Chapter Text
The wind whips rapidly around Horangi as he presses onward through the forest, A loud crack of thunder shakes the ground as he curses in a low tone to himself while gripping at the injury on his right arm. He didn’t have the time to stop and check the wound or even tie a tourniquet around it to help stop the bleeding. The ambush had been quick and unexpected, one of Horangi’s superiors had assigned him to assist a small group with a mission regarding a small weapons operation. The mission had gone smoothly at first but once when one of their men was spotted everything turned chaotic, the small weapons warehouse had turned out to be a larger operation than any of them had been expecting.
The captain yelled out orders for the team to retreat, Horangi had watched from cover as a few of his teammates followed the command but someone had fallen behind. He yelled out to them to hurry up but by the way they were stumbling he knew that they had gotten injured. Horangi rushed up to them, throwing their arm around his shoulder when the sound of a gun going off rang through the air. The soldier he was helping goes completely limp as the dead weight throws Horangi to the ground. Horangi pushes the soldier off of him with a bit of a struggle but by the time he has the body off of him, he is being pulled up off the ground. The next bits Horangi could only remember in flashes, his weapons were pulled off of him with a bit of a struggle, they took off his mask and sunglasses, insults, threats, fists, everything was being thrown around at each other. The sound of a blade being flipped open, then there was pain. Horangi’s head then goes fuzzy and he can’t recall what happened next.
The rain pours down heavily, and the hand that has been gripping his injury slips multiple times but Horangi can’t tell if it’s from the rain or the thick blood pouring down his arm. He huffs pushing himself further and further, Horangi’s head still felt all fuzzy, he couldn’t tell if he was getting closer or further away from the exfil point.
“Hello? Captain?” Horangi clicks his coms off and on trying different channels in hopes for a response but nothing comes through. He sighs and clicks his tongue, Horangi listens for the sound of footsteps but can’t hear much of anything over the rain.
Horangi lays down in some bushes for a short while to see if anyone is still following him, once enough time has passed and no one comes through he feels confident enough to stop. He rolls up the sleeves of his dark green shirt to check his wound, the wound is five inches long, thin, and bleeds a lot more than Horangi would like.
‘I got lucky, just barely missed the veins’ Horangi runs his thumb gently on the narrowly avoided veins of his inner arm.
‘Med kit?’ Horangi fumbles around his kit looking for his small med kit.
‘Must have fallen off during the tumble, Just my luck’ Horangi shakes his head in disappointment for a moment before taking in his surroundings, he turns in a slow circle hoping something in the tree line would stick out and give him some sort of sense of direction.
“Pop!” Horangi jumps as something pops near his left ear, he darts around half expecting a person to be there but it’s empty.
‘What the hell?’ Horangi watches as a medium-sized bubble tinted red floats over to him, the bubble stops directly in front of him almost like it is watching him. Horangi blinks as rain passes right through the floating bubble, he takes a few steps away from it only for it to float a few feet toward him.
‘Is this some kind of enemy tech? Is my team fucking with me?’ Horangi makes a quick move to angrily pop the bubble but it quickly moves to avoid the pop.
“This isn’t funny! I’m injured and we’ve lost men!” He scolds into the tree line but doesn’t get a verbal reply, however, the bubble seems to approach him quickly, it twirls around him before stopping on his right side. The red glow the bubble gives off seems to darken into a more noticeable shade of red, the color reminds Horangi of the blood leaking down his arm. As the bubble tries to approach closer he lunges in a quick move popping the bubble. Horangi hisses at the strain on his arm, he holds it close to his chest as he watches the bubble pop and dissolves into red dust that disappears before it hits the ground.
‘Strange’ Horangi thinks to himself for a moment before trying to focus on the more pressing matters.
‘Where do I go from here?’ Horangi doesn’t notice anything from the tree line, he looks up at the tall trees.
‘I could see from up there…’ Horangi makes it to the base of a tall tree, he jumps to grab a tall branch but between the slippery branch and the shooting pain in his arm he drops down, nearly losing his balance. He feels a soft pressure on his back that helps steady him, he darts around seconds later to see another slightly larger fully red bubble.
“Shoo!” Horangi waves the bubble away from him as he attempts to climb the tree again, the bubble darts around him rapidly enough to make him dizzy before pressing on his chest gently urging him away from the tree.
“Fine, Fine” Horangi surrenders with his hands up causing the bubble to bob up and down in a matter that almost seems happy.
“Your magic aren’t you?” Horangi says in a low tone, he doubts that whatever or whomever is controlling the bubble hears him over the rain but judging by the way the bubble glows a brighter even more obvious red color it heard him.
Horangi lifts his right hand out to the bubble forgetting momentarily about his injury, he winces just as his hand makes contact with the bubble. He moves the bubble around in a gentle manner before moving it closer to his face for a better inspection, the bubble allows itself to be moved around willingly. Horangi’s thumb strokes the weird texture of the bubble; it vibrates a little under his movement almost like a purr causing him to smile.
“Your magic, it’s a beautiful color” Horangi compliments, he watches in amusement as the bubble shrinks in size, its red glow pulsates.
‘The behavior seems familiar…’ Horangi thinks to himself as he suddenly feels himself being pulled forward.
The red bubble pushes backward away from Horangi, he lets go thinking the bubble summoner was calling it back but the moment his hands drop the bubble almost seems panicked, it circles him again a few times before stopping at his right arm. It moves back and forth in front of it like it is trying to bring Horangi’s attention back to his wound. Horangi looks down at the wound, he tries to explain himself but before he can speak the bubble moves behind him nudging him forward with gentle yet stern pushes. On instinct Horangi resists the movement of the bubble which only makes it push at him more persistently, he shivers pulling his layers of clothes closer to him as he tries to decide on what he should do. Horangi clicks through the comms channels one more time but doesn’t hear anything.
“Okay, lead the way” He says moving with the motion of the bubble, once he gets moving the bubble moves in front of him leading the way.
Occasionally the red bubble turns back to make sure that Horangi is still following it, while Horangi kept an eye on their surroundings. The last thing he wanted was someone to find him following a strange bubble. He doesn’t know how long he follows the red bubble, Horangi keeps pressure on the wound on his arm, his grip slips occasionally causing him to let out a mumbled string of curses. The bubble's red color dulls a bit more every time it happens, it spins checking on Horangi multiple times as it continues leading the way.
Horangi steps over a few branches not wanting the crack of them to give away their location if anyone was nearby. As he steps over a larger tree branch he nearly walks into the bubble when it stops moving all of a sudden.
“What’s wrong?” He questions already knowing that the bubble wouldn’t be able to respond to his question. Horangi looks around the area for anything that would have spooked the bubble but doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The red bubble pulsates before flying into Horangi’s chest, he feels the magic before he can see it.
The magic makes him feel fuzzy…warm…safe. All the things that Horangi desperately wants at that moment but in the back of his mind he senses anxiety, fear, and frustration. Horangi’s body freezes with his eyes shut, he feels loopy and overwhelmed but he isn’t sure if due to the blood loss, tiredness, or the sheer amount of unusual emotion he is currently feeling. It takes a long moment for Horangi to get used to the feelings, it takes even longer for him to realize the emotions aren’t his own.
When he opens his eyes again the forest around him has changed, the air feels cleaner, clearer, and has a slight floral smell that he couldn’t place. That’s when he sees the large wood cabin in front of him, the cabin is surrounded with the same red glow as the bubble though it looks more subtle.
The wood cabin has colorful flowers surrounding its property, many of which Horangi didn’t recognize. A neat pebble path with a few wooden posts with hanging lanterns lead the way onto the porch, Horangi hesitantly follows the path up to the porch, he stops short before climbing up the five steps to the porch. He looks up at the sky noticing that the rain had stopped falling, the sky is full of bright shimmering stars but he notices something strange.
‘It’s like I'm in some strange bubble… another dimension’ Horangi thinks to himself. He can physically see the rain pouring down on what looks to be a red barrier.
“It probably surrounds the place, this isn’t the same forest’ Horangi glances around the property one more time then approaches the door. He knocks a few times on the heavy door but no one comes to the door. Horangi frowns and knocks at the door again.
‘Surely they knew I was coming, the bubble led me here’ Horangi’s frown deepens and he turns to leave.
“TINK! TINK! TINK!” A frantic knocking comes from inside the house causing Horangi to stop, he listens for it again and the sound persists.
“What am I getting myself into?” Horangi mumbles in an annoyed tone, he goes to open the door with his bad arm but immediately flinches at a rush of pain.
‘What are the chances that the door is unlocked?’ Horangi questions looking back at the way that he had come in from.
“TINK! TINK! TINK!”
‘Okay…I need to go in. Someone could be hurt and If i’m lucky they’ll have a phone I can use to contact base’ Horangi takes a deep breath feeling a bit more chipper as he tries the door. As soon as his hand bumps the door it swings open gently allowing him into the cabin. When he walks inside the door closes by itself softly behind him making him shutter.
‘If the door locked and I run into issues…’ Before the thought can go anywhere more loud sounds come from inside the cabin. Horangi walks deeper into the cabin with his gun raised, each room that he passes he looks into for any hidden people or traps. Eventually he comes into a neat looking kitchen, he scans the area for anyone but doesn’t see anyone.
‘Looks like someone was in the middle of preparing a meal when they left’ Horangi frowns as he takes in the shiny meal preparation tools on the dark wooden countertops. A wooden light brown cutting board with some dark brown stains on it sits on one counter along with five sharp knives all varying in sizes sat alongside it. A few seafood seasonings in biodegradable packaging were pulled from a spice rack that hung above the counter and now sat by the sink alongside a white glass bowl of garlic cloves.
‘Where could they have gone?’ Horangi sighs, feeling even more annoyed at the situation.
‘Hopefully, they have a cold beer at least’ He grumbles to himself as he pulls open the fridge.
Inside the fridge were three shelves, the first shelf held what looked like bento boxes, glass bottles of water, and canned beer. The second shelf is full of vibrant-looking fruit and vegetables, the third has a larger space compared to the first two shelves. A wooden crate filled with live crabs moves as Horangi leans over to peek inside. Beside the crate are packed shrimp, clams, snails, and some fish.
‘Looks like someone loves seafood’ Horangi snorts then winces as cracks open a beer, he just about raises it to his mouth to take a sip when he hears the banging sound again except it's closer now.
Horangi follows the sound towards the sink where he sees a medium sized glass jar with a large cork on top, a thick bit of twine wraps around the bottom and top keeping the cork firmly in place. Horangi tilts his head confused as to what could be making the sound, he puts his gun in the holster on his waist and with a bit of a struggle with his bad arm lifts the heavy jar up on the counter.
Horangi blinks a few times as a wave of pain and tiredness comes over him, he closes his eyes for a moment and leans against the counter until it passes. When he opens his eyes again and looks at the jar he sees it filled about halfway full of water and there seems to be something of a decent size moving around inside it. Horangi moves closer, wiping some of the condensation from the jar to get a better look. That's when he sees the familiar greyish-purple blob of the octopus pressed up against the jar slamming all of his tentacles against the glass in an attempt to get out. The octopus’s anxious blue eyes meet Horangi’s as they equally share a look of anxious horror.