Galaxy of Hyperion: Mystic Heir

Chapter Eleven: Cryai

"I took a walk to try and clear my head since I couldn't sleep. While I was out there, I felt like I was being constantly watched. I think the other people in the town were staring at me," Lana explained. "They were all in their houses, but I could just feel it. They were trying to watch my every action, and it was absolutely terrifying... That was when the man showed up."

Jay hated the sound of that. She didn't get the chance to ask what Lana meant though before the other girl continued. "He appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and when we passed by each other, our shoulders touched. His skin was so cold... I know that some Ice mages are freezing since it's a side effect of their magic, but this was something deeper. I could just tell. I don't know what his problem was, but there was something weird going on. As soon as we were finished, I started running back here. People were still watching me as I came back here, but I didn't really care. I forced myself to look like I was asleep to ensure that nobody got suspicious of us."

"Sounds like we're dealing with something really weird here," Arian commented with a nervous laugh. He had taken a seat on his bed, and Jay was left to wonder when the hell that had happened. He was finished stretching, it seemed, but he was shifting nervously like no other. His teeth worked at his lip, and it looked as if he was on the verge of breaking through skin. 

"We have to get out of this town as soon as possible," Lana explained. "I don't know what's going on here, but I don't think that we want to get caught in the middle of it... The man that I found... He was so much colder than any person should have been. I want you to touch my shoulder where he ran into me. It wasn't natural at all."

Jay watched as Arian reached an arm out to touch Lana's skin. He immediately recoiled and rubbed at his fingers. It looked as if he had been chilled to the bone, and he couldn't stop shivering. "That's ridiculous...!" Arian murmured. His teeth began to chatter, and Jay frowned to herself. If he felt that terrible after just one touch to the man, albeit indirectly, she didn't even know if she wanted to try and see how she felt by trying to touch Lana's skin. 

"I feel like I would feel a lot worse if I wasn't a robot," Lana commented with a light snort even though it was clear that she was far from being in a joking mood. "I guess it doesn't matter though. We just have to get out of here. We can keep looking for the other Skylian Mages elsewhere. Something weird is going on here, and I don't think that we should stick around long enough to figure out what it is."

"Jay," Arian suddenly said, prompting the girl with brown hair to look up at him. "I'm not trying to insult you or anything, but... You look absolutely terrible. Are you sure that you feel up to getting up and moving around?"

"You look awful too," Jay countered. She was avoiding his questions, but she wasn't sure if it was deliberate or not. Did it really matter all that much? They had to get out of the town. That was all there was to it. They could talk more about how terrible they looked and felt later down the line when they weren't in immediate trouble. 

Lana shook her head. "No, you look way worse," she agreed with Arian. Lana reached out and pressed a hand against Jay's forehead, and a frown spread across her features. "That's so weird... It's like you're freezing cold and super hot at the same time... I guess that you're running a fever."

"That's weird," Jay muttered, but she didn't try to object. After all, that was the only way she could explain how absolutely terrible she felt. It had to be a sickness of some kind, but there was an issue with that. "What could I have even gotten sick on...? We've been together for ages, and I felt perfectly normal yesterday. In fact, I didn't start to feel weird until after we got here, and it's not like we looked around for any longer than we had to..."

"Yeah, okay, there's something going on here," Arian agreed, his gaze darting over to Lana. "We have to get out of here before anything worse happens. Jay, do you think that you're going to be able to get up and move around? We have to get away from this stupid town as soon as possible." He had been infected with the same panic as Lana, and he followed her lead in standing beside Jay's bed. He reached out a hand to help Jay to her feet, and Lana did the same.