I landed on the lower floors, my thigh burned, damn it, the cut must've reopened or maybe even got worse

"Damn it!" I struggled to stand, ignoring the pain "I'm gonna regret this tomorrow" I took a look around, the place seemed odd, but I recalled Lee telling me about companies that were just for hunting abnormalities, I remember them also having some stupid name, but that wasn't important. My brain started hurting, a transmission was coming in

P%S Ac&ive It was buggy and painful

Matt- "Crys*al, they're sea#ching for you, they alre^dy got me, but I s&ould be fine"

Crystal- "Alright then, &'ll come help soon, Crystal out"

PT* Deac&ive

"Come on man, you know how dangerous these lower levels are" From the room that was in front of me, I heard a voice

"Wah wah, cry a river bud" I looked around more, thanks to the darkness I may be able to hide, I ran over to the door that they were about to come through and hid behind it. They soon opened the door with flashlights on, and began to look around

"See, I told you she wasn't in here" It was two guys, they looked young, I could take them if it was needed.

"What kind of training did you go through? We barely looked around!" The other guy seemed agitated, I looked at my stats

Crystal Anc (DPS-Manipulator) LVL 45

HP 400/600

MP 50/100

It seemed like I'd only be able to do one. I walked behind them, I got behind the taller one and began choking him, the more panicked kid looked behind him and saw me, I raised my hand

"Tell your superior that you found no one" I then closed my fist as a barely noticeable mist went around the panicked kid

"T-The hell...did you do!?" The guy was trying to escape yet couldn't even speak well with me choking him

"Stop struggling before I snap your neck!" While I was trying to knock out the guy, the other one I "Hypnotized" went off to the stairs.

"Like hell I will you bit-" Before he could finish I hit the back of his neck as hard as possible, it looked like all his breath left him so I went back to choking him, with better results, he passed out almost instantly.

"Well, certainly a welcoming crowd" I dusted myself off "Calling someone like me that, you must have a death wish" I kneeled down at the guy I knocked out, he had a few tools on him I could use "Why would you bring a crowbar to a search mission? Think I'm gonna barricade a door that fast?" I took the crowbar and tossed it up slightly, getting a feel for it "Sorry Lee, but I'm gonna be using a crowbar tonight" I left the room and looked at the stairs, I saw a shadow, from the shadow it wasn't the guy, no kidding though, I used my power on him, he shouldn't be coming back anyway. I walked up the stairs slowly, someone turned the corner right as I was on the last step before turning for the other steps. We stared at each other in silence, whether it was out of shock or not knowing what to do. The glass to my left shattered and hit the woman, I looked to the broken glass and saw a small figure far away, I had an idea who it was

PT* Ac)I^ve

Crystal- "KENNETH! WHAT THE HELL!?"

Ke&neth-" Wh&t? She's a(live, go check, Kenneth out"

Crystal- "Right..."

PTS Deac^tive

I knelt down and checked her pulse, she was fine, I looked around and saw something pressed against her neck, some orange stain...huh, it was weird that this knocked her out...I think. As I went up the rest of the stairs I saw Matt and some woman walking, Matt was fine, he wasn't tied or anything

"the hell?" I whispered to myself, some people may think he was betraying us, but he isn't that stupid. I went further up the stairs, looking around for the guy I used my magic on, I didn't have enough time for a connection so I couldn't see where he is, but if he's not causing issues then I guess it's fine. I started following the two, they seemed to be talking about something and yet I couldn't hear anything they were saying. As I got closer and they passed through a door, I went beside the doorway and yet, one of my legs felt like they were dangling and I lost balance, I extended my hands and grabbed on the bars on the window, I could see how high we were, my fears began to set in, I felt like I was ready to fall, I felt like I wanted to cry yet by my collar I was pulled up

"Sorry, but I had to bring you back up" I was sitting down with tears in my eyes, I looked up at the gu....

"Oh what the fuck" ZACH!? This guy won't leave me alone!

"Wow, rude, and after I helped you too" Adrenaline was still in my veins, I was still panicking "Are you alright?" The guy was annoying back then, but he seemed way more mature now

"y-yeah...no..." I didn't want to move, I felt like I was going to fall through a window again or the floor.

"Well, it's fine, let's get going, you were following Matt right? That woman isn't so bad, she's pretty understanding so we can just go with them" Zach extended his hand to me

"Yeah, yeah sure...." I was still panicking, it would probably last for a little while longer, I grabbed his hand as he lifted me up on my feet

"Need help walking?"

"No...I'll be fine, I can walk myself" I started walking, I must've wobbled a small bit as Zach smiled, I gave him a death glare as he walked past me

"I'll go tell her so we can make sure people here don't try and kill ya" ya? When did he use the word ya?

"Sure, sound the alarm as well why don't you?" I wasn't meant to be found, and now I was about to talk with someone here, part of a crew that wanted to kill us.

"You don't have to phrase it like that, think of the people who wanna kill you as radicals, they're really a small minority" Zach walked like some drama TV show character who was ready to spew exposition, but after that comment earlier he didn't say anything

"Huh..." I looked out the windows while we walked, the city looked...awfully amazing, I raised my hand trying to summon a camera but remembered...I only had the camera because of Sam....My mood dropped, being reminded of her, damn it

"hmm? What is it?"

"Just thinking about how amazing this city loo-" I was stopped by Zach, when I looked in front of me I saw how two buildings were connected by a sturdy bridge, and yet I was about to walk off of it, I hadn't even noticed I was on it and I wasn't looking out a window...We were probably high enough to die, or maybe burn with absolute pain, this thing didn't even have rails, it felt unsafe, was it wobbling as well?

"Crystal!" I got snapped back to reality "It's fine, it's not gonna fall, wanna hold my hand" Everything was fine but that last part

"I'll be fine...I jus...nevermind!" I moved in front of Zach and began speed walking past the bridge, I wasn't staying on this thing

"You haven't conquered your fears yet?" His voice wasn't cocky, more of reassuring

"No...Never got the chance, Lee became overprotective after that" I was referring to an issue that wasn't named, it happened years ago and yet Lee still treats me like I'm nine

"I see..." Silence filled the area again until we caught up with Matt and the woman

"Hey!" I ran up to him "What's going on? Didn't they want us dead" Matt shrugged, he looked as confused as I did

"Oh! You're that girl I heard about" The woman looked like she was about to geek out...oh no, I didn't make a name for myself, did I? "Crystal if I remember, ahh, you're adorable" She's asking to get thrown out the window...but...I'll let it slide "I'm called Teal around here:

"Teal? Isn't that a color?" After my comment she took off her hat, she had teal hair...well, I'll be damned, her codename makes sense then. "I see, yeah, you're right, my name is Crystal, and I'm related to that weirdo Lee" She looked at me concerned

"Lee isn't all bad, I used to know him when he was little" Hmm? how?

"Were you human before as well?" She looked like she was confused at my comment "Nevermind, anyways, what is this place" Teal looked back at Zach

"You like telling it, go ahead" After Teal gave the go-ahead, Zach smiled

"This is the New land as we call it, a community that we built on the roofs and insides of buildings, we have solar panels and yes we know it's eternal darkness, but we somehow still manage to get sunlight on them, so no point in taking them down, we have gardens, basically an entire city in the clouds"

"I...no nevermind" I stopped myself, I couldn't do that, even Lee would agree with me

"Say it, what do you need?" Teal asked, with the train running out of fuel, Lee says we have enough time, but I doubt we'll have three days, and I doubt it'll be fast and easy to make that ring fixed

"The train, do you think all of its people could live here"

"...yeah!" Teal said enthusiastically...Huh? Wait no I think I heard that wrong "Yeah! We got like, thousands of buildings connected, we still have plenty of room!" Was she really fine with this? After what we did before? It seemed like that camp was connected with this place. "It's fine Cry, I'm the boss after all! I'll discuss it with the others" Cry...that name didn't seem right

"Teal likes giving everyone nicknames, Matt is already a shortened named so, he's safe from her nicknaming schemes" Zach was still smiling, it felt like Sam didn't just die a few hours ago, and how we lost a car earlier.

"Were you crying by the way?" She said it after looking at me for a bit

"HEY! I...I have an issue with height..."I trailed off near the end, but it only made Teal smile "WHAT!? Is my suffering joyful for you?"

"Nope, it's more adorable if anything" This bit-

"Where are we going by the way?" Zach cut off my thinking

"We're going to my office, I was gonna show Matt around while telling him some stuff, but if you all really wanna stay then I should get you registered" This sounded like a cult...registered...registered...yeah, cult "We made little cute dog tags for everyone" Is this woman psycho? Am I gonna die if I leave this place? Did she just forget about those creatures that can end us all?

"She's not kidding" Zach went in front of me, pulling out a dog tag

Zach Tanner

12252003

the number seemed weird

"The number, is that your birthday?" He smiled

"Yep! I'm a Christmas baby"

"We're here" Teal got up to the door and opened it "Come on! Take a seat!" She walked in and sat at her desk, we followed, sitting at chairs on the other side of the desk, she began to write stuff down on a laptop "Oh...this...is weird, we already have you...three down? Three? Is there someone else?" I didn't want to give Kenneth's position away, or say that h- "Kenneth? Is that the other guy" DAMN! What kinda luck is this?"

PTS Active The systems seemed cleared now

Crystal- "They know of your existence, this weirdo has some sort of magic laptop, imma be in a cult soon!"

Kenneth- "Pardon? What did you just say? Err forget it, I'll change positions"

PTS Deactive

After I finished Teal seemed offended

"What?" I looked at her

"Cult? You think we're a cult?" The hell? She a psychic as well!? "Oh! I told Matt not you, whoops, forgot to mention to ya, I can sense magic, basically, if there's a TTS, PTS, UTS anything, I can listen in if I please...OH! Sorry, that's an invasion of privacy, sorry, I can assure you I don't do it often, I'll make sure I keep it under control, I don't like being intrusive" After Teal finished speaking someone came in the room

"Teal! I hear...It's true!" He looked at us, he clearly wanted us dead, he must've had a relative or something in that camp

"Hey! No! I told you already, they were infected, there was no choice, if anything we should be thanking them so that we didn't have to do it ourselves!" Teal started to defend us

"But, what if there was a cur-

"There is none! You know that!" They stared at each other until the guy backed down

"Damn it...yeah...I know that, I'm sorry" The guy left us alone, it came and went like the wing...weird...the laptop having our names already, the guy coming in and immediately forgiving us, or at least understanding, something didn't seem right, hmm.

"Sorry for that, of course a lot of people aren't going to accept you"

"Hold on, I never said I agreed to this, we just came here to find something" Matt brought back my memory, I had completely forgotten about the main reason we came here, I had become forgetful recently, huh, does everyone in Lee's family start gaining memory problems in their teens?

"Right, my bad, I forgot myself, I don't remember what it was called" If he said it at all "But we're looking for something to repair a ring, a really important ring"

"Oh, the time travel one right" That's it, Teal is a psychic, alright good to know. "It says it on here" She turned the laptop around, this thing had info on everyone, the only info that wasn't there was me and Lee's last name, huh, not even this little laptop knows everything. "Regardless, one of my people said they saw one of its components before, so we can go there, although you probably already knew where it was" Before any of us could respond another person came in the room

"Teal, another one was found" Kenneth was shoved in the room

"Hey, don't treat our guests with force!" Teal looked at Kenneth "You alright" Kenneth looked at me and Matt, we nodded, signaling that she was fine

"Besides for a minor injury fighting one of those things, yeah" Teal looked at him

"Zeeks?" Zeeks?

"Zeeks?" Kenneth said what I thought, what kind of name is Zeeks?

"Those things, we call them Zeeks" ... What a weird person, well, I've probably said that a thousand times by now, knowing myself and my family history with repeats, then yeah, I wouldn't doubt it

"Yeah, don't ask, I already did and I was already confused" Matt shook his head

"We already asked though" Kenneth said sarcastically

"Ain't my problem" Alllright then

"Well, now that everyone is here, let's go look for that ring thing" The guy who brought Kenneth in looked worried about Teal's suggestion

"Hold on, are you sure, did you forget who they are? And you're really the only per-

"I said, we, are, going!" Teal gave the guy a glare, causing him to quickly bow and reposture himself

"Yes, yes, we'll let you get to it, you're the boss after all, I'll be taking my leave" The guy left and Teal went to the door.

"I won't be able to make the dog tags right now, but as an apology, I'll assist you in finding that ring...thingy"

"Teanial" Kenneth responded "The thing that the ring uses is Teanial, it's a very bright yellow thing" Teal's face lit up after hearing that

"Good, then I was right, one of my people found it, it's in your guy's old dorms, the ones that you guys were in when you were cadets...if that's what they called you back then...

"Right, let's get to it then" Kenneth readjusted his bag "Luckily, they didn't take my stuff" Ohh, sassy Ken, that's new. I picked up my bag from the floor and put it on

"Right, let's go!" Teal picked up a coat and bag on the wall and put them on, then she put on a holster and put a pistol in it "I'm ready, let's go" She began to leave the room, humming a tune as we left.

After walking for a bit she j...JUMPED OUT THE WINDOW!? She popped back up,

"come on, get on"...oh...it was an elevator. The others got on, they started talking, especially about how Zach keeps popping up. When I was about to jump on I had to look down, the elevator and building had a gap, if I missed the jump I could die, I didn't know how to teleport yet a- "There you go" Without me realizing I was on the elevator "It's alright, it's fine let me know next time if you're scared"

"I could've handled it" Teal looked at me with a smile

"Heh heh, alright then, let's just enjoy the ride"

We spent the ride catching up with Zach, or chatting with Teal

"You really related to Lee? I mean, you have the hair and all that, but you don't really seem that alike" Tea-Teal sat on the edge of the e-elevator

"Y-Yeah, we're related, I don't recall how we're related, but after seeing the hair and attitude we used to have, Sa...Someone wanted to do a DNA test, and here we are" Everyone noticed how I cut off earlier, they seemed like they didn't want to speak about it around me... yeah...I appreciated that. After a little bit she realized how anxious I was, and leaned back more

"Woooo, I'm gonna fall" It was like she was floating, she was leaning to the point you would fall.

"You prick! I almost fell you know! Fix those windows!" After my comment, Teal sat up again

"We can't, Zeeks are smart, if we fixed them, they would know, making the elevators and bridges were hard enough, but they already existed so it was fine, fixing the windows, after all, this time would be risky, so it's not an option" I guess I could see her point, I guess I'd just have to get used to it if I wanted to stay

PTS Active

Lee- "Hey Crystal, I was able to get a signal, so I wanted to check up on you"

Crystal- "I'm fine Lee" I remembered what Kenneth said about getting along with Lee, I may have not enjoyed his company, but after I thought for a bit I know he's doing his best "Thanks for checking up on me"

Lee- "H-Huh? W-What? Where'd this come from?"

Crystal- "Dunno, just felt like it"

Lee- "...o-okay...you're welcome then...if you need me, just let me know"

Crystal- "Alright, I'll make sure I talk to you first then"

Lee- "Are you sick? You're not yourself"

Crystal- "I'm fine, just felt like we should get along more"

Lee- "But...I'll be going back in time soon, there isn't a po-...no, you know what, even if I'm going back let's do this, yeah, good luck Crystal"

Crystal- "Take care of that arm Lee"

Lee- "If I wasn't I would already be over there"

Crystal- "Hehe, yeah, see ya soon"

Lee- "You too...I guess, this feels weird"

PTS Deactive

Hmm, that felt nice, I should do it more. Teal was looking at the city looking happy

"You listened in didn't you" The others, excluding Teal, were talking

"Sorry, I just wanted to see how you talked with Lee, although it seems like I did it when you got a change of heart, hehe, still cute though" I dunno why, but I felt the sudden urge to shove her off this elevator...why do people keep saying things that tick me off? is this cult just a bunch of sadists?

We were about halfway down, I hadn't even realized how high up we went during that walk to her office, it was like I flipped a switch and forgot the stairs I climbed. We tried searching for another topic to talk about.

"Well, since this will be awkward with silence, what's everyone's favorite food?" Matt leaned on the edge, not sitting on it like Teal though

"Pizza, one hundred percent" I answered first

"What kind?" Zach asked out of the blue

"Plain I guess, well, Extra cheese you know?" Matt looked away when I said that

"Jeez you and Lee keep sharing stuff in common it's genuinely uncanny" I ignored Matt's comment

"Don't have one, I don't really focus on what I eat" Kenneth tends to eat whatever S...Lee's making, so I guess it makes sense.

"Drumsticks, doesn't matter what kind" Teal had her eyes closed and moving about

"Really? So that's where my stuff went" Zach looked understanding in a joking manner

"That was yours? I'm sorry" Teal was clearly messing about, but still sounded genuine

"It's fine, I wasn't in the mood for eating anyways, and you looked like you enjoyed it" Teal jumped back onto the elevator floor

"Hey! So you already know where it went!"

"It technically wouldn't count for some people's questions, but those curly fries, they're good" Zach looked like he was in paradise "ahh, I'm getting hungry now"

"Anyone else got any other topics before Zach's stomach inverts?" I joked

"Favorite school year" Matt asked again, still not answering his own questions

"What ki-...hmm, 3rd grade, I had some good teachers and friends" I answered first again

"None, I hated school" Zach crossed his arms

"Rough childhood? mine would be 1st grade, it's when I met Lee and Sam" Huh, I guess that makes sense for Kenneth

"I don't remember anything from school..." Teal giving us that harsh reality...

"We're her...err, at the bottom? Let's get going" Matt hopped over the edge, a mark on our maps appeared, it seemed like Lee set it, maybe Matt was catching up Lee on the situation.

"The night and winter is a sin, so freezing" maybe it was sheer coincidence or maybe calculated, but I didn't see a single Zeek in the area, regardless, I agreed with Teal, the cold was horrific.

Regardless we continued our trek through the snow and cold.

"Here we are" I stepped in front of everyone while Kenneth talked

"This was the dorms, it looks like utter trash" I had my arms on my shoulders, attempting to warm myself.

"Cause it was, also, it's the apocalypse, it's gonna look bad" I heard Matt walk through the snow, probably following with a small gap for space.

"We were only in there for like, a day, relax, you don't know how bad it was" Kenneth argued against Matt's claim, eh, not like I could have an input, I wasn't in Eaxura at that point in time. We all made it to the dorms, our legs covered in snow.

"Locked" I stated after trying the door, I took out the crowbar that I took earlier "Stack up crew!" Kenneth and Teal were on my side, Matt and Zach on the other, I jammed the crowbar in the middle of the two doors and pulled, after a few seconds they broke and I kicked them open. An alarm began to go off. "Well shit"

"We got maybe ten minutes" Teal looked at her hud, maybe seeing if the Zeeks are close

"Alright" I went inside "Teal search down here to the left" She ran off "Matt search the right side and don't miss a room" He nodded and ran off, already searching a room "Zach take the second floor and Kenneth take the third" The first floor, aka the lobby was most likely going to be the biggest since it had the reception and rooms, so I needed most of them down here, alright, I set a 10-minute timer for everyone and ran to the stairs

"Be precise and quick!" I grabbed the railing of the stairs as I began the climb, I could hear footsteps and the sound of stairs as well all began to run around the place, searching rooms and containers for anything that resembled it, being honest, we were mainly counting on Teal and Zach here since Teal's people found it before

"I hear ya!" I heard Kenneth, he probably heard me downstairs "We're on a tight timer, we only get one shot at this!" He stopped climbing the stairs and got off on his floor.

Soon I made it to my floor, I looked across the place, 20 rooms, 10 minutes, i'd have to choose carefully

"Alright! Let's do this!"