"Freya!! You there Freya, Tanya come in!" Called a desperate voice, one that belonged to none other than Hunter. He sounded serious, he never sounds serious.
"We're here Hunt, what's going on? Are you guys ok?" I returned as Tanya and Selene turned back to look at me, realising I had paused to answer the call.
"There was a quake, didn't you feel it? Mal had fallen into a ravine, he says he's fine but might've broken his ankle, I think we're going to need your help, getting him out." He informed us. Showing exactly what I'm feeling, Tanya's face clouds with concern for our friend. I glanced at Selene, she simply nodded and then disappeared from our sight.
It took a minute to register the fact that she was gone and another to realise she had just gone back into our minds.
"I will not distract you! Save your friend!" Was all we heard from the chimes of her musical voice. I looked at Tanya once again, she just shrugged and motioned for me to answer the guys panicked call.
"We're on our way, probably about an hour out! Are you sure you guys are right for the time being?" I asked the main prominent question in my mind.
"Yeah we're good! Clear line of sight in all directions, but Mal says his leg hurts bad, Tanya we'll need your expertise for sure." Hunter requested as Tanya came closer and grabbed the radio bringing it closer to her mouth. I pushed the call button so they could hear her.
"Don't worry guys we'll hustle, is he bleeding? If so make sure he puts pressure on the wound."
She instructed.
"You guys know how to make a splint right?" She asked as we made our way back.
"Yep! He's already done it and no bleeding aside from a few cuts from the fall. Alan is seeing if there's a way down to him but the area surrounding the ravine is covered in sharp, jagged rocks, I've called it in to base camp and told them what has happened. They ordered us back, two of us are to escort Mal back to the jeep and head to base camp, the other two are to pack up camp and wait for pick up." Hunter relayed the orders to us which we acknowledged.
"No worries Hunter just stay alert no telling what creatures heard you, we'll be there as soon as we can over and out." I ended the call and looked to Tanya for the agreement of increasing our speed, which she gave.
We had decided to take a short cut, through the stream which according to the locator in the guys packs, suggests we would cut our time in half, but a sound echoed in the trees which made us pause, bang followed by a voice.
"Whoa watch it! That stuff is more valuable than your life, now pick up the pace, we can't be here when the science teams start to branch out! Otherwise bossman will have my head." Ordered a voice which turned out to be the man my father hated with a burning passion.
I nudged Tanya, pointing to the bushes on the far side.Hoping to stay out of sight we tucked in behind. As we secured our position, I took notice of the man father seems to despise. His choppy, short hair tucked into a douchey man bun. His tanned skin glistened with sweat as he wiped his brow, doing this caused the muscles of his uncovered arm to shift and flex with the movement. As he continued to order the men who I just recognised as the ones with him at base camp, I couldn't help but think that he seemed like a run-of-the-mill asswipe, my father usually doesn't give those punks the time of day, he's cordial even.
Danny Brooks why does my father hate you so much? What could you have done? These questions swirled in my mind I almost forgot to take note of the rocks he was ordering his men to shift into the crates stacked beside them. I felt a nudge at my side and turned to face Tanya. Her hands moved in a swift patterned motion which I recognised as sign language, a version we made up ourselves. We were certain it would come in handy, guess we were right.
"Frey, we cannot stay here, we must get back to the guys Mal needs us. We must go!" I nodded in acknowledgment before grabbing my camera and taking a photo of what we see, I'll show it to mum and dad when we return.
We waited a moment, to be sure they weren't looking our way before back tracking silently. I saw them head towards the mountains, why are they here and why don't they want to get caught here? As soon as we were sure they couldn't hear us anymore we booked it, taking an alternate root to the guys, we were about 15 minutes out when Selene popped up out of no where. So much for not distracting us.
"Selene... gah please stop doing that? What are you doing? Whatever it is we don't have time." I put my metaphorical foot down and tried to continue but she was having none of that.
"No it's urgent! I sense them!" She replied desperation coating her every word.
"Sense who?" Tanya asked, I noted that she didn't seem to actually want to know the answer.
"The Schade!" Her voice sounding even more ominous than when she first told us of the 'Shadows'
"The what?" I questioned growing more antsy the longer we took.
"The Schade, creatures made of Sroduv umak darkness. It's how they infected the lands so quickly back then. They bore their way through a planet, moulding themselves to it. You can feel them too it's why you're so anxious.
If a being or creature were to cross through, they would be trapped, locked in tortuous state between our realm and theirs. Even if they made it out, they would carry a sickness which would drain the life out of them.
The 'Schade' allow the Xiyhuhek to keep a foothold in this realm, leeching off the planets like a parasite." As she spoke a shiver ran down my spine and disgust stole my thoughts.
"Close your eyes, breathe in slow and deep, feel the warmth around you." She ordered, I was confused but not wanting to argue and cause further delay, we did as she asked.
"Good now look for pockets of cold, not just cold but ice cold." Her voice tinged as chimes as she walked us through. My mind searched and before I realised I had found it and so had Tanya. About 2 km from our location, a km by km in width and size. It felt like a void, like nothing would survive if we crossed it, but it was in our path to the guys and there was no other way through.
"I see it, I... sense it. Oh god! We can't cross that!" Stated Tanya, worried setting in her features. I turned to Selene and silently asked if there is anything we can do. Her eyes looked sorrowful as though it hurt her to speak.
"It's too soon, if you try it, it could burn you out and you would be at even greater risk for self-destruction." Her replied her eyes pleading with us to not make her reach us.
But Tanya and I had already made up our minds. The boys may not be in immediate danger but things in those situations can take drastic turns and we can't let that happen to them.
Our eyes set on hers, telling her there's no way out.
"No! I'm supposed to protect you, train you, if you do this there is a very good chance you could die. I cannot do it, you're too important." She argued, turning away from us.
"Selene, you live inside our minds, you've seen who we are! You know we wont leave our friends behind." I reminded her, she shifted her stance slightly, turned her head to face us in a side ways glance.
"Yeah besides, if this 'Schade' you speak of acts like a virus, doesn't that mean it could or would spread, wouldn't it be harder to control if it's allowed to, maybe while it's like this; localised, perhaps we can get rid of it without causing too much harm to us." Argued Tanya, making a pretty good point I must say. Selene seemed to agree as she let out a sigh in defeat and nodded, letting us know she'll help us.
Didn't take long to find, we came to a halt at the border, I stared deep into the void. My mind stuck, heart racing. This place is the stuff of nightmares, of my nightmares.
"I don't understand how did this even get here?" Questioned Tanya eyes set on the darkness ahead. It surely was a strange sight to behold. Tall magnificent trees stood proud before us but these trees were off, so was the grass below it and the bushes around it.
My sight moved to the boarder and lo and behold what Tanya suggested was true, the edges were creeping out, instead of the edge of a typical shadow, it was like tendrils, small ones barely perceptible but they were there. Moving outward slowly but surely, it was true they would infect the land and all within it.
I looked around the area, this strange voidance that encapsulated this place seemed to only stretch so far up as the light of the sun seemed to reflect around it like a dome. The bush was too thick on either side but you could tell, this whatever it was went further and deeper than we could see with human eyes.
"The portal! The one I spoke of ! It must be here, the Xiyhuhek releases this plague when it appears on a planet." Selene answered the question with a strange indifference as if this is just one of the many things that make up a day for her.
"So whenever the portal appears over a planet the Xi... xiy... you know what I'm just gonna call it X. X releases this plague, why haven't we heard of it before?" I asked as I studied the darkness, ignoring my fumble Selene answered my question.
"It's actually rare for it to appear over a planet, but when it does, it feeds and continues to feed until the whole planet is engulfed. It's only appeared on one planet in this realm in the last hundred years." Selene looked distressed as she looked towards the darkness, it was as though I could feel her anxiety rolling off of her in waves and it intensified the longer she stared.
"Guys are you almost here? Mal isn't looking too good, I think the pain is getting to him and his foot looks worse if that even possible." Hunters voice carried from the radio in my back pocket, knocking us out of our little joint anxiety attack.
I blinked a couple times and then looked down as I went to grab the radio but realised we were closer to the border than we should've been, I grabbed Tanya instead and took a massive jump back.
"Whoa! We weren't that close what happened?" Tanya asked grabbing the radio from my back pocket and answering Hunters call as I looked at Selene for an answer.
"Yeah sorry guys had to take a bit of a detour but just hang in there, get Mal to keep monitoring his vitals, should keep him alert, any luck getting down to him?" She asked checking her watch and given me a look that said 'we gotta do this now!'.
"Will do and yeah Alan found a spot to repel down he's almost to the bottom but we'll need you guys to help get him out." He informed us.
"We'll get to as soon as we can! Hang in there guys!" She replied ending the call and handing the radio back to me.
"Alright well if we gotta do this now Selene, we're out of time. Tell us what to do!" I all but demanded, ok I demanded a little and I could tell she wasn't happy about the situation at all.
"Ykouhek, give me strength! I just had to choose the stubborn ones." Her voice chimed as she released a frustrated breath, grabbed our arms and moved us into position in front of the border. She moved her hands in a 'wait here motion!' And then poof she was gone but before we could move to look for her I felt a hand on my shoulder, I turned to my side and saw her other one on Tanya's.
"Alright, so stretch out your arms and when I tell you to.... Not before... kneel down and place your hands on the ground half way into the Schade." She instructed but I swear I could feel her desperation to just grip our shoulders and take off, but she didn't instead she continued.
"Now I need you to close your eyes, the same as you did with the crystal; breathe in and out slow, deep breaths, feel the warmth of the sun surround you, the energy of the forest, the life in it fill you." We did as she asked and as we did it was like I could feel every molecule, every atom, like I was linked to the soul of the planet and had its energy flowing through me, I couldn't help but take a gasp at the sheer power of it.
I didn't have to open my eyes to know Tanya was feeling what I was, I could feel her emotions as though they were my own; her awe, her fear, her anxiety. I could feel it all as if we were one person and not just her but Selene as well, her mind was melded to ours, in that moment we were one.
"Now kneel and do as I said, as you place your hands to the ground envision yourself releasing that energy, back into the planet." We did it just as she asked, I could feel the coldness of the Schade, the overwhelming need to consume everything, consume me/us but I wasn't afraid like I was in my nightmares, no because I wasn't alone and I wasn't powerless.