"Alright," Zod said, breaking the tension as he rubbed his palms together. "Who wants to share their dream first?"

  "It was dark," Kie blurted, scooting to the edge of his bed. He tucked a hand under his chin and thought for a moment. "I remember glowing symbols. They broke into fragments and vanished. The cave I was in started collapsing above me."

  "I had that too," Saeda added. "We were fighting in the dark, and then the cave crushed down on us… leading us to the—" Her voice faltered. "—the fragment."

  Zod's eyes widened. "That golden rock was the fragment. The thing the Harbingers want. I remember Kie saying we should use it to lure them."

  "I did say that," Kie replied.

  "I remember pulling the fragment toward me with my ability," Zod said, still sounding stunned.

  Miko rubbed her left arm, a growing unease on her face, and looked at Kie for more.

  He kept talking about what he’d seen until Zod cut in again. "Wait!" he said. "Don't tell me… this is when you saw them." He stressed the word 'them' with barely contained excitement.

  They all nodded.

  "We weren't alone," Saeda murmured.

  "The Harbingers," Tee mumbled, eyes distant. She pictured the silver-haired figure from the dream.

  Tee shuffled closer to the bed's edge and hesitated. "This is a weird question, but…" She glanced at the others. "Have any of you met members of the Harbingers before coming to Primus?"

  The answers were a chorus of no’s and shaken heads.

  A hollow opened in Tee’s chest. Something felt wrong, but that wasn't the time to dwell on it. "Me neither," she lied.

  "During that moment," Kie began, pausing before continuing, "a creature emerged from the hooded one's back, and black smoke wrapped around it."

  "Legion," Tee corrected.

  Zod leaned forward, curiosity breaking through Kie's account. "Strange," he muttered. "Was Legion controlling the smoke? Is that why he stayed still, focusing on it?"

  No one had an answer. The silence lingered until Kie pressed on.

  "As I was saying," Kie continued, "the smoke shifted into worn-out bandages that wrapped around the creature, dangling from the ends of its long, spiked arms. It hunched forward and crossed its arms like giant chopsticks into an ‘X’."

  Tee glanced up, caught by the vivid detail. A faint smirk tugged at her lips. Kie, still lost in thought, kept staring at the floor, his hand under his chin as if reliving the scene.

  "In a blink, everything blurred, and Miko disappeared," Kie went on, his voice sharper now with urgency. "That’s when I ran. I turned and bolted for the forest."

  "After you left, I followed," Zod cut in, his tone carrying both guilt and solidarity.

  Saeda’s eyes narrowed at Zod, her voice sharp. "You left me to die."

  Zod froze, disbelief flashing across his face. The memory of comforting her after the fact clouded his expression. "You told me to go," he argued.

  "I didn’t mean it," Saeda snapped, folding her arms, frustration and regret battling in her eyes.

  Zod scratched his head, frowning, his hand lingering on his shoulder as he tried to make sense of her words. How would he have helped her with his wounds?

  "I was the last one to move," Saeda admitted at last, her voice heavy. "I didn’t get far. Only after the Harbingers vanished into thin air did I find the courage to crawl toward the trees. I had to drag myself with one hand just to reach some cover."

  "I hated sitting there," she exclaimed, her voice filled with frustration. "Why didn't we teleport the moment the ceiling started to crumble?"

  "Our task is to eliminate the Harbingers—remember," Kie said.

  Saeda's attention then turned to Zod, her gaze piercing. "And you," she interrogated, "why were you coming in so fast?”

  Kie interjected, his voice dripping with exasperation. "How foolish of them! They had the opportunity to end us, yet they allowed us to escape, giving us a chance to regroup."

  Tee shifted her weight, settling against her arms, her voice laced with resignation. "It was a game. They were the controller and we were the props for their enjoyment.”

  That mindset was not unique to their adversaries; it permeated the corrupt Mid-Guard officials, who viewed life as a mere playground for their amusement. The realization weighed heavily on her thoughts, casting a somber shadow over their conversation. But Saeda's next words shattered the introspection.

  “Miko, you were closest but then you stopped.”

  Miko trembled, clutching herself tightly as she recounted her experience. "I froze in terror," she confessed, her voice quivering. "Black smoke engulfed the ground, swirling upwards until it vanished, revealing the one with the hood. I was so terrified, I couldn’t move.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Saeda, deep in contemplation, shared her own encounter. “Right. That’s when I got curious and began to look round through the leaves. When I saw the one with the hood standing on the forest floor,” she recalled, her voice tinged with disbelief. “For a moment, I thought it was a mirage. I had to look back on my holo-map to confirm that was why you had stopped.”

  Turning to face Zod, Saeda sought answers. "Zod, you were still moving. I had to find some way to warn you. Why were you moving so fast? Were you being chased or something?”

  Zod chuckled, a mixture of relief and amusement, his voice resonating with a sense of liberation. "Why was I moving so fast?" he retorted. "I wanted to escape that hellhole. What more reason did I need?"

  Tee interjected, her determination shining through her words. "I know what you mean," she confessed, her voice unwavering. “The thought of you guys having to wait for me was unbearable. No way was I going to be the last one to make it.”

  “What was that beeping?” Kie asked. “A beeping started from my telecom.”

  Miko and the others nodded in agreement, acknowledging the shared experience.

  “It’s the distress signal,” Saeda told them. Her voice carried a sense of urgency as she revealed the purpose behind the distress signal. "I was the one who activated it," she admitted, her fingers absently tucking locks of hair behind her ear. “I needed to find a way to warn you guys from coming in too fast. Something forced me to press the button out of desperation, even though I didn’t remember what Miko said it was for.”

  Her voice grew hushed, heavy with the weight of grim memories. "I didn't know what else to do," she murmured, haunted by the slaughter that ensued after her impulsive action. The echoes of the past reverberated in her thoughts, a haunting reminder of the slaughterhouse that came next.

  "After I pressed the button, I panicked," Saeda confessed, her voice laced with anxiety. "I had no clue how to deactivate it, and I feared it would get you guys killed. I pressed it again within seconds, hoping it would stop." A sense of relief washed over her as she relived that pivotal moment.

  Tee nodded in acknowledgment. "I heard the alarm, and it did make me stop," she confirmed, recalling the urgency that gripped her in that instant.

  "It worked," Kie exclaimed, his gaze lifting from the intense scrutiny of the ground.

  Zod chimed in, sharing his experience. "It wasn't the sound that made me stop, but the vibration," he revealed. "The alarm seemed low, perhaps they didn't hear it."

  A surge of anger curled the corner of Kie's mouth. "It doesn't matter anymore; they already knew we were there. I was stupid to believe they were gone.”

  Miko's hand instinctively rose to cover her mouth, her eyes widening. “I had to cover my mouth and nose to prevent any sound from coming out ," she confessed, her voice muffled. "That's when I noticed the surroundings getting darker."

  Zod recalled the eerie phenomenon. "Black fog swirled around like miniature tornadoes," he described, his disbelief palpable. "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it."

  Tee, too, remembered witnessing the unsettling scene through the leaves. “When the smoke faded, the other two were now there," she recounted, her voice tinged with a shiver of unease.

  "No, three," Zod interjected, correcting her. "There was also the one with bandages wrapped around it. It felt like a never-ending nightmare, growing more terrifying with each passing moment."

  Tee turned to Saeda for confirmation. "That new one—the bandaged figure—emerged from Legion, the hooded one’s back, right?" she asked, seeking clarification.

  "You're correct," Saeda affirmed, confirming Tee's observation. "It's the same entity that devoured Miko's sword."

  Kie's mind raced ahead, piecing together their grim reality. "He wanted us to wander to the forest in hope and play with our heads, as he slaughtered us one by one,” he concluded, his tone laced with a mix of anger and resignation.

  Zod shook his head, still shaken by the memory. "When I heard that voice again, I found myself stranded in the middle of a branch, unable to take my next leap. I froze from the shock.”

  Tee added, her voice filled with a mix of fear and determination. "I was too afraid to even blink. My heart beat slowly even though I was in a panic. It was as if it too knew my life depended on being silent.”

  "We were back at square one, but in an even worse predicament," Kie noted, the weight of their circumstances sinking in. "With the leaves and countless branches, we wouldn't be able to see them coming."

  "Yeah," Tee agreed, a touch of exasperation in her voice. "Whose brilliant idea was it to traverse through the branches anyway?"

  "Is that when it happened?" Zod's voice trembled with uncertainty.

  Saeda shrugged, her gaze cast downward. "I pressed my fingers into my ears until blood dripped down my hands. I didn't hear anything."

  Tee, momentarily diverting her mind from the disturbing image, pondered what unfolded next. A strange blankness occupied her thoughts. She looked up, hoping the others would fill in the gaps and trigger her memory.

  To her surprise, all four of them had their eyes fixed on her, their stares as eerie as before.

  "That's when you died," Kie exclaimed, his eyes wide with disbelief.

  "She fell," Zod interjected, attempting to correct him.

  Miko straightened her back, assuming an upright position. "No, she was attacked."

  Their words washed over Tee like a surreal wave, watching them converse as if she were no longer present.

  "Is that what happened?" Zod mused, his hand resting under his chin. "It all happened so quickly; I couldn't see."

  "Regardless of the specifics, you should have been dead," Kie declared, his voice tinged with accusation.

  Those words pierced Tee like a dagger, causing her to blink twice before locking eyes with Kie. He continued describing the events with an unsettling detachment, as if his words held no weight or consequence.

  “There was a sound like a bark breaking. It’s like the sound after chopping a tree halfway through with an ax and then pushing it to continue breaking on its own. That slow snapping of each fiber until it fell. Then I heard something hit the ground.”

  Kie's words painted a vivid picture in Tee's mind, speaking with much narrative as if from the fictional saga he always read.

  "Blood cascaded from the side of your head, forming a crimson pool on the vibrant green grass," Kie recounted, his voice tinged with a haunting tone.

  Tee instinctively covered her mouth with a trembling hand. Was he describing her? When did that horrifying event take place?

  "Your pale eyes remained wide open, fixed on something. The absence of movement confirmed your lifeless state."

  Tee's hand moved to graze her neck, a sudden irritation causing her skin to prickle and a wave of weakness to wash over her. Kie pressed on, propelled by the terror etched on Tee's face. "The impact sounded like a fall from a twenty-foot height. Blood sprayed, objects shattered—"

  "Me, dead?" Tee uttered, her voice laced with disbelief.

  The others stared at her, their expressions mirroring her incredulity, for she stood alive and conversed with them in that very moment.

  "Without you, teleportation was impossible," Kie asserted. His hands clenched into fists, pounding against his thighs in a furious display.

  "That moment was when the slaughter started," he concluded, his voice heavy with the weight of the memory.