"No matter how the sky rumbles, I would still visit the crash site and search for my own evidence." Leon said, tightening his grip as he closed his eyes.
Then as he unlocked the door and opened it, his name rang in his ear, causing him to turn in shock.
"Lily, aren't you asleep?" he added as he saw his little sister rubbing her eyes as she walked toward him sluggishly.
He closed the door and walked toward her, hugged her, and stared in her dull eyes. "It's late. You should go back to sleep."
"I can't sleep. Where were you going?" She asked, tightening her grip on Leon.
"Just going for some fresh air. Let me take you to your room." Leon said, walking her back to her room.
"Where is Dad?" the young girl asked as Leon placed her back on the bed and tried to move out.
Leon stood there—his back facing her—without saying anything. But shifted slightly and smiled, then walked out of the room.
As he returned to the hall, the crashing sound of the rain and lightning surged so loud Leon nearly dropped his motive of visiting the crash site.
But as his father's face flashed in his mind the moment a loud thunder cracked the sky, he opened the door and dashed out.
Buildings blurred past him as he ran at an enormous speed. Shadowy beings turned and looked at him in amazement.
Dust swelled up wherever his legs stamped; shredded posters clung to him like spectral chains, and water splashed as he stamped into potholes.
Leon's eyes gleamed faintly with a yellowish light but erupted into gold as he neared the Granum Tower—the crash site.
Leon skipped to a halt, bending double as pent-up heat radiated from his skin, panting. He began to walk, circling the building in low, delicate steps.
The place was full of wrecked, bent metal and blackened stone.
Every inhale he took smelled of acid and death.
Without hesitation, he ignored the official investigation markers and scaled the damaged staircase. His heart ached upon every slight trip of stone.
As Leon reached the tenth floor, his ears picked up a strange alien buzz, causing him to nearly fall as his tension increased.
When he finally sneaked past the sound and reached the top floor, his breath caught as he saw a familiar green fabric, untouched by the fire, fluttering from a piece of rebar.
His father's cap. It was pristine, as if it had been protected from the inferno. As his fingers closed around the rough cloth, he heard it. A dry, skittering chittering that echoed from the shadows behind a mound of wreckage.
Every hair on Leon's arms stood on end as he froze. Sweat beaded his skin as he slowly turned toward the sound's direction.
At first, he felt a slight sense of relief as he saw no one. But just as he saw two pairs of glowing, faceted eyes blinking, the tension returned.
The creatures he saw from the shadows were like nightmares given form.
Insectoid limbs skittered over molten metal, and carapaces gleamed like oil under the emergency lights. They were nothing from this world.
Leon froze in terror, his body stumbling back over scattered debris. The creatures moved in, their chatter sounding almost like a language from a nightmare.
One lunged, a razor-sharp limb scything toward his head. Leon threw up his arms in a helpless gesture.
But in that instant, a golden light erupted from his chest and blazed into a shield.
When the creature's limb slammed against it, a burst of sparks filled the air as the energy shield deflected it with a sharp clang.
Then, as the creature stumbled back and struck again, the shield dissolved and pooled in Leon's hands, forming into a bright golden sword.
One strike after the other, it guided Leon in deflecting and dodging strikes that could just tear him in two.
With the creature's countless strikes, Leon gasped for air every little time the creature paused. But as he thought it had finished with him, a sequential strike came from both his front and his back.
In that instant, the sword drove his arms up, blocked the one from the front, and sheared through the one from his back.
Each movement Leon took slipped toward defeat—but the sword moved, guiding and granting him strength and speed that wasn't his own.
As the creatures regenerated for the third time, their limbs extended, drawing out long and sharp swords.
Just gazing at it, Leon knew he couldn't handle that strike, even with the help of the strong sword in his hands.
Then, as they neared him, a blazing image flashed behind his eyes:
In the image, he saw his father walking calmly through the heart of the explosion. The flames part aside like a respectful sea as he places his steps one after another. Unharmed.
Then, for a fleeting second, his father's eyes glowed the same color as Leon's sword.
The vision vanished as quickly as it came, leaving behind a staggering confusion.
But what he saw froze him entirely. The creatures, which were just above his head, were now standing at a vast distance, staring at him.
As the creatures surged against him again, a siren wailed in the distance. Per the tone and nature of the sound, Leon knew it was the same alarm used whenever monsters appear in huge numbers.
But as Leon's mind turned from the sound, one of the creatures landed a glancing blow on his shoulder, sending sharp pain through his body.
Leon's bones screamed, causing him to flee from the site. The golden sword dissolved back into light and vanished into his chest the moment he vanished from the creature's sight.
Every dog he passed gazed at him in mid-bark—almost as if they had forgotten how to bark once his shadow fell on them.
He didn't stop running until he hit the alley behind his home and crumpled to the ground.
His body shook uncontrollably, his shoulder burned, and his head spun with terror and truths he couldn't understand.
Slowly, he walked back to his house, opened the door, and trod quietly into his room. The last thing he saw was the spiderwebbed ceiling his eyes fell upon as he slammed himself on the bed.
As he cracked open his eyes the following morning, the only memory he remembered was the spiderwebbed ceiling he saw.