Chapter 100: Into the Corrupted Lands
The "Odyssey" sliced through the sky of Sector Gamma, a silent, black arrowhead moving with incredible speed. Inside, the mood was tense and quiet.
They were flying towards the angry red blotch on their map, the festering wound in reality created by the Schism Monolith. From her command chair on the bridge, Emma Thorne’s voice was a calm, steady presence in their comms.
"We are approaching the corrupted zone," she announced. "The ship’s reality anchor is holding, but I’m detecting heavy chaotic energy distortions ahead. It’s going to get bumpy."
She wasn’t kidding. As they crossed the invisible border into the Monolith’s area of influence, the view on the main screen began to warp and glitch.
The normal, rocky landscape below twisted into a nightmare. The ground was covered in a pulsating, black moss that seemed to crawl and breathe.
The rocks themselves were a sickly, purplish color, and the trees were gnarled, leafless claws reaching for a sky that was a bruised, ugly shade of grey. The air itself seemed thick and heavy, like they were flying through spoiled soup.
"Landing zone approaching," Scarlett said from the pilot’s seat, her voice tight. "It’s not pretty down there."
She expertly landed the "Odyssey" on a relatively stable-looking plateau a few miles from the towering black Monolith, which they could now see stabbing into the sky like a giant, evil icicle.
The moment the ramp lowered, a sense of wrongness slammed into them like a physical blow. The air reeked of decay and crackled with static. An oppressive, unnatural silence hung in the air.
The five of them stepped out onto the corrupted ground: Ryan, leading the way; Scarlett, her pistols already drawn; Zara, flanked by two small, hovering data-drones; and the two Sanctuary Wardens, their faces serene but their hands glowing with a soft, white light.
They hadn’t taken five steps when the attack came.