Yoel woke up in a sweat, panic overtaking his mind. Uncontrollably shivering, it seemed as if his heart would jump out of his chest.
Quickly, however, he slowly regained his senses, one by one.
When he finally saw more than pitch black, he had almost fully calmed himself down.
It was unwise to show weakness in front of his reliable teammates.
Yeah.. my teammates.
I can't let them see me like that.
Anyway, I swear I had a nightmare, or something of the like. What was that?
All Yoel could recall from what he thought was a nightmare, was a feeling of awe mixed with dread.
Why can't I remember?
Whatever. No time to think about it, I better survive.
He tried shaking off this odd feeling he had, and tried to approach his teammates.
He found Cole packing up, and a little farther away was Loki, the one who used only his fists to fight. It was not a duo he would have expected. Polar opposites, those were.
With a sigh, he approached them. It was good to start up a conversation, and earn each other's trust. It came a long way in battle.
He would be a bit less paranoid if he knew what kind of person was defending his back.
Ahh, now that I think about it. Isn't it the same if I just.. don't know anything about them at all? It would be a fool's idea to just simply entrust everything to someone they barely know.. but, maybe that's the plan here?
Before he could decide on what to do, he was dragged into the conversation by someone else.
"Hey there, you guys. I am quite inexperienced in outdoor survival, so I was hoping you guys would know what we needed to do next."
Lilith spoke in a monotone tone, almost uncaring. She turned to stare at Cole, then Loki.. and then Yoel.
It really didn't look like she was nervous, around so many guys. Especially in a jungle where only god knows what lives within.
She had to be pretending, right?
"Ahh, well. First, we need to secure food and water. Doubt the rations we came here with will last us long enough to survive." said Loki.
"Well, I believe you expected this answer but.. along with water and food, we need to gather information. It's the most valuable resource to us right now and to everyone else, really." spoke Cole after Loki.
Lilith nodded and turned her head to Yoel.
"You.. I haven't properly spoken to you yet, have I? Well, while you were fighting for your life out there against the parasites me and the rest of the group all had quite the chat."
"Well.. except that blonde guy. I can't stand that person. Seriously, why is he keeping to himself in this situation? Who are his enemies, damn."
Lilith sounded annoyed talking about him, and it didn't take much for Yoel to understand her mood.
"Understandable, he does always look like he's annoyed.. or maybe just dealing with something. Anyways, anything I can help you with?"
"Sure. Tell me.. Yoel, was it? What spear style do you practice? Is it the only weapon you use? I remember you presenting your style as a dual-wielding one when we first introduced each other back at the portals?"
Wow, talk about poking at the wrong places, is this woman dull or something? Does she not realize anyone can see through her attempts to learn about other people's secrets?
"Uhh, yeah? My second weapon is a dagger. I just haven't learned how to use it yet, though. I stumbled upon this style a month ago, when we first arrived here."
"Sheesh, you must be new to this entire thing, I presume? How dumbfounded were you when you heard about people possessing Enigmas and manipulating Avon and all that? Didn't it sound ridiculous?"
"Well, it did.. until I saw you use that light orb of yours. I only saw it for a moment before I blacked out, but it was enough for me to truly believe it, I guess."
Lilith let out a smug smile.
"Whaddya think? Aren't I pretty cool?"
Before Yoel could respond to her question, they were interrupted by the two boys who had been left out of the conversation from the start.
"Could you guys continue your chat later? We're about to leave right now. Pack up, quick!"
Yoel scrambled to pack up his bag, which had his torn clothes from yesterday and his remaining rations.
It was decorated with dried red and blue blood, which caused a shiver from Yoel, and a strange look from Cole.
Those were times he did not wish to remind himself of.
He had no time to wash it off, however. So he decided to just ignore it and move on.
Vasil, while not exactly speaking a lot with them, followed from a bit further behind.
Their quest for information and supplies had now begun.
***
Birds chirping and the pleasant wind brushing against leaves made way for a beautiful melody, one would almost forget they were in a jungle of death, had they ever heard it.
"It's way too nice here, isn't it?" A burly and tall man voiced his thoughts to his group.
"You're right, Jacob. This place seems way too peaceful to be a jungle of death."
"Don't get distracted now Kayla, Jacob. We still have a job to do here. Might be peaceful right now, but you never know when that could change."
Tap. Tap. Tap.
"Uhh, am I the only one who heard that?" a girl who was ahead of the group exclaimed. She appeared to be playing the role of the scout.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
The tapping sound was getting louder and louder, with each passing second.
"I think I see.. I SEE SOME-" before the girl could speak, she was cut off by a flying parasite.
The parasite wasted no time, revealing weird and disgusting veins and tendrils that drilled effortlessly through her neck and head. It replaced the head of the girl for itself.
The many rows of teeth peeled off flesh as if it was nothing, mercilessly disfiguring the poor woman's face.
The veins explored her skin, writhing like disgusting tentacles and slowly taking full control of her body, which was now a corpse.
Blue veins bulged, struggling against flesh and skin.
The rest of the party.. was not expecting such a scene.
What was a peaceful forest at first.. turned into a horrifying disaster in a matter of seconds.
They prepared their weapons as fast as they could.
The parasites were faster, however.
One by one, the rest of the party began to fall.
The second one to go, was one of the three boys. He seemed to be of the thinner ones, explaining his inefficient resistance to the parasites.
And from then on, it was chaos.
A one-sided slaughter took place, conducted by a group of harrowing parasites.
Blood poured, and poured some more. The dark and bright green leaves were all now equally painted red, creating a scene out of a horror movie.
But alas, it was real. This was real life.
The poor corpses of the examinees, now inhabited by disgusting, horrid parasites began to awkwardly move, as if adjusting to their new bodies.
This scene.. was not for the faint of heart. If anyone did see it, however, they would have a hard time forgetting it.
This scene would be engraved into their minds for all eternity.
Let it be known to all that breathe, the Jungle of Hell does not tolerate incompetent subjects.
Either rise to face it, or die cowering, like the pathetic beings humans are.
***
"Ahh, these plants are so annoying!" exclaimed Lilith, as she cut down a few of them with the assistance of her Enigma.
The rest of the group thought it was a waste to use it right now, instead of conserving it for later on, but it appears that she didn't care.
And really, it wasn't their place to teach her how to use HER Enigma, so everyone mostly kept shut when she did use it.
Well, most of them.
"Really, you should conserve your energy for when we really need it. Don't waste it cutting down harmless plants." said Yoel.
Truly, he only had pure intentions. However, Lilith didn't care.
"Oh, are you trying to tell me how to use MY ability? Come on, now. I'll be fine." to the rest of the group's surprise, Lilith did not lash out at him as badly as she had done to the rest of them.
"I guess they get along a bit too well. She's probably after his dual wielding handbook, though." Cole said, half to himself and half to Loki.
"I'm just trying to give you some advice, don't meant to offend you or anything. Would suck if you lost your Avon in a real tough battle." said Yoel in response to Lilith.
"I know what I'm doing, relax." she let out an annoyed sigh and walked a bit faster.
They continued on in silence, there was no need to talk anymore. Any unnecessary sounds would just attract unwanted attention.
But at the same time.. bright flashes of light would attract enemies too, if one thought about it.
Surely, no enemies would be attracted to that luminous orb of Lilith's?
A tapping noise slowly approached their ears.