A clamorous cry sounded throughout the living room.
"E-Emory..."
Hearing the baby cry for the first time, Darian's eyes widened as his lips parted. What do I do…? He was wholly unprepared for this moment.
Holding the wailing child with his trembling hands, he whispered in Emory's ear. "Now, now. Don't cry, little Emory…"
Using his bony, frail hand, he began patting Emory's small back softly. However, the cries did not cease. For the next 30 minutes, he tried everything, from soothing to toys to burping.
Darian pressed his lips together and tried to rack his mind. How do I stop a crying baby? His eyebrows furrowed as he paced around the living room, avoiding objects in his path.
It wasn't until a knock on the door that they both stopped. Darian's eyes lit up as he noticed Emory stopped crying. Unfortunately, that only lasted for a couple of seconds. Emory's screaming reignited fiercely.
As the color in his eyes slowly faded, Darian approached the white door. He reached his open hand for the brass knob and twisted it open. Outside was a child no older than seven years old.
"Grant." Darian acknowledged. Grant Ophul was Darian's neighbor's only son. He had soft ginger hair that covered his forehead and possessed grass-green eyes. Grant was sucking on a frozen fish, a delicacy in Trila.
"How can I help you?" Darian asked, bending down slightly. Grant grimaced from Emory's shrieks before replying, "My momma says your baby's too loud." He took the fish out of his mouth, saliva dripping on the concrete, and pointed it toward Emory.
He's only been crying for 30 minutes... Darian's eyebrow twitched. "Oh, sorry about that." Not hearing a response from Grant, Darian continued, "I-I'll try to get him to calm down soon."
He gently brought his lips to Emory's cheek. "Is that the only reason you came here?" While holding the frozen fish near his freckled face, Grant nodded, "Yeah." He wore a light blue T-shirt and matching shorts. Dark brown sandals were strapped to his feet, leaving his chubby toes exposed to the air.
As Grant shifted his gaze to Emory once more, the latter reciprocated. Then, Emory looked toward the fish.
The crying stopped.
Darian's jaw fell as he felt taken aback. "Emory?" The subject at hand's focus was pinpointed directly on the frozen, dead fish. Realizing that he finally stopped crying, a beaming smile plastered itself on Darian's face. "Oh my!"
Grant noticed Emory's eyes nailed toward the fish in his hand, so he kindly offered it to the newborn baby. "Here." He handed the fish to Darian, who was confused.
"...?"
"Your baby likes it." Grant felt like he didn't need to expand further, and Darian got the message as well. After thanking Grant for his generosity, Darian waved at him before seeing him off. "Thanks again for the fish. I've been meaning to buy some for him, but the markets are all closed."
Grant looked back and replied, "Yeah, my papa says a lot of people are dying." Pausing at the young boy's dark remark, Darian's lips twitched. Why are they talking to a little kid about this? He questioned Mr. and Mrs. Ophul's parental methods.
Disregarding Grant's previous statement, Darian warned him, "Be careful on your way back. Go home straightaway." Grant nodded, "Yeah." He then hopped each step and landed on the ground with a thud before scurrying all the way home.
What a nice kid... Darian smiled before looking over at Emory, who was laser-focused on the frozen fish. "Who knew a fish would get a crying baby to stop?" Chuckling to himself, he opened the door and went back inside.
Placing Emory on the dark green two-person couch, he put the fish directly beside Emory. The baby's maroon eyes locked on to the fish the moment he noticed it.
As Darian was preparing food in the kitchen, a loud siren emanated from the area. Surprisingly, Emory stayed quiet, unbothered by the piercing shriek.
Darian, however, felt his back tense drastically. Like second nature, he quickly ran to Emory and the fish and picked them up.
He maneuvered throughout the house and ran to the hallway, where he was met with a multitude of floorboards that were a part of the walkway.
After he placed Emory softly on the ground, he used all the strength he could muster and lifted a larger-than-average floorboard. The creak was drowned out by the earsplitting siren, which left Darian lowering.
After he removed the singular floorboard, it left them faced with a chilling basement. A set of wooden stairs hid underneath them as Darian slowly descended, re-shutting the floorboard before reaching the ground.
As he landed down in the dark and wet basement, Darian felt like his stomach was spiraling. Rain droplets punctured the eerie vibe as he heard the footsteps of mice scurry along the corners.
The siren remained, but was fuzzy distant now. Darian knew the severity of the alarm that showered Trila. It was only released if there was a monster sighting.
'Monsters' are alien-like creatures that feast on humans. They have multiple limbs and protruding devilish mouths. The muscles along their body bulge and convulse rapidly, giving them strength no regular human could ever fathom.
Some even had supernatural abilities like breathing fire or summoning lightning.
Was there a crack in the sky again? Darian subconsciously looked up, past the roof of his house and the sky that lay looming above the world.
Monsters appeared only when a crack in the air had occurred. It's like as if the sky was a mirror, and then a dark purple sliver runs through and tears it open, releasing single or multiple monsters at a time.
They can be killed by either the Elevated or by certain military personnel. For anyone else, a monster sighting almost always results in a brutal death.
Throughout Theales' history, monster sightings and the assassination have cratered their way of life astronomically. Despite constant efforts to combat them, the killings have and will never cease.
Darian hid Emory in a bed down in the basement; he covered him with a black blanket and silently went to a small chest. Inside was a sword; he grabbed it and went into a ready stance. Even though Darian's weapon was just a regular sword, it was all he had at his disposal.
The two waited in silence, praying that the siren would stop and the monsters would be killed.