War and Survival

The darkness seemed to thicken around them the deeper they headed into the mountain.

Jagged rocks and mysterious monoliths seemed to appear at every turn in point like heralds of death.

Kanima's question seemed to tilt the tension in the air to an unsettling scale.

Surprisingly adding to the tense feel of foreboding doom.

Zilah was the one to reply; running side by side to the unrestrained dwarf.

"We head anywhere that is distanced from the Phantosia, our first priority is getting back the connection to our Gifts, for at least with that we have a shot at living".

She turned to stare at Drey, making sure she got the message and their centre focus across to the unhinged teen.

Drey said nothing, his eyes buoyantly fixed on some point ahead as he ran.

For a man with short legs, he was an incredible runner

"You can't be serious," Kanima was the first to speak up.

"I don't care about what Drey might have said, the most logical explanation as to why the Phantosia isn't on our chase, is that there must be a much greater horror on the path ahead. We keep going and we have to face that."

Zilah stopped, turning her head to gaze at Kanima, her green eyes sordidly piercing, reflecting her increasing frustration. Her reply inturn was curt but bore great impact:

"I'd take my chances with that, the feeling of being a cripple is not something that I admire, however if you wish to stay and indulge in it, be my guest"

She trudged on, leaving an unsettled teenager behind.

Kanima gritted her teeth as she stared at Zilah's departing back, speechless for a few moments.

Her hands clenched at the thought of the situation's incredulity.

It felt almost comical—Walking into almost certain doom.

Just then, Morgen stopped by.

He spared a glance at Kanima's ugly expression before he walked hurriedly towards Zilah.

He couldn't care less about the girl, but he shared her sentiments.

"Hey, Captain Zilah!"

He called out, his tone was loud, and seemed out of place on the mountains dark path..

"What?", Zilah replied without turning back, "We are killing time as it is"

"Sure we are", Morgen replied, rolling his eyes, his expression a mixture of frustration and amusement . "Yeah, I'm just trying to make sure you know you're leading us too our deaths "

"Shut it, you've got almost no right to talk. Your complaints are almost as weak as your performance in that sorry duel against Kanima."

Hidden by the night, Zilah's expression turned dismissive, and as she spoke her voice was laced heavily with disdain.

Had her prestige fallen to this level,

Where a cowardly weakling and fool like Morgen questioned her decisions.

Her words had struck a sore spot, which because happening recently?, had never gotten a chance to heal.

Morgen's expression darkened.

"That duel was a fluke and you knew it—"

"All of you stop!"

Just before Morgen could continue his banter, they were halted by Drey.

He stood with his right arm held up, and his left arm behind his back.

They stopped running, with a few bumping into each other.

"What?" Zilah inquired as her expression turned pensive, frustrated by the seconds that passed by without Drey speaking up.

"We've reached the borderline of the Phantosia's domain" Drey finally announced, as his right hand lit up with a golden light.

He slowly grabbed the air in front of him, muttering a silent prayer as he did.

For a few moments nothing happened...

Until he tugged his hands backwards,

Then it did.

The air around them turned restless, kicking up waves of sand and dust.

Drey's eyes remained open, fixated intently at the space in front of him, while the others covered their eyes.

The air; rushing, whooshed past their ear and around their body. Enveloping them in a cloud of brown sand.

They stood in silence; waiting.

A strange, unsettling silence.

Suddenly, just as it had come, the dune of sand and dust receded.

Returning the mountain to it's twisted sense of normalcy. Albeit for one thing.

"What is that?" Morgen queried rhetorically, his eyes held up in place by the captivating scene in front of him.

As he turned around he saw that his mates just like him were stunned by the phenomena, momentarily forgetting their fears.

The space in front of them was covered by a transparent blue field, like the air itself had solidified into something ethereal and crystalline.

Something unlike most of them had ever seen before.

The shield spread and spanned for kilometers across; as far as the darkness let them see.

And embroidered on the field was the image of a moving Shark.

Drey cleared his throat.

"Beyond this border is the Domain belonging to the Entity Kanima is wary of and afraid to meet, the Phantosia's Domain Affect cannot get through there, therefore I expect your connections to return the very moment you cross into it."

Zilah nodded, choosing not to speak and keeping her thoughts to herself.

The others were like her.

Yet their eyes betrayed tiny hints of Apprehension.

With that the group returned to silence, each made hesitant by the knowledge of confronting the Horror that made the sinister Hive of Phantosia wary.

The very hive that they themselves were afraid off.

"So boring" Drey mouthed, staring at the faces of his classmates before he went through the Field.

Seeing his action, Zilah waited for a few moments before choosing to walk through.

This left Morgen and Kanima standing in front of the blue field; their only current source of light.

"Whatever", Morgen huffed before he too walked into the unknown, his shoulders held up high.

Kanima now remained alone, biting her lower lips as she contemplated on her choices.

Her mind formed possibilities on her chances of survival, but found nothing.

She chose to resign herself to fate.

"At least I lasted longer than Ikem"

And with that she took a deep breath as she prepared to walk through.

However, at the last moment, the ground beneath her gave way.

Creating a massive hole in the ground.

And unfortunately, taken unawares Kanima fell into the hole, her eyes widening in surprise...

*It is essential to note that due to matters from my end, the Pantheons of deuteragonists; Kanima and Morgen, are fictional and do not really exist. Yet the others that are yet to be mentioned and are mentioned are real, so my apologies if I mistakingly nick or hurt your tribe and culture in the long run.

Thanks:!]