Chapter 475: A sad discovery
Kellen made sure to watch his feet, watch his sides, watch everything around him. He was on high alert, as he should be. The smallest of crunch, his feet sinking into the damp soil made small iridescent...spores float into the air. Kellen hated that, hated what it probably signified as he made his way eastward.
He came to the small river, noticing for the first time a few cracked branches, a few marks on the trees.
Hardened sap surrounded the marks, clearly made with a knife, and his chest swelled as he recognised the marking technique he had taught his students. It might have been the older Esper who had been sucked in with them that had told them to do so, but that didn’t matter. Kellen was just glad to see signs of life, and that they were signs he was able to follow.
It was clear that they hadn’t crossed the river, like Kellen had no plan to. At least not yet. It looked so damn toxic that Kellen could almost feel how it would dissolve his clothes. His bones.
He shivered, glancing around him. His gun was still in his hand, his eyes open, wide. Watching everything that he could. The soft sounds through the trees, the shifting sounds of the night. He was working hard to take in all information, every last sound, anything he thought was amiss.
He was surprised that it was light enough at night that he didn’t need to use the flashlight he’d brought, but he wondered if it was just around the fluorescent river. Since the colour of the river matched the colour illuminating the shimmering colour of the leaves around him.
Kellen kept moving, kept observing, trying to see if he found anything out of the ordinary.
It was about two hours later, while he was following the trail made by his peers when he found the first body, or what remained of it.
Someone had slipped, stumbled, tripping over a well placed root and had slid into a pitcher plant. Kellen winced as he stared at the closed plant, the torn pieces of fabric telling a grim tale. Kellen paused for a moment, saying a prayer for who had been lost. He wouldn’t know until he found more survivors, but a knot twisted in his gut. He hoped and prayed that it wasn’t Gwen.
Honestly, it was a bit heartless of himself, but he hoped it was one of the Espers that he hadn’t trained personally. It would still hurt, but it would hurt less. Not that body recoveries were ever easy.