The group watched in stunned silence as the stone hurtled toward Zane. Its speed was far greater than any of them had expected. The sharp whistle of the air being cut by the rock filled the tense silence, and then, in a blur of motion too fast to follow, Zane's hand shot out.
He caught the stone mid-air.
His fingers wrapped tightly around it, the impact echoing through the eerie landscape. For a moment, no one moved or spoke. Zane stood there, completely unfazed, lowering the stone to his side as if it were weightless.
"What the hell…" Hall finally broke the silence, his voice filled with disbelief. "You just… caught that?"
Zane let the stone fall to the ground with a heavy thud. He looked at the group, his face calm but his voice firm. "Whatever that red light was, it didn't just transport us here. It changed us. It gave us… powers."
"Powers?" Ash asked, his voice skeptical but full of curiosity.
"What do you mean, powers?" Lila added, her eyes shifting between Zane and the others.
Zane didn't answer right away. Instead, he turned to Hall. "Hall," he said, his voice steady, "run. Run as fast as you can. To the other side over there." He pointed to a clearing in the distance, barely visible through the fog.
"Wait, what?" Hall blinked, confused.
"Just do it," Zane insisted.
Hall hesitated, then shrugged. "Alright, but if this is some kind of joke, you owe me," he said, preparing himself. Without another word, he took off.
The others barely had time to react. Hall moved like a blur, faster than they could follow. In mere seconds, he was on the far side of the clearing, staring back at them with wide, astonished eyes.
"What… the… hell?" Hall gasped, looking down at his legs as though they weren't his. "Did I just…? Was that me?"
The group stood frozen, shocked into silence. Ash's mouth hung open, and even Mira, who usually stayed calm, looked completely stunned.
"That's what I mean," Zane said, his voice steady but serious. "This is real. You're not dreaming. I'm not dreaming. Whatever happened to us… it's real."
Lila took a step back, clutching her head as her thoughts raced. "But… what do we do now?" she asked, her voice trembling. "How do we get back? How do we go back to where we came from?"
Before Zane could answer, Hall walked back toward them, shaking his head in disbelief. "I don't know if you noticed," he said, his usual grin now gone, replaced by a more serious tone, "but we're in the middle of nowhere. Unknown world, unknown solar system, unknown galaxy, unknown constellation… there's no going back."
As Hall finished speaking, the group fell silent, taking in the weight of his words. Zane couldn't hold it in any longer. He hit his head with his hand in frustration. "This wouldn't be happening if you all had listened to me in the first place," he muttered, his voice filled with exasperation.
Hall, always quick with a joke, grinned. "Hey, if we hadn't made those choices, we wouldn't have these cool powers, right?"
Zane snapped, his voice rising. "At what cost?!" His anger was obvious, but there was no denying the reality of their situation. They were trapped in an unknown world with powers they didn't fully understand. The cost was their safety, their reality, and maybe even their future.
Mira, seeing the rising tension, gently grabbed Zane's hand. "It's okay," she said softly, her voice calm and reassuring. Zane took a deep breath, trying to relax. The group needed to stay focused. There were no answers yet, but they had to keep moving forward.
Zane turned to face the group, his expression serious. "We need to test ourselves," he said firmly. "We need to understand our new powers and figure out where we are. Our first priority is finding out where we are."
The group nodded, the uncertainty of their situation hanging in the air. The silence was broken when Ash spoke up, his voice more thoughtful than usual.
"Since we can run now, why don't we just run?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow.
The others looked at each other, surprised by the suggestion, but it made sense. If they could run so fast, why not try it? Without another word, they all took off in a random direction, the excitement of testing their new abilities taking over.
As they ran, the world around them seemed to slow down. Zane felt the air rush past him, the breeze cool against his skin, like the entire world had become a blur. His heart raced, but not from fear—just the thrill of moving faster than he had ever imagined. It felt like nothing could catch him, nothing could stop him.
Beside him, Mira ran with equal excitement. Her face was lit up with a mixture of shock and joy, her body moving effortlessly with his. Zane glanced at her, surprised at how easy it felt to run together, as if they were in perfect harmony.
Behind them, Hall, Ash, and Lila struggled to keep up. It was clear that Zane and Mira were faster, more agile. They moved with grace and precision, while the others were left far behind. The difference in speed was striking, almost as if Zane and Mira had already mastered their new abilities.
As Zane looked over at Mira again, a sense of wonder filled him. The world seemed to move so slowly around him. He could see the excitement in her eyes, and they both shared the same thrill. They were in sync, and for a moment, it felt like anything was possible.
The group continued running, their feet pounding the earth, the wind rushing past them, their hearts beating in time with the speed. But it was clear—Zane and Mira were leading the way, as if they had already become something more than they had been before.