Chapter 109: The Rain

They didn’t make it to the river.

They had tried. They had moved fast after seeing the castle, aiming for the line of massive trees that marked the riverbank.

The first drop landed on Sky’s cheek just before sunset. It was cold, much colder than normal rain should have been.

He stopped walking immediately, touching his cheek with his glove. The drop left a strange, almost oily mark.

Another drop struck his crimson scarf, darkening the fabric. Then another hit his shoulder with a soft pat.

Sky looked upward, squinting. The sky had been clear blue just minutes ago.

Dark clouds were gathering across the horizon. They were not normal clouds drifting in. They were boiling, churning.

“What the…” Sky muttered, staring. The clouds were moving too fast.

Chloe looked up as well, her visor automatically adjusting to the change in light.

“That’s unusual,” she said, her analytical tone returning. “There was no precipitation forecast. The atmospheric pressure was stable.”

Vesper’s eyes narrowed, her hand tightening on her weapon. She didn’t like this. She could feel something wrong in the air.

“The weather changed too quickly,” she said. “This is not natural. Nothing in nature moves like that.”

Only a few minutes ago, the sky had been clear. They had been walking under open sun and a light breeze.

Now, enormous black clouds were spreading across it at an unnatural speed, swallowing the remaining sunlight like ink spilled in water. The blue was gone.

A cold wind swept across the grasslands. It bent the strange blue-green grass flat and made the massive trees groan.

Sky pulled his scarf tighter around his neck. The wind cut right through his armor.

“Looks like we’re getting rain,” he said, trying to sound casual. “We can handle rain.”

Chloe checked her visor, swiping through readings that were suddenly going crazy. Water droplets were already beading on her lenses.

“No,” she said sharply.

Sky looked at her, confused by her tone.

“No? No what? It’s just rain, Chloe.”

“Not normal rain,” she said. “Look at the condensation pattern. The temperature drop is too fast. This is Array-influenced.”

The first drops became heavier. They started hitting harder, making actual sounds when they struck the ground.

Drip. Drip. Each drop left a small crater in the dust.

Then—

WHOOSH! The sky opened all at once.

Rain suddenly poured from the sky in a solid sheet. It wasn’t a shower, it was a waterfall from above.

It was so heavy that Sky could barely see more than a few meters ahead. The world became grey and roaring.

“Move!” Vesper shouted over the noise. Her voice was almost lost.

Vesper immediately grabbed Chloe’s arm and pulled her toward a nearby group of trees that offered at least some cover. Their trunks were wide enough to hide behind.

Sky followed, using his Soul Clones to scout the area ahead. He sent two out, but even they were having trouble seeing.

Within seconds, the grassland had transformed. It went from a dry, rolling plain to a swamp.

Water began collecting between the hills, pooling in every low spot. The earth couldn’t absorb it fast enough.

Small streams formed beneath their feet, cutting new paths through the grass. The water was already up to their ankles.

Then those streams began flowing downhill with frightening speed, merging together into rushing torrents. The sound was terrifying.

Chloe stared through her visor, trying to get a reading through the downpour. Her systems were struggling.

“That’s impossible,” she whispered, wiping water away. “This shouldn’t be happening.”

“What?” Sky asked, shouting now to be heard over the rain hammering on his armor. “What is it?”

“The rainfall,” she said, her voice filled with disbelief. “Look at the measurements. This is not physically possible.”

She wiped water from her visor again, but it was instantly covered. The rain was too thick.

“It’s increasing,” she said. “It’s not steady. It’s accelerating.”

Sky looked around. She was right. He could feel it on his skin, even through his clothes.

The rain wasn’t becoming heavier gradually like a normal storm. It was accelerating exponentially, second by second.

The drops were striking the ground so violently that the earth was becoming mud almost immediately. The grass was disappearing under brown water.

Thunder rolled across the sky, so loud it shook their bones. It wasn’t a distant rumble.

BOOOOM! It cracked directly overhead, as if the clouds themselves were breaking apart.

Sky looked toward the valley where the river was. He could barely see it through the curtain of water.

Water was already filling it. The river they had seen as a calm, crystal-clear line was now a raging, churning monster.

“That river is going to overflow,” he shouted. “That thing is going to flood the whole valley floor!”

Chloe nodded, her face pale under the wet light. She was already calculating the water volume.

“Very soon,” she said. “In minutes, not hours. We need to get out of this basin.”

Vesper looked around, her holy light flaring to try to keep the water off them, but even it was being drowned.

“Then we need higher ground,” she said. “Now. The highest hill we can find.”

They immediately began climbing the nearest hill. It was the one they had just come down, but it was now a mudslide.

The rain made every step difficult. Mud swallowed their boots up to the shin and tried to pull them down.

Sky summoned two Soul Clones and sent them ahead to search for shelter. He couldn’t see anything himself.

One clone climbed a nearby ridge, slipping and phasing through the mud. The other moved through the forest, checking under the giant trees.

Nothing. No caves. No overhangs.

No buildings. No shelter at all. Just open, flooding hills.

Then the clone that was watching the river suddenly stopped. Its vision went sharp and still.

Sky received its vision through their link. The image was clear despite the rain, and it made his blood run cold.

His expression changed completely, from struggle to alarm.

“Chloe,” he called out, his voice tight.

“What?” she asked, turning, her visor still failing to focus.

“The river,” he said, pointing down toward the valley that was now almost invisible behind the rain.

She turned toward him, waiting.

“It’s already out of its banks.”