"Damn, what was that?" Haze muttered as he looked in the distance where Ren left, still dazed by what just happened.
Quickly shaking off his stupor, Haze came back to his senses and was about to flare up his Node to catch up to Ren, but, as he observed Ren's actions from a distance, he calmed himself down and unwrapped what had just happened.
(I don't know exactly what that was, but Ren seems to be okay...)
"Urgh, and it seems like that was some sort of Origin Phrase nonsense" Haze grumbled in annoyance.
Knowing, or maybe more accurately, not knowing the nature of Origin Phrases, these powers are a huge problem, because, despite the reality-bending power each one of them has, they also come with their own set of weaknesses, kind of like an extra limb, but invisible.
Almost instantly, Haze came up with several ideas on what he should do next, but as he stared at Ren's departing figure and the crowd below them, Haze bit his tongue and reluctantly left Ren alone to fulfill his own responsibility.
"I'll cover for him for now; I'll check on him after we're done" Haze said to himself with reluctance in his voice before the screams of those who needed their help clouded his thoughts.
Despite Ren's reckless action, Haze still has full trust in him, having faith in the bond they had cultivated over the years.
...
In the south evacuation zone, swaths of glowing green winds cascaded the skies with a green glow, indicating these winds were man-made.
Gradually, these winds began to grow more ferocious until ten strings of hurricanes began to form, intertwining with each other.
Upon a closer look, these hurricanes weren't so simple, because within them were hundreds of humanoid figures from wind, travelling at a speed where the human eye could only see a streak of their presence, left long after they had passed.
The whole scene was like a disaster, looking like nature had shown its wrath to humanity, but yet, that couldn't be further from the truth, as within the grasp of each of the wind figures were tens of humans, saving them from the awful predicament they were in when they were on the ground.
Oddly enough, that wasn't the only anomalous sighting in the sound evacuation zone, because in the middle of all this, hiding within curtains of wind, was a bright green glow, matching the sun in its brightness, but behind that luminous light was just a teen, barely entering adulthood.
Ren, the culprit savior of this madness, controlled every last bit of wind in this area, making sure that everyone got to safety safely, drowning his thoughts with nothing but the objective to save people.
Ren's eyes looked glazed over, but soon, after 3 more minutes of this, Ren's eyes came back to life, gleaming with thought.
"On to the next," Ren muttered under his breath before disappearing in the next second.
With a speed that almost looked like teleportation, Ren traveled from the south evacuation zone to the west evacuation zone in an instant, while also casting Scouting Skies in between his trip, not forgetting about the strayed citizens.
As Ren levitated in place upon reaching the south evacuation zone, the members of VANISH responsible for the west evacuation zone had begun to notice and even recognize him.
"What are you doing here?"
"Thank goodness you're here"
"Get to work"
Even though Ren's arrival was met with mixed reception, the members were no doubt relieved to see Ren, every besides the leaders there who all simultaneously felt that something was wrong with Ren.
However, to some of their relief, or worry, Ren only stared at them for a moment before, once again, disappearing into a cacophony of wind.
The first thing to happen was the creation of 20 more wind apparitions. The wind apparitions surrounded Ren for only a moment, quickly disappearing, leaving behind a residue of wind as they began surgically removing people out of the crushing crowd.
Following that, 20 more wind apparitions appeared, and after that, 20 more appeared, repeating the cycle until the number of wind apparitions numbered 100.
Once again, the spectacle from the least evacuation zone appeared once, blocking people from seeing Ren's figure inside the veil of wind.
Floating in the air, surrounded by humanoid figures made from wind, Ren gritted his teeth in anger, followed by a deep sense of sadness.
While Ren was lashing out, releasing every last drop of power he could muster to save every person present, he had slowly uncovered a horrendous truth that he had been trying so desperately to avoid.
His aunt and his uncle were now dead... the only related adult figures they had left to rely on, now dead from the same culprit that took the lives of his parents: the hideous blemish that stains the world with its constant presence, the Slette.
"Not again, WHY AGAIN..." Ren screamed, but his voice was blocked out by the intense winds.
Ren's face became strained, clenching his fist as he proceeded to scream out all anger and frustrations.
"I COULD'VE BEEN HERE, BUT.... AHHHHH"
Even as tears began to leave Ren's eyes, whether mockingly or poetically, the power that could've saved Shry and himself from this tragedy blew away his tears, almost like his power itself was telling him that he had no right to cry.
...
With that, the rest of the evacuations went smoothly, quickly putting the panic to an end and starting the next phase to wrap up the events of today's disaster: recovery/healing.
Within 15 minutes, Ren had single-handedly evacuated over a million people, performing a feat unfeasible for a single person and making a name for himself.
However, despite the good news, the existence of this Slette itself will end up causing more problems than what it had physically done today.
Everyone in this world had a good grasp on how the Slette worked, finding comfort in its repetitive motions and being complacent with their relationship with Slettes, knowing that there's nothing they can do to stop it, but...
Now that the Slette has broken all its preconceptions, panic will start flooding humanity as anxiousness spreads like a disease, sending humanity into disarray.
...
"God... What happened to this kid?" Estin muttered in a trembling voice.
Even though Estin is a 3-circle doctor and had encountered many people with all sorts of ailments, the condition Shry is in is so bad, it made her feel queasy.
A body, desecrated beyond saving, bulging with crystal that oddly, when touched, feels more organic, like human skin, than the smooth cold surface of a crystal found in nature, but yet, even in such a devastating condition, Shry was still somehow alive, in a nonlethal condition at that.
(It doesn't seem like his current state is cutting off blood flow, so that's good, but... how?) Estin thought as she gently ran her finger along several sections of Shry's body.
With the urgency this disaster brought, Estin had no time to thoroughly examine Shry's body, but even if she had the time to do so, it would've still taken at least days to figure out what is actually going on.
Lining the surface of the gray crystals were millions of microscopic lines, with a miniscule amount of blood flowing through each and every one of them like blood vessels. That wasn't the only thing; those strands stretched through the inside of the crystals.
On the surface, it is impossible to see Shry's organs, but despite that, every single one of them remained intact.
Broken up into specs that are barely conceivable by the human eye, Shry's organs were literally held on by a thread, the same thread that lined the surface of his body, clinging together like torn pieces of fabric.
Calmly, Doctor Estin proceeded with a deeper examination, walking to the only thing throughout this body that resembled Shry: the face and head.
Shry's head is in the same condition as his body, with his flesh being warped to no end, except for half of his face, which, though intact, wasn't very pretty.
Like how bread would expand when baking, revealing cracks, Shry's face was the same, as the black crystals looked like they had grown and burst out from half of Shry's face.
Using the location of Shry's head as a reference point, Doctor Estin was able to immediately pinpoint where every single one of Shry's organs would be, estimating where each one would be while taking into account the expansion of Shry's body caused by the crystals.
With Estin's superb medical knowledge, she was able to locate every single vital organ without any margin of error, but as she examined each one of them, she wasn't able to suppress her emotions, as she made the gruesome discovery that each and every one of Shry's organs was scattered intonumerous specks.
(What is this...?)
"I need to heal this, but how? Would my power be enough?"
Looking at the extent of damage, Estin quivered, hesitant to work on Shry's condition without knowing the facts and details of everything about how Shry's body is still functioning. Another reason why Estin was so hesitant to work on Shry was familiarity, because unlike the patients she usually works with, Shry was actually someone she knew, someone that is extremely close with many of her co-workers and sister, Yuwwe.
"Hooo..."
Taking a deep breath, Estin stopped hesitating, and immediately afterwards, a radiant green liquid began to drip from her fingertips.
*Swuuuu*
In one swift motion, Estin swiped her hand above and across Shry's body, and in the next moment, the radiant green drops scattered in the air.
Droplets of radiant green dew were spread in the empty air above Shry, creating a magnificent scene as a myriad of glowing droplets stayed perfectly preserved, perfect in both mass and shape, frozen in a moment in time.
As the radiant green droplets began to shimmer, it was made clear that, although the pattern looked random, each drop, through the lens of an experienced doctor, was actually targeting several organs and vitals, specifically the bare minimum that is required for a human to function.
With her eyes sharpened, Estin was about to command each of the radiant green droplets to plunge into Shry, ready to face the repercussions that this action could bring, but... right at the last millisecond, she hesitated, pausing the drops just millimeters away from making contact with Shry.
Estin's face grew aggrieved, sucking in her lips like she had just eaten a sour lemon.
"What am I..." Estin gritted her teeth.
Seeing someone so close to her circle of colleagues and family in such a state, Estin, not having experienced a situation like this before, almost disregarded her oath as a doctor to treat every patient impartially.
Estin was about to use more than 20 drops of this radiant green liquid on Shry, a liquid that she could only produce a limited amount of daily, a liquid in which a single drop could bring most people back from the brink of death.
By all means, it is not an ambrosia or cure-all, but it has the power to grow bones and completely restore any organ Estin chose, and... With a limit of a thousand drops, Estin would've sacrificed 20 or more lives just to save someone who's not even dying.
Additionally, in Shry's case, since he somehow isn't in critical condition, Estin hypothesized that Shry's current organs were morphed in a way that allowed them to still function somehow. But, blinded by the horrific sight of Shry's body, Estin had been prepared to use everything at her disposal to face the consequences of recklessly restoring some of Shry's organs, nerves, and bones, knowing full well that there may be a chance that Shry's condition would rapidly deteriorate.
(He's fine for now; I need to focus on the civilian for now) Finally coming back to her senses, Estin told herself internally.
Reluctantly, Estin turned her away from Shry, pausing for a moment, but only for a moment before she left to aid with the healing process.
...
"Ren... What happened?" Haze voiced whilst approaching Ren.
By now, the job of the evacuees had finished, leaving Haze with nothing more to do, so, after making sure every civilian had calmed down, he finally went to check on Ren.
...
At first Ren didn't say anything, but after being with Ren for so long, always watching over him, Haze could feel that there was definitely something behind that silence, and seeing that they weren't needed anymore, Haze took a seat on some rubble nearby, waiting for Ren to form his answer.
...
Now that everything is over, Ren felt dazed, like nothing was real, refusing to acknowledge that what had happened today wasn't anything more than a bad dream.
But it is then, when Haze went to talk to him, that he completely broke down, being woken up from his delusion.
"I-I failed... I failed again" Ren muttered somberly.
Hearing that, Haze raised an eyebrow, but, since he didn't have a clue why Ren was acting this way, he just stayed quiet, waiting for Ren to continue.
...
Silence spread as Ren continued to stay quiet, turning the air around them tense.
Amidst this, Ren's expression also grew incomprehensibly dark, constantly clenching and unclenching his fist, showing his inner turmoil.
"Aunt Shelt... Uncle Kanum... They're both dead," Ren said through gritted teeth.
At that moment, Haze's eyes slowly widened, as an extreme shock traveled from his head to his toes.
But... after the initial surprise from finding out about this, Haze's expression mellowed out and turned somber.
(Dammit, even with everything we had done, all the preparation, all the precautions, and yet...)
Haze frowned deeply, feeling a great deal of helplessness. On paper, all the ideas and precautions they had worked on would've effectively reduced the casualty rate to less than a quarter of the amount from the Erasure of Pertice, but, since there haven't been any Slettes that have appeared in any cities since then, alongside that, the fear accumulated within every citizen has slowly whittled down over time.
Ignorance had begun to build, inevitably causing people to disregard the safety precautions set by VANISH, treating them more like a commodity than a necessity, despite the outrage they raged to put these safety precautions in place.
(Dammit, we'll do something about that later... Now, what should I do about Ren…?
After having a short debate with himself, Haze metaphorically shook his head and walked up to Ren.
For a long moment, neither one of them said a word to each other, dwelling in a comfortable silence as they both stared at the carnage caused by the Slette, each having different thoughts about the situation.
Haze began thinking back at what happened, contemplating the ramifications of this Slette.
(God, this Slette is going to cause so much trouble, but...)
At that moment, greedy thoughts popped into Haze's mind. He thought about how this disaster will bring VANISH more attention, bringing them to the forefront of humanity, which would enviably lead to more funding and support from the government.
Ashamed of his own thoughts, Haze shook his head fervently while letting out a heavy sigh.
As Haze blew away those sinful thoughts, another thought popped into his mind, and without thinking, he accidentally blurted out his question.
"What about Shry..."