Chapter 191: The Purple Marks
Arthur and the others continued toward the emergency signal, and for the first time since the explosion, the atmosphere among them had become noticeably lighter.
Eden seemed especially happy. She flew between Arthur and the others, occasionally stopping beside Mithra or Vedas before circling back again, as if she wanted to make sure everyone was still there.
Sun, meanwhile, had apparently decided that his twenty-minute battle against the fallen trees deserved to be remembered.
"I’m still saying that path was impossible to get around," he insisted.
Mithra glanced at the broken trees behind them. "There was an entire open section to the left."
Sun frowned. "I didn’t see it."
Kong gave him an unimpressed look.
"Don’t start," Sun muttered.
Arthur laughed quietly.
The joking made the journey feel almost normal again.
Almost.
Arthur still couldn’t ignore the silence surrounding them. The Everglades had been unnaturally quiet since the explosion, and even with everyone talking around him, he kept listening for something that never came.
No distant Beast calls.
No birds.
Nothing moving through the canopy.
Arthur glanced toward the trees.
Whatever had happened hadn’t ended with the explosion.
As they approached the gathering point, Arthur began noticing more students between the trees.
At first, the sight relieved him.
More students meant the professors were successfully gathering everyone.
Then he noticed something was wrong.
One student was sitting against a tree with his head lowered. Another was lying on the ground while their Beast Partner stood anxiously beside them. A third student was being supported by a friend.
Arthur’s steps slowed.
"Something’s wrong."
He immediately walked toward the nearest student.
"Are you okay?"
The student slowly lifted his head. He was conscious, but his breathing was uneven, and his face was pale.
Arthur crouched beside him.
"Where does it hurt?"
The student looked confused.
"I... don’t know."
Eden moved closer, her expression becoming worried as she looked him over.
Arthur was about to ask another question when he noticed something on the student’s arm.
Purple markings spread beneath his sleeve.
Arthur’s expression changed.
He carefully pulled the sleeve back.
The markings continued across the student’s forearm in thin, irregular patterns.
Arthur had seen them before.
On the trees.
On the Beasts.
But seeing them on a person was different. He stared at them a moment longer than he meant to, something about the sight settling heavier in his chest than either of the earlier ones had.
"The purple marks..."
The student looked down at his own arm. "I woke up with them."
Arthur looked at him. "When?"
"After the explosion. I didn’t notice them immediately."
Arthur immediately looked toward Athena.
She knelt beside the student and carefully examined the markings. "They are similar to what was on the beasts."
Arthur’s thoughts returned to the purple stains they’d found throughout the Everglades. First they had seen them covering the trees, then they’d found the same markings on the Beasts. Now they were appearing on students as well.
"The trees, the Beasts, and the students," Arthur murmured.
Vedas looked at him. "They’ve all been affected."
Arthur nodded slowly. "But we still don’t know how."
Athena agreed. "It only tells us they’re connected somehow."
Melo and Mithra approached.
Mithra asked the student to remain still and tried healing them. The magic washed over the injury, but the purple markings didn’t change.
She tried again, this time putting more power into the spell.
Still nothing.
Mithra finally lowered her hand with a quiet sigh.
Arthur frowned.
Eden looked at Arthur, her expression becoming increasingly worried.
"Are they going to be okay?"
Arthur glanced at the student before answering honestly. "I don’t know yet."
Eden was quiet for a moment and then she moved closer and gently took the student’s hand. The student looked surprised.
Eden gave them a small smile. "We’ll find out."
Arthur watched her for a moment. Even when she didn’t know what to do, Eden always seemed to find some way to help.
The farther they traveled, the more students they found.
At first, Arthur thought the first case might have been isolated. That hope disappeared quickly.
One student had purple markings wrapped around their hand. Another had them spreading across the shoulder. A third had a thin line of purple extending from the side of their neck toward their chest.
Some were sitting quietly with their Beast Partners beside them. Others were lying down while friends tried to keep them comfortable.
None of them seemed to understand what was happening.
"Did these appear after the explosion?" Arthur asked.
Several students nodded.
"Mine showed up after I woke up."
"I thought it was mud at first."
Another student hesitated before asking, "Is it poison?"
Arthur looked toward Athena.
She remained silent for a moment before shaking her head.
"I don’t know."
The answer seemed to make the students even more nervous.
Arthur noticed one student had much darker markings than another and he began looking more carefully at each student.
"When did yours appear?"
"After I woke up."
"And yours?"
"A few minutes later."
Arthur looked toward another student.
"What about you?"
"I noticed them almost immediately."
He slowly looked between them.
The timing wasn’t identical.
Some had noticed the markings almost immediately after waking up. Others had only discovered them after several minutes had passed.
Arthur frowned slightly.
Athena noticed what he was doing. "You’re comparing when they appeared."
Arthur nodded. "If we know when the markings started, maybe we can figure out what happened first."
Athena’s expression softened into a small smile. "That’s actually useful."
Sun looked between the injured students and Arthur. "You somehow turned getting thrown through a forest into an investigation."
Arthur shrugged. "We’re already here."
Mithra laughed. "That’s probably the most Arthur answer possible."
Eventually, Arthur and the others found a professor kneeling beside several injured students.
She was clearly exhausted. Her clothes were covered in mud, and there were several scratches across her sleeves, but she continued checking each student before moving to the next. She looked like she had already been searching for hours, and there was a faint strain beneath her otherwise composed expression.
When she noticed Arthur’s group approaching, relief briefly crossed her face.
"You found more of them?"
Arthur nodded.
"Several."
The professor immediately pointed toward another section of the forest.
"Good. Help me search there. We still have students missing."
Arthur glanced at the injured students around her.
"You know what’s happening?"
The professor’s expression became serious.
"No."
Arthur paused.
Even the professors didn’t know. That thought settled over him with more weight than he expected, the quiet certainty he’d carried through most of the expedition slipping just a little.
She continued, "The only thing we’ve been able to confirm is that the markings appeared after the massive mana disturbance."
Arthur looked at the purple marks again.
"Can you heal them?"
"We’ve tried."
Mithra and Melo exchanged a glance.
The professor shook her head. "Normal wounds respond to healing magic. These don’t."
Arthur frowned. "So they’re not behaving like an ordinary injury."
"Exactly."
The professor told Arthur’s group that several students were still missing or injured. Arthur immediately agreed to help. Arthur, Eden, Athy, Vedas, Sun, Mithra, Melo, and Athena split into small sections while staying within sight of the professors.
Arthur’s group continued searching through the surrounding area.
Eden flew ahead for a moment before turning back toward them.
"Let’s find everyone!"
Sun looked at her. "Why are you so energetic?"
Eden smiled. "Because we’re helping!"
Sun stared at her for a moment before looking toward Arthur.
"She’s more reliable than you."
Arthur looked genuinely offended. "Why am I getting dragged into this?"
Mithra laughed. "Because you were standing closest."
During the search, Arthur suddenly noticed a student sitting beside a shallow stream.
Something about them looked different.
"Wait."
Arthur approached.
The purple markings were still visible across the student’s arm, but they were much lighter than the ones he’d seen earlier.
Athena crouched beside them. "When did you notice the change?"
The student thought for a moment. "A few minutes ago. I started feeling better too."
Arthur looked toward the stream. "What were you doing before that?"
"Just sitting here."
Arthur glanced at the water.
Athena did the same.
Neither of them spoke.
There was nothing obviously unusual about it.
Athena carefully examined the student’s arm again. "We shouldn’t assume the water caused it."
Arthur nodded. "Right." He looked back at the student. "But we should remember it."
Athena smiled slightly. "Right."
Arthur looked toward the other students. "We need more examples."
They continued searching.
As they continued searching, Arthur began noticing another pattern.
The markings weren’t identical.
One student had most of them around the legs. Another had them concentrated around the chest. A third had a thin network extending toward the head.
Arthur suddenly remembered the Beasts Vedas and Athena had found.
One had markings concentrated around its legs.
Another had them around its chest.
The third had markings reaching toward its head.
Arthur looked toward Athena. "They’re similar."
Athena followed his gaze from one student to another.
Her expression became thoughtful. "You’re right."
Arthur crouched beside another student and looked carefully at the markings. "They aren’t spreading randomly."
Athena nodded slowly. "They may be reacting to something within the body."
Arthur looked at her. "Mana?"
Athena hesitated. "Possibly."
But she didn’t know.
As they brought another injured student toward the gathering point, the female professor looked toward the forest. Her expression suddenly became uneasy.
Arthur noticed. "What is it?"
She didn’t answer immediately. Then, "We’ve found almost everyone," she said.
Arthur looked relieved. "Almost?"
The professor nodded. "There are still several students missing."
Arthur looked toward the forest. "How many?"
The professor’s expression became serious. "Too many."
Arthur’s smile disappeared. The Everglades was still unnaturally quiet. The purple marks were appearing on Beasts. They were appearing on students. And some students hadn’t been found.
Arthur looked deeper into the forest and then he noticed something. Far between the trees, barely visible through the mist, was a faint purple glow.
Mithra caught the shift in his expression and followed his gaze. "Arthur," she said quietly.
He didn’t answer because the glow disappeared.
Arthur looked toward the professor. "How far did the missing students go?"
The professor slowly pointed toward the deeper Everglades.
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
The same direction their compass had pointed. The same direction the students’ footprints had led.
Arthur gripped his weapon. "Then that’s where we need to look," he said.