It was hot.
It was unbearably hot and thick like the Amazon rainforest used to be. Wherever they were even had two suns, which Malik thought was fucking overkill.
I wonder if I can find a cool spot around here to take a nap.
He used his water based blessing to place a cooling effect over the shield surrounding the pouch Nala was nestled in after he'd heard her panting. He really should've left her back home, regretting his moment of vulnerability when she'd given him them puppy eyes before he'd hopped out his window.
"Took your slow ass long enough."
He looked up to the overly massive trees to see Marie already propped up on a branch arrows steady.
He looked around her and around the area, sending her a raised eyebrow in question when he couldn't pinpoint the rest of their little team.
"We split up to cover more ground. You'd have known that if you didn't take your sweet fucking time!"
"Stop yelling." He pulled out a metallic mask he'd kept in his messenger bag and placed it on his face, his lidded eyes being all that could've been seen as he glided upwards to where Marie was.
They didn't know fully where exactly the gate had taken them to, Malik not sure if he'd ever seen clips of raids in such a tight and packed jungle. Each zone in a gate differed in the opponents they faced, but they seemed to follow similar themes of being different sections of the same world.
He probably should've watched more raid streams the night before instead of looking at compilations of hunters embarrassing themselves. He'd needed the pick-me-up after that talk regarding his family.
All he'd remembered was that the jungle-like zone was never this hot and did not have so many damn trees. He also remembered that it was crawling with snake-like creatures, reptilian humanoids and diabolical elves that seemed to enjoy killing humans in the cruelest ways they saw fit.
Yet it was quiet where they stood, the gate closed behind him once he'd entered. There wasn't even the sounds of beasts from the skies or rustling of leaves.
It was too quiet and that pricked at Malik's skin. To make matters more eerie, as he looked into the distance, there was a point where the expansive jungle just seemed to…end. There was nothing but an endless sea of sand ahead which was confusing.
He moved his hoverboard higher than the branch Marie was still on, realizing she'd been talking but he hadn't heard a word. He stopped only once he was completely above the large tree, finding it a little hard to breathe as he looked at each corner of the jungle.
His confusion only seemed to pile up, because each direction was a different kind of setting. North of the tree was the desert like area, West was a snowy and icy landscape, East was a whole damn sea and South had what looked like an expansive swamp.
It felt like the gate had brought them to the center of an unknown world. Like the map of a vintage video game that only went so far.
"Come in, team. Come in. There's literally nothing here but sand!" That was Timothy's voice.
"What do you mean s-s-sand? Ho-ho-how's there s-s-sand in th-th-the f-f-fucking Arctic?!" Taylor.
"I feel like I'm back in Louisiana, except worse! The sludge here is fucking thick!"
"Any life?" Malik asked into his wrist, glad he'd asked them for their visor IDs before they'd left.
"Nope." Nothing in the sands.
"F-f-fuck n-no!" Nada with the ice.
"Can't lie to ya, I haven't seen or heard a thing." And nothing in the bayou.
Malik was really fucking confused and he didn't like that.
Being confused meant he wasn't prepared and that meant he had little to no idea what he would've done if something came up.
The danger levels just went higher and while he was fine with slight risks, he wasn't about to take on the risk of not knowing. Especially with Nala on board.
"We should leave." He glided downwards, back to where he'd left Marie and was confused when she wasn't there.
On top of that, she hadn't said a single 'fuck' the entire time he'd been talking to the other team members.
"Marie," he called into his wrist, pulling up the crackling blue screen of his visor to check her profile and the location of his current party members.
His alarm bells were ringing once he saw that her location had put her to exactly where he was standing but she was nowhere in sight.
"Marie. Marie, come in." His voice was still leveled, the airy way he always spoke in staying still even though his building worry was starting to get to him.
"What happened to Marie? I can't get to her after I asked her to come check the swamp with me," Louis asked, his own worry more apparent.
"…Is Taylor with either of you? He's not responding to my messages and he always does," Timothy asked, sounding somewhat normal for the first time since Malik was aware of his existence.
"Marie. Timothy. Respond right now."
Silence.
"Fuck me," Louis muttered. "Stay where you are, Mal! Timothy, back to the forest! I don't think we're meant to leave that zone!"
There was no response from Timothy then and Malik felt a thump on his chest.
He genuinely believed that Louis as well was not going to make it to the jungle zone, and after fifteen minutes of waiting, he figured he was right.
Malik slumped down on the branch, his hoverboard over his back and his leg dangling from the side of the branch.
He removed the mask on his face, no longer needing the help with taking in oxygen, and put a cigarette between his lips.
He pulled out a lighter and lit the end of the stick, breathing deeply before pocketing his little green lighter. Malik breathed out the smoke and looked up to the little of the world's sky he could've seen.
"Well fuck." What else could he have said?
They'd been in the gate for no less than five minutes and he had lost his entire team in seconds. What exactly was he supposed to do now?
On one hand, could risk my life and go look for them in this unknown zone and no idea what the fuck is going on here. Then we'd all vanish.
On the other hand, I could just…go back and say this place is too dangerous to try and figure out with just A ranks and B ranks.
He got up, ready to pick his second option. Thing was, the area didn't seem to want to let him.
As soon as he'd finished the cigarette, a blink later and Malik Wei Chen vanished without a trace.