Andrew stumbled forward, his body still tingling from the shock of the arc. The world spun, and for a moment, he felt weightless—adrift in a vast space.
No gravity. No air. Just the cold, suffocating sensation of being spat out into space. He gasped, trying to make sense of his surroundings as his feet found ground again. But just as quickly, the sensation ended, and he slammed back into reality, the pressure and chaos of the rift's energy dissipating around them.
"Not again," Hames muttered, running a hand through his disheveled hair. His face was a mixture of irritation and something Andrew couldn't quite place. "I hate when this happens."
Andrew, still disoriented, shot him a glare. "When what happens? What even was that?"
Hames waved a dismissive hand, visibly annoyed. "Misfire. Happens sometimes. The next shot should work fine."
"How quickly does the next one happen?"
Hames glanced at the rift, its arcs of brown lightning crackling like an angry storm. "Give it a couple of seconds. Once it fails, it takes a moment to lock on us again. So, just… wait a little."
Andrew's mind raced. Every instinct screamed at him to act, but he forced himself to stay calm.
"It rarely happens though," Hames added. "Just give it three… two…"
Andrew didn't let him finish. He grabbed Mella's arm, yanking her with him as he broke into a full sprint.
Hames's expression snapped to shock. "What the—HEY!"
"Mella, a spear! Now!" Andrew barked, his voice sharp and commanding.
Mella hesitated, stumbling slightly as Andrew pulled her forward. "What? Why—?"
"Do it!" he snapped.
One of Hames' friends, the woman, swung her hand in their direction. A bunch of vines erupted from her fingertips, writhing like snakes as they shot towards Andrew and Mella.
Panic flickered in her eyes, but she obeyed.
Her hands glowed with a metallic sheen, and a spear of solid metal materialized before her. The spear fired on its own, propelling forward with incredible force. Andrew leaped, grabbing onto the spear as it launched. The weapon carried him and Mella a short distance, and he braced himself as the rift's lightning struck.
A crackling bolt lanced through the air, missing them by inches. Instead, it struck Hames and the others behind them, taking the vines along with them.
Andrew and Mella hit the ground hard, tumbling over rough dirt. When they finally came to a stop, Andrew scrambled to his feet, his chest heaving.
He turned, scanning the area. Hames and his crew were gone, he wished they were dead, not teleported into the realm.
Mella sat on the ground, silent and wide-eyed. Andrew rounded on her, his frustration boiling over.
"I'm not crazy, right?" he demanded. "They were setting something up! I knew it!"
Mella hesitated, her lips parting as if to speak, but no sound came out. Her silence only stoked Andrew's anger. "Say something!" he snapped. "You're in on it, aren't you?"
Her head jerked up.. "No! I'm not!"
"Then what's the deal?" Andrew pressed. "Tell me something, Mella! When those suckers come back to Earth, are they going to kill me or not? And if they do, *why*?"
Mella's face twisted in anguish. She hesitated, her mouth opening and closing as if struggling to find the words. Andrew's patience began to fray.
"Say it!" Andrew demanded, his voice sharp. "What are you hiding?"
Mella flinched, her eyes darting away.
Andrew took a step closer"I need answers, Mella!"
Finally, she whispered, "Hames is my cousin."
Andrew blinked, caught off guard. "Your cousin?"
She nodded, tears brimming in her eyes. "He… he has this ability. He can drain people's strength—steal it, their energy, their life. That's why he lures people into realms. He tricks them and… feeds off them."
Andrew staggered back, disbelief crashing over him. "And you knew they were going to do that to me? You were going to *let* them?"
Her voice cracked. "If I warned you, he would have killed me!"
Andrew's jaw clenched. "He's always watching you or something? You couldn't tell me in secret?"
"I was scared!" she shouted.
Andrew stared at her, his chest heaving. Slowly, he turned away. "Well, I'm not scared. I'm reporting this. You, him, all of it. To the Tower."
Mella flinched as though he'd struck her. "Andrew—"
"Hopefully," he continued. "they hang you all."
She didn't respond. The silence was deafening. Andrew waited, expecting her to lash out, to attack. He activated his slippery secretion, his body and armor becoming slick with the oily defense. He was ready.
But nothing happened.
Finally, he turned back to her. "What's the matter?" he snapped. "You're not going to stop me? Did you even hear what I said?"
Mella shook her head, her expression hollow. "I deserve it."
Andrew faltered, his anger momentarily eclipsed by confusion. "What?"
She looked up at him, her voice trembling. "But you shouldn't report him. Hames has… connections. Influential ones. If you report him, they'll come after you."
Andrew's lips curled into a sneer. "And I'm supposed to believe you?"
"Take your risk," she murmured, her tone defeated.
Andrew glared at her for a long moment before turning his attention to the floating bus waiting nearby. He pointed toward the driver. "What about him? Will he try to stop us?"
Mella shook her head. "No. He'll wait for them. He doesn't know what they do."
"Come on," Andrew muttered.
Mella hesitated, her eyes widening slightly as she followed him. "You don't hate me?"
Andrew glanced at her, his expression hard. "Maybe I'm just naive," he said, his voice laced with irritation. "I don't trust you at all. I don't know. But it doesn't matter right now. We need to move."
He remembered that she was afraid of Hames, so it was a complex sitution.
Mella looked at him, clearly confused, but she nodded, falling into step beside him.
As they passed the bus, the driver leaned out/ "What's going on with you two? Ain't y'all supposed to be in the realm with the others" he asked, his gaze flicking between Andrew and Mella.
Andrew shot him an irritated glare. "Shut up," he snapped, his nerves still raw from everything that had happened.
The driver flinched, pulling back into his seat, and Andrew kept moving, Mella silently following.
They walked in tense silence.
When they were finally a good distance away, Andrew stopped, his eyes drawn back to the rift. He stared at it, the crackling arcs of energy still visible in the distance.
There was something about it—something that called to him. The sensation was strange, a coming and going feeling, like the pull he had felt when the rift's electricity struck him.
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, and continued leading Mella back toward the city.
***
Back in the city, the tension between them was palpable. They sat in a quiet corner of the bustling streets, each lost in their own thoughts.
Andrew's mind raced, grappling with his next move. Reporting Hames felt like the right thing to do. Mella made it clear there was a trail of bodies—there had to be evidence. And with Mella as a witness, maybe the Tower would act.
But the risk… he'd be dragging himself into a dangerous game.
Andrew exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. "I can't just let this go."
Mella didn't respond. She seemed as trapped in her thoughts as he was. Then, suddenly, a strange tremor passed through him. Not fear, but something odd, something alien. He looked at her, and she was trembling too.
"What's going on?" he asked, his voice tight.
"I don't know!"
Before Andrew could respond, a blinding light engulfed them. The world spun once more, and when the light faded, they found themselves standing in a barren desert. The heat pressed down on them, and the air tasted of dust.
Andrew squinted at the endless expanse of sand. "We're… in a realm," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Beside him, Mella nodded, her expression grim.
The rift lightning strike from before, it must have been responsible for their teleportation.
Around them, the bodies of massive crickets with scythe-like forelegs lay scattered across the sand, their black, shiny exoskeletons cracked and broken. It was clear that something—or someone—had killed them.
Andrew's gaze swept over the scene. "Hames and his team," he muttered, the realization hitting him hard. "We are in the same damn realm as them."
Mella pointed in the distance, silhouettes of people in the distance.
Andrew was beyond frustrated. He quickly started probing the monsters. Mella was confused, "What are you doing?"
Andrew randomly wanted to experiment with something, "I can s--"
He couldn't say he could steal abilities. The same feeling he experienced when he tried writing his ability was back again but around his throat.
Andrew coughed and said, "I'm preparing."
One of the crickets had a little movement, it wasn't completely dead. Andrew knew what he had to do. He couldn't afford to not make mistakes, he couldn't afford to not make the best decisions.
He touched it. * Give me your ability*