There were at least 12 arm wide inky tentacles that sprung up from the ground in Hale’s path making him think of turning back but when he glanced behind him he saw that there were just as many behind. He grit his teeth and ran as fast he could. Although, no one here could go into a full sprint since they could slip on the ink.

A scream rang out behind him as one of the members from the other team was pulled down and began to be devoured by the black ink. A smell similar to burning plastic filled the space as everyone but Hale began to forget that the man that was pulled down had ever even existed. For the others, although they could count the people present and realize they were missing someone they couldn't remember any discernible detail about that now nameless person.

Everyone began to copy Hale and took off running. For Hale it was even more dangerous since he didn’t have the safety of the pack and he was facing the tendrils alone. He ducked and swerved avoiding the first few black appendages. Hale quickly realized that although they are liquid they still had a limited reach so he had to keep a ten foot distance from the base of the tentacles. This was all happening in a matter of seconds.

Soon the group that was following Hale fell into a tough situation as more tentacles began to sprout in front of them making the group slow down.

“Let me take the lead!” Rose yelled out as she passed the quicker members and took a spearhead position. Her eyes began to shimmer silver as a beam of moonlight shot from them like a flashlight. Anywhere the beams touched, the ink would sizzle and the tentacles would become more docile. It seemed to purge their aggressiveness as they were overwhelmed with the majesty of the moon.

Hale stopped in his tracks only 15 feet away from the end of the ink. Beyond that was normal ground. He realized that the path out had been blocked off by the perfectly spaced apart tendrils. He was pushing his mind to the limit as he thought of any way out of this situation. It was dangerous to stand still in this place. The tentacles couldn’t reach him but at any moment in time another might spring up below his feet.

The group made headway nearly catching up to Hale as the tentacles that were touched by that divine light didn’t bother them. However, they forgot that more could spawn and those were unaffected. Rick, the driver of Hale’s group's van, was grabbed by his ankle and dragged to the ground.

“Save me!” Rick yelled out, looking towards Cayden and Ava who were ahead. He only saw the looks of sympathy in their expressions as they turned away to keep running. They didn’t even answer him, they only looked at him like he was already dead. In his last moments he felt incredulous. He was unwilling.

Soon, the people had forgotten his existence. They couldn’t even remember his name.

With the stress of the situation Hale ran through everything that was in his power to do and a strange thought came to mind. He took out the taser out of its holster on his hip and aimed it at the ground in front of him. He was betting his life on this as he broke into a run again. He shot the taser at the inky ground at a random point in front of him. The two prongs shot out and spiked into the ground releasing the electric charge brought by the little cords that attached them to the taser. All the tentacles nearby began to lightly spasm as Hale ran by them. They still tried to reach for him but they were considerably slower than before as they twitched erratically.

Hale made it to the end and dived out taking a face full of grass as he landed. This landing didn’t lower his enthusiasm for surviving. He looked behind him and saw another member of the group get pulled down and devoured, his expression fell. In a life and death situation he gave no heed to anyone else. What did that say about him? He could have yelled to warn them, but didn’t. He only broke into a run, forgetting that the others even existed.

After a few people saw Hale’s use of the taser gun they copied him and began to haphazardly shoot their tasers in the ground making the tendrils spasm. After another breath everyone that was alive made it out. Everyone was panting and wiping cold sweat from barely surviving. Rose seemed to look at Hale strangely as she thought deeply about this guy that had been the first to move but didn’t say anything in the end, only deciding to keep her eye on him.

After a head count they knew they had lost three people. Two from Rose’s team and one from Cayden’s. No one could remember who they were. Each team originally had five members and after combining they had ten. Now they were down to seven. No one was happy at this moment. Even though losses were already terrible, they had to keep going, as now there was truly no return.

“All we have to do is find the center of the warped world and place a reality anchor. Then we’ll be able to leave. Don’t lose sight of the goal. This place could be brimming with strong CIPs.” Rose said, trying to make everyone focus.

Hale leaned to Cayden, who was still panting and asked about what the reality anchor is. Cayden explained that it's an artifact with the concept of synchronization. When placed at the core of the warped world it will disperse the effects of it as it is synchronized to the laws of the world. Apparently there were other concepts and artifacts that can all disperse warped worlds but the Crest family only had the one.

Stolen story; please report.

The group steadied themselves with the help of Rose’s refocusing. Hale threw one last look behind him at the place that just took someone he had known. He could have said something, maybe Rick wouldn’t have died. Hale felt horrible, but at the same time there was another emotion that made him sick. He felt ecstatic. There was a part of him that relished in the fact that he knew and they didn’t. Was this his real self? Or was it… his concept? Was he losing himself? His emotions made him feel even worse, he knew he shouldn’t feel that way, but it didn’t change that he did.

Hale took a breath and pushed out those thoughts for another, calmer time but when he turned around everyone was gone. He had only glanced backwards. He thought for a moment that they left him behind but that was impossible. What he didn’t know was that everyone at that moment found themselves alone.

Hale had the thought that it was an illusion, there was no way for them all to disappear. He tried to look past what was in front of him, like trying to see what's behind an object, the way he did way back when he was in the mirror. He focused his entire attention into his sight, his eyes began to give off a bright violet glow that seemed to pierce through all lies in the world. He began to see shapes of people flicker into view, like ghosts. He began to see through the warped world’s illusion but soon a sinister force invaded his eyes stopping him. His eyes burned and he dropped to his knees in pain. The wisp of energy soon lost its power and the attack subsided. The pain lowered by a level but it still hurt immensely. His eyes watered and tears soon ran down his face. Hale wiped it away but found that his tears were made of blood. He was too impatient. Why did he think that he could see beyond an illusion made by gods?

Being denied a secret angered him, but what was he to do? He promised himself that he would think through everything before he did it and soon got up and started to walk into the forest. He would occasionally hear whispers around him, like there were ghosts that were near him. They were the others but he didn’t dare to try and look past the illusion again, that energy could easily snuff out his mind.

After nearly an hour of walking Hale had literally no idea where he was. He shined his flashlight in all directions but saw nothing but more trees. He vaguely knew this quarry and the distance he had walked would have easily gotten him back into town. He wondered if he was going in a circle. He decided that after another 15 minutes of walking if still nothing changed he would try something else.

He walked 15 more minutes and yet nothing changed. He soon stopped to come up with a plan, but after thinking of his options he only had two. He could try and peer through the veil of the warped world again or he could use acquisition. He immediately threw looking through the illusion off the table. His only fear about acquisition was that it was vicinity based. If people weren’t nearby then their constellations wouldn’t show up.

He took a deep and connected his mind with his concept, letting it flow through him. In the land of stars he searched through all the constellations and found nothing to do with any of the people he was with. There was a star about people though, and so taking a chance he grabbed it. Back in the real world Hale parsed through what he learned and was devastated. Useless information. After calming down he focused and used acquisition again.

In the land of stars he found nothing. He thought of how to solve this. He needed his connection to his concept to be stronger. He thought back to how he felt when he knew of the tentacles and no one else did. People died and yet he lived. The feeling was intoxicating, and his concept seemed to vibrate with excitement. He used acquisition again and slowly more stars began to appear around Hale as the range of his ability expanded. He searched through the new stars and yet still found nothing. He again focused on that feeling, the connection to his concept kept vibrating in his mind, now even stronger than before. The pressure in his mind was intense. Hundreds more stars appeared but it only took a moment for him to look through them all and find nothing.

“FIND ME CAYDEN!” Hale shouted as a radiation field like pressure pushed down on him. It was the strongest one he had ever felt, stronger than both Rose and Michael Shea combined. He had felt a wisp of the true power of his concept. Soon the fog at the outer edge of the stars that orbited Hale was pushed back by at least a yard, revealing thousands of stars and constellations. He swiped his hand in the air and all the stars began to orbit faster. He quickly scanned all the stars that passed into his vision and soon found one with the wisp of Cayden’s radiation field. Hale reached his hand out and all the stars immediately stopped, they all vibrated as if they were excited by his power, or afraid of it. He walked out into the stars and they parted for him so he could make it to the far off star with Cayden’s aura.

Back in the real world Hale found that he was exhausted. His eyes were only a pale violet. This acquisition took all that he had. One more use would put him into a position he was in a few days ago. In a place like this that wasn’t an option. Now he was utterly powerless. But, when he thought of what he learned a large smile appeared. He no longer had to look through the illusion, he knew Cayden’s exact location.

After five minutes of jogging he saw Cayden standing with Ava and Jacob. That sounded close but in a forest with no discernable landmarks it was like finding a needle in a haystack. They were no longer hidden by the warped world but Hale expected this. He felt himself leave the area of the illusion a few moments ago.

He walked up to them and found they were standing at the beginning of the quarry. Beyond was grassland that had huge rocks that jutted out of the ground to the height of 20 feet, all colors of graffiti were painted on them.

“Why are guys not going forward?” Hale questioned

“We were hoping more would come but we’ve been here for an hour. We can’t wait any longer or else the Shea family might also get here.” Ava said back.

“We were just about to head into the core. Looks like the team is all back together!” Cayden said as he patted Hale on the shoulder.