Hours passed from the start of their expedition. Memor, in his state of being 'emotionless' had nothing but his own thoughts to pass time. He went back to his memories, the Artifact that he now calls Ripper, made it evident to him, the lapses of time that passed where he didn't remember anything. The gaps in his memory were a thing he always knew about unconsciously, but having received the Swiss Sabre from Uncle Ceres, they have appeared more prevalent than ever.
The Ripper, exposes the gaps in his memory to work, but it also makes Memor have a degree of elevation in his memories as well. With it, he could have a vague remembrance of events from a long time ago—What he ate, what he did, who he met, what they spoke about.
Memor realized, his interaction with Uncle Ceres from the ages seven to eleven, most have abrupt stops in their meetings. No matter how hard he tries to remember, there was nothing, only unexplainable emotions filled those gaps even in his unresponsive state.
Elena's team travelled far from the village, the rock spike dunes were far behind, so were the blowing dust, they travelled far where baches of blue leafed trees scattered the environment like large oil stains on the hilly fields. They moved further, where the oil stains have become splashes and a hollow grey weed tickled their wheels.
From the wagon Memor could spot battalions of troops marching with the wagons, every few hours the troops on the wagons would switch with marching battalion.
In the coldness of the Memory domain Memor felt quite snuggly lodged next to two warm bodies, he could almost sleep in such a place. Just then the wagons halted, a call for their arrival.
Elena's team set up camp right next to a blue leaves forest, tents of all size sprung up in white, the group of students helped in the construction of the temporary camp. At its center, the tent which held a Fragment Shield was built, most fragment shields for villages are made from Grade 2 Memory Fragments, for expeditions a Grade 1 Memory Fragment is used as its conduit.
Memor journeyed to the edge of the war camp where it bordered the forest. The hollow weeds of the open lands faded into a vibrant blue meadow, shadowed in the forests shade. The brown of bark hid specs of light that would drift into curtains of light, becoming one with it. Deep in the forest shaped in Bur Oak like trees, a boar would wander by, its hoofs printed in the blue grass. Where the blades whispered, life happened, the chirps of birds, the red fruits hung, the insects creaked, and it was all going to be desecrated.
An hour has passed since the setup of camp, preparation for the coming operation has been put in place. The ones that were tired have rested, the ones that were missing equipment were supplied.
A commanding Officer under Elena, provided the volunteers shields and filled them in on the plan.
groups of three will venture into the forest, back-to-back with shields in hand to protect themselves, if anything were to happen to another group, one should not assist them as it may jeopardize your groups safety.
Memor pressed his back against Luni's and Demi's despite her reluctance, having watched multiple trios venture into the blue forest, it was his trios turn. They unsheathed their weapons—Luni used a one-handed Arming Sword and Demi held a Talwar.
Weapons in hand, Memor stepped into the shade, taking the lead, a couple feet to his left was his commanding officer who was a mind shifter that moved forward alone. They moved at the same pace as the group in front of them, with each step their blood pumped faster.
"I wonder what type of beasts live in these trees?" Luni said, breaking the tension.
"Clearly the type that pisses on you." Demi said. "It's still a surprise we can't sense them through the Phantom Realm."
Memor kept quiet while the other two spoke, he was a normal human and can't sense movement through the Phantom Realm, so his only focus was his surroundings.
The group in front of Memor trenched carefully between the trees, they eyed the leaves above them, scattered with red fruits. They walked below another a large fruit, just then the fruit shook, it dipped a bit through the blue leaves, a few centimeters away from the fruit, two white eyes opened.
The trio noticed the white eyes, but it was too late, the beast hidden within the trees spat a yellow sizzling liquid towards them.
"AAHHHH!"
Gazing from afar, Memor saw the whole ordeal unfold, a man from the group in front was getting dissolved from the fluid, his teammate leaped into the air attempting to behead the beast, but it swung away from the tree branches.
From the edge of his vision Memor saw another stream of yellow fluid fall from above, this time it was blocked by a shield just in time before one of the team members jumped and beheaded the beast.
It had a head of an ape, blue fur, its neck grew a large red sphere like a fruit—they were called Acid Chimps.
All around, it rained yellow liquid.
"Ugh! They are literally pissing on us!" Demi exclaimed in disdain.
A couple of the Acid Chimps dropped down landing on the soldiers. Diagonally left to Memor, a red fruit shivered, the Acid Chimp jumped from branch to branch closing in on Memor.
It shot a stream of acid. Memor blocked with his shield, it sizzled. Lowering the shield, Memor saw the Acid Chimp plummet towards him. In a moment, he raised his shield again. It kicked Memor to the ground, despite Luni and Demi's support.
"Shit!" Demi yelled.
Landing, the Acid Chimp Charged. Memor was on his back still experiencing the repercussions of his defense. The Chimped leaped towards Memor, he couldn't roll away so he placed the shield between him and the chimp.
Bam!
The Acid Chimp struck Memor's shield with its fists. More sizzling as its saliva dripped onto the shield.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
It pounded. Memor with his right hand assaulted the Acid Chimp, he drew blood. The chimp backed off. It grabbed on one of Memor's ankles and ran. Memor, dragged along, his body slide across the battlefield. Flashes of severed heads and Acid Chimp bodies laid lifeless on the grass.
Suddenly he stopped. A wail rang out. He looked down, a severed hand held onto his ankle. Yorgos stood pridefully, staring at the running away Acid Chimp missing an arm. He gave chase, his speed much greater than the beast. From behind he thrashed down with his mace. Brain matter spilled with blood and bones, creating a mural of sorts.
He walked back to Memor in the chaos filled forest.
"What a waste of space." He spat, walking over Memor.
What's with nice people acting tough? Memor scoffed. He picked himself up and ran in the direction of his group. Memor's back was exposed, he had to keep watch for any ambushes that may come towards him. The trees rustled, Memor avoided the red fruits hanging from above, but soon one tailed behind him. Memor noticed it, and deliberately slowed down. When he heard the sound of spitting, he rolled to his left turning around as he stood up. The location before his roll rose wisps of vapor. The Acid Chimp that just spat lunged at Memor. Now, not handicapped by two of his teammates, Memor could move more freely. He sidestepped to his left, at the same time focused on his sword, his blade rippled. In midair, the ape felt the danger in Memor's sword, it shivered, trying to grasp a hanging branch, but it was too late.
WOO!
Memor's sabre cleaved through the Acid Chimps abdomen. It fell to the ground behind Memor, leaving two trails of red.
Not hanging around, Memor continued his sprint towards Luni and Demi. From afar he spotted Luni battling two Acid Chimps while Demi scrambled with another on the ground putting an end to its life.
Luni was bombarded from both sides—his shield protected from one while his sword attacked another. Even with his greater physique as a Learner, being surrounded by two opponents was a challenge for him. The Acid Chimp facing his sword spat. He dodged to the side and was met by a flying kick by the other chimp. Luni was sent to the ground. He rolled on his landing back and got on his knees. Looking up, one of the Acid Chimps threw itself at Luni. He was panicked his arms were too low for him to block or counter attack, the best he could do was angle himself to not suffer too much damage.
Bam!
Memor crashed into the chimp with his shield, the wails of pain escaping the ape's maw. Once on top, he thrusted his sabre at its neck, it struggled, scratching at Memor, but soon it went quiet.
Pulling his sword out, Memor walked to Luni reaching out a hand.
"Come on, we have to save your girlfriend." Memor said, pulling Luni up.
"It seems like you can still make jokes." Luni chuckled, his face blushing.
So easy. Memor sighed internally as he shook his head.
They grouped together, back-to-back. Memor was tired his breath was ragged compared to Luni and Demi. The other teams were enthralled in their own battles, some have lost their lives to the acid while others were being devoured alive, it reminded Memor how lucky he was to not be dragged far away.
Once an opulent blue forest was now a crimson splashed plane, carcasses of both men and Acid Chimps littered. It looked like the fruits have ripened to the point of explosion.
Near the center of the forest, Elena with two of her subordinates, Jacob and Costa stared down a large hanging fruit leached onto a tree trunk. It shriveled, as if contracting from fear. The large fruit dropped a bit revealing its ape like face and white pupilless eyes.
The large Acid Chimp jumped down from the tree, landing on the ground, a wide smile filled his face as it gazed upon the group of Mind Shifters. Just then, a black rift appeared at its abdomen.
It was a Mind Shifter.