White. Then suddenly black.
Ethan didn't know how long he was out for, only that when he came to he saw that floating abomination hovering menacingly over the rest of the team. None appeared to be injured - perhaps he hadn't been out that long after all.
Remembering what had happened right before his blackout, he glanced to his left side where Itto was groaning on the floor after putting his body through even more stress.
Jesus Christ. What was he thinking? He had no time to worry about that, however, when that 'angel' slowly turned to face him. There it was, still as radiant as ever…
Yet now a murderous intent flowed off of it like liquid nitrogen. He didn't know how such a benevolent-looking creature could hold such ill intention, but now was not the time to question it. Its arm was raised once more, no doubt preparing to blast him to bits. He had to move before he was hit, now.
The blast never came. The 'angel' slowly lowered its arm, staring off to somewhere in the distance. Nobody moved, for fear of drawing its attention again.
Its head snapped back to the four, just as suddenly as its lapse in attention came. No, not the four. Ethan.
No sooner than the fear and that dreadful premonition had struck through his body, a searing pain erupted in Ethan's arm, overriding all his senses.
"Gah!" He could hear nothing, see nothing, feel nothing but that pain burning through his arm like a fiery brand. Not even his own screams tearing at his throat reached his ears. Nor did he feel the ground rise to meet his falling body.
Then nothing.
His senses returned to him in a confusing flood, Ethan wiped the tears still welling up in his eyes. That abomination still 'glared' at him with an oppressive yet nonexistent gaze. Unsurprisingly, it felt as if he was being crushed by the weight of a thousand boulders. Such was the power of the divine, if that was what this force of nature truly was.
Yet for all the death and destruction its glower promised, it did nothing to deliver what it so dearly wanted to. It raised one arm to the now grey skies and called out, emitting the most melodious 'voice' that Ethan had ever heard. But it did not occur to him to think about what that call meant.
Shards of what seemed like stone and glass pelted the ground in front of the 'angel', rising to join a storm of other whirling pieces as they made landfall. Something bright fell, and there was a light levitating in the middle of that multicoloured maelstrom, pulling each fragment in and shooting it out to form its final shape. It was humanoid, like an abstract art piece. Those floating fragments had been bound together by invisible forces to form a three-dimensional outline of the human body, though each of its limbs and its head did not appear to be connected to the torso, instead floating right up against where they would usually be on a person. On the torso itself was a spiral pattern, leading to that glowing object that had formed this creature, which hovered above the ground like the one that had summoned it.
Alien and strange as it was, even this creature was not entirely unknown to Ethan. He had seen it before too, somewhere in the library. What was it called?
It appeared that whatever work the 'angel' had come here to do was complete. Without wasting another moment glowering at the team, it departed for the skies, leaving them with this fractured anomaly.
There was only silence in the first few moments. Where had that thing gone, and what was this that it left in its place?
The anomaly made the first move. Slowly it rotated, as the 'angel' had, towards Ethan.
Because clearly, I did something to piss them off. He lamented the fact that the first target of every anomaly they had come across had been him, and only him.
Coincidence? He thought not.
How would it try to attack him this time? Would it whip out a pair of blades and slash away at his defence? Charge up yet another energy beam and blast him to bits?
It was neither, Ethan found out, as a thin beam of metal shot past his face, punching through the container behind him as effortlessly as he might crush a paper cup. It had been so close to his head that he could still hear it vibrating. Indeed, it felt as if those vibrations were transferred to the very core of his being simply by hearing that ring. Ethan looked away and found that the anomaly's arm was gone, replaced by that beam of metal extending from its 'shoulder' to wherever it had ended up. Had its arm transformed?
"Haah!" Hu Tao leapt forward, spear aimed at its torso. Despite that, the anomaly gave no indication that it had noticed an enemy running up to it. Was it going to be over?
But nothing happened, even when Hu Tao's polearm went right through the anomaly. There came a sound like a curtain of beads being drawn apart.
"Huh?" That moment of hesitation cost her. Stone-like fragments shifted and swirled to form a giant fist, smashing Hu Tao into the wall behind her.
Fragmentation. Transformation. A humanoid shape. There was only one anomaly that fit the bill.
Mequta.
The Mequta scanned the area as if trying to figure out who would be its next target. Whoever that was was unlikely to survive.
"Alpha team! We gotta get outta he–" Another blade embedded itself right between Ethan's arm and torso, jolting him right up into a standing position with a yelp.
"Go, go, go!" The mequta's assault never ceased, the team only narrowly avoiding each blade as it punctured walls and vehicles. Thankfully, by the time they reached a set of switchback stairs that led to the second floor of a building they happened to come across the mequta had lost them.
"Great. We're back here again." It wasn't the same place they had been hiding in when the Bladerunners attacked, but the fact that they were in this situation again was already discouraging.
"What do we do this time? That thing isn't something we can defeat with brute force alone like before." Despite having flown into a wall a moment ago, Hu Tao didn't seem any worse for the wear.
"What is that thing anyway…?"
"That thing…I think they call it a Mequta." Even now, Ethan was trying to remember all the contents of that entry on the Mequta he had read.
"You know what that is? Oh what am I saying, of course you do. You spend half your time in the library." Ethan felt the need to defend himself against Hu Tao's comment, but there were more important things to worry about right now.
A Distorter class anomaly that has only appeared a small number of times in recent history. It is extremely adaptable to any combat situation and displays relatively high levels of intelligence.
That only told him what it could do, and what he should be scared of. Not good.
It appears to be weak to any rapidly, outwardly expanding force sufficient to break the bonds holding it together.
"So how do we deal with it?" Sara asked, taking a swig from her canteen.
"We need an 'outward expanding force'..." But what could they mean by that?
Hu Tao considered this for a moment before his eyes lit up. "Could they mean something like an explosion?"
"Like an overload reaction." Ethan agreed. Realisation dawned on their faces.
"Perfect. Hu Tao channels Pyro and I Electro. If Hu Tao can get close enough to attack it with fire and I loose a charged arrow, we may be able to defeat it."
Ethan looked down below the stairway and his heart almost skipped a beat when he spotted that humanoid mass of glassy fragments. So it had somehow found its way here. "You'll have to hurry then," he reported to the rest of the team. "Because that thing's already waiting down there."
"Shit. Okay. Sara, stay up here and make sure it doesn't spot you. I'll head down and try to get close to it. Ethan, come down with me."
All teammates signalled their understanding. Hu Tao and Ethan went down another set of stairs inside while Sara positioned herself near the stairwell outside. Before Ethan left, he thought he caught a glimpse of another worried look from Sara to Itto. He took another look at the injured delinquent. He seemed fine, for now.
The two hit the ground floor, Ethan taking a quick glance outside to confirm the Mequta's whereabouts. Just ahead lay rows of neatly stacked containers bound together in rectangular groups, paths separating each group in a grid-like fashion. It now moved around the area to their right, no doubt already aware that it was close to reaching its targets. Slowly it disappeared around a corner right down the middle of the path.
"Alright, so here's the plan. I'll go hide behind there," Stepping outside the doorway and looking at where the anomaly had rounded the corner, she pointed at a forklift to the right. "You'll hide behind those containers across the path. I need you to do something to distract that thing while I hit it with Pyro."
"But what do I distract it with?"
"Anything you have on you! Doesn't matter if we lose some of our equipment here, they won't care much. Anyway, let's go. It'll be coming back soon!"
Before he could ask another question, Hu Tao rushed off to duck behind that forklift. Ethan sighed. This wasn't going to go well, was it?
Taking his place behind a shipping container, he tried desperately to find something to distract it. A noise? No, that would be revealing his position and allowing himself to potentially get stabbed. Roll an object out? Same problems as the first, except he didn't have anything that would intrigue the mequta but at the same time wouldn't cause it to attack the source of the sound.
Actually, the second one might work. But he wouldn't be rolling the object out…
The mequta reappeared from the corner after an unfruitful search. He had to be careful about this, and there was a not-insignificant chance of him failing.
Ethan grabbed the headlamp and canteen from his utility belt, placing them on the ground. As much as he loathed to damage the headlamp, there wasn't anything else that could make enough noise. Plus, he hadn't really needed it seeing as the port was already sufficiently lit. Time to focus. He closed his eyes and reattuned himself to the wind and Anemo energy around him.
"Steigah," he whispered. "Trebello Darae." Both pieces of equipment rose at a sluggish pace, courtesy of Ethan trying to move slowly but at the same time weary of channelling too much energy, his overchanelling with the bladerunner making the problem worse. For better or for worse, the mequta stayed put. It had locked onto their location. It was now or never.
Headlamp and canteen rose, hidden from view by another shipping container stacked on top of the one Ethan was hiding behind. Almost there, just gotta get it into position…Alright. Now this is gonna take some fine manipulation skills, skills I don't really have but I'll have to try my best anyway.
Ethan now had his equipment floating near the edge of the containers. He had to do this carefully, or else it would know his true location. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a flash of purple on the second floor of the warehouse and sparks of red behind the forklift. Only one chance, and they were all waiting.
He focused on his target, where he was aiming to throw his equipment. One after the other.
Hah! His headlamp went flying first. Before it could hit the other containers in front of him, Ethan propelled his canteen forward and upward. The headlamp hit with a loud clang, not only drawing the mequta's attention but startling it enough that it instantly sliced through the headlamp with frightening accuracy. It attacked the area again for good measure before the canteen struck and the anomaly sent two more blades through it. Perfect.
Hu Tao did not stand by idly. "Volaru Duren!" she chanted. She thrust her spear out as a beam of flame erupted from the tip, momentarily bathing the mequta in fire. It wouldn't last long, but it was enough.
A purple streak flew from above and met the blowing fire, causing a fiery explosion. Both Hu Tao and Ethan ducked back behind their hiding places, weary of any stray flying shards.
Is…is it over? Smoke saturated the air as Ethan peeked out cautiously. He couldn't see anything in that smoke, but there didn't seem to be anything there. It was dead. They had taken it down.
He let out a breath he did not know he had been holding, hearing Hu Tao sigh in relief as well. Sara and Itto must have been celebrating up there too. He stepped out of his hiding place.
"Hu Tao! Are you alright?" Ethan called out.
"Yeah, I'm alright! I won't be going to the afterlife that soon, don't worry~" Her usual teasing self seemed to be back now that they had killed the thing threatening them. It was as he thought it would feel like. Exhilarating.
Ethan raised his hand to his ear to contact Sara and Itto. They would want to know they had succeeded.
Out of the smoke shot a blade, piercing the arm he had used to activate his radio. He saw the blood flying out, splattering parts of his face. For a moment he felt nothing.
Then excruciating pain.
The blade quickly withdrew as Ethan felt a scream welling up in his throat. He clutched his arm, found it only made it more painful, and let it fall to his side as he fell back and let that scream tear through his throat. He could already feel something wet rolling down his face from his blurred eyes. His head knocked into something behind him, also knocking into his injured arm and causing the pain to amplify tenfold. He felt his back touch a wall behind him. He slid down, gritting his teeth and trying his best to stifle yet another scream as his foot slipped and he accidentally jammed his arm into the ground. He couldn't see very clearly, but splotches of red seemed to make up half of the blob that was most likely his arm. It hurt. It hurt so much.
As with before, the mequta didn't capitalise on the fact that its target now had no way to defend itself. He could vaguely see two figures struggling in front of him against the anomaly. They were giving him a way out, and he had to take it now.
Using his good arm and the container as support to push himself up, he stumbled aimlessly in any direction that would take him away from this monster. Anywhere was fine, so long as that thing wasn't…
Both Hu Tao and Sara seemed to notice Ethan stumbling away. They stopped trading blows with the mequta, one of them coming over and grabbing him by the good arm before leading him somewhere. He stumbled along with the person next to him, uncaring of where he went. It didn't matter as long as he was way from this place, away from all this.
This wasn't the first time a training accident had happened, but it might have been the first time something this serious had happened.
Xiao stared at the malfunctioning vale as a team of mages worked to find the problem and unravel it as quickly as possible. They said they weren't sure whether anything was happening inside as there was interference, but his gut told him something was going on in there, and it wasn't good.
"Kavik." He heard someone address him by a little-used name of his. There was no mistaking the speaker then. From behind John strolled up, staring at the veil with curiosity flickering in his amber-gold eyes.
"Yes? Has any new information come from the mages?"
"They are still searching, I'm afraid," He turned to Xiao. "You seem rather unsettled."
Xiao only grunted in assent. John always appeared to be unfazed by anything thrown his way, but both definitely felt something was off. "You feel it too, don't you?"
John nodded. "An alien presence far stronger than what we normally encounter, or have ever encountered in recent history if I remember correctly."
"Is that what drew you here?"
"That alone would be enough to pique the interest of anyone back at Azka. But I do have another reason for coming here."
Xiao did not bother to ask what that was, knowing that John would only give him some cryptic riddle as an answer. Both stood in an uneasy silence, eyes fixed on the veil ahead.
"Do you think…that this has something to do with them?" Xiao broke the silence, almost dreading to hear the answer.
John chuckled. "There are many forces and organisations that we currently refer to as "them". But I see who you mean. There was no human interference here; that I believe to be certain. But whether it is them or not remains unclear. Let us hope it is not."
Xiao could only agree with John and went back to staring a hole into the veil. He felt guilty, somehow, even though he had no way of knowing what was going to happen here. He'd sent Moss and the others on a mission because he thought they would learn from the experience. Now they were trapped in there with god knew what, absolutely helpless. He would be surprised if they survived this.
Xiao shook his head. No, they were taught what to do in situations like this. If they just stayed away from whatever it was that was threatening them, they should have been fine. Besides, there was a chance that his senses deceived him and there was nothing that dangerous inside. He had been on edge ever since the number of sightings of anomalies had increased by many times compared to previous years. He glanced at John. But could both of them sensing something be a mistake? Something was happening, he knew, and it wasn't going to stop here.
"But what do you think, truly?" He didn't want to know, yet he needed to. "Do you think that they are involved? Do you think I just inadvertently sent my students to their deaths?"
John was silent for a moment. Xiao swore he heard the man sigh. "You're too hard on yourself sometimes," he finally answered. "And you always believe the worst has happened. My advice to you would be to calm down. You have taught your students well, incomplete as their education might currently be. Do not catastrophise, Kavik. They will be able to handle themselves."
Perhaps John was right. The combat instructor took a deep breath.
A mage ran up to them. "We've managed to begin unravelling the veil. The rest of the team will finalise preparations." the mage reported.
"I will remain here," John did not take his eyes off the port. "There is no need for two of us when one will suffice."
Xiao nodded, feeling the alien presence grow weaker, before turning to the mage. "Good." Xiao tightened his grip on his polearm. "We move out as soon as possible."
This was already the third time they were forced to hide. And this time it really did seem like there was no other way out.
No words passed between the group. No amount of discussion would get them out of this situation.
Tension permeated through each individual, so alert that the slightest sound from outside would startle them into jumping up and drawing their weapons. Perhaps that only served to create more of the oppressive noise they feared so much at the moment, and maybe they would be defenceless whether they had weapons in hand or not, but it was all they could do to assure themselves that they had some chance of surviving this.
Itto sat in the corner, nervously twiddling his thumbs as he glanced left and right as if expecting the mequta to jump out at any moment. Not even the pain of his bandaged wounds seemed to reach him in this hyperalert state, the possibility of death looming over him and everyone else.
Sara lay on the wall, face scrunched up in concentration as if she was thinking of a plan to escape. No matter what it was, their lack of power compared to the mequta would hold them back. It was no use.
Even the normally carefree and joking Hu Tao had fallen silent, anxiously glancing out the window periodically. She clutched her spear and held it close to herself, the weapon already becoming a protective charm of sorts. That was true for all of them.
Ethan himself lay next to Itto, arm wrapped in a tourniquet and eyelids shut. He wasn't sleeping; no sleep could come to anyone in this situation. Rather, he was resting his mind and clearing the mental fog that had accumulated there after his injury. Trying to ignore the pain was taking more out of him than he thought.
Nothing would come out of them staying here. Yet nothing would come out of them taking action either. Between staying safe and getting cut up by the mequta, staying in that tense room was vastly preferable.
The first to break the silence was Itto. "I…" his voice cracked. "Guys, if we don't make it out of this, I just wanna say–"
"Shut up!" Sara snapped, whirling around at the first mention of 'not making it out of this'. "We are going to make it out and we will return home. Don't…don't say things like that."
Hu Tao only gave them a worried glance before turning back to her 'watchman' duty. Perhaps she was actually just looking outside and contemplating the situation. Ethan would be doing that too, but he didn't want to stand up, nor was he particularly fond of being spotted by the mequta.
"Oh yeah? How are we gonna do that?" Had he been in any other situation, Ethan might have kept silent. But in this situation, when all seemed lost and when he had already exhausted all the escape options in his mind, there was nothing else to do.
"I…I don't know!" Sara burst out, almost oblivious to how she unsettled everyone with a loud voice. "But Aegis will get out somehow, I know they will…"
The room fell into an uncomfortable silence once again. Sara returned to her frantic contemplation, while Ethan rested his head on the wall, feeling more exhausted from that short exchange than he had ever felt from an entire day of physical training.
It was almost torture not knowing what was going to happen. But at the same time, Ethan didn't want to know what could happen to them. Was this team ever equipped to deal with something like this?
Or was it not the other members of the team not working together? What if it was him?
Hu Tao was most definitely a skilled Pyro channeller and a good leader. Sara and Itto hadn't argued once, though it seemed like if one were to provoke the other now it would blow up into one. He had gotten Itto stabbed. Ethan chuckled, drawing some strange looks from the rest of the team. I always see them together, he thought, Even though they're like oil and water.
…wait. Oil. That was it. If this could work…
He glanced upon the scene in the room with new hope. Hadn't they come across a place with a bunch of oil barrels?
"Guys," he called out to everyone. "I think I might have a plan…"
They were back in that loading area they had fought that bladerunner in.
Itto was probably out there luring the mequta to their location. One could say that they should not have been putting an injured member on what was arguably the most dangerous job, but this needed to be carried out quickly. Ethan and the others had to already be in place by the time the mequta came. Besides, Itto had only a chance of being attacked. The other three were guaranteed.
Ethan sat behind a stack of oil barrels, busy preparing himself for the task to come. Sara would be standing atop the catwalk, channelling as much Electro energy into her arrows as she could. Hu Tao would be hiding somewhere, ready to jump out at any moment. They were ready. They only had to wait.
Slowly the sound of soft, rhythmic clanking became audible, no doubt signalling that the mequta was near. It was only a matter of time now. A matter of seconds.
The clanking had now stopped. There was no longer any need for it, for in floated the fragmented anomaly. Its head swivelled around to search for the source of the noise, finding nothing.
It hovered forward cautiously. Or perhaps it was just being thorough in its search of the area. It didn't think it had much to fear anyway.
Now's the time. Ethan chanted as quietly as he could, drawing energy slowly.
It stopped in the middle of the loading area, probably sensing the two of them there. Right below the stack of barrels.
Now! "Trebello!" Ethan put all his will into the blast of wind, toppling the stack and dropping them onto the unsuspecting mequta. It lashed out at the barrels, puncturing and blasting them, causing oil to leak out of the barrels that hadn't already been broken by the fall. Clangs reverberated in Ethan's ears as some of its attacks nearly hit him.
Oil continued to leak out, already forming a massive puddle around the anomaly. Ethan grimaced. If he didn't get out of here now, there would be hell to pay, somewhat literally. Using the wall as support, he pushed himself up and ran as fast as his fatigued legs would take him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other members of the team springing into action.
Hu Tao jumped out from her hiding place. "Volaru!" A tongue of fire shot out from her spear, causing the oil to erupt into raging flames surrounding the mequta.
Even so, it shrugged off the heat and continued to target Hu Tao. She darted between crates, boxes, and other containers in an attempt to dodge them all, though the sudden influx of elemental energy was most likely what was confusing the mequta.
Chunks of rock flew at the fragmented anomaly, causing it to immediately redirect its attacks at the projectiles and their launcher. Hu Tao was safe, for now.
Above, Sara trained an arrow charged with Electro at the mequta in the dancing flames. Focus. The storm of electro energy swirling around her arrow threatened to overwhelm her entirely, but this now depended on her. She had to succeed, for the punishment would be death. It was almost ready. She could only hope that her teammates had already left the area.
…and Ethan tripped, his legs giving out after coming across a stray barrel. He didn't even feel the impact, nor the sharp pain that pierced through his injured arm. The barrel acted as an unstable support, Ethan falling multiple times before he stood up and limped forward towards the exit. He glanced up again. Not enough time. He would have to get down and cover his ears if he wanted to survive.
The air was now charged with electricity, stray tendrils striking their surroundings as Sara prepared to loose the arrow that would decide their fate here.
Stay calm. The voice inside Sara's head was not her own, but that of a person she had almost forgotten. Attune yourself to the sounds of your surroundings. Feel the weight of the bow in your hands.
At that moment there was nothing else in the world but her bow and her target. You are one with your weapon. All she needed to do was…let go.
The twang of the bowstring reverberated through her, the arrow flying away from her in slow motion. She could see the flames licking at the arrow of swirling lightning, momentarily mingling peacefully.
A colossal explosion rocked the warehouse, blowing the roof off its hinges and sending debris plummeting towards the ground. Hu Tao and Itto dove behind the nearest cover they could find. Ethan threw himself on the floor, slamming his hands over his ears and opening his mouth. Even outside the warehouse, he could still feel the ground quaking, sending waves through his very being. Pieces and chunks of rubble smashed into the ground as he crawled towards shelter, ignoring his abandoned sword somewhere out in the open. It's not like channelling wind will save me from this anyway.
There came groaning and screeching as the battered frame of the warehouse strained to keep itself upright. The crackling flames were still audible, though beyond that there was only silence. Ethan peeked out of his cover cautiously, surveying the mostly empty scene in front of him. The action was elsewhere, anyway. I swear if it's not over by now…
A heavy screen of smoke still hung over the scene in the warehouse as he limped in, forcing him to keep his one good arm over his mouth. His eyes watered trying to look for his friends, but they were nowhere to be seen. A brief bolt of fear struck through him at that realisation, but upon realising they most likely managed to get out of the way before the explosion he turned around to move to the exit.
Except, he didn't know where the exit was.
Damnit. No matter which way he turned, all he could see was smoke. It didn't help that he was still disoriented, both from the explosion and everything else that had happened today. There was no choice but to wander around and grope for the exit. A veritable waterfall was coming out of his stinging eyes now.
It shouldn't have been hard to find since from the outside Ethan had seen large portions of the wall either collapsed or gone entirely. But with no idea which way to go, every time he picked a direction he would change his mind and go another way. He strayed not even two meters from his starting point.
Jesus Christ, just pick a direction! Against his instincts, he picked one direction on a whim and kept travelling in that direction. Now that's progress.
Still, he travelled slowly and cautiously, not knowing if something up front could trip him up. There was still no sign of an exit, or at least no visible sign Ethan could make out with his blurry eyes. Nothing so far…
Part of the smoke seemed to have cleared. Ethan took a much-needed gulp of fresh air and allowed his teary eyes some respite from the smoke. Looking around, there didn't appear to be anywhere he could leave through, but if the smoke had already cleared here that meant he couldn't see it. The smoke couldn't just disappear to nowhere.
Taking another quick look yielded no results, so he turned around.
A silver blur shot past him, causing him to jerk out of the way a second too late. Something slammed against his back, and he was sent flying right back into the smoke. Ethan attempted to pick himself up and only succeeded in sucking up a mouthful of smoke, sending him into a coughing fit that left him unable to predict another blow to his back. Once again he was face down against the floor, helpless against any and all attacks. By sheer luck, he flipped himself over just as he heard something slamming into the floor he had just been lying on. Through the dissipating smoke, he could see it.
It was badly burnt and battered. Many of its 'body parts' were missing, the force holding its remaining fragments together seemingly weakening by the second. But it stood in front of Ethan, alive. It appeared as if it would fall apart at any second, but it didn't need all that much time to achieve its goal anyway.
Ethan's hand flew to his side, only to find that it gripped only air. He took a step back, slowly distancing himself from the advancing mequta. How is this thing still alive?! He grew more panicked by the second. Has everything we've done up until now been for nothing? This can't be…
It was shifting. In front of him, a giant fist took shape. This time, he was truly defenceless. Fear screamed at his body to run, yet fear also kept him rooted on the site of his grave. No! This can't be the end! He screamed in his mind, but in the end all he could do was raise his arm as it rushed towards him–
And a loud boom rattled through the floor, causing Ethan to trip backwards. Slowly he opened his eyes, his arm falling to his side. Standing in front of him was an earthen spire lightly pulsing with an amber glow. Stunned, Ethan thought to glance back after a while. Itto crouched behind him, palm planted on the ground.
All around, fragments picked themselves up and shot towards the heavens. Nothing remained of the enemy they had fought.
Only then did Ethan notice the sunlight streaming in from all around as the rest of the smoke cleared. The warehouse had been partly destroyed, large chunks of the roof and walls gone while scorch marks stretched along the parts that still remained. Cargo and containers lay strewn all over, looking like a typhoon had just raged through the area.
Considering what had just happened, it might as well have been that.
Slowly, his disorientation dispersed along with the smoke, and he remembered Itto crouching somewhere behind him. Ethan whirled around, but Sara was already there berating him for putting himself in danger again. Hu Tao emerged from somewhere behind Ethan, both her and the purple-haired archer thankfully unhurt by the explosion.
There was undoubtedly an air of euphoria in the destroyed warehouse, even if no one said much.
"They're over here!" someone shouted. From an intact doorway entered a squad of robed mages, led by Instructor Xiao himself.
"You four," he started. Then he narrowed his eyes. "You two," he said, pointing to Sara and Hu Tao, "appear to be fine. But Moss and Arataki will need medical attention. We need to get them back to Azka as soon as possible."
"You think? Gah!" Itto kneeled over and clutched his wound, trying to walk quickly to Xiao.
"Don't push yourself, Itto," Xiao said in the most reassuring voice he could muster, which was to say almost not at all. 'Your body is not in a good shape."
Both Ethan and Itto were suddenly immobilised and floated up in the air. They must have administered some sort of anaesthesia or used that sleeping spell they had cast on him on his first day in Azka as he felt his eyelids droop and all his energy leaving his limbs. There was nothing to do but slowly drift off to sleep, into the empty void of his mindscape…
So, that's the end of this mission. What did you guys think of it? Did it make any sense at all? Did my description of warehouses and shipping containers make sense either?
Well anyway, since I'm not getting another chapter out before the 28th, HAPPY THIRD ANNIVERSARY GENSHIN! I can't believe I've been playing this game for 3 years. It feels like I had only just heard about that one anime Breath of the Wild ripoff.
It definitely isn't anything like BoTW now though. They've added so much cool stuff and lore. Which is why I'm writing fanfiction in the first place. I'm looking forward to 4.1 as well. Probably going to roll for Neuvillette on his first rerun though. Gotta get Furina and Arlecchino first.
So that's it for this chapter. See you in the next one!