Act 2: The Base

“Hey!”
She looked up. Her classmates stood over her. They all had pieces of cloth around their mouths to filter out the ash from the air.
“Let’s take her,” somebody said and the largest ones of them picked her up from the ground.
They took her with them, oblivious to her painful moaning. They headed west, deeper into the forest and away from the catastrophe.
Only when the canopy of the trees blocked out the view to the east they stopped and sat down on the ground. Silveria watched them. The two who carried her were Game and Key. Ean and Kolor sat to her left. Soona, Eyona, Arena and Sehun crouched down to her right.
Soona was crying, it smudged the eyeliner across her cheeks. Eyona tried to comfort her by holding her shoulders.
“Keep it together, girl. Nothing we can do now.”
Soona only kept sobbing, speechless.
“What you did there was very brave, Elenia,” said Game while standing above her.
Key nodded and bent down to her.
“Sorry about what I said before.”
None of them was smiling. Everyone seemed either confused or angry. Almost as if they refused to believe what has just happened.
“How,” Silveria swallowed, “how dare you have touched me?”
“What is she saying?” asked Game.
“She hates being touched,” informed him Key.
“She thinks it’s humiliating,” explained Eyona.
“Really? She said that?” asked Game, honestly surprised.
“You can read it all over her,” said Eyona and dismissively waved her hand.
Game looked down at Silveria. “If you expect apologies you can forget it. We’re not leaving anyone behind. We were lucky to have made it out of the fire.”
“You all survived,” whispered Silveria, implying she would like to know how that happened.
“Zitao used magic to shield us. He had some magic in him,” explained Ean.
“Paid for it with his life, he did,” noted Key. “Lightnings are attracted to magic.”
“The question is,” continued Ean, “how did you survive? None of us could believe our eyes when you showed up and now you survived this. Is that what makes you special?”
“Never account for what you see but for what is hidden,” stated Sehun.
“That’s some easy way to say she’s not human like the rest of us,” uttered Soona.
Ean only smiled and shook his head.
Arena took her jacket off and handed it to Silveria. “Take this. Cover your shame.”
Silveria gasped in panic as she realized how much of her skin was showing. She immediately sat up, keeping her knees together while covering her chest with crossed hands.
“So, you don’t burn,” observed Key.
“An interesting body,” said Game, “technically speaking.”
“If you don’t look at the face, it’s interesting in other ways, too,” noted Kolor with a smile.
Game rose his eyebrows. “Come on, everyone. Her secrets are only hers. She has to have a reason to have them.”
“Enough about her,” interrupted them Eyona, “What will we do now?”
“Why don’t you ask her?” Game nodded to the north. A silhouette approached through the smoke screen. The swinging of the hips, the hair flowing in the wind and the slim figure gave it away.
“Hasn’t she died? She just left us there on our own,” said Arena.
The instructor approached them. She looked down at Silveria.
“You are all alive, good.”
“What happened, instructor?” asked Kolor. “This is not the place we were headed for.”
“No, we’re not,” seeped Game through his teeth. “I know this place. It’s Rigol island, you took us the wrong way!”
He was about to move against the instructor but Ean stopped him.
“Hey! Calm down! What’s going on?”
“It’s her fault we’re here! This place is not on the way to the Seccon!” spat Game.
“We don’t know what’s happened yet,” insisted Ean.
The instructor stared at Game, unimpressed.
“We’ll be going to the west. We can find shelter there. Take your things.”
“West? What’s west?” asked Kolor but he would get no answer.
They searched the wreckage for supplies. Only Key stayed with Silveria.
“Can you walk?”
She pushed herself off the ground. All her muscles ached but she was used to such things.
“I can.”

They set out to the west. The forest has remained vastly unharmed save for the ash and occasional pockets of fires that burned out quickly. They hiked for nearly a mile until everything remained pure green. Their presence scared off some animals that came there to hide from the catastrophe. No other signs of civilization showed up.
“You said we were on Rigol island?” Key asked Game.
“That’s right.”
“How do you know that? It looks like any other land to me.”
“I was trained in stalking and pathfinding. Geology is a big part of it. I need to be able to tell where I am.”
“You must be the best of your own if you can recognize places so easily,” said Ean.
“It’s not like that. I’ve been here before. I know that peak where we crashed.”
“How about this? Have you seen this before?” asked Key and pointed ahead through the tree tops.
“Now what is that?” Ean squinted his eyes to try and make something out of the shape that rose to the sky in the distance.
Game also looked up, he frowned and rushed ahead. Everybody followed him.
They emerged out of the forest. The slope still ran several hundred yards over a green field until ending at a cliffside. There, overlooking the ocean, stood a massive structure made of white metal. The modern spire rising nearly one third of a mile above the ground stood on top of  its box-like base firmly nested in the ground.
“It’s ours,” stated Game, looking at a massive black s-shaped symbol on a white square background attached at the middle of the spire.
“Unbelievable,” exhaled Kolor in awe. “They did it.”
“Did what? You know what that thing is?” asked Ean.
“We’re going in,” said the instructor and stepped forward.
They set out towards the structure. They descended a mild slope and approached the ramp leading to the entrance.
It felt much bigger from up close. It was impossible for anyone to look up without suffering vertigo.
“So what is this, exactly?” asked Ean as they ascended the ramp.
“You probably won’t believe me if I tell you, Ean,” said Kolor while admiring the structure in awe.
The sliding gate was half open. The instructor had no problem entering although Ean noticed her increasing nervosity. She kept looking around as if waiting for something that never came. He looked at Game who still could not remove the frown from his forehead. Was he suspicious?

They entered a large hall with ramps to their left and right. The place was in chaos, scattered metallic crates lied everywhere with strange cylindrical devices piled up in various spots among them. In the corners before them were corridors leading deeper into the structure.
“We’re the only ones here?” asked Game.
“They must’ve abandoned the structure when the whole thing started,” guessed Key.
“And go where?” wondered Ean.
“Nobody move. I will go look for them,” said the instructor and headed towards the door in the southwest corner.
“Maybe we could...” started Kolor but she cut him short by her stern look.
The instructor disappeared into the darkness, leaving the class on their own.
Everyone dispersed as soon as she was gone, rummaging through the equipment.
“So what is this, really? It looks like some kind of base,” asked Key and removed the lid from the nearest crate. Inside he found a neatly packed food rations.
Game, who stood right next to him, picked one package and opened it.
“One won’t be missing, right?”
Without a second thought, Key reached for one as well.
“Bases have toilets, don’t they?” asked Soona and looked at others.
“I thought I was the only one,” said Arena. “Let’s go find it.”
They both headed to the northwest corner of the hall, opposite to the one where the instructor entered.
“A man’s fate can’t be resisted, even if it leads him to a toilet,” stated Sehun and followed them.
Ean approached Key and Game.
“So what do you make of this place?”
“I don’t know. If there were any people here they would have shown up by now.”
“It’s too dark here to really see anything,” growled Key.
“Way ahead of you, big boy,” sounded Eyona from the entrance.
A clank of a lever followed rambling somewhere above them and numerous rectangular windows opened in the slanted rooftop above the entrance wall. The little sunlight that passed through the heavy clouds flooded the hall.
“So now that we are here you will tell us what this building does,” said Ean to Kolor.
“This is not really a building,” started Kolor but Game’s voice interrupted him.
“Hey, come look at this!”
They all gathered among the crates in the center of the hall.
Eyona knelt down and reached for the floor.
“Is this... blood?” She smeared some of the bloody smudge on the floor.
“It’s over there, too,” pointed Ean to the nearby crates.
“Somebody killed them, hid the bodies,” speculated Key.
“Who would do that? This island doesn’t have any natives,” objected Game.
“Could have been some wild animal? I don’t know,” continued Key.
“It would just run in here and kill them, then hid the bodies?” chuckled Game.
“What do you want me to say?! It was magic, for all I care!” shouted Key, already irritated.
“Wait!” shouted Ean. He paused for a moment as he looked around. “Where’s the princess?”

Silveria ran through the corridor. Her heart beat fast and her mind raced with the images of what she has seen. Blood! Something violent has happened here! She had to go and warn the instructor!
The first corridor has led her along many locked doors. At the end she emerged into a large rectangular room with seats and strange flat devices she did not bother to explore. This was the opposite end of the structure and through the windows she could see the ocean to the west.
The room was otherwise empty and so she turned around. Along the way she has passed a set of stairs leading both to the upper and lower levels. She stopped and listened. Strange repeating noise kept coming from below.
She immediately headed down, taking steps by two and rushing so intensely she eventually lost balance and rolled down, hitting her head into the wall. The clanking sound resonated through her head. The collision with a metal wall would leave a bump.
Three floors lower she found herself in another long corridor. The noise kept coming from the eastern end and she mindlessly decided to follow it.
The door led her into a large container room, three floor high with elevated walkways around it. She descended the stairs and walked among the large wooden crates laid out around the thick central pillar. The noise kept coming from the northwest corner, right on the opposite side from her.
She passed through the crates and emerged by the opposite wall. To her left saw the instructor, desperately switching a lever on and off continuously. Finally, she gave up and kicked the door, cursing loudly.
Silveria was about to walk towards her when she heard voices coming from behind the door. What did they say? She could not understand.
“Hello?”
The instructor snap-turned around, surprise in her face.
“What are you doing here?” she asked quickly.
“I saw blood up there. I was worried about you.”
The increasing surprise on the woman’s face quickly changed for an honest smile.
“That’s very nice of you,” she said as she walked towards Silveria. “I’ve found some people trapped behind this door. But it will not open unless I turn on the power framework.”
She passed Silveria and signaled her to follow her. Silveria obediently did so.
They headed to a door opposite of the one she just tried to open. The instructor entered but Silveria remained at the door.
The next room was much smaller, just as wide as the storage but nearly one fifth of its length. There, in the dim light of the light tubes the instructor approached an elevated terminal flanked. Behind a glass wall was a set of large devices resembling cylinders with many technological details attached to them. Silveria had no idea what she was looking at. It looked like nothing she has ever known. Even more alarming was the shape of a man that emerged from the darkness behind the instructor. He held a long blunt item in his hands, ready to strike. Could it be the enemy?
“Watch out!”
The instructor turned around just in time to block the impact with her arms. A strange clanking sound gave it away, did she carry armor under those sleeves?
It made her step back a bit, until she regained balance again.
“Did you come to free them? I don’t think so,” the man growled.
“How do you know why I’m here?” laughed the instructor.
“They said you’d come,” simply stated the man and swung the item upwards at her.
She responded with a scissor kick which removed it from his hands, throwing it at the wall behind him.
He did not lose his focus, however, and attacked with his fists. Yet due to his size he could not match her speed and agility. She spun around, kicking him in the stomach which barely slowed him down. Still, he could predict some of her moves that took too long to execute and eventually grabbed her leg. She tried to jump up and kick him with the other leg but he threw her at the wall which she hit with her back.
Silveria knew better than intervening. She had no desire to kill anyone, which she would have to in this case. Everything will work out, as long as she can stay out of the combat.
The man noticed her peeking in by the doorframe. For a second it paralyzed them both. He opened his mouth in surprise, yet she had the feeling he recognized her. Would he attack her?
“Run!” he exhaled before the instructor retaliated back at him. She jumped in the air and hit him with both her legs which sent him against the glass wall. The glass shattered and he fell into the next chamber.
The woman stood up and tidied her uniform. Then she pressed something on the terminal and pulled a switch lever. Silveria heard a door sliding open behind her.
Quick footsteps and loud voices made her turn around. She counted eight figures in dark clothes quickly approaching. They pointed at her, screaming something she could not understand. Before she could react she felt a piercing pain on the side of her neck. She turned around to see the instructor holding a needle tube that acted like a syringe.
The instant pain brought her to her knees, as much as she fought to stay upright.
“Go to sleep,” she heard the echo of the woman’s voice.
The instructor and the group exchanged a couple of sentences while Silveria agitated in pain. Strangely, she remained perfectly conscious and in control of her body, however painful it was.
And then the pain stopped. Silveria, scared and confused decided to leave, run away from these people. She could see the red claw symbol on their clothes. They were the enemies of Edenia, the worshippers of the gods who wanted to enslave the world.
They thought she was going to pass out, the element of surprise was on her side. She launched herself to her right towards the stacked crates. It posed no difficulty for her to climb the first two and launch herself at the walkway right above her.
But she underestimated her enemies.
The instructor, never losing her cool, ripped her skirt at the side. Silveria hung more than ten feet above the floor, yet this woman jumped in the air, spun around, and kicked her down. As she fell, the girl crashed into a crate, shattering it to pieces.
The instructor said something to her companions and they rushed away, heading towards the exit leading back up.
“Looks like I have to put you to sleep with my bare hands,” heard Silveria as she tried to push herself away from her new enemy.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked while taking her breath back.
“Isn’t it obvious?” laughed the instructor and left a little pause for Silveria to react. None came. “You’ll find out.”
She stood up above Silveria and wanted to kneel down to grab her. But Silveria already had her knee ready to repel this movement, perfectly putting all her strength into hitting that stomach. It granted her a temporary freedom which she used to quickly get back on her feet.
The woman wasted no time, she unleashed a good arsenal of moves upon Silveria, all with the intention to knock her down. Silveria knew there would be excellent kicking moves aimed her way but she could not be prepared for some brutal upper body attacks as well. The instructor swung at her not with her fists but with her elbows, dealing some very damaging blows, each blacking out the girl’s vision for a short period of time. It felt very surprising to Silveria, the instructors of this kind were to prepare the students for battlefield, not one on one combat.
Silveria herself was very agile, priding herself on achieving some very flexible positions, executing acrobatic moves that helped her gain momentum and confuse enemies.
But this only worked as well as her own endurance. She was still young and inexperienced. Eventually she received a blow to her face which sent her tumbling back, hitting the back of her head into a crate. Her opponent was fast, she spun in the air, delivering a hard kick right into the top of Silveria’s head. The thunder has struck and Silveria found herself on the floor again, this time with dwindling amount of stamina.
This time the woman’s hands reached the girl’s neck.
“We’re taking you back with us to our home. You will be useful in bringing your father down,” she let out, angry over all the stamina she had to waste for this fight.
“Don’t... hurt... my father,” choked Silveria out as she tried to free herself from the grip. She resisted, desperately trying to stay conscious.
They kept pulling each other and Silveria was losing. She would pass out soon.
In her mind she could care less for her own life. If it should end here then so be it. But to be used against her own father? Nobody threatens him, nobody does that... and lives.
She reached for one of many splinters lying around. It came so easy for her to firmly grab onto it and stab the instructor in the neck. With all her remaining strength she pushed it in and would not let go. The woman’s grip weakened as she started choking.
Silveria would not stop. She acquired dominance and pressed her enemy to the ground. The struggle continued, however, the woman would not go easily. All the more Silveria treated the splinter like a knife, cutting the neck like it was an orange. Even when the resistance faded she would not have justice done until the head was nearly cut off.
Disgusted, she threw the bloodied splinter away and collapsed back onto the ground, holding her face while crying.
Still, deep inside there was satisfaction, her father would be safe for now. This woman would not hurt anybody. Not anymore, at least.
The man! A stranger who wanted to protect her! She did not see him die. He still had to be in the chamber.
She stormed the terminal room in a hurry, looking out of the hole in the glass. He was there, slowly picking himself up from the floor right before the strange devices filling the room.
“Are you well?” she asked him.
He squinted at her, obviously trying recognize her face in the dim light. A sign of relief came upon his face as he saw it was really her.
“I’ll live. How did you survive this?”
She shrugged. “I had no choice. These people wanted to hurt my father.”
“Are they all dead now?” he asked while he climbed back into the room. She helped him.
“Only my instructor. The others ran...” she could not finish the sentence. Her classmates! The woman must have sent them to kill them!

Back upstairs the students started to feel the unrest.
“Where did she go? You think she went after the instructor?” asked Ean.
“We have to go after her. If something is wrong here we can’t let her wander around!” proclaimed Game but Key stopped him.
“If something’s wrong you want to run around without a weapon?”
“I would say that something is definitely wrong,” said Ean. “Look at this.”
He knelt next to another crate. This one was different from others. It was all black and had a symbol of a red claw on it.
“There’s another,” noticed Game. Altogether they found four crates of this kind.
“How did they get here? I thought this thing belonged to us,” wondered Kolor.
“We’d better take our weapons, now,” suggested Eyona.
“Yes, that sounds like a good idea,” agreed Ean.
“Wait, what weapons? I was not supposed to have any. It’s not my talent!” objected Kolor.
Before anyone could answer a noise came from the corridor in the southwest corner. It was a sound of rushing footsteps and strange shouts.
“You’d better make a new talent, little man,” said Eyona and followed Key to the stacked crates they brought in.
The light outlined several figures dressed in black of various sizes and looks. They all bore bladed close combat weapons. As soon as they spotted the students they charged at them, finding the closest way through the crates.
Key grinned.
“Come to me, I’ll show you my talent.”
He threw the lid of the crate off and reached inside it. Slowly and calmly he pulled out a large two-handed sword. His fellow students followed suit, albeit much quicker. Even Kolor found a short blade he grasped in his hand, despite the mortal fear slightly numbing his muscles.
The odds were in favor their enemies, eight to five, but that did not weaken their resolve.
“I don’t suppose we can talk about this?” asked Kolor while standing on top of a crate.
The answer came in a language very alien to him and he fell off the crate while trying to dodge a blade longing to end his life.
The largest enemy rushed against Eyona who grinned her teeth while holding her blade against him. Key stepped in and used the power and the momentum of his giant weapon to stop the enemy in his tracks.
“Thief,” noted Eyona.
“Don’t bargain for more than you can handle,” answered Key and quickly moved himself towards Kolor, who so far managed to evade certain death by jumping across the tops of the crates.
Ean and Game stood back to back, drawing the attention of four enemies.
“You ever killed anyone before?” asked Ean.
“Can’t say I have,” Game shook his head. “But I’ve been trained to do that. See if I can put it to use.”
Before they moved a voice came from the northwest corner.
“Hey! What are you doing...?”
It was Soona. She, Arena and Sehun just returned, surprise in their faces.
“The worshippers! Get your blades!” shouted Eyona through the swordfight.
The four worshippers surrounding Ean and Game have noticed the newcome students. They shouted something at each other and one detached from the group.
This man was fast, he wore two stabbing daggers and definitely knew his craft. Soona and Arena backed in fear, paralyzed from the lack of means of defense. Sehun, however, showed no such fear. He rose his fists before him in a defensive stance.
“Pick not a blade for a man’s fists are weapons.”
He launched forward on his left foot and used the right one to side step, dodging the first piercing attacks. Having the enemy’s back at his side he grabbed onto the man’s throat and spun around it, gaining enough momentum to hit the stomach with his knee. It was just enough distraction for the girls to pass by.
On the other side of the room, Key swung his massive blade around, gaining some clearing around him. Yet even then he had Ean and Game covering his flanks. Somewhere in the middle Eyona had her hands full assisting Kolor in his attempt for survival.
A gale swept in and brought some dust from the outside. If fighting proved difficult for the students it just made their situation even worse.
“Can we close that gate?” asked Ean through the clanking and ringing of his blade’s defensive moves.
“Not right now!” shouted Key. He swung his blade from an overhead stance and partially sliced a crate instead of an enemy that used to stand there. He had to kick another man in the chest to defend while pulling the sword out.
Ean’s talent was leadership and as such his fighting skills were only moderate. He had to push himself hard to withstand the pressure of the experienced and zealous enemy warriors. It tired him greatly to repeatedly block, he could not find an opening through which he could attack back. Horizontal slash followed vertical slash and the hardest one to avoid, direct stab. His training kept repeating in his head. Breathe, that’s the key.
He decided to use his body both as a shield and a ramming tool. While holding his blade upside down before him he pushed the enemy into a crate. He then quickly stepped back, dragging his blade upwards, but he could barely tear the man’s clothes. Instead, he was pushed back. While breathing heavily he watched the man pull something from the depths of his dark clothes. It was a metallic orb. Upon a tight squeeze it fell apart and revealed another orb of pristine liquid in it. A sinister grin appeared on the man’s face.
Ean had no time to wonder what it was. The man threw it right at him and Ean instinctively slashed at it with his sword. The orb broke, releasing a spray of yellow liquid. It hit Ean on his entire right side of the body and immediately started vaporizing. Ean felt searing pain on his skin and felt it burn away. The acid ate away parts of his clothes and slowly melted his skin. He felt back, screaming in pain, his muscles spasming in shock.
His enemy watched him squirm in agony as he approached but he never made it to a kill. From behind him came Soona, holding onto her sword, bent in her knees as she just climbed onto a crate. In one mighty leap she dove the blade into the man’s back and used her weight to bring him down.
“Ean!”
She knelt next to him, helping him to take his uniform jacket off. She could hear the hissing of the acid burning but the vapor was clouding her view.
“Are you still with us?”
He would only answer in groaning. She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him towards the entrance, staying low, hoping to avoid the enemies’ vision.
Game proved to be an outstanding warrior in this place. Since his youth he yearned to be a general but his plan was to walk the path of blood to get there. His weapon of choice: two blades - same as the number of his enemies at this time. He followed one rule, to always have a firm grip on the hilts, never let an enemy knock them out.
He took it upon himself to cover Key’s left flank. Though not as big as Key, he himself could appear intimidating which saved his life so far. He has met the zeal of the worshippers with brute ferocity of his own, his beard and rugged hair helping to achieve this image. They stepped back and hesitated every time he roared and grunted at them. Still, he and his fellow students were barely maturing teenagers, it would work only for so long.
And so it did, but not before Key succumbed. In the corner of his eye, Game saw Key being the victim of his own speed handicap and having to fight with a big weapon in close quarters. One of them managed to overcome the heavy swing and stab him in the hip. Key hit the same man in the face with the hilt of his sword but it only slowed his demise. The enemy spun around and put his other dagger into Key’s opposite hip, punching him in the stomach with his elbow. Key fell back, having the other worshipper raising his sword, preparing to decapitate him.
Game threw himself Key’s way, risking his life by dragging him out of range just in time. He paid the price. The furious blade cut through his thigh. He ignored the wound, trying to push Key away, possibly closer to the other students.
The gale worsened, Eyona could hardly see anything anymore. Even the clash of her blade with that of her enemy’s nearly dulled in this noise. Kolor was still alive, though, for what it was worth.
“What are we going to do? I can’t kill them!” she heard him wail behind her.
“Just leave it to us. We’ll...” the ground shook and everyone with it. It took her off guard. Her enemy used this window of opportunity and slashed at her. She parried but it threw her off balance. The enemy spun around and crouched. The blade went through the girl’s leg, cutting it off in the middle of her thigh. She stumbled and fell back, nearly toppling Kolor.
“Eyona!” he screamed in horror, seeing her severed leg.
He looked up, the worshipper took a moment to stand there watching the girl bleed. Kolor obviously looked like an easy prey, so why the hurry.
Wrong.
“I’ll kill you!” screamed Kolor and launched himself forward, aiming his short blade at the worshipper.
He failed. The enemy parried and Kolor lost his blade. A punch in the face brought him back to the floor.
He clenched his teeth in anger. Eyona took his hand and tried to push him behind her.
“Stay behind me,” she said with a faint voice. Bleeding would not stop and she slowly fell into unconsciousness.
“What? I...”
A cracking sound interrupted him. Looking up he saw a large man holding the worshippers head, having snapped his neck just a moment ago.
From behind this man stepped out no one else but Silveria.
She quickly knelt down next to wounded Eyona.
“I’ll go help your friends. We all need to leave now,” said the man.
Silveria turned around and nodded at him.
“Who is that? Where is the instructor?” asked Kolor but Silveria would ignore him. She took off her jacket and wrapped it tightly around Eyona’s thigh.
The whole building shook and would not stop.
“Students, we are all leaving!” she heard Game shouting from the entrance.
Silveria tapped Kolor on his shoulder.
“Take her! Please!” she insisted. With that she disappeared among the crates.
Kolor helped Eyona stand up. While supporting her he led her back towards the entrance.
Silveria rushed among the crates, seeking out others. The fighting seemed to stop. Whoever the mysterious man was, he brought a quick end to everything. The gale kept bringing in more and more dust, however, making it nearly impossible to see further than five feet ahead. She came across the crates they brought in. Arena and Sehun handled the top one and quickly headed to the entrance with it. Silveria wanted to pick the last one but it was too heavy to move it so easily. The whole structure started sinking down. Silveria saw the landscape behind the entrance rise up.
“Elenia, let’s take it!”
Game grabbed the handles on the opposite side and together they brought the crate out of the structure. Just as they descended the ramp the structure tilted back, falling away from the land. Silveria fell on her butt, letting go of the crate. Game could not get her. Should he let go the crate would fall on her. He kept pulling, helplessly watching Silveria slide back towards the entrance.
But Silveria’s survival instinct has been honed for a long time. She has had many near death experiences. This was no different.
If only she had actually learned what to do.
She was falling down, without a hope. Maybe she should head back inside? What would that achieve? The ground itself would devour her along with the building. An irresistible force lifted her up and before she knew it took her away. It caught her, the wind so strong it carried dirt, rocks, any kind of natural debris. It struck her head, hit her stomach and took her breath away. Luckily, it took her back to the land, albeit away from the others. She collided with the trees strong enough to defy the winds. The winds? Looking around she saw a gigantic tornado swirling around the island, impossible to see its other side from where she stood.
Ignoring the pain, she headed right into the middle, towards where she thought the others ran. The winds kept tightening behind her, crackling and smashing sounds always driving her to run faster, although limping would be a better term at the moment.
She had to run up the slope, finally seeing some movement in the distance. Still, many trees obscured her way and vision. The sound of thunder startled her. The further she ran the tighter the tornado seemed to be. The swirling clouds and the updraft on the edges could only mean one thing, a massive supercell, none like which has Silveria seen in her entire life. If only she could ignore the thunderstorm raging in those clouds. Her body contained a large amount of metal, making her prone to being hit by a lightning. A body made of silver, both a blessing and a curse.

“How far back do we have to go?!” shouted Kolor through the noise. Supporting a girl bigger than him in these conditions drained all his stamina. Soon he would be the one needing supporting.
“We can stop here!” shouted Game from behind him. “But we’ll be the safest right inside this whole thing!”
“I’m willing to risk it!” Kolor stopped and so did everyone else. They covered nearly half a mile from the structure, reaching into the forest where the ground still remained intact.
“Don’t we have a shelter to find?” asked Ean, clenching his teeth, struggling to even stand.
“This forest will be good enough. As long as the wind won’t take us we’ll be safe. For now,” said the big man.
“Wait, who are you? And where is the princess?” asked Kolor.
“She stayed behind. Fell back into that thing,” said Game, kneeling before the crate, trying to catch his breath.
“I would hate to be her,” noted Soona with a relief.
“We’ll have to go find her,” decided Ean.
“In that thing? I’m not going anywhere,” coldly refused Soona.
“Yeah, we barely got out of it with our lives,” nodded Kolor.
“No, wait. He’s right,” interrupted Arena. “Her father will have our heads for letting her die.”
“It wasn’t our fault!” objected Kolor.
“We have to try, or we’re dead anyways,” said Ean.
The big man clapped his hands to get their attention.
“You’re not in a condition to go anywhere. Sit down. Wait for this to pass.”
“Who are you to tell us what to do?” asked Kolor.
“Yeah, who are you, really?” asked Ean.
“Wait, if everyone in there was dead but the worshippers...” Game reached for his blade and slowly stood up while aiming it into the man’s face. Everyone became alarmed as well, holding onto their weapons.
“Tell us. Are you one of them? Did you take her down?” insisted Game.
The man remained calm. He showed no fear, or any other emotion. His eyes jumped from one student to another.
“Why don’t you ask her?” he pointed to the north.
Everyone but Game snap-turned that direction. Among the moving tree branches and swaying grass ran a rugged figure with ridiculously dirty silver hair, dressed in severely torn clothes. She stumbled and lurched couple of times but never stopped, pushing ahead at all times.
“How can she live like this?” wondered Soona.
“You were right. She can’t be human,” said Kolor.
“You have no idea what she is,” said the man coldly and set out to meet Silveria half way. The girl stumbled over a fallen tree trunk. Exhausted, she only crawled forward after lifting her face from the grass. Still, getting this far felt satisfactory then. Her muscles called for some rest and so she turned on her back, her legs and arms sprawled in all direction. The dirty skies moved above the waving branches, quite relaxing under these circumstances. Why struggle? Why bother? Let’s worry about everything later.