A Bridge Between (romancerper & AndrewS)

[AndrewS]

Volume I: Fates Intertwining

"You are not permitted to make the journey with us. I'm sorry, my son, but this is beyond what can be expected of you and I will not allow it."

Four engines fired in unison, one quartet amongst many. As they whirred to life with a pulse of energy, the wave they emitted beneath hoisted the craft it carried into the air, allowing it to hover just a foot above the cold, steel floor it had been resting upon. Inside, nestled between tightly packed crates of cargo and supplies, was somebody who shouldn't be there. Arc Devereaux was the son of Kaiden Devereaux, the man overseeing an organized effort known as Operation Connector. Designed by the brains behind the Ira Interdimensional Research Division, Operation Connector was designed as a risky, Hail-Mary in hopes to save a dying world and Arc was not invited on it's maiden journey.

His father wasn't much of a father, all things considered, and it showed.

Tasked with overcoming an insurmountable, self-inflicted problem, Kaiden threw himself into his work to the point where he had all but alienated his family life. Though Arc tried whatever he could to get his father's attention, nothing ever seemed to work. Even now, as the IIRD, and Kaiden, prepared to set off on an unknown journey in which there was a high chance they would never return, Mr. Devereaux seemed unflinching in his resolve and his wholehearted dedication to his cause. Arc wanted to come with him, to be with his father, to explore another world together, but he was promptly declined the option without as much as a chance to argue his case.

So, naturally, Arc snuck himself on board one of the transports, unbeknownst to his father and the rest of the IIRD. Nobody said he was wise.

~~~

The planet of Ira is one of many within a vast universe, but Ira was special. At the center of the beautiful, Earth-like rock they called home, was something more than a molten core. Ira housed a cosmic being known as a Celest. Sleeping within the planet, their Celest was a boundless source of energy and mana that shifted the way their society functioned when the people of Ira discovered they could manipulate it. The Celest's blessing had granted their world life. It was the reason for the green of the trees and the purity of the water. It was the architect of every stone structure and the nurturer of human life itself. But it was also a battery, a power source they thought to be limitless, and through it came advancement. In just a hundred years, with it's strength, Ira had developed a world based on technology and magic, marrying the two in a unison that pushed their technology and capabilities far beyond where natural evolution would have taken it. They learned ambition, knowledge, ingenuity...

But moderation was not one of them.

After the engineers and scientists of Ira had discovered the existence of another planet with a Celest, they had begun to monitor it from afar. Finding that it was very similar to Ira itself, they called it Mira, as though it were a mirror of their world, and kept tabs on it from across space, establishing the IIRD to monitor it should it become a threat as it too seemed to have a Celest. The problem with their advancement was that they did not believe there to be a limit to the energy they could extract from their Celest and they had overdrawn. Ira's Celest was beginning to weaken, and with it, their connection to it's power and the quality of life. Suddenly, plants began to wither and animal population begin to dwindle. Rivers seemed to rush a little slower, their water losing some of it's natural clarity. Their world was dying, slowly, with the decline of their Celest and, one day, it would probably cease to exist at all.

To rectify their fatal mistake, Project Connector was developed, spearheaded by a four person team led by Arc's father, Kaiden. The design of their mission was easy, the technical part was the problem. Project Connector's purpose was to travel to Mira and establish a tether between their Celest and the Celest of Ira, connecting them together. Through this tether, they would use this other world's mana to revitalize their own, saving their planet. While this was presented as a beneficial relationship, the true, darker nature of the decision was kept a secret from all but the four in charge. This was not a tether, it was a syphon. Kaiden and the IIRD were planning to doom Mira to restore their own, to fix their mistakes, damning an entire, innocent world to death simply for being similar enough to their home that they could exploit it's power.

Arc Devereaux was not aware of this on the day that he smuggled himself on board one of the fifteen transports set to travel between worlds.

~~~

A large, circular gate had been built within the IIRD's research labs. It came to life with blue energy pulsating around the ring, creating a solid wall of matter that seemed to be moving, almost as though it were both solidified and liquid at once. It was the maiden voyage of the IIRD, and perhaps their only, but it was a feat of technical engineering beyond anything they had ever accomplished. But it had also drained even more of the Celest's energy in the process. This was their one chance; if this didn't work, they had only doomed themselves father, but for it to succeed, they would essentially be swapping their misery out for that of another.

The first transport, the one with Kaiden and his advisors, was the first to breach through the wall, disappearing on the other side as if pulled through it like a vacuum. One-by-one, the others joined. Arc held on to a nearby, strapped down cargo crate to brace himself as the entire vehicle shook from the turbulence before coming to a stand still. After a minute or two, the door at the back began to descend, letting in the natural light of the world they had arrived in. The air felt different, as it breached into the transport vessel, it felt cleaner, untouched. Soldiers in protective suits stepped inside and immediately began to offload what they had brought with them. Arc tried to remain hidden at the back, but there was nowhere he could really hide and he was spotted without as much of a chance as escaping. It was fine, though, he knew he would be caught...but he also knew there was no return trip until their mission had been complete. His father had no choice but to keep him here.

He was grabbed by both arms, practically dragged out of the vehicle, until the guards were accosted by a woman with blonde hair. Arc recognized her but he didn't know her name. She was one of the most trusted officers within the IIRD's military division. They let up, being a little more gentle, though they nudged him outside. Arc's blue eyes took a moment to adjust to the light, looking around in awe. They had touched down in a beautiful, lush forest. The sky was a brilliant cerulean and nature seemed unblemished, save for the damage they had caused with their arrival, and the unloading of their equipment.

"You're not going to be happy about this, sir." The blonde-haired woman spoke, a precursor to the sound of footsteps trudging across the dirt into Arc's direction.

"Explain yourself." Came his voice, gruff and tired. His father looked as though he hadn't gotten so much as an hour of sleep in weeks.

"I got...lost?" Arc asked, faking laughter. His father was less than impressed.

"No, you were foolish. I told you that you were not permitted to join us and yet, you defied my wishes."

"You never told me why I couldn't come. I wanted to help. I wanted to see Mira, to be a part of saving our world." Arc reasoned, shaking his head, a hint of sadness in his tone as he felt his father's judgmental glare bore through him.

Kaiden paused for a moment, as if trying to decide how to deal with the situation. "...Arc, I have much to do. We will discuss this later. For now, you are under Ms. Maxwell's watch." He looked towards the blonde woman and she gave him a quick salute, not expecting such a burden to be placed upon her.

"Y-yes, sir. Leave it to me."

Kaiden began to walk away. Arc took a few steps forward to try and stop his father, but was interrupted by the woman who stood in front of him. Arc looked at her, curiously. She was definitely one of their higher ranked officers, yet she didn't look like a soldier, and she couldn't have been more than twenty years old. Her features were soft, her eyes were kinder than he'd expect from a soldier and, most of all, she seemed a little nervous about the duty that had been given to her. Arc wasn't sure she would be stern enough to keep him on a leash the way his father wanted.

"Stop right there." She told him, shaking her head. "You heard Mr. Devereaux, you are to remain underneath my watch, understood?"

Good luck with that.

"Yeah, I understand." Arc told her, with a fake nod.

"Good. Now, let's find a way for you to make yourself useful and to keep you out of trouble while Mr. Devereaux finishes overseeing camp set-up..."

 

[romancerper]

"Something's coming."

Those two words had startled Callaia, not only because the tone in which they were said was rather ominous, but also because her mother had been deep into her meditative practice before her pale blue eyes had shot open, lips parting to allow the warning to slip from them. Her daughter had been in the midst of braiding her light brown hair--never having been one to enjoy meditating--but she liked to keep her only family company in the evenings before retiring to bed; this was the first time she had seen her parent jolt from her relaxed state, immediately getting to her bare feet and crossing the room. She sunk onto one of the cushions surrounding a short wooden table, her thin fingers scrambling through the pile of aging parchment on its surface.

Concern heavy on her tanned brow, Callaia approached her the older woman, the beginnings of her long braid forgotten as it slowly came undone behind her. "What is it, Mother?"

"The Celest. They showed me a vision." The silver-haired woman didn't even look up from her task, her usually composed expression becoming more and more panicked by the minute. The look certainly aged her, her silver brows pinching together, causing wrinkles to form between them as well as above them. "Do you recall the dream I told you about, Callaia? The one I told you to never speak a word of to anyone else?"

How could she forget? Several lunar cycles ago, her mother had woken from that nightmare--the more accurate term to describe what the silver-haired woman had experienced--in a cold sweat, practically hysterical. Callaia had been terrified, seeing her only parent in such a state; she didn't know what to do other than to hold her until she had finally calmed down. And when she finally did, eyes red and cheeks damp with her tears, she had explained what she saw with a voice hoarse from what must have been hours of screaming and sobbing in her child's embrace: "The Celest--They were gone. I watched Them fade into nothingness. Our home was barren. People were dying from illness and starvation. There was hardly any water..."

The picture she pained had stolen several nights of precious sleep from Callaia, making her toss and turn beneath the warmth of her blanket, and every time she closed her eyes, she only saw the vivid horrors her mother had described to her. The end of their planet. The end of their existence. It weighed heavily on her thoughts, and yet, she could not tell a soul; she had promised that she never would.

"I think what I saw must be connected," the older woman said, beginning to grow impatient to the point she was throwing the pieces of parchment about. "They showed me the stars, one in particular. Only, it wasn't a star. At first, I thought They were showing me our home, and while this place looked similar, it was different."

Callaia's mother was considered the High Priestess among their people. She was the only one among them that could actually communicate with their life force and deity, a being they had entitled "The Celest". Since she was just a child, the High Priestess was gifted with visions of the past and future, and every prediction the Celest had sent to her had come true, regardless of what it was. For that reason, the governing council looked to her before making any decisions, and when she had grown into her adolescent years, they had made her a permanent member. She was, after all, The Celest's prophet, Their way of communicating with the people they so generously gave life.

"I must see a map of the night sky."

Her mother was close to tears now, having gone through every single page that had littered the table, and worried that she might actually burst into a fit of frustrated sobbing, her daughter moved closer to her, hazel eyes scanning the scattered parchment for anything that resembled a map. Her eye caught on a dark oval, likely painted with ink, on a somewhat large piece of paper. She bent down, scooping it up with one hand before holding it between both to better study it.

"Is this what you were looking for?" she wondered aloud, turning the image around for the High Priestess to see.

Crystalline blue eyes meandered from where they stared at the light wood of the table to the parchment being shown to them. At first, the silver-haired woman didn't recognize it, but after staring at it a moment longer, she jumped to her feet, snatching the paper from her child. "That's it, Callaia, my darling!" Her mirth-filled gaze went from the map to the brunette's face. "Oh, what would I ever do without you?" She lifted a warm palm and brought it to her daughter's left cheek, thumb stroking the smooth, tan skin for a moment before all focus shifted to the picture in her grasp.

Her mother's praise was never to be taken lightly, and as Callaia watched her walk off, out of the small lounge that was part of their home at the temple, she pondered the rhetorical question. These days, she felt the High Priestess did too much without her.

---

"You look utterly exhausted," was the first thing out of Samha's mouth, earning her a glare from her best friend. Immediately, she put up her hands in a gesture meant to placate, a sheepish smile stretching her thin lips. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I point it out because I worry."

Callaia sighed, tossing her braid over her shoulder as if it were a piece of rope. "I know, Samha. I'm sorry. I've just had a lot on my mind recently, and it's been affecting my ability to rest."

Next to her, the ebony-skinned woman was in the middle of removing several fish from her spear, placing them all in the woven basket sitting in the grass between them. "It's hard being the High Priestess' daughter. I can't imagine the pressure, and I'm one of the councilmen's children."

That was true. Samha was the youngest of seven, but there was a large age gap between herself and her youngest sibling. Being the baby in a family that was already mostly comprised of grown adults, she had to look elsewhere for friends, and who better than the daughter of a fellow council member? She and Callaia had been friends since they were young children, having spent most of their days running about the temple grounds or swimming within the many reflecting pools. They used to spend their afternoons out in the garden, near the waterfall; in fact, their secret base was in the small cave hiding behind the wall of streaming water. Many would describe them as "attached at the hip" and thankfully, Callaia's mother didn't seem to mind so much that Samha would often bring out the more adventurous side of her daughter. The two were always up to some sort of mischief, but no matter what trouble they would inevitably find themselves in, Callaia's mother was always there, with a charming smile and honey-sweetened words, to bail them out.

"I just...I feel like I don't really do anything," Callaia admitted, bending her knees beneath her so that she may rest her chin upon them. Her hazel eyes, almost green in the way they reflected their lush surroundings, were trained on her friend, who was currently turning towards the water's edge again, intent on gathering a few more fish from the river. "As the High Priestess' daughter, I would have thought I'd be having visions by now. My mother has been communicating with The Celest for as long as she could remember, and yet..."

"Perhaps there is a reason," Samha suggested, her gaze never leaving that of the crystal clear water in front of her. Her muscled arm was bent, spear poised for the attack. "Have you talked to your mother about it?"

"I have, but it never goes anywhere. She just tells me that my concern is unnecessary."

"Well, maybe she knows something, but she can't tell you yet," her friend reasoned before moving as quick as lightening, her spear breaching the surface of the river over and over until three fish were impaled upon it. Success.

"I suppose that's possible, but in the mean time, I would like to do more."

"Callaia." The last syllable of her name was stretched out in Samha's annoyance. She angled her head back, irises rolling once around the orbit of her almond-shaped eyes before landing on the young woman keeping her company. "You do a lot. You cook all your mother's meals and tidy up after her and you're an extremely gifted healer. There isn't a plant in this world that you don't know the healing properties of, and if there is, you won't stop studying it until you know how to use it for our benefit."

Her friend stared at her silently for a moment, a hint of a smile tugging on the corners of her heart-shaped mouth. "Flatterer."

"I do my best." Samha chuckled, removing the last of her kills for the afternoon and placing them in the basket with the rest. "C'mon. If you want to make yourself more useful, help me with one of these baskets."

It was Callaia's turn to roll her eyes, but she still got up from her perch, walking over to one of the fish-filled containers and hoisting it up into her arms with a soft grunt. Samha soon joined her with the other basket, her spear clean of any flesh or blood and strapped to her back, and the two made their way back to the village, The Celest's temple looming over it in the distance.

 

[AndrewS]

Arc watched a pair of scientists, under guidance from a woman with brown hair and big, round glasses, combed through dirt and stone, chipping away pieces from the various rock formations to run tests on. Accompanying them were a pair of guards from the IIRD's military unit, but they hadn't spoken a single word since they had arrived. Tasked with accompanying them to 'make himself useful', Arc mostly observed, occasionally chipping in when they needed a hand moving something heavy or breaking away a piece of stone that they wanted to test. This wasn't exactly what he thought he'd be doing in a new, unknown world, but maybe if he could prove that he belonged, his father wouldn't dismiss him anymore and actually allow him to explore Mira with the rest of his people.

Or, he fell asleep on the job from boredom.

He started wandering around the outskirts of the small valley they had settled in. Everything felt so different, yet similar. The air was the same as the air he breathed in Ira, but it felt cleaner. The grass and the flowers looked much the same but, somehow, greener. Even the stones seemed to have a different make up than what he was used to, something echoed by the scientists who continued to plug away at their machines and equipment. The bespectacled woman had a small, ruby crystal in her hand. It seemed to shimmer, with an energy bouncing around inside of it's confines. She was fascinated by it, holding it up to the light, checking to see how it behaved when she moved it around.

Arc got a little closer as well, just in time to watch the crystal begin to glow. It started to burn her hand and she quickly dropped it to the dirt. It clattered and bounced with energy a couple of times before lying dormant again, sizzling into the ground. Suddenly, it felt like they were no longer alone.

A white head popped out of a nearby hole, it's long, fluffy ears twitching as it looked back and forth. It scrambled out of it's burrow and revealed itself to be nothing more than a larger-than-normal bunny rabbit, the same as what they would have seen on their own world. It didn't stay that way, however. The animal began to shake and twitch and then, suddenly, shift. Arc watched in horror, alongside the scientists, as it's body began to deform, bones cracking and breaking as they took on a new form. Claws began to protrude from it's paws, it's teeth sharp and it's eyes a terrifying crimson. It began to sprint straight towards one of the scientists, only to be repelled by fire from a guard's weapon.

At the bottom of the firearm was a small, circular cannister, one that seemed to swirl with a similar energy. The IIRD had commissions weapons using what they had called Mana Cores, energy derived straight from their planet's Celest. In this case, however, the magically-imbued ammunition seemed to have little effect on the twisted creature. The guard lifted the viewfinder up to his eye and fired again, the projectiles hitting the creature's fur but doing no damage. Worse yet was the fact that more rabbits were beginning to climb out of holes all around them, undergoing a similar, chilling transformation.

Teeth met Kevlar, piercing through with a bite and a crunch, as a leaping rabbit grasped onto the nearest guard, bringing him down to the ground. The other armed man smacked at it with the end of his rifle upon realizing bullets weren't going to work.

"Hey, watch out!" Arc called, trying to warn him as two more transformed rabbits latched on to the guard's legs, biting and gnawing, bringing him down to his knees in pain. "Run!" He yelled to the scientists, who were already beginning to move without needing to be told, leaving their research behind in a frantic dash back towards the direction they came from, towards camp. By the time Arc had started running, trying to leave behind the nightmarish sounds from behind him, he found the path forward blocked by two more rabbits, both staring at him like he was to become their dinner.

 

[romancerper]

Callaia could have walked the way back to the temple from the river blindfolded and not have had any issue. She, like Samha and the rest of her people, knew the vast forest as well as they knew their own streets. They were raised among these trees, and the vast plant life not only provided food; they used the wood of dying trees to make furniture, the rock and clay to make stone with which they constructed their shelters, and herbs to heal the wounded and sick. Without the many natural gifts The Celest afforded them, Mira's people would not be able to survive, and they did their best to give back. The forest stayed vast because they grew what they took; every tree cut down was replaced with a sapling, and every plant they harvested was replaced with a seedling.

The Miran people showed their gratitude by building a temple and worshiping their life-source, their deity. Every night, they would pay their respects before sleeping, and every morning, they would ask for Their blessing. Callaia's mother facilitated all of this. She accepted the Mirans' thanks, their prayers, their offerings because The Celest had no physical connection to Their world beyond her.

When she thought on it too long, Callaia realized it was a bit strange that she and her mother were the ones to accept gifts, both non-material and material, from the people they were meant to serve. Her mother had always explained it as an expression of gratitude for her role as a liaison between people and deity, and not sure what else to make of it, her daughter simply accepted that that was the way things were. They had been long before her, after all.

Still, life wasn't always easy. There were many dangers that The Celest could not protect them from, or, perhaps, allowed to happen for reasons unknown. They had always had predators of whom they had to be wary of outside the safe city limits, but in the passed few days, there had been reports of odd sightings outside the safety of the city limits. Creatures that had, until now, been known to be rather passive, uninterested in humans or even scared of them, were now behaving like threatened predators. One such report had been given to the High Priestess, in fact, and Callaia had been present to hear about the whole encounter. Apparently, the man had been out with his young son, teaching him the differences between poisonous and non-poisonous plants when they happened across a deranged-looking deer.

Her mother had assured him that the poor animal was likely just diseased--this wasn't the first time they had seen an illness among the natural creatures of their planet--but Callaia knew her mother well. The older woman had a nervous tick, a very slight twitch in her left hand when she wasn't totally sure of what she was saying. The High Priestess was aware of this tell, and often, she held her left hand with her right when she was anticipating it.

Callaia had a sneaking suspicion that the issue with the animals was likely tied to the other worries plaguing her mother lately, but beyond what had happened the other day with the star map, the High Priestess didn't speak of her issues with her daughter. Hence, the feeling like she was doing nothing to help her mother or her people.

"Did you hear that?"

Samha abruptly stopped, deep brown eyes moving to the thick canopy above them. Callaia stopped a few feet in front of her, turning slightly to look at her friend. They both remained silent for a moment, ears straining to pick up any sound other than the usual noise of the forest.

Then, a sudden and very human scream.

Both women's heads turned in the direction of the shout before they abandoned their baskets of fish and ran off the known path. The forest was thicker here, and it took some maneuvering, but as they got closer and closer to whatever had uttered the terror-ridden sound, it became more and more obvious that there wasn't just one person possibly under attack.

Callaia didn't know what she had been expecting when she and Samha rushed into the small clearing, but it hadn't been this. She barely had any time to register the odd clothes these people were wearing or the foreign equipment they carried. In that moment, all that mattered was that they were people, and they obviously needed help. Her hazel eyes shot to the first white-furred, bushy-tailed monster she saw and instinct took over. In one fluid movement, she pulled an arrow from the quiver on her back and took aim. Within the span of a few seconds, two of the mutated beasts were shot dead.

She glanced at the man she had just saved briefly before preparing another arrow and rushing over to Samha's side. Her friend was currently trying to kill several of these odd creatures at once with her spear, and off to the side, Callaia could see a woman, clad in strange clothing, about to be attacked by two other monsters.

"What in the seven moons are these things?" Samha questioned, wincing as she kicked one of her attackers off her dandle-clad leg and pierced it with her spear. She wiped the glowing-blue blade against the grass before spinning around to kill another.

"I don't know," Callaia responded, sending one, two more bolts into the air, both meeting their targets spot-on. "This is my first time seeing them."

It was then that both women's eyes were drawn to the sight of a little bunny rabbit emerging from a hole in the ground. As it exited its home, it's body began to contort, muscles and bones straining in ways that nearly made Callaia sick to her stomach. Being the closer of the two Mirans to the creature, she brought out a hand to keep Samha from coming closer. "I don't want to kill this one. We'll bring it back to the High Priestess alive."

Without any protest from her companion, the tanned woman shot the transformed rabbit twice, each arrow taking out a leg. The poor thing cried out in pain, the sound enough to make Callaia hesitate with the second bolt, but then, the monster started to charge her despite its injury. The second arrow to its other leg had been enough to stop it, and seizing her opportunity, Callaia walked over to it, wrapping one hand around both of the thing's ears to lift it from the ground.

"I think that's the last of them," Samha said softly, eyes scanning the field for anymore fuzzy balls of terror. All that remained were the two Miran females and...well, the people they had just saved.

 

[AndrewS]

Arc found himself going through such a wide range of emotions in such a short while that it practically gave him whiplash. Confusion gave way to fear and fear quickly circled back around to confusion. He tried to find reason in what he was witnessing, but there was no time for rational thought when his life was at risk. Both armed guards had been taken care of, leaving their weapons in the dirt, but Arc had witnessed them have no effect, so it wasn't even worth the effort trying to scramble back to a gun that wouldn't be able to save him. The scientists had managed to put some distance between them, but for Arc, there was nowhere to go but forward and that path was interrupted by the two, deranged creatures that stood in his path.

Confusion gave way to acceptance. He was going to die here.

His decision to stow away on the transport was one made with perhaps too much haste. He was in over his head, in a world where he didn't below; a world that clearly didn't want him here, and now, he was staring down proof of the reasoning why his father didn't want him to come. He was useless here. There was nothing he could do to save those men, there was hardly anything he could do to save himself. He watched as rabbits narrowed their crimson eyes upon him and began to move. They stopped just shy of running towards him, their long, drooping ears peaking as if picking up on something before two bolts soared from Arc's peripheral vision, impaling both targets in single, accurate shots.

His eyes met, very briefly, with the source of the attack, but she wasn't the only one. There were at least two others, dressed unlike anything Arc had ever seen, wielding weapons that were comparatively primitive to what had been brought by his father's men and yet, they were succeeding in warding off the attackers in a way his guards could have never been. They appeared to be made of stone, or crystals, not unlike what the scientists had discovered, and those who wielded them worked efficiently despite their dated equipment. It didn't take long until every single rabbit that had transformed had been taken care of, save for the one they seemed intended on keeping.

Some of the scientists had continued to running, but a couple were left behind with Arc, now beneath the gaze of their unexpected saviors. He took a closer look at the woman who had personally saved him, the one who had retrieved the injured rabbit, lifting it by it's ears. Arc was fascinated by what he was witnessing, by these people. They were human, but they weren't from his world. These women were native to Mira, he was making genuine, real contact with somebody from the other side...and they kicked ass!

"H-hey...?" He called out, slowly. He wanted to talk to them, he wanted to thank them, but he didn't know what to say or if he should even really say anything at all. Once they realized where he was from, and why he was under attack in the first place, were they to train their weapons upon him themselves next? Arc's enthusiasm waned as he caught their attention further, his eyes looking past Callaia, though he did not yet know her name. They began to widen as he realized that they were not yet safe. There was a rumble, something was moving beneath the dirt. It began to burrow in and out, it's long, rope-like body snaking in and out of the ground as it propelled itself forward. "Watch out!" He yelled, next, as it reared itself out completely.

It looked like a worm, but it was massive. It had a circular row of jagged, moving teeth wrapping around the head of it's body, and it was lunging directly towards Callaia. Even worse was the fact that there were more on the way, at least two or three additional worm-like aberrations closing in on their position and these were a far cry from some angry rabbits in size and temperament.

As Arc's voice yelled, he felt a warmth fill within his chest. Time itself seemed to come to a crawl, and he looked around himself in utter disbelief. He could count the leaves floating in the air, he could see each piece of dirt, each errant stone, being flung by the worm's emergence as though suspended in the air itself. Green tendrils of energy warped around his body as, in front of him, something began to manifest in the air. It shone a golden light, it formed a rune, or a crest, some sort of symbol or letter that he had never seen before and couldn't understand. Curiously, Arc lifted his hand until it made contact with the floating light, phasing through it. When he did, gold bound with green and the warmth spread until he felt something coursing through his body, pushing at his skin, desperate to exit his veins and be set free. Now, when he moved, he did so as if his body weighed nothing.

Was everything slower or was he just faster?

Testing this strange feeling, Arc deduced that somehow, both were true. Each step and movement he made was framed gold and verdant. He didn't understand what was happening to him but yet, it somehow felt like an instinct, as common to him as breathing or blinking his astonished eyes. So, instinct took over.

Using this otherworldly suspension of the environment around him, Arc strode forward until he reached Callaia. In reality, it must have looked as though he blinked himself from one place to another, but in his perception, he had crossed the distance between where he stood and where she was and had practically tackled her out of the way. As they both hit the dirt, time seemed to move again, the worm landing directly where she had been standing, burrowing itself into the ground. Had she not been moved, surely she would have been shredded by it's teeth, or crushed by the weight of it's body.

Arc looked at her, eyes widened as he tried to figure out what he had done. The symbol shone on the back of his hand, energy pulsating from within it. He could feel it trying to break free, again, and time began to slow once more. A smirk drew across the Irian's face as he swept Callaia's companions to the side lines as well, out of harm's way, as his perception shifted once more to return back to normal, the massive creature sending shards of stone filtering in every which direction. When it slowed again, he walked between the errant stones, approaching the creature to get a closer look. It was definitely some sort of worm, but it's body seemed to be scaled, perhaps from the mutation, meaning it would have been difficult to pierce, even with their crystal weapons. Arc began to wonder if this ability of his was only good for running away, or if it had other, more offensive applications. There was only one way to find out.

He swung his arm, letting the gold and green energy warp the air around the motion. He basically clotheslined the creature, clumsily, but with the energy, and no doubt the momentum supplied by it, he cleaved straight through it's hardened body, cutting it into two distinct halves which, when freed from the ability of his Crest, flopped to the dirt, spewing it's green innards. They writhed for a moment or two before both went rigid, life having been stolen from the worm, leaving his arm covered in the left over goop. He quickly tried to wipe it off, feeling disgusted, barely holding in his stomach churning reaction, but there were two more of these things rapidly approaching and now, the three women who had come to his aid had to have been extremely aware that he was performing acts that should not have been possible by the laws of any world, not just Mira.