The explosion rippled across the camp, raising dirt and sod into the air before settling. Broon, his back having turned to the explosion, coughed and spat blood onto the ground, a slow burning creeping into his nerves as he assessed the damage.

While screams filled the air, mostly due to confusion, it did not seem like there was any lasting damage to the expedition group; at least not physically. The mental horror of watching a team member self-destruct would probably give a few people nightmares for a while, but that was something that time needed to take care of. And time was something that they did not have.

“Report. Incoming monsters from the forest line. At least five wolf species and three ghouls!”

Bronn turned his head towards the voice, focusing his vision. Ghouls before the sun went down was almost unheard of, unless they were altered as well. The burning sensation on his back slowly turned to fire, coupled with a slight slickness that he couldn’t identify.

Why was it so damned hard to look straight?

“Sir, I heard the explosion and came runn...” Cain’s voice trailed off as he stared at Bronn, struggling to get up off the ground. “Sir, are you alright? Your back...”

“My back what?” Bronn grunted, bracing himself on the ground as he worked his legs under him so that he could stand up. He staggered slightly, unbalanced as one leg braced unevenly on the ground. Why was it uneven? Did he have a pebble in his boot?

Looking down, Bronn stared in confusion as the stub attached to the end of his leg where his foot used to be, comprehension refusing to set into his brain. Where did his boot go?

“Sir, you need to stop moving.” That voice came again, Cain, if Bronn remembered right. Strange, he wasn’t one to forget names that easily. Brain must be rattled still from the explosion. Spitting blood on the ground again, Bronn settled back down slowly, relief filling his face as the pressure and stress from trying to stand up evaporated. The only thing that was annoying now, as his face rested on the grass, was the annoying wind that was blowing over his back, causing it to constantly sting.

Slowly the screams faded away, replaced by the sound of gentle ringing in his ears. Bronn sighed in relief for a second before shaking his head and trying to push himself up again. His hands slipped on the grass, wet and slick and an odd color that he wasn’t used to seeing. It was a weird, murky brown, extremely slippery but also quite sticky. Picking his hand up and looking at it, a red tint tainted his palms, comprehension finally dawning as he collapsed on the ground.

Blood continued to seep on to the ground out of his body, his eyes closing slowly as Cain watched in horror as his body stopped breathing.

----

An explosion of guts showered Alice; her fist located squarely in the middle of where one of the ghoul's heads used to be. Ducking under an errant ball of fire, she turned around sprinted back to the safety of the camp. There were definitely more than eight creatures attacking right now, all of them pulsating with some sort of green liquid that shined within their veins. It was almost like they were modified creatures at this point, as compared to the normal ones they had seen within Gates.

For example, why was one of the wolves immune to fire? By the sheer nature of the creature, fire was one of their weaknesses; something that had been a tried and true practice for the past decade. But the one Xander was currently dodging was distinctly burning, and had no signs of slowing down. What on Earth had happened to these creatures, and where was Bronn?

Running over to Xander, Alice charged her fist up with energy and struck the wolf he was fighting, sending it flying as it squealed out in pain, and sighed. Her energy was definitely starting to run low after a few of those punches; these creatures were a lot more resistance to pain than their predecessors.

“Thanks for that,” Xander said, rubbing his arm where the wolf had headbutted him.

“No problem,” replied Alice, scanning the area for Bronn. The group had managed to regroup from the shock of the explosion, and was managing to fend off the beasts with more ease than before. She stopped as she caught sight of Cain through the rabble, kneeling over a body.

“No...” she muttered, racing over to where he was.

“Cain, what... Oh, oh no...”

Cain looked up at her, his face emotionless as he stood up off the ground and wiped his mouth, his pants soaked with blood and vomit. “It looks like he died from the explosion. From the scorch marks on the ground, it had a reverse cone effect. The majority of the blast was specifically targeting him, so there wasn’t much collateral damage.”

Alice just nodded, the mangled corpse of the expedition leader sitting in front of her, before she came to her senses. “Then that makes me in command I guess,” she muttered, trying to take in the entire situation.

“Cain, I heard fighting.” The soft voice made Cain instinctively turn around, shielding the newly arrived Maya from the carnage behind him as much as possible. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he oriented her so that Bronn’s body wasn’t in her field of vision.

“Maya, this is Alice. She is now commander of the expedition, according to her. Stick with her and help her out, ok?” Cain said, leveling out his voice in a soothing manner. She would know that he was upset, but he couldn’t let her see the sheer amount of rage building inside him. A simple excursion to map out a new Gate had turned into a tragedy, and there was definitely something hiding behind the scenes. Cain could almost feel whatever it was laughing at their suffering.

Maya nodded, trying to turn towards Alice, but Cain kept a tight grip on her shoulder. “You don’t want to see behind me.”

Alice’s hand rested on Cain’s for a second, causing him to turn his head in her direction. Holding eye contact for a second, she nodded and began steering Maya quickly towards the groups that were still fighting.

“I saw your report. An aura user, correct? Can you reinforce defense or offense?”

Alice’s voice faded away as the pair ran towards the sounds, leaving Cain standing in front of the corpse. Kneeling back down, he quickly frisked the body, pulling out any valuables and identification, before standing up.

“Inventory.”

Inventory Accessed

“Withdraw bedsheet.”

As soon as the cloth dropped into his hands, Cain closed the window, wrapping up the body carefully and dragging it back towards the Headquarters tent.

“Cain, what is happening?”

“Brian, Luke. What a relief...” Cain said, choking back another round of vomit as he thought about what he was dragging. “We were ambushed by the missing scout. Something charmed him and he exploded. Bronn... he...”

At this point, Cain couldn’t keep the bile down and bent over to the side, spewing clear liquid on the ground next to him. He set the bundle down carefully, before wiping his mouth.

“Bronn is behind me. They’re still fighting the creatures that appeared at the front of camp, they could probably use some help.”

The pair looked at each other and nodded, before rushing off to join the fray. Cain sighed and picked the cloth back up, dragging the body into the tent amidst gasps from the staff still inside. Looking around, he supposed that he wasn’t exactly a welcome sight; red eyes, blood and vomit stains, carrying something shaped like a body.

“Where do we put corpses?” he asked, his tone resigned and tired. Thankfully, one of the clerks took pity on him, and smiled reassuringly.

“There is a hatch right back here that’s kept cold with ice magic. Just put it in there. Who is it?” he asked, opening a door in the back of the room that had a trap door attached to the floor. Cain made his way to the back as the clerk opened the door, stopping only briefly to hand over the identification that he had pulled out of the pockets.

“No, this can’t be right. This is really Bronn?”

Sighing, Cain stopped walking long enough to uncover the face, which in hindsight, was a very bad move for the encroaching headache as there were quite a few screams. Covering Bronn’s face back up, Cain set him in the holding room, and let the door shut.

“Is... there someone where I can sit, just for a second? And maybe someone with healing abilities or any offensive capability can go find Alice and help the front line?” Cain said, his limbs giving out in exhaustion as he collapsed on the floor and leaned against a wall.

System Warning

Mental State reaching Critical

Apathetic Bonus Gained

Description: Forcibly calms the user’s mental state, causing a feeling of lack of emotion. Only activates when Mental State reaches Critical in order to preserve the mind.

‘Interesting,’ Cain thought, absently closing the window. A glass of water was placed in front of him, the same clerk that opened the door for him smiling. He set down a rag next to the water. “Just so you can clean up quickly before you go back out.”

Cain nodded and took a sip of the water and sighed in relief, the liquid cooling the burning of his throat and sating the dryness of his mouth.

“View stat points.”

Stat Points Available: 32. Assign? Y/N

“Assign 10 points to Strength and 22 points to Intelligence.”

Points assigned.

Due to Intelligence reaching above 40, special skill has been created.

Skill Name: Energy Recovery

Description: Fully recovers energy to maximum. Usable once per day.

Notice: Backlash will still occur if energy reaches 0 prior to use.

Sighing, Cain stood up and gave himself a once over. Maybe the Apathetic bonus wouldn’t be such a bad thing right now, and that new skill was going to be useful. He had just enough to utilize the skills he had been hiding, and hopefully that would be enough.