In a camp in a desolete field
...
Marcus' thoughts were muddled as he started packing all sorts of bottles filled with odd coloured liquids in a stitched up bag."Sir I've packed up the potions,"he said as he handed the bag to a tall burly man in his forties."Excellent prepare to head out in 8 hours.The Dive will commence as soon as the flare is shot,"the man said as he slung the bag onto his back and walked towards a strange animal -like vehicle and unloaded the bag into the vehicle.
Marcus stopped looking at the man and faced the mirror in his room.A dark skinned chiselled face with dark brown eyes and curly hair was reflected on the mirror with some cracks.He looked at his face with a solemn look as he thoughts went back two years ago.
Back then his seemingly normal life collapsed right before his eyes as the Access (a strange portal connecting Earth to a series of dimensions known the Void)erupted taking out his family and 70 percent of the Earth's population and trapping him and other Explorers in the Void with no choice but to dive deeper in hopes of escaping to a better place and give hope to humanity trapped in the Void.
His thoughts were brought back to the present as he was called outside his tent by a young man holding a sword which he returned to the sheath strapped to his back. Marcus responded to his call as he got out of the tent and gave him a firm handshake."Eric, how did the expedition turn out?"Marcus questioned as he noticed a wound on his slightly pale arm."There were a few monsters on the path to the next Access but it should be light work once we all head out to Dive,"Eric said as he followed Marcus to his tent. "Take a seat as I have a look at the wound,"said Marcus as he gestured to the seat while a box filled with all sorts of potions,plants, liquids and instruments.He grabbed Eric's injured hand and looked at it. As he looked at it his eyes glowed light green as a clear outline of all the organs in the hand appeared in his vision. He then narrowed his vision to the wound and saw a grey fluid moving along the wound with a few tiny worm like creatures joining it.
Grabbing a potion from the box,Marcus carefully inserted a small piece of paper on the surface of the wound and poured a fraction of the potion on the wound causing a hissing sound on the wound. The grey fluid and worm like creatures latched onto the paper which was then picked up by Marcus using tongs and placed it in a small container. Marcus then applied an ointment on the wound and after 20 seconds bandaged it."Thanks Marcus. I don't know what we would do without a Doctor in our ranks,"said Eric as he stood up and headed out to the Warrior quarters for a briefing on the Dive to be carried out soon. Marcus stayed in the tent welcoming more patients to be treated from similar problems.
As the only Doctor in the camp he had to deal with such cases during expeditions. He often regretted choosing the path of a Doctor due to the large number of cases he received. However,he also thanked the heavens for being a Doctor due to a singular perk ;being far away from the frontline during Dives. Marcus was a coward that feared facing the monsters in the Void. This was what influenced his choice of becoming a Doctor four years ago since the common notion is that a Doctor's place is never at the frontline.
A woman delivered a letter to Marcus and urged him to read it as soon as possible. Following her instructions,he opened the letter which specificied that he would occupy the fifth dacurus(the animal -like vehicle) assisting the Priests in maintaining a Holy Barrier and dealing with complications.The letter also mentioned the formation they would follow during the Dive. Three dacuri(plural of dacurus) carrying Warriors would form the front,one dacurus carrying some Lawyers would be behind them, another dacurus carrying him and the Priests would be behind it and they would be flanked by Artisans in the two remaining dacuri.
Eight hours passed and a flare was shot signalling the Explorers to enter their respective dacuri. Marcus approached the fifth dacurus and as he was about to enter, he saw a lady with silver hair and corresponding eyes with a fair skin tone wearing a priestess robe carrying a long staff with a star at the top. Him along with other Priests bowed to the woman. She was none other than Elder Leah,a Cleric Of Hope of the Priest Path!An Elder was an Explorer of the highest ranking in the camp who lead the camp along with the three other Elders.
It was only natural then that they all bowed to such a figure. "It is imperative that everyone today stays on guard since I've divined that today's Dive will be far more dangerous than any Dive we have done so far,"Leah said as she instructed people to enter the dacurus.
As they entered Marcus' hands started to tremble as he thought through Leah's words. Unlike the other Priests in the camp,Leah was at a higher level of the respective path which allowed her to possess prophecy abilities hence her words were equivalent to declaring the future."If she said this I'm more than likely to encounter a monster today. If that happens I'm a dead man,"thought Marcus as he took a seat in the dacurus. "Stop being scared runt. We have a mission to complete and besides we have Elder Leah by our side,"barked a Priest sitting next to him. "Silence! Everyone ensure the Holy Barrier is up,"ordered Leah and soon everyone was at their post.
Marcus took out a golden potion and drank a portion and poured the rest on the crystal shards in front of him. He then touched the shards and injected energy to it and all the Priests did the same. Soon a golden light encompassed a 150 meter radius."The Holy Barrier is up commence the march to the Access,"Leah muttered on the radio on her seat.
"Roger that,"said Elder Alric who was sitting in another dacurus with blonde hair pushed back and his hazel eyes looking forward who instructed the dacuri to move north east. The monsters nearby avoided the dacuri as they traversed the land."The Holy Barrier is working just fine and has even been strengthened by Elder Leah. I wonder what caused her prophetic abilities to show her danger,"thought Marcus as he suddenly heard a voice communication from Elder Capurn,"there's a strange figure forty meters ahead of us, requesting assistance for engagement."
"That creature is within the Holy Barrier range, that should not be possible,"Marcus murmured as he observed the crystal shards. They were forming tiny sparks! "Cancel engagement and back away!"shouted Marcus on the radio.
...
The strange humanoid creature looked towards the dacurus ahead of it and pointed his index finger atthedacurus."Boom" muttered the creature as blinding lights emerged from his finger and completely eviscerated the dacurus and the path ahead of it!