The Nexus

Chapter Three

Arayna flinched against the blinding light that seared her eyes, forcing her to squeeze them shut as the ice cold watery sensation slid over her skin. For a brief moment, there was nothing solid beneath her feet. It created a sensation of falling, forcing her heart into her throat, but she forced herself to take another step.

Her foot landed on something solid once more and by the time she stepped out of the nexus, she was shivering, frost crackling along her skin and clothes. Her pulse was racing, a strange adrenaline coursing through her blood, warming her.

"Whoo! That was cold!" Arrow's voice exclaimed as Arayna blinked her eyes open.

For a moment she could see nothing, everything was dark compared to the blinding light she had walked through. It took several moments of rapid blinking before her eyes adjusted enough she could see again. Arrow stood several feet away, also covered in frost, muscles flexed against the coldness, obviously still on the adrenaline high the trip through had caused.

She turned in time to see Asher step through, taking a deep breath. "Wow!" Asher exclaimed, giving his head a firm shake. "A little warning would have been nice! Ugh, darn it, my glasses." He growled, letting his gun hang from the strap as he took his glasses off to clean the liquid frost off of the lenses.

Leighton followed through, appearing unbothered by the coldness, always at attention as he jumped off the stone landing to sandy ground.

Now that her eyes had fully grown accustomed to the much dimmer lighting, she turned, withdrawing a flashlight from her belt. One by one, the others flashlights flickered on, the light beams bouncing over what appeared to be cave walls. Arayna slowly smiled in awe as she was studying what looked to be all different colors of gems in the walls, reflecting their lights. She felt her smile widen as the light the gems captured began to bounce between the other gems, lighting up the walls with their colors until their own flashlights were no longer even needed.

"Whoa," Arrow muttered with a stunned expression. Even Asher gaped.

"Amazing." Dawson whispered, turning in slow circles as she looked around the large cavern, the ceiling held up by stone pillars for support.

While everyone was fascinated by the light show, Arayna's gaze focused on everything else.

Equipment, that had to have come from the colonists, was stacked up, construction lights smashed, lying on the ground. Curious, Arayna stepped off the landing and into the sandy dirt, walking over to the abandoned equipment, covered in layers of dust, untouched. Using the beam of her flashlight, she studied it, her attention catching on dark splattered spots on the pillar and cave walls.

"Blood." Arayna murmured to herself, wetting her lips as an uneasy feeling shimmered up her spine.

"They left their equipment." Leighton observed also, using the tip of his black military combat boots to nudge one of the cargo boxes. "They must have left in a hurry."

"Actually, I don't think they were able to leave." Arayna admitted, trading looks with Asher as he came to stand beside her, taking note of the same thing she had seen.

More blood splatters could be seen underneath the dust on the cave walls, covering the gems.

"Something must have attacked them." Arrow grounded out, adjusting his rifle to his shoulder as he looked around. "It might still be down here. We should move. Where's the colony supposed to be?"

"On the surface." Blake answered, growing pale as his excitement waned when he realized what was going on. "Right now we are in a system of caves beneath it. We-we were hoping that their equipment just stopped working." He admitted with a hard swallow. "I guess I was too optimistic, huh?"