Crystal and Alexus froze, unsure why they were suddenly excited. Then, the little girl stopped in front of Crystal, looking at her with awe. She was a small little girl with red curly hair and a freckled face. She is wearing jeans with a pink tank top and sneakers, making her look cute. She had a slight limp that told them that her right leg was injured, possibly from an old injury, but even still, she hobbled around her with excitement on her face.

On the other hand, a young boy who looked to be around the age of five gaped at Alexus with big round eyes, blinking as a bit of drool seeped out from his lip. He raised his thumb and started sucking on it. He wore simple black shorts and a t-shirt with a Superman print. Alexus couldn’t help but stare, interested in his shirt. He wasn’t a Superman fan, but it was nice to see something of his time.

Alexus raised his brow, staring at the little boy with black hair. Unsure what they both wanted.

“I’m Jesse.” The red-haired girl spoke out proudly, sticking out her chest. “This here is Rye.”

Her voice was filled with excitement, staring at both of them back and forth with a big smile. The way she gazed at them told him she was meeting a famous movie star as she rocked on her good foot back and forth.

“Yes?” Alexus asked, unsure what else to do. “Can I help you?”

Rye still stared, sucking on his thumb silently. Then, just when he was about to say something else, one of the older teenagers stepped forward. He looked quite an athletic teen, with golden hair and rippling muscles. Even his blue t-shirt made it look like it was a bit too tight for him, and he was also wearing jogging pants with black sneakers. At least he wasn’t as buff as Marcus; Marcus was a whole different beast altogether; the teen looked more like a copycat without the intimidation factor. He looked above average, with the same freckled face as Jesse with curly brown hair. Some of the girls would’ve considered him handsome.

“Rye’s not the talkative type,” the familiar voice of the male that scolded Jesse when she was trying to let strangers inside, “I’m David, by the way.” He took out his hand for Alexus to shake.

Reaching over, Alexus shook. “Alexus.” He spoke, examining him. “The one who came with me is Crystal.”

“Oh?” David glanced over at Crystal with interest. Then he motioned with his head toward his group. “That’s my annoying little sister, Jesse. I swear she can be a handful at times. Kim is the Asian guy on the left. He and I used to go to the same school together. He’s pretty smart, though I don’t trust him jack shit with directions.”

“Hey! I’m not directionally impaired!” Kim shouted with a huff, glaring at David. He was taller than David but was a bit lanky. Alexus couldn’t quite tell which race he was from, but he would guess he was Korean from the eyes. He rolled his shoulders, bringing up his hands to pull on his sweater a couple of times.

“If you say so.” David shrugs his shoulders. “Well, anyways. The one next to Kim is his girlfriend Maze. They have been going out for six years now, since middle school. Despite that…” David covered his mouth as he whispered to Alexus and Crystal, “I’m still surprised that they’ve only gotten to holding hands, and even then, they’ve only kissed once or twice.” He exaggeratedly sighed, shaking his head from side to side.

Maze was a short petite girl with slender legs and arms. She was a bit tan, though I could tell that she wasn’t someone to mess with. Crystal was a tough girl, Maze was a step down from that, but her clothes were a bit revealing on the top. She was wearing a tank top with black fishnets with black jeans.

She glanced towards Alexus as her eyes looked him up and down. Then, with a quick frown, she looked away.

“Don’t mind her. She only likes to talk with Kim.” David waved his hand in front of him. “Our final one here is Abbie; she’s the only adult here. She’s been accommodating, and she has been the one that’s keeping us all healthy to this day. She’s a nurse, by the way.”

“It’s my job,” Abbie spoke; she crossed her hand in front of her as she glanced in our direction. “It’s what I do best.”

“Anyways, you can say Rye doesn’t have a parent. Ever since they died, Abbie decided to take care of him.”

Alexus was a bit taken aback. For someone so young to have nobody out in this demon-infested world, he couldn’t help but think that Rye was lucky to find this group. The chances of him surviving outside were meager.

“How long have you guys been living here?” Alexus asked, examining around. He could tell that they had made this whole church their base.

Long chairs were pushed to the side, near the windows and the doors, creating their blockage. Even the podium was pushed against the front door, slanted. There were even quite a few mattresses spread out throughout the place, segregated into their own little space.

Clothes were hanging on the lines, and empty cans were opened up and left near the doors. Alexus suspected that they were using them for tripwires. Even boxes of open packages stacked up on one side of the room with portable frying pans, pots, spoons, and any other kitchen utensils.

The place was messy, but their little areas were kept clean. So it wasn’t too bad, though they seemed to be living it quite well out here. None of them look malnourished at all.

“One year, six months, and seven days,” David replied. He sighed. “After the city fell, it was hell on Earth.”

“What?” Alexus snapped towards him, surprised by what he had said. “Can you explain?”

“You don’t know?” David was confused. The thought of them not knowing something this important was that everyone knew.

“Well, there have been a few complications.” Alexus rolled his hand in front of him, unsure if he should tell him that they had been sleeping for over one hundred and fifty years, to be exact. It could sound a bit too fantastic for them, but the demons roaming around the city streets were fantastic enough.

“Amnesia?”

“You...can say something like that.” Alexus glanced toward Crystal, hoping that she would play along. Instead, she instantly caught on and gave him a small nod.

“That sucks, man.” David frowned, “I had a concussion once three years ago, and I had short-term amnesia too for a while. It wasn’t pretty, but it eventually came back.”

“Yea.” Alexus lied, knowing that it was better to just play along. There was no way he had amnesia, but this was the closest thing to it without explaining everything. “I woke up near Seventh Sanctum and wasn’t sure what we were doing for the past years. Then, I remember that Crystal and I were part of a team, and the rest was history.”

David didn’t completely believe in their story, but he slowly shook his head. “Have a seat; it’s going to be a long story. Trust me.” He turned around and went to pick out a couple of chairs. The others followed along, making their way to get comfortable. The kids followed closely behind, still gaping at them with excitement.

“Have you killed a monster before?” Jesse asked excitedly at Crystal. “The ones outside are monsters that died, trying to get inside. They were angry and have tried many times to break in, but every time they failed.” She chuckled, grinning at the thought. “God is here protecting us.”

Crystal wasn’t sure how to respond and stayed silent, listening to Jesse's excited chatter.

Everyone sat down; Alexus pulled a chair over, making himself comfortable.

“Jesse, leave her alone and come sit over here,” David called out, motioning her to sit next to him.

“But-” Jesse wasn’t happy with David's order. She glanced back towards Crystal as if she could help her somehow and back at David with a frown. “I’m not going to bother her. I was just going to ask a question.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Exactly, that’s bothering her. We got a lot more important things to talk about.”

Jesse scowled at her brother’s words, then stomped her foot. “That’s not fair!”

“Nothing is fair; come sit here now.”

“But!”

“Jesse.” David's voice was stern. He reprimanded her for her outburst.

“Fine.” She let out an exaggerated sigh as she rolled her eyes. Then, she walked toward him with an angry stomp and sat down next to him on the floor. She blew out air, pushing away the stray hair on her hair.

“Now, as I was saying.” David spoke, “I can remember it like yesterday.” He replied with a heavy sigh.

The room felt heavy, almost to the point where it made Alexus uneasy. Whatever was eating David’s mind was affecting everyone else around him as they uniformly got depressed or saddened by the event of their old memory.

“We lost a lot of people that day.” David finally got the will to speak. He took a deep breath and continued with his story. “It was like any other day. I remember specifically because of the unusual moon that night. The Blood moon. It was so mesmerizingly beautiful as it glowed overhead in the night sky.”

Alexus shifted a bit forward, leaning in to hear his story.

“You wouldn’t normally forget such an unforgettable night, but it all happened when the clock struck 3 A.M. A loud sound echoed throughout the whole city, waking everybody up. We all didn’t think much of it, mostly because hearing loud sounds in Chicago was normal. At first, it wasn’t so bad. The first sound wasn’t even as bad as the second, but as it kept going, it kept getting louder and louder, until it began to shake the very wall.”

Alexus couldn’t help but think it was some earthquake, but from David’s expression, he could tell that it wasn’t.

“People panicked as they began streaming out of their homes for fear of an earthquake. The ground began to shake itself as people started freaking out. Even I rushed in fear at what was going on and when we all stepped out…..” David's voice became muted as his face dropped into a low scowl. Even his hand in front of him wrapped tightly together as he clenched tight. “Was the day the monsters came pouring out into the city.”

“Demons?” Alexus asked.

“Yes.” David shuddered. It wasn’t just one, but many. His eyes darkened. “There were two main ones that I remember that were powerful. One was a giant monster that terrorized the city itself, like Godzilla you see on T.V. What was worse was that it created its offspring by the flesh of its skin.” He blanched. “Those bastards would pop out of its pimply skin like a teenager popping its zits.”

Alexus cringed. His description was highly descriptive that it was hard not to imagine it.

“At first, we all thought it was some kind of freak show, an illusion, but it was a different story when people started dying. They weren’t just one or two, but hundreds, possibly even thousands, killing every human that it would see. Then, the big one would hop around and destroy its city, bringing chaos.” Said David, “The second one was a bit strange, it….no a she would just stay in one spot unmoving for hours until she would send one large, powerful attack, smoldering the area around her into oblivion. I thought the giant frog-looking demon was bad enough, but she made it worse. Whoever was dead was resurrected into her minions, almost like a damn zombie apocalypse.”

Alexus' eyes became wide as he gripped tightened. Hearing about what had happened in the past made him realize that both Crystal and he were lucky to be alive. He wasn’t even sure if they could fight off such demons without being swamped. Not only that, it was just two demons that wreaked havoc in the whole of Chicago.

“It’s Gluttony and Sloth.” Crystal spoke in a soft tone that I almost missed.

“Excuse me?” David asked, a bit confused.

“It’s their names.” She replied. “It’s what we call them.”

“Yea,” said David. “Just like the seven deadly sins. The funny thing is they would do exactly what their name describes.”

“Yea, they do.”

“Anyways, the strange thing was they were heading straight towards Seventh Sanctum.”

“I’m sorry?” Crystal and Alexus were confused; for both of them to come to Seventh Sanctum again was something that rarely happened. The first time they did it, they caused chaos and destruction. The second time, the same thing happened, but worse on a grander scale. “What exactly do you mean?”

“Well, that’s the thing. They stopped in front of Seventh Sanctum and ripped the whole building apart. Of course, all the other buildings they destroyed out of what seemed like senseless enjoyment, but with Seventh Sanctum, I had a feeling that they were searching for something.”

“Like?”

“I don’t know.” David shrugged his shoulders, “It could be anything, but right after three-fourths of the building was pushed aside, and Seventh Sanctum destroyed, and people dying everywhere, a miracle happened.”

David’s group brightened at his words, and their eyes started to glisten at the prospect of what he would say next.

“What kind of miracle?” Crystal asked, but Alexus felt that she knew what he would say next. It was on her expression, the other people might not realize it, but he, on the other hand, could tell. Her eyes brightened up, one of her brows slightly lifted, and even the way she always seemed to smile slightly. It wasn’t the usual smile that made her eyes squint like rainbows, but a sly smile that gave her a sense of arrogance.

“The Ouroboros.” Silence followed; David was locking eyes with Crystal, stressing each word.

“They fought the demons back.”

Suddenly, a slew of voices was spoken out at once.

“It was so cool!” Jesse shouted in excitement, bouncing up and down on her butt. “They like to use special powers to harm them!”

“Yea. Yea.” Rye was nodding furiously while suckling on his thumb.

“They went whoosh! Bam! Wham!” Jesse motioned her hands in front of herself. Rye was following her motion. “Then they were like spewing out thunderbolts, blowing crazy fire, and and and many more!” Her grin became wide as she chartered as fast as possible.

“Well, I wouldn’t put it as some superpower,” Kim stated, shaking his head towards Jesse. “It’s all scientific. They had flamethrowers or some kind of new technology.” He said, not believing in the word of magic. “Plus, they were shooting guns like the cops. Just, they had some kind of plasma gun or something.”

“Yeah, right.” Jessie rolled her eyes, placing her hand on her hips. “You know better than I that they were something else going on. The cop’s bullets weren’t even phasing them, and the ones that Ouroboros was shooting looked the same kind.”

“Oh, please. That’s all just hocus pocus.” Kim waved his hand in front of him, not completely believing her.

“Then how is it possible to see the demons throwing their energy ball at the barrier!” Jesse frowned at his words, “it’s like saying that what you see outside isn’t magic, and it's all in your head!”

“Like I said, it’s science. Everything in this world can be explained.”

“No, it can’t.”

“Yes, it can.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Yes. Why am I arguing with a kid?” Kim rolled his eyes at her.

“You're just stupid, that’s why.”

When Kim was about to say something back, David raised his hand to stop them. “Enough.” He stressed the words, glaring at both of them to be quiet. “It doesn’t matter if they can be proven or not. But, most importantly, they killed demons and even pushed them back. Without them, we wouldn’t have made it alive to this day. The whole of Chicago would’ve been destroyed if it wasn’t for them.”

“Agreed,” Kim replied, nodding his head as he leaned backward, letting Maze sit on his lap.

“As I was saying, the Ouroboros was able to push back Gluttony and Sloth back to the lakes, though many had died from doing this.” A sorrowful tone erupted in David’s voice. “Those two demons were bent on destroying the Ouroboros; it was as if it was their agenda to see them dead.”

Alexus thought over what he had said. To see so many people die to push back and save many civilians was something that all the Ouroboros understood and knew. It was almost second nature to fight against the demon.

“Did you see a buff bald guy in that fight?” Alexus asked, hoping that we could get some answers.

“Buff bald guy?”

“Or maybe a black male with dreads and some angel demon tattoos? A long silver hair pretty boy? Or maybe a geeky-looking Hispanic male that complains about everything?” Alexus knew he was overloading him with descriptions, but he wanted to know who woke up and fought back.

“The bald guy!? I know him!” Jesse was bouncing on her butt, raising her hand over her head as if it was school. “I know. I know.”

“You do?”

“Yes!” Jesse nodded her head furiously, she lowered her hand, and a big smile lifted on her face. “He’s the one that saved me from being crushed by the giant frogman!”

“He saved you?”

“Yep.” She stated it proudly, as if it was a badge of honor. “Not only that, he was the one that helped us fortify this building. Unfortunately, though, now that I think about it….there were a couple of people put up some kind of scribbles on the wall.”

“Where exactly would that be?” Crystal asked, “Do you mind showing it to me?”

“Absolutely.” Jesse bolted onto her feet, then scurried towards the place at the back of the church where dim light lit up the place with lanterns. Crystal followed after her, though Alexus stayed with David. He wanted more information, especially on what happened next.

“So, did the demons find what they were looking for?” Alexus asked.

“I’m not sure…..but I believe that they did.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Well, after a good two-thirds of the Ouroboros was swatted around like flies and slain, the fat ugly one had someone in its hand. Now that I think about it, the one it had in its hand wasn’t slain. It was kidnapped.”

“Wait? What?” Alexus was confused; demons don’t usually take hostages; they usually invade a body and stay there. “It had someone in its hands? Can you describe them?”

David rubbed his fingers, trying to think about what he had asked for. He bit his lower lips and sighed, shaking his head. “It was too fast, and I was running for my life. We all were.”

“I understand,” Usually, people on a flight or fight response don’t remember everything, especially when getting away from danger. Alexus knew this too well, but to hear that so many Ouroboros died saddened his heart. They were friends, acquaintances, people that he considered family. It made him angry that the demons had taken away those people; he knew that he would never see them again, which bothered him immensely.

Crystal finally came back with Jesse, who seemed giddy with excitement that she had difficulty keeping Jesse back. “It’s Timothy, alright.”

“It is?” Alexus was thrilled to learn that Timothy was possibly alive.

“Yes,” Crystal replied. “I’d remember those stupid scribbles anywhere.”

Alexus turned towards David, “It seems our friend has been with you guys and even put a charm on this building.”

David slowly nodded, “Yes, but they were only with us for a short time. After that, they could set up whatever they were doing and had to leave in a hurry to fight back the demons.”

“By any chance, do you know where exactly they headed off after the fight?”

“No, all I know is that they went south.”

“South?”

“Yea, towards the-”

Boom! Something went off, causing the whole church to shake. They all froze, looking towards the entrance door.

Crystal replied, frowning. “This is not good.”