“Did you hear? We are going on a big expedition today.” Kailey popped up next to me and exclaimed excitedly, making my left eardrum popped. It was early morning and everyone was dismantling their tent and getting ready to go.
“Really?” I asked offhandedly, earning a light slap on the shoulder by Kailey who wasn’t impressed by my lack of enthusiasm.
“Come on! It’s going to be super fun.” She said brightly; I sighed inwardly. Kailey thought everything was fun, and her power to control people’s emotion swayed them to think that way too. She was doing it to me now. I could feel it.
“Kailey.” I said pointedly and she pouted and stopped. Good, I like feeling bored and miserable. I thought as I shoved parts of the tent into my bag. My shoulders ached from carrying the heavy bag everyday but having a tent to sleep in beat the months of sleeping on branches or leaves. It was a price I was willing to pay.
“What are we going to do?” I asked Kailey after a while, humoring her; she smiled and helped me packed the rest of the tent.
“Apparently they found a herd of Felixia blanc about twenty km from here.” She told me, her eyes sparkled with anticipation. Felixia. I gulped, remembering the Legre that appeared that fateful day that got me into POE Academy. It was also a Felixia, but a higher class than a blanc. Blanc evolved from snow leopards; they were famous for being fast and wee a notoriously sneaky predators. They were also a Class C. which was way above the Class which we were capable of handling. This made me wondered; how on Earth did we found them?
When I said way above our grade, I meant we will probably die after thirty seconds. Probably less. I could still see Kailey’s excited face next to me and I wondered if she was born with a missing nerve.
“Apparently half of them were already hurt, so we are going to go after them. I think they are going over the game plan when we gather.” She said, bouncing up and down next to me.
“How do you know?” I asked her, hoisting the backpack onto my shoulder and looked at my watch. It was nearly time for us to gather up at the central point. Something about a pack of hurt Felixia blanc sounded off to me, but if the higher up didn’t find any problems with that, I supposed I was just being over sensitive.
“I er, overheard Ho and Steven talking.” She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. I raised my eyebrow at her. She probably eavesdropped.She feigned an innocent look at me and I shook my head at her. This girl was out of control.
“Shall we get going?” I asked my fellow group mates and we set off together like we did every morning. Even though we were warned that things can potentially get out of hand, our trip had been uneventful so far. The only exciting thing that had happened was the herd of deer that we caught. Everyone else mainly brought back the mutated deer type or some kind of poultry. We break camp every morning, walk, stop for quick lunch, walk, gather some herbs whenever we find them and make camp.
It’s sort of a chore now really.
Occasionally we will see Class D Legres, but they usually avoid us because we were in such a large number. Ho told us that unless they are particularly aggressive, otherwise Class Ds are clever enough to avoid such a large group.
As usual we filed into the left column. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Tom was already there with his teammates as well. I looked out for anything out of the ordinary to confirm Kailey’s information and saw the Hunters gathered around with the group leaders talking animatedly. It wasn’t exactly a rare sight but it only happened when they are making an important decision.
“Attention everyone.” Trevor shouted above the roaring noise of the camp and everyone fell silent swiftly, their attention focused on him. The rumour must have spread as well.
“Our scouts have found a pack of Felixia blanc not far from us.” He continued, a wave of excited chatter broke out but they quickly died down as Trevor scanned through the crowd. He was oozing so much authority that I felt like we were some kind of soldiers and he was a general. Actually, it was kind of like that.
“They are about twenty miles from us.” He continued, twenty km, twenty miles. I smiled and store a glance at Kailey, who didn’t looked faze at all. “There is about a hundred of them, but more than half were injured so we should have no problem. We will keep our formation and marched there. Group five will remain behind to guard the carriage and belongings whilst the rest move in.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief. At least Evanna and Owen wouldn’t be facing the Legres.
Throughout the march everybody was buzzing excitedly, like it was all a big game for them. My heart sank with each passing moment and I could barely bring myself to respond to Kailey’s and Jeremy’s enthusiastic question. Sure, the numbers were on our side; but the fact that these people were treating an attack on Legres with such behaviour sickened me. This wasn’t a joke, or a game, it could be life or death.
I could tell Ho wasn’t too bothered about it all though, if the smile on his face and the unaffected way he was conversing with Emily was any indication. But I could see Steven was on high alert and kept surveying to make sure all of us are in check. At least there was a responsible adult here.
“Come on Gwen, lighten up!” Kailey said, bumping my shoulder. The only other person who seemed to be their normal-self appeared to be Vladimir, but he always had his poker face on. I offered Kailey a forced smile and she rolled her eyes at me.
The walk didn’t take us long; it was mid-afternoon when we were told to stop and drop our stuff where group five dutifully remained. I was satisfied by the sight of Owen and Evanna close together amongst the piles of good. Evanna was frowning and Owen was hovering around her protectively.
We were ushered forward into a relatively less overgrown bit of the forest where everyone could stop without being poke in the eye by a tree. I saw Trevor gave Patrick a nod and he closed his eyes; the air around us shimmered for a fraction of a second and I knew from experience that Patrick had put a force field around us, isolating the sound. Like our footsteps weren’t a dead giveaway already.
“We are going to split into four big groups and close in on them from around.” Trevor said; I noticed one member of his group had her eyes closed, she must be the sensor. “They would know that we are coming and are currently venturing south. We will be splitting the pack and it would be your job to make sure that you come into contact with no more than three per team but no less than two. Your aim is to kill it by working as a team. Should you be in any serious trouble we will have the rescue team come in for you as soon as possible. Remember, every action you do can endanger or save your teammates.”
Trevor had been drilling the dangers of being in the wild message into our minds for a long time now. Everyone was sick and tired of it after the fifteenth time; I knew he was just trying to prepare us psychologically for the hardship. However some things you just have to experience for yourself before the message drives home.
Ho turned towards us, obviously briefed with the finer plans already. He had a serious look on his face that I had never seen before; however the hint of a wry smile on his lips that told me he wasn’t worried at all. Opening my mind to his I realised that it was part of the routine training that happened, except usually they encounter milder Legres. There were usually a few casualties, people who believed themselves to be heroes or those who were too cowardly tried to run away and got picked off.
“We are bringing up the rear.” He said; making eye contact with each of us to make sure we were paying attention to him. “The best way to fight is to form a circle so your back is cover. Emily and Kailey, you two must stay in the middle of the circle and the rest protecting them. John, work with Jeremy to poison the Felixia, but remember not to use too much poison that the whole animal will render unsalvageable. Valdimir you have free reigns on what to do, providing you don’t stray too far away. Gwen, your job is to make sure none of the Legres get too close. Kailey you need to make sure no one suffers a panic attack. Emily, you must help in whatever way is possible to restraint the Felixia.”
Everyone nodded and Ho cracked a smile, clasping John and Vladimir’s back either side of him. Steven was still looking rather tense. I guess it was his job to help us when our lives are threatened. I didn’t even know what his power is.
We were signalled to wait whilst the other team circled around to their designated position. I could feel excitement bursting out of John’s thoughts. Vladimir was composed as always, and Emily too, to my surprised. Everyone else was nervous. Heck, I was nervous too. Who would have thought that after spending so much time running away from Legres I would be willingly facing them.
Ho was communicating with the group leaders through some kind of device. That or they were all telepaths and were communicating through their minds. The wait was biting away my nerves and I would rather we go and fight them now.
To my relief Ho gestured for us to get ready to move in and we quickly circled around Kailey and Emily. Kailey must had started using her powers because I felt less stressed and more confident already. My mind went through the basic techniques of deflecting blows using mind walls (pretty much the only way you can touch a Legre, as they aren’t clothed). I fished out the hunting knifes in my backpack, this would come in handy.
Jeremy eyed the sharp weapons in my hands warily as I tucked them into my boots on the go. I gave me a small smile, eyes flicking to the little pouch attached to his belt where he kept his poison cube.
Given enough notice, he could release those things in the air making the air poisonous, which would affect everyone in the immediate area, but with my mind wall we could be safe from it.
We marched forward briskly, hustling through the forest. I was right behind Ho at the front whilst Steven was bringing up the rear. I could see a small ear piece in Ho’s right ear. That’s what they used to communicate.
“They are moving in.” Ho whispered back to us and we all crouch down into a pile of bushes. I winced as my butt came into contact with some spikey vegetation. Jeremy gave out a soft yell of surprise next to me and immediately earned a glare from Ho. I stifled a laugh at the indignation on his face.
A dense silence fall upon us and the only noise came from insects squealing all around us. I closed my eyes and willed myself to pay attention to my surroundings. For a while it was like the world and I were alone with each other; the peacefulness was comforting.
“Now.” Ho whispered jolting me out of my trance. My heart fluttered nervously against my ribcage as we made our way through the bushes. Feeling like there was no point hiding my sensing skills anymore I opened up my mind. People are either going to be too nervous to find the source or even noticing it at all.
I could feel the other group, most likely Tom’s not far to the west of us closing in as well. We were barely a hundred feet apart. I edged forward slowly, not wanting to interfere with the main sensor and felt the vibration of the ground. They were coming this way.
Gulping down the bile threatening to rise up my throat I mentally scold myself. It wasn’t like me to get so nervous over these things. I needed to focus or I might accidentally blow my cover, or worse, get killed in the middle of nowhere. I could feel the others around me tensing, readying for batter just as the pack entered our line of vision.
The first thing I noticed about them was that they were beautiful. Sleek, streamline body with velvety white fur flicked with black spots; their amber eyes sparkled with intelligence and they bounced towards us in such grace and agility that I was in awe.
“Round them up.” Ho said, a victorious smile tugging at his lips. “Let’s deal with them before the main group gets here.”
My groupmates murmured in agreement and suddenly everybody seemed to be bursting with excitement. I was feeling the vibe too when I caught sight of Kailey smirking a little at the center. Of course.
In the space of that three second the pack had already closed in a hundred meters, an alarmingly fast rate considering none of us were a sped-mutant. However the alarm did not linger in my mind for long before the Legres were close enough to attack.
Almost instinctively I threw a mind wall up around us; the first Felixia that hit my mind wall bounced back causing a ripple across my mind wall. My heart lifted when I realised it took out less power than I anticipated. Encouraged by this I strengthened the mind wall and surveyed around to see if anyone needed help.
Breaking out of the circle I could see Vladimir had started blasting energy at two Felixia Blanc; the first one dodged it by leaping to the side but the second one behind saw it too late and ended up receiving the blast square in the head.
The energy spread from its point of contact and enveloped the leopard in a bright turquois purple glow that caused the air around it to sizzle. The Legre let out a mournful cry and blood started oozing out of its pores soaking its snow white skin. Whilst it appeared to be gravely injured I could tell it only cut the first layer of its skin. There were still a lot of works to do.
Emily was actually doing something for once; she commanded the trees around us to attack and try to hold back some of the Legres with their braches; combined with John’s power the two of them had successfully kept a majority of the pack back from us leaving Vladmir, Jeremy and me a handful to deal with.
Using my telekinesis power I moved the blades I had hidden in my boots out and aimed at the stomach of the Felixia launching at me. The blade caught it right at the belly however the skin was tougher than I anticipated so it only left a shallow cut. Letting out a wail the Legre dropped onto the ground, its hair rising as it glared at me with a growl.
Vladimir had managed to finish off his Legre with the help of Emily, who held the leopard in place as Vladimir shot energy blasts at it after another. A burning smell fill the air mingling with the faint smell of blood drifting through the air. I wondered briefly if anyone was badly hurt or even dead from the other teams.
Making sure to use all of my force I flung the knifes at the Legre again as it launch at me for a second time. This time I had sent out four, making sure it had no way of avoiding it. The Legre managed to avoid the first two but the third one cut it on its forearm and the fourth its side.
Somehow the Legre managed to continued its jump and before I knew it, it landed right in front of me. For a moment we stared at each other, seizing each other up. I looked into its amber eyes and for a moment I saw a flash of emotion in it.
Blinking I realised too late that it had started to attack. Rolling out of the way I tried to slash at it with my knifes and felt it contacted flesh a few times. Its claws tore a gash through my right arm and a burning sensation spread through my wounds making me winced. I got up swiftly without sparing a glance at the my new injuries and faced the Felixia blanc.
Gaining control of my blades back I let them hover in front of me, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. I saw that I had made a few new cuts on the left side of the leopard but its gash were not as bad as mine. The tough skin of its hide provided a much better protection than human skin.
“Gwen! Are you alright?” I heard Ho shouted from a distance. He and Steven were not part of our formation. They stood about a hundred meters away on a tree where Steven had been picking off any leopards that dared to go after them. Ho had explained earlier that it was their job to observe our abilities and help whenever a situation arises.
Without turning back I called out to let him know that I was fine. Changing into a fighting stance I narrowed my eyes at the Legres, daring it to make the first move. A part of my mind was surveying the surrounding, making notes of what’s happening around us. Vladimir and John had managed to knock down three Felixia blanc together and Jeremy two, meaning there were still five excluding the one that I was fighting with. Emily was doing a good job holding them back but I could tell the branches were going to snap soon. I needed to finish this one off and help them.
The leopard started circling around me, looking for the best direction to attack. I mimicked its movement, whilst keeping my mind open for any attack from the other five. Strangely they seemed content to leave us alone in our fight.
“Gwen! What the bloody hell are you doing? Come help us!” Jeremy shouted, momentarily distracting me and the Felixia didn’t let the moment get wasted.
I watched in horror as the Felixia’s claws closed into my face, realised that it was too late for me to dodge it. A thousand thought flashed through my mind; my whole journey from London to Pax to ending up here. Was this it? Would this be the end of my live in the pretence of being someone else? In the end only one thought lingered in my mind.
I wasn’t going to die. Not here, not now, not this way.
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Hi guys! I just realised what a jerk I have been. not uploading for like a month!
University is starting again next week - the last month I had been trying to write up my mapping project (the one in Greece that I told you about), which was harder than I thought.
Then I have to deal with my twin sister leaving to America for her year abroad (we had never been separated for more than a week...it's very strange) so I have been trying to adjust.
Anyway I am probably boring you guys with my private life - something big is coming up and I hope you guys are going to like the new direction they would be going!
Also, I am getting quite excited about the new story that I posted the description about.
I haven't put time on writing it yet, but I have planned the plot and I can't wait to write it (probably over christmas)
hope everyone doesn't hate me! x
(Vote and Comment!)