Chapter 4 : Crystal

"About time you woke up," Hayden remarked, leaping effortlessly to another building before dashing towards its edge and propelling himself to the next, all the while carrying Crystal in his arms. Her eyes remained shut as she absorbed the recent events. It was as though she had just emerged from the depths of an extended dream. Everything appeared simultaneously unfamiliar and reminiscent. Were these the recollections of Lincoln Blaze, the original Cyber Wielder? A multitude of inquiries flooded her thoughts in that instant.

Hayden came to a halt and peered down at her. "So, any idea why you passed out on us like that?" His calm voice snapped her back to reality as she kicked herself free from his arms and landed on her feet. "Ouch. Is that how you say thanks?" Hayden asked, disappointment etched on his face. Crystal didn't reply; she couldn't. The dizziness overwhelmed her, making her feel like she was about to puke. But then, something strange happened. Her body went numb, and she started to relax. "Ray..." she whispered, calling out to the person responsible for her state. "No need to talk, just relax and let your body unwind," Ray said, his voice now amplified for her ears only.

Crystal didn't even have the strength to nod, but she obliged, gradually coming down to her knees. She could hear voices but couldn't make out their words. They were probably questioning what was happening. She didn't know either.

After a few long minutes, Crystal had finally gotten her strength back. She stood up and Hayden was by her side in a matter of seconds. The others surrounded her shortly after. This made her uncomfortable, she didn't like the attention she was getting.

"Bright white light and poof you're knocked out. That about sums it up." Amadh said, breaking the silence. "I woke up feeling like I've just lived through a part of someone else's life. As if I've relived their memories. This person could be the Lincoln Blaze." Crystal explained while rubbing her forehead.

"Hmm. You relived the memories of a dead person. While this is not new, this requires the dead body of the person, a necromancer and a mind mage to at least have a chance at such a task. Yet you just touched a box." Ray said. Crystal buried her face in her arms, he was right, then could this all have just been a coincidence? Another dream of hers? It seemed so detailed. All her previous dreams contained messages yet this had a whole story to it.

"She needs time guys, to process what has happened to her. For now, let's get back to the bridge and get to HQ, we can sort things out better over there." Hayden said, slowly pushing them away from her. Crystal was grateful to him for this, but she didn't show it. "Hmm. Good idea. Let's move." Ray said, spotting the Hydes that was still coming towards them. "Those guys never give up," Lucien said, shaking his head. "Which is why we should move faster," Ray replied and started moving.

Crystal moved to jump to the next building when she realized something. She held her hands and focused hard on them, "Impossible..." She said, realizing she doesn't have her ability anymore. Hayden halted, "What do you mean?" He asked.

"My energy..." She said while showing that she could not use her ability anymore.

"Huh? How is that possible?!" Hayden exclaimed. The others were already far ahead, but he took his time with her, they would be able to catch up if they finished this fast.

"I'm not sure, I'm trying to access it but it feels like it's been locked... I just can't use it..." Crystal explained her fear now visible in her voice.

"Oh no... Look, you've got to relax. We'll find a solution to this later. We have to move now." Hayden said quickly, pointing at the nearing Hydes. As if knowing that he had acknowledged them, one of them fired a blast of purple energy at him but it dissipated as soon as he turned towards it. He broke his stance and took her arm, "We need to move." He said and pulled her away from another blast.

Crystal yanked her arm from him and jumped to the next building, they moved at quicker speeds to catch up with the team, who had halted when they realized the two had stopped.

They then start moving in their usual queue formation, as they leapt across the roofs of the abandoned buildings. This time, however, while Amadh was in the front, Hayden was the one that followed them from the back. On a normal retreat mission, Crystal would be in the back. Both her and Amadh were the main offence type wielders of the team, Hayden specialized in defence but he could be used as an offence too. But since Crystal was not in her full strength, they agreed to put Hayden in the back.

Hayden stayed as close as he could to Crystal, they were being cautious, just in case she suddenly loses her consciousness again. Crystal hated appearing weak, but she could not do anything about it, her body felt ten times weaker than it should, especially since she now couldn't use her ability.

She still hated it.

As she traversed from roof to roof, her mind went to the things she saw when she was unconscious. This person's thoughts and emotions felt like they were her own. Except she could also feel the little holes in his memory that she couldn't access. She knew for one that he was an energy manipulator, and at the time it seemed he was the only wielder on Earth. Maybe this was before the battle of One-Six, Earth's first wielder battle in which Lincoln Blaze had fought six wielders at once.

However, it could've just been a dream. There was also another thing she couldn't quite get, and that was how she switched from the past to the present at that time. Was this to show how little control she had over the memories she was reliving? Just like she had learned in school, Lincoln had first acquired Specimen Crimson on a hiking accident with his friend. Was the gemstone Lincoln found in her memories Specimen Crimson? She tried recalling how it looked but couldn't quite draw it out...

Suddenly the world turned red and glitched, this startled Crystal causing her to trip and sprain her ankle. What was going on?

Hydes jumped into the scene and blasted her with purple energy which she immediately rolled away from. The others kept calling out her name but she ignored them as she limped towards the Hyde.

However, just as her fist was about to connect with its face, the world turned back to normal, as everything she saw got sucked into a void. The momentum almost made Crystal fall off the ledge, but she skidded to a stop just in time.

"What happened?! You just attacked me out of nowhere!" Amadh said, his face revealed how spooked he was.

"What do you mean? We were attacked." Crystal said, looking for the Hyde. "No, we were not attacked." Hayden's voice said from behind her, she could sense the concern in it.

"What happened then... It was just here... What's wrong with me..." Crystal said, burying her face in her arms once again. "Hmm. It'll be better to put you to sleep until we reach HQ, you must be having hallucinations," Ray suggested.

Knowing she had no choice anyway, Crystal nodded. A second later everything went black.