Many sensations coursed through Alden's body at once: his sore feet, his strained muscles, his heavy chest...
Bearing all this was already too much. But then, something new was added to the mix.
"Huh?"
Alden's lips parted. He felt a sharp pierce just below his left calf. The cut was clean, the kind that barely hurt until you saw it. But then it twisted inside the muscle, its rough blade dragging against the insides of his leg. Following this, the pain transformed into something entirely different.
"Ahhh!!!" A raspy groan tore from his lips. "No! No! I can't — I can't die like this!"
Biting down hard on his lower lip in agony, he pulled his left leg forward, drawing out the grass blade and leaving it behind. The pain hit again in a new, unforgiving wave, spreading through his body at once.
This all happened in a fraction of a second. But it was enough to leave his leg nearly useless. His speed took an immediate hit. And with that came something inevitable — the same thing happened again after just a few steps. This time, double the amount, one for each leg.
They moved even more fiercely.
It was too much for him to handle. With another weak gasp, Alden felt control over his legs fade away, causing his knees to drop to the ground.
'I can't do it.' His sight blurred.
In front of him appeared a distorted image. A young tween boy, with black hair and black eyes. He had a bright smile on his face as he spoke. He looked familiar, yet foreign.
'Who is that?'
The boy made strange, funny movements as if trying to make someone laugh. He was successful as another figure watching him close by appeared to be chuckling.
'Is that me?'
"What are you doing! Get up!" A scream assaulted his ears, yanking him fully back to the world around. That was when he felt the heat just behind him.
Alden turned. The grass around him was burnt with little flickering flames still persisting in patches. Other spots were scorched further out.
Cait stood a few meters to his side. Her eyes were wide in desperation, exhaustion, and fright. It was obvious she was fighting to hold herself together. Her flaming hair danced around her, not as bright as when he'd first seen it.
'She saved me.'
Alden immediately realized. He took back control over his legs and forced himself up, stumbling as quickly as he could manage toward the forest threshold.
'Ignore the pain. This is another chance. It can't end here.'
Several people had already overtaken him. He didn't care. His eyes stayed fixed on his destination. If he could make it, nothing else would matter.
Cait followed behind the group. She could only damage small sections of the field, so the entire waking wave was way beyond her. The best she could do was stall for those struggling behind.
'I should've acted sooner. I got scared and people died.' Tears trickled down Cait's face as she fought back against the field and kept moving.
Whenever the wave grew too close, her hair would spread out and crash forward in a burst of flames, destroying the grass close by.
Thanks to her sacrifice, people like Alden found themselves nearly at the threshold.
'Just a bit... more.'
Alden's consciousness was barely holding on. His lower body felt like it had been put through hell.
He'd faced hardships, but this was something different. He stumbled once again; this time, unable to keep his balance. His face went toward the ground, but midway, a firm hand wrapped around him, stopping the fall.
His legs left the ground, and his body was placed onto this person's shoulders.
Alden noticed injuries on this person's back, similar to the ones on his own legs. He shifted his gaze slowly, and it fell on a pair of beautiful eyes meeting his.
He couldn't think much of all this, but it relieved him.
With a grunt, the person pushed forward. In less than a minute, they crossed the threshold with a leap from the field to the forest floor.
He placed both people he carried gently on the ground before dropping flat beside them.
One by one, everyone arrived safely. The only one left was Cait. She wasn't far away, and with the way things had been, along with her soul attribute, there shouldn't have been much of a problem.
But there was.
The field ahead of her had woken on its own, moving fiercely and cutting off the path forward. So far, the field woke in a wave. But now, those ahead moved as violently as those behind without the wave reaching them.
Cait's face said everything.
"Come on!" Julius shouted. He too had reached the forest safely.
She nodded, then began using her flaming hair to tear through the field. Along with the change in nature was a change in its size. Her hair could stretch over five times its original length, and they were pretty long naturally. So they went before she cleared a path before she even stepped on it.
She didn't move too fast. But she was moving. That was good enough. They watched from the forest as she closed the distance. Orange flames spread out across the green expanse, leaving charred lines behind her.
There was something in the sight of this — a woman fighting for her life after spending herself fighting for others. Poignant wasn't the right word. Neither was sublime. It was something in the middle of both.
She was almost there.
Twenty meters... Fifteen...
It looked like she would make it. Then the worst thing that could happen, happened. Her hair went out.
Not gradually — all at once. Like a flame cut off from air. Dark brunette hair fell loose around her shoulders, leaving Cait standing alone in the middle of the fully awake field with nothing left to give.
The grass didn't hesitate.
It came from every direction at once. A closing ring of rigid blades.
Cait threw her arms up on instinct, squeezing her eyes shut. Her legs refused to move. After everything she'd burned through, there was simply nothing left.
The faces of her kids came flashing into her memory. Her eyes weighed her choices as they closed. More tears streamed down her face, but somehow, the impact never came.
A low humming sound swept across the field. Every blade within a wide radius flattened to the ground at once, pressed flush against the soil, trembling faintly as though held down by an invisible hand.
Cait opened her eyes.
Sarah stood at the treeline, her arms outstretched and chest heaving. She looked as surprised as anyone by what she'd just done.
It lasted only seconds, but it was enough.
Cait ran without any hesitation.
Sarah grabbed her at the threshold and pulled her across. They went down together at the forest's edge, neither letting go of the other.
The strange force vanished, leaving the field churning uselessly behind them.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
They only did something they'd been taking for granted all their lives:
Breathe.