June continued to lift everyone upwards, just thinking about getting as far up as possible. It took all of her attention and focus just to do this task. And exactly because of this that she hadn't heard Andy's warning.
"Wait! Don't go too high! That's a witch territory!"
As they were rapidly soaring through the sky, Xeno had finally woken up along with the others. Needless to say, they were scared shitless.
"Holy sweet mother of earth! What is going on?" Xeno blurted out while Eli had a look of disbelief on his face. He was seconds so close to being blanched with scalding water that if the kid from the hawk tribe hadn't stolen the Crystal of Truth, he would have been spinning over a hot coal right now, being cooked into a rotisserie.
And then Xeno's eyes widened, his eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets.
"Uh, gu-guys? Be-behind you," he stuttered and Marty turned back as he heard this. And like Xeno, his eyes widened too, his lips bobbed like a goldfish. He saw the very thing he saw in his Precognition.
Imagine this: A massive, mutated bird the size of an ostrich, but with exaggerated vulture-like features—a hooked, jagged beak, dark, ominous feathers, and sharp, powerful talons. Its cry resembled the sound of a dying whale. Only that there were about thirteen of them.
"Ah, and I even warned them." Andy muttered.
The birds were the witch's lackeys. They attack anyone and anything that enters their master's territory.
Everyone except Lilia who had fainted after using her Sonic Scream had woken up and were aware of these massive birds heading their way.
June was starting to get motion sickness so floating away faster than these massive birds was impossible.
Thea immediately set up a shield as one of the birds suddenly swooped in their direction. Its sheer size and strength was enough to shake the shield up, making her spit out blood upon impact. Soon, thirteen of those birds were pouncing and slamming on the shield. So hard that her twin's healing could barely keep up with. Cracks started to appear all over the surface.
Those without defensive or appropriate offensive abilities were left frustrated and afraid, Marty being one of them. Then at that moment, a cackling, high-pitched laughter reverberated throughout the area that made the birds calm down and stop attacking.
The group thought they could finally relax but soon realized a much bigger problem just arrived.
In the night sky just across from them, there was a witch with sickly green skin and warts covering her face, riding her broom. She wore a pointed hat and a flowing purple robe. She was looking at them with contempt.
The witch's eyes glinted with anger as she raised a calloused finger and spoke in a voice that seemed to echo in everyone's ears.
"You, insolent brats, have entered my territory," she hissed. "As the rule of the forest, I am to curse you. Ugly black spots shall fester and grow upon your skin, making you very sick. If not removed within five days, these spots shall consume you, and your life shall be mine."
The group recoiled in fear upon the witch's words that sent shivers down their spines and they felt a string of strange symbols binding their hearts at that moment.
And while all of these are happening, Jasper, who went a separate way at the beginning, was teetering between life and death underneath the pile of leaves for camouflage.
He had two holes in his left leg where the anaconda had bitten him. Anacondas were non-venomous snakes and instead rely on constriction, but the forest in Murkwood Peninsula was a strange place. All creatures in this place were mutated in some way or another. And the anaconda that bit him was absolutely venomous. He knew because his system told him.
Despite the nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, he forced himself to tear his shirt up and turn it into a makeshift tourniquet to slow the spread of venom. Although he was very much aware that a tourniquet wasn't the most suitable thing to do due to potential complications like tissue damage, he didn't have much of a choice. Not that there was any hospital nearby. He was thinking about the sister whom he left behind. Wondering what happened to her after he left just like that.
However, as his consciousness flickered in and out, a blinding red suddenly engulfed his vision. Actually, this happened to all participants. This happened one minute after Dexter rammed up the difficulty level. And before they knew it, they were already separated from each other and somehow ended up in different places by pair.
Marty and Eli ended in a cave. Donna and Lilia on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Xeno and June on top of a mountain. The twins in a village. And Jasper and Linda near a soldier's camp.
It happened so fast they didn't have time to react.
***
Inside a dark theater.
Dexter was pursing his lips while watching the participants in the orb. After ramming up the difficulty a notch, the beeping noise from his watch finally stopped. His position was safe for now.
As he opened another bag of baby carrots, a series of knocks then sounded from the door.
"Come in," he said.
The door opened then came a little girl wearing a yellow sundress and a large hat.
"Papa is calling you," said the little girl which made Dexter a bit tense. It was because there was only one person this girl referred to as papa. And it was The Higher Up. She was adopted after she was found as an infant and has lived with them since then.
"I'll go after you," replied Dexter and took a few deep breaths to calm himself.
Dexter didn't hear the news yet as he was holed up in the Dark Theater, but the news of Marco's passing was the talk of everyone after his body was discovered inside his own office. A clean slit across the neck and a note on the floor using his own blood: YOUR TURN.