Sora Brontarion
Nerena was gone. And she wasn't responding to anyone. It was strange that she would just leave like that without telling anyone.
It seemed out of character for her, but did I really know her? This also meant that there was one less member of our team that I could depend on, along with losing our best Truth Seeker.
All we could do was hope that whatever she was doing, she would survive and make it back to help us.
But despite the setback, we still had a task we needed to finish. We needed to get to the Celestium Mines and, hopefully, find enough ore to make a dent in the rift guardian's armor.
Soon everyone packed up, and we continued our trek through the exoskeleton graveyard, following Jossie's and Stravos's Truth Seekers who led the way.
As we continued our journey, I began developing a new strategy for defeating the Rift Guardian without Nerena. Losing her was a major blow to our team composition. She was incredibly versatile and could fill multiple roles depending on the formation.
Now I had to rely more on Simon and Voen to fill those roles. Voen had improved his combat abilities since the beginning of the year and had shown impressive resilience throughout this rift, but he wasn't a powerhouse. Not like Mira, Jace, or even Cyrus.
I would need to carry more of that weight alongside Stravos.
Continuing north, one of the Truth Seekers told us we were approaching a settlement up ahead.
As we entered, the place looked like a hurricane had torn through it. Limestone blocks were scattered everywhere, forming large mounds that towered over me.
This town had taken heavy damage, much like the town in the central pyramid.
That rift guardian was a natural disaster in itself.
"Everyone, I sense a faint cosmic energy signature in the area," Sigmond said as we continued to walk through the old town.
"Is it Nerena's?" I asked.
"No, it's not; it's much different than hers"
"I hear groaning too," Voen said, meeting my eyes.
I racked my brain, trying to figure out what or who could be trapped beneath the rubble. But I couldn't decide whether searching through the wreckage was even worth it.
We were already low on energy; digging through all the rubble would definitely take time and energy away from getting to the mines and defeating the Rift Guardian. There could be a person trapped under there. Or a behemoth. Maybe even a Phantom Echo trying to lure us into a trap.
It was a heartless thought, but I had to be practical.
"Leave it be. We can't waste cosmic energy on what-ifs, and we can't take on another injured person to the group." Stravos said, continuing to walk forward through the rubble.
"I agree with Stravos," Ida said, following him.
"We need to get to some kind of safety before adding more to our plate," she continued.
"The flow of the cosmic energy signature doesn't feel like a behemoth at all; I think it's a student," Sigmond said, walking towards a large pile of limestone blocks.
Voen followed him too, his ears twitching with every step.
The two of them stopped next to the large pile, and Stravos sneered at Sigmond's statement.
"Sora, I think you are gonna want to come over here," Voen said, waving me over.
I trotted over.
"What's so important? It's most likely a student who got caught in the fury of the rift guardian; we have no way of getting them out here."
"Sora, out of everyone, this is someone we need to save."
"How can you be so sure, Voen?"
"Because the one who is under here sounds a lot like Cyrus," Voen said, setting off the rest of the members in our big group.
"You mean the kid that attacked his own cluster mate?"
"The kid that attacked the crowd during the mock battle?"
The one who eats lunch alone all the time?"
"Why should we waste our time with him?" Kuru said, walking closer to Stravos.
"Yeah, even if he's ok under there, he has no impulse control and will cause problems." An injured student said.
I paused.
He was someone who made me feel so much anger and disappointment, and often was in direct opposition to my leadership.
He was cocky, stuck up, and just plain rude.
But behind it all was a person who was lost, trying to find his way.
He was also someone I knew who could wield immense power, and we needed all the power we could get at the moment.
I looked to Voen and the rest of the group and asked for everyone to come over to help.
Only Voen, Simon, and Jossie helped.
But we soon came to the conclusion that the limestone blocks were too many and heavy to move quickly.
"We need to figure something out quickly; his heart rate is dropping."
Damn it.
I dropped a limestone block and saw Simon trying to build a contraption.
"Simon, drop that, please, and come here."
Simon dropped his multipurpose tool and darted over towards us by the pile.
"I need you to loosen the limestone and create a path to the center."
Simon paused for a moment, nodded, placed his hand on the outer wall of the limestone, and began changing the composition of the blocks.
Simon's ability wasn't very wide-reaching. He could only create a hole about three feet in diameter, but that was enough for us to crawl through. He broke down the rubble layer by layer while we followed, digging through the loosened material and clearing a path deeper into the wreckage.
It took hours to get to the center of the rubble, with complaints from the other students, but when we did, we found a body in tattered clothes, large gashes lining his sides, and a chest that rose ever so slightly.
We had found our obnoxious teammate.