Gentle flakes of snow descended gracefully from the overcast skies, creating a delicate veil that covered every surface of the bustling town market, including the rooftops, roads, and shops. In the heart of the market stood a frozen fountain, its once gushing waters now still and silent. The fountain was encircled by grand buildings constructed with a distinct gothic style, featuring impressive dome-shaped roofs and majestic marble pillars that upheld the structures. Each building had a unique charm, emanating an air of history and elegance that added to the market's allure. Trees and strange glowing lampposts decorated the clean and tidy streets surrounding the market square, providing a warm amber glow to the chilly, grey fog.
Despite the cold, people could still be seen going about their daily lives, huddled in thick fur coats and scarves. The sounds of horses hooves and the clattering of wagons can be heard in the distance as vendors begin setting up shop for the first waves of customers who were already beginning to line up around the square for morning goods, the salty odour of freshly caught fish filling the air.
“Catch that child!!!”
Crash
The tranquillity of the marketplace was abruptly shattered by a chaotic scene as a shoddy, recently erected wooden stall was destroyed into splinters and debris. A diminutive figure, appearing almost child-like, dashed through the dust and rubble with a hefty bag slung over their shoulder. The sound of the stall crashing to the ground echoed through the air, causing onlookers to gasp in shock and concern for the safety of those nearby. Despite the chaos, the swift figure seemed unfazed and continued on, leaving a trail of dust and confusion in their wake.
“THIEEEEF!!! Catch him!!” A deep, aggressive voice shook the town square as everybody's attention shifted to the now completely destroyed stall. As people began to fully recognize what had just happened, the ‘thief’ was already halfway through the street, clearly aiming for a narrow alleyway at the other side of the market.
Wearing a ripped, dishevelled white fur coat, a large hoodie covered most of the thief's face making it difficult for onlookers to determine his identity, as he agilely swerved around onlookers and jumped over boxes and carts.
“Outta the way!!”
Three men chased after the thief shoving and pushing any onlookers that crossed their path.
One girl, still a child, fell on her face, the snow thankfully saving her from the fall, her mother, who was nearby, yelling out in frustration “Hey, watch it!!”.
Watching this scene, some onlookers' eyes began to look coldly at the three chasing men.
“Idiots” the thief muttered under his breath, now at the entrance of the alleyway, the child rushed in.
“-OOF” Almost as if colliding with a stone wall the child crashed into a large muscled figure at the entrance of the tunnel falling flat on his butt, winded.
“Well, look what we've got here, the little bastard thief, stealing from my shop AGAIN. Did you really think you could just keep getting away with it?” A large muscular man with dirty crooked teeth gave a menacing smile at the child as he crossed his arms, a dangerous glint in his eyes.
The three men who had been chasing the child had finally caught up, positioning themselves strategically to block the only exit from the tunnel. With their formation, they had effectively surrounded the child, leaving no room for escape.
“Ya got away from us time and time again, but it ends here. Your punishment aint gonna be light either kid, lawd probably just give ya a slap on the wrist since ur a kid, but we gotta make up for what we've lost so far, I've got other plans for ya” The man at the front, who appeared to be the leader, began to slowly walk up to the child.
A small crowd began forming around the commotion.
“Poor kid”
“There should be no reason for there to be homeless children under the Silanka, A runaway perhaps? ”
“Somebody should stop them…”
Despite the tense situation that had unfolded, the surrounding crowd appeared to be frozen in place, with no one stepping up to offer assistance. The expressions on their faces showed a mixture of sympathy and pity for the child, however their actions did not match their emotions.
“Tsk” perhaps noticing how this could tarnish their reputation the man signalled with his eyes towards the other three men.
The three men closed in on the child, one of them attempting to grab the child from behind. However, with impressive agility, the child expertly dodged the man's heavy grasp, ducking under his arm. In a swift and bold move, the child delivered a powerful kick to the man's nether regions, causing him to drop to the ground in agony, clutching his privates in pain.
“BRAT!!”
The other two men were momentarily stunned by the sudden turn of events.
Not missing a beat, the child took his chance and attempted to dash through the now available gap.
“Not so fast, kid”
“Ughhhh” A strong kick came in from one of the two men, sending the child flying towards the leader of the men, his crooked teeth smiling wickedly.
“Well would you look what we got here” the kick had knocked the hood of the boy, no girl, who was now clutching her stomach gasping for breath. Her long, messy brown hair couldn't hide her childish, cute features. Emerald green eyes glaring at the man as she attempted to regain her bearings.
“Give me that brat!! I'll teach her a lesson!” Having regained his breath, the man who had been kicked stood up, hatred in his eyes as he glared at the young girl.
“Calm down Ed, you'll get your chance before we ‘hand’ her in” The leader replied, signalling his hands towards the still remaining crowd.
The man named Ed remained angry as he glared at the girl, however the more he glared at her the more his expression shifted to that of a wicked grin. A look of starved anticipation entering his eyes as he looked at her.
“VILE SLAVERS, LEAVE HER ALONE!!” a young boy's voice pierced through the air, alerting the crowd as they looked for its origin.
A young child, wearing similarly tattered clothing to the girl stood in front of the encircling trio. Holding a battle stance, he held a large stick in his hands.
“HA…HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA” the leader of the men began laughing as he watched the child's stupid form, the rest of his men snickering slightly at the boy's idiotic appearance.
“A Stick, prince charming here, came to save ya with a stick, HAHAHAHA.” His yellow teeth clattering, the man began to wipe his tears away as he pointed at the still gasping young girl.
"HAAAAAAAH," With a fierce battle cry, the young child launched into action without waiting for the men to regain their composure. He leaped at the man named Ed, wielding his stick, which somehow began to glow a brilliant red, radiating heat like a hot torch.
Surprised by the boy's sudden movements, Ed attempted to shield his face, reacting too late, the stick smashed down heavily against his exposed skin, a soft sizzling sound escaping like meat cooked on a hot surface.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!” falling to the floor he grasped his face and rolled across the floor in avid pain and hysteria. Complete silence filled the air, customers and merchant owners alike stood stock still, completely quiet. The leader of the men had stopped laughing now, traces of fear and apprehension flashing within his eyes as the smell of burnt flesh began filling the atmosphere.
Many spectators began to step back, or leave the scene altogether, clearly also fearful of the boy now.
“H-heeeeee” the man that had kicked the young girl earlier, now stepped back in avid fear of the boy.
“You blubbering fool!! It's clearly a divine tool! Grab that stick!” The leader shouted, traces of panic still lingering in his voice.
Looking down at the man still screaming in pain, his face a burning mesh of flesh, his hair singed and burned to dust. He visibly gulped and stepped further back.
“You fucking Idiot!” The leader screamed.
Grabbing the girl, who had just begun to recover from the earlier kick, he brought out a knife and pressed it against her throat, a fine red line appearing from its touch.
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“Drop the stick boy!” Holding the girl tightly, she attempted to struggle free from his grasp, their strength difference however was like night and day, her form barely budging.
“Just leave me Luke! Don't listen to him” Perhaps having given up on herself, even at knife point she refused to stop struggling.
“Quit struggling!” The leader shouted, his knife digging deeper into her flesh.
“STOP! It's ok, Claire” Dropping the stick from his hands, he raised his hands up in surrender.
“Smart choice, kid, now kick the weapon over this way'' Perhaps still fearful of the stick, the leader of the men carefully requested it.
Abiding to his request, the boy kicked the stick over to the man. Carefully bending over to pick it up, still holding on tightly to the young girl named Claire. He then began to laugh.
“HAHAHAHA, get over here you numbskull. With an artefact like this, we just made up our losses!! If even a dumb kid could cause something like that.” Pointing towards the man still flailing around the floor clutching his burnt face.
The man he had referred to as ‘numbskull’ that had fearfully stepped away previously had suddenly now regained all his past confidence. Now casually walking up to the boy with a soft smile across his face. He punched him hard across the cheek, knocking him hard towards the leader.
“Stupid fucking Kid” He whispered under his breath.
“Someone call the knights guards! Before anyone else gets hurt.” A young woman in the crowd spoke loudly, attempting to save the children from further harm.
The screaming man, now a strong deterrent from anybody actually wanting to step up, the guards were now the best option. It was relatively apparent that these were dangerous people when the boy uttered the word 'slavers'.
“Yes, I saw somebody run down to the station earlier, the guards should be here soon.” A man in his late 40s replied, attempting to calm people down.
swinging the stick from side to side, a strange glint entered the leader's eye. “Strange, I can't seem to get it to function? Boy! What's the secret to the artefact!”
The leader had let his guard down, perhaps because a prize was dangling right before his eyes or perhaps he refused to accept the strength of slum children. Either way, he let his guard down.
With a quick step the boy jumped directly in front of the leader's line of sight, his palm glowing the same radiant red the stick had shined with previously.
“Huh??!” Unable to react to the child's quick movements, the leader pushed the young girl towards the boy, noticing the radiating heat from the boy's palm he attempted to use the girl as a shield.
Predicting this, The boy grabbed the girl and took many steps back, fully retreating, the soft glow on his palm dissipating.
“Thanks, Luke, I owe you yet again.” Clutching His shirt, Claire professed her gratitude.
Looking at the girl in the boy's grasp, then at the stick in his hands. The leader of the group suddenly seemed to come to some sort of epiphany. “YOU, YOU DAAAAMN BRAAAA—”
Cutting him off suddenly, his head exploded. There were no flashy sound or visual effects, the top of his head simply burst open. Chunks of flesh and blood raining down on the soft white snow like a hose left unchecked.
“Wha–” The boy called Luke seemed surprised as he dashed further back, still holding on to Claire, seemingly unable to determine what had caused the leaders sudden death.
“B-BOSSS” The henchmen fell on his but, shock apparent on his face as he looked at his former boss, Blood still pouring from his severed head like a fountain as his body finally fell limply into the snow, like a puppet with its strings cut.
Behind the decapitated head of the Boss, footsteps, pressing against the soft snow echoed out eerily from the alleyway.
“Renhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart” like the wind a soft whisper plunged into the hearts of every living organism present, not just in the market square, but within the entire town. Soft and quiet, yet with a presence that seemed to shake the very foundation of the town. Like a wisp of smoke, it seemed to gently caress and toy with their hearts. Birds flew away in flocks, horses began rampaging in their bindings, a prequel to the ensuing chaos.
Every single person knew in their hearts instantly. RUN
“AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” A screech filled the air as a young spectating woman screamed, snapping people from their earlier shock and reverie.
“R-Run” a man shouted, his voice hoarse with fear. Like an infection, fear and panic spread through the crowd, moving from person to person as they all instinctively knew, whatever was coming out from that alleyway, would kill them all, It was as if they could feel the weight of death bearing down on them, pressing into their souls, run, run anywhere in the opposite direction from THAT.
Stall owners, merchants, customers, they all dropped everything and ran.
Sadly, to most, to no avail.
From the alleyway, black shadows seemed to seep out, almost as if encroaching on reality, quickly covering the snow and ice in a blanket of mist, Flowing through into the town like a body of flowing water.
The closest to the alleyway were the first affected, The mist wrapping around the corpse of the beheaded bandit leader, creeping up his ankles like vines, stretching and binding all his limbs until his corpse was covered in the black tendrils. Now a walking black puppet, his missing head returned in the form of black tendrils.
“Quick Luke! RUN” For some reason, Claire was the first to snap out from the fear that seemed to radiate from the being stepping out from the alleyway. Invisible like smoke, it seemed to wrap around hearts and make limbs useless. The boy named Luke was now trembling, his earlier bravado gone. Distinct fear apparent in his eyes.
“Wake up!!” Slapping Luke across the face, a look of realisation flashed across his eyes, His fear now carrying him to escape over being stuck in place. Holding Clair's hand with all his might He turned tail and ran. Running past the henchman, who was still on his knees, teeth clattering and face pale.
It looked like the closer you were to this being, the more likely you were to just surrender yourself completely to fear.
slowly , the mist began to creep up around him, covering the snow under his feet.
Rising from the mist, black tendrils drilled into his body from all directions, like spears of black steel the smoke seemed to suddenly materialise. Piercing through his legs, stomach, chest then finally directly through his neck. The soft gurgling of blood escaping his mouth as the light in his eyes vanished. The entire time the feeling of fear and despair never escaped his eyes, till the very end.
Running with renewed vigour in his eyes Luke's feet seemed to radiate a red aura, his speed increasing as he dashed past civilians and market owners, jumping over the wrecked market stall he had stolen from before, Claire hand still tightly within his. The sounds of screams mixed with dismembered limbs and liquid blood falling and melting against the soft snow blended together, with each step he took getting louder and louder.
“Waaaahhhh!! Mommmmyyy!” A young girl's voice could be heard crying tearfully behind them..
“Don't look back, Luke! We can't do anything, only the warriors of the town can combat that.” Claire said, perhaps noticing the reduction in Luke's speed after they ran past the little girl.
“No Claire, you don't get it, I could feel his aura, nobody in this town can fight that!” Now free from the market square, Luke began running frantically through alleyways and hidden routes of the town, trying to not get caught in the crowds, as people mashed, pushed and trampled over each other on the main streets, trying anything to escape from whatever caused their hearts such deep felt instinctual fear.
A tiny forming hope that perhaps the guards would deal with that thing, remained somewhere within their hearts. But they had seen as they ran through the town, armoured men and women with powerful weapons rushing past them, in formations.
Yet the screaming never stopped, the deaths never halted, no, it only increased in intensity.
Arriving at the Town gates, the only way to describe the faces of the people present were, lost of all hope..
The guards no longer present to instil any sense of order, people should have been scrambling past each other to escape the ensuing chaos, yet only empty, fearful eyes gazed back. Some families sat together in prayer, perhaps praying for their last rights or perhaps praying for something to save them. Others trembled in complete fear, balled in on themselves weeping within the cold snow.
“What, is this?!!” Still holding onto Claire, Luke trembled in fear. The once familiar tall wooden town gate and brick stone walls were no longer present. Instead, a perfect reflection of the town stared back at them Like looking into a mirror.
Buildings, houses, the cloudy skies, even each individual flake of snow that fell from the skies. A perfect reflection, except, their reflections were not present. Birds, horses… humans. It was like gazing into a still lake, the sky reflected calmly against its surface.
Yet, it didn't take any living things into account, almost as if it didn't recognize them, as if they didn't exist.
But what had caused Luke to truly tremble in fear, hope completely lost, was when a young man seemed to lose his mind and jump directly through the mirror.
He Vanished. All traces of his existence, gone.
Then a couple of seconds later, he reappeared, with vacant eyes, spit drooling from his lips, falling face first into the snow. Around him were many others, probably having given into their own fear in one way or another.
Luke trembled, They couldn't run forward, they couldn't run back, so where could they go?
That's when it finally happened. The screaming behind them just stopped. Only the prayers and voices of those at the town gate remained.
“Renhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart” Only the chilling, deathly sound of that terrifying being remained, reverberating through the air with an unmistakable sense of terror. As the echo faded, the only thing left was the haunting sound of the being's footsteps, each one ringing out like a morbid drumbeat, echoing in unison through the frozen expanse of snow.
“Claire, get behind me!” Finally turning around, Luke realised why the residents of the town square had truly, completely given in to despair.
The once picturesque and vibrant town was no more, transformed into a desolate wasteland. The previously pristine and glistening snow was now replaced by an oppressive blanket of thick, black, inky shadows, consuming everything in its path. Amongst this newly formed landscape of darkness, an army of shadowy creatures moved with purposeless intent, shifting through buildings and aimlessly wandering through the inky river of death. The creatures themselves were composed of this same inky blackness, devoid of any discernible features save for their eerie, ethereal movements.
Leading the shadowy army, a single entity stood at the forefront, shrouded in complete darkness, its form indistinguishable from the inky surroundings. It floated effortlessly over the murky, ink-black river, with a staff composed of the same black shadows hovering by its side. The very presence of this being emanated an aura of fear that was palpable, causing the very air to chill and the hearts of those who witnessed it to race with dread.
“A-AHHHHHHHHHH” the closer the being came towards the town square, the more palpable the fear within people's hearts became. It wasn't natural. Several people began to gouge out their own eyes just from looking at the being, others began ripping out their hair or inflicting any type of self harm imaginable to themselves.
People who were once sitting in prayer, stood up, madness in their eyes as they jumped into the reflection of their once snow laced town.
only to return shortly, eyes vacant.
Luke's legs began shaking, his fingers trembling, complete despair apparent within his eyes. As the being of darkness got closer and closer, his trembling only increased.
“LUKE!! SNAP OUT OF IT!!” stepping in front of Luke, Claire seemed unaffected by the fear that was running rampant, her determined eyes piercing into Luke's, determined to make it out of the impossible. Determined to not die here.
“Ill… try to hold it off, there has to be something we can do.” As she spoke, Luke seemed to try to gather himself, but his trembling didn't stop, almost as if his own willpower didn't come into play in resisting the fear that made those close by lose their mind. If not for Claires presence, far worse would have surely befell him.
“I…I promised y-your f-f-father” Luke responded, seemingly woken up when Claire decided to put herself in danger for him. blood fell from his hands as he dug his nails deeply into his palms, trying to free himself from the fear.
“Renhaaaaaaaart” suddenly still, the origin of the town's destruction raised its palm into the air, and an endless swarm of black shadows erupted from its hand, coalescing into a massive pillar of pure darkness that towered over everything in its path. The darkness emanating from the pillar was suffocating, and the mere sight of it caused the clouds to disperse, and the sun to vanish from sight, leaving only an all-encompassing void of darkness in its place.
In a moment of panic, Luke futilely pushed Claire down and cried out, "G-get back!!" However, it was too late, as the field of darkness passed through them and everyone who remained in the town. All were enveloped by the consuming void, which seeped through the skin and spread throughout the body. The sensation was akin to needles stitching through flesh, while at the same time burning like acid, causing those affected to writhe in agony.
“A-AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Luke's shrill screams pierced the air, soon joined in by those at the gate.
“Luke! What's happening!” Claires tearful shriek echoed out loudly as, before her eyes, Luke's skin began to melt, his ligaments and muscles apparent through his burnt flesh.
“A-Agh” That was the last thing Luke said before he fell into the snow, his body charred black.
Black tendrils began to slowly wrap their way around his burnt corpse. There was no snow left, only a landscape of jet black darkness remained.
“Get off him! -no, STOP!” Trying to tear away at the black tendrils with her hands, they all but seemed to ignore her.
“Luke! Please get up, you promised me we would return together, kill that bastard together! You can't die here!” scraping away at the black tendrils, she still didn't give up, sadly to no avail, soon the black tendrils, with almost a mind of their own, seemed to escape her grasp, twisting and dodging around her touch.
Soon, Luke's body was completely engulfed, his prior self now completely gone.
Screaming at the top of her lungs, Claire's voice cracked with raw emotion as she cried out, "LUUUKE!!!" Tears streamed down her face as she gasped for breath between sobs, her entire body shaking with the weight of her despair. It was as though she had been punched in the gut, the realization dawning on her that she could no longer save the one she loved most.
Before long, there were no screams remaining.