Crystal Legacies: Rebirth

Chapter 7

Chapter Seven:

Lashing Out

    The wall in front of them had to be one of the most colorful things that Razaria had seen on the base. The climbing wall had colorful, odd shaped protrusions sticking out from the black surface. It warped and tilted in seemingly random spaces to make the climb more difficult. Every so often there was a knotted rope leading straight to the top but for the most part there seemed to have been no real safety or support for those attempting the climb. Except the rather spongy floor.

    "Why does this room even exist?"

    The raven haired woman watched as all three of her unit mates dusted their hands. She looked up towards the wall, suddenly feeling dizzy. It wasn't that she was normally afraid of heights or anything but she wasn't confident in her ability to not fall to her death. In such circumstances, Razaria was sure that a little bit of fear was something healthy to experience. Candice was actually the first one to start. She reached to a red handhold about eye height and got herself a foothold somewhere about knee height before hoisting herself up. Mari joined her next, able to reach higher than the diminutive blond. Ivy lingered back near Razaria and gave her a reassuring smile.

    "Don't be afraid Razy, climbing is kind of fun," the white haired young woman said.

    "Says you."

    Ivy just grinned as she held out a small amount of chalk in her hand for Razaria to help dust herself up with. As Razaria started to dry her hands out with a sense of numb fear, Ivy started pointing out the different colors for the different shapes. She showed her the best grip for each and a couple ways to position her body and feet to help make it easier. Or at least that's what she seemed to think she was doing. Ivy explained under the assumption that it was totally normal for people to lift their whole body weight with one hand. Razaria knew that it was something that was physically possible for the human body but she also knew that it wasn't something she was capable of. She hadn't built up the upper body strength that everyone seemed to be expecting of her.

    She took it a lot slower than any of the girls and kept to an area of the climbing room that was as straight as she could find. Her spot wasn't that far away from Mari's actually while Ivy climbed on the most uneven, gravity defying surfaces one could think of. Every once in a while as she paused, trying to give her arms some kind of rest, Razaria looked over to the crazy strong white haired girl. She could have sworn she saw green leafy vines coming out from under Ivy's long white sleeves. The moment she had confirmation that's exactly what she had been seeing and started to gape, Razaria felt a sickening sensation. The rock her hand had been resting on had started to turn.

    Razaria let out a diminutive scream. She knew that she was going to fall. And no matter how soft and odd the ground had been, falling from ten feet up wasn't going to feel very good. As she was sure that she was about to go down, Razaria felt her remaining grip lock up tighter than she ever would have imagined. Frantically Razaria yanked herself backward, not even thinking that through, to find that she couldn't open her grip even if she'd wanted to.

    "Calm down," the redhead called out from her spot nearby. One of her hands was flat against the black of the climbing wall. "Just grab a new handhold."

    Still panicking, Razaria realized what Mari had been saying almost too late. The moment she'd gotten a hold of something else to help keep her on the wall, Razaria felt her hand being released by the invisible force that had gripped it. Her arm felt completely fatigued from the fingertips all the way up to the shoulder. As soon as she could she got herself back down to the ground without even attempting to finish the rest of the climb unlike the rest of her Unit mates.