Recovering Morale

They smoothly climbed up the oddly shaped terrain that jagged in various places and cliffs that would randomly end, careful to not place their foot in any place that could be hazardous considering that one mistake could cost them their lives, so they had to tread cautiously at this point to make it back to Medina and the crew safely.

Felicity hopped over the trunks of the trees that fell over from the land was all suddenly dropping, and she kicked her legs over the rest of the branches that were in her way and brushed the dirt down her amour suit, and turned back when Leo continued to push her forward.

She knew they should not slack their pace from the alarming speed that the distortion was spreading, and they flew over the broken stones along their path, jumping over every obstacle as if it were a game instead of life-threatening pursuit to get out of the way of the earth caving in on itself.

Shoving the overhanging dense bushes away, she wasn't surprised to see the bright colors that they both had experienced with the physical tests. Felicity yanked the vibrant fuschia leaves to take along with her to shine into the dim light of the lantern from her suit to inspect closer.

The bushes were growing at an alarming and unnatural rate which she was sure that Medina and the rest of the government had already figured out.

Everything that the engyure touched was riddled with suspicion considering that most of the items touched had turned into something extremely bizarre. Leo stuck out his hand to her which she took to jump over a stream that seemed to run a black color she couldn't tell if it was just the nighttime lighting or if it actually was that color.

They sprinted onward, and Felicity wiped the perspiration on her forehead and struggled to find her breath since they were pushing hard to get away from the huge band of raures that were behind them that luckily have not spotted their presence yet which was likely to change any moment.

The ground suddenly pitched forward, and Felicity ran into Leo's back with a muttered curse only for the whole piece they were standing on to shake. Grasping onto Leo for balance, she slowly placed one foot in front of the other hoping to wedge their way inch by inch off.

Felicity reached up above her to grasp the branch that was hanging over the edge and tried to pull herself up, but after lifting her feet only a few inches into the air, it was the extent that she could do. With a short breath, she was about to call Leo over to help her when he slung one arm around her waist and pushed up when her arms gave up on her.

Getting traction on the side of the dirt wall, she kicked off and landed painfully on her feet only to pitch herself downwards since the only opening was a tunnel made by all the fallen trees. She glanced back to Leo. "There is a tunnel up ahead."

He got himself over the dirt wall and looked ahead to see what she saw. "Jesus. Why are all the raures gathering on the other side?"

"I don't know," she muttered. "Maybe they knew that we were coming this way?"

Felicity got down on the ground first before Leo soon followed, and they began crawling through the tunnel on all four limbs, trying their best to push through as fast as possible since the trunks could crumble on top of them at any moment.

It was damp underneath there with all the moss that was brushing the top of her head, and many creepy crawlies that were likely underneath her hands and feet which sent chills down her spine more so than the raures that were practically waiting out there for them.

"We are only limited to our knives," she whispered. "It would be fine if we had bullets on us for more long-range attacks. That way we don't need to go out of our way to do all of this."

"Either way, we're going to have to move fast to avoid the raures, but melee damage is seriously what's costing us here."

Felicity sighed. "Medina doesn't seem to trust us enough to have a gun."

"It doesn't matter though. A weapon is a weapon."

She paused for a beat. "That's true. I would prefer my affinity weapon overall."

Leo ripped the tape off of his wrists that he had on earlier to help protect his raw flesh from the fire with his teeth. "You can take it up with Medina later."

Felicity was about to bite out a reply when the face of the creature popped up in front of her when she was struggling up the small tunnel created by the cavern of an otherwise normal dip in the dirt.

She swallowed her scream to the best of her ability but couldn't cover the startled squeak that came out when the ghastly face appeared along with losing her footing from the surprise.

The raure hissed, and the black mouth slobbered all over the exit way, trying to get its black sharp nails inside. Felicity moved back ever so slightly unconsciously, and she screamed when the raure was about to turn around and send its spiked tail inside. When that happened, it would be game over.

"Kill it," Leo shouted.

Felicity drew out her knife. "I'm on it!"

Lurching forward out of the tunnel, she collided into the raure and barrel-rolled to her feet to gather her balance before slashing the creature. The raure hissed, and the body started to vibrate much to her alarm.

Not letting the raure get away, Felicity charged and sliced the raure in half, gritting her teeth as the blade tore through bone and flesh. The blade did glide through easier than she had expected, and she jumped back into Leo's body.

They watched in horror as the raure's face contorted as if in a cry for help, and she closed her eyes for a moment since she didn't want to see the creature's disfiguring body. The spikes were reflective as they fell to the ground like a stone, and as she opened her eyes, she saw the dust of the body flutter to the ground, all shimmery and golden.

She leaned down to touch the ground, and the dirt was a course from the fine grain of what the seashore has brought up. However, the softness of the shiny ash was an anomaly since it was soft as a flower's petal.

Felicity looked up at Leo. "I still find it odd that these creatures are not from our world."

Leo nodded slowly. "An anomaly only meant to be killed. It's a sorry fate."

They turned around only to be met by a hoard of those creatures. Covering her mouth, Felicity took in the raures in horror. The creatures were vibrating, creating a soft sound like chittering.

Felicity felt the initial shock and scare and shakily took her stance. She wasn't going to be the first to pounce. She was fighting based on self-defense. That way she could keep her morale. She didn't have to wait long for the hostile creatures to come at her first.