The moon burnt red, almost as if its colour was stolen by the skies.
Was the world ending? A minute ago everything was normal and now… Armageddon. Was this some sort of phenomenon? I must be dreaming
A pinch, and a sting - definitely not a dream. What's happening outside? There weren't any screams, no loud bangs… anything. The unsettling silence was deafening.
I didn't dare to explore outside. In truth, I'd rather die in ignorance than die in despair facing my death. I shall simply lay here on my bed and wait nicely with my eyes closed…
...
.....
...
…H-How many minutes has it been? Nothing has happened — the grip on my heart is nothing less than excruciating.
Whatever I do, my eyes must remain shut. If I don't, I will find out the truth. The truth behind this silence, the truth behind the red moon. Right now, at this moment and time, there must be nothing but silence and darkness. Absolute zero thoughts on the passing future.
A crash
My still sanctuary was invaded with an ear splitting boom.
Two thumps. At this moment, all I could hear was that deafening screaming from my heart
'RUN, GET OUT, HIDE, JUST DO SOMETHING.'
Unfortunately, Heart, it's not my fault… My body is frozen and my mind can't move. Please just let me die quietly in peace.
Three seconds. That's how long it took for my heart to comply. Three seconds. That's how long it took for the weight on my body to vanish. Three seconds. That's when I felt it, a tug on my right pinky.
There it was, a red thread, tied loosely to my finger like a ribbon. It was unnaturally long, leading me towards the unknown; the abyss. I know I mustn't leave. My mind knows this all yet… even after every effort I made to stay, an overwhelming desire took over me. The body overtook the mind for the first time of its life.
I want to follow it.
Treading slowly, it led me to the halls.
Then the stairs.
And finally, my parents' bedroom.
Within the absolute darkness and silence, I didn't feel a single speck of fear or doubt. Whatever created that noise was behind this door. I felt it in my gut, once this doorknob is twisted, there is no turning back.
Taking one big breath of air, I prepared myself.
I twisted the doorknob, slowly pushing the door. The gap in between slowly revealed to me what had transpired within. The room —once white, splattered with red paint all over the walls. The ceiling now has a huge gap showing the beautiful red hue of the moon.
Of all the peculiarities and obscurities circulating this room, what captured my eyes the most was what laid bare flesh in the middle!
An angel.
If I had traded my eyes for anything, it would be this very image. The world seemed so still at this moment, it was as if the world itself stopped to take a look at her. Her hair—white as snowflakes and she represented the very fragility of those white petals; with a small touch, she could disappear at a moment's notice.
Her wings stretched across the room, drenched and dripping in blood. The more I looked at her, the more enthralled I was. Her porcelain skin was untouched by any scar, at least besides the obvious one lodged into her chest. Her very presence brought otherworldly beauty, almost like those of classical paintings depicting nature and goddesses. This was the image that artists around the world wished to encapsulate.
Beautiful. Enchanting. Ravishing. Stunning. All of these words were created to describe her yet they all paled in comparison to what she is. I was speechless.
The blood, the entrails, organs and whatever left of my parents seemed to make her look ever more beautiful. I really couldn't put a finger on how I felt. It was… foreign, alien almost.
A purple spear was lodged into her chest, pinning her to the ground. Black liquid oozed out of her wound yet this bleeding didn't seem to be the source of her pain.
Her eyes told many different stories with each blink. One of anger, one of anguish, one of joy and accomplishment. And then she looked around her, realising what she had done. She glanced at me and now her eyes told me another story; one just for me. Her eyes held so much regret, yet she still smiled at me painfully.
This feeling. I think it was love.
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A boy woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling. Deafening crashing sounds of water surrounded him. He was under a transparent ceiling. Water droplets formed onto the ceiling and dripped around him.
'Ah the sky... Its golden'
Almost immediately, for no apparent reason, he reached his hand to the sky.
"Is this rain?" The boy muttered to himself.
"What else could it be, snow?" A girl's voice could be heard.
"Ahh!" The boy jumped back.
It was only then did the boy take notice of a white haired girl's presence. She had a mischievous grin on her face and was crawling slowly towards him.
"W-what do you want, why did you kidnap me!"
"Kidnap you? Haha, why would I kidnap someone like you!?"
"..."
She sighed and then pointed towards a direction, "Look, two other kids under two parasols. I too was brought here against my knowledge too, up to you if you believe it or not really."
He scanned his surroundings. She was right, there were kids besides her. A boy with grey and red hair. A girl with mint green hair. They both slept peacefully under the heavy rain. A couple minutes of silence passed.
Having soothed his nerves, he asked, "So, how about your parasol?"
"Mine? Oh, it couldn't handle the weight of the rain, so I ran here. Weird parasol you got here but if it works, it works right?" She looked up at the transparent parasol.
"Yeah..."
"So what's your name?" The girl probed him.
"Ah my name is... My name is..."
'What was my name?'
Questions of his own identity started piling on his head. What was his name? How old was he? What was the last thing he remembered?
Taken aback, the boy sat there, quietly. Trying his best to retrace his steps. His memories were all so fuzzy, remembering his past is bits and pieces. He only knew the facts but not the images.
The boy lived alone… with his dad?.. Moved into a new apartment… He never left the house… The sky? A girl. There was a girl who handed him a feather of some kind.
'A girl with a bright smile and... And what?'
The boy furiously scratched his head but no answers came out. It was like the words didn't come out of his head. Realising it was useless to pursue the matter, he recalled his name.
"Yeol"
"Huh?" The girl looked back at him. She went silent as well after asking about Yeol's name.
"Yeol, that's my name."
"Well my name is Pio and-"
"WHERE THE HELL AM I!!!"
In shock, the two immediately looked in the direction of the noise. The girl with the green hair had woken up. Yeol wouldn't have guessed that the girl who was sleeping so peacefully just moments ago would be so scream so brashly.
'In all honesty, her reaction was reasonable. Waking up in a foreign land, golden skies and a red moon. Red moon? Am I even on the same planet anymore?'
Regardless, it's not like he could talk to that girl anyways. She was too far away and in all honesty, he didn't really feel like walking all the way there.
Instead, he scanned his surroundings again. Checking every nook and cranny if there was any other peculiar detail where he could be. The skies were golden but the moon was out. The rain was pouring; so heavily in fact, that it might crush his body if he dared to walk out. And the grass, it was white. How did he not notice all of this?
"Hey, how heavy is the rain? Also, quite embarrassing on my part but did you notice the red moon and golden skies?"
Pio answered, "Really, really heavy. In fact, if I didn't seek refuge here fast enough. You would've seen a pretty corpse next on this lovely patch of white grass here... Well maybe not pretty actually. I doubt my body would stay intact after staying in this rain for too long now. As for the moon."
She stared straight up, "Yeah, I guess it really is red, the skies are golden too. Anyways continuing myself from early when I was introducing myself-"
Yeol stopped listening quickly after she started rambling on, taking on a mental note that this girl was not normal in the slightest. It was as if this is the norm for her, perhaps he was the weird one. He was a shut-in after all. However, that green haired girl was acting like it wasn't.
'Ha! Its 2 against one, I'm the normal one.' Yeol started grinning to himself.
"Hey, what's with the stupid smirk you have on your face? I was just talking about my human slave collection. You want one?"
"S-slave collection?? W-why do you even have one in the first place... Wait no, please I didn't mean to wrong you, please don't take m-me."
"Aha! I knew it, you weren't listening to me." She then started laughing to herself, mocking and poking fun at Yeol.
'This girl..."
Hours passed. The rain showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Yeol stared into the far distance while Pio won't stop talking to him; not like he was listening in the first place. He sighed and checked on the other two. The other girl looked calm despite her previous performance and the boy had just woken up from his slumber.
"Hey Yeol! Lend me a hand!" Pio was doing her best to lift the parasol.
"Wait, isn't this dangerous? What if it topples over and we'll be under the rain."
"Nah, it's fine I promise. If anything happens, we'll just run to those two." She pointed to the other two parasols not that far from here. "Better than doing nothing right?"
Yeol kept quiet and then nodded. Placing his hands on the pole, he signaled to Pio. "On the count of 3."
One.
Two.
Three.
The two tugged at the pole with all their might. At least as much as two children can muster. However, no matter how much they tried, the pole wouldn't move.
"Ah? What may you two possibly be trying to achieve?"
The two kids turned around. In the midst of the heavy rain. Under the golden skies and red moon, stood a bandaged man. Wrapped from head to toe, badly done drawings on said bandages that somewhat resemble a face.
Yeol immediately took the chance to ask. "How are you standing under the rain? No, I meant who are you and where are we?"
The bandaged man smiled, "I am Phitet, I have summoned the four of you here to slay the demon king! Does that sound interesting?"
"Sounds cliché, not my style really." Pio retorted
"Haha! Yeah it really is unfortunately, however a monster like you shouldn't talk to me about how stories should go. And as for you, I think you got caught up accidentally. You aren't meant to be here. A mistake on my part" The man bowed to Yeol
"Off you two go now. I'll talk to the others. Scram"
It all happened so suddenly. The man had waved his hand and now the two were staring directly into the silver moon. The moon was rotting, it was eating itself directly and now it had set its gaze onto the both of them.
It was only then that Yeol realised that his head was off his shoulders.
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A girl woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling. This time the ceiling was an actual ceiling.