*Woooch!*
*WOOOOOCH!*
A young adult male with red-orange hair dashed through the air, piercing through the air so fast that it made the air around whistle.
(Dammit, why now!) Ren viciously cursed internally.
The young adult was Ren, repeating the same short sequence over and over again as he rushed through cities to get to a specific location.
As Haze, Ren, and Rekka woke up in the morning, after barely making it to their destination in time, an alert from their wrist, a bracelet that every member of VANISH must equip at all times, alarmed them, alerting them of the location of a Slette that spawned in a populated area.
And immediately, after finding out where this location was, Ren, who had just barely woken up at that moment, didn't even waste a second as he immediately busted out, destroying the door to the hotel room they were standing in.
...
Ren's eyes were honed in a singular direction, looking up and down at a black, slowly expanding pillar that reached infinitely into the sky.
As he was still far away from the Slette, Ren was able to witness what those who were caught in this Slette's pathway wouldn't be able to see.
Above the clouds and around the Slette was a thin disk wrapping around it, spanning over the width of a city, just about bigger than the whale from the Erasure of Pertice.
From afar, the area looked like a reverse hourglass, with both of its flat ends facing each other while the funnel pointed at the ground and the sky. However, none of these were solid; even as they produced a darkness that separated itself from the light of the sun, all of these were only an effect of the disk around the Slette, like oil and water.
"What is that? That's not the Slette monster, is it?" Haze, who was following behind Ren, voiced his thoughts out loud to himself as he contemplated what that disk was supposed to be.
Haze was extremely confused, because from the hundreds of Slettes he had seen before, there had never been a creature that was more like an inanimate object than something biological. In fact, Haze didn't even believe that it was alive, let alone a monster or some kind of animal that is synonymous with the appearance of the Slette.
However, before Haze could even get a chance to analyze whatever it is that caused this Slette, something else even more unexpected happened.
Due to the immensely large width of this thing, Haze was prepared for a much bigger Slette, as Slettes always correspond with the width of the creature that caused it. But to his surprise, the Slette just stopped.
It didn't even consume half the thing before it just halted, and following that, that disk also vanished in the blink of an eye, like nothing happened.
As to be expected, Haze was momentarily tripped up by what just happened; he even almost stopped for a moment before he saw that Ren was still going.
"He's still so rash..." Haze sighed to himself, looking at Ren with an annoyed expression before he easily regained the distance he lost by rationality taking a detour to think.
Very quickly, Haze and Ren made it to the evacuation scene with thousands of people crowding and pushing each other in fear of the Slette, even though it had already stopped.
Seeing this, Haze immediately stopped, but unexpectedly, Ren didn't even look at the evacuation zone before he continued to dash to one specific destination.
However, there was still a silver lining, because, seconds after Ren passed the area, 70 familiar humanoid apparitions made from wind began to form around the skies above the evacuees.
*Windy Departure* Ren's voice echoed through the area under a mythical filter, despite the area having no means of making someone's voice echo.
It was like Ren was speaking through the universe itself.
However, unlike the first time Ren used his Origin Phrase, this time, it's significantly weaker, a result that's extremely common for people who have Origin Phrases.
"Urg, I guess that's fine for now, but he's definitely getting an earful when this is over." Haze grunted.
Haze was quite agitated by Ren's emotion-filled actions. He isn't worried about the outcome of this evacuation, as he's confident that he is more than enough to prevent any more people from dying, but it is the principle that matters, especially because Ren is still part of VANISH.
...
As Ren dashed closer to where he remembered Shry's house to be, he began feeling more and more anxious.
By this time, Ren had also noticed that the Slette had stopped as well, but as he navigated through familiar streets, his unease did not waver; in fact, it even began to grow.
Closer and closer until finally... He found it.
"They're fine, they're fine" Ren repeated to himself as nervousness began to form.
And almost like he had predicted it, what he saw wasn't good.
On the second floor, where Shry's bedroom is, there was a door-sized hole to the right of it, and leading up to that hole, there was a staircase formed from presumably the same rubble that used to cover that section of the wall.
This scene should be quite comforting, because if an escape was there, then that'll mean that at least one person had escaped. However, Ren still felt like there was something wrong, causing him to feel a shiver running down his spine.
...
However, despite that uncomfortable anxiousness that's welling up inside him, Ren bit his lip and bravely stood onto the rubble that was frozen in time, climbing up to Shry's room with a quickened pace as nervousness began to well up inside him again.
As Ren stepped on each piece of rubble, everything was surprisingly steady even as weight was pressed onto it. Another thing of note is that none of the rubble or even dust moved a millimeter.
*Kruk kruk* Ren's shoe made a sound as its soles ground against the gravel-like rubble beneath him.
With his heart racing, a feeling that Ren hadn't felt in a long time began to surface.
A deep dread began to emerge from the depths of his submerged emotions, rising up just as he climbed the stairs, until eventually, it peaked.
Peeking around the corner, Ren saw something.
In the middle of the room was something that looked foreign compared to this mostly intact room.
Unable to identify whatever that thing is, Ren put his guard up, a habit he had gained from adventuring at the edge of the world, and slowly, Ren defensively approached the thing in the middle of the room.
Cautiously, Ren continuously observed the thing as he got closer, but no matter what angle he looked at it from, that thing only began to look stranger and stranger.
What Ren saw was a pile of gray crystals that oddly has some mildly organic aspects to it, like some parts of it almost look like skin, but its texture isn't too far from stone either. And to add to his suspicions, there seemed to be a dim, fluctuating blue light in the center of it.
"No," Ren muttered in a quiet whisper filled with emotions.
Finally, as Ren got close enough to the thing that he could probably pick it up, his eyes were finally able to see the other side of this thing.
And what he saw chilled him to the bone, shaking his soul as his eyes and face twisted into that of pure horror.
On the other side of this thing was a human face, or, more or less, half of one, but that wasn't the thing that terrified Ren. That's because the face that was connected to this abomination that he now knows is human was a familiar face.
...it was Shry.
Immediately, as soon as Ren realized what the thing truly was, he didn't hesitate or freeze up for even a second; instead, he quickly kneeled down and examined Shry.
"He's still breathin—" Ren began monologuing to himself, a method he uses to keep himself calm in stressful situations; however, he didn't even get to finish his sentence before he felt the small puffs of breath stop.
Alarmed and even a little scared, Ren wanted to quickly turn Shry's body around so he could check his vitals, but as soon as he felt Shry's body, he grew concerned.
Shry's skin and the crystals felt fragile and quite brittle, like if Ren were to exert too much pressure onto it, it'd shatter on the spot.
Even worse, Shry's back was asymmetrical, so if Ren wanted to check Shry's condition properly, he'd have to hastily find something to offset the imbalance, something like a mattress or just something soft in general.
Composing himself, Ren only needed a single glance around Shry's room to find what he was looking for.
(That should be good enough) Ren thought in relief as he spotted the pillows on Shry's bed, where it naturally
Without leaving Shry's side, Ren only flicked one finger before a gust of wind pelted the pillow up and eventually reached his hand as the pillow flew at him.
Quickly, Ren attempted to put Shry face up again, using the pillow as a cushion so he could safely roll Shry over.
*Kiek*
Upon putting his hand on Shry and moving him slightly, Ren felt Shry's body shift, accompanied by a disturbing crack.
Hearing that, Ren almost panicked, almost dropping Shry in the process, but he caught himself in time. However, after that, Ren couldn't help but unconsciously encourage himself to get this done faster, making Shry land on the pillow harder than expected, which could've ended terribly.
...
(Damn, where is it?) Ren swore internally, bitter, as he continuously failed to locate Shry's heart even upon a second check.
Although this situation would've caused most people to panic, Ren remained coolheaded as he dropped trying to locate the heart to instead make sure that Shry's other vitals wouldn't need immediate treatment before circling back to checking Shry's breathing.
"Huh!?" Ren gasped in surprise and confusion.
To Ren's surprise, when he put his finger up to Shry's deformed nose, he could feel that Shry's breathing had returned, at a much steadier pace at that.
Still worried, Ren decided to check again if anything was in critical condition; it was only after that that he breathed a sigh of relief.
"He's not in critical condition, but..." Ren talked to himself.
Although Shry would most likely survive even without medical treatment, his body is in a state Ren couldn't even comprehend if he had not seen and touched it for himself. And with how stiff some of Shry's presumed body parts were when Ren was checking them, it is doubtful if Shry could ever move again if they stayed crystallized.
Still though, after seeing that Shry is fine for now, Ren felt slight relief as he finally let go of the tension he had been holding this entire time, his body slacking, but not even a second after, his body stiffened again.
Ren was on the verge of realizing something about the situation they're currently in. He hung between the two different and major developments, on the verge of realizing one of the two.
(I can't rest yet; Shry's condition is still unknown. I need to bring him to a 2-circle doctor or higher... This condition isn't normal.) Ren thought to himself as he looked at Shry with a pained face, imagining the pain that Shry must be in right now.
Out of the two truths he was close to realizing at that moment, the one that was left out was seemingly put aside on purpose, as that truth was too painful to bear at the moment.
...
Looking at Shry, Ren ruminated on how he should transfer Shry. Ren couldn't just carry Shry normally, especially so after the incident that happened earlier. So, that leaves him with only one option, his Origin Phrase.
Since its capacity was already maxed out, when Ren summoned them to help with the evaluations while he was on the way here, he couldn't summon another one of his wind apparitions here.
So because all he could do now was wait as he commanded one of the apparitions to get here after finishing its most recent task.
As he was still anxious, Ren busied himself, appraising Shry's condition again, marking down certain details so he could accelerate the diagnosis process for whichever doctor he could find by alerting them of his observations, like bringing a sick relative to a clinic.
(Urg, his body temperature is also strange. It's just cold enough to feel it and warm enough to not be considered dead) Ren groaned as he thought in frustration after feeling parts of Shry's arms, body, and forehead.
*weeeelll woooch*
Surprisingly, it didn't take long for the windy apparition to arrive, as it came in under a minute, breaking past wind resistances and obstacles with ease before arriving here in a huge gust of wind that shook up the decorations in Shry's bedroom.
After that, with the power of the great winds that made up the apparition, Ren was able to easily lift Shry up into the air.
Being as gentle as he could in this conundrum, while flying with Shry in front of him, Ren placed all his attention on deflecting every single fluctuation caused by cutting through the air until finally, he found one of the temporary hospitals that were set up because of the Slette.
Smoothly landing on the ground with Shry gently cradled in his windy apparition, everyone who was there, patients, doctors, and musicians, could not help but turn their attention toward Ren, curious about the commotion that Ren caused by just landing there.
With his increasingly dark expression as he landed, Ren looked extremely intimidating to everyone around him, though behind that darkened exterior, inside, he was filled with worry, which derives from gentleness and care.
Walking by the shocked and even scared faces, Ren's destination was a white tent that stood out among the sea of injured.
...
"DO WE HAVE ANY 2-CIRCLE OR HIGHER DOCTORS HERE? I NEED TO HAVE SOMEONE WHO NEEDS URGENT CARE!" Ren immediately raised his voice to get people's attention as soon as he flipped open the flaps that covered the entrance.
The people in the tent weren't too shocked by the scream, since the people working here are mainly members or subsidiaries of VANISH, meaning that they're all trained to handle surprises. However, inevitably, as they laid their eyes on Shry's condition, they were all shocked into silence.
Some didn't even believe it was real, even as they stared at it. Some doctors immediately began analyzing Shry from a distance, believing in their eyes but skeptical if Shry's condition is contagious even though Ren is perfectly fine being the closest one to Shry currently.
With no one answering his question, Ren was getting annoyed at this point, making him feel the urge to scream out again, but, just barely before he ran out of patience, a woman he's fairly familiar with walked into the tent.
"Ren Spark, what are you doing? You should be out there helping Haze with evacuations" a female voice sounded from the new arrival, speaking in a familiar tone of voice to Ren.
This woman was Doctor Estin. Just moments ago, while she was working on patients who were in critical condition, she caught a glimpse of a commotion brewing, so, since her medical supplies needed replenishing, she took that opportunity to go and check out what was going on.