Fear clung to the trees as tightly as humans could.
I felt the emotions of those in the trees weigh down on me as I held on to my last hope for survival against the rushing waves.
But then, only one person remained unfazed, the only one with us whose name I still didn't know.
I knew who it was only based on the complete absence of fear or any uncertain emotions in him.
'I guess not all of us felt completely hopeless in this place'
Dad had helped me quickly get up the tree when the waves came. The thought of what would have happened otherwise all led to a watery death.
The waves came with a powerful smell, like rotten food and blood. My guess was that most of it came from the blood stained earth.
The wave was sure to stick as my worst experience yet. The sky was dark, cold and the water didn't show signs of stopping soon, and all that was without mentioning the hunger and tiredness we already felt.
'Would we starve to death? Clinging to trees as we hung above what we'd searched for all day. Or maybe we would grow weak long before that and drop into the water to our deaths.'
I whispered a word of prayer to those we left downhill, with how dark and loud it was, I couldn't tell what was happening there.
Everyone we left behind crossed my mind and so, inevitably, I thought of Keiser which only filled me with disgust.
If anyone here deserved to die, it was him, but something told me he wouldn't die, even though his ability could not help him survive this.
The sun rose above the tower, moving in reverse. Its direction was eerily wrong but with the sun came light and warmth, And only then did the water finally stop rushing. Instead, it poured downhill, leaving the ground muddy and wrecked.
Gradually, I heard everyone leave the trees, and I felt it in the way their worries eased away.
Well everyone except me.
Unfortunately I was in a bit of a situation because now that I was no longer filled with adrenaline or fear or any other emotion that could intervene, I fully realised how high up I was.
"Where's Dahlia?". I heard Dad shout, "Dahl!!! Dahlia, where are you?!"
"I'm up here!!!" I screamed as loud as I could let myself, the act itself made me feel shaky on the tree and I didn't dare look down. That would only feed my fears.
In a minute, dad climbed the tree and I was rescued to ground, and yes, it was very muddy and still painted in thick red but it was ground. Solid ground.
As I saw the group a distance away, the difference was obvious.
"Where is Chrysa?" I asked dad. Though she was thrice my size, her ability could help her climb a tree faster than I could ever hope to.
"A branch broke and she fell in." Dad replied, as fear and shock crawled up my spine. "I'm glad it wasn't you" He said simply.
As we reached the group, It was obvious morale was completely washed away.
Their looks reminded me we still hadn't eaten or found drinkable water yet.
Every problem bled out in many individual ways. Like how mum sat close eyed on a huge chunk of log under a tree, or how Vicas played with his nails, or how Ren kept folding and unfolding his sword— Hossam, I almost forgot how strict he was with names.
Everyone expressed their emotions in their own way.
Now that it was bright, the damage dealt was more obvious. Smaller trees were washed away, slamming into other trees to cause more damage.
The water was no longer visible, but the land was soaked and the air was mixed with the faint smell of petrichor and something rotting.
'I wonder if the others down there are safe'
"We need to go back downhill. My daughter is still there" Ren said.
"They definitely couldn't have survived that" A guy said sitting directly on the wet ground, the one whose name I didn't know.
The one who remained the calmest throughout.
"She's alive" Ren replied without a single doubt in him.
"Suit yourself old man but I don't know who is "We" " He said, making quotes with his hands. "Up here, is safer, never risk your life chasing a corpse." He continued.
"I know she's alive. And I don't need you to follow me" Ren retorted harshly only to get a shrug in response.
Just as he was about to leave by himself I felt a drastic change in mum's emotions.
She spoke before I could ask, "Monsters are coming down from the hill." Her voice was very calm but the emotions she felt and evoked was anything but.
Plain horror filled me as I remembered.
It was the kind of fear that slowly robbed you of hope.
We weren't the only ones who fled from the waves.