A knock at the door broke them apart as a man awkwardly looked towards them. Crying families weren’t in his job description. He addressed her with a sense of urgency, "Ms. Woods. Everything has been packed up. The plane will leave soon."

She didn’t blame him for wanting to hurry. In this day and age, flights only ran through the daytime due to the horrors of the night. Not to mention, a flight to Asura wouldn't come again until the next program was scheduled. There was no telling when that would be. It was time to leave.

Caroline nodded and threw her backpack on her back, her eyes were red and puffy as she turned to her family. "I'll update you guys in a month. Don't you dare miss my call!"

The blonde shuffled a few steps before stopping, "Also please… tell Drew when he gets back that… I'm sorry and to forget about me."

Before she had time to even think about changing her mind anymore, she ran out the door, never to return to her childhood home again. Hopefully, her family's worries would be unfounded and Drew would find someone else to love.

Outside, a black SUV waited for her. Everything after became a blur. Scenery of her home flashed by her as she looked out the car's passenger window and Caroline's memories of how this all happened began to drown her.

Four years ago, a war had broken out and the world was brought to its knees thanks to humanity's unending greed. Caroline didn't know the full story because, well, no one did. But the result was obvious. They now lived in the New Dark Age where there were three major powers and one mysterious power.

The New Dark Age, as it was called, was ruled by the Council of Americas, The Western Dynasty, Kumia, and the mysterious Asura. All of the Eastern counties had come under the control of the Council of Americas while the Western Dynasty was made up mostly of what was once Russia and China. The rest of the old world was under the control of Kumia- including places such as Europe, Germany, and Australia for starters. Finally, there was Asura. A mysterious, new world that filled the power vacuum, the other countries soon bending their knees to it.

Asura was a new continent of its own, popping up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, connecting the once solitary island tropics. It rose from the sea, filled with new life and new wonders… but also new dangers. One of the most popular theories was that Asura was originally the secret lab of the mad scientists before it evolved into what is there now, but it was unconfirmed.

Due to the appearance of Asura, or rather the meddling and atrocities of the scientist, the world was now filled with mutated animals, new diseases, and creatures that were thought to only be myths. Although Caroline had never seen any of these mythical beasts herself, she had seen the way the mutations affected the local wildlife.

Humans had begun to dub some of these mutations as 'monsters' rather than 'mutants' when they displayed a blood thirsty nature or corrupted the air around them. Whispers said that all of these new creatures were first creations of a few mad scientists that wanted to create bio weapons. It didn't take long for those beings to spread across the world and settle in different ecosystems. Now, there were new creatures discovered all of the time.

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Lizards to Dragons, birds to Phoenixes, horses to Unicorns, and even humans to dread demons—The scientists ruthlessly tested on almost every life form in hopes of creating the ultimate weapon.

They stole people off the streets, bought slaves, and even tested on children just to accomplish this goal. They had no moral code. What made it worse was that it was the previous American president that had been funding such a thing. It didn't make Caroline feel great about being an American before the New Dark Age.

The humans and creatures that lost their minds became devils, corrupted beings that drank blood and snuffed out any life. Thankfully, if you could even be thankful about the situation at all, they were nocturnal and exclusively came out at night.

The devils were now the bane of all life in this broken world. The most dangerous devils were undoubtedly dread demons due to their superior intellect and sadistic nature. They only came out at night and despite being former humans, they preyed on human settlements.

Caroline looked out the plane window and caught her reflection. She hadn't realized she was wearing a sweatshirt from her old university, but she was. Those were the best times of her life. A somber expression followed. She remembered seeing the missing persons reports for a few of her friends.

Hell, she had even filed one herself… She had called their families in a panic when she first heard, maybe even hoping that something new about the kidnappings had come up, but they knew nothing and had been told to treat them as dead by the government itself.

Now, Caroline knew that her friends had probably been stolen away to become lab rats before being tossed aside like medical waste. Drew… her boyfriend, had been with her through that time. Many that went missing had also been his friends.

Her heart felt heavy as she remembered her first friend to go missing. It was something she could never forget. She wouldn't be surprised if it haunted her until she died. 'Oh, Ava…'

In truth, Avangeline, her best friend, had always been someone important to her. Every time she thought of her lost friend her heart ached and she knew there was a hole in her heart. So many ‘what ifs’ always played in her head but one always came out on top.

‘If only I’d have gone after her… No, don't think about that. There's no way I could have predicted she would go missing after that…'

With a deep sigh, Caroline, eyes half closed and very tired from crying, stared out at the clouds from her window seat, not knowing what possibly awaited her in Asura. It was a place of endless mystery. Now that she wasn't in control of her life, maybe she could move on.