I walked back into the camp, feeling a little overwhelmed by the all of the information I had digested in such a short time. Immediately, I wanted to go to the nearest person and start testing if everyone had really lost their memories but pushed the impulsive thought aside. Many people gave me strange looks when I reentered the camp, but no one approached me immediately. It seems I was destined to have a bad reputation with everyone no matter what.

Ignoring the stares I got, I immediately looked around to find Amaya, hoping to give her some warning before Scalisth got to her. I scanned the small clearing for her but saw no signs of her presence. I was worried she had gone missing, but the more likely explanation was that she had already been carried off for a similar conversation to the one I just had. Still, I was uncomfortable being alone in this place, so I decided to confirm where she was by asking around.

Searching the immediate area, I locked onto my target and made my way over. The woman I was searching for was alone, which was unexpected. Once I got close enough, I let my feet hit the floor harder so the woman would become aware of my approach. She flinched slightly once I came within view, but I pretended not to notice.

Sitting down across from the woman, I looked at her eyes through a mess of curly brown hair. “Hey, mind if I ask you a few questions?” was how I broke the silence. The woman didn’t respond immediately, but I could see the curiosity written across her face. From the previous interactions I had had with her, I got the impression that the woman before me was most comfortable in a social environment. That meant she probably noticed things others didn’t, and that was exactly what I needed.

“Uhm, I guess?” The woman said as she pulled a stray hair from in front of her face. She didn’t look me in the eyes when she spoke, and her tone was soft and subdued. The average observer would conclude that this woman was potentially socially awkward, but I knew better.

“She’s putting on a face to gather information on me. She thinks I’ll be more comfortable around someone I’m not afraid of,” I thought as I smirked when looking at the woman.

Out loud I asked, “By any chance, have you noticed anyone leaving the immediate area in the last few minutes?” When her face became even more timid I added, “I’m looking for a friend.”

That seemed to ease her worries as the woman responded, “Uhm, I think you’re the only one who’s left so far.” She hesitated, but then asked in a trembling voice, “Wha- what was it like out there? Is it dangerous?” Her eyes appeared full of anxiety and fear, but it was all an act. Her body language didn’t change much, and the differences were focused on the face and nowhere else.

“Hmm,” was all I said, ignoring her question. “Oh, I never introduced myself, did I? I’m Olivia, it’s nice to meet you.” I spoke with confidence and tried to put on an extroverted smile.

“N-Nora, nice to meet you too.” She said the last few words quietly, but I saw her eyes never leave me. “She’s a natural at this,” I thought as I looked at her once again. If I hadn’t spoken with her before, I wouldn’t know what she was really like.

The first time I met Nora, she approached me with a lighthearted and friendly attitude. She likely chose that approach because she saw that I wasn’t a threat and wanted to make herself seem like an appealing person to stick around.

The difference between now and then was that my status is now uncertain. The first time we met, I had practically been with the group from the start and had been integrated from early on. Right now, everyone remembers each other from the holding cell with the exception of me. From Nora’s perspective, it would seem like I just appeared out of nowhere. Then, I interacted directly with an Altum, who were revered by humanity as being more advanced and seemingly all-powerful.

I decided to play into the enigmatic, confident version of me others had created in their minds. “Shame you didn’t see her. Still, do you know anyone who goes by Amaya? Tall, with long brown hair and darker skin?”

Nora shook her head. “There might’ve been someone like that, but I was mainly keeping to myself. Is she from your cell?”

I smiled at her subtle attempt to extract information from me. If I said yes, she would know I am lying and not trust me. If I said no, she would be more wary of how I became aware of someone from a completely different cell. I decided to tell her the truth, but with a bit of deception.

“No, but I was behind her during the trip into the creepy basement area. We didn’t talk much, but I did learn her name. Let me know if you see her, okay?” Nora nodded but didn’t say anything else. Sighing internally, I stood up and went to find someone else.

After a few minutes of asking various people questions about Amaya, I was beginning to get frustrated. “How does no one know where she is?” I kicked a tree in frustration, but winced when my soft shoes gave in to the hard ebony bark. Swearing, I held my foot in the air as I leaned on the tree for support.

A few people did know who Amaya was, but everyone agreed they hadn’t seen her after waking up. The worst part was that everyone I asked was more worried about where they were and how they got there to answer my questions. From their perspectives, it made sense, as this was their first time experiencing Altus, and they had bigger concerns than a missing person. For me, though, it was supremely frustrating.

Nonetheless, it was odd seeing everyone act as if they were new to this place. Seeing how everyone interacted, I began to wonder if the mind wipe was a regular occurrence, and we had actually travelled much further than we realized. It made sense, as Scalisth’s awful leadership skills meant that the group would get demoralized quickly and would lose their wills to continue. It would be easy to erase our memories once we became uncooperative and start with a clean slate.

I mulled the idea over for a while in my head before eventually concluding that it was unlikely. While it logically made sense that Scalisth would do such a thing, I found myself doubting it. I still had a clear and continuous memory of arriving here, starting right when I was falling from the sky high above Altus. Every memory after that added up seamlessly, which meant my mind wasn’t tampered with overtly.

Shaking the negative ideas from my head, I began to consider what could’ve happened to Amaya. The most likely explanation was that Scalisth had already taken her away to talk, but that didn’t line up with the information I had gathered thus far. Everyone had noticed when Scalisth appeared and took me away, and a similar stunt wouldn’t go unnoticed with Amaya. The fact that she hadn’t been seen by anyone since the holding cell meant that she had disappeared sometime between last night and early morning, before anyone was awake.

I considered the idea that she was taken in the night but found it unlikely. Anything that could avoid Scalisth’s watch was already an existential threat to the group, and we were all still here when dawn broke. The next option was that the hidden murderer had gotten to her, but I also found that unlikely. The running theory was that the murderer died after the river beast drowned him, since no one died the night after. One also had to consider that Scalisth wiped everyone’s memories the night prior, so this killer would have no recollection of their sinful actions.

The only conclusion I could logically come to was that Amaya chose to leave the group of her own volition. I knew Scalisth had nothing to do with it, as he had voiced his intention to speak with her later, indicating he thought she was still here. “But why would she leave? Does she have a death wish?” Sure, the woman had a sharp wit and impressive instincts, but would that be enough to survive alone in these woods. I didn’t think so.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Maybe she left because she thought she could make more ground alone than with the group? Or maybe she wanted to go train out in the wilderness?” No matter what I thought of it didn’t make sense. The worst part of all was that she was my only true companion out here. We were partners in training our Wills, and she was also the only one to maintain her memories. There were others around, sure, but no one would be able to relate to my experiences fully.

Even if she had gone out of her own volition, I wasn’t going to let her leave without trying to convince her to stay. Hesitantly, I turned around and walked towards the brush at the edge of the clearing. Instead of low-lying moss carpets, the plants growing in the shade of the towering black trees were thick wiry stalks that went up to my shoulder. I stopped just before leaving the clearing. If I left now, it would be the first time I had done so alone. Originally, I wasn’t planning to go very far, but it was unlikely I would find any trace of Amaya within a few dozen meters from camp.

Looking out into the woods, morning light was streaming through the high branches. Deep shadows were cast across wide swathes of the forest floor. The sunlight filtering in would set me at ease while the shadows may contain hidden dangers I wouldn’t be prepared to meet.

“I’ll never get used to this feeling,” I thought as I took a deep breath. “If I don’t go now, I’ll continue to find reasons to stay safe.”

I knew that I would never truly feel ready to brave this foreign world. I would always find my skills lackluster and my knowledge full of gaps. Logically, I knew I wasn’t ready to go out on my own… not fully, at least. I did know that I needed to take this first step toward independence now if I ever wanted to survive alone.

Releasing my breath, I reached my arm out and used the back of my arm to push the foliage out of my way. Without thinking about it anymore, I took a step and began moving throughout the grass. “I’ll go out for fifteen minutes, no, half an hour. If I don’t see any signs of her, I’ll come back here.”

///

I walked around for the first fifteen minutes, seeing no sign of her. I headed towards Altus’s “south”, using the sun as a makeshift compass due to how slowly it moved. I had travelled a little over a kilometers, sweeping wide arcs to ensure I didn’t miss anything obvious. Despite my efforts, I saw no sign of Amaya, and was beginning to doubt if she had existed to begin with.

I had spent the last few minutes travelling up a slight incline, which culminated into me standing over a fifty meter stone cliff overlooking the forest. The giant trees twisted to be the closest to the Altus sun, making the landscape appear as if it were one massive creature. I could see far and wide for kilometers in every direction, but the natural features were completely homogenous no matter where I looked. Sometimes, I thought I saw giant beasts flying high in the sky, but I was never too sure.

I was taking in the view, when I heard a faint noise reverberating up from the bottom of the cliff. I thought I had imagined it, which made me flinch in surprise when I heard it again. It sounded like someone slapping two stones together to try and start a fire, except a lot more subdued. I backed up slightly and turned to look into the woods, wondering if I should go back.

I was about to leave when I heard scuffling from over the edge of the cliff. I felt my heart sink as I realized that all of this noise was caused by something alive and wasn’t a natural occurrence. Now scared of whatever beast might be down there, I fully turned and began to jog away. Right before I re-entered the woods, a stray thought crossed my mind: What if it’s Amaya down there?

The mere idea was enough to give me pause, and I stopped moving and looked back to the clearing. I was a lot further away, so all I could see was the ground ending and an endless blue sky spanning off into infinity. I had only walked a few paces, but the distance felt insurmountable.

Reminding myself that my only ally might be down there alone, needing my help, I mustered up the courage to move again. Pushing with all of my will, I lifted my foot and began walking slowly. I didn’t stop, because I knew if I did I would never get going again. Once I was a meter or so away, I shuffled to get closer to the edge of the cliffside. Nervously, I crouched down and leaned over to see if there was anything below.

When I leaned over, my tangled, matted hair fell down in front of my face. Brushing it aside, I looked around. The cliff was even higher than I thought, the drop edging close to 200 meters. At the very bottom of the cliff was a wide expanse of white stone baking in the morning sunlight. A distinct form consumed a large portion of the bottom area, with a few smaller forms scattered around it.

I looked at the largest object, and saw it shift slightly, turning to the side. I then realized it wasn’t a natural feature, but an immensely large creature. It was hard to gauge at this distance, but it was likely the size of a public transit vehicle, spanning multiple meters in length. I gasped as I saw the massive creature, but my eyes were transfixed by the alien life form.

The creature was dark, with matte skin that absorbed the dim morning sunlight as it was bathed in shadow. It was hard to see details, but it had multiple limbs and a very robust physique that twitched with every movement. In a blur of movement, I saw the beast cover a dozen meters as it dashed toward a curved portion of the cliff wall close to my right side. With a heavy thud, I heard the clacking noise from earlier, now learning the true source of the noise.

A thick limb had been extended toward the wall, and a much smaller form was attached to it. The creature pulled away, revealing that the limb had embedded itself deeply into the hard stone surface. I shivered as I imagined the force that impact would have if it struck my frail human body. I knew I needed to leave but felt like there was something about the beast I needed to observe. Ignoring my best judgement, I stayed in place, watching the beast in silence.

The small form impaled on the arm was actually a small animal, which writhed in agony for a moment before falling limp. Seemingly not satisfied, the beast slammed the arm into the rock again, mangling the small animals remains into an unrecognizable mess. It then moved onto the dead beast, lowering its head over the body as it began to eat.

Still feeling like I was missing something, I remembered back to the other animals I had interacted with on Altus. “All of them had Will, so maybe that’s what I’m getting a feeling for from this one?” Working on a hunch, I flexed my will in a practiced manner, sending spirit flowing through my eyes. Although I had only practiced a short time, the action was becoming increasingly more habitual. I fell into a trance and shifted into the world of surging energy.

I looked at the beast, trying to figure out what was setting me off. Flexing my will, I pushed through the ambient noise to try and get a read on the beast. Surprisingly enough, I was actually able to get a faint sheen of color to envelop the beast’s body. This surprised me, and I wondered if I was always able to see this far, or if my training had any influence. The distance between us was great, likely much greater than I could’ve observed from a day earlier.

I couldn’t see the beast’s source, but that was to be expected, as it likely knew how to control its Will. Even without the source, I could still observe the currents of spirit around it to glean any useful information. Little did I know that I had bitten off more than I could chew.

Before I could react, I felt a small pulse of spirit crash into my body. I flinched when it struck me, relaxing slightly when I noticed it didn’t hurt at all. Confused by the event, I looked around cautiously to see what had caused it. I nervously looked into the tree line, but was relieved when I didn’t see anything within it.

“There’s either nothing in the woods, or it’s good enough at hiding that I don’t notice it. I’m going to hope for the former, since there’s nothing I can do about the latter.” After eliminating all other sources of the wave, a feeling of dread crashed into me as I made a realization. Slowly, I leaned back over the rocky cliff face. As I did, a fractured portion of the edge crumbled under my grip, falling down into the rocky expanse below.

Luckily, or unluckily, for me, it didn’t make a difference. The giant beast had stopped eating and was staring straight up at me. We stared at each other for a few seconds, both of us looking to get a feeling for the other before the other moved. The tension was broken when the falling rock struck the ground hard, sending a high-pitched crack reverberating through the large area.

I broke the stalemate first, getting to my feet and sprinting into the woods as quickly as possible. Within the same movement, I heard a guttural howl of excitement as a thunderous clangor cascaded from the cliff edge. The second my feet hit the mossy floor of the forest, I heard the cracking stone noise from earlier start back up again. Instead of happening once, it was happening once or twice a second, getting louder and faster with each passing moment. The sound consumed my mind and I delved deep into the woods.