Chapter 22: Unknown Enemies

Dalia returned to the second camp. The horses trotted slowly, dragging their hooves through the grass without even lifting them. She didn't look back at any moment, not wanting to face her companions after the mess that had fallen on their heads.

Collecting the crystals should have been an easy mission. It should have been a mission with no difficulty.

"Wow." Lieutenant Gorumet was the one who greeted them at the camp's edge. Her long brown hair fell to her waist, even though it was tied in a ponytail. With her arms crossed, and her weight on one leg, she had a very worried look. "What happened to you guys on the other side of the mountain? Wasn't this supposed to be a collection mission?"

The clothes, the luggage, even the animals seemed ready to collapse. Dalia dismounted from her horse and handed her reins to two soldiers who came to meet her. Only then could she see the faces of torment and exhaustion on her Officers.

They couldn't even stand. All of this because they had decided to travel at night.

"It was the most logical decision we made," Dalia replied. "Dismissed."

Dalia didn't care and walked off, even limping. Gorumet waited for Tecno to approach, his leg injured, not deep, but the color was yellowish. The Lieutenant raised an eyebrow, and he immediately answered:

"We were ambushed by some kind of strange creature. I can't tell you exactly what it was, but they were waiting for us inside the cave. The only thing we didn't calculate was that Lady Dalia's ability wouldn't work on those bastards."

"He couldn't speak?"

"They didn't hear us," Freto answered as he passed by her, in the same state as the others. He had a cut on his cheek and was practically filthy. "And when we tried to return, we took the wrong path. We fell into a pit of thorny mud."

Crish scratched himself vigorously as he entered the camp with his horse.

Gorumet let them go. Even though they couldn't bathe, collecting water would at least clean their equipment and bodies. She let them rest for a few hours so she could finally talk to Dalia, but she didn't find her in the room she had given her before leaving.

She didn't find her in the place where they were discussing the external missions either. Not even a sign of the Officer. Gorumet searched for her outside, around the camp. And nothing. The cook hadn't seen her pass by, and none of the soldiers had seen Dalia.

The situation wouldn't be good if Dalia had gone out alone. Night was approaching, at least an hour before everything turned dark. Gorumet quickened her steps and returned to the Officers' House, this time looking for Tecno.

Sitting on a small chest, he was playing chess with Figurete, one of the off-duty Lieutenants. He had just moved a piece when Gorumet arrived.

"Tecno." She bent down, staying by his side, but spoke softly. "Do you know where Dalia is?"

"I haven't seen her since early morning, ma'am. She usually prays before nightfall, always outside the camp."

Gorumet shook her head.

"I searched everywhere, I couldn't find her. Can you help me?"

"Of course." Tecno saw Figurete's move and made another one. "Checkmate. Don't cry, Lieutenant, you still need a lot to beat me at this."

Figurete flipped him the bird and let him go. Tecno joined Gorumet, and they went outside. She expected Tecno to make a fuss when he couldn't find her, but he turned his head back and forth and pointed west.

"There."

Almost two hundred meters beyond the Camp was a tree. Large and thick, with thick and twisted branches, but full of green leaves. A static white point at its base caught the Lieutenant's attention.

Sighing, Gorumet felt relieved.

"Lady Dalia always has the habit of praying before or after a successful mission. It's a way of thanking for returning whole, and we too."

"She should let us know when she leaves, so we don't get worried."

"I doubt anyone will go looking for her out here." Tecno crossed his arms. The point moved slightly and began to slowly return. "We completed the mission, just as we wanted. Now we need to return to the Capital."

"They need to rest, that's for sure."

Tecno nodded silently. Dalia's face was already visible; she was looking at the ground. Her lips moved, and she kept a slow rhythm. Gorumet took her first step towards her when massive figures appeared across the green field. Tecno quickly started running towards Dalia when Gorumet pulled him back and covered his mouth.

"Don't make a sound," she whispered.

The Officer was released. The figures were huge, but completely different from what they were used to seeing in the Felroz, who walked on four legs. These had horns, walked on two legs, and were enormous, nearly three meters tall.

The number of them was immense, perhaps over a hundred.

There was a snap. A spoon hit the cook's pot, making a clinking sound. Dalia raised her head. The creatures in the shadows did the same. The Officer outside the camp realized that everyone was staring in her direction.

That was when she turned and came face to face with the creatures walking toward her, slowly.

She held her breath and began walking backward. This wasn't a Felroz, they weren't humans, nor anything they had cataloged before. Her legs trembled. The Felroz were horrifying, but these monsters seemed twice as bad, and bigger, much bigger.

Gorumet quickly raised her hand, and the soldiers reacted to the signal. They all began walking quietly to the Officers' House. Tecno didn't go.

"You need to go," Gorumet whispered to him, seriously. "Now."

"I won't leave my lady here."

At least fifty meters, Dalia was still far. Gorumet allowed all the soldiers and corporals to retreat. Tecno, Dalia, and she were the last ones. Dalia began to walk faster, quickening her steps as much as she could.

Gorumet started retreating with Tecno, and when Dalia entered the camp, they quickly rushed to the Officers' House. Gorumet was breathing heavily and raised her hand.

"Don't make a sound, understood? The Exit Plan."

One of the short old men sitting on a barrel raised his wrinkled hand. The Cosmic Energy in his hand expanded in a wave and began to blend into the walls and ceiling of the house. When everything was connected, Gorumet nodded to him.

"Ground Shift."

The entire ground moved and spun. Gorumet looked around, at the clay walls and the stone ceiling. The soldiers were more relieved, the tension eased. They were calmer and started talking.

However, five seconds into the conversation, a huge shrill scream was heard. It seemed far, almost a hundred meters away, but Gorumet looked at the ceiling. The creatures had heard their voices even fifteen meters below the ground.

Not even the Felroz can have this frequency. This means we can't use High Frequency anymore, not even to receive messages.

She turned back and headed toward the only table downstairs. The bluish stone was slowly spinning, receiving information. And Gorumet grabbed it right away, removing it from its stand and cutting off the Cosmic Energy flow.

The signal outside stopped.

"We're trapped here until the creatures leave above," she said to the others. "We need to find a way to leave without them finding us."

"At this point, our horses are dead," Dalia said. "If we go up, we'll have to walk to another Camp. And there's no Officer carrying a Frequency Cube to notify anyone."

Gorumet shook her head. No ideas. If they stayed here, the supplies would run out quickly. No water, and no air either. They could swap places and keep the oxygen circulating thanks to Corporal Ross.

"There's still a problem," Tecno said. "The ten cubes up there are constantly receiving information. We haven't moved them, which means whatever is up there will stay there while they're working."

Shit, Gorumet broke into a cold sweat when she fully understood the situation.

"We're trapped until someone arrives. And we can't send any kind of rescue message. We'll have to prepare for the worst. When the water and food run out, we'll have to return to the surface. And we'll have to fight our way out."