How To Survive A Calamity

'Arhgh! Dammit!' Deandra cursed under her ragged breath as she furiously ran forward without looking back. Her shoulders were heaving and she was panting heavily as she drew ragged breaths.

Behind her were the rabid sounds of Monsters, her pursuers. They were quickly gaining.

The dark passageways of Dark Castle were twisting and ebbing like sinister umbra waves.

Deandra took a step forward — one mis-step and triggered a hidden pressure plate against the ground.

"!!"

There was a subtle click, and visious darts were sent flying at her from nowhere all of a sudden.

Deandra sharply halted and her bright red eyes shimmered ominously. Crimson orange flames ignited from her hands, expanding forward and around her like ebbing tides of a wave.

-Fwoosh!!

They burned and scourched the vicinity, creating an untouchable region of solace around her figure. Every venomous cursed darts were swiftly incinerated in the burgeoning flames, leaving behind faint traces of ashes.

The ground crunched as Deandra continued forward.

Running... Was harder when you had someone on your back.

"No. 522, i need you to wake up now! Don!"

The black haired male cadet Don was slumped unconscious and limply against her back.

How long had it been?

A few hours, or perhaps...days?

Deandra wasn't sure. Neither had she the luxury of ascertaining that right at the moment.

Perhaps it had already been only just a few hours since she suddenly woke up and found herself in such an unfamiliar face.

It was dark, creepy and ominous. A monster infested ground where every single step taken forward had to be judged like the last.

She had no idea where she was, or what had happened.

For better or worse, she had woken up next to Don. But somehow the young male cadet had managed to stay knocked out ever since.

Even now!

How long had Deandra been running for now?

For an Awakened her age, she was considered to have considerable stamina, especially considering her Job class as Battle Mage which not only focused on magic and spells but the physicality of the body.

But Deandra was slowly — no, quickly growing exhausted.

The onslaught of different monsters was overwhelming.

Not only had she to care for herself, but Don as well.

Deandra ran as far as her legs could carry her, leaving a trail of disaster and corpses in her wake.

How many monsters had she killed since the beginning? She had lost count.

But they just kept coming.

And until finally.

Deandra stopped, matching her right foot forward.

Her face was pale and her vibrant red hair stuck against her skin like extra layers due to sweat.

She found a hidden, secluded corner to catch her breath. And with ill hidden annoyance and frustration, Deandra threw Don off her back, and slumped against the wall for support.

She was panting and heaving and her fingers wouldn't stop trembling.

Her vibrant red eyes kept darting around through the darkness as she spread her senses voluptuously, but she still wasn't at ease.

How could she be?

At the beginning, she had thought she had been alone when she woke up in this strange labyrinth, but was suddenly attacked by a desert monster that literally appeared from nowhere.

But regardless, for now, it did seem like order than she and Don, they were alone. Find more adventures on My Virtual Library Empire

Her last explosive attack might have been cause of managing to lose her pursuers.

For now.

But it was good.

A moment of solace.

A fleeting moment, however.

But one that still counted.

"Calm down..." Deandra ushered to herself in dry whisper.

Her mind was racing and her heart was pounding so loudly she feared not only she could hear it.

"What's going on? Where are we?" Those were repeated questions she already asked herself multiple times.

Yet, each time to no avail.

One instance they were underneath the bleeding sky of the Blood Earth Terra Sanguis, and the very next she was here.

Where was here?

Deandra could hear the distant sounds of monsters, not so far away and tensed slightly in place.

If there was any solace, it was that the monsters she faced were supposedly within their capabilities, so it often wasn't too hard to face alone.

But the numbers and unceasing onslaught were the problem. It was monsters at every turn.

For one person, she had limited Mana and stamina.

This was beside the fact of being carefull over triggering traps as she moved.

"..ngh...!"

Deandra glanced at Don who seemed to be stirring against the ground. His expression would crumple and squeeze from time to time.

Deandra just stared at him indiscernibly, silently, for a couple of seconds.

Don Clyde had somehow managed to remain unconscious this long, even up until now.

His current state was both bewildering and a burden to her.

Seeing Don like that often brought thoughts about the well being of her other teammates to Deandra's mind.

The two of them had been separated from Trise, Chelsea and Victor, and as team leader and Class representative, Deandra's worry may seem misguided, considering her own condition, but was actually not unfounded.

At least that was what she thought until a while ago.

The thing was...

Something... strange had been happening all of a sudden.

It started some time ago, a few hours before, was it?

Deandra looled around the dark area where she hid. The black walls were old, polished, wide and immensely tall. They reeked of age and despondency.

She furrowed her brows and redirected her thoughts slightly.

And then...

-Vrrrm -Vrrmm!

There it was again.

The black bracelet on her wrist vibrated, a pitched chime resounded from it.

"Again..."

Deandra's brows furrowed even more and she tensed. Suddenly she looked around, wary that she may have given off her position to any loitering monsters nearby.

She clasped her bracelet tightly in her hands as it continued to vibrated and hum.

For a while back, her bracelet wouldn't stop vibrating.

Ever since she woke up a few hours ago, the amount of points recorded had exponentially increased at an absurd rate.

Deandra glared at the numbers.

Usually this would be cause enough to be happy about, as a team. But the constant buzzing and chimes have repeatedly landed Deandra in even more precarious situations whenever she tried to hide away from her pursuers.

It was almost as much a burden as Don was, if not more.

"Who could it be?" Deandra wondered out loud, but in a small voice like a whisper.

On one hand, the increase in point suggested that at least some of her teammates were also alive, for the meantime.

But the absurd growth and increase in points was what was almost unnatural.

It was at a speed and degree that she was worried.

Just how many monsters were the teammate facing?!

Wasn't that bad?!

At that point, Deandra shook her head and sighed, dismissing such thoughts.

At the moment, guessing who was the cause didn't matter. It was at least, more or less, a good sign for her.

As Deandra tried to regain as much strength or stamina as possible, she drew her gaze back to Don who was still stirring.

Finally...

The young male cadet seemed to be on the verge of finally waking up.