Time went still as dreams, beasts, and shadows sing a song of chaos into the hearts of men, in a world where skies dyed in ominous red scorned the earth with their thunderous roaring. Bolstered by the sheer din of screaming and wailing of horror-filled voices.

As reflected in their fear-filled eyes, comprehension was lost. Consumed by the voices, they danced as dread lingers in a land cursed in heresies, crawling deep inside mankind's psyche, screaming for the beast inside. Gnawing their mind in each passing time while men in white armors and shields crossed-shining swords to each other, intent on drawing blood. Their shouts, hoarse. Their eyes gleaming in madness. Laying waste of bloody red death everywhere, raining steels upon all.

Such pitiful souls.

The earth quaked violently beneath madmen, ripped of normalcy. Only, for all there had been was the moment when an otherworldly cry from the sky rocked the entire world, driving magnificent cities made of steel and machinery crushed to their last breath.

And then, there was none.

***

A flash of streaking red light cut the air before me. A dull thud reached the grounds, inking the stone pavement with clear dripping blood underneath flickering street lamps. Instantly something stirred within me, ticking off my inner survival instinct to work. To run. 

Run?

"I admit.. you have my respect for managing to escape this far out."

I was trembling. Every ounce of my body did. Looking down, a boy was lying helpless on a pool of blood. And standing next beside him, was a tall man. The man in his ornate white military outfit lowered to grab the boy's head, his face stained with gelid red. "Though to be honest, that may be your last act, seeing you've got nowhere to run." The white-haired man opened his palm, letting go of the boy's head until his pale hair brushed against the cold pavement.

I flinched as the fallen body gave a pitiful moaning over the air, in a vain attempt to power through the unholy din. The boy heaved a struggling sigh, eyes shone little radiance to grasp a semblance of light. His dying breaths were almost misty in the cold rain as bloodthirsty soldiers in white prowled in the distance. His right hand drained of colors raised to reach me. As if to grab the last thing he ever needed in life. The stench of death and blood pervaded my entire mind with its vice-like grip, drilling that indescribable fear without relent.

The incessant chattering of my teeth brought to a halt; the man stomped the reaching hand with a swift motion of his heavy boot, now whispering crushed bones that cracked beneath him. Painful, painful moaning struck all who listened, tugging a smile to pleasure itself upon the man's cruel visage.

My bruised arms, legs and ears twitched as the man continued playing his boot on the boy's hand. "S-Stop!" I mustered up the courage, "G-Get away from him! Or I'll... I'll—!"

His piercing red eyes, menacing sneaked a side glance to my side, "Oh? Still here hmm? Yet, wetting yourself isn't the best of move in this bloody battlefield little boy." He cackled with laughter, sounding belittling as he put more force into his boot. Eliciting a more disturbing response from the boy underneath him. "Best you run away, else you end like your friend here." He bared his fangs as he smiled, raising his sword above to the blood-eyed moon and without hesitation, swung it down with a flash.

In seconds, blood-curdling scream reached its pinnacle, playing music to the man's ears. "Exquisite~" He held his body as if raced in heat, delighting more and more of the unceasing pandemonium. The clear-cut crushed hand separated from its owner, gushed fountains of blood in seconds.

My voice cracked, unable to produce a single word out. However, my body in its trembling heartbeat moved, pushing my legs to stand against oprresion. Although my mind was seized by fear, my body cried out in desperation.

I grabbed a gun kept within my back-pockets, wet and light enough for me to aim and shoot.

Cursing the world, I opened fire.

I fired and fired till the boiling inside me raged down. And after three shots, one bullet managed to reach perfectly straight before getting sliced cleanly in two. A curved sword was pointed at me, glistening proudly as if mocking my effort. I clenched my teeth, brimming with uncontrollable anger as I began running towards him on puddles of blood and ash.

"Ahh, your running. Instead of fleeing away, yours for saving a friend. Admirable." He licked the flowing fresh blood on his curved sword, eyes glimmering in crimson, seemingly taking his time. "Except, you are running to your death. Splendid."

I gave him my unbridled roar of defiance, keeping myself from feeling the burning sensation in my legs to soldier on with my gun as I continued to shoot till nothing more comes out at the tip. Clicking my tongue, I threw the gun away as my other hand reached into a pouch hanging on my waist. I grabbed one of the many pebbles housed within before flinging it out and multiple more to the soldier.

"Oh? What game are we playing now boy? Pray, keep it simple: You don't want it to end before at death door hmm?" His curved sword danced frigid on raining droplets, playing a child's game of deflecting pebbles to pieces. I just kept on flinging till my pouch ran dry of things. "Still not giving up I take it?" His head tilted to one side, "Well then, try your best at wounding me. That would be you're... joy is it not?" He broke into a vicious glint in his eyes as I quickly closed our gap in mere seconds. He stood still as I leaped for him. Our eyes met briefly, his were smiling. Mine was pure tearing.

"Eat this!" My right arm shot upwards, sending sands and dirt from the same pouch of pebbles into the man's face and eyes. Done what planned, I quickly landed myself down. Rolling left in time before moments of an incoming stroke of sword managed to lodge itself on my side, followed by a sharp yelp from the soldier.

"Yes, this! This pain!" He gnashed his teeth wildly, eyes blinded by fine grits. Yet, his face was strangely gleaming. I took up a knife thrown nearby as I worked my way towards the boy, his eyes struggling to wake from darkness embrace.

Sparing no effort I heaved him up onto my shoulders. I checked his arms, one of them had just been crippled. Yet, both were cold to the brim. That asshole!

The beatings and loss of blood left him wheezing for life. Beady sweats formed on my brow, slipping quietly into my eyes, slowly, as if trying to blur me of my way.

I couldn't let it end here!

"Eli... run, leave me behind. That would ensure your... survival..." I stopped dead in my tracks. Tightening my hold on him, I began to sprint, looking behind once to see the soldier still clutching his face kneeling on the ground. It was enough for me to spur onward. Leaving behind traces of my blood to drip upon the pavement, making way through fires and smoke in ragged panting before setting foot into another path.

The east district pillaged and salvaged left nothing to view, except a few signs of scattered blood and the none existence of soldiers leave me to wonder if the place was unattended for a while.

The only thing present for my ears to pick up were the ominous howling of beasts, primitive in its primeval nature sent chills racing down my spine. A nagging itch nudged my mind to get somewhere where safety was guaranteed. A place void of a single man in white and abominations were what guided me to a desolate convent resting atop a hill.

Miles away, gunshots bore holes into people's limbs, swords of light clashed against steels in sparks and yet, none could match the havoc caused by the abyssal creatures outside. The screams, the bloody screams all blocked by the walls surrounding us. The genocidal invasion, brutal in its wake, caused heads rolling over streets, in the name of keeping the plague from further corrupting more innocent lives.

The Executioners had quarantined the city off from the outside world.

"What are you doing, burdening yourself with a dying... a dying waste..." As I patched up Shiz crippled hand with makeshift fabrics, tears streamed down on his soot-covered face. His black cloth stained with blood, contorted as he tucked his knees close to his chest.

I took a seat to his right. The only light in the room was the flickering candles playing shadows over the dilapidated walls, walls that were supposed to be sacred. Tarnished with ruined furniture and wrecked debris, holding what was once the remnant of our memories.

My home was crumbling apart. It was crumbling, crumbling...till I lose it all. Funny. To think we were living our entire life just to meet our end here. Fate sure had a way to make a sick joke.

I looked to my arms, stained in blood. It smelled much like iron. Stinging and fresh...

So this was blood.

A sudden thud. I turned and found my friend hitting the floor with his other fist. Again and again. The dull sound to me felt like a silent scream more than anything. And maybe, because of that, I got up. Determined to bring us to safety. But where? Within this chaos and blooming rotting corpses, where could I find a safe haven?

A safe haven?

Hanging my head, I was hit by a powerful realization. As if it was ingrained from the very start, it made me think back. The high walls of this place were not meant to be a safe haven; it was supposed to be a prison built for scraps of waste.

This was our hellhole from the start.

Our own magnificent prison, a perfect fit for the unwanted, for war-orphaned children along with sons and daughters of criminals and degenerate pigs. And out of them all, the most dangerous were kept forever within this false paradise. The world had thrown us away, leaving us to rot in ash.

Right...our days were numbered. Dying early wasn't the problem here. It's to be expected. So I had to keep questioning; what is our purpose?

"That thing... what was it?" I started, musing back a few hours ago when a giant beast donned in a ragged man's clothing appeared suddenly on the main plaza.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"What was it? What it was... was the thing who killed her. Ate her!" I turned with a worrying look, eyebrows arched. Shiz had worn a face resembling the likes of those outsides. A tinge of madness could be seen in his tearing eyes.

"Sh-Shiz?!" I shook his shoulders for fear of the nightly hunt had rubbed his now mentally impaired state. "Hey, get a grip! We have no time for this!"

"No time for what? For revenge?" He looked up, now vacant red eyes were staring back at me. "Eli... don't. You're the one who should escape. I'm done with this. I'm gonna go back, and kill that damn beast!"

As I was about to raise my hand, my ears picked the occasional metallic taps pounding the grounds outside. Without a moment to waste, I sprang my knife open before blowing off the flickering candles in the room. "Shiz, forget revenge. Our life is on the line here!" I tried to grab his shoulder, but he pushed away.

"I... I'm gonna go back; she deserved to be avenged. That damn piece of shit...I'm gonna make it pay for what it did." His emotions were so raw I backed down a little. "It doesn't matter. As long as I could do it, I'll gladly put them at peace. And with how I am, it's almost certain I'll die anyway."

There was no hesitation in his words, only determination. That fire lit in his eyes... I could never extinguish that. I had to convince him somehow. I had to get him back to his senses. If I failed that, he would die too and all my efforts would be rendered meaningless. What do I do? What do I say to make him believe me?

Tell me...I didn't care who, just tell me! Anyone!!

"Search the place up! Don't leave a single incarnates alive or I'll be forced to cut your heads off!" Someone roared, echoing till it reached our ears; it's coming from the entrance way and lights were visible on the walls. I looked closely, one of the soldiers had an eye-patch on the left side, fury could be seen on his strained face.

"Found you," he glinted as our eyes met, "Shoot them, lads!"

I was unable to move. His soldiers open fired. Multiple bullets rained on us as time went into a crawling state. I couldn't feel my legs. They felt heavy. In fact, I couldn't feel anything. D-Damn! Move it!!

I screamed to my body as the sense of despair sank in. No time...I wouldn't make it!!

And then, everything felt blurry. Blood was spraying in the air. It was not mine. I looked down. Shiz covered for me by pushing me down, painfully aware of the bullets lodged into his body. And yet, it didn't flinch him as we curled beside a wall.

I snapped wide awake.

Shiz had received numerous shots.

My voice cracked.

"Eli, stand up. You're... not going to die here... are you?" He croaked. "Don't you fucking...die..."

I clenched my fists, realizing how worthless I am.

"Don't you dare die too..." I sent as I picked up his body in my arms and moved to a chamber we used to gather. I pushed its large doors open before barring it with a metallic pole from being opened from the other side. Letting our tired backs leaning against a wall, we sagged in relief at the same time, attesting our weary minds from the chain of events.

The night had been long, truly. Was it because of the giant red moon hanging in the sky? Or was it because of the otherworldly cry that made the hunting truly grueling? For now, we had to rest; this moment may be our last to do so. After all, none shall escape the eyes of the soldiers in white, executioners meandering with only one objective.

"Kill all on sight, leave alive none..." I muttered under silent breath, eyes fixed on my bloodstained hands, trembling nonstop. The brutal night, how I wish it would end. As I turned around, I was hit by a powerful stench.

"Shiz, this stench..." I stood slowly as my eyes saw a familiar flight of stairs leading up before me, covered by a long carpet dyed in red. Upstairs?

"Eli..." I shifted my gaze to my right, the walls already lit by hanging candlesticks.

Shiz was pale as white, wheezing for air as his eyes blankly stared off into the distance. A trickle of blood from his patched hand dripped to the cold, stone floor. Biting my lips, I checked his cheeks. There was no warmth.

My mind began to panic.

I started to rock him back and forth, pressing down the image from jutting out of their keep. "Shiz! Wake up, now is not the time to sleep; we gotta run! Fast!" Yet, the folding of darkness was clearly pulling his eyelids down. Oh no... don't do this to me!

As I tried to wake him up, a booming sound came from behind the barred doors, enough to jolt me back to my feet.

I heaved Shiz on my back, his body felt light on mine. Praying, I began working my way on the set of stairs, the woods creaked in dear agony as the sounds behind started to hit a whole new volume. Judging by the smoke around the door's fringe, they must had used explosives. Dust spilled off from its place, raining down on us as I pushed my muscles, gritting my teeth.

"Oh... Lords... forgive us. For we are weak, incomplete."

A voice echoed as I climbed. A survivor? With that thought as my only driving force, I spurred on. Hoping that they'll help in our plight.

"The paleborne, frail. Yet have taken root in our remains. We seek absolution, cleansing purity from our sins, our misdeeds. Forgive us, oh Great Lords..."

Before long, my foot settled down at the end of the stairs. Beyond me, lies a roofless open space that was wide as a hall, filled with rows of seats as the carpet in red divided a straight line in the center, leading towards an altar decorated with gold idols at the end. That's...

A person dressed in bone colored robe typical of a follower knelt before the massive altar. Back hunched, praying a solemn plainchant as if waiting for something...

I tried to step forward as I raised a hand. The only source of lights which had been flickering in the chamber moments ago died down as I did. The abrupt change in the air was almost spine-chilling as my eyes widened at the sight unfurling beyond me.

A blast went by. The follower's back morphed and the shadows on the grounds writhe wildly under the watches of a giant red moon hanging in the sky, basking us in its crimson light.

Claws of black pounded the floor with sheer force, the once human form squirmed fiercely into beasthood as it released a beastly howl. The chamber trembled as the beast turned its attention behind; its eyes spoke of one descent into madness.

To my disbelief, my legs lost all strength and buckled down, unable to hold against such monstrosity.

The night had been truly long.

The hulking wrought with its beastly limbs stood on all fours, sending a shade of black that reached mine. Swallowing my all.

Unfathomable.

Its hovering eyes, red with the color of the moon. Spineless before such grim, my teeth dove into an incessant chatter as the beast escaped thick misty breaths over the air.

"Kill the beast! Spare no haste: we have a monster to sentence!" Shouts of men rang hollow in my ears as they moved with quick in their steps, forming a circle around the vicinity of the beast. Their sleek guns transforming into something big as it took hold of their shoulders, glowing blue as it gradually lights up a shot.

The beast lets out a low growl, its snout going just before the floor. The white soldiers prepared then until an order came out from the one-eyed man's mouth.

"Bring it to dust, the voice of Yornu shall bring an end to this nightmare!" A sudden realization flashed on me as I looked around; I was being surrounded in between both beast and men.

Don't tell me?!

I grabbed hold of Shiz firmly as I struggled to move but it was all for naught. Had I been faster, I could escape the blue light coming my way. The smiling one-eyed man stood a few miles away, waiting for the sentence to be carried out.

As I was about to resign to my fate, my ears picked up once again an otherworldly voice that bellowed from the unknown. It was slow and soothing as if caressing my every being.

If only I could...

"Fire!"

A blinding light.

Ah... looks like we wouldn't make it.

"T-This is?!"

"Rohn! What're-?!"

A gunshot escaped my hearings. No, was it two? Or more than my fingers could count on? I didn't know, I was too scared to know. Hopeless.

Another shot blared in the surroundings. It was strange, how come could I still hear uncanny screams running through my ears? How could I still feel the warmth on my back and the loud groaning of a beast that shook my whole body?

"Eli..."

I snapped open out of my husk. Before me, lies a pool of blood, greedily snaking its way to cover the praying grounds. Yet, one man still stood. His bloodied state continued to hold a gun and a sword on each hand.

"Marvelous.... truly marvelous!" The one-eyed man laughed sickly as he stood between life and death. Using his sword as a crutch his face beamed, "The gift of the Lords, truly fascinating!"

He raised a gun, pointing towards me. A trigger resounded, bullets of white flew past behind me as I sat stock still. What?

A body fell beside me, limbless and white. Covered by lurid blood. A soldier?!

Instinctively I moved back. And for a moment, I blinked.

No, not quite. Something was off. With a bit of scrutiny, I realized the head part had grown a horn. Its overall complexion turned blue with a hint of red while covered in blotches of yellowish pus. Quickly I was paralyzed in place. The image dug deep into my fears. Yet my eyes wandered, trying to get a sense of everything.

And then I gasped. Catching sight of bodies turned into something else, all lying in a pool of blood.

"Uncultured dog; I can't let you turn my men into the likes of your ilk. That would be nothing but a sully to my white army." The soldier said, before sending my way a most vicious glint as he combined his sword onto his gun. "Fortunately, your death will more than make up for it. I'll gladly deliver your cadaver as a gift to Yornu of Ashtell."

He readied his gunblade, a sizeable weapon that length about an arm. It was glowing bright blue. "This night, your hunt begins."

A bellowing cry struck me from behind, enough to throw my balance off as my face fell right to the floor. Shiz sprawled beside me like a puppet with its strings cut. His pale face shone no more of the once spirited boy, now lifeless before me...

For some reason, my chest hurts. As if my heart had been wrapped in a tight knot. My gut failed me as rains in red thoroughly soaked my entire being, quivering in coldness.

Shiz had died. That fact alone managed to cut me off from the grim reality. A blank in my mind.

I could feel tears streaming down my cheeks as my body burned in punishing pain.

The pain hurts. Why was I even alive?

At that moment, a brief memory of somewhere dark flashed before me.

A cage? A cell?

I saw myself facing someone. A vague silhouette in red, stretching an ugly smile and saying—

'Rise. Struggle. And worm your way up, if surely you're one of the chosen.'

My eyes then darted wide open. Feeling a cold wind blowing strongly around the place. Drained of strength, I laid on the cold floor. Waiting for a chance to present itself as I watched the beast lurched itself forward, striking claws against the soldier's gunblade with animalistic speed. With slick sidesteps, the soldier tried to land a blow on either of its sides, exchanging a few graceful hits in contrast with the beast's savage sweeps. Smiling, the soldier stood his ground when the beast aimed in a pincer attack only to be quickly deflected by a blast of fire hitting its abdomen. Seeing a gap in between, he nimbly jumped back.

The beast's cry bringing a smile to shine upon the blood-covered soldier, obviously pleased as he hid behind the row of seats. Using them to bait another sweep of the beast's huge claws, waiting for an opening to rise itself. A mighty growl escaped as the beast's vicious attacks went no more than a few misses as the soldier in a heartbeat successfully severed its left arm. With haste, the soldier moved right after dodging a powerful retaliation, closing himself an escape by being dangerously close.

But that proved to be a grand chance as he geared to dug his gunblade's tip deep within the beast's chest, gunning it heavily without mercy. Having brought it down to its feet, the soldier proceeded to move away only to set up a small blast all over the beast now scorching heavy with burns on its tattered limbs.

Realizing a chance to escape had presented itself, I attempted to rise up from my state. As I did so, the air stopped in a stagnant. The beast fell down after one fell swoop from the soldier's skilled swordplay. At that moment, an otherworldly voice called from beyond. It felt like it was calling for me, tempting myself to rear my eyes towards the stars.

What's this? A song? Where it's coming from?

I must search for it. That beautiful song. I mus—

Suddenly, I felt a gaping hole in my chest, going wider and wider as a strange coldness shot itself to every corner of my being. My gaze fell and saw blood bursting out from where the one-eyed solder had stabbed me. It was too deep, too cold. What was this? Death? I could vaguely feel my hands grasping his blade weakly as if it was a single thread of life holding me back to this world.

This could be tough...

I was powerless as the soldier shoved me to the floor before pulling the blade out with a sounding slosh of my guts. I couldn't tell whether it was sympathy or disgust in his eyes as my blood soaked his boots.

Then it happened.

The sky was torn asunder, splitting into parts. A large crack in the sky let one gaze into the abyss beyond. In place of a giant crimson moon, a round-dilated eye peeked through the chasm, sucking away the vast ocean of stars into its ever-growing blackness. I felt every grain of my being spiked on my skin as empty silence burrowed into my mind.

I couldn't move. I wanted to move.

Help me...

"It's starting," the soldier said, "are you the one calling them?"

What was he saying? I couldn't hear anything.

"If so, I'll end this nightmare."

The moon was bright. A blinding crimson light.

The soldier pulled his gunblade high. I couldn't see his face, only his gleaming red eyes.

The light, it was so bright—

—everything went dark.