Aeryn’s consciousness stirred sluggishly, his mind clawing its way out of a hazy, restless sleep. His eyes fluttered open to the dim light filtering through the canopy above, muted and pale, as though the jungle begrudged every ray of sunshine. The air was damp, thick with the mingling scents of salt, earth, and decay.

Kaela was already awake, perched on a nearby rock. Her dark brown eyes were glancing across the dense foliage, her face unreadable save for a faint tension in her jaw. She didn’t acknowledge Aeryn at first, her focus fixed on the jungle’s oppressive shadows. Her tattered clothes clung to her, revealing toned arms crossed loosely over her chest. Aeryn wondered if he overslept and merely woke up, or if she just awakened extra early.

His gaze shifted to Levi, who lay a few feet away, his body sprawled out comfortably on the ground. Aeryn couldn’t tell if he was actually asleep or just pretending. He nudged Levi’s shoulder, about to speak, when he heard a little idle response.

"I was awake before you."

Aeryn paused, fingers still hovering over Levi’s shoulder. There was no sudden jolt of movement, no sign of Levi just stirring from sleep, he was still. Aeryn eyed him carefully, unsure if Levi had simply been awake for a while.

Aeryn hesitated for a moment, then broke the silence. “If you’re so watchful, then get up and try figuring out something for these annoying cuffs with me already.”

Levi shifted slowly, opening one eye just enough to give Aeryn a glance. His voice was low and almost lazy, as if he hadn’t truly woken up yet. “If you think I’m the one who can get us out of these cuffs, you're mistaken.”

Aeryn glared at him, annoyed but still trying to keep his composure. “You’re just as stuck in this prison as us, we have literal handcuffs on, might as well try to get them off.”

Levi stretched his arms above his head, his muscles flexing under his ragged clothes. “Yeah, yeah, sure.”

Kaela stood fluidly, checking out more of the jungle surroundings a little more dynamically. Both Levi and Kaela confused Aeryn, they were strange and not your typical people, but he was amused that they were both clearly capable.

Levi, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, shot a glance at Aeryn. "Just for clarification," he muttered, "your memories also feel like broken puzzles, right? Because mine do and it feels awful"

Aeryn's eyes narrowed as he looked at Levi. "What do you mean?"

Levi’s lips twisted in a smirk, but there was something uneasy about it. "You know, like random flashes that make no sense, or you’re trying to put the pieces together and they keep shifting. Hell, you even feel like you're forgetting things that might have not happened too long ago."

Aeryn felt a tightness in his chest, a pang of unease. He had been trying to ignore the odd lapses in his memory, but Levi’s words were exactly on the dot. "Yeah," Aeryn admitted, his voice quieter. "I’ve been feeling that too. But it’s not just memories, sometimes I don’t even know if what I think happened actually happened."

Kaela glanced at them both briefly before stepping ahead, but didn’t speak. Her face was as unreadable as ever, but he assumed she was paying attention anyways.

Levi’s expression darkened slightly, "It’s like we’re not just lost, but.. missing something too. I don’t like it at all."

Aeryn looked over at him, his gaze brushing up as he stood and looked towards the jungle. "You think someone did this to us?"

Levi shrugged, a careless gesture that didn’t quite match the wariness in his eyes. "I don’t know. But lets say their was someone or multiple someones who are apart of this, those same people already got us stuck on an island in which we are essentially helpless in cuffs, and all of us are basically on edge, we are screwed either way"

Levi gets up from his position and stamps out whatever was left of the fire the night before, moving towards the jungle past Kaela.

Aeryn follows suit, going into the jungle. "That we might be, but we might as well try to get out anyway. No harm in trying to mitigate the inevitable right?"

As they walked and strolled further, the more the jungle became more silent, besides the scarce amount of rustling leaves in their path. In a way the jungle was too quiet, there was definitely a change in the noise levels of everything.

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Aeryn shifted uncomfortably, his eyes scanning the thick canopy, the air still, oppressive, like the world was holding its breath. Every creaking branch, every rustling leaf felt magnified, as if the jungle itself were watching them.

Then, without warning, the ground beneath them trembled.

Aeryn's heart thudded in his chest as the vibrations reverberated through the earth, making his legs unsteady. The air, already thick with the humidity of the jungle, seemed to grow even heavier, pressing down on them like the weight of an unseen hand.

The ground trembled again, more violently this time.

The first rumble had been unsettling, just enough to make them pause, but this time, it felt stronger. plenty, times stronger. As if something beneath the surface of the earth was stirring, tremendously.

Aeryn's eyes darted toward Kaela, who was already standing, her posture tense, muscles taut as though she were prepared to spring at a moment's notice. She flinched, but her eyes narrowed as she scanned the distant horizon.

"That’s not a typical tremor," Aeryn muttered, barely able to hear his own voice over the growing roar.

“It’s not just an aftershock either,” Kaela said, her voice low, almost to herself. “It’s building more and more.”

Levi, sat on the ground, rubbed his jaw slowly. His expression had shifted, from his normal one to more alert. “Could be a volcano,” he said, his tone flat, yet the way his eyes flickered to the horizon told another story. “A big one. If it’s far enough, we’ll feel the shockwaves before the eruption.”

Aeryn blinked, his heart racing. "A volcano? Here?"

Levi shrugged, though his calmness was starting to crack. “I’ve seen worse.” His voice softened, as though remembering something, but he pushed it aside quickly.

Aeryn watched Levi closely. He couldn’t help but feel a pang of something unfamiliar, a connection maybe. Levi had lived through destruction before. That much was obvious. Aeryn had a sense that whatever this was, it might not be the first time Levi had stared down the face of certain doom, Aeryns evidence for that was his initial reaction when he awoke on the island, annoyed and wary, but not exactly astonished that he appeared on a random shore.

The ground trembled again, this time with such force that Aeryn was thrown off balance. He stumbled backward, barely catching himself against the bark of a nearby tree.

A deafening crack split the air.

Aeryn’s breath caught. He shot a glance at Levi and Kaela, both of whom also felt off balance and, eyes wide and frozen, locked on something ahead of them. For a moment, there was nothing but the violent shaking, the deafening sound of the earth groaning as though it were splitting open. Then, it came, louder than the sound of the crack.

The boom.

It shook the very air around them, an explosive rumble that filled the sky. Aeryn’s mind immediately jumped to the worst-case scenario: the volcano erupting, sending a river of molten rock straight for them.

Kaela said in a high volume "That's too big for an eruption. Too close,” she said, and for the first time, Aeryn saw fear in her eyes. But it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, she was good at masking herself.

The ground trembled again, stronger this time. Aeryn’s heart pounded in his chest, and his instincts screamed at him to move, to get away. But from what? and to where? The jungle offered no place for safety. There was no shelter from this kind of tough force.

Aeryn’s gaze snapped to the ground a great distance away, and he saw it then, cracks spiderwebbing across the earth like veins in the skin of the world. Each crack seemed to pulse with a deep, pulsated thumping that repeatedly reverberated.

A sudden, almost imperceptible rumble beneath their feet sent Aeryn's stomach lurching. Then, the ground shifted again, this time, in louder waves, like the surface of a vast, uncharted ocean. The trees bent and groaned, and a heavy growl vibrated from the earth, so low it felt at that moment like it was coming from the very core of the planet itself.

It definitely wasn’t just an eruption.

Aeryn’s eyes widened as a realization began to settle in. The ground was quaking not because of an explosion, but because something was moving beneath it. Something alive and something gigantic.

“Levi…?” Aeryn’s voice now barely a whisper.

Levi’s eyes were fixed ahead, the same unease creeping into his expression now. He had plausibly seen enough to know this was no ordinary disaster especially while the ground was still shaking. “That.. that’s no volcano. Something’s coming.”

The rumbling intensified again, and then a flash of light.

It was as if the sky itself had split open. A great arc of shimmering energy rippled across the horizon. It wasn’t lightning. It wasn't a fire. It was a crackling, blinding energy that split the clouds above, and for a moment, the jungle fell completely still.

The tremors began to subside, but only for a moment. Then, a sharp, unearthly sound pierced the air, a screech that made Aeryn’s blood run cold, as if the earth itself was screaming in agony.

And then it appeared.

A shadow, so vast and consuming that it loomed over the horizon. It was larger than any creature Aeryn had ever imagined. The ground beneath them shifted again, violently this time, as the shadow grew larger and closer. Whatever it was, it was huge, easily the size of a mountain, nearing 150ft or even larger that was only an estimate. It was absolutely colossal with dark tendrils weaving as it slithered through the sky with particles of lively energy colliding and dividing after on it.

Kaela’s expression was unreadable, but her stance had shifted, preparing for whatever was coming. Levi, his eyes locked on the approaching monstrosity, was no longer calm. His jaw clenched, his fists tightening into white-knuckled balls. Aeryn decided to also clench his fists in a nervous rapid manner.

He felt a sinking pit in his stomach. Aeryn knew whatever this thing was, it was frightening, and it was no volcano. It was something far worse.

And it was coming straight for them.