CALAMITY : Legends Of The Chosen

Location: Forest Camp – Midnight

The fire had burned low.

Alex hovered a few feet off the ground, eyes closed, still in meditation. Zans leaned against a boulder. Shojiro snored softly with one arm dangling off his bedroll. Karl's visor glitched faintly as it recharged on low-power mode. Max had slumped into unconsciousness mid-sentence.

And Morgz… hadn't blinked in ten minutes.

He sat, knees pulled to his chest, eyes wide and locked on the treetops. Every crackle of the fire made him flinch. Every flicker of a shadow made him grip his arms tighter.

"Don't sleep. Don't sleep. Don't sleep."

He kept repeating it under his breath like a mantra.

That's when he noticed Enme starting to drift. She yawned, curled up beside a softly glowing glyph sketchbook, and let her eyes close.

Morgz shot up. "Enme—!"

Too late.

Inside the Dream

It was too quiet.

The forest was gone, replaced by a vast, mist-drenched ruin of broken marble and floating glyphs. The air hummed like a haunted cathedral. Enme stood barefoot, no barrier in sight. Her arms flicked reflexively, trying to summon her sigil.

Nothing.

Her connection to VYTHRA felt… static-choked.

"What the hell…?"

A sound echoed.

Chkkk… chkkk…

Like claws on bone.

She turned.

A creature slithered between crumbling arches — all tendrils, gaping maws, and jellyfish-like neural veils floating like drowned silk. At its center was a grotesque star-shaped mask — twitching, twitching, twitching.

Enme's eyes widened. She reached out again—

"VYTHRA: "

Her limbs wouldn't respond.

"Barrier glyph — initiate—"

Nothing.

It was crawling toward her, its motion jerky and unreal, like it was skipping frames in reality.

And then it lunged.

A flash of gold-blue light grazed her — she twisted just in time, avoiding a fatal strike — but the tearing noise echoed far louder than expected.

Her shirt had been slashed open at the shoulder and collar.

Before the Namsari could strike again—

Real World – Enme Awakens

She gasped awake, cold sweat dripping down her back.

Zans, kneeling nearby with a cloth and canteen, blinked — then looked away immediately, his face flushing.

"S-sorry! You screamed. I was trying to— I didn't—!"

Enme jolted up, dazed. Her barrier glyphs sparked to life involuntarily, responding to her panic. She quickly adjusted her torn shirt, confused.

"What the hell just happened?"

Enme jolted awake, heart pounding. Her body was trembling, sweat clinging to her skin. The second she noticed the cold air brushing across her chest, she gasped—

"What the—!?"

Her hand flew up instantly to grip the torn fabric of her shirt, pulling it across her exposed collarbone and upper bust, cheeks flushing red. Her eyes darted around — she was surrounded. Zans was kneeling next to her, looking away quickly.

"S-sorry!" he stammered, covering his eyes with the back of his hand. "You screamed, I was just— I didn't see anything, I swear!"

Enme curled inward, tightening what was left of her shirt around herself with one arm as her free hand sparked with unstable glyphlight.

"Did someone—rip my shirt?" she asked, voice shaking. "Why—what the hell happened?"

Morgz rushed over before anyone else could respond.

"It got you too, didn't it?" he said, wide-eyed. "The dream! The Namsari—! It—!"

She cut him off, still hunched over. "What are you talking about?! Why do I feel like I just got assaulted in my sleep?!"

Her words hit like static.

The awkwardness, the trauma, the raw disorientation — all crashing down at once.

Zans passed her his cloak without a word. She hesitated, then yanked it over her shoulders with a quiet "thanks," eyes still wide and unsettled.

Morgz rushed over, clutching his own arm, which still had faint scarring from the earlier gash.

"You saw it, didn't you?! The thing! The dream thing!"

Enme rubbed her head. "I don't… I don't remember. I was dreaming, I think, but it's foggy."

Morgz grabbed her shoulders, shaking slightly. "That's what it does! It erases you. From the inside. You wake up not knowing anything but the pain."

Zans stepped in. "Morgz—easy."

But Enme was still stunned, staring at the blood-speckled collar of her own shirt.

"Why does this feel real if it was just a dream?"

Why do I feel like something was there with me… watching me… learning me?"

Back at the Fire

The others were slowly stirring, unaware of what had occurred — but the mood was shifting. Alex opened one eye and said nothing, though she had felt a flicker of mental disturbance ripple across the camp.

Morgz sat back down next to Enme, who now shared the same haunted look in her eyes.

He whispered.

"You believe me now, don't you?"

Enme didn't answer.

But she didn't go back to sleep either.

Continuation – Paranoia Grows

Morgz crouched beside Enme, breathing fast.

"You felt it too, right? The dream—something slashed you—just like me!"

Enme, still clutching Zans's cloak over her chest, looked at him like he'd snapped.

"Dream? Morgz, I don't remember anything. I just—felt a presence. A cold, sharp pressure on my ribs. Then I woke up—like this!"

Her voice cracked. She wasn't crying, but her body was tense, trembling.

Zans stepped in, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"You're okay now. You're safe."

She gave a half-nod, eyes darting toward the others. "What if I wasn't? What if… someone here—"

She didn't finish the sentence.

Shojiro's brow furrowed. "You think one of us—?"

"No!" Enme snapped, then instantly regretted it. "I-I didn't mean that. It just… it felt like something outside of me had its hands on me. Like… I was being carved up."

Leone finally spoke, her voice soft.

"Something's wrong with this forest."

Karl crossed his arms. "Two injuries in the night. Both during sleep. And no memory of the attack."

"The Namsari," Morgz muttered. "I saw it."

Alex's eyes narrowed. "The star fish demon?"

"Yes! It was in my dream, and now it's in Enme's too!"

Max glanced at the group, eyes hard.

"No more sleeping alone tonight. We're rotating shifts. Two people awake at all times."