GODSENT | reyge

3-1; the long road home, lined with blood

This place...whatever it used to be, is dead now.

It is also confusing. It is like looking at a strange mix between utopia and dystopia; she feels a need to tread carefully across the combination of grass and metal. The gloom that hangs over the facility is not unlike the Great Reclaimer's forests in Kangaroo Valley, where every step treaded felt like proceeding deeper into something she won't get out of unscathed. What is even odder here is the abnormal overgrowth of greenery on the metal walls, like there hadn't been human life around at all, despite Cypher's distress call being sounded only half a day ago.

This place hadn't been abandoned to begin with.

There's an energy that hangs in the air, a prickling that Reyna dislikes, so she keeps her gun poised and at the ready, a touch too tense. Brimstone steps heavily, Viper moves ahead without care, while Sova barely pays attention to the way his bow crackles with electricity — Reyna wants to snap at them all, wants them to shrink down to the size that she maintains now, slinking close to the walls.

Only Sage seems to share her sentiment. Open her body language may be, her eyes dart too quickly at every unexpected noise, and her shoulders are tense. She lingers in the middle of their group, frowning as she reads the Radianite values off her tablet, lips partially open as if to comment on the absurd numbers flashing in red on her screen.

Yet, despite the tension of it all, Sage's visage is so wonderfully angelic, so easily appreciable, that Reyna can't help but be charmed. It takes her mind off things, if but a moment. It leads to other things, too, like soft lips on hers, lashes framing closed eyelids, thin, well-trimmed brows tightening and loosening with concentration. And the power that came with the vanquishing of her hunger — oh, the power. She had been born again. Satisfied. Full. No other stream of life energy can please her like this anymore, she's convinced.

There's a strange, pleasant fluttering in her stomach as she thinks about it — perhaps she hadn't quite eaten enough at breakfast this morning.

Sage stops. Reyna bumps into her, follows the tilt of her gaze. Sova's glare burns holes into her before they are all distracted by something else.

"¡Dios," she whispers. She'd been so absorbed in herself that she had almost seen past the real reason they had travelled all the way to New Mexico. And it is here: the giant, pulsating blue thing in front of her splits the canyon and the facility in two. From its heart trails a rift of electric blue, winding down the rest of the ravine, drawing a clear line between the dead and the living.

"This is it." Sage lowers the tablet. Her voice is torn between awe and confusion. "This is the source of all that output."

Brimstone surveys the damage before them, heavy-set eyes wandering over the the gaping void at the heart of it all, where shreds of metal, a mix of uniform-clad and suited bodies, and other debris float, suspended right over a greedy vortex of a mouth.

"It's clear that Kingdom Corp. is involved with something here," he says at last. The keycard of a K/SEC employee floats past and he reaches out to grab it, expression grim. He doesn't spare it another glance when he looks up at Sage. "We need to procure evidence before they do. Team, split up and find as much information as you can. Sova, go with Sage and Reyna."

Sova nods once and readjusts his quiver and bow across his shoulder. He follows close behind Sage as they part ways while Reyna brings up the rear, finding it hard to tear her eyes off the disaster in front of them. Brimstone and Viper head deeper into the overgrown mess of vines, grass and moss; Sage takes the sandy path.

Reyna knows how sand feels under her boots. Rosarito and its charming beaches are never to be missed during its lovely summers, and even without Lucia, she'd go out, sometimes with some of the children tagging along, just to enjoy the sea breeze and the grainy feel of the sand beneath her. The sand that lines the Everett-Linde facility feels nothing like it should. It doesn't part, doesn't let her weight sink in, doesn't welcome her. Instead, it remains solid, and Reyna wonders if she's walking along rocks instead.