Skylar Caldwell

When we entered the zone, it had a feeling I couldn’t exactly describe. It was a similar sensation to putting your hand up to a vacuum cleaner, but that was putting it mildly. Inside the zone, the village looked completely different than when we had left it earlier today. Pieces of the ground were floating in the air, as well as debris from several buildings. Black and white lightning struck in several places, but made none to little sound, while some buildings were on fire. The entire area was dark, as if the clouds were completely blotting out the sun.

“We need to split up, and make sure no aberrations get free. If they do, then other people’s lives will be in danger,” Princess Nymeria said. “And be careful. Normal rules don’t apply in aberration zones.”

Every pair, which there were eight of, including me and Rebecca, all went in separate directions. Rebecca and I ended up in a small part of the village, where the horse stables had been located. Now, those very same stables were practically destroyed, and there were no horses to be found.

“I know the princess says that these aberration zones are a natural phenomenon in this world, but something about this feels extremely unnatural,” Rebecca said.

“I know. Ever since we entered, it feels like something’s been watching us. It’s like a slow creeping feeling in my gut,” I replied.

“You can say that again.”

In the distance, we could hear the sounds of battle, and I knew at least one pair must’ve found an aberration and engaged it.

“How long have we been in here? It feels like it’s been hours.”

Rebecca looked at me questionly.

“Hours? It’s only been a few minutes.”

“I guess we know now what the princess meant by normal rules not applying here.”

We continued searching around, and we eventually came across what must have been the town center not too long ago.

“God this place is creepy,” Rebecca said.

I didn’t say anything, instead turning my head towards what I thought was a sound behind us.

“What is it?” She asked, and pulled her daggers out.

Before I could reply, an aberration, another faceless I realized, came running at us. It vanished suddenly, and teleported behind Rebecca.

“Watch out!” I yelled, and as I did, Rebecca also teleported. She ended up beside the aberration, and swung her daggers across the back of its legs. The creature stumbled, and tried to hit Rebecca. Once again, she teleported, this time behind it, and drove her daggers into the back of its head. It fell to the ground and she pulled the daggers out, swiping them to each side, slinging off the blood in one swift motion.

“This one wasn’t as strong as the first one, huh?” She joked.

I chuckled quietly, then heard a bloodcurdling scream in the distance. I couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from, instead sounding like it was all around me. I picked a random direction, then Rebecca and I took off. We came across two other people fighting an aberration. This one looked more human than the others I’d seen so far. It was bleeding in multiple spots, but instead of dripping, the blood was levitating, hardening into a sword. The aberration gripped the handle of its blood turned weapon, and swung towards the two people fighting it.

One of them managed to block with their own sword, which started glowing red. I realized that this person must have a fire thread, and they’re using their ability to heat up the blade of their own weapon. Once it started glowing more vibrantly, it passed through the blade made of blood, and down into the creature’s shoulder. It hissed, similar to a cat, and tried to back away, but before it could Rebecca appeared behind it.

I turned to look at where she had just been, and realized that she jumped into action before I could say anything. It seemed to notice her presence as its sword reformed and the aberration stabbed backwards towards Rebecca. The other person proceeded to throw a bolt of lightning at it, which caused its body to lock up and seize.

The first person took advantage of this, and stabbed their glowing blade through the aberrations face, and Rebecca stabbed her daggers into its back. Its body dropped to the ground like a bag of potatoes.

“Thank you for the help,” the first person said.

“Yeah, no problem,” Rebecca replied.

She looked at me, then behind me, and gasped. When I turned to see what she was looking at, I saw Michael standing there, his left arm bloody and dangling by his side.

————————

Michael

I wasn’t able to save her. Mia died in my arms, and there was nothing I could do to help her. I looked at the caravan, and saw people staring back at me in shock. Two of them came running over to see if she was really dead.

“I’m sorry you two,” I said, struggling to get the words out. “I couldn’t save her. I’m so sorry.”

One of them glanced at Mia, then her gaze flicked back to me.

“No, don’t apologize. You weren’t capable of saving her anyways. You don’t have a thread. If you were never summoned, maybe she’d still be alive.”

“No, don't say that to him. He’s the one who killed that thing in the first place. Even without a thread, he prevented even more of us from dying,” the second person said.

“That doesn’t matter. Think about it. If he had never been summoned, you think that aberration would have ever come out of the zone in the first place? Maybe it's his presence that caused it to attack in the first place!”

“You can’t know that! Look at him! He’s still a fucking kid for crying out loud! Not everyone can be saved!”

“Stop yelling at each other,” I said, my voice quiet.

“Excuse me?” The first person asked. She walked up to me, and slapped me across the face. “You think you have any right to tell me what the fuck to do?”

I didn’t respond. Instead, I gently lowered Mia’s body to the ground, stood up, and started walking towards the zone.

“Wait!” The second person cried out.

“No, don’t stop him. Maybe he’ll die in there and no more aberrations will come out to try and kill us.”

I continued walking towards the zone, only intent on preventing what happened to Mia happening to my friends. My left arm was screaming in pain, and I knew I’d probably never be able to use it again. After walking for what seemed like hours, I finally arrived at the edge of the zone. I was about to walk through it, but hesitated. A strange feeling washed over me. It was as if the zone was calling to me in a way. Wanting me to enter.

When I finally did, I felt different. My arm was still in lots of pain, but my head felt clearer. It was as if I was in a daze earlier, but now it was gone. When I looked around, I realized that reality seemed to have warped. It was like the zone was interfering with the rules. Making the impossible possible. I shook my head and steeled my resolve. I had to help my friends. No matter what.

I started calling out to them, but heard no replies. I continued walking around, and started to feel as if I was being watched. I stopped, and looked around. Instead of seeing whatever creature was out there, it was just ruined buildings and floating pieces of rubble.

I eventually heard a scream in the distance, and immediately knew what direction I had to go in. Although it hurt like hell, I started running. I ended up coming across Rebecca and Skylar, as well as two other people. Skylar was standing away from a little bit, while Rebecca helped the other two kill an aberration that looked exactly like the last one. Rebecca seemed to see me, which caused Skylar to turn around. When she saw me, she ran over to me immediately.

“Michael? What are you doing here? Oh my god, your arm. What the hell happened?”

I looked at her hesitantly, then lowered my gaze to the ground.

“It… it was an aberration. One had left the zone and was invisible. It attacked me and Mia. It ended up wounding her, but I managed to kill it. But Mia was too wounded for me to do anything. She’s dead…”

Skylar gasped, and took a small step away from me.

“Wait… what?”