The air itself began to divide. Lona hasn't seen anything like this before. Strange lights illuminated the environment but it was surprisingly dim.
It didn't take long before bats rushed out of the already torn air from the other side. His mother turned to Lona to attest if he witnessed every inch of it.
The face she made passed only one message to Lona, This is just the beginning
Unknowing to Lona how he butt was on the ground, he rushed to his feet and cleaned every dirt on him, "you have to get in, there is no time" his mother emphasized again.
As he drew close to his mother, she handed him the dagger and the key. The moment the key entered his hands, it dissolved and this sent Lona to almost scream in fear.
"Put yourself together, I believe what you have seen in your dreams and visions would come handy now. You don't have to be scared whatever you see from now on, just know that they can't kill you. That should be your courage."
He expression changed while trying to catch his breath, "are you sure mum?"
"Yes, you are stronger than this and I want you to know that" her hands traced through his head. Lona couldn't bear it anymore, giving his mother one last hug.
He held the dagger firmly. "Take care of this dagger, and also be careful with what you are using it for, no one could survive a strike from it" She explained how Lethal the dagger was.
Lona bid her farewell once more, wiping his tears on his cold sweaters. He crossed over and it was obvious how relieved she was. She held her chest as she blew him a final kiss before the air returned back to normal. She was nowhere on sight and Lona could feel it.
He was still in the woods but he knew that he was in a different place. The air was so dense, sending shivers down Lona's spine.
He carefully walked down the narrow path. Each step he took could be considered dangerous in this area. Trees dried but yet still had leaves. Screaming and wailing from all directions but Lona knew that it was probably the sound of creepy creatures.
He finally set sight of the peak of a mansion, his face enlightened but his guards weren't down. His left hand in his pocket where his cards were.
He looked up when he finally overcame the woods just to see strange lights from above. He dropped to the ground, his eyes screaming in terror as he gazed at a celestial body covered in blood. With different types of winged creatures: giant, small, flock in groups or loners, carnivores or harmless.
"Goodness..." His mind screamed to run, his legs were ready to give up. No no no!! Not now
He started running, moving like someone with directions but his mind wasn't fixed, the entrance to the eerie mansion was on sight.
Finally he was in front of the large ancient gates that could scream unheard words of millennials. Lona just gazed, now all that he thought that pursued him was nowhere to be seen.
"My mind is definitely playing tricks on me" those words could have comforted him if he wasn't still seeing the blood Moon.
"How can I get in?" He asked a rhetorical Question as his hands grazed through the old metals. Suddenly the gate responded like it had life in it. It sounded cranky as it slowly opened.
The element of surprise doesn't seem to leave Lona's face. He quickly got in and quietly observed. A lot of unbelievable and unexplainable events and structures stood right before and around him.
Gardens of flowers all in black or dim white, even some of them were alive and moving. This world looks so bizarre. No one would believe him if he decides to explain to someone.
"Truly, this is a place without redemption" what shocked him more was the slowly disgusting creatures that tended to the garden in the dead of the night. They had human structures but were far from looking like one.
Some even had their brains out of their guts, Lona was so close to vomiting all that he managed to eat earlier before coming.
"They are probably Zombies, they look more irritating than I have heard." He murmured to himself as his linear motion was suddenly bridged by the large door which stood before him.
"Wow, it's huge!!" He touched the door which began to open to him. His joy knew no bounds but at the same time he became nervous. "Will I really be accepted?" He asked once more.
There was only one way to find out, go through that door and be ready to explain.
Lona breathed out and walked into the large opening, it was surprisingly silent and scanty. No one stood to welcome him.
"Are you sure someone lives here?" Even when he didn't say it out loud, his whispers echoed. The mansion was dark, only a few rays from the moon passed through the window.
Skreeee!!!
At the sound of that, the unwelcomed guest quickly bent down to prevent any attacks from the bats "Shit even inside here" Lona couldn't believe what he just heard.
When the sound died down Lona regained position. Just one footstep that he made was enough to make him suspect something. Lona wasn't dumb.
"You do know that you are trespassing right" a rough feminine voice altered his next step, he turned to where it came from, all he could see was darkness but there was a darker silhouette figure in its midst making Lona gulp.
"I understand, I also don't want to be here but I had no choice" Lona spoke with a firm tone but that wasn't enough to hide his fear.
"Is that right?" If Lona didn't know better, it almost sounded like she was mocking him.
"We all have choice but some people are just to ignorant to see a painless one" she emphasized on each word as she took some steps forward.
Lona tried as much as possible to get his eyes of the attractive figure as it closer the gap between them but to no avail.
Just with one snap of her fingers and the room slowly came to life. Light began to illuminate the room, not powered by electricity but instead the lights were coming from blazing lanterns hug on the wall, few inches apart from each other.
The mysterious figure now came to light,
The cropped, armored half-cape over the shoulders resembles raven wings folded against her back, its leather so black it engolfed the light around her. Silver chains dangle and clink faintly with each movement—not noisy, but deliberate.
Beneath, a skin-tight black underlayer clings like obsidian silk, sleek and suffocating, emphasizing a figure both lethal and alluring. Her breasts barely stayed still even when they weren't large.
Slim black pants tailored for agility hug her legs, reinforced at the thighs with straps and sheathed daggers that press coldly against her flesh, waiting. Every piece of metal on her body gleams like moonlight caught on steel.
The outfit transforms the air around her. Darkness clings to the folds of her cloak, shadows lengthen unnaturally, and her very presence feels like a slow suffocation, as if the walls themselves lean in to listen. The attire only showed how inhuman she could be. All these were caught by Lona's eyes.
She titled her head in a rather strange manner, observing every inch of Lona's body. Her dark red hair barely let her eyes to be seen but Lona saw the dark ruby eyes which glowed in the light.
Her expressions were unreadable the same goes to her emotions, people like her are very dangerous and unpredictable.
"And If I may ask, who are you and what are you doing here?"
Lona was almost thrown to confusion, he expected a Rosy welcome party but what he was in right now was far from that.
"My name is Lona... Lona Blackwood." He paused to let it digest, "the person told me that this is my true family and that's what brought me here" he sounded not even sure of himself but the deed was done.
Silence fell upon the room like no one was in it, she just stared dead into his eyes like looking at his soul.
"Ha.... Ha.....ha...ha!!! Sorry about that" that laughter had more meaning than it sounds and Lona is aware.
"Believe me if I say I haven't laughed so hard like this for years" to Lona, this was hilarious.
"What is so funny?" Lona calmly asked.
"Doesn't it sound funny to you kid?"
Now Lona's face changed, that word kid hurt his ego. If you compare both of them, though the girl looked older but the gap between them was not much "Do I look like a kid to you?"
Everywhere began to get tensed as the smile on her face disappeared. "I see you don't have manners right?"
Lona now lost all interest to make her understand him. "I don't want to get more upset. I will let you go, the door is behind you. Go as you came"
She turned towards the corridor on her left and slowly walked. "Sorry to burst your bubbles but I am not leaving. I am here to see my real family."
She froze like she was switched off. Lona was prepared but the way she turned her head made him felt uncomfortable. Her Ruby red eyes now released strange lights.
"Did you just say you are not leaving???"