Infinite Classes in the Apocalypse

Chapter 96: Roots of Control

Damon’s explanation as to what happened to them didn’t last long, mostly because he didn’t really know much except for the fact that the upside-down tree was casting some sort of mind control ability on everything around them.

Nyla took a moment to think.

She looked like she wanted to say or ask something a couple of times, but the ideas died before she could vocalise them, probably understanding that if there was an easy solution, Damon would’ve done it already.

Realising his grip was still on her waist, Damon decided to let go of the girl, but when he did—

POOF!

The girl disappeared right in front of his eyes.

’Shit!’ he cursed, realising he had to keep his hold on her to keep her inside his domain.

Damon quickly left the domain’s safety and returned to the rift after the girl, appearing in the exact same spot he was standing when he left.

Nyla turned immediately toward him. "What happened?" she asked, but the moment her question finished, Damon quickly noticed her eyes were starting to get that purple-silver hue to them. It wasn’t instant, but on top of the plateau, it worked extremely fast.

"Wait here," he said suddenly, instead of pulling the girl back into his domain. "I need to check something."

"Oh... Okay," the girl replied, though her thought process was clearly weighted down by the memory control.

For a reason not known to him, Damon had better resistance to the mind control than the girl. It was probably because he had a higher level, but there was no mind resistance stat, so he couldn’t tell.

With Nyla quickly being pulled into a daze and not sure how much time he had, Damon moved quickly toward the edge of the plateau and plunged deep into the water below.

Thanks to the pale light the tree’s leaves and branches emitted, he could see through the dark, and he navigated deeper down the sea, climbing the upside-down tree in hopes of finding something.

’There has to be something here, dammit!’

Frustration began to boil within him as his lungs burned against the lack of oxygen.

He dove a couple of metres deeper, and just as he was about to give up in exchange for getting some air, he spotted a small crack in the bark of the tree. Of course, the crack was small only in relation to the tree itself, it was large enough to fit two or three people walking side by side.

Damon immediately swam inside, finding a small pocket of air right above him.

He took a sharp breath with a loud gasp, calming his lungs while he looked around.

The inside of the tree didn’t look much different from the outside. The same eerie colour filled the wood as it did the roots and the bark beyond. What was different was the hollow part of the tree, the part he was currently in, and as he looked around, he quickly noticed something odd below him.

His gaze narrowed, staring at the bright light below him.

’What the hell is that?’

He couldn’t tell what it was from that distance, but whatever it was, it shone brighter than even the moon, condensed into a small orb-like shape. It was still several metres below him, and judging by the narrowing passage beneath it, it would’ve been impossible to dive down through the hollow part of the tree.

’I’m going to have to continue down outside,’ he quickly realised, but before that, he not only had to check on Nyla, he also feared getting affected by the spell himself.

Damon left the crack in the bark and swam quickly toward the surface. But when he pulled himself over the edge, his heart sank.

Nyla was missing.

He ran through the plateau, searching for the girl, only to find her standing idly behind one of the larger roots.

"Nyla!" he called out to her, but the spell cast on her had already taken too much of a hold.

He took a step toward her. "I need to get her to—"

Damon’s eyes suddenly widened, only for a purple-silver hue to settle over them a second after. His world became a blur of shapes and colours before his body swayed and his world went dark.

***

A deep frown settled on Damon’s face right before his eyes flung open.

His cheeks were significantly more sunken now, his lips cracked and dried beyond reason, while the very same dark sky hung above him with the moon sitting in the exact same spot it had been.

As he slowly made sense of where he was, he felt a sudden weight on his chest.

His head moved toward it, only to find Nyla lying on top of him, her head resting just below his collarbone, sleeping with the kind of peace that only comes from someone who doesn’t know they are mind-controlled.

He watched her sleep for a moment before his gaze drifted upward.

The moon hadn’t moved, not even slightly. While he wasn’t sure last time, he was certain now that whatever that structure in the sky was, it wasn’t rotating, and this place had most likely only seen nighttime.

Damon exhaled slowly, staring up at the pale, unmoving light above him. His body felt like it had been wrung out and left to dry. His fingers were stiff when he flexed them, and there was a dull ache behind his eyes that he associated with the aftermath of mind control.

The orb...

His mind quickly returned to the object he had spotted earlier.

He didn’t know what it was or if it could help their situation in any way, but it was the only option they had. He needed to reach it, and it had to happen soon, before either of them would starve or die of thirst in this damn place.

Without even bothering to get up from the ground, Damon wrapped one arm around the girl and activated his domain, instantly appearing inside his castle.

He took a deep breath of cold air and let it settle in his chest as he felt the weight on his mind disappear.

’Fuck.’