Nate had begun his rounds along the perimeter edge as the voices of his teammates faded in the background. He was sort of glad that he volunteered to take the first shift, it gave him time to think. His hands rested limply over his gun as he scanned the area as a light smile etched its way onto his face. Despite the dangers that came with the job there was one thing that he did truly enjoy about being out here. It was peaceful and quite save for the occasional shrieks or screechs and other wildlife sounds. The wind whistling against the leafs of trees and the cracks and snaps of fallen twigs or the sound of rushing water. It was reminding him a bit of his time in Archeron as a young scavanger.
 
 
What was the the most dangerous thing I killed?’ He pondered to himself as he walked.  He came across a multitude of different creatures on his missions but he couldn’t think of anything that stood-
 
"Its really col- Aagh!" The initial yell caused him to raise his rifle towards what sounded like splashing and yelling. As he drew closer he took notice to a Duvari and-
 
”Moving on…” His eyes went wide. It was Nasri taking a dip in the cool creek that he assumed must have been what ran past the encampment. To avoid any unneeded problems he simply continued on until his shift was over. Luckily food had been prepared and was still slightly warm. His shift had ended and he took a piece he begun to eat quietly. His mind was on the next part of the mission.

---

"Alright team, without the ability to fly to the sight we need to hit our ground game. Isis. You and Bastet seem to be ready to explore so you're on point with Nathan who will have one of the Duvari to himself. Nathan glanced over with a nod as he made his way to one of the Duvari. A black and grey beast of a creature. She initially growled at Nathan but quickly settled with a chirp as Baset and Nasri approached. The pack mentality was clear in her motions and Nate nodded with amusement. Hopping up he nodded to Nasri as they lead the group to the next spot.

---

They had made it to the crater, ground zero if one was inclined to give it the moniker. It was the source of the most recent chaos near the outposts and quite the site to see. Nearly a mile wide in diameter and fairly deep, its origins greatly intrigued Nathan, while at the same time put him on edge.
 
"It should be happening soon." He glanced over at Jake before looking back at the crater. In a moment a strong gust of wind came from behind, nearly taking Nate off the Duvari. Before the suddent flash of light shot high into the air.
 
”Sonova…” He said as he shielded his eyes from the light. Soon enough it went away and Jake began with his next orders.
 
"Isis. Nathan. Head down and find us a path to that crater. The right flank looks devoid of Wild Men so try their first. Stay in constant communication. When you clear us a route message it and we'll be right behind you." Nate brought up his rifle and looked down his scope, taking advantage of its massive zoom capabilities. He was right, definitely devoid of life. Wild men encampments weren’t usually that dead. They had some kind of life running through it, good or bad. He clicked his tongue in frustration as the understanding of what was to follow.
 
"Be careful you two. Something here is really wrong. The city is empty from my vantage point." Nathan nodded before his hand meet his headset.
 
”Switching to comms now. Radio check can you hear me?” He asked the group. It was best to check now before getting down the cliffside and have it cut out.
 
”Yeah I saw it too. We’ll be fine. Ready Nasri?” He looked over to their resident hunter before making his way down the hill.

As it was Matt's turn on watch, Rig did as mentioned earlier and took to taking another look at the sky-hawk. So far like the first check everything seemed clear. Despite the heavy vibrations that had occurred it seemed like everything was still in place. Since they hadn't hadn't actually dealt with large impact and more so heavy turbulence, it was honestly pretty easy to check the things that might be banged up. Spoilers, flaps, doors everything was rigged in their correct place. The landing gear still functioned and their doors as well were set correctly. Just to be safe Rig energized the control systems in neutral, just to make sure nothing there seemed out of order. All lights were green, and the things he saw matched what he knew and what his booklet told him. They were set to take off. He exited the machine and did another look over, rubbing his hands incessantly on his handkerchief. Force of habit.

Matt came around to ask him how the diagnostic went and Rig nodded with a small smile. "We're good to go. Nothing important got knocked too out of place or damaged." He looked the pilot up and down. "Make sure to get whatever sleep you can. Don't want you caught out here rubbing your eyes." He tucked his cloth away into his pocket, and walked past Matt towards his tent, giving him a nod and a wave goodnight. He felt a little guilty he didn't have a round for the nights watch, but not point losing sleep over it.

---

The next morning the group gathered to hear Nathan lay out the plan for the day. Duvari, of course it was the duvari. Why wouldn't it be? He tried his best to get that thought out of his mind as he went to work getting the the hawk ready with Jake, but he couldn't help it. He was sweating the whole time. He got his items together, his sidearm and his pile-bunker at the ready. Despite his clear aversion to the thing he got on his ride without any argument. He wasn't some kid in elementary school, he wouldn't hold up a military operation due to some old fear. But he was even more quiet than usual the whole ride. Only speaking when spoken too.

As they stopped and waited for the light to go off, his attention was drawn back to it. Distracted, at least for a while he wondered what the crater meant. Did this thing fall from fucking orbit? The earlier aliens joke played in his head again, and he couldn't hep but consider the possibility. As Jake laid down the plan of immediate action, Rig's mind was brought back to being rather nervous. He had only met with wild men once, and that wasn't fun. Maybe they could get information from them though. Living so close would give them better insight on this thing than staring at it from afar would.

As the other would go ahead, Rig would still stay quiet. He just wanted to get off this goddamn thing. Even if it was doing them well, and wasn't causing him any real problems.

Isis heard carefully as Jake pointed out Nathan as her pair on the scouting mission. Using the airship wasn't an option, thanks to the weird effects the pillar had, so they would have to do the reconnaissance by ground, which was a very good notice to Isis ]and Bastet, who was eager to go.

Nathan seemed to be a very reliable guy. Aside from the boasting, he really seemed to know what he was doing, so she was rather comfortable having him as her pair. Especially after he mounted on his duvari. Both the duvari and him seemed to have the pack mentality, the way they walked and acted. It would be easier to work that way.

"Oh, there it is again" Isis said, squinting her eyes as the pillar of light appearad once more.
"It is really a sight to behold, isn't it?" she asked, turning to Nathan. Nathan turned to identify what Nasri was talking about. As he stared at the pillar of light he took a moment to take in its beauty. Despite being what could be the harbinger of something more gruesome for mankind, it did complement the surrounding area, illuminating even the shadows. If this had all been a different story, an alternate story where humanity's very survival did not rely on a massive, defensive wall, retrofitted with heavy artilery and personnel, he would have found a serenity to the event. But, he simply found himself with a grim expression on his face.

It was strange, sure. But it was undeniably beautiful. She could only wonder about what that was, and why it was there...
Interrupting her thoughts, Jake said something about being too quiet and empty.

"We and Bastet are ready. Don't worry Jake, its probably empty because of the bit pillar of light." Isis answered testing the radio as she heard Jake's orders and informations.

"I hope you're right." He thought quietly to himself in an attempt to suppress the doubt that was slowly rising. But luckily Nasri spoke up, pulling Nate from his thoughts.

"So, Nathan, before we go, it would be good to know a little about our abilities and preferred fighting style, don't you agree?" He looked at her with slight confusion as he came out of his thoughts. He smiled and nodded as he leaned slightly back on his Duvari which he soon came to name Rogue. Rogue took a step back as he leaned with a light chirp.

"Yeah that would probably be best. With me its simple, sorta. In situations like this I try to rely on my past experience as a scavenger; Stay low, stay quiet. If anything arises well...I tend to think on the fly." He chuckled to himself.

"Really my thing is always keep moving with caution. I can handle myself in hand to hand if need be but I'm best with a rifle, automatic or bolt...What about you? So far I've seen you and Baset act like sisters so I wanna guess you two work tandem?" He cocked a brow.

"Pretty much. We've been hunting together for years. Although I'm more than capable of using my bow from a rather long distance, I prefer to run together with Bastet, using it in mid range. She understands my movements and I understand hers." Isis said, answering him. He sat there with his head down listening, nodding occasionally.

"These clawed gloves I use are both for protecting my hands from the bow strings and for hand to hand combat. Its nails are pretty sharp, so I can use them as a knife easily."

"One of our specialties are moving in the forest undetected. Scouting large areas & etc." she said, confidently.
"And hunting, of course. Be it animals, monsters or other things." she said, smiling. His shoulders seem to jerk upwards slightly as he let out a "hm" in amusment.

"Don't worry. As long as you are with me, you will never get lost in the forest. Oh, and one more thing. My combat style can be a bit... unique. Since me and Bastet know each other so well, we do not need to communicate ourselves to fight... So I may forget to talk to you sometimes... I promise you I'll try my best to not forget about it and tell you my tactics and plans before putting them into action..." she said, with an awkward smile. With that he looked at her with a thin smile.

"Out here, especially where we are, communication will be a necessity. I like the idea of you staying somewhat distant and keeping an eye out while in the forest while I move in. But the moment you see some activity, call it out and then meet with me. I don't want to end up in the digestive track of some shredder or something. Though to be quite honest I would rather you be on my six the whole time but I guess having you scope the perimeter while I move through the structures themselves could be used to our advantage, especially if these Wild Men are further out..." He seemed to pause momentarily as he processed what was said so far before eventually nodding. He looked over and cleared his throat before speaking up.

Isis listened him attently as he spoke, nodding her head. True, especially on that environment, communication was essential. She would have to remember herself to communicate with him while in combat.

"So here's the plan. I want you to take Rogue here with you when we get down there. Keep at a fair distance. I want you to be able to have a clear line of sight without giving yourself away, just incase there are Wild Men tribes down there. If you see no activity, let me know and I'll begin to move in. Jake-" He turned back to their captain.

"Are you sure you want me to take your Duvari?" she asked confounded.
"Anyways..." she said, getting closer to Rogue
"I don't think I'll have much trouble It seems to be already used to be in a pack. It may be not used with our fighting style, but nothing that a firm command won't solve, right?" she asked, laughing as she caressed Rogue.

"I'll be consistantly relaying back to you what I see. If I go silent don't panick. If you here a few pops that may or may not be gunshots...Well...tell everyone that knows me back home I died in some sexual sacrificial ritual amongst the Wild women. Specifically tell my girlfriend that. She should have a good laugh...Oh and that I am coming to haunt her and her new boyfriend just for the shits and giggles." He then smirked before turning back to Nasri with a nod and began moving forward.

"Thats a very specific way to die. 'Been thinking about this for a while?" she asked laughing.
"Don't worry, you will not die. At least not yet. As long as you are my pair in this mission." she said, smiling.

Jake was gazing through his scope still scanning the area when Isis and Jake had their conversation, though towards the end of it when they finished and set to go he responded, "I'll pass it along. You're good to go guys."

From there it was a simple ride down the right flank of the cliff that let them break farther right to give the Wild Man city a wide berth. The lip of the crater was still quiet a distance away with the trek being eerily quiet. It was like all life was cowering from the great beam of light that peirced the Heavens and was still aglow with radiant and powerful energy.

Without the threat of monsters the trip was going by at a quick rate, especially with the Duvari the two scouts had running silently through the open expanses using the large jagged rocks and twisted ridges as cover in the event of lurking Wild Men.

It was at this point, roughly 15 minutes into their journey that two things were made clear. First was that all of the great ridges and edges that surrounded the crater appeared to not be natural but instead shaped like the Earth was sundered by a great force and pushed out from the center, but the way it was done... it was like the Earth was melted and then cooled to give it a wicked flowing shape of rock and stone. The second was that the closer to the lip of the crater they got the feeling of power in the air grew. When they were a few hundred meters from the cusp the feeling was almost palpable, like they were walking through an invisible dust storm of energy and power.

Isis was scouting ahead, with Rogue and Bastet. The other duvari was doing better than she thought. It was following each one of her movements carefuly. She could see it wasn't as experienced as Bastet, but it was trying its hardest to follow their movements.

"You're doing good, keep the good work!" Isis whispered, near the domesticated duvari, caressing it. After all, it deserved to be praised. Nanthan rolled his eyes but smirked. She really did seem to do well with nature and the animals as Rogue chirped up in excitement.

Instead of walking near the border of the crater, Isis preferred to run through the forest, as she was more comfortable by moving through it and using it for cover.

The crater itself was even more strange than before as she kept walking. It was like something melted and cooled the earth and stone around it, almost like shaping it, giving it a beautifully unique flowing pattern carved on it. But that wasn't the only strange thing... There was also a strange feeling. She didn't know how to explain, but it was like a feeling of power in the air, almost like an invisible storm. Nathan surveyed the crater and once again, similar to the light, was in awe of its being. It was truly a sight to behold and with its beauty that creeping unease set in.

"Nathan, are you feeling this? This strange feeling?" Isis asked, using the radio. Her response was becoming staticy and slightly broken to which he looked over to her and tapped his headset.

"I'm start- o hav- a it tr-uble hearing -uo." He attempted to respond. He was getting on edge.

"Nathan? Nathan? Do you hear me?!" Isis asked, worried. Something was wrong, very, very wrong. That sensation, the radio failing... She didn't liked that one bit. Nathan shook his head and slowed down. "Calm down. I-s the area - 'er in. The cr-ter is causi." He sighed before moving closer to her.

"Without communication it will be better if we go together." she said, although she was almost certain the static on the radio wouldn't let him hear her. But she was confident he would think the same way as her. He bit his bottom lip as he brought his Duvari to a stop. Rogue looked back at Nate with a low chirp and growl as it stepped back a few steps before staying still. He withdrew his rifle and peered through the scoop.

"Na- to- ooks to b- ear. warn-eavy static a- near." He attempted to relay back to Jake. Hopefully he got the message. It was pretty bad but still enough he felt comfortable telling Jake it was clear. He looked over to Nasri as he lowered his rifle and put it away before moving his assault rifle to his front. He gestured for her to come closer so he wouldn't have to.

"Look, for now on we'll have to rely on another means of communication. Hand signals, morse code or something. At least until this radio problem goes away. Sounds good?"

When Nathan sent his message back to Jake they had a little ways to head to the edge of the crater which meant that a little of the transmission had made it's way back. It wasn't much but he had enough to work with. "Repeat last. You came in broken and unclear." He stated, trying to get a message back to Nathan, but nothing came through as the scouts moved up to teh crest of the crater.

It was there and then they had a visual down into the massive crater. Down deep in it's belly was the answer to what happened to the Wild Men. They were all there, surrounding the source of the light that was currently out of view. The illumination and radience of it being to great to tell what exactly it was, but one thing was clear. Given the size of the Wild Men it was big, like the size of a large house and five times as tall. All of the Wild Men around it seemed to be in some sort of ritualistic trance, worshipping whatever was in the center and treating it like a God. The sheer number of them being staggering. Most WIld Men gathered in villages and towns of no more than a few thousand, but this looked to be easily over a hundred thousand. Whatever this beacon was it had the ability to bring so many together without causing a civil war.

Jake had to take action. With the last transmission he sent he knew that the interfereance was keeping them from getting a straight answer, but from what he heard last it sounded like the all clear. Though making the call without a decisive answer would cost lives... "Move out, we follow their path and will rendevous." He said to the rest of the team, lashing at the Duvari to get him moving down the hill and after his scouts.

Thankfully his call proved to be correct and the message Nathan sent was the all clear, leaving them with a quick and safe journey through the alien and twisted landscape. He couldn't help but look at all the strange formations, seeing the warped and unnatural rock and stone. There were few forces that could do something like this, The Other being the most capable...

Without much time lost though they had Isis and Nathan in visual range as they were at the lip of the crater. With a reining of his Duvari he gently trot up after them, dismounting a distance away to minimize his sillouette. Upon reaching the edge he joined the two and saw the same terror and wonder that they had been looking at for the past 15 minutes. Enough Wild Men to take over any known tribe and a strange glowing object in the middle. Though with how long it had been since it first started and how long it's known to go it may be dying soon which means they'd have a visual, hopefully.

Matt had nothing to do but wait and listen to his comms as their two scouts forged ahead to the crater. His mind wandered to through their trip. He had expected them to run into more monsters than they had. Everything seemed tranquil. Even the land was quite beautiful, despite the crater. If the world had never gone to hell, Matt would have loved to raise a family here, build a cabin. Perhaps, though, he wouldn't have wanted to live here. Perhaps, before the collapse, everything was polluted, destroyed. With a sickening thought, Matt realized that the monsters cleansed the world, gave them a new Earth to build on.

If they could take back their world then Humanity would have so many resources at their hands. Perhaps they could learn from the monsters, learn ways to rebuild a better Human Earth, but in a way that would allow them to prosper for ages to come, using the knowledge of the monsters to do so. They just had to defeat the Other first. Crackling comms brought his attention back to reality. Nathan had lost contact with them, it appeared.

Jake gave the order to follow in their scouts' footsteps and so they did. It was yet another quiet ride, the peace disturbed only by the empty Wild Men village. As they neared the crater Matt felt the air change, almost like there was a sort of power surging through it. It felt like being near a lightning strike, or that was the closest feeling that might describe it. Then the once molten rock showed up, melted into beautiful patterns. It was only when Matt dismounted and peered over the edge that Matt felt a shiver run through his body. There were so many of them, an army! "This is unreal," Matt said, his eyes now focusing on the glowing object. "Anyone have an idea what that is? Now that we can see it."

Sometime previously...

Spook sat by the dying fire during her watch, eyes glancing around the treeline every couple of minutes in a bid to keep up her duty. She was fully awake and probably wouldn't fall asleep again after she got Matt and Rig up to cover the last couple hours of the watch, but that was fine, an extra set of eyes never hurt to have. She got up and started some exercises, hoping to tire herself out enough to get back to bed when the time came.

Now...

Spook overlooked the crater on her Duvari, lenses of her mask reflecting the light from the pillar in the center of it. This wasn't something even remotely natural, either the Other or some high-grade technology was enabling this. Her fists gripped the reigns hard as she waited, silently hoping that Isis and Nate could find a clear path so the rest of the squad could move in and figure out what was causing the event they were there to investigate. She looked over to Matt for a second, deciding that she had mulled over his questions for long enough.

"I'm never in one place for too long, always on the move... that's why I'm a Ranger, I don't like sitting still and letting life go by. We've got a world to take back and I'm not gonna sit on my ass and watch someone else do it. She stopped for a second, getting ready to address the second inquiry. "Knives are too short out here, won't take down anything that isn't humanoid." She answered, before Jake gave the go ahead to move in. She and her Duvari took off, calmly moving down the path Isis and Nate had taken, disguised only by the sounds around them and the edge of the crater. Upon her arrival to the rendezvous point, she slowed down and dismounted, using some of the inertia from their walk to propel herself to a position beside Nate. She crouched down, looking down at the city and the immense number of Wild Ones in it. She gulped visibly.

"Last time I saw this many of them..." She paused for a long moment, seeming to reflect internally as she stared down at the sheer number of enemies. "...I don't like this..." She muttered, standing up before she started pacing behind the group, seemingly worried. About what was anyone's guess, though. The enigma looked up to Jake after a few passes, blank expression of the mask giving no hints. "What do we do? We can't take a force this big head on."

Rig didn't have much to say on their travels, nor on arrival to the crater's general vicinity. He was more focused on getting used to riding the damn thing, even if he wasn't at the helm.

As the others went into action, scouting and trading plans on how to approach the situation, Rig took comfort in not having to do so. He was never much of a leader. He would take orders or do what he thought right, but he never had it in him to tell others what to do. Listening to the scout party begin to static changed this lack of envy to a tangible guilt. The threat potential came back to his mind and he began to worry. The feeling boiling in his stomach, as he could do nothing but wait for the situation to unfold. As the botched messages stopped coming through to leave way for the rest of them to follow, Rig felt sweat on the back of his neck. Luckily no one was hurt, but he hated the sound of this place. His earlier excitement to dissolve this mystery now gone, it's as if his instinct was telling him to stay far away from that crater, and more-so the pillar.

Naturally they went forward. Weaving their way down to the cusp. Reaching the zenith before the curve down, the almost blinding light showed Rig something he had never hoped to see. A nation of wild-men worshiping a neon god. The beam of light cutting through reality and breaking the sky above. His ears were filled with a ringing sound, and the rest of the world fell away. He was outright mesmerized by the sight. The silhouettes of those people squirming and moving around the light was oddly bewitching. He was only pulled away when he heard Spook voice her concerns.

The fear came back. Shit was she right. They couldn't do a thing against this many people. If that light came from something good, they'd never reach it. A twitch of his lip responded to that line of thought. "If it's good." What if it's not? Whatever it is, it's strong enough to pull in people, bend the sky and take down choppers.

"Why aren't there any monsters here?"

He thought aloud. If this thing pulled in people, why not other creatures? Surely this many people would at least bring in monsters, but the surrounding area was quiet. Why?

"Maybe it keep them away..." He murmured. He didn't want ti propose any ideas that were spun off the dome. And also, he was still rather distracted but what he was looking at.

Jake heard the words on his fellows and thought the same. There were far too many Wild Men to do anything that would give them any sort of real view of the source of the pillar. Instead they were consigned to wait as Jake relayed that decision, "We hold here. We wait and see what they do and for the pillar to die out." It wasn't the most glorious of work, but it was something and it gave them a rare opportunity to observe Wild Men in their natural state.

One event that they witness shortly after Jake gave his order was a blood sacrifice that appeared to be willing. Someone who appeared to be in charge and most likely a shaman given the garb he wore, ordained in monster parts, monster skins, and various weighty looking totems crafted with tribal styles and fashions stood at a raised dais complete with a large stone slab. Anyone with binoculars or a long-range scope could see the blood on it and the new sacrifice who was walking up under escort of two abnormally large and burly Wild Men. The sacrifice being a young looking woman, stark naked as the day she was born and rather unaffected by the corruption of the Wild World. Of her own volition she stepped up onto the stone slab and laid down on her back. The shaman turned away from and to the glowing column, the radiating energy making his flowing monster hides whip in the blasting wind before he raised his arms in some grand gesture. The crowd drew high at this and started going wild until the shaman turned back around and they all became quiet, all bowing their heads and swaying like they were before.

The woman wasn't bound as the shaman drew a knife and began cutting into her. It was clear she was screaming, but she stayed on the slab, enduring the pain for their barbaric rituals. As her blood flowed though something incredibly odd was seen by those who observed. Instead of flowing into puddles at the feet of the dais, it seemed to gravitate towards the pillar of light, like a magnet was attracting it uphill and through the dirt that should absorb it.

Before long the sacrifice was dead and as her limb, carved body was carted away another was brought up. This one being male and again seemingly the least effected by the corruption of the world. Again his blood flowed into the pillar, jumping into the stream of light at the last few meters. When he was gone another was brought up, another male. This continued for another hour or so with easily 20 Wild Men and women being sacrificed before it finally happened. The stream of light started to die out suddenly and without warning, rapidly fading as the source continued to glow brightly, but stopped sending streams of light into the air.

The Wild Men seemed disappointed and many started to leave already, but the shaman appeared to give the call to in fact leave as he left the dais mid sacrifice, letting the woman live to see another day though quiet maimed. As the Wild Men left making the journey up the side of the crater to their city the glow from the source died out letting the team see just what it was. The great structure had to be at least a 30 meters tall and it was what appeared to be a natural statue made of glassy, black stone and glass. The obsidian statue carved unnaturally to take the shape of a spire with large, thick wings. At the top of the statue was a sculpted head that looked like the slick head of a dragon, complete with great horns. Though it didn't have finer details carved. One note though was that of all the monsters that came to our world from The Other dragons were NOT one of them.

"What is the world... I don't even know what to say about that. It's just a hunk of obsidian, but... There is no way that is natural or made by Wild Men. It's like it crashed down to make this crater but... where did it come from?" Jake questioned as he continued to scope in on the leaving Wild Men. "They are all leaving, get ready to move. I want a closer inspection of that statue." A little more time passed and the Wild Men vacated the crater. Next step was Jake signalling to move down towards the statue. Over the radio he called up to be on the look out, as there may be stragglers through the night.

Though as they went down the crater to the statue no resistance was found and there was a palpable ominous feeling, like the statue radiated dark energy and knew the team was there... Jake was in awe. This was what the Wild World made and was about, insanity made physical and with no answer as to why it exists. Yet through the awe there was something all people could feel. That pull towards it, like their very blood was being drawn closer to the statue and as the party due closer they'd be able to see their reflections in the shining glass, but there was something wrong with them. While their respective reflections did follow them they were not mirrors of them. They seemed to act of their own accord and all of them reached out for their real counterparts, like they were trying to make physical contact but the reflective sheen of the statue acted as an invisible barrier separating the two.

No matter how long Matt watched the Wild Men, he could not comprehend the sheer number of them. Eventually, he had to go and sit down, where he took a sip of water and nibbled on an energy bar. The light was bright and even with his sunglasses he couldn't stand it anymore. Whatever it was, it was out of his world. The best he could think of was a piece of the Old World had been uncovered. Perhaps it turned on and the beam blew away the rock and melted what didn't get blown away.

Matt came back to watch the sacrifice. It was sick, gruesome, inhuman. Yet, the people seemed to take it on as their duty. A sacrifice to their people... much like the Rangers sacrificed themselves to go out on missions. However, the way they left the woman at the end sickened him. The people of Anselmo had respect for them... but the Wild Men they didn't even bother with the lady. He counted around 20 sacrificed, which was a good amount for a place where human lives were especially valuable.

And of course, there was the way the blood moved, gravitating to the pillar. It was all very phenomenal and quite hard to understand. "Anyone else confused by all of this? Matt asked as the Wild Men were thinning out as they left the crater. After a moment, Jake mentioned how the pillar could have ended up here. "You think it crashed down from the sky? Maybe it was a weapon from space. Like a laser satellite." He put the binos down. Whatever it was, he was itching to know.

Going down to the crater was surprisingly peaceful. Until they got close enough. That's when he began to feel... evil? Hate? He wasn't sure. It just felt dangerous. His reflection didn't mirror him exactly. He wasn't surprised. By now he figured he'd see more anomalies. Insanity! That was the word. Insanity, flowing from the pillar like water. Matt felt uncomfortable. The feeling of his blood being pulled towards the pillar finally registered and he hated it. "What the plan boss? This isn't somewhere we should be. We're better off screwing some hookers without protection."

Indeed, the best thing to do right now was to wait and observe, she knew a lot about that, after all, she was a scout.
Isis could only watch. There were an unbelievable amount of Wild Men. Much more than she had ever seen before. They were practicing some kind of complex ritual, with big totems, monster parts & etc. She couldn't see very well what was happening due to the sheer number of wild men that were there, but it seemed to be some type of sacrificial ritual.

"I hate to use these..." she said to herself, reaching for a pocket on her stealth suit and grabbing her special night/thermal goggles. They would be able to zoom in enough to make her see things better.

"Its... Unbelievable!" she said, changing it to normal vision.

"There are so many wild men down there that the thermal vision shows only a big orange circle..." she said, still finding it hard to believe in what she was seeing.

The first thing that caught her interest when she zoomed in though, was that the pillar of light was... somehow absorbing blood. The blood from the sacrifices were literally being drawn to it, like a magnet.
To make things worse, the sacrifices weren't clean or painless, but exactly the opposite. They were gruesome and lengthy. Despite that, all the sacrifices seemed to walk to their death willingly. Going as far as enduring the pain and standing still during the act.

"What is that?" she whispered to herself, not believing what she was seeing. She could only sit and watch.

"Are they... feeding the pillar with blood? What is happening?" she asked, trying to understand that bizarre scene.

Isis was still speechless when Jake said for them to move closer. The pillar of light had faded already, and the wild men were leaving. On the center of the crater, a strange obsidian monument stood there.

"I... I wont lie to you guys... I'm still trying to understand all this..." she said, with a smile on her face.

"I know I shouldn't be like that... But its so freaking exciting! I'm so curious!" she said, with an almost childish glow on her eyes.

Oddly enough, it was an obsidian statue, and not a meteorite. Having around 30 meters, the statue was simply too big to be made by the wild men, and the crated was proof that that thing came from above. Perhaps the strangest thing was that it had the image of a dragon. And amongst all the monsters that were invading Anselmo, dragons weren't one of them.

"Ok... I have no idea on what the hell is this!" she said, getting closer to the statue, almost touching it as she jumped around it, inspecting every nook and cranny of it. Bastet was also rather curious about it, but instead of getting close to it like Isis, she was walking around it, sniffing the ground near it. Ironically enough, Bastet seemed to be more cautious than Isis herself.

"Its awesome isn't it?" she said, noting the many weird aspects of that statue.

"Are you feeling the same thing as me? I feel like this thing is attracting me. No! Its not just my curiosity, I mean literally attracting me, almost like its pulling my body to it." she said, looking to her own reflex on the stone obelisk. Her own reflection was just standing there, in front of her, almost like it was calling her to touch it, extending her hand.
It wasn't only her own curiosity. There was something very, very strange with that stone. Maybe if it was another person, they wouldn't have touched it, but Isis' natural curiosity to the statue made it impossible for her to resist.
Isis simply walked forward, slowly extending her hand to touch her own reflection. Now that Isis was almost in the same pose as her 'reflection' the black obsidian felt almost like a dark mirror, reflecting her image perfectly, both the reflection and herself with their hands extended, touching the stone.

Rig couldn't see well what was going on down there. He had no way of zooming in on the details, but from the words of his group he was pretty okay with it. He wouldn't have enjoyed the grisly scene anyways. As things died down, and the crowd began to disperse Rig still had no words. He honestly felt quite small from this whole situation. The people who were his teammates seemed more acclimated to the situation, then there was the sheer size of the wild-men group, and of course the unearthly light/obelisk.

As they descended in surprising safety down to the thing, Rig felt his skin electrify and his guts churn. The air was thick with this thing. Whatever it was, it carried more life in it than any stone Rig had heard of. There wasn't a massive amount of detail in it's form, and yet it's gravity outstripped that. This thing was defined like a knife in this world, cutting it's way into it. It was smooth and glossy, yet felt almost sharp and coarse. More than tangible it drew them in, and yet it felt so otherworldly and non-existent.

"Yeah I do machines not spooky dragon rocks, i'm keeping my distance."

He stood back, despite the obvious tug towards the thing. His sense of self-preservation and ties to this world, kept him making a bubble between that. That...thing. He sighed through his teeth, standing near Bastet. Nervous about it, yet preferring the hellbeast over the dragon stone. He looked back just in time to see Isis touch the stone, and even before what came next his heart dropped.

Why would she do that?

Pulling out his scope he looked down into the crater, rather disgusted by what he saw. It wasn't that he cared about the Wild Men, he didn't see why he should, but rather at the brutality they were using towards their false idols. It sickened him. He began to wonder if this is what it truly was like back in the ancient times because the longer he stared the more he felt like it was.

"If any of you don't mind I would much rather keep pressing on..." He suggested until Jake told them to wait to which he shook his head.

"Fine..." A grimace met his mouth as he continued to look down into the crater. Some of the others spoke up, with Matt sarcastically suggesting hookers without a condom was safer than going towards the massive obsidian like structure to which Nathan chuckled and nodded.

"Heheh yeah, while playing Russian roulette. I saw if we survive this we give Russian roulette a try, might bring us back from the insanity, heheh." Nate quipped. As they neared it the hair on Nathan's back began to stand, he could feel it through the skin and it seemed the Duvari he was on could feel it too as it started to seem a bit skittish. But as they neared it Nathan looked up at it. It was massive, beautiful in design but with such an eerie presence he dared not go near it and mostly everyone agreed, save for Nasri. As she grew close, Nate bolted for Nasri.

"Goddammit don't touch it!" As he moved in for he extended his arm out in an attempt to grab her and move away.

Jake gave the order to move in on the center of the crater, to which Spook answered by drawing her PDW and descending in ahead of the others. As she got closer and closer, she could feel the energy radiating off of the statue... it felt familiar, almost like a comfortable bed coaxing a weary traveler into a restful sleep. She could tell though, that the metaphorical bed had nails propped up under the comforter. "Guys, I'm telling you, I have a very bad feeling about this." Her right hand flexed around the grip of her gun, index finger pressing into the side of it to avoid accidentally spraying down the crew.

As they got even closer, the feeling of welcoming dread only grew stronger, like it was trying to get Spook to expose something about herself. Given the origin of the obelisk, she knew what it wanted, and she felt determined to do anything but give it the satisfaction. The conversation about stupid stuff people would do before touching the thing came up, and the enigma felt the need to contribute by taking her sidearm in her left hand, lowering the Fusilaut and facing Nate. "We can play that with my Jericho, long as someone else goes first." A grim chuckle sounded as she dropped the handgun back into its holster, sealing with a click around it. She then turned back around and looked at the black, glassy statue in time to see her copy staring back at her.

In eerie silence, it reached up to its face and started pulling at straps, removing the gas mask that covered her face and revealing the mystery of what lies below. Underneath was a girl with green eyes, beautiful brown hair, and a soft, unmarred face, to which Spook felt the need to lower her weapons. She couldn't tell why, but the reflection was influencing her somehow, like it wanted her to own up to something. She had an idea of what, though she wasn't about to. In response, she simply shook her head, though the action directed her eyes to Isis' hand, currently in contact with the rock. A level of fear gripped her heart as the realization came of what the contact could carry, and something just barely purple flared underneath her mask. "ISIS NO!" She reached out to grab her elbow and pull her away.

Jake drew in close like Isis, but he was not nearly as close as she was as he inspected his reflection. Seeing his other self walk around and pace about as the real Jake stood still. It was disturbing and eerie, but at the same time mesmerizing, like he wanted to draw in and see this wonder closer. All as his reflection continued to walk and gesture for him to come closer, just as all the other reflections did to their respective owners. Each and every one reaching out against the invisible barrier that kept them apart. This is what held Jake's attention as his fellows talked about hookers and Russian Roulette, finding the second idea to be quiet accurate with what they were doing right now.

This is turn gave Jake something to district himself as he did see Isis and Bastet roam around the statue, inspecting it over, but they quickly went out of view. It didn't seem like much of a bother to Jake given that it appeared to just be some hunk of obsidian carved by The Other and normally when things like this existed they'd have some sort of inward reaction to it given how The Other worked, so this was a right proper marvel and one that needed to have the attention it demanded each time it blast a hole in the sky.

It was about then he started to hear active protests and loud shouting directed at Isis and before he could look to see her his reflection vanished, just as everybody else's did, leaving by fading into nothing. With his reflection gone he looked over to see Isis lay her hand upon the obsidian surface and in that moment Spook reach out to try and yank her away, but it was too late...

In a sudden surge and flash of red, pulsing energy Isis' hand was sucked into the statue, violently jerked up to the wrist and held like it was actually encased in stone. As the sudden magical surge happened Isis would be able to look up and see all of her friends on the other side looking at her. Their cold, empty eyes looking blankly into her soul as they waited for her to come into their world. All as her body was forced through the black glass barrier and violently pulled into it every few seconds, yanking her arm more and more as she seemed to fade through the solid structure more and more each time. Seeing this Jake rushed over to help Spook try and pull her away as she drew closer and closer to her fate. Though as he grasped onto Isis and pulled, he felt the great strength of whatever magic was pulling her in.

Isis would feel each grasp and pull, dragging her against her will into the dark structure despite the best efforts of her real friends. All while the pain of being phased into the statue washed and racked into her frame. It was unbearable as she was consumed by the cold touch of the stone.

The reflections on the other side saw her hand break through the cusp of the glass and in that moment they lunged for it, changing in guise to black eyed monsters each taking on a much darker visage than they had previously. Their hungry eyes showing their true intentions as Isis' arm was brought in to the shoulder. Any other limb she placed on the rock was also sucked in, dragging her by more than just her arm towards the radiated statue. Similarly as it did her veins would glow a potent red as it felt like all of her blood was being sucked from her body and into the statue.

Yet through all of this she wasn't in yet and Jake was determined to drag her out, no matter what it took, so as he wrapped his muscled arms around her chest and pulled with all his might, he yelled back to the rest of the team, "Help me!" in a final attempt to save her life.

Isis could hear the others protesting and yelling, but their voices were so far away... So distant... She was able to recognize them and discern their words, but it was so hard to pay attention at them... It was hard to focus on anything other than the monument. It was a strange feeling, but she somehow was unable to ignore it. It was almost like it was... calling for her.

Suddenly, without warning, the obsidian statue sucked Isis hand with a terrifying red, flashing energy, making her get out of the almost trance-like state she was in with a terrified gasp.

"Agh!" she yelled feeling a sharp pain.
"W-what...?" She asked, incredulous. As she looked up, she was able to see her group there, just staring at her with unsettling blank expressions, almost if they were just waiting her to get sucked into the statue, they just stood there, watching. Almost like if they were mocking her.

Isis screamed in agony as her body continued to be pulled inside the statue. It was definitely terrifying, somehow the statue was grasping her arm, violently pulling her arm inside the obsidian each second that passed.
It was a cold, agonizingly painful sensation, she was slowly being consumed by the obsidian obelisk. The sharp waves of pain resonated through her body every second that passed, she could feel her body, her own flesh phasing into the statue. Jake and the others' effort to pull her out only aggravated the pain, making her body tremble with pain every time they tried to pull her.

But the worse was yet to come... As her hand appeared on the other side of the obsidian, the reflections, which previously only stood there, staring at her changed radically. They immediately lunged to her, not as humans, but as horrible black eyed monsters. She could feel their hungry stare in her skin, their intentions were clear now. Her veins glowed in a potent red tone, as she felt her blood being drained by the statue. She could easily feel her blood, her vitality being sucked away... It was getting harder and harder to keep conscious and fight against that... She was going to die.

Be it for good or for worse, that realization made Isis desperate. Adrenaline ran through her veins, as she tried to survive with every bit of energy she had left. Only one thing was dictating her actions at that moment, a very primal instinct, the will to survive. Putting her other hand on the statue, she started pushing with all her strength, trying to free herself. Maybe if she had time to think about the situation, she would know better than to touch the statue with her other hand, but the only thing in her mind right now was to survive.

She still could feel Jake's arms trying to pull her away from the obelisk, that was a signal that it was too soon to give up. Despite all the pain, she continued fighting against the obelisk's unrelenting force, screaming in agony.

"Help me!" Isis heard Jake yelling, now much more clearly than before.
"BASTET, STAND BACK!" Isis screamed as she continued fighting.
Bastet was hissing loudly at the statue, but she was incredibly confused about what was happening and didn't know what to do, desperately walking around the strange obsidian obelisk.

Matt stared at Isis with a blank face. What was she thinking, touching it and all? Perhaps she had been too close and its attractive aura had been too luring. "Isis! What are you-"

In a flash of red, Isis' hand disappeared into the statue. She looked back at them with horror on her face... as well as a blaming look. Did she think they wouldn't help her? Long ago there was a military who swore to never leave any man behind. Matt liked the idea; Isis would be saved if she could be saved. By the time the thought got through Matt's head, Jake had jumped in to save Isis and was asking for more help.

Matt felt the dark magic in the air. It felt too strong to be defeated by a simple game of tug-of-war. But if that's all they had then so be it. He threw down his pack and grabbed a climbing rope. He ran over to Isis, feeling the pull of the statue grow stronger as he neared. The distraction of Isis helped him ignore it. Once he reached Isis he threw his arm around her waist and stuck his arm out to Basted, climbing rope in hand. "Come on Bastet, grab the bundle of rope and pull. Help us help Isis," Matt said, shaking the bundle, hoping the creature understood. He figured that if Bastet helped they could actually save Isis.

At least Isis was still struggling. She hadn't given in to the magic of the statue. "Keep trying Isis! We'll get you out!" He said to give her hope. "You can do it! You're tough and strong willed! Fight the damn rock! For Bastet!"

Jackie was a bit shocked in the entirely what was going on in front of her and couldn’t really figure out what’s going on. She was in touch with the other but this feels somewhat stranger. She looked through her sniper rifle to see closer up with what the evil energy was about. ”What the…?” Jackie asked aloud a bit confused. She was worried about all her squadmates though mostly the one who’s trapped by the pillar of darkness, the wild men did. ”I’ll help you, Isis,” Jackie said.

Jackie had many things wrong with what is going on. I dislike this… never dealt with something that alluring before…,” Jackie thought to herself with her sniper rifle in her hands. She had a bad feeling with this entire thing. She wondered how to help she didn’t really have any rope.

It was too late as Spook's hand latched onto Isis' elbow, her hand already in contact with the pillar. As it sunk in, her right hand met with the left and started to push, trying to at least slow the process of the stone absorbing her. It wasn't working as well as she hoped, evidenced by Isis' other hand meeting with the pillar as panic set into the girl. "Fuck, fuck, fuck... Isis, hang on to me!" Not like she had anything to hang onto her with, it was more to distract her from the fact that her arms were stuck in solid stone with evil doppelgangers trying to steal her blood. In a deft movement, the masked figure slipped between the beastmaster's extended arms and set her right arm across her chest, left hand closing on the victim's left should her and pushed harder. The toes of Spook's boots dug into the ground as she put up as much resistance as she naturally could. With no range between her and Isis, the owner of the panicking Duvari would be able to see past the tint of the lenses in Spook's mask.

Darting rapidly within, looking for a solution was one green eye on the right side of her face, and one blank eye on the left side. The left eye locked onto one of Isis' before the enigma spoke again. "C'mon Isis, stay with me! You're not gonna let a rock kill you, are you!?" She shouted before she dropped her left hand away. It reached her sidearm's holster and pulled the gun out, flicking off the safety before pointing it back at the obsidian pillar. With a few squeezes of the trigger, she fired at it three times in the hopes that, for one reason or another, the bullets would interrupt this horrid process somehow.