Chapter 8
Zharina
The sound of my own pained moan stirred me back to awareness.
The nanobots from my suit were working overtime to mend many of the bruises and injuries I had sustained.
But something wasn’t right. The overhead display of my visor continued to glitch.
The medical assessment didn’t make sense, nor did it properly reflect my wounds.
Naturally, my healing powers remained muted.
Intense heat radiated all around me. I couldn’t see the source, but at least it didn’t seem to emanate from some sort of fire. Beyond not seeing any smoke, I couldn’t smell anything alarming, nor did my overhead display raise any red flag—damaged though it was.
In the distance, I could hear Vahleryon’s panicked voice calling out my name.
To my total dismay, on top of the psionic disruptors still blocking my telepathic abilities, now my com also didn’t work.
Grinding my teeth, I tried to sit up only to realize that a bunch of debris was piled on top of me.
The memory of rubble raining down on me after my fall flashed through my mind’s eye.
I would have expected there would be a lot more pinning me down.
Considering the size of the rubble, had I not been wearing a celesium armor, I would have died.
Neither of these facts were ideal, but under the circumstances, every win was a blessing.
I couldn’t see Vahl or the others from this angle, so I raised my right hand—the only one free—and waved to indicate I was fine.
Despite its various malfunctions, my suit still managed to lend me the extra strength needed to push the rubble off me.
Only one piece was too large and required me to cut through it with my laser.
Wincing, I clumsily got back up on my feet and hissed at the lancing pain that ran up my left leg. As soon as I took in my surroundings, all thoughts of physical discomfort flew right out of my mind. The source of the intense heat was now terrifyingly obvious.
The power core at the center of the pit had shattered.
The plasma previously contained within had spilled out.
Except, instead of forming a pool over the rock surface, the ground appeared to have absorbed it.
Worse still, the walls of the pit glowed the same way, as if they were filled with pale-blue lava.
A quick scan indicated the absence of radiation, but my suit warned that it wouldn’t be able to sustain prolonged direct contact with it without inflicting serious injury to both its integrity and to me.
A yelp escaped me when the ground shifted beneath my feet. The entire bottom of the pit undulated as if a giant worm was crawling underneath.
“Zhara! To me!” Vahl shouted, waving frantically from the top of the edge on the other side of the pit.
His entire team surrounded him, their armor looking a little battered, but nothing worrisome. To my utter relief, Lenora and Trehvus had safely made it to the other side and were helping Dhaxius navigate the debris formed by the collapsed balcony so that he could reach them as well.
My heart sank when I attempted to activate the jet propulsion of my suit to fly out of the pit only for it to fail.
It then dawned on me that it must also be defective for everyone else.
That would explain why Dhax was trying to find a way through the rubble to the other side, and why the others had not just flown down to rescue me.
But how? How and when had our suits gotten hacked or infected by a potential virus causing all these malfunctions?
The prisoners…
I suddenly remembered how odd it had been for Betty to touch everyone on the team even as she raced forward to align with Sherryl before setting off the explosion.
Our suits didn’t display any malfunction before that.
Granted, the damage from the multiple blasts could have been the cause.
But it seemed a little too specific to be a coincidence, especially since it appeared to have affected all of us the same way.
This cannot be a part of the test.
Something bigger was at play, and we had to figure it out. But first, I needed to get my butt up that ledge in all haste.
“You have to come to this side!” Vahl shouted, as if he had read the thoughts crossing my mind.
Glancing around me, I noted the few spots where some dark rock still protruded above the plasma-soaked ground.
There would be no way around having to step on some of the unstable areas.
If I could keep it to a minimum, I would hopefully reach the large pile of collapsed rubble that seemed safe.
Getting to the top of it would also bring me a bit closer to the ledge, although not by much.
I picked up a heavy rock from the debris I’d just freed myself from and tossed it onto the glowing ground to make sure it was still sturdy enough to hold my weight.
The last thing I needed was to step onto burning plasma quicksand.
When it landed with a loud thud and showed no signs of sinking, I didn’t hesitate.
Breaking into a run, I raced to the darker spots and leapt to the next one when possible. It made the journey across the pit a bit longer as I zig-zagged instead of making a straight line, but the wisdom of that strategy quickly became apparent.
Even just the four steps I took on the plasma-soaked ground between one safe spot to the next sufficed to feel an unpleasant level of heat burning the soles of my feet.
The cooling system of my suit was already working overtime to keep my temperature comfortable in this unnatural inferno.
I didn’t want to stress it even more, especially seeing how it was already glitching.
So while the path I followed was longer, I spent less time exposed to the plasma.
But each leap sent a jolt of pain down my left leg and up my spine.
I hated being deprived of the healing power that had always felt like an inherent part of me.
I felt severely disabled without my psionic powers.
Hopefully, I wasn’t seriously aggravating whatever injury I had sustained.
The Goddess willing, we would soon be out of this nightmare.
While I ran, Vahl alternated between shouting encouragement at me and issuing commands at the others.
From my vantage point, I couldn’t see what they were doing.
I just knew that they were frantically busying themselves.
At one point, I saw Rhad and Sylvius jump to catch some type of wire or chain peeking through the damaged walls.
But I couldn’t spare them too much attention as I focused on where I was stepping.
I finally reached the other side and swiftly climbed the rubble.
To my dismay, I realized that there was still much too long a way to go to reach the top.
Standing less than a couple of feet from the wall felt like being in an overheated sauna.
There was no way I could try to climb using the climbing hooks from my suit.
First of all, I didn’t know how long they would survive the intense heat.
And second, my suit would not be able to sustain that kind of direct contact for the amount of time it would take me to reach my destination.
Feeling helpless, I glanced up at my twin. Despite his best efforts to maintain a reassuring expression, I could read the fear he felt for me.
“I can’t climb! It’s too hot!” I shouted.
“We’re building a chain to pull you up,” he responded.
Looking up, I assessed the height of the wall. The overhead display indicated 23.45 meters. There was no way they would be able to build something of that length with whatever debris they found. But assuming they did, would I be able to rappel all the way up before my suit collapsed?
As soon as the question popped into my head, the neural connection swiftly made the calculation. Yes, most of my suit would survive the adventure as it would not be in direct contact with the wall. However, the soul of my boots would melt off, and I would sustain grievous burns to my feet.
I swallowed hard. As much as I considered myself a badass, I’d never been too keen on pain.
Being able to squash it with a thought or a touch had played a large role in never having to develop a tolerance for pain.
But better severely burned feet that could be healed in due time than dying in this horrible pit.
It took a few minutes before they were able to throw down the rope. To my pleasant surprise, they managed to get it to the perfect length. Without hesitation, I grabbed it.
“Pull!” Vahleryon shouted.
As one, my companions began pulling with all their might.
I was literally flying up the wall, my feet barely having a chance to touch the burning surface.
But my elation at my impending freedom was short-lived.
The upper half of the ‘rope’ made of chain links was quickly turning red.
But the lower part made of cables and wires was melting at an alarming rate.
And then it snapped.
As if in slow motion, I saw my friends falling backwards at the sudden loss of my weight at the end of the rope. For a split second, gravity appeared to have left the building as I found myself in suspension barely ten meters away from the top. And then, I plummeted back down.
Vahleryon shouting my name in horror buried my own terrified scream.
I crashed brutally into the pile of debris.
Stunned, and the wind knocked out of me, I remained still, fighting the darkness that threatened to swallow me whole.
If I allowed myself to black out, I didn’t know if I would open my eyes again before it was too late.