The pilot kept his eyes straight ahead, ignoring me completely. Would he have realized that he was here?
When I finished changing, I patted him lightly on the back as a sign of gratitude for allowing me to do so in his cabin without resistance. He didn't seem to flinch. I went out and closed the door behind me. The wind coming in through the open doors on either side of the helicopter tested my resistance to the cold and the curious way the suit kept body heat.
"It fits you like a glove," Harumasa commented in a friendly and carefree tone. His tranquility contrasted with my uneasiness.
"Thank you," I replied as I adjusted my suit.
There was something about that outfit that didn't quite fit me. Unlike conventional soldiers, whose suits were designed to protect their lives, those in divisions one through six wore these bluish uniforms that seemed more suitable for a meeting than for a battle against extraterrestrial beings. The strangest thing was that, to the naked eye, they offered no protection at all, and even so, I was certain that they were incredibly safe.
The wind, chilled by the altitude, hit my face with such intensity that I could hardly keep my eyes open.
"Can you close the doors?" I asked, trying not to sound arrogant.
Alex, who was watching the landscape beneath his feet, turned his head towards me and replied:
"Why?" It's okay like that.
His voice was distorted by the incessant hum of the propellers, which hammered my ears with painful intensity. That's when I remembered helmets designed to communicate in these situations, although at this point it no longer made sense to use them.
Suddenly, the pilot opened the door and, with a deafening scream, informed us that it was our turn. Miyabi and I.
The trip had seemed absurdly short to me.
My heart began pounding, begging me not to jump.
I looked at Miyabi. I was standing, expectant, but waiting for what?
"What are you waiting for, Miyabi?" I asked, placing myself next to her so that I could hear her better.
He didn't look at me. His eyes were fixed on nothingness. Even so, he replied:
"To a crack."
He looked away from that fixed point and inspected the surroundings.
It was true. He had heard of the cracks that allowed travel between different points in the cavities. I remembered reading in a book that they appeared in random places and that only specialized bangbus were able to detect them.
"I thought we were going to go down a rope," I said as if I were an ignorant child.
Alex started laughing when he heard what he had just spouted out of his mouth, so much so that he got up and patted me on the back.
- What do you think this is? A video game?" he said, continuing his endless laughter.
"Stop hesitating, Alex," Harumasa ordered in a serious tone. "He's never been on a mission of the Division specialized in cavities," he added.
— That's true. Surely he thought we were doing it like the army," Soukaku said in his serene and cheerful tone.
The more I thought about it, the more embarrassment I began to get. It was quite logical to think of looking for a scream in the cavity to make the job much easier, but I hadn't taken into account that they would have tracked down the exact points where they appear.
"It's here," Miyabi said, breaking the silence that had been generated in a matter of seconds. The only noise heard so far was the annoying but strangely comfortable sound of the helicopter's engines and propellers.
Suddenly, as if it were dark magic, a portal appeared at the left door of the helicopter. Although it is true that the crack did not give me any kind of security, I had to admit that it was the most beautiful. The maroon colors combined with light purple particles coming out of it made it quite pleasant to look at.
Miyabi turned her body, slowly staring at me. His face showed no sign of nervousness, let alone empathy because he was sure to do it.
"Jump," he said suddenly, causing each and every one of the hairs on my body to stand up.
"And shit, I don't know what's waiting for me on the other side of this thing," I said as my body began to tremble slightly from the panic of jumping into the unknown.
Miyabi did not protest, instead stretched out his arm and opened his hand.
"Give me your hand," he said, "Give me your hand and we'll jump at the same time," he added.
Perhaps it was because of the pressure I was beginning to feel from all the glances of the place that fell on me that I decided to jump without thinking about it into the crack. "I can't let them see my weaknesses" was the phrase that prompted me, apart from the looks, to jump without accepting Miyabi's help. I didn't want to be seen as a little kid.
With a firm but trembling step I rested my foot on the edge of the helicopter and, with a strong impulse, jumped in the direction of the crevasse.
I felt how time stopped for an instant. The air began to run through my entire body. My hair, because of going against the breeze, became completely disheveled. Before closing my eyes due to the fear I felt, I saw how my whole body flew over the huge cavity we were in. Imagine plummeting and ending up crushed down there, that was something I didn't want to discover. In the end, I entered the crack.
At first I thought I would feel some kind of strange thermal sensation, that is, I thought I would notice extreme cold or scorching heat. I stopped noticing the air hitting my body, I didn't notice anything. It seemed as if it was a lucid dream where you decided to fly through space. I opened my eyes in fear of what I might find but it turned out not to be scary. All around me had been dyed the same color as the crack, a maroon color with tiny purple particles flying freely and elegantly. Everything was both beautiful and strange, in fact, I was starting to enjoy the ride for an instant until I noticed what was surely the most uncomfortable and stressful moment of my entire life.
I couldn't breathe.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't capture a single particle of air, it was literally like being in space. I quickly covered my mouth in fear of being able to release the slightest amount of air that I had left in my body and end up drowning. I started moving my hands and legs as if I was trying to swim faster, the problem? that I wasn't in a pool. Little by little I began to run out of oxygen. My vision began to blur and my body began to not respond to my movements. Before I knew it, I had already fainted.
***
"Wake up"
A very familiar voice was asking me to get up from my lethargy.
"Wake up"
He kept repeating the same word in small fractions of a second. Was he dead?
"Wake up"
It was the last time I heard it. I felt a slap of the strength of a tiger hit my face. My head ached and my ears were ringing more than they were listening. My vision was blurry but I was able to verify where I was and who was calling me. At first I thought it was a dream because of the little control I had over my limbs, but it didn't take long for me to come to my senses.
"Miyabi..." I murmured, putting my hand to my forehead. She was sweaty and felt extremely cold. "Where are we..." he muttered without being able to formulate the question correctly.
Miyabi continued to look at me without taking his eyes off me.
"We're inside the cavity." Get up now before an ethereal being eats you," he said.
Do ethereal beings eat?
Slowly and awkwardly in my movements, I got up from the ground. Miyabi grabbed my arm and helped me to my full standings.
I held on as best I could, closed my eyes for a few seconds to fully regain my balance without getting dizzy.
Miyabi stretched his hands behind his back to reach for what appeared to be a rifle. I didn't know where I got it from, but there it was.
Miyabi stretched out his arm and offered me the rifle. This one was black and matte but with a special look that I had never seen before. It was clear that it was a special rifle of the division.
"I don't know if I'll know how to use that thing, it's new to me," I said with a slight nervous and suspicious tone.
"Well, learn to use it," she said, cold as a knife's edge.
I didn't expect that comment, but I was right. If I was good at anything, it was learning to use firearms quickly.
I grabbed the gun, careful not to let it fall to the ground, and began to inspect it.
"MP5?" I asked
Miyabi shook his head and sighed.
"It's shaped like a submachine gun, but it's an assault rifle," he said. "An M4 customized for cavity operations," he added.
I inspected the weapon more carefully and in detail, looking for evidence that would validate the words Miyabi was saying. In the end, it turned out to be true. The weapon had certain features, such as the magazine and laser sights, unique to this type of weapon.
"Oh, I see..." I murmured, "I like it."
Miyabi did not react to my comment. He passed me without speaking to me anymore and walked away without looking back.
I could smell the most pleasant perfume as Miyabi passed by me. He had a most curious hobby when he was little. This was about using all of my father's colonies and making a kind of "elimination competition" between all of them. Miyabi seemed to wear a new fragrance from the brand "Eridu esence"
I started walking faster until I was right next to Miyabi. My hands were clutching the gun, as if there was something or someone constantly watching us. Miyabi, on the other hand, walked carefree and calm, as if she didn't care about the ambushes we might fall into.
"What fragrance do you wear?" I asked, breaking the awkward silence that had been generated between us. It might not be a coherent question in this situation, but I needed to have a conversation during a tense moment like this.
Miyabi did not react to my question and replied without any opposition:
"It's a new fragrance of "Eridu esence"— He replied without stopping his light and determined step.
Bingo! He had been right.
— I imagined it. It smells great." I felt embarrassed almost instantly to blurt out that statement. What was he thinking? She was my boss, not my friend.
Miyabi stopped and looked at me out of the corner of his eye so that my hair stood on end completely.
"Thank you," he said, nodding his head and making a small grimace with his lips.
I felt the need to change the subject urgently.
"And..." He muttered as he processed thousands of topics he could talk about, finding none that were suitable.
"I'm sure you're curious about what I said to that guard," he blurted out suddenly.
Yes, I was curious.
- Well, now that you mention it... yes," I answered.
"If you manage to surprise me on this quest, I might tell you." Suddenly, a blue aura began to come out of her. More than an aura it seemed like fire, a blue, divine fire.
A shiver ran down my spine. Something was wrong.
The air became denser, as if an invisible presence charged it with electricity. I tried to sharpen my ears, but nothing could be heard except the distant hum of the wind.
Miyabi stopped suddenly.
"Miyabi?" I asked quietly, but he didn't answer.
Instead, he slowly turned on his heels, as if he were following with his gaze something I couldn't see. His posture changed, tensing.
It was at that moment that it happened.
A dark blur emerged from nowhere. I barely had time to blink before an invisible force brutally struck me in the chest, throwing me backwards. I felt the hardness of the ground as I hit my back, the air escaping from my lungs in a gasp of gasp.
Miyabi was already on the move. In a single instant, she drew her katana and interposed it to the distorted silhouette that attacked her. A metallic boom echoed through the air as the guns collided, sending sparks that briefly illuminated the darkness.
I sat up awkwardly, my pulse racing.
"They attack us," Miyabi said in a firm voice, not taking his eyes off the creature.
I took a deep breath, feeling the adrenaline rush through my veins. The fear was still there, buried deep in my chest, but something else covered it now: the need to survive.
"In position," I murmured, gritting my teeth as I raised the rifle.
Miyabi walked over to me, still with his katana at the ready.
— He is a corrupt ethereal being. They are fast and lethal.
I tried to listen to his movements, but it was impossible. It moved with an unnatural lightness, as if floating in the air.
"Follow my directions and we'll get out of this," Miyabi continued. Do you have smoke grenades?
"Nothing, I'm dry," I replied, feeling the discomfort of my own inexperience.
Miyabi scanned the area quickly and then nudged me on the shoulder.
"He aims twenty degrees over my shoulder and shoots."
I swallowed hard.
"The bullet will pass too close to your ear...
— Shoot.
"But..."
- Shoot!
His voice cut through the air like a whiplash. There was no time to doubt. I adjusted the sight, blocked my breath, and pulled the trigger.
The roar of the shot filled the space.