Day 3: Welcome home I guess.
November 25th, Amazon Rainforest, 1 am
Everyone would say that the events of the last hours were not something they had expected. However, they were here now and they had to deal with the consequences and the problems they now faced. That was not to say, however, that it was going to be an easy task, especially with all the different problems they faced and the...conflicts of interest.
''We have to get out of here!'' Izara yelled, amber eyes flaming like the fire that was threatening to burst from her hand any minute now. They were face to face, Izara having to look up at the taller male but her short height didn't make her demeanor any less threatening or scary.
''And how do you propose to do that? We have no means of transportation nor are we familiar with the layout of the forest. At least here we have shelter.'' Ezra replied. Unlike the girl, his gaze was calm and collected, looking down at her like he was talking to a misbehaving toddler. That only infuriated her more.
''Don't talk to me like I'm a child that doesn't understand the situation that we are in because I understand perfectly.'' she hissed at him, the veins on her skin slowly starting to glow orange like lava was flowing through them instead of blood, bright and fiery with a tendency to destroy everything in sight, ''But we cannot stay here longer. We have a duty back home. And if you don't want to acknowledge that, then you do not deserve to be here with us.'' she almost spat at him, curls wild, filled with twigs and leaves from when she and Hyung had gone to gather food.
''Okay, kids. Why don't we just relax a bit? Tensions are running high and everyone is stressed. Let us all calm down.'' Alex said from where he was sitting on the empty floor, leaning on the wall.
The place Corneille had made was a single room with four white walls and a hardwood floor. Nothing else decorated the small room, no windows or lights but it was surprisingly bright inside, like they were inside a hospital room with the fluorescent white lights beaming down on them. The others were in similar positions as Alex, except for Corneille who was passed out on the floor next to the older man. Apparently, creating this small room was too much energy for him and as soon as he had done what was required of him, he passed out before Izara or the others even arrived.
Once the girl heard the words though, she turned furious eyes at the older man who had kicked back and decided to relax rather than find out a way for them to leave this God-forsaken place and go back to civilization, back to where they had to be.
''Relaxing won't help us in this situation! Don't you all understand the situation we are all in?!'' she asked, voice raised so loudly that she was almost screaming. Her eyes were looking at each one of them, glowing amber along with her forearms, movements frantic, and hands running through her hair. However, she wasn't panicking. She seemed almost...feral, ''We HAVE to go back. We have to go help and we have to beat that maniac that is sitting on the Director's chair or else we will be finished! Do you really want a megalomaniac who can't take no for an answer to sit at the place of power of our world?'' she continued her rant.
Everyone was listening to her but not many were looking at her. Hyun was leaning against the wall, hands crossed and head bowed, black hair falling in front of her face covering it and the expressions she might be making. Ezra was looking at Izara, hands crossed and weight being supported on his left leg. His mask had finally started cracking, letting some of his annoyance shine through. Cleandro was in a similar situation with Hyun, head and eyes downcast, fiddling with a loose thread while Alex had leaned his head back, eyes staring at the ceiling like it would offer him the answers to all their problems. Yet, no matter how magical they all appeared to be, no one had the power of clairvoyance and in this situation, it was both a curse and a blessing.
''We understand what you are saying Izara,'' Cleandro said when the girl had stopped walking around frantically and had seemed to at least calm down a little, the glowing in her eyes and arms having diminished, ''but at this moment we can't do anything. The forest is too dense and filled with wild animals who would love nothing more than to make us dinner.'' he turned his head up, looking at her with a kind of resignation that she knew all too well and offering her a small sad smile, ''Besides, if we did make it out of the forest, do you have any idea where the nearest town or village is? And even if we found some other people, how would we get back? We have no money, no identities, no nothing. We would sooner be arrested than helped Izara. '' he finished with a sigh and touched the floor, tan hand moving over the wood there like he was actually trying to touch the ground that was below them.
After that, everyone stayed silent and Izara sat down, placing her head and hands on her knees. Taking deep breaths, she fought back the tears and the feeling of hopelessness that was threatening to overcome her heart. She bit her lip and closed her eyes. He was right, she knew that he was right. They had appeared here, in the middle of nowhere with nothing on them. No money, no identity, no nothing. Cleandro was right but that wasn't what was making her angry. It was the look of complete resignation like he had already given up without even trying. That look reminded her too much, brought back memories she didn't want to remember but it also brought back the echo of her own voice, the echo of a promise she had made to herself long ago.
''And what are you guys proposing then?'' she asked, voice quiet and head still bowed, ''That we stay here and die? This is the end of our journey? Of our life?'' she raised her head, eyes locking with Cleandro's green ones, ''You can all do whatever the hell you want but I will not stay here and mop around, praying for someone to save me.'' she said as she got up, ''I'm going to find a way out of here and back home because we have something to do. Something to protect.'' she paused and looked at each of them once again, her face set in a determinate scowl and her eyes blazing with a strong fire, a fire that was still burning brilliantly.
''I'm going to find a way out of this and then you'll see.'' And with those last words, she opened the wooden frame of the door, stepped outside at the dark forest, and slammed the door behind her, leaving the occupants in shock at both her words and her actions.
She didn't expect anyone to follow her and no one did. Instead, she lit a flame in her hand and trudged through the forest, pushing the low hanging branches away from her face and avoiding the odd roots that were coming out of the ground, like they were searching for freedom, independence, like they wanted to be unique and not one of many. Izara could understand that. Wanting, striving to be different and then having that stripped away from you just because they wanted to.
The flame glowed, illuminating her path as she continued her way through the forest, eyes looking around for any threat but also for something that maybe pointed to a way to a town, or a village or somewhere. Maybe a long hung sigh or even a path, worn out by the stomping of feet but she didn't see anything. The forest was also quite, the only sounds being the odd snapping of the twigs beneath her shoes and the song of the crickets. It was slowly driving her crazy, her head starting to pulse with the upcoming headache. Her thoughts refused to quiet, loud and insisting inside her mind, demanding attention.
'They are right, we can't do anything. We will die here and no one will ever know. The wild animals will eat us and bury out bones here. Our families will never know what happened to us, we will be marked as collateral damages if we were lucky.' All those deprecated thoughts continued to swirl around his mind, making her even more angry.
'Shut up, shut up, shut up!' she chanted inside her mind, her steps becoming louder and heavier, the flame gaining intensity and becoming larger, brighter, hotter. Taking deep breath after deep breath, she tried to control herself, not wanting to risk starting a fire and burning the place down with themselves inside of it.
The night was dark and cold but the fire was lighting her way at least a little bit and warming her up, even though she never got easily cold. After a while of walking, her feet started protesting and so she sat down, back leaning against a tree and extinguishing the fire that was starting to burn her palm. Looking over it with as much light as the moon provided, she noticed that the skin was red and irritated, hot to the couch and aching for something cold that she couldn't offer it yet. So, with a sigh she leaned back and turned her eyes upwards, the stars shining above her head but not able to see clearly due to the high trees that were hiding the majority of the sky.
Her thoughts started to wander again, playing the events of the last hours in her mind like a movie, trying to find how they had tracked them. Maybe someone had followed one of the others? She was sure no one was following her and even though she didn't know the others that well, she was almost confident that none of them were that stupid as to get followed without figuring it out. Maybe except Corneille. He seemed timid and shy, something that made the young girl scoff and roll her eyes. Honestly, who though it would be wise to let him join them? He was a kid who still didn't have proper control over his powers, had a panic attack as soon as they arrived here and was now passed out cold. Though, in his defense, he did make a pocket dimension, even as small as that but he did it.
She didn't really know what to think of her team instead that it was consisted by some powerful but highly disfunctional members. A drunk, a child, an asshole who had a stick up his ass, a lady that though herself the leader and a coward/pacifist. She didn't think they had much chance against him, even if they were powerful. They were a bunch of people thrown together and told that the fate of their world rested in their hands. Honestly though, why the other people depended so much on them? Couldn't they fight for themselves? It was getting infuriating!
Trying to push that thought away, she breathed deeply before exhaling, the scent of the forest invading her nostrils and bringing back memories of happier times, memories of camping trips and cozy fires, of laughter and singing. How she had missed those but after the "Fall", she couldn't do any of those. A single tear fell from her eye, sadness peeking its head but she pushed it down, not wanting to deal with that.
They would get out of here even if she had to burn the entire forest down. She couldn't die here, she had to get back. She had promised her parents that nothing would happen to her and she was not going back on that promise. Besides, this might turn out to be a good thing. They would be, presumably, declared dead or missing, that asshole would lower his guard and boom! They would deliver the final blow and get rid of him once and for all!
Encouraged by her own way of thinking, she got up with a smile and lit a flame again, making her way back to the clearing and the others. Now, if only she could remember the way.