Marcus took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts before continuing. "So yeah, I got impaled. Everything went dark, and for a mont, I thought that was it. But then... I woke up. Except, I wasn’t here anymore."
He looked at his hands as if recalling the sensation. "It felt like I was floating in an empty void—no light, no sound, just nothingness."
"Then, out of nowhere, a glowing red orb appeared and crashed into , sending to an illusion world that looked identical to ours."
Marcus continued, explaining to the point of his training and his awakening.
The team intently listened as he continued narrating, until he got to the point where he t his master.
"...He said I was supposed to stand as your shield." Marcus turned to Reid, his expression unreadable. "I don’t know the reason, but he said the fate of this world—and the one below—depends on you."
"I suspect that’s why the skill reacted when I grabbed your hand." He finished.
"A world below?" Reid muttered.
Malrath had also ntioned sothing about a world below, but what did that have to do with him.
Forget having a major role to play in this world and an unknown one, he barely had any goals to getting stronger.
’Evo, you wouldn’t happen to have any idea what the world below is and what role I have to play in both, would you?’ Reid asked.
He wasn’t foolish enough to think that him ’conveniently’ discovering Evo back in the Scrapyard was a re coincidence.
[I’m sorry,] Evo apologized [but there’s no information about the world below in my database.]
’I see.’ Reid gave a subtle nod, masking his disappointnt at the lack of answers..
Lisa frowned. "Hold on. You’re telling that so mysterious entity gave you an ability related to Reid and now he’s expected to play a major role in this world and an unknown one?"
Marcus nodded. "That’s exactly what I’m saying. I don’t get it either, but my master was clear—Reid is the key to sothing bigger."
"No pressure, right?" Clara let out sarcastically.
Reid could only run a hand through his hair and let out a sigh before saying "let’s deal with the problems one at a ti."
Playing a major part in two worlds would co later, right now they had a mission to wrap up.
Owen, who was focused on his soup was intently listening to the conversation but decided to not say anything.
He knew there was more to Reid than he let on and that feeling got strong the longer he stayed around the kid.
"I was able to get so information from the creature Marcus and I fought," Clara said, shifting the topic.
This drew the attention of the others, even Reid’s since Evo hadn’t been able to give any information on what those things were.
"They call themselves Voidspawns," she started. "They’re a hybrid created from Abyssal Sli Primals and Nightmare Leeches."
Its form suddenly made more sense. Abyssal Sli Primals were notorious for their insatiable hunger, absorbing everything in sight like a gluttonous entity, breaking down both organic and inorganic matter with terrifying efficiency.
anwhile, Nightmare Leeches were infamous for their ability to hijack an individual’s brain, burrowing into their nervous system and granting full control to the parasite.
The fusion of these two creatures resulted in sothing far more sinister, a being that not only consud its prey but also beca them.
"What about why they’re here?" Lisa asked "did you find anything about that?"
Clara shook her head, "it wouldn’t say. It also refused to say anything about a certain father they kept ntioning."
"I see" Lisa nodded in disappointnt.
The silence returned again but this ti, Reid was the one who broke it.
"They were here for " he said "the teleportation was a trap laid out to separate you guys from ."
"What do you an?" Owen asked, he had lost the sleepy looking in his eyes, instead it were replaced by frown.
"The creatures... the Voidspawns I faced said it themselves," Reid stated. "This was a trap, one designed to separate from all of you so that one of them could take over my body."
"Remind to speak with command after we get back," Owen muttered before falling silent. He placed his unfinished bowl of soup on the ground and stood up.
"Excuse ," he said, rolling his shoulders. "I need to stretch a little, so I’ll be hunting so Primals tonight."
With that he disappeared into the forest, leaving the others sitting by the camp fire, with their soup bowls in hand.
"Is sothing wrong?" Clara asked seeing Owen’s sudden change in mood.
The others shrugged, having no idea what the cause of his mood change was. Well, except Ethan who suddenly spoke up.
"I did so digging into him and I think I know why he’s mad"
That got the attention of the others.
________
While the others discussed him, Owen was running through the forest, taking down any primal he ca across.
His ghost-like Primal ran beside him as they cleared the forest.
He wasn’t sure why Reid’s ntion of a trap had suddenly triggered a mory of his brother, but he had an unsettling feeling in his gut.
Sothing about this mission felt off.
The primals had attacked just minutes after they landed, as if they had been waiting for them. That ant the creatures had anticipated their arrival.
And worse, those creatures had known Reid would be part of this mission.
Everything about this felt wrong..
Roar!!
A loud roar broke him from his thoughts, causing him to stop. From the sound, he knew the primal that let out the roar wasn’t far.
"Seems like soone is volunteering to be my punching bag" Owen said "well then, let’s not keep it waiting."
He and his Forged-Beast imdiately sprinted toward the source of the roar.
Whatever was making that noise was about to beco the unfortunate recipient of so seriously misplaced aggression tonight.
Reviews
All reviews (0)