Adriel touched his right cheek, which had been almost completely torn off; blood was running down his face, staining his body. The wound was so deep that a faint glimpse of the inside of his mouth could be seen.
With unnatural calm, he reached for the blue orb in his pocket. 'It's a lighter. I thought it'd be something more combat-oriented.'
'There were two of them.' That fleeting thought crossed Adriel's mind, who barely remembered that the Pheasant wasn't the one causing the system failure. Calm and collected, he looked around but found nothing.
'He ran away.' Adriel shrugged and looked at his companions. Kael was helping the girls to stand, but they could barely stay on their feet for more than five seconds.
Quietly, he approached them and extended his hand to Selene. "I'll carry you. Kael will carry Liora." Adriel held out his hand, but Selene didn't take it. She flinched.
'Even if they weren't raped, it was an attempt.' Adriel let his hand drop, then thought for a moment and ordered Elena to come to him.
After a few minutes, Elena arrived. "They were almost raped. I suppose they won't want to interact with men for a while, so you carry them." Nothing in Adriel seemed hurt, but he swallowed everything—his sadness and despair eating away inside him.
Adriel sat at the foot of a large oak tree, hugging his legs in a fetal position. 'I was late... they weren't raped, but they're deeply traumatized...' Adriel felt like crying, but no tears came. Even before, it was rare for him to be on the verge of tears, and even rarer for him to actually cry.
'If I think about Nico's death, I could probably cry, but those tears wouldn't be for them. They'd be just an act… an act.' As he thought, he remembered he could go insane if he didn't act like a hunter. 'How does it work? Do I have to see myself as one, or do others have to see me that way? I haven't gone insane yet, but from my own point of view, I'm not one.' Adriel kept thinking, but at some point, he felt a chilling numbness run down his back, making him stop.
He started feeling dizzy; lack of sleep and blood loss were quickly taking their toll. "Do the rest. I need to sleep." The young man slowly made his way to the camp, using trees for support. It wasn't completely necessary, but it made him feel safer.
When he saw the lake and Amara sitting nearby, he spoke. "Come here, trust test!" The drowsy boy let himself fall forward, but thankfully, Amara caught him just in time.
Adriel opened his eyes to find himself underwater. Everything looked clear; the water around him didn't drown him, so he realized it was a dream. A lucid dream.
In that bright water, he could only see himself. The little sunlight that reached below showed how pure the water was, but everything was too empty—it felt suffocating, with nothing to do.
He tried to swim upward, but nothing happened.
As time passed, he grew tired. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't wake up. He remained trapped in that infinite expanse of water. Little by little, he began to drift into sleep within the dream, but suddenly he felt a numbing pain in his chin, then in his mouth, splitting his lip open.
Red blood began to mix with the water, slowly vanishing the farther it drifted away.
He grew more desperate, but he forced himself to stay calm and think through the situation. Just as he began to do so, he woke up. His right hand was covered in crimson blood, his jaw ached from being clenched too hard, and blood seeped from his lips down to his chin.
In front of him was Amara—her nose was almost completely broken, her cheeks and lips covered in blood. Kael stood before him with his shield in one hand and a clenched fist in the other. Farther away were Elena, Liora, and Selene—the two girls were on the ground while Elena was rushing toward Kael and Amara.
Adriel didn't need to think. He knew instantly what had happened. He had lost control.
...
Amara had gently caught Adriel; the boy had fallen completely asleep upon reaching the lake.
The girl laid him on the grass near the shore and wondered what to do with him. But after a short while, he stood up. "You're really fast at falling asleep." A small, relaxed smile formed on his face. "Come here and sleep well." Amara sat down and softly patted her thighs.
At that invitation, "Adriel" came up to her and grabbed her head—only to knee her in the face, destroying most of her features. "Ahhh!" the girl screamed instantly.
That loud scream caught Kael's attention, who rushed over immediately. He stepped in front of "Adriel," who threw a punch, but Kael blocked it with his shield. Taking advantage of the opening, Kael landed a hard uppercut to Adriel's chin, followed by a hit to his face, splitting his lips.
Soon Elena arrived with Liora and Selene. She opened her mouth wide and shouted, "He's gone mad! You can fight him—he can't use his weapons, but he's much stronger than before!" After saying that, the woman ran off with the two girls slung over her shoulders.
Kael began to block and react to "Adriel's" attacks, but deep down, he knew that if Adriel had full control of his mind, Kael would already be three meters underground.
After setting the girls down, Elena started running back toward the fight. "He's not completely insane yet! When he is, his body will start changing. For now, it's like he's half-conscious!" Elena was still far away, but she noticed Adriel had stopped attacking.
"Did I go insane?"