Marching alongside the Energy Crystals they embraced, the Fifth Ward students were steeped in apprehension; their heads failed to anchor in a stationary trajectory. Even if the Outer Circle compelled them to experience a living hell, they remained aware of whence and from whom the danger would manifest, yet currently, all possibilities remained unsealed.
Mel persisted in marching without vocalizing a single word. When an obstacle manifested before them, he obliterated it; occasionally, he halted to listen to the perimeter, and following a one-hour march, he arrived and halted before a rocky hill towering vastly higher than ten strides.
Mel, carrying two Element Seeds within his vessel, had not arrived here via coincidence. Following his observation of a crevice a human could breach by bending over, he advanced toward it and vanished amidst the rocks. The twenty-one individuals trailed him and marched until they arrived at a clearing where stalactites dangled from its ceiling.
