I'm brought back to reality by Freja snapping her fingers under my nose. "April? You OK?"
"The lab…" I watch as she digs into his pocket, pulling out a crumpled slip of paper with a mini flourish. She unfolds it, and Ray and I crowd around her to read it.
It looks to be a printout from some sort of machine. It has a list of numbers on it, and all of them seem random until I notice the words written alongside them.
Purity: 7%. Crimson: 4%, Jungle 10%, Ocean 4%...
It's listing biomes.
Suddenly I realise something. This is an experiment. I look over at Ray, who seems to have come to a similar conclusion. "What do you think we should do?" I ask him.
"What we've always done," he replies. "Survive." He places something on the table. "Do you have any diea what this does?"
Freja nods, and pulls a length of string out of her pocket. "I think, if you make a necklace out of it, it helps you endure more damage. I seem to remember something along those lines."
I take the crystal from Ray's hands. When I place it on the string, it glows red for a moment. And when I put it around my neck, everything turns white for an instant.
"April? You alright?" Ray asks. I shake myself.
"Yeah, sorry. So, what now?"
===Ray===
"I think we need better equipment. Armour, swords, picks… I'll go and get some iron. D'you want to come along, or stay here?" I ask them both.
"I think I'll go and look for some herbs," says Freja. "Since you two have a knack for getting yourself injured, I may as well be prepared." She smiles.
April smiles too. "I'll come with you. I could do with a distraction from the voices…"
"What?" Freja and I answer at the same time.
"Oh, nothing. Come on!" She grabs my hand, and, after shooting a bewildered look at Freja, I comply and run after her.
Down in the mines, I'm mining some iron when April shouts across to me, "Why do you think we're here?"
"I don't know," I answer, truthfully. "Something about an experiment. We both remembered the lab. And that readout… wait, what's this?"
April's by my side in an instant, and we both look at the red moss on the stone behind the iron. "Maybe it's something herbal?"
"No…" April sounds different, hoarser. I snap my fingers under her gaze at the moss.
"April? You're being weird." She reaches out a hand to touch it. When her fingertip hovers above it, it looks like the moss is reaching up to touch her…
"No!" I shout, tackling her and sending both of us sprawling backwards. She rolls over, presses me down, and shoves her hand into my chin. I feel it click. In the time it takes me to get back up and regain my ability to talk, she's run down a dark cavern adjacent to the crimson moss.
Crimson…
"You can't let her go near the crimson…."
A memory bobs to the top of my head like a diver who has let go of his weights. Somehow I know she's in danger, and against my better judgement, I grab a torch off the wall and follow her into the unknown.
After about half an hour of searching, I find her crouched next to a strange fleshy construction. She's on her knees, hands clasped together, shaking like a jelly in an earthquake. She turns around, and her eyes are red, blood red, the type of red that's deeper, deeper than crimson, and…
I start running. I don't turn back.
A/N: That was dark. But sorry, life caught up with me, but I'm back. I'll try and do weekly updates, but I have a set of important exams approaching so please don't hate on me.
Also, I'm running a little competition of sorts! Send your ideas for an original NPC, what they do, and how they are going to be introduced.
Name
Age
Job
Introductory passage
If I like it, it'll be featured in the next chapter! Stay awesome!
