Rachel's ears twitched as she listened to the surrounding jungle, still assessing the situation while looking at the camouflaged insect inside Fiona's Wind Prison.
Taliesin talked to Thomson and Cross about returning to Earth to report, making sure they knew the critical information to bring back. Fiona delivered her hot bars to an amused Scarlet and Maria, and the Green Berets around the area were murmuring in their groups, shooting questioning looks back at them. Still, she could tell they were staying alert for dangers in the foliage by the sounds of their muscles and bones.
It's understandable why they're so tense; they've been ordered to stand their ground and wait for something to happen, then we come in and start making plays the moment we land. The creatures themselves don't seem all that important to focus on, but I feel a little antsy about something.
Her ears twitched again; she shifted them in another direction while listening to the creatures' noises miles around them, constantly readjusting the volume.
The insects we encountered appear to be at least one of the top dogs here, but it's not like they don't have competition. That other group just killed the scouting party; they got a distress call out, but the colony has just picked us up as threats … they should be confused, but they're not.
Somehow they're communicating and relaying information swiftly; the warriors are called back, more scouts are on their way, and the parties around the hostile zone are changing locations to gather food. Is all of this decisive decision-making or a natural response to their environment without much thought?
It's clear that the creatures around the area are … Wait a minute, are the insects pushing the larger jungle creatures our way? It's like they're corralling them to move in our direction.
If they are like ants or bees, then the loss of a single warrior is a big deal; a worker isn't, but handling the threat to the colony is an important task. If something is perceived as a threat to honey bees, then they'll throw suicide bombers at it.
It doesn't seem like they care too much about the missing insect. Unless … is it still communicating to the others? They may have long-distance communication with their shifting actions. I'll need to test it; Wind Shell likely distorts sound waves, but what about magnetic or electromagnetic?
She turned her focus back to the insect, walking that way; her shoes made squelching sounds as she made her way through the mud. It wasn't difficult to move, but it did feel like her shoes would pop off at times.
Her advance paused as something else caught her interest; the crystal had changed shape and color. She blinked, a little stunned that she hadn't noticed it before; it was now a three-dimensional right-angled triangle and was a dull cream color. The glow hadn't changed from its mustard yellow. When did … I wasn't looking directly at it, but … there was no sound.
The others first noticed her behavior before the crystal's change.
"What the…" Cross muttered, pointing at the structure.
"When…"
Mind functioning much faster than everyone else's, Rachel cut Taliesin off, head snapping to the cameras positioned around the area. "Let's look at the cameras. We need to know everything the crystal does."
Taliesin cleared his throat before his features set. "Roads, pull up the feeds; Joey, you're on Roads."
"Sir!" both soldiers responded, leaving their posts.
"The rest of you stay sharp; Rachel, Scarlet, are there any hostiles closing in on us?"
Rachel licked her lips, eyeing the crystal suspiciously. "The insects seem to be organized; they appear to be corralling nearby creatures to funnel our way, but it should take them at least fifteen minutes at the pace they're going. I suspect that they might have the means to communicate across long distances to each other."
"It's possible," Thomson whispered. "Insects have multiple ways to talk to one another … magnetic, ultraviolet, sound, scent…"
Scarlet's head moved around the area, Vampiric eyes scanning the jungle. "I see them gathering creatures, Rachel … two points, right?"
"Yeah."
"They're big rhino-looking bugs; the smaller ones just make a run for it, but a few just got killed trying to escape." Her head tilted down. "I don't see anything in the tunnels they were making near us; well, the same ones retreating. Oh—there's a sinkhole to a river about half a mile from here … there's a river going toward the mountains underground—some rocky caves, but I don't see the bugs using it right now."
When she paused, Taliesin muttered, "Can we even get back?"
"That's what I'm concerned about," Rachel said, walking beside him.
"That's some bullshit," Maria grumbled, clearly fighting past the discomfort her body felt. "When the hell did it change?"
"I don't want to be stuck here," Fiona whispered, vision darting to Rachel; the other soldiers made similar remarks.
"We're here mainly for the crystal," Rachel replied, swallowing after a moment. "It's still there, though—let's not jump the gun." Internally, her mind was laced with troubling questions.
This is the third type we've seen. What do they mean? The High Rollings was a bloodbath, and it was shaped like a diamond, tinted dark brown with a faint red glow surrounding it. There must be a reason for the changes. Could it be because we entered?
"Sir," everyone's attention shot to Roads as he jogged over to the Captain, holding a laptop. "It looks like it changed twice, Sir … none of us even noticed it."
"Twice—how's that possible?"
Thomson folded his arms. "Hmm—could it be cognitive distortion?"
She recognized the term from her Psych classes, causing her cheeks to purse. "But for all of us to experience it? It seems a bit unlikely, but if we all expected the crystal to look a certain way, then we could have filtered out its change if there weren't any signs to indicate something was wrong."
Rachel watched the soldier rewind the footage; Scarlet, Fiona, Maria, Thomson, and Taliesin clustered around the laptop in his hands. Joey glanced back every once in a while but kept his eyes scanning the jungle, looking for threats.
Roads brought the recording to a particular time that he'd marked, flipping frame by frame. It was its original color and structure in one frame, while the next, it had changed to a left-angled, dull yellow triangle before changing again, jumping to the right-angled, cream triangle. Both instances showed the change happen instantly, from one frame to another.
"They aren't that far apart," Roads explained. "Changing the cameras—using the same time-stamp, we can see that it was shortly after our new group—Rachel, I think," he continued with her nod, "came through. When—Scarlet, I think—did her … one fear-thing—it changed again."
"How in the hell did we not see that?" Maria asked. "I mean, I saw the crystal, and now that I think about it—I mean, I knew something was different, but it just—I don't even know," she growled. "Is the damn thing playing tricks on us? I don't sense anything wrong with us."
Rachel folded her arms, ears shifting as she heard the insects continue pushing the creatures forward. There were more mutters about how strange the incident was between the others as her mind spun.
Twice … we didn't notice two different changes in its color and shape. I suppose recognizing a right-angle and left-angle shift isn't that big of a deal, but it was an oval before, and the new pointed edges would be hard to miss. It's roughly the same size, though.
Dammit … what if the destination changed? Is it possible? Could the portal shift to new locations with each shape? I swear I saw it as normal not that long ago when they were discussing the change … how did I miss it?
She breathed a sigh of relief upon closer inspection; the image displayed on the other side showed the portable bunker that had been constructed around it but no person inside.
It's still the same destination, but the image itself changed. Before, it showed the parking lot with cars and shopping places. So, it appears that its reflection changes whenever its shape alters. It won't show people on the other side, though.
A three-dimensional right-angled triangle … oval to left-angled to right-angled … what's the catalyst? It could have been us, but it could just as likely be something else entirely. Is it a countdown to some event?
We don't know if the High Rollings crystal changed shapes; if it did, allowing more creatures to come through … maybe even flying ones. If there were flying monsters, then that could have changed the entire equation. I didn't even think about that.
"Sir," Cross muttered. "I'll test it out; I don't want to be stuck here forever, and if that's the case, then it's better we determine if we're in danger sooner than later, right?"
After a moment, Taliesin nodded. "Okay, but Joey, tie a strap to him. I know it'll be forced through, but it could provide him with at least some foothold in case he needs it. We don't know if that image is a trap or anything … We should go through prepared for a fight."
Cross sniffed, checking his weapon with a grave expression. "Got it."
Joey was quick to respond, rushing to the vehicle to grab a strap; after they'd finished, Cross didn't hesitate, running through. The tie continued to feed to the other side until Joey was forced to let go of it. Not soon after, Cross came back with a relieved expression; his strap soon returned with him.
"It's safe, Captain. The crystal's oval-shaped on the other side … the exact same as it was before. Should I make my report?"
Taliesin's nose twisted. "I don't like this, but yeah, go make a report; command needs to know."
Cross untied the strap before running back inside.
Fiona breathed a sigh of relief. "At least we know we can go back."
"Damn scared the … well, not that bad, but still," Maria growled.
"I don't think that's possible anymore," Scarlet giggled. "And eww…"
"It's just an expression—damn," Maria huffed, vision turning to her. "What do you think, Rachel?"
Scratching the base of her ear, Rachel shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. It's concerning, but nothing else has changed. If the crystal on the other side is the same, and it's only this side that's changed, then it certainly raises questions. I just don't see how we can reliably answer them.
"If we can't explain it with the information we have, then we need to do something to gain more. It changed after a bit when we came through, and both sides shifted colors before we even got here. We just don't know. All we can do is move forward and have someone keep an eye on it."
"I was thinking the same thing," Taliesin sighed. "We need to prepare for combat. If the insects are planning on sending basically a cavalry charge at us with these rhino-insects, we'll respond with matching hostility.
"Since we know their plan of attack, it would be best to launch a preemptive strike. We need to send a warning that we can counter anything they try. Crush their resolve to fight back … they certainly seem somewhat intelligent."
He turned to Scarlet. "Can you do that thing you did before? We might be able to see if the color will change again as a side note. If you can quickly go to both sites and fear them away, it would send an even greater message. Not killing them and popping out of thin air shows them we could pop up and destroy them any time we want; it sends a sharp message for them to back off."
Scarlet turned to Rachel for confirmation.
She folded her arms, gazing off into the jungle. "I agree, it would send a good message, but I think we need an even greater threat. Scaring them off is great and buys us time; however, if we were to show up in the middle of their hive and take back some of the equipment they stole, then it would be an even bigger emotional blow."
Taliesin's brow furrowed. "You think you can accomplish that?"
"Without a doubt, Scarlet could do it, but I suspect if she's already thirsty, then she'll need some blood when she returns."
"Right … Vampire. By the way, sunlight should be coming up within the hour from what we've observed."
"That's not good," Scarlet mumbled.
Maria groaned. "Finally!"
Rachel bunched her lips to the side. "Alright, Taliesin, we need to get those blood packs here as soon as possible. Scarlet, go do what you can and scout out a bit in their hive; it's pretty big, right?"
Scarlet nodded. "Yeah, I couldn't see the end of it, and it looks like it continued past the barrier to the southeast. Oh, and I can't actually see beyond the barrier."
"That is important to note," Rachel muttered. "Go scare off the bugs and try to make the rhino-insects run away from the camp … we don't need them trampling the site. Once you've put some fear in the queen or whatever they have, then bring back the equipment through a blood portal; hopefully, we'll have your blood here when you get back. After that, you can take cover in that underwater caving system you saw."
"Leave it to me," Scarlet chimed, dispersing in shadows. The humans shivered around them as Scarlet's Fear Aura reactivated.
"She's not some ancient Vampire, right?" Thomson asked.
"Oh, totally!" Fiona said with such a serious tone even Maria lifted an eyebrow. "She's been hiding in the shadows for centuries, waiting to…"
"Cut the bullshit," Maria huffed. "You're giving me shivers—damn."
"Aww, Maria," Fiona puffed out her cheeks. "I can't believe you were the one that ruined the fun! I thought you'd get a kick out of it."
"So," Taliesin sighed, "she's just like all the other changed people recently?"
"Kind of," Rachel replied with an apologetic smile.
Maria rubbed her neck, releasing a soft moan. "Sorry, Fi, but I'm just not in the mood … I can't wait until the sun hits me. I swear, these moons are killing me!"
"They might be," Rachel whispered low enough so only Fiona and Maria could hear. "And is Fi your new nickname, Fiona?"
"That's not good," Fiona mumbled before her expression brightened. "Yeah! Maria gave it to me, and I really like it."
Raising the volume of her voice, Rachel chuckled, "Taliesin, I think it would be best for Maria to wait inside the vehicle. Would that be alright?"
"Absolutely, if that's what you think is best—is something funny."
Maria stretched her arms high into the air, moaning softly, "That might help, and yeah, there being two damn moons is funny, dammit!"
Fiona rolled her eyes, catching a few soldiers quickly averting their gaze from Maria's curves as the tight fabric stretched. "And me?" she pouted, folding her arms across her thin chest.
Rachel nodded solemnly with understanding, knowing how conscious Fiona must be about her changed size. "I'll need you to question the local population."
"I can do that, but it's going to be tough with Scarlet scaring everything off," Fiona sighed. She shot into the jungle brush to scout out the animals, muttering, "I've been hearing strange shouts about the Azure Frost is coming!"
Azure Frost … are they talking about Fiona? She was using her ice to kill the insects … but that just doesn't seem right...
"You seem like their boss," Taliesin chuckled, watching Maria softly curse as she made her way through the mud to the Humvee.
She shrugged; beginning to feel stiff, she began stretching out. "Less of a boss and more like a strategist. My change gives me some edges in making decisions, and they've grown to trust me. Just so you're aware, we are not under your command; we answer directly to General Dallas."
"I assumed that was the case," he said while eyeing her questioningly. "What—kind of abilities do you have?"
"Some I need to test out," she said with a soft smile, walking toward the nearest trees.
"Be careful," one of the soldiers operating a fifty-caliber machine gun called out to her. "There are claymores around the site over there."
Rachel pursed her lips—her wide field of vision caught sight of the insect; it had just become active, scouting the edges of its wind prison.
How to test its communication abilities? Scarlet's making sure none of the creatures run this way at the moment, Fiona's finding us something to talk to is a bigger priority, and Maria's in a pickle. Her weakness is Lunar Energy, which means with enough of it around, she could be poisoned.
"It's alright," she called back, "I won't be touching the ground."
Right now, I need to test my limits … I'm a bit concerned with how my body will hold up. A smile touched her cheeks again. It'll also be fun to see how this much moonlight affects me.
Bending down, she activated Lunar Step, tensed her muscles, and casually jumped; she launched twenty meters into the air. The wind rushed past her face as she climbed into the sky; glancing around at their surroundings, she realized she wasn't even halfway up the massive sixty-meter tall trees.
Flipping slightly in the air with her launch, she used the second step, the translucent foothold appearing under her left shoe. She leaped toward the nearest tree, using an average amount of force. The sole of her shoe exploded with the pressure.
Let's see how much my body can…
Her thoughts broke as she rocketed forward—there was a pop; something was wrong with her leg. The trees rushed toward her as she dove toward a trunk, wind whipping her hair back as it gushed past her face and folded her ears back. It was hard to follow her descent.
She barely managed to flip around in time. A massive amount of energy left her as she passed beyond the moon's light under the overhanging trees. Her right foot took most of the impact, making her wince as pain shot up her thighs to her tail, and she heard another pop from her left foot. The trunk buckled a bit from her landing, and her left leg wouldn't bend as she wanted.
A lump dropped down her throat as she negated the force, what remained of her shoes sliding up her shins. Momentum gone, she fell toward the ground; realizing something happened, she activated Emotional Detachment, looking down at her legs as she free fell. A dull throbbing began coursing through her body.
I dislocated my left knee … even my foot. I didn't use as much force as I did back … did I? Maybe I did use more than when I launched at Conner. It didn't feel like it, but my mind had a hard time keeping up, even with Mental Acceleration.
Perhaps multiple moons are actually a harmful thing at my current level; I thought I was using an average amount of strength, but it's even more potent than my full force on Earth, likely because these moons are so close and full. I need to hold back, or I'll break my own body.
Her glowing red eyes shifted to the side; she was about to hit a large limb. Spreading out her body to flip midair, she used her free hand to catch the nearby branch, using the momentum to swing around to the top of it; she landed on her strained right foot.
The pain shot up her legs, and even her upper body felt stressed, but she boxed it all in the confines of Emotional Detachment. Looking down at the camp, ten meters below, she hummed. The soldiers were looking up at her, illuminated by her bright glow; from their conversations, it was clear that they didn't suspect her current condition.
I'm not skilled enough to pop my leg and foot back in, but they should have someone trained in the medical field here. Once I hit moonlight again, Lunar Deadening will come into effect. Maria could also help … yeah, I'd rather not be seen by the soldiers like this.
Lunar Pride won out; hanging onto the branch, she flipped down near the trunk and used her right foot to launch back toward the Humvee. The pain would have driven her mad when she was a human, but as she was, it wasn't that big of a deal.
Rachel landed in the mud with her right foot, using her left to stabilize; it cried out, but she ignored the sensation with her skills. Her bare feet barely sank into the mud. She was lighter than an average human; most of her power came from speed. She carefully trudging over to the door, opening it as she neared; the men watched her without a clue.
Hopping in, she glanced over at Maria; the Unicorn looked stunned as she caught sight of her. "The hell happened to you?" she seethed, horn flaring. "It hasn't even been three minutes since I left!"
Rachel emotionlessly looked down at her foot and leg as they seemed to pop back into place by an invisible force; the pain vanished. Releasing Emotional Detachment, she breathed a sigh of relief, shutting the door for privacy.
"I learned that I have to be a lot more careful under multiple moons," she muttered, running her hand through her long hair as she moved it to her front.