My guts seemed to flip out and a sickening, sour-bitter taste crept upwards, pressing against the back of my throat.
It felt like a block of lead had been placed on my body as I felt my entire body slump.
The bitterness of the bile rising up only intensified and the realm of dark emptiness –– that I had entered after ripping the seal open only for a little while so I could go through it –– receded, like a blanket being forcefully snatched away after a restless night's sleep.
I fell on my knees, the leggings doing little to cushion my fall as it gave away as well and my hands automatically moved to support my body from falling face first.
The small stones dug into my palms. The sharp yelp that was about to leave my lips was submersed by a raucous, gagging voice which surprised even me.
My body convulsed before doubling over.
Placing a trembling hand over my mouth, I dragged my body that felt like a lifeless sack to the edge of the place where I had landed and my stomach heaved uncontrollably.
The thick and acrid stench that rose from it didn't help as I—submitting myself to this fate—retched forcefully again, unable to contain the roiling nausea within me.
The world around me spun for a few fleeting seconds in an abhorrent blur, blowing away the dull ache in my palm.
A few laboured breaths escaped me and I felt my chest heave up and down uncontrollably. My tongue felt heavy and I didn't dare to move it as well.
Like a blind person searching for his cane, my hands flailed on the gravely surface of the ground beneath me, searching for the only thing I had managed to bring with myself. A bottle of water.
The crunch of the bottle's plastic as the wind moved it against the rough, jagged surface was awfully loud due to the silence that plagued the air and like a moth to a flame, I crawled over to it.
Overjoyed, I picked it up and opened it. Drinking it all in one go, I let out a deep breath.
Only after a few minutes of silence, rest and drowning the haunting panic from my mind, was when I realised that I had been teleported.
To a world, even until now, I had considered it was nothing more than mere fantasy. A mere figment of a talented author's imagination. But it was real. All of it.
And Eden of all places. A liturgical place mentioned only in some damned religions or folklores.
A biblical place. It is more impactful if you consider it from the point of view of someone who has been atheist until a year or so ago.
"My whole life has been a lie!" I tried to humour myself, my trembling voice my sole companion.
Aside from – of course – the eerie whispers of the wind which made me get more conscious of my surroundings.
I crawled back without standing up. I did so until my back painfully hit the jagged surface of a mountain's surface.
I suddenly miss wearing heavy clothes. Since it wasn't exactly too hot in Seoul, I had to improvise. Not like I took the advantage of the malls being abandoned.
…Nay! Not at all!
Letting my head rest against it, I breathed in and then from the corner of his raised platform atop some mountain type structure, I looked down.
Scratch 'mountain type' structure, it is definitely a mountain.
Like a firefly, something was burning in a far distance and smoke was rising upwards, forming a dense swirl of smoke and a parrot-green aura hung like a half-manifested aurora all over the place that was located amidst a giant crater of sorts.
For some reason this kind of fantasy world almost had a subtle grandeur that seemed almost tangible, yet grounded in a semblance of reality. And while it would be an utter lie to say that I was not expecting castles made of gold and myself to arrive in front of an adventurer's guild, I was certainly not expecting to land in the middle of… ruins?
I guess ruins would be the perfect way to describe this place.
I pushed my head back and then willed my strength into my entire body.
The process of—for the lack of better words—teleportation had surely left an undeniable mark on me.
Well mark is an exaggeration in all senses of the world; however, it rendered me so weak that I was unable to walk.
Geez. Like what in the name of everything unholy was that?
When I opened the small tear in the Frontier's entrance, I was pulled in like a vacuum sucking in the dirt.
My body felt like it was being stretched and twisted, kinda like when you spin around too fast. The disorienting, dizzying sensation of my entire being feeling like a rubber across dimensions was most likely what made me feel a tad queasy.
The place I was in before I was spat out like a chewing gum was really dark. Like super dark. And funky. All that existed in that place was me and my bungee gum-like existence.
A giggle escaped my lips at my own thoughts. I was proud of that reference.
Mentally patting myself at the effort, I gave myself a few moments of respite before finally realising the grave situation I was in.
I was basically isekai'd here and now I was stranded. Arthur was gone for three days. So, it's safe to assume he's three days away.
…
A moment of silence washed like a hundred years over me, followed by a realisation.
ARGH!
Why didn't I think of it beforehand? Of course he'd be three days away from here. Given the fact he's much faster than me as well. He'd be so far away I'd be captured by someone before I even see him.
I actually want to cry now.
Stupid Astrid!
As if it was going to make me feel a little less dumb, I punched my own head.
Uuu… what am I supposed to do now?
Something crackled and the black swirl in the sky suddenly dissipated as a streak of white-blue arched through the sky.
I wasn't a religious person, but given the current situations and having the reality of them being real slapped into my face, I clasped my hands together—although begrudgingly—and closed my eyes and prayed to whatever deity might be up there.
"I wish I could meet Arthur already!"
Much to my own surprise, my voice came out so loud it jolted me awake from my "prayer" stance.
As the streak of blue in the sky, a shooting star presumably, vanished, silence descended. And in that silence, a wave of embarrassment washed over me.
What am I even doing? Praying to a shooting star!?
Arthur would definitely make fun of me if he saw me like thi—
My thoughts were halted midway as the "shooting star" that had faded away into the night sky arched backwards.
Bruh.
Goosebumps rose over the entirety of my body and my hair stood on edge. My feet flailed and I tried to stand up and jump away from the incoming meteorite. However, my body felt oddly heavy. It wasn't a lack of strength or the fact that I had hurled my guts out.
No, it was something much more tangible.
I felt my eyes brighten up – not due to happiness but due to the sparkle of the incoming meteor-like projectile – as the meteor got so close to me that my entire life flashed in front of my eyes.
The little happy moments with my parents that I had decided to keep with me and then the next sequence of memories went by in a static blur which then continued from the time I met Arthur.
Ever since I had met him, my life has been nothing but joy with an odd pinch of mysteriousness.
It was nice staying alive.
As I closed my eyes and surrendered myself to the incoming object, my mind wandered to something. Perhaps dinosaurs felt the same as me.
Hopeless.
It was sad. Not because I was going to flipping die to a meteor but because I have been useless all this time. In the end I was of no use to Arthur. Other than maybe picking up his clothes and cleaning after him since he doesn't have any manners.
Geez.
A dry laugh escaped my lips.
I should think more about myself.
As the meteor inched closer, it suddenly curved and the blue tail behind it vanished instantly. As if suspended in time, it stayed airborne for a while before completely losing all momentum and falling off into the wide cliff beneath the platform that I was sitting on.
With a blank mind that was unable to discern whether to be happy or even more baffled than I already was, I stood up gingerly and slowly walked over to the edge.
Arcanum had already coated my hands, head and chest.
"Fuuu." I let out a muffled breath, trying not to make a single sound.
And then something lunged forward.
What seemed like a fluffy ball of white fluttered and the next thing I knew was a pair of golden eyes staring right into my own.
I didn't have the time to even let out a voice of surprise as a hand pressed against my face and then I was falling down. The grip tightened, however, the brittle touch suddenly vanished before a small gust of Arcanum supported my body from behind, breaking my fall.
The light from my own Arcanum protecting my body illuminated my attacker's face.
Messy, crimson-stained white hair stuck to the mud-caked face of a boy whose face was almost as sharp as Arthur's. The constant smirk on his face was replaced by a worried frown and his eyes immediately stopped glowing.
"What are you doing here?" He asked quizzically, pulling my back to my feet.
However, his words seemed to enter one ear and escape out of the other.
"Where's Arthur?" I asked, getting a little uncomfortable.
"Oh yeah, he-" he looked back and then down the cliff. "-he's about to die."
The nonchalance in his voice made me double take on what he said.
"He what?"
"He's dying. Are you deaf or something?" He grumbled and then jumped off the cliff.
Wait, wait, wait.
Arthur? He's dying?
This has to be a joke, right?
Someone like Arthur can't be-
The denial of a thought where Arthur can be pushed into a dying spot became almost impossible as Michael jumped back up with Arthur, his arm flung around Michael's neck.
I didn't need sunlight or some major light source to tell what was wrong with him.
His entire body was bleeding. His hair was dishevelled, the neat curtains that were parted in the middle before he left now messy and sticking with blood to his face.
"Make way." Michael grunted as he dragged Arthur.
I was petrified in place. I couldn't move.
A gnawing sense of an icy claw gripping my heart made me shudder and broke the silent stillness that I was imprisoned in. I stole a glance back.
The back of Arthur's white shirt was stuck to his skin via a huge red blotch that covered almost the entirety of his back. And beyond that cut in fabric was his wound.
A sheen of golden aura was enveloping the deep gash, putting further emphasis on the moving, slimy, sticky thingy that stuck to his wound.
Creepy! What the hell is that?
Arthur slipped against the wall and then took a knife out. The knife turned squishy and then coiled like a ring around his index finger.
"Arthur…" I tried calling out for him, like I used to. However, the golden aura that made his features visible rendered me silent. His skin always had been pale, and pristine. To an extent that it made even girls around him in our school envious.
However, right now, in this moment, it was far from the one they envied.
He looked like a—God forbid—corpse.
His eyes were unfocused as he his head dizzily wobbled sideways before shaking and locking his pale eyes on me.
"I see you've gotten a change of clothes." He spoke through clenched teeth and a forced smile, his voice oddly meek.
He was never a boisterous person, however, the way he talked was enchanting. It was humble, yet it wasn't subservient to anyone. Defiance and humbleness were an odd mix; however, he wore that timber like a glove.
And exactly due to that, hearing him talk in such a powerless way made a tremour of pain go through my chest.
"Arthur…" was all I managed to reply with.
"Oh God, not this romance anime reunion. For fuck's sake, do something. If you can't then…" he paused for a quick second, "…I don't know, jump off the cliff and kill yourself!"
The urge to talk back to this brat welled up in me, but seeing Arthur in such a state drowned out the thought. Disregarding him, I crouched down.
"What happened to you?" I asked, trying to reach out for him. Placing my hand on his knee, I inched a little closer, hoping to touch his face.
It was a childish impulse, I knew, but even now I was having a hard time believing Arthur was in such a state.
As my hand inched closer, he jerked back, albeit subtly and my hand recoiled on instinct. His chest rose up, stayed like that for a while as he watched me with wide eyes, before slowly breathing out and looking down.
"I need your help." He spoke, his voice slightly quivering.
"Y-Yeah." As if tripping over their feet, my words came out much more jumbled than I had intended them to be, even though it was just a word. I shifted, removing my hand from his knee as painfully pulled himself and sat straight against the wall where I had taken rest after throwing my guts out.
Arthur turned on his side and started to unbutton his shirt. "I need you to remove the symbiote from my wound."
His words turned the gears in my mind, but they failed to make sense of anything.
"Symbiote? Like the black spiderman?"
"That's what I was thinking."
Surprisingly, for the first time, I could agree with this unbearable guy.
The world must be ending!
Realising it was not the time to brood over movies and references to them, I coughed awkwardly and mentally sent a note to myself to stay focused. Looking back at Arthur, he was exchanging a deadpan look between me and Michael, before raising his brows and shaking his head.
"Uh, as I was saying." He spoke after an uncomfortable pause. "The infection in my wounds. It's alive." He spoke through another strained breath.
I tried to get close to him, however, just like every time before, he shook his head and raised his hand.
"I don't know what he did—" he paused and then looked up at Michael, as if realising something, "—most likely a contractual vow with their God. Maybe… Its output was decreased in exchange for the flames to become alive. Might be more since its never a fair deal…"
"I don't understand." I managed to speak amidst the mumbo jumbo that was my mind. Thoughts and ideas of different natures tangled with each other, overlapping, branching, and soon enough I was not only miles away from the answer I searched for in his question, but I had totally lost track of the original thought. "But there are no flames."
"Sub-Intangible concept." Arthur's breath strained as he tossed his shirt over Michael. The shirt landed over his face.
However, much to my own surprise, he only inhaled sharply through his nose before slowly removing it and holding it in his hand.
"Flames burn you. The symbiote is burning my skin and everything on the inside." His index finger started to glow. Before I could make sense of the cryptic yet simplistic wording, he stabbed the Arcanum imbued finger in his back, over his shoulder.
A small spark of azure lightning cracked and then went inside, like a worm digging its way down, writhing its body along the way.
"The process will be slowed from the lightning." He then looked up at me. "Rest is up to you."
I stood there for a while, his words echoing inside my ears.
"But Arthur…" I was at a loss for words. "…I can't. I don't know how this whole symbiote thing works, or what even the physiology of it is about."
"Then brute… force it. I—we don't have much time. Since it is alive and is about to eat away at my organs, it's also connected to Ed. He'll find us as soon as he is in range."
Michael shifted and turned around. Without looking back, he spoke.
"I'll be on the lookout. Don't fuck it up, girl. You have one job."
Saying that he walked to the edge in a dramatic fashion and then jumped off.
I slowly turned around.
The night was bright, and the moon was right above our heads. It looked much larger, much closer than ours. And the light it casted was dull. Again, in a total contrast to ours. As if the sun that was illuminating it was unable to totally lighten it up.
Taking a determined step towards Arthur who was now laying on his stomach, I walked over to him.
As I sat beside him, I wasted no breath and started to use Arcanum.
I didn't have much knowledge about Arcanum. I mean, I did, but not as much as Arthur. Or perhaps anyone who was a member of this whole secret family Syndicates thing. My usage of Arcane Arts was very intrinsic. Based on intuition.
He said I had a talent for magic.
As I focused on Arthur's back and my magic illuminated his pale back, I was finally able to see.
While the skin on the back is typically thicker, and there is usually more subcutaneous fat and muscle tissues there, not allowing any visible vision of the network of veins, it was a much different case for Arthur.
A lot of branched veins that seemed to sprout from each other, like the roots of a seedling had turned black and were now closer to the skin, pulsing. As if alive.
I mean, blood flow makes it look alive. However, it was totally charcoal black. As if his veins had been burned.
It must hurt.
A tremor went across my chest.
He must be in so much pain.
With my hand aglow, I slowly reached out for his back.
A searing hot, golden aura manifested only for a fleeting second before vanishing as Arthur immediately looked back. "Are you hurt?" The worry etched on his face made it look like he didn't have supposedly alive, alien, symbiotic flames inside him, eating away at his organs.
"I'm fine. Turn around and don't look back again." I reprimanded, keeping my timber sharp and castigating, but only to a reasonable extent.
"Hmm." He hummed in response and turned his head away.
His body was trembling and burning with high fever.
Or perhaps it was the flames.
He always had this subtle aversion to direct skin-to-skin touch.
I helped him a lot in his chores, however, over these past 2 years, I don't remember accidently touching him and him not panicking over it. Almost as if he has a phobia.
I have to do this. Quickly and efficiently. In a way that his condition is cured and I don't make him more uncomfortable than he already is.
I let out a deep breath and then pressed my Arcanum imbued hands with all my might against his back.
My Arcane Art—although I don't know much about it myself—has something to do with Sealing.
I can seal most of the things.
Rooms' locks, crack in cupboards, broken walls. Formation of a tangible dome to seal things inside of them. Broken bones, torn muscles. Dislocations. Separations.
And while I could only restore things, I could unseal as well.
Even though I can't do much as of now.
Arthur once said since I was too passive, I only unlocked the support category of the applications of my Arcane Arts.
But that wasn't exactly right.
Arthur always had this tendency to bring harm to himself. As I grew tired of him inflicting injuries on himself, I slowly, over the course of the past 2 years, unlocked multiple healing properties.
My technique's potency is directly proportional to my knowledge on the sealing and unsealing of the said object. If I want to correct a dislocated bone, I need to know about that joint. How it works. If it's broken, I need to know exactly how it's oriented and what its composition is.
While it sounds hard, it gets easier over time since you can just cram the details provided by modern medical knowledge. However, something like this was very intricate.
There are movies about such things, but these do not exist. There is no data or anything to go off of.
My hands pressed forcefully against his back and I closed my eyes, my fingers feeling as if they're sinking in a doughy amalgam of flesh brewing in flames. Almost as if it was losing its solid structure.
Decaying.
More and more Arcanum slipped from my primary node and a shaky gasp escaped me. I was a bit unnerved, however, I didn't let it to overpower me.
Like ushering students to fall in line during an assembly, I constricted the other pathways where any last bit of Arcanum could escape from and focused solely on pouring Arcanum into my hands. Reaching out for even the morsels, I reached out for them and poured them all into his back.
The white sheen of my Arcanum sparked and fizzled against the black-grey symbiote. It writhed and hissed, as if threatening me. I almost recoiled, but I reminded myself that if movies' logic applies, these can not attack me on their own. And I am sure Arthur won't allow it to take over as well.
Besides, the purpose of this was to disintegrate his organs.
The revision of my thoughts made my hair stand on their edge.
I remembered; Arthur can die. I have to hurry.
Filtering out the thoughts from my mind, I, once again, focused on the task at hand.
I reached out deep, not into the blackened veins, not the muscles that were slowly breaking down and making his entire back bleed. But rather the leech point.
It couldn't sustain itself for long, I was sure of it.
It must've lodged itself somewhere where it could slowly infect his entire body.
As if reading my thoughts, Arthur's crooked voice reached my ears. "It's by the coccyx."
"Human language, Arthur." I desperately cried out. How am I supposed to know what a coccyx is??
"Tail…bone. Right over the tailbone."
Without replying, I pressed my fingers even firmly as his body shuddered in pain once again, but he stayed silent.
My Arcanum brightened up the inside of his back, slithering like a snake from the upper side of his spine, using it as a guide, before eventually reaching all the way to the bottom.
Suddenly, my focus was shattered and my Arcanum retracted as a grey wisp burnt away at the slither I had formed.
"W-What?"
Arthur groaned. "I couldn't maintain… the spark." He spoke, out of breath. "Tell me when you are about to reach there."
"O-Okayy…"
Using the spine as a guide, once again, I reached out for the tailbone. I couldn't put my hand right over there. It was where it had latched itself. Placing it right over him will most likely result in something that just happened.
As it was about to reach the tailbone, I breathed out. "Arthur."
A small spark of azure flared to life, jumping from between his fingers and then seeping into his skin. The dark azure mixed in with the bright glow of my own Arcanum, giving it a slight cerulean shade. The area above his tailbone turned into a vermillion patch.
It was fighting the symbiote.
Pushing all of my Arcanum at once, I reached out for it.
It was like a snake fight. Two deadly snakes eating away at each other, and the one who eats the other one first wins. Arthur's spark was dwindling, but it was fighting with sheer resilience, not allowing it to cause a hindrance to my work.
Expanding the Arcanum was not an arduous task. But the after effects were quite dangerous. Expanding it inside him was like forcefully forming a cyst. It would bring him pain, yes, but not more than he currently is in.
"Hold on, Arthur." I called out to him, the drops of sweat stinging into my eyes. I forced them open, as wide as I could. The warm air and salty sweat made it feel like hot needles were being pricked into them.
I expanded it. Like a cloth cover over a bowl. Not only from above, but underneath as well. Arthur's spark fizzled away and then at the same time I pushed both sides.
Like a python, I squeezed it from every direction. I felt my spell burn, like branding a hole into pure flesh.
As my Arcanum continued to coil around it by forming a repeated loop, the pressure intensified, compressing the symbiote's form.
"URGH!" I grunted, pressing against it with all my might.
It struggled but it couldn't stop the deformation that had already begun. Its slime like form started to buckle and flatten, slowly but surely succumbing to the relentless compression, wrinkling and creasing.
And then suddenly Arthur heaved out a deep breath as a grey-wispy smoke rose up from his back, and then dissipated into thin air.
His blackened veins that bulged against his skin were enveloped into a mix of our golden and pure white sheens. A few fleeting seconds later, they began to sink back into the thin layer of muscle and fat. The blood loss was permanent but his wound that festered started to regenerate itself.
As I willed more of the First Phase of my Arcane Arts, muscles sewed themselves back into place and the cut skin started to mend itself.
Before long, his back was returned to how it used to be.
It took a few seconds to notice though, but there was a thin black line stretched from his shoulder to his tailbone in a diagonal arc.
A scar.
I felt my heart drop, but was at least thankful he survived.
"Arthur, it's done." I called out to him.
Perhaps it was childish of me to expect him to turn around and maybe- maybe compliment me. But he didn't. I called out for him a few more times but he didn't turn around.
Hesitatingly, I reached out for his shoulder and then pulled him so his face was up.
Arthur's body rolled over to my side, his head landing on my lap. His eyes were shut and his lips were parted. But his chest rose and fell peacefully. He was ok.
Brushing his hair back, I combed my fingers through them. They were dirty—caked with mud, grime and blood.
"Mm-" He shifted, opening his eyes and then blinked. Before I knew it, he was asleep again.
The realisation that he was shirtless and leaning against me dawned a bit too late on me and hit me a touch too hard as I suddenly stood up and his head fell on the ground.
Crap!
Panicking, I tried to look around, and then casted one sheepish look back at him. But he didn't wake up.
What's wrong with me!? Almost gave him a concussion!
My own face felt warm, as I tried to look for something soft to place underneath his head and to cover his body.
"Just put a rock underneath that big head of his." I almost jumped with fright as I saw Michael leaning against the jagged wall, right beside Arthur. He threw a black piece of clothing at me. It was the shirt I had packed for him. "Found this in his bag."
I picked it up but kept my eyes on him. They were at serious odds. He might be putting up a farce.
"Thanks…"
"Tsk. Whatever." He turned around and then stopped. "Just so you know I am here so don't bother doing anything to an unconscious person."
HUH!
"Do you perhaps take me for someone such as yourself?" I retorted.
"Hah! Weak comeback! Try again, kiddo, heh!" With an annoying, brattish chuckle, he walked with a wide stance, flailing his arms around.
God this guy… he pisses me off so much!
*********************
The night was almost over. The first few streaks of yellow had already marred the sky but the sun was yet to rise.
Even now, it feels like I am in a fever dream.
I was sitting on the edge of the small platform where I had healed Arthur.
My feet dangled down. The bottom was quite a deep place with a whole lot of spikes and trees. I can't call it a forest, of course, but there were quite a lot of them.
I had imagined the sunrise to look a lot more beautiful in another world.
And I was right.
Or maybe it was because the horror and fright that I had experienced in the night regarding Arthur, the morning feels so much more blissful.
Arthur was still asleep. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but he was covered by his own spare clothes that formed a pile over him, hopefully keeping him warm.
As I was lost in my thoughts, Michael slipped one foot and let it dangle downward and folded the other one underneath him, sitting by my side.
His bun was let loose and the long, thick strands rested serenely on his shoulders.
He didn't say anything and kept his eyes straight in a thousand-yard stare, just looking at whatever was in front of him, or maybe even beyond. Without looking at me, he reached for the inside of his pocket and pulled out a small packet of biscuits.
"Eat up."
It felt more like an order than an act of kindness.
"You can't order me around." I huffed.
He clicked his tongue and then grit his teeth. "Eat up." Although there was no change in words, his tone was much softer.
Smirking internally at the win, I took it from his grasp.
As the crinkling sound of opening the packet reached my ears, he spoke at the same time. "Why did you come here? It's not because you miss your lover boy, do you?"
I almost choked on the first piece of food I had eaten in so many hours. How can someone be so humanly annoying?
But putting that aside, I TOTALLY FORGOT TO TELL THEM WHY I CAME HERE!
Quickly swallowing the biscuit, I turned to him.
I was about to speak when I looked down and then at the Grand Canyon-like structure that I had only seen in pictures, almost missing the cloud of dust approaching behind a large hill a few dozen miles away that started to cover the sky.
"What's that?" My own voice ringed in my ears.
"It's... too soon," Michael muttered.
A gasp escaped my lips as I realised what it was.
Michael frowned and casted a fleeting glance at me. "Tell me about why you are here later." With a panicked expression, he stood up. "Oh, fuck me!"
I tried to look into the distance but a voice jolted me to look back.
"The reconnaissance units are here, it seems"
It was Arthur. He was slipping into his grey hoodie while walking towards us. Once he was around five steps away from us, he stopped, looked at me and smiled for a brief moment.
"Good to see you, Astrid." Before I could reply, he turned his head to Michael. "Don't say I didn't tell you. You were too plastered at that time."
"I am not." Michael grumbled. "But what does it mean? This isn't supposed to happen. Why are these things here? It can't be a coincidence. Right after last night."
I was so confused. There were so many unanswered questions.
Who was Ed? What are these things? What does he mean by scouts?
"The Wujins we killed." Arthur started explaining. "They were gatekeeping hundreds of thousands, if not a million of them, behind the colosseum-like structure. They are going to use it to gauge our strengths and weaknesses before attacking Seoul." He paused, stroking his chin. "But there are still a few days before the Frontier opens up. It's only been a day since we came here. Why now?"
What is he talking about? It's been 3 DAMNED days!
"Arthur." I called out as he looked in my direction.
Before I could talk, his eyes went wide. As if just realising my existence.
"Why are you here? You are not supposed to be here." He mouthed, not talking out loud. The crease in his forehead evened out and he breathed shakily. "Temporal lag."
"Huh?" Michael scowled.
"How many days has it been, Astrid?" He asked. "Since we left?"
"Three days."
The ground beneath and the sky above rumbled as a giant wave of green started to fill the horizon.
I took a frightened step back.
Hundreds…thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of those abominations were filling the distant space and were rushing towards us.
Arthur stepped in front of me and placed his foot on the edge.
"Not sure if this is a declaration of war." He spoke, sending a shiver down my spine as Michael angrily stomped, placing his hands on his waist. "2 of us, against all of them."
A gnawing sense of fear and morbid despair gripped at my insides.
"Arthur, we can… I can unseal the Frontier, I can-"
He turned back, his features muddled by the shadow casted by the sun behind him.
"Can you see the tangible dome beside you?" He asked, his voice brittle.
I gulped and then looked back.
"It was a small place to the eye in Seoul, but it's actually a whole country. Continent even. They'll catch up to us before we even reach the end of this dome."
"Fuck, FUCK!" Michael's fist collided into the wall as a crack went up its surface.
"Don't destroy the only good thing we have." Arthur spoke calmly as he took out a bandage and placed it over the wound underneath his eye. The one I had forgotten to heal. "We have to make a plan."
"What plan? Those things are nothing, but I don't think we would be in a condition for actual soldiers after dealing with a million of them! Not if the soldiers are like that bastard Ed. And I felt someone else too. Probably the 'Lord' fella he mentioned about serving."
Arthur shrugged. "Then we have to stay alive long enough and hope for external help." He paused, and his tongue made a bump into his cheek. "Or you'll die trying."
"Huh? You? Have you lost your last brain cell?"
Arthur looked away, glancing at the incoming wave as the sun continued its ascent.
"We. I meant; we die trying."
A chilling sensation gripped at me.
Somehow… I had a very bad feeling about what he said.