(Scout POV)
“All in”
“You sure about that? You’re not gonna win. There’s no way you’ll roll a ‘snake eyes’.”
“I’d beg to differ” I said as I threw the dice onto the makeshift table.
“HAH! Told you I would, gimme that money!”
“Pfft, whatever. Double or nothing?”
“Deal” I said as I cleared the pieces off the table.
Right as soon as I was going to set them back up again, I spotted something in the distance coming at us at an insane speed.
“Hey, wait a sec. Hey Nick, look over there. Do you see that light?”
“What drink are you having?”
“No I’m serious, look over there.”
“Don’t tell me you’re scared to lose all the m- Holy shit, you weren’t kidding, what is that?”
“Quick, we gotta alert the others!” I said as I began to run towards the two tents.
“Hey, Mason, wake up, wake up!”
“Mmmm, what is it, Nate?”
“Quick, something’s coming. Something fast.”
Our group’s squad leader got up and started to walk out of the tent.
Moments later, all I heard was the sound of something hard hitting the floor, followed with the scene of blood spilling through the entrance of the tent.
“What the f- who’s out there! Whoever, whatever you are, I won’t hesitate to kill you!”
All of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain in-between my stomach.
I looked down and all I could see was blood.
“Wha-”
…
…
…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Eve Solaris POV)
I jolted awake and immediately started to look around waiting for my vision to return to me. All I could see was darkness.
I felt around for the torch, or what was left of it, and found the branch still intact for the most part. I slung my bag over from my shoulders once again and reached in for the flint and stone I had used prior.
I struck the stone again and started a fire on the branch and began to take in the sight before me.
I looked over my body, but found no markings on myself at all. In fact, I felt lighter, stronger, and healthier than I ever had. It was almost as if I had been reborn.
‘I should get out of this cave.’ I thought to myself. Then, I felt it. Something I had never felt in all of my life that immediately sent a chill down my spine as my legs grew weak.
I felt an intense feeling of power swell within the core of my stomach that began to burst throughout my body.
The burst of power made me fall to my knees.
‘What was that just now.’ I thought to myself as I tried to gather the strength in my legs to stand back up.
Thoughts began to form in my head at the endless amount of possibilities, all leading me to one thought: mana. ‘Whatever it was, it’ll have to wait, I have to make sure to complete my trial.
I finally got back on my legs, still a little shaky, and started towards the way I remembered coming.
I walked for what felt like hours until I finally saw the opening of the cave I had come through.
As I stepped outside, I noticed the sun had yet to come out with the stars still in the sky, meaning only a couple of hours had passed.
It was then that I noticed it: ‘Fire’. The smell of smoke drifted slightly through the thick forest.
I immediately followed where the smoke was coming from, slowly yet steadily heading towards the entrance of the forest.
I saw the main road out and followed it for a couple of minutes, still not seeing the fire.
‘If it’s not in the forest then…’ Then a thought occurred to me and I began to pick up the pace back home.
I finally reached a clearing outside the forest on a ledge that steadily sloped downwards and curved towards the village.
It was then that I saw it: a blazing horizon of flames that covered my hometown.
‘N….no, no, no! I need to get back there now!’ I screamed in my head, as I started to run as fast as I could.
I felt the power once again converge around my body and then towards my legs, causing my body to move faster than I ever had before.
The closer I got, the bigger the fire grew and the brighter it became until I eventually started to smell a sweet aroma that conflicted with the smell of smoke and ash: the smell of flowers. Menimas. I felt my stomach churn on the inside as my mind started to think of the worst, as I continued towards the town.
I felt the wind brushing past my body as my speed continued to pick up until I could see the hill that led down to the village. As I reached the peak, however, I felt my body give out as if all the strength I had just mustered never existed. I felt myself drop to my knees as I looked down at the entrance of the village- at my home, or what was left of it as it started to rain heavily.
As I stared down at the village I had grown up in, the place my parents raised me in, the place I made all my friends, the place I was trained in, the place where I had laughed, cried, and even loved in, was all set aflame. It was…. Beautiful, in morbid sense. A painting of soot and ashes amidst a world of flame, and in the remnants, the Menimas, soul flowers, bloomed all across the once cheerful village. The sick smell of burning flesh and smoke; a painting out of a nightmare, a sight of ruin and despair. Of whose making?
‘This…. This can’t be real.’ Was all I could think to myself as I slowly stood up and started to trudge down the hill.
‘Gabi, Phelix, Zilpa, Ms Myles, Mom, Dad.’
I could feel my power grow, burning brighter and brighter the closer I came to the village. The first thing I saw as I stepped into the village, however, as if embodying my worst fears, was Cenric’s head decapitated from his body. Lifeless eyes stared at me and through me into a void far from my reach.
I slowly dropped down and let out a pained scream as tears rushed down my face.
‘We were supposed to go on a date, you were the one I first held hands with, you were going to be my first date, you can’t be dead!’ I thought to myself.
I cried and cried until I felt the power once again swell in my core and begin to burst throughout me once again. This time, however, it was stronger and it was expelled outwards, disintegrating whatever remnants of the village were still there, including what remained of Cenric.
The last sight of him was the sight of his hollow, lifeless eyes staring at me.
Speechless and not knowing what to do, I slowly stood back up and started to walk through what little remained of my home. Every direction I looked was the same sight: ruins and fire, blood and dismembered body parts, and smoke, were all spread throughout the roads I once roamed.
‘This can’t be real right…. Right?!’ I thought to myself, refusing to believe what I was seeing in front of me. As I walked further, the aura within me continued to expel outwards and disintegrate everything it came into contact with, until I finally reached the road up the hill-to my house.
I slowly walked up the hill, trying to hold in the power bursting out of me and onto any sanity I had left, as I prayed for my parents to be alive. As soon as I reached the top of the hill, however, I saw the last thing I wanted to believe.
My parents and Gabi, all three laying there lifeless. I looked down and saw my parents and closest friends body’s mangled and dismembered as their eyes looked at me.
I found myself unable to move or look away, even though all I wanted to do was run away. Run away from everything. All the pain, the anger, the sadness, I just wanted it all to end. Then, as if my aura responded to me, I watched as if time itself slowed down.
The body’s of my parents and closest friend slowly became consumed by the aura surrounding me and slowly disintegrated into nothingness with their cold, dead eyes continuing to stare at me as if looking into my soul.
I watched as the last remaining remnants of everything I had known was burned away by the one thing I had wanted the most.
Then, as if a switch had been flipped, I felt it all come in at once as realization hit me. Everything and everyone I had known, loved, cared for- all of it was gone.
All the pain, suffering, anger, sadness, and tears came rushing out at once as I screamed and felt my aura grow stronger and more uncontrollable than ever.
I could feel the aura starting to eat away at me as if the power I now contained was too much for my mortal body, but I didn’t care.
I continued to scream out in pain and agony as everything around me, including myself, started to burn away. ‘My wish had come true.’ was the last thing I could think of before I began to lose consciousness.
As I started to blackout, I looked up into the sky and saw a single hummingbird flying down towards me.
“How beautiful.” I said to myself as my eyes faded to black.
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