(Amaia)

"Hurry! Before this place fills and drowns us. Follow me," Erebus flaps his wings, the patterns on his skin glow in the dark. He is a sight but I don’t even. have time to admire him.

We hurriedly follow. Rahria gallops ahead in her wolf form with Kacir right beside her, holding his weapon. Mintaka and I are behind them, following Erebus as he leads the way.

Our weapons remain drawn, eyes sharp in this darkness while the water climbs above our knees.

"You alright?" Mintaka gently asks. His axe sits on his shoulder along with Alnitak’s, coated in the blood of the creatures we have just slain.

"Yes!" I can’t feel my other three mates, it’s so quiet in my chest. I have gotten so used to their chaos and emotions that it feels weird.

The distance between us and this place blocking off Alnilam’s mindlink disturbs me. It has to be a strong spell which causes this.

The rain suddenly stops, and the water level stops rising. The thunder disappears, giving way to a faint light from an unknown source.

I glance around. The trees appear hauntingly still, there is no air. The water is dark and we don’t even know what might be lurking inside. We have to be careful but there is this haunting feel that we are being watched.

"Do you think they are watching us?" I quietly ask Min and he gives me a swift nod. Leaning closer he whispers in my ear.

"Istrale has advanced tech. They have cameras. That’s the only reason this year, the Guild Wars are different, happening in a closed environment without an actual audience. They must be watching on screens." The thought is terrifying as well as invasive. I inhale and Min thumps my back with gentleness. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Then we hear it, insects, their wings buzzing in the air. Our heads turn in unison to find swarms of locusts and mosquitoes the size of dinner plates zooming towards us.

The buzzing grows louder.

"Zzzzzzz!" The horror creeps up on us.

"Run! Fast! We are near," Erebus shouts and we pick up the pace.

Mintaka turns, raises his hands and lets his powers flow out like a freezing wind. It condenses creating a wall of whitish blue ice between the approaching insects and us. They collide with his ice shield. Screeching, pushing against it to reach us.

Mintaka continues to use his powers, until I pull him with me.

"We have to go, don’t tire yourself out."

He listens. We run as fast as we can through the murky water towards a door that looms in the distance. Alnitak has already landed and transformed, waiting for us.

Rahria and Kacir reach him first, we are just a few meters away. His face is etched in horror as he glances behind us and shouts.

"Don’t look back, keep running." The sounds behind us continue to grow louder, some of them must have escaped from the sides and followed us.

"Open the door," I bellow and Alnitak does that, pushing open the sun-baked door so Rahria and Kacir can pass through.

I push Min forward and turn. Magic pulses in my veins and I push it into my sword. Swinging it once over my head, I charge the air around me. The approaching insects get zapped, electrocuting. The smell of their burning bodies fills the air as they drop like pellets in the water below.

"Amaiaaa!" Mintaka’s strong arms haul me out of the water and carry me away.

The hell breaks loose behind us as Mintaka takes one final leap and jumps through the door to land on the other side. Alnitak slams the door shut. The bodies collide with the wood with thunks unable to cross over.

Mintaka holds me to himself, taking rapid breaths. My eyes find transformed Rahria and Kacir who are holding their knees, slightly out of breath.

Alnitak presses his body against ours, giving both of us a hug.

"You guys are amazing," he whispers.

"She gave me a scare. What if they had bitten you? They were so close," Mintaka scolds, letting my face go and I smile at my mate.

"But they didn’t and we have crossed the first level without any injury." I touch his face in assurance but the creases on his forehead stay.

We separate and Mintaka tosses Alnitak’s battle axe towards him. My eyes drift to Kacir and Rahria.

"You guys good?" I ask, advancing towards them and they nod.

"Yeah, just wet but I think we have crossed over into the summer season and will dry soon," Rahria answers, glancing away from me and squeezing out the water from her shirt.

My eyes follow her and all I see is a vast space of desert with grainy golden sand without a shade or tree in sight.

Upping my gaze, I find the sun blasting its rays down on us. My eyes burn from the intensity and quickly I lower my gaze again.

"Let’s make the best of it until we are still wet," I suggest and everyone agrees. Our little procession begins to move.

Weapons still drawn we move cautiously.

"Beware of the sand. There can be snakes, scorpions or more frighteningly sand worms of ill proportions," Kacir warns.

The spell that brought forth the apocalypse, mutilated sand worms into malicious creatures with lengths of as long as 10 meters. The desert areas of our world are truly frightening places now. Thankfully we didn’t have deserts in Tarathia but this is going to be an experience.

We form a circle, moving with caution with Rahria and Kacir in front, me in the middle and Min and Ali in the back.

The sun burns the exposed skin of my neck and face. The clothes have already dried and the weapon feels heavy and hot in my hands. The sand sticks to my boots.

Then something rushes past us and all of us become alert. A pale-looking boy with glowing red eyes comes to a halt in front of us. I have seen him with Team Fudaria.

"Who do we have here?" He says with a menacing smile but I can sense the pain in his words and I know why.

His other teammates slowly gather around him and they don’t look in great shape.