I had my normal sight.
49 while looking at their monitor said. "Go basically directly north, the mission area is quite far away so we will spend pretty much the rest of the daylight traveling."
"Understood."
Pressing the button which started up the engine the faint purr of the engine could be heard along with the ever so slight vibration shaking the entire MTV. Then after pressing on the accelerator the trek begun.
--
The last few hours were a whole lot of nothing. There was very little dangers, and that which there were we had hardly any problems avoiding. In fact one time when trying to avoid a cursed we travelled on a route which was actually faster then our intended route. Well not by much but still.
"Hey does anyone wanna take over." I asked behind me. "My brain feels like its going to go numb."
"Sure, I'll take it. You supply the roh." 13 responded
After looking around to make sure it was safe for us to stop and swap I replied "Sounds good to me."
After we had swapped the ride went on same as before. Occasionally I looked over to the computer to see what 49 was doing but otherwise I was just left with my thoughts.
I even allowed myself to wonder what my life would be like after this. Even if I didn't uncover what my blessing is I would still be hailed as one of the most talented non blessed in the world and would be able to live a comfortable life.
'What job would I like to do though?'
Those who reach the first step in the 'path of ascension' are given much more freedom then I ever had in my entire life. Which is likely what will happen shortly after this is over. The whole point of this dive onto the earth's surface is so that both to improve people's talent and ensure only the most talented survive which will counter the potential over population we face.
I was all too familiar with what over population was like. It was the whole reason the outer rings were used as living spaces in the first place. It solved many issues. I wasn't sure if I quite believed all that though.
First is that it seemed cruel, even with how benevolent everyone made it seem.
Second is that if that were true then why only kill people after they were blessed. If solving over population was the issue then just simply build another bastion.
Then third is that no matter how you cut it this isn't an effective way to cull the least talented. I mean it's mostly just a coin flip for if you survive.
'I've gotten really side tracked. What job would I like? Maybe some kind of instructor. Then again I'm not even very educated myself. I have learnt most of my earthly knowledge in those days of preparation leading up to this accursed dive. Now that I think about it I don't think I was taught much at all.'
This ignited that thirst for knowledge again and I wished I could connect to the information network but unluckily the satellite was not above us currently in its orbit and even if it was I likely wouldn't be allowed to use it just to sate my endless curiosity.
"Hey 4, its going to be getting dark soon. Can you take over?" 13 called out from the cockpit.
I groaned as I stood up. "Sure whatever. Wait has it really been that long?"
As 13 begun to slow the car to a halt he replied "I mean yeah its been like two hours."
"God damn. I was really lost in thought then."
After the car had come to a stop I took the drivers seat and stretched before activating my motion sense.
As my vision blurred my sense for motion came into focus and my brain slowly begun adapting to the altered perception. As everything begun to clear I noticed something through the motion of the wind.
At first I thought it was a boulder but eventually it became clear it was a monstrous creature the size of the MTV and the shape of a bull which to my horror was less than ten metres away and barrelling straight for us.
I screamed as I pressed on the accelerator with all the might I could but It was too late.
With a force far eclipsing anything I had ever imagined It rammed threw the MTV. The now familiar feeling of floating through the air was only ended when the MTV hit the ground on it's side.
To my horror I could sense air rush through the hole the cursed had made in the side of the MTV.