"AAAHHH--" my scream was cut off part way by a sweaty palm.

"Ronan, be quiet!" Sam whispered in my ear. When my wide eyes met his, I gave him a small nod that I understood. My friend removed his hand from my mouth and slowly laid me back on the ground. I did a double take as I looked around and saw a pale Danny propped against a nearby tree. Samuel was crouched between us, holding his gun in a death grip. I could see his eyes scanning the forest around us wildly.

Memories from before I'd lost consciousness flashed through my mind and I laid as still as I could as I ran my hands over my body. Nothing is broken... Was I drugged or something? Risking propping myself up to my elbows, I took a good look around us. We were tucked away in a small thicket of trees. Just beyond the trees I could see... more trees. Except directly behind us where I could see a raging inferno.

"Holy hydroponics! Samuel what the hell is happening?" I asked, quickly dropping my voice to a whisper after he glared at me.

"I don't know man. All kinds of crazy. There was a pair of these... tortoises. They were chasing us after Daniela caught all that grass on fire and then I panicked, but then I shot one of them and the other ran away. But the bullets! It took so many of them and I just dragged you two. And you, you were in pieces, but now you are not, so I'm not sure if you were..." Samuel started to ramble.

Electing the most direct approach I snapped my fingers in his face to bring him back to the moment. "Sam, calm down. I'm not sure what happened, but I feel alright for now. What happened with Daniela, how did she set the fire? Also, why didn't you drag us towards the Bunker.

"That was the problem. She didn't set the fire, she was the fire. She was suddenly covered in flames and they torched all that colorful grass."

Slapping my head at the realization, I turned back to my friend. "She set the path back to the Bunker on fire?" Nod. "And she was somehow on fire, but isn't anymore?" Second nod.

"When I tried to reach for her she extinguished herself, but it was too late. In your case--" A deep rumble interrupted Sam. Prompting him to spin completely. "It's here!"

"What is here?" I asked with concern.

"The other tortoise!" Not dumb enough to keep the conversation going, I crouched and looked out beyond the trees encircling us. Sure enough, a tortoise looked to be scanning the trees.

"Give me a gun, Sam," I hissed as the large creature crawled into view. It looked almost like a regular tortoise except nearly one and a half times larger. The longer I stared, the more I realized that instead of a regular carapace, it had stone and some sort of mineral cluster sprouting from its back. Yep. We are either drugged out of our minds, or Earth is busted beyond belief.

"I only have the one, Ronan. I left the others and the duffle when I picked you two up," he said, attempting to hand the pistol over. I pressed the weapon back into his hand.

"Keep it. If that thing tries to get closer I'll grab it and you shoot it. Is it still slow like regular tortoises?" I asked, flexing my hands and scanning the creature's large back for possible handholds.

"In short spurts. It can... roll," he whispered as the creature turned our way.

"Oh by the apocalypse. You better not shoot me!" I leapt out of the thicket. The moment the tortoise laid eyes on me, the crystals on its back glowed briefly before expanding. By several inches. "Ah crap."

Just like Sam mentioned, the thing tucked its front legs and head in, then rolled. The tortoise did a perfect cartwheel in my direction. I waited as much as I could to dodge, one of the crystals on its back drawing a gash on my vest. Staggering on my feet from the hit, I watched the creature easily tilt its weight and begin cartwheeling back my way. Leaving it's underside exposed.

"Now Sam! It's underbody should be weaker!" I shouted, hoping my assumption proved true as I rolled out of the way of the tortoise's second pass. Four loud barks marked the shots from Sam. Three managed to hit center mass on the creature's belly, pushing it onto its back. The fourth flew wide and deeper into the forest. To my utter surprise, the thing wasn't dead.

I could see cracks spiderweb from its underbody, even a bit of blood, but the creature was still trying to roll itself over.

"Sam shoot again!"

"I'm out!" he called out.

I groaned loudly as I rushed back towards the creature. When it noticed my approach, it kicked out wildly with its legs and snapped at me with its head. Avoiding a sweep from one of its front legs, I shoved it back towards the ground. This is the fastest turtle adjacent creature I have ever seen! With it's impending righting halted for the moment, I looked around for a weapon. Anything. A thick branch to my left caught my attention and I lunged for it.

As if the tortoise had been waiting for the exact moment I moved away, it pushed itself off of the ground almost instantly. Thankfully, my friend was there to prevent it from regaining its legs. With a heaving effort, Sam lifted the tortoise up, balancing it on two of its flailing legs. The veins on his neck and face strained, the stony beast clearly out of his weight class.

I gripped the branch tightly, then clocked the creature in the head just as it was about to snap at my friend. With its head recoiling into its shell to recover, its fight died some. Bracing the branch against the ground and the cracked underbody area, I pushed. At first all I did was help Sam keep hold of the creature and prevent it from mauling us both. When its head exited its shell and its thrashing intensified, the tables turned. In our favor. The power and weight behind its movements worked against it. My branch made its way into its body like a stake.

Apparently, holding my impromptu weapon while it was inside of the creature was enough to cause the effect I'd seen from the squirrel to trigger. This time, the crystallization happened almost instantly. While the shell didn't change much, its head and legs took on a deep grey color, a slight metallic sheen covering its surface. Which I supposed made sense, if anything still makes sense. Just like the flying squirrel, the tortoise began to crumble into fragments. Most of them flew my way, but the rest of the torrent slammed straight into Sam's chest. My gangly friend took a short flight back into the denser foliage.

Okay, maybe it is physical? I thought as I rushed to his side. To my horror, the man started to convulse on the ground. Vines grew from where his hair had been and his skin took on a rough leafy texture. In moments, I was holding what amounted to a giant pile of Sam-shaped plants. None of my efforts to stir my friend did anything. Hoping that his condition would improve like my own had, I carried him back to the thicket with Danny.

The area around the thicket was empty, but I was cautious to remain as hidden as I could manage. Strings of plans and possible avenues for our survival overwhelmed my taxed mind. There were monsters on the surface, and apparently they made us lose consciousness when we killed them. Hold on. That strange cloud hadn't knocked me out or over like it had Samuel. I looked over my body for any injury or weird symptom like my friend had mentioned.

When I prodded the torn portion of my vest, I didn't even feel sore. Which was impossible considering the strength with which the strange creature had hit me. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I missed the smell of burning until it was almost too late. Spinning at the sudden brightness in the thicket, I saw that the fire had spread significantly and our shelter was toast.

I pulled my friends out of the thicket, straining under their combined weight, but managing to return to where the corpse of the tortoise fell. Or where it should have been. In its place was a trio of crystal encrusted plates from its shell as well as what looked like a ball of living mud. The crackle of fire behind me didn't give me time as a gust of wind brought the heat closer. I'll be back. I promised the strange items on the ground as I moved past them.

Thankfully I had thought to grab the gun after hiding Samuel. On the flip side, there were only two bullets in the back up magazine. I certainly hope there are no other hungry critters around.

With the weapon tucked in my belt, I slowly made my way as far from the fire as I could. Casting a look at the sky revealed that it had to be some time in the early afternoon. Without supplies and with the strange animals there was no way we would make it on the surface. Who would have thought I would want to be back underground so quickly. I couldn't help the dark chuckle that escaped me.

I wasn't sure how long I ambled around the forest, dodging another tortoise, several squirrels and even a strange flaming bird. By that point I was sure that everyone had underestimated what madness the Metier Radiation had done to Earth and that it was to blame for whatever had happened to the three of us. When the sky started to change color I started to lose hope. I'd been looking for somewhere to hunker down and hopefully head back to the Bunker once Sam and Danny were restored. I didn't know why I'd been able to come back to myself so much faster than them, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

After passing what felt like the two hundredth tree I saw the first real noticeable feature, a rocky outcropping. Adjusting Danny slightly on my shoulder, I pumped my legs towards the small semblance of shelter. The outcropping made a small, moss covered shelf, flanked on one side by a truly massive oak. There was the possibility that the spot was home to some other nasty critter, but it wouldn't be long before my body failed me. My legs trembled from the strain of dragging or carrying my two friends through the forest. It didn't even feel like I'd made that much progress considering how much I zig zagged in my westward direction.

As I drew closer, static buzzed in the air around me. It reminded me of when Ben had shown us piezoelectric crystals. Each flex of the material sent out voltage charges. That charge was small potatoes to what I felt the closer I got to the outcrop. At less than a hundred feet, the hairs on my arms rose up like soldiers at attention. At half that distance, Danny's hair slowly levitated, then uncurled from the sheer static around us.

Like a moth to a flame, I moved into the shadow of the outcrop and gently set my friends down. Not only was it the largest natural rock I'd ever seen, not a massive achievement considering I lived underground, but the strange static was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. I reached towards the stone and gently placed my hand on it. The moment I did, the implant on the back of my neck tingled. My eyes flew open as I connected the dots.

There must be a Metier Crystal here! Without bothering to look around me, I clawed at the moss, vines and crumbly limestone of the rock. After several seconds of frantic clawing, going so far as to split two nails in the process, the iridescent tip of a Metier Crystal greeted me. Just from what I could see, it was the biggest cluster any of us had seen. I redoubled my efforts and focused on freeing the crystal.

At some point during my mad excavation, a hand landed on my shoulder. Already cocking my arm to throw a haymaker, I saw Danny's desiccated form hovering over my shoulder.

"Danny!" I gasped as the woman leaned heavily on me. "Are you okay?"

"So... hot. Water...?" she asked in a raspy voice. I fumbled with my vest and pulled the bottle I had on me. There was less than half the container left, but she gulped it down before I could tell her to slow. Her skin was tight and it almost looked like she had been covered in a thin layer of ash. Each gesture caused the dust-like substance to drift off into the wind.

"Better..." she sighed as she dropped to the ground. "What happened? Where is Sam?" She was trying to look around but only managed to turn her head part of the way. In the process, she noticed the section of crystal I'd uncovered. "What is that?"

"That's a bit of a long story," I gave her the highlights of what had happened and what Sam had managed to tell me before we were attacked. Each event caused her eyes to widen more as she stared at the pile of plant matter that I'd pointed out as our lifelong friend.

"What are we going to do, Ronan? Ben was right," she said, weakly motioning to the wilderness around us. "The surface is borked. Why didn’t Elias tell us? I could only assume if Ben knew, so did the old man."

"I don't know. If we make it back to the Bunker we are going to be extracting some answers from those old farts. We would have been dead without the guns and we are pretty much out." Remembering the weapon holstered on my belt, I handed it over to Daniela. "Keep an eye on Sam will you?"

"What are you going to do?" she asked as she took the weapon in trembling hands. Frowning at the weariness I could see in my friend, I explained that I thought the glowing crystal could only be a larger version of the one in our implants.

"I gathered as much from the look of it. Why are you digging it out?" she asked, gesturing to my bloody palms.

"It... called me," I froze as the words left my mouth. Had it called me? Danny was giving me an equally confused look. "I'm not sure. I was looking for shelter and then I sensed it here when we got closer. Then I just... needed to get closer."

"Okay, well if that's what your gut is telling you. Just... don't take too long. If we are going to try to make camp here it's going to take time. And water, if that is all you have." She stared forlornly at my empty canteen.

Not having to be told twice, I went back to digging. The process was fairly monotonous, and painful in the beginning, but it passed quickly. The world became a haze of soil and rock as I continued to reveal more and more of the crystal before me.

At some point during the process, Danny called for me. The leafy bundle that was Samuel stirred and the man tore himself out of the cocoon of plant matter like a newborn butterfly. Other than some clinging bits of the plants that had grown out of him, he was looking much better than even before I'd awaken. Even more confused by that development compared to myself and Danny, I explained what had happened over the last few hours.

With a spry jump, he announced that he would find us some water nearby. I hesitated to have him leave our impromptu camp alone, but water was a priority. Even within the Bunker, there was always talk about proper water management. At least when my dad and Sam's met up.

Danny was happy to lean back and relax while her charge went off into the surrounding forest. Moments after letting out a deep sigh, she was snoozing gently. Sam and I exchanged a concerned look, but got to work on our tasks.

Considering how much dirt I was able to move off the outcropping, I started to mound it up on the exposed side of us. The makeshift wall wouldn't stop one of the rolling tortoises, but it provided some cover from the elements and reduced how visible we were. When the last rays of light were disappearing, Sam returned.

The blonde botanist had managed to find a small creek some way from us, as well as a wild growth of bamboo. He described a strange development on that front. Not only was the bamboo impossibly hard even after several chops from his survival knife, but when it did fall, the rest of the reed essentially dissolved into the ground. He described that small ferns and grass bloomed in its place until a single section of uncut bamboo rose back out of the ground.

"It was unnatural. I mean, it was all nature but that's not how plants are supposed to work," he said as he passed the very length of bamboo around. He'd punched a hole into it and created another canteen for us. With how large it was it looked more like a bucket. I certainly wasn't complaining though.

"That sounds like what happened to the tortoise. When I left the thicket with you two it was gone and there were some neatly stacked plates from it's back just laying there. It was strange," I said, recalling our battle against the creature. It felt like it had been days since then, when it had been just a few hours. The entire day had already gone on longer than it should have; our quick trip to the surface having been turned into a survival expedition.

"Was there something like this there too?" he said as he lifted a marble sized blob of water. "It was set right next to the bamboo."

"Yes! Except the one I saw looked like a ball of mud."

"You two realize how crazy you are talking, right?" Danny interjected, having stirred from her sleep at the mention of water. "None of this is possible. I may not be one of the big brained scientists down in the Bunker, but this is not how life works."

"Is it?" I asked, pointing to the significantly more exposed crystal behind me. As the sky darkened, I noticed small flashes of light within its depth. "These things changed everything. It's been over a quarter century since they landed, plenty of time for stuff to change."

"Magic. The crap you are describing sounds more like magic than science, Ron. That's impossible," Danny countered.

"You saw that squirrel. That isn't possible. Then Sam and I fought those tortoises. And now look. " I pointed at the small gelatin blob of water in Sam's palm. "That isn't some regular water structure or whatever you want to call it. Stuff up here works leagues different from how it works down in the Bunker. I just don't know how or why, but I have the sneaking suspicion that unless we figure it out... we'll be dead before we make it back to the Bunker."

Our little group fell silent at my words, and I took the opportunity to return to the crystal. The strange static had died down after the first few minutes, but it grew again each time I brushed against the crystal. It was a strange response that I couldn't correlate to any of the other minerals or rocks I'd studied down in the Bunker. At least none that had existed pre-Fall.

Steadily, I felt my thoughts and worries disappear as I continued to move dirt, rock and moss from the outcropping. The visible section of the crystal reached so high above me I had to jump to clear the debris from there. Only vaguely aware of my friends lighting a fire and even joining me in my excavation, the world blurred. The only thing before me was the crystal, and its shimmering colorful depths. Until I removed one final stone.

The whole crystal, revealed to be nearly the size of two people side by side in girth toppled to the ground. The three of us yelped and backed away as it splintered off the outcropping then rolled up against the earthen wall I'd piled loosely beside our camp. With it completely exposed, the darkness of the night vanished as its iridescent glow bathed us.

"It's beautiful..." I whispered. The various minerals I'd studied ran through my head at dizzying speeds but none compared to the Metier Crystal. Even the smaller ones we'd seen while the implants were being finished lacked a certain... depth. The thing was simply the largest octahedral prism that I had ever seen. I brought my shaky hands onto its surface.

The roiling light within immediately reacted, flaring with a deep brown light speckled by grey and black and a dozen other colors. I tried to jerk back in surprise but my hands had somehow pushed through the solid surface into the crystal. I was trapped. Seeing me trapped within the crystal, Sam and Danny grabbed a hold of my arms and tried to help. When Samuel tried to get some leverage by placing his boot onto the crystal, it reacted. A crystal growth exploded out from it and snagged his leg.

"Gah! It's got me too! What the hell is going on?" Sam yelled as he lost his balance and had to brace himself against me. "Danny get--"

My friend's warning became moot when the crystal sprouted yet another growth up my arm and locked Danny's there.

"Borked! We are borked to all heck. Why were you playing around with the crystal, Ronan?" the woman complained loudly in my ear.

"I don't know what is going on. How was I supposed to know the crystal was trying to eat us? Crystals don't eat people, Daniela!"

"Stop! Guys are you seeing this too?" Sam sliced his hand through the air to draw our attention.

"What are you talking about?" Danny snapped.

"The implant's display. I've had it visible since you two got dropped. It's... changing or something."

At the botanist’s prompting, I focused my mind on the implant. Immediately, words scrolled across my eyes. Not all of them familiar or sensical.

Subject: Ronan Terrigan

Vitals:

BPM (ERROR)

Oxygen Sat (ERROR)

Lactic Acid (ERROR)

Metier Radiation:

LPS: Expand…

Wildwood, FL

Communications

As I watched it, the letters drifted through several times until the implant's display winked out. Three dots remained hovering in the air in the middle of our vision. "You guys getting these dots?" I asked. My friends nodded just as the dots shifted into words.

My mouth struggled to form words as I read the words. Each string of letters flashed by almost too fast to read, but I managed to keep up. As if it had noticed my concerns, the speed at which the words spelled themselves out slowed.

"Did the implant just ask me something?" Sam managed to get his question out before me.

"Yeah. It's saying I have an Earth Attunement, whatever that means," I answered.

"It's saying I have a Fire Attunement, Flame Refinement," Danny said. Her eyes were glossed over as she read something further through her implant. "Wait, there is more!"

Honest to goodness elevator music chimed around us. The three of us ignored the strange words interrupting our vision to look at each other.

"Uhhh, what?" I said, stunned by the sudden development. There was no denying that something was talking to us now. I pivoted to look at the Metier Crystal, its glow shifting slightly with each new word.

"Sam, erhm, the crystal wants you to say you accept your results," I parroted.

"Accept?" he said, tilting his head in confusion before jerking in surprise. "It's talking to me!"

"Safe to say I'm not the only one going crazy?" Danny asked while blowing a stray hair from her eyes.

"I think it's safe to say we are stuck to a crystal that is now talking to us via the implants in our spines. So, maybe not far from crazy," I responded. "Not what I would call sane at the very least."