Awakening of the Shadows [COMPLETE]

Paradise Key

Antares

My mouth opened as wide as possible for a member of my species and possibly even wider, and let out a long, horrified scream. Emptying my aetherpistol's contents into the Hydra's chest, I ignored the Hydra's continuous scream of fury and spite as best I could and charged toward where Rynn had fallen. Slowly yet terrifyingly, a black discoloration was spreading across her arm's auburn skin, searing away the Luminite armor and beginning to fill the interior with thick, lethally black poison. Rynn grabbed her shoulder with her remaining hand and squeezed it as hard as she could, her knuckles turning white with exertion.

"By the gods, that-" she hissed and shook her arm as if to remove the pain "-really hurts," she rasped. The venom hadn't melted much (Yet), but it had managed to leave a gap in her armor about an inch and one half wide. The skin visible was marred, pitted with corrosive holes left behind by the Hydra's breath weapon. Only three drops; that'd been all it took to cause an unimaginable amount of pain... and this unimaginable amount of damage. The poison wasn't just stimulating the nerves and causing pain, it was literally melting through Rynn's epidermis with a sinister intensity.

"What can I do?" I asked her, eyes wide with terror. "Is there- is there anything? Anything at all?"

Rynn grimaced. "Get... get that healing potion," she whispered in a raspy tone. "The one... the one Elder used..." her voice was getting quieter and quieter, to the point I could barely understand her. "The one he used on the ship... on Eternity, to save her." she coughed, and spoke three more words. "Go get it."

Then her eyes slid shut, and Rynn Sunstreak slowly fell backward, off of her barely-managed sitting position and into a flat heap on the floor of the jungle.

. . .

Several minutes later, the Hydra lay in a massive sprawl on the forest floor. Eldernova knelt at Eternity's side, the two of them speaking in slightly hushed tones, Rynn was still unconscious, and I was trying desperately to catch their attention; though I seemed to be out of earshot, and the pair seemed to be in their own world at the moment.

If they wouldn't hear me, if my voice wouldn't cut through the barriers, perhaps Seraph's would.

He'd apparently already had the same idea, because a moment later, he jogged out from behind a rock and continued running down the slope toward the two who lay beside the fallen Hydra. Not dead, I didn't think; Eternity had punched it in the jaw, and to my knowledge Hydras had a pressure point that could be used to knock them out placed at the base of their primary head's jaw. I looked back and forth between Seraph and Rynn, trying to decide what to do.

If I stayed by Rynn's side, I could... technically... be there, if she woke up... but that was unlikely. What was likely was the possibility of Seraph getting the potion to her too late, in which case I would personally pull out his sternum through his throat.

Making my decision, I charged after Seraph.

Skidding to a halt a few meters behind, the Human stopped in front of Eternity once she'd stood up. "Rynn's been hurt," he said gravely, making Eternity's eyes widen. Behind the two Eldernova was running up behind them after retrieving Alaspakta from where he'd dropped her. "As in, she got hit by the breath weapon." Eternity's eyes enlarged further until they were about the size of small vorphballs.

Eldernova finally caught up at exactly (More or less) the same time I did. "Wait, that means she's going to die, right?" he asked, making my stomach turn over with fear.

I strode into the group of people. "Eldernova, I need that potion thing," I said, which got me three extremely confused looks. "The healing syringe," I clarified, and Eldernova's eyes lit up.