Sora Brontarion
After dealing with the phantom echoes that attacked us, I understood just how important every member of our cluster was. Without Sigmond and Jossie's Concordant abilities, we might still have been fighting those Echoes.
It made me think about Jace and how absent he was. He always told me he would be by my side no matter what and be there to pick me up when I'm down.
I believed him, still do.
I wished my wandering cloud were here, gliding above me and protecting me as I trudged through the madness the universe had thrown at me.
Yet, a small part of me was relieved he wasn't here. If something happened to him because of me, I didn't know what I would do.
He was my favorite person in the world.
As we traveled through the horrid jungle, things seemed to move smoothly; our group worked well, taking out every single behemoth that appeared on our path. I even noticed Simon becoming more helpful, exuding more confidence with each passing moment.
Things seemed to be heading in the right direction. Once we got these eggs back to the hideout and healed everyone up, I had no doubt we could find a way to escape the rift, especially with Professor Thorne back at full strength.
Not only would that mean we had another person at the adept stage who could lead the charge, but also someone with far more experience we could lean on when things got tough.
"We should make it to the hideout in a couple of minutes," Nerena said through our tether connection.
"Perfect, everyone stay alert," Stravos said, jumping as he sliced through a large branch that hung low in our path.
As we inched closer, my muscles tensed up, and conflict began to grow in my psyche.
Joy, sorrow, regret, triumph, terror, and satisfaction all clashed in my head like two merging fronts of wind.
I focused on the expedition group to see who was giving off these emotions, but none matched what I was feeling.
Who could this be?
Voen halted as he bent over, covering his ears.
"Voen, what is it?" I asked, kneeling beside him.
He winced as he took his hands off his ears.
"C-Cries. I heard the cries of students," he said, his body shaking.
"We need to hurry; I think the hideout is being attacked," I said to everyone through our tether link.
Everyone ahead of us sped up.
I charged Voen with a bolt to soothe him so he could keep moving forward.
We were going to need him.
Voen and I quickly caught up with the others, but those strange, confusing emotions continued to wash over me.
But I soon found out what caused them.
Hatchlings.
The Rift Guardians' hatchlings had found our hideout.
They poured into the area in droves, larger than before and more bloodthirsty than ever.
They had only one purpose.
To feed.
I stood frozen as the piercing cries of the students echoed through the hideout, drowned beneath the deafening wails of the centipede hatchlings.
Voen shot a sonic blast with his flute as he placed a hand on my shoulder.
"We have to do something!" he said, dashing up a tree toward the hideout.
I snapped out of it and bolted up the tree right behind him.
High up in the canopy of the world trees, it looked like a tornado had touched down. The treehouse structures built by one of the Slytharion students were torn to bits, leaving only fragments still standing.
Our expedition team remained in the same formation, mowing their way through the horde of behemoths.
Voen and I fell into place, supporting the formation and increasing its speed.
Off in the distance ahead, I saw six figures circle up to defend the injured students.
High Pantheon, please grant us the power to save our comrades.
We were making swift progress through the treetops, but the horde of behemoths continued to grow until hundreds of centipedes surrounded us.
The emotions flooding in grew stronger by the second. They were becoming too overwhelming to process, making it harder and harder to focus.
Then something seared my right shoulder.
I tried to fire a bolt of lightning, but raising my arm was too painful. Before I could react, the centipede came in for another attack.
Damn it.
I tried to twist and punch it away with my left arm, but something crashed down onto the centipede's head, sending the behemoth crashing to the jungle floor.
"Don't worry, I got you," Simon said, holding a shattered copper-colored branch.
I nodded to him and sent Voen a mental message to toss me a potion to help with the pain.
Up until now, I had done a decent job of not relying on painkillers, because I needed to know if I was injured or not. But now wasn't the time to worry about an injury; we needed to save our comrades.
I gulped down the fast-acting potion and immediately began charging everyone in the group, infusing them with energy fueled by determination.
I took another glance at our comrades at the hideout as we moved branch to branch, and I saw Professor Thorne brandishing a blade, swinging it furiously, as she hobbled through the battlefield.
"We have to hurry!" I yelled.
The hideout was roughly a hundred yards away. Close, but the ever-growing horde of centipedes continued to get in our way, making it feel like we would never close the gap.
Then I heard a choir of voices roaring over the jungle.
"Is this all this generation has to offer?" the voices said in unison, as glowing wraiths took form around the hideout.
Each of them held a piece of wood from the World Trees, their tips sharpened to a point.
"This is only the start of my bounty, for the child will be the first to pay the sins of the father."
The phantom echoes all cocked their wooden pikes, pointing them at the students and Professor Thorne, who were defending our injured classmates.
No, we aren't gonna get there in time!
"I command everyone but Voen to duck, and Voen, shoot your flute and intercept the pikes!"
Everyone did as I commanded; Voen unleashed a large concussive blast, along with my bolts of lightning.
High Pantheon, please save them.
The echoes launched the pikes.
Time slowed, and I couldn't bear to look at the outcome. I closed my eyes and hoped our attacks would arrive in time to save them.
Then I heard the impact of Voen's sonic blast.
My body seized up, all my muscles locking me in place, and a blood-curdling scream erupted in the jungle.
I opened my eyes, and my stomach lurched, forcing me to vomit.