[center][b][@Laue] (John)[/b][/center]

Instead of meeting John head-on, the bear instead extends numerous vines from its body with impressive speed. Before John can get a real hit in with his claws, the vines have already wrapped around all four of his limbs with a strength that seems far too great for the vines' relatively diminutive thickness. A second later, the vines pull John toward the bear with all their strength, while the bear snarls and thrusts its right paw forward.

A sickening sound of flesh being torn.

Though John has received superhuman powers, he is clearly very far from invulnerable. The bear's clawed arm is now messily impaled through John's abdomen, its incredible brute strength having broken through the black scales and crushed the man's bowels. However, any potential screams of pain from John are blocked out by the bear's own, as it finds its hand covered in both the acid and the infectious black blood from John's body. With a deafening bellow, the bear pulls its arm free, taking out bits of internal organs with it. Immediately after, the vines holding John hurl him away from the bear; he slams into the shrine's metallic wall behind him with a painful [i]crunch[/i]. The bear's right hand is now quite gruesome to behold, with chunks and patches of flesh bloodily melted off, and other parts already rotting and festering.

The bear is leaving John and the others alone for now, as numerous other vines extend from its back and tightly wrap around the wounded arm. From the small gaps between the leaves, some unknown green balm can be seen, secreted by the plant matter onto the wounds.

[hr]
[center][b][@gammaflux] (Azorel); [@Raptorman] (Ethan); [@Flora] (Nathaniel); [@Minnakht] (Angela); [@Blackmist16] (Vestus)[/b][/center]

The five other people, in a different shrine somewhere far away, also begin waking up at the same time.

Had they known about the first group of people, and the shrine they'd arrived at, these five would've seen that the two shrines are almost identical. The same metallic floor, ceiling, and walls. The same futuristic healing pods, taking up most of the room. The same windows and doors. Only...

There is still a forest outside. But unlike the other one, there are no outlines of mountains visible here. Instead, between the trees, the former humans can see patches of what must be an almost sparkling blue ocean, and some pale yellow sand.

Again, the goddess left no instructions. There is simply the world out there, waiting for the visitors to make their move.