TBATE - What if Tessia was the legacy ? - The legacy of it all

powerless

{Curtis Glayder}

-Remember, we're looking for anything out of the ordinary, not just forbidden items." I stated in a loud and clear tone while avoiding sounding too harsh.

-Yes sir." Answered my team almost in unison with varying levels of enthusiasm

Continuing to look through the forest around the campus, scanning the ground for anything that might be out of place, I knew that we would soon have to switch to using our portable-lamp-artifacts since the sun was starting to set. Keeping an eye out to look at what the others were doing, I observed how they moved, how they spoke and interacted. Not that I suspected them of anything, or though they were lazy, but simply because I knew very little about them.

This wouldn't have been the case, I had been accompanied by my usual teammates, but since this operation was of low importance and didn't require any particular skill, Tessia had simply paired me up with which ever lower-ranked members of the disciplinary committee were available at this hour.

Although I wanted to complain about it during the meeting, since having to work with an improvised team usually turned out to be rather tedious and asked a lot more out of me as a team leader, I knew from talking to Arthur that those downsides were an integral part of the mission.

I remembered him telling me: "After all you'll often have to make due with who you have on the post during real operations.", meaning that, beyond surveilling the forest, this mission was in part to test and help me hone my skills as a team leader, hence why I had to be more careful and thoughtful with how I manag-

*BAAAM*

Hearing an incredibly sudden, loud sound coming from our wester flank followed by an equally loud yell, I immediately drew out my sword and stayed on edge while ordering for my teammates to regroup.

-Judging from our location, what we heard, the sound most likely came from a tree collapsing." I explained in calm but firm tone as I stayed on edge while I caught a glimpse of one of my teammate relaxing a little. "We're heading toward the origin of the sound, take the usual formation." I stated in sharp tone as I started cautiously moving in that direction.

Although I hoped that this ended up being nothing important, but it also could be that someone from Claire's team got hurt, or even that a mana beast somehow snuck up in the outskirts of the academy, there simply was no way to tell without checking ourselves.

Accelerating a little, I used my sword to slice the branches and bushes that were getting in the way until spotting a tree trunk fallen on the ground.

Getting closer, I frowned a bit at how eerily silent and devoid of life the entire area was. After hearing a yell, I was expecting there to be someone or something at the scene, but there was nothing beyond the leaves, slight blow of the wind and fading light from the sunset.

Looking at the fallen trunk, I searched for the base of the tree, but only found half a melted mess of what used to be the roots sticking out of the ground while my team mates started looking around, pushing branches aside and looking for footprints.

-What in the world?" I told myself in utter confusion as I knelt down next to the roots, only to feel my feet sink in the ground along with a slight hissing sound.
Immediately pulling back, I looked at my shoes and saw that they had started to melt.

Now even more confused and worried than I was before, I turned around to warn the others.

-Everyone be careful there's some acid on the..." Stopping myself in the middle of my sentence, I glared around at the spots my teammates were just at a few seconds ago.
They were gone.