The acid rain drummed against the reinforced roof. By then, they had already untied Bran from the pillar, believing he would calm down with time.
Hours had passed since they found the logbook. Hours since Bran had been possessed or had gone completely mad.
Daniel sat near the blocked entrance, back against cold metal. Eyes closed, but not sleeping. Seeing.
[Skill Active: Omnivision (E-Grade)]
The world in his mind was a map of pulsating lights. Something caught his attention.
From Bran's mind, a thin, cold line of energy went through the walls and into the storm. It was connected to something lurking outside.
Daniel opened his eyes and watched Bran pace across the small room.
He muttered to himself, words too low to catch.
Ragnar sat on a crate, sharpening his blade.
Shhhk! Shhhk! Shhhk!
Bran stopped and turned around. He locked eyes onto the big man.
"Stop it!" Bran shouted.
Ragnar froze, blade halfway down the stone. "Stop what, kid?"
"That noise! You're doing it on purpose." Bran's voice trembled with fear and sudden anger. "Signaling it. Telling it we're here."
Ragnar lowered the knife slowly. Held up his hands. "Bran, I'm just sharpening my gear. We need to be ready if…"
"Liar!" Bran stepped forward, hand drifting to his water flask. "I saw you earlier. With the rations. You took two bars. I saw you pocket them."
The accusation was vague, baseless and without any evidence. Ragnar's face fell. He looked genuinely hurt. The man who carried Bran when he was bleeding, who even gave him his own share of snake meat the night before. Seeing Bran taken over by some demon or something shook him.
"I didn't take anything extra, Bran." Ragnar's voice softened like he was talking to a scared animal. "We split everything even. You know that."
"You think I'm weak." Tears welled in Bran's eyes. "You think I'm going to die anyway, so why waste food on me? That's it, isn't it?"
"That's enough."
Sophie's voice cut through the room. She stood from the corner where she'd been rewiring a motion sensor and walked over to Bran. Expression calm, eyes hard.
"Bran, sit down. Your heart rate is elevated. You're hallucinating from stress and the toxin from that Crocodilian bite." She reached to check his forehead.
Bran slapped her hand away. The sound echoed loudly.
"Don't touch me!" He backed into the corner. "You're in on it too. You and your creepy eyes. Watching me. Waiting for me to slip up."
Daniel watched, heart hammering. It was happening exactly as the logbook described.
The Mindshroud wasn't just watching, it was pulling strings.
Daniel stood slowly. Didn't want to startle him.
"Bran, nobody is against you. We're a team. We fought together. Remember?"
Bran looked at Daniel. For a second, the madness cleared. He looked confused, like he'd just woken from a nightmare. He slumped against the wall, slid down until he hit the floor. Buried his face in his hands.
"I... I don't know what's happening." Bran sobbed. "I can hear it. It won't stop scratching."
Ragnar sighed heavily, looked at Daniel, shook his head. "He's losing it."
"He'll be fine." Daniel lied, though he knew better. "He just needs sleep."
Sophie said nothing. She walked back to her sensor trap near the broken window. Froze.
"The wire." Her voice turned cold. "It's been cut."
She picked up the ends of the tripwire she had set up an hour ago. Not snapped, sliced cleanly. She turned slowly to look at Bran.
Bran didn't look up. "It was humming. Making too much noise. Going to call the monster. I had to stop it."
Sophie stared, her analytical mind working. A tripwire doesn't hum. A sensor doesn't make noise until triggered.
Daniel met her eyes, gave a tiny nod, then tapped the side of his head and pointed toward the wall outside.
Sophie's eyes widened. She understood.
"Lights out," Daniel announced. "We need rest. I'll take first watch. Ragnar, you're up in four hours."
"Right." Ragnar lay down, turning his back but keeping his axe close.
Uneasy silence fell.
Daniel sat by the viewport. They rain kept falling. He pushed his [Omnivision] outward.
The presence outside had moved closer, right at the perimeter edge. Not attacking. Waiting.
Hours crawled by. Darkness pressed against his eyes.
Around 3:00 AM, everything shifted.
No sound. Then a sudden spike in the psychic energy Daniel was tracking.
The thin thread linking the creature to Bran pulsed and increased.
Bran stopped whimpering in his sleep. His rough and fast breathing, suddenly became smooth. Just too smooth.
He sat up. Something was off.
People wake up slow and clumsy, but Bran lifted himself with a smooth, almost unreal ease.
He didn't even use his hands, he just rose.
Daniel tensed, tightening his grip on the D-Grade vibro-knife. He watched carefully.
Bran stood over Sophie, who slept defenseless on her side. He looked down at her and tilted his head at an unnatural angle.
In his hand was a rough piece of scrap metal he must've hidden in his boot. His eyes opened. In darkness, they glowed with a faint green light.
"Daniel?" Bran whispered. The voice wasn't his normal soft voice.
Daniel didn't answer. He had already moved from his spot.
Bran raised the metal shard. "She's in the way. She's going to be the downfall of us all."
He brought it down. "NO!" Daniel roared.
BOOOM!!!
Daniel activated his [Godspeed Rush].
He exploded from his position, crossing the room in two powerful steps. No time to draw a weapon.
Just when the metal fragment was inches from Sophie's throat, he launched his body into the air and tackled Bran.
THUD!
They crashed into the floor. Sophie woke gasping, rolled away instinctively.
"Get off me!" Bran screamed. It was a scary mix of his scared young voice and the monster's guttural screech outside.
Daniel tried pinning him. Bran became very strong all of a sudden. Impossibly strong.
He bucked his hips, threw Daniel off with hydraulic force.
Daniel slammed into the wall, breath knocked out.
"What's going on?!" Ragnar yelled, scrambling up. Stone Skin already activating, turning his flesh grey and rocky.
Bran scrambled up. He didn't even look at them, he looked through them. He gripped the metal shard like a dagger, feet wide, stance sharp and deadly.
He lunged!
He was fast. He went for Ragnar. The big man, too hesitant to hit his friend, raised his armored arm to block. Bran's metal shard struck, sparks flying off the stone-like armor.
Then something shocking. Bran grabbed Ragnar's arm, spun around, and kicked him hard in the chest with both feet.
BAM!
Ragnar stumbled back, crashed into supply crates. "He's fast! This ain't him! The kid can't fight like that!"
Daniel recovered, shook the dizziness away. He looked at Bran with [Omnivision].
The Mindshroud was pouring its will into Bran, overriding his muscles, pushing his body past limits.
If they hurt him, they might kill him. If they didn't, he'd kill them.
"Bran, calm the fuck down!" Daniel yelled. "I know it's not you. It's all in your head!"
Bran turned toward Daniel. Green light flared brighter in his eyes.
"Clever little mouse." The hollow voice spoke through Bran's lips. "But you can't save him. He is mine."
Bran charged. Daniel didn't raise his knife. Couldn't win a physical fight without hurting Bran. He had to sever the connection. Attack the source.
As Bran came in, raising the shard for a killing blow, Daniel didn't move. He planted his feet, lowered his guard, and focused every bit of his will inward.
He pictured his Spirit stat as a pool of blinding white light. He drew that light and pushed it out through his [Omnivision].
Stared directly into Bran's glowing green eyes.
"GET... OUT!" Daniel screamed.
He unleashed a directed pulse of psychic energy. A raw power shaped by desperation.
ZZZRRRT!
A sound like tearing fabric. The green light in Bran's eyes broke. He stopped moving and froze in the air. He arched his back and let out a quiet gasp.
Bran dropped like a puppet with cut strings. The metal shard clattered across the floor.
Silence came back. Daniel got down on his knees and grabbed his head. A sharp, painful migraine made him blind. The backlash of using his Spirit so crudely was painful.
"Bran?" Ragnar whispered. He stepped forward carefully and tapped Bran's prone body with his boot.
Bran groaned softly but didn't wake.
Ragnar let out a long, slow breath and looked up at Sophie. Then they both turned to Daniel in sync.
Daniel panted, sweat dripping from his nose. Looked up, met their gaze.
No hiding it now.
Sophie's eyes were wide, calculating, connecting dots. The "lucky" kills. The specific knowledge of traps. And now, a psychic attack that knocked out a possessed teammate without touching him.
Ragnar looked confused but wary. "Daniel." His voice low, rumbling. "What in the hell was that?"
Daniel wiped blood trickling from his nose.
He knew this moment would come. He just hoped he hadn't bought their survival at the cost of their trust.
"We have a problem." Daniel rasped, ignoring the question. He pointed a shaking finger at the wall. "And it's waiting for us outside."