Mildry - 13FTE

Malillia sat on the floor surrounded by open books on various topics but most were related to Strand and its connection to Vampires. She aggressively scribbled on a notepad and the books themselves, barely paying attention to the commotion around her. Yuro and Archie were running around with a Limbo chasing them as she studied these texts.

"ANY SOLUTION YET!?"

Yuro fired his shotgun, stunning the Limbo for a brief period.

"Help is nice when I come quick! No rush but we can only die so many times!"

Archie fired his revolver, teleporting out of the Limbo's attacks.

This Limbo was odd however as the limp body of the Vampire it came from was still merged with it. Malillia searched through the texts faster. Nothing relevant came up. Most information was outdated as well, it detailed how Vampires and Humans came to hate each other along with how Vampire souls worked. The conflict originally began after it was discovered that Vampire souls are human souls that have been twisted by Pure Strand, an evolutionary substance developed to help Vampires survive underground for long periods. Vampires can't survive without sunlight, food or water for long periods but Pure Strand acts as a secondary soul letting them regenerate any damaged parts of their body.

Vampires were in a constant cycle of starvation but they regenerated so fast that it went unnoticed. When humanity came into contact with Vampires, they initially were friendly to each other and Vampires would help injured humans recover a lot faster by injecting Pure Strand into them with the use of their fangs. This friendship quickly dissolved as Vampires injecting humans with Pure Strand led to Humans developing the Strand parasite and when a wild animal consumed the body of an infected individual it led to the creation of the Necrobeasts. Humanity was brought to the brink of extinction because of the Necrobeasts so they blamed Vampires and started a war on two fronts, dealing with the constant attacks of Necrobeasts and the annihilation of Vampires.

Through these events, Vampires who had grown attached to humanity didn't want to leave so they invented a procedure to rip the Pure Strand soul from a Vampires body. This would turn the Vampire into a human baby and they would live a normal human life. The procedure was delicate and one wrong move could cause the soul to be damaged or retain Pure Strand which held its own host of complications.

Malillia punched the ground as none of the text documented how to do the procedure.

"I can't find anything!"

Yuro slipped and hit his head.

"OW!"

He sat up, his head woozy.

"W-Wait... don't!"

The Limbo promptly approached and squished Yuro's head.

Archie groaned.

"CRUD! Malillia! Rewind!"

Malillia rolled her eyes.

Rewind.

Yuro was in good shape once more. He readied his shotgun as the Limbo screeched and dashed toward him.

"MALILLIA?!"

Yuro blasted the Limbo away with a single shot.

"I'M STILL WORKING ON IT!"

Malillia flipped through every book but came up empty-handed.

"Why did NO ONE THINK TO WRITE THIS DOWN!"

Malillia stood up, fed up with the books.

"I'll just figure this out, hold it still!"

Archie looked perplexed.

"Are we seeing the same monster!? Holding this still is gonna kill us! Again!"

"I'll handle it! Trust your princess, Archie."

Malillia smirked as Archie and Yuro ran circles around the Limbo. It got dizzy and collapsed, groaning loudly. Malillia lunged toward it, digging her fingers into its heart and forcefully ripping a glowing string out. She cried out, tearing the string out as the Limbo screamed.

Malillia fell back, the Limbo's body twitching and bubbling up before slowly dissolving into nothing. In the aftermath, a baby remained.

"You... did it!"

Archie ran over and helped Malillia up.

Yuro sighed.

"Thank god."

Malillia smiled.

"Told ya I'd handle it."

"Oh really? You handled it huh?"

Everyone turned to the baby to see it crossing its arms.

"I don't know about you but I don't think babies can TALK or remember their PAST LIFE!"

Malillia looked distraught.

"What!? It... failed?"

Yuro put his face in his palms.

"Damnit. Of course, it's too good to be true."

Malillia dragged her hands down her face.

"Maybe it was literal when it meant this was a delicate procedure. Welp, rewind time I guess."

Archie looked panicked.

"WAIT DON'T-"

Rewind.

Mildry Underground Cavern - 18FTE

Archie shook Yuro awake.

"WAKE UP!"

Yuro slowly opened his eyes, his pupils adjusting to the light.

"What? What? Where am I?"

Yuro sat up in a panic to see he was in the underground cavern. Around him were most of the town Vampires with their belongings, ready to depart from the town.

"Why..."

Archie looked relieved.

"Thank god. How are you feeling?"

Yuro clutched his head, he remember seeing Malillia fall limp and then a man pointing a gun to his head. The man seemed familiar. Yuro strained his head trying to remember why the man seemed so familiar. It then clicked.

"Riley..."

Archie looked worried.

"W-What?"

"That was his name... back at the slave camp. I swapped bodies with a guard to sneak in. When I changed back I kept his unconscious body hidden away."

Archie's eyes widened.

"Wait what...? There was a survivor? You gotta be joking."

Yuro groaned.

"What happened? Where's..."

Archie's averted his gaze.

"You were ambushed. Malillia was critically wounded and a lot of human reinforcements arrived. They were sweeping through the town with this man... he was covered in armour, nothing as I'd ever seen. He was able to point out Vampires from a glance it was scary. They started culling through us so everyone evacuated here and we are preparing to leave."

Yuro's eyes twitched.

"What? Why? What about Malillia, you said she was wounded! Is she here? What about the daycare?"

Archie held Yuro still.

"Listen. Before Malillia died she cast a Rewind on most of the town. Almost all of the human soldiers are stuck in it. She gave us an opening. We have to use it to leave the town."

Yuro gripped onto Archie's arm.

"No! We're going in to save her and the children! We can't leave her. She's trapped in her own rewind, potentially dying over and over again! I can't let her suffer like that! I can't let her die!"

Archie shook his head.

"She said it herself, we have to stick together. We are leaving. You convinced me to leave so that's what's happening!"

Yuro's expression grew more enraged.

"I don't care! Malillia and Auny are in there! I won't stand by and let nothing happen!"

Archie slapped Yuro.

"Think for a second! If you go in you'll only be stuck in there as well. Then what? We rescue Malillia and the rewind stops, great now an ENTIRE HUMAN ARMY WIPES US ALL OUT!"

Yuro pushed Archie away.

"Then I'll go save her, you and the town leave while you can. I won't just accept this. I have to have hope. Hope they can be saved."

Archie scowled.

"No, you idiot! Malillia is doing her job! Saving people, helping us. It's just like when we dispel Limbo's, we have to trust her!"

"So you're just going to leave her behind? All the times we died she ALWAYS rewound to save us. Now it's our turn. Just leave with the town, I'll bring her back."

Yuro sprouted his wings and flew out of the Cavern. Archie tried to fly after but his tattered wings prohibited it.

"YURO! Idiot... He'll kill us all."

Archie stood on the raised plateau and addressed all of the Vampires.

"Everyone! Please listen, we need to evacuate from the town. I know it's sudden but Malillia, our princess, is buying time. We can't disappoint her."

"You're coming with us, right?"

"Who will lead us?"

"Where are we going exactly?"

Archie felt the pressure of the people.

"North. Keep heading north. I'll catch up soon... with the princess."

"What about those still missing?"

"Yeah! This is only half the town!"

"We ain't leaving folks behind. We have to stick together."

Archie grits his teeth.

"Just go north, I promise I'll return with the rest of the town and the Princess. Please, just trust her. Trust me."

Yuro flew toward the daycare, to the outside world, any place in which the rewind encompassed simply looked normal. It's as if nothing was happening. Once the rewind dispersed, the world changed to accommodate what happened inside the rewind. Once Yuro got closer he felt the air change. He looked around to see over one hundred human soldiers marching around the town, killing any Vampire trapped in the rewind. His heart ached watching the chaos unfold.

Seeing the daycare, he saw it engulfed in flames. Soldiers were grabbing the children and putting bags over their heads. Yuro scanned the ground, searching for Malillia and Auny. A gunshot rang through the air as Yuro was hit. He yelped and collapsed to the ground. He groaned upon getting his bearings, soldiers surrounded him, their rifles trained toward him. Yuro had to act quickly so he spread his wings and whipped them around, knocking the soldiers over. Once an opening unfolded, he dashed forward.

He approached the daycare but was stopped by a giant person covered in heavy metal armour. The giant raised an axe and brought it down towards Yuro. Yuro braced himself for impact but luckily...

Rewind.

Yuro stood there unscathed and in the same position, untouched by the effects of the rewind since he had entered the rewind after its creation meaning the rules of the rewind didn't apply to him. Using this opportunity he got closer to the daycare and found Malillia leaning against a wall covered in blood and riddled with bullet holes.

It wasn't her blood. Beside her was the corpse of Riley.

Yuro quickly went to her side.

"Malillia! Hey hey, I'm here."

Yuro grabbed her hand.

"Yuro get out of here..."

Malillia's eyes were heavy and her body was mostly limp.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Please... leave."

Yuro shook his head.

"No. I'm getting you, Auny and the rest of the kids out of here."

Malillia was on the verge of death, her head falling limp just for her to force it up.

"No... no. Go... I'm dead. Save... our people."

Yuro clutched onto her hand.

"Don't say that. Listen, I'll go look for Auny and then we will leave. All of us. We have to stick together."

Yuro left Malillia and searched around for Auny. Dodging soldiers and gunfire, Yuro clawed his way through the chaos. Some Vampires attempted to fight, but their attempts were futile as the onslaught of humans overpowered even the strongest Vampire. After searching for a couple of minutes, Yuro found the frightened Auny hiding away from the conflict.

Auny was shaking, her eyes wide. Yuro slowly approached, she was too shaken to even slink away.

"Auny..."

Yuro's eyes filled with tears.

"Auny I'm here. I'm so sorry."

Auny remained quiet, her gaze fixated on the corpse of a child in front of her. Yuro tried not to look at it.

"C'mon... let's get out of here Auny."

"Get out of where..."

Auny's hand trembled.

"Anywhere I go there's fighting. When my home was invaded, when I was in that cage, even now when I'm here..."

Auny began to sob.

"Why is there always fighting... and why can I never be the one to die?"

Yuro's eyes widened.

"I don't wanna do this anymore. I hate this!"

Yuro saw a gaze that paralleled that of a Vampire wishing to go to Limbo.

"I..."

Auny looked at Yuro.

"Why does there have to be fighting...? Why do people have to die..."

Yuro's hand trembled.

"I... I don't know. I don't know why people have to die..."

Yuro looked at his hand, he had never contemplated death. He was immortal because he didn't want to die. Or perhaps he didn't want to die because he was immortal.

"I know that we have to survive. You have to survive. You have to have hope."

Auny buried her face in her knees.

"I'm tired... Why can't it just end..."

Yuro held back tears. He reached out his hand to her.

Rewind.

She was gone. Yuro clenched his fist, keeping his eyes closed tightly. Emerging back out to the chaos, he saw Archie tearing through humans to protect Vampires. He was drenched in blood and ushered the Vampires toward an exit, away from the rewind.

Yuro ran up to him.

"What are you doing here!?"

Archie turned to Yuro.

"Sticking with you. I trusted you before to keep hope so I'll trust you again. Let's save Malillia and the children."

Yuro smiled and nodded.

"Thanks. Malillia is up by the daycare, you get her to safety and I'll go save the children."

Archie shook his head.

"No, I said we're doing this together. We round up the kids then we scoop Malillia up."

Yuro nodded once more.

"Alright. Sounds like a plan. The rewind is around eight minutes so we will need to be quick."

Yuro and Archie darted off. Yuro ran through soldiers blocking the way while Archie tore through them mercilessly. They went around the garden surrounding the daycare and scooped up any child they saw. Yuro gathered them in a safe location while Archie defended them, blood coated every surface as Archie didn't stop swinging. Despite their best efforts to save the children, Yuro witnessed many of them get killed in the crossfire.

"Watch out!"

Yuro shielded the kids as he was filled with bullets. He screamed in agony but Archie took to the offensive, crashing down on the soldiers and tossing them around.

Yuro guided the kids away from the fighting as he counted heads. Out of the 40 or so children, there were only 14. Auny was also unaccounted for.

Archie regrouped back with Yuro.

"Hey, we're running out of time. We have to go save Malillia."

Yuro's face scrunched.

"Auny isn't here."

Archie's eyes widened.

"I... I'm sorry but we can't toss this up. We might not get as lucky next rewind. All this fighting tiring me out as well."

Yuro clenched his fist.

"We'll go grab Malillia and then I'll try and find Auny."

Yuro was eerily determined.

Archie sighed.

"Fine. Let's go."

Making their way to the daycare, they found Malillia barely alive. Her body was riddled with bullets that didn't allow her to heal her wounds. She wheezed. Her body was limp.

Archie gently lifted her into his arms.

"C'mon princess. We're getting out of here."

Archie, with Malillia in hand, led the kids toward an exit in the rewind.

"Archie..."

Malillia reached her hand up to caress his cheek.

"Don't... just... escape."

Archie grinned.

"Don't fret. Me and Yuro are handling this. Trust us."

Malillia's eyes stared blankly at Archie. His hand drooped down as her head slowly went limp. Archie looked down at her and stopped in his tracks.

"Alright, I'll go search for Auny. Just stay here, I'll be less than a minute."

Yuro spread his wings, preparing to fly.

"She's dead."

Yuro turned around to see Archie holding Malillia's dead body.

"What...? No that..."

Archie trembled.

"If we leave the rewind with her dead body she... won't come back."

"So... we..."

"We have to rewind."

Yuro gripped his hair tightly.

"Fuck... okay. It's fine. We know what to do. We grab Malillia first then gather the kids."

Archie sighed and hung his head low.

"If you think that will work. Let's go."

Rewind.

Malillia was clutching her wounds.

"I really screwed up this time... ha... even those two idiots are here."

Malillia smiled weakly.

Yuro ran up to her.

"Malillia!"

Yuro and Archie helped her up.

"We're getting you and the kids out of here."

Malillia screamed in pain as they grabbed her.

"Stop stop! You two need to leave! I know what I'm doing. I've accepted I'll die here. Someone needs to help the town. Please... just leave."

Yuro picked up Malillia despite her screams.

"I'm not giving up yet. You're not dying! None of us are!"

Archie stared at Yuro with hesitation. His mind raced as he wondered if what they were doing was a good idea at all.

"Idiot..."

Malillia began to succumb to her wounds.

Once more, Yuro and Archie ran around, gathering the kids. Archie kept strong and tore through the soldiers. Malillia's injuries only got worse.

"I can't see Auny anywhere!"

Yuro's eyes were darting around, sifting through the many bodies scattered around the place. Yuro's heart stopped once he saw the bloody face of Auny lying in the dirt.

"Shit... she... no... no no no."

Yuro ran to her.

"Auny..."

Archie saw this and his eyes widened.

"You're joking..."

Archie's expression went cold.

"Yuro... I... I don't think we can..."

"SHUT UP!"

Yuro desperately clung to Auny and Malillia.

"I... I'm not giving up."

Archie saw something more behind Yuro's enraged expression. It was fear.

"Yuro. It's over. We need to go help the others. We can't stay here."

Yuro's eyes went wide.

"I can't let them die. They can't die. They can't. I can't let it happen..."

Archie backed away.

"Yuro... what happened to you... what... are you scared of?"

Yuro stood up, time rewound around them as the piles of corpses disappeared.

"Scared?"

"That look... you're scared of something."

Yuro stared blankly at Archie.

"No, I'm not. I'm not afraid-"

Before Yuro or Archie could react a bullet was fired. Yuro then realized. He had realized why he so desperately clung to those around him. He was scared. So scared. He hadn't realized his fear because it was never something he had cared for, something he saw as so distant it never crept into his mind. He was wrong. He was scared. Scared of the very thing all life fears.

When Yuro opened his eyes, he saw Malillia sitting against the wall of the burning daycare. He eyes were hollow, her body unmoving but her chest slowly moved. Slight inhales and exhales pumping the last remnants of existence into her. Yuro slowly moved his head to the side and saw Auny, covered in blood, her blood, sobbing and trembling. Stand above them all was Archie. His skin had turned red. Endless amounts of blood coated him. The only thing that kept him mostly dry was the signature yellow raincoat he always wore. Even that had dulled.

Yuro tried to speak but his body was in so much pain. He hadn't felt this pain before. It wasn't a physical pain but a pain of the heart. His fears were coming true.

"I don't know what to do..."

Archie fell to his knees.

"I always charged into things... I can't do it... I can't fight."

Yuro felt his heart race as his vision slowly blurred.

I am scared.

Scared of death.

I hate death, I hate looking at it, I hate inflicting it. I hate death and I'm going to die.

I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I hate this feeling. I don't want to die.

Please don't let me die, please.

I can't die. Please don't let me die!

Malillia smiled at Yuro. Her glowing skin and light-consuming black pupils.

"You really want to join? I didn't think we'd get anyone so soon."

Yuro scratched the back of his neck.

"Hah, yeah I just... y'know, I wanted to be useful."

Malillia took his hand and grinned.

"Thanks for this. I don't really know how to go about dealing with these... Limbos but I'm sure we'll figure it out."

Yuro smiled.

"Can't be that hard. I'm happy to help."

Liar

"We'll save anyone in need together."

No, you won't

"I can't even begin to think what they're going through. To reach the point of wanting to die."

Scary thought, isn't it?

"I couldn't imagine..."

Dying

Yuro slowly reached to his heart, he dug his fingers into his flesh and tore it open. In his final moments, he ripped out the string connecting his human soul with his Vampire soul.

Malillia put her hands on her hips.

"Don't worry, if you get beat up I'll just rewind. It takes a bit off my lifespan each time but as long as you're not jumping off buildings every second I'll be fine."

Yuro's eyes widened.

"So you'll keep me alive if I get close to death?"

Malillia nodded enthusiastically

"Yep! I'll make sure you don't die on my watch."

Yuro stared blankly at her.

"Not dying... ever... sounds nice."

Mildry - 12/03 12:09 pm 51EE

"Do you remember now Yuro? Do you remember how utterly selfish you were? You removed any part of you that was a Vampire just so you didn't die."

Archie walked forward. He stared directly into Yuro's eyes.

"The soldiers took you and any other child they could. Hauling them away on a carriage. You got what you wanted, you never had to see anyone die. I did though. For 400 years I tore through those humans over and over again. I watched the same eight minutes pass endlessly as I tried any way I could to escape. I couldn't. I couldn't fly away. I couldn't run away. For 400 years I endured pain. The only thing keeping me going was the hope I could escape and kill you."

Yuro kept the gun to his chin.

"I'm sorry... please. I'm so sorry. I just... didn't want to die."

Archie's lip curled up.

"No one does. It comes with being alive. But death isn't the worst thing to exist. It's not being able to escape it. Isn't that right?"

Yuro's eyes went red, he hadn't blinked, an endless stream of tears hydrating every pore on his face.

"It is... it's the scariest thing in the world."

The bandaged woman in the wheelchair sat idly by. Archie stayed close to her.

"I would say you're in the wrong but I understand you Yuro. Being on the cusp of death really makes you think. With how scary it is your mind comes up with the craziest ideas on how to escape it. It was during my endless crusade did an idea sprung to mind."

Archie put his hand on the bandaged woman's shoulder.

"You're welcome, Yuro. I saved Malillia and Auny. Aren't you going to greet them?"

Archie leaned down, his face close to the bandaged woman.

Yuro's eyes widened.

"No... you're..."

Archie slowly unwound the bandages wrapped around her. Her skin was gone, just flesh, muscle and bone remained. Her eyes were gone, hollow holes where they once were. Her teeth were rotten, maggots and worms digging their way through her mouth. Her fragile body was riddled with holes, the wind whistling through them. She was barely recognizable, She was barely human or Vampire. She was barely alive.

Archie smiled.

"They don't look like how they used to. The process of doing a reverse Limbo is tough but this was the best I could do in 400 years. I used Auny's pure human soul as a basis for Malillia's soul. This was the only way to escape that hell. I must say, this world has only grown worse since I last saw it."

Yuro looked at the mangled, but still alive, the body of Malillia and Auny, their souls fused together in order to stay alive.

"Malillia...? Auny...?"

"Yuro."

Her voice was raspy.

"Did you see them...? My children. They're like the ones from the daycare. They are so happy."

A twisted smile formed on her face.

The train attendants and conductor were her children. She sacrificed almost all of her body to give them life. She had given up everything just to let her people survive, no matter the cost.

Archie chuckled, his eyes going wide. He clawed at his face, smearing the face paint he used to hide his blood-scorched skin.

"Are you scared now? To truly die. To experience death for 400 years."

Archie licked his teeth.

"Let death be swift for you, unlike how it was for us."

Yuro clutched the gun to his head.

"I'm... sorry."

Suddenly, Yuro was tackled to the ground.

"YURO!"

Eliowen shouted, ripping the gun from his hand.

"Don't worry. Let us handle it."

Eliowen stood up and joined next to Crux and Rina who were back up. Determined expressions plastering all of their faces.

Crux cracked his knuckles.

"You idiots think you can come on in here and knock us around? Yuro's our friend! We ain't gonna let him die so easily."

Rina snarled.

"I... won't let... him... die."

Eliowen stood tall as his eyes glowed.

"We haven't given up yet because we aren't dead. If you have a problem with Yuro you come through us."

Archie scoffed but in their eyes, he didn't see the fear Yuro once had. In their eyes, he saw true determination to not let their friend die.

"You- fine if you all want to die as well I'd be happy to show you what 400 years of fighting does to a person!"

Archie transformed, growling with pure hatred.

"KNIGHT OF THE COVENANT! RISE!"

Behind Archie a behemoth of a monstrosity stood, covered head-to-toe in armour with an axe large enough to split the town in half.

"You think their souls were the only ones I split during those 400 years... No... I made use of what I had."

Archie clutched his heart.

"In our time he was a legend among humans, now he is all but a myth. Until now that is. If you truly wish to not give death to the... traitor then let's end this battle here! For 400 years I've been waiting for this. SHOW ME WHAT HUMANS OF THIS ERA CAN TRULY DO!"

Archie erupted into a tsunami of black goo as he charged forward, centuries of fury unleashing upon the world.