The Sage's Vow

21.2 || Fear's Grip

"This isn't good," Josh said.

"You think?" Kaitlyn snapped. Given how he still loomed over her from where he'd moved to protect her, she should have been kinder, but all the chaos had her wound up.

Josh rolled his eyes before moving over to the edge. "I can't find Mara anywhere. This is..." He shook his head. "This is just whacky."

Kaitlyn pressed her hand against her injury and leaned up. Although she wouldn't have chosen the same word, she had to agree with Josh. The forest below them had become a grid, and blocks of earth flew through the air, replacing each other in placement. Their own block soared eastward. The fog passed beneath them like clouds.

Over the fog. Kaitlyn jerked upright, but the shock of pain in her gut had her doubling back over.

"Hey, careful!" Josh placed the back of his sword hand against her shoulder, balancing her.

Ignoring the pain, she sat back up and gestured around them. "Quickly. We are over the fog. See what all you can."

She didn't wait to see if he listened before peering below them. Their block was already lowering, so they didn't have long. She threw out her senses, desperately searching for energy over the fog. There, thirty meters to the southwest, and another presence almost four hundred meters to their northwest. She followed both directions, catching a brief glimpse of Cale to the south before he vanished beneath the fog and a better look at Mateo standing motionless to the north. Within seconds, the fog swallowed him. Based on how their chunk of land was slowing, Josh and Kaitlyn would soon join him.

"I found Cale and Mateo, but Mara must be back on the ground already," she said.

"Uh, Kaitlyn, I think we have another problem." He pointed forward.

She hadn't even looked that way yet. All her focus had been on locating the others. Now she followed his finger, and her stomach dropped.

The realm stretched for at least ten more miles in front of them, and from their vantage point, she could see that all of it had reshaped, not just their select point. That wasn't what Josh had noticed, though. In the center of the seeable realm arose dozens of broken buildings. It was hard to tell from this distance, but they looked modern. Even stranger, though, was the dome that closed around it. It was untouched by the morphing landscape around it.

What was that?

Before she had the chance to examine it further, the floating earth dropped, and the cloud of fog swallowed them again.

"Any guesses from your time in the last temple?" Kaitlyn asked.

"Sure, but hopefully it's not important right now." Their block slid perfectly into place on the ground, like a puzzle piece finding its home, and Josh rose to his feet. "Come on. You said you saw where the other two are? Let's save them, then Mara, and once we're all together, we can worry about everything else."

It was important, but Kaitlyn could try to build some sort of theory while they rescued the others, because that was also important. More so, even. Do you know how long a person can last against a fear devourer? Kaitlyn asked Odema.

It varies on the prey, Odema said. Depending both on how strongly they react to the fear, as that is what decides how their energy responds, as well as how much energy the creature possesses, it can take anywhere from minutes to hours. As Paladins, it should take at least an hour.

Except that none of the three out there were fully rested. Mara and Cale had been surviving for over a week while Mateo spent most of his energy just making sure they stuck together when the realm threw them around upon entry.