The storm started to grow stronger, the rain heavier.
SCREECH. The shadow was still in miserable pain, but Vince looked as if he was not even self-conscious as he was walking towards a convulsing Chris. STEP, STEP, STEP. Vince then began to stir at his so called 'brother' and watched him suffer intense insufferable pain. "Weak" Vince said looking down at Chris in disgust. "You are no brother of mine, do not utter those words to me again" he said with such an ice-cold tone, it was as if everything they went through back at the motherland never happened. As he squats down slowly, Vince states "I shall put you out of your misery… No, I won't, weaklings don't deserve my sympathy". But as he finished stating this sentence, he started to hear things from afar suddenly.
"Gasp". He started to hear someone gasping for air. Quickly he turns around to see where that sound is coming from, "Nothing though" he thinks to himself, "But it sounds as if it's getting closer and closer though" he thinks to himself again. His cool nature began to dissipate. He then begins grabbing onto his ears as the sound was getting too overwhelming, suffocating even. "GASP". Closer, closer, it just kept getting closer and closer
"STOOP!" Vince yelled. In quick burst of anger, he gets up and starts heading to the shadow in pain which is twisting around on the ground. "I told you…DIE!" Vince yells. In a fit of anger once again, at a speed which a normal human eye can't comprehend, he punches through the shadow. Suddenly all the black streaks and embers of fire in Vince's hair began to disappear – his dark eyes began to turn back into its normal color as well. But whilst all of this was happening though, it looked as if he was getting sucked into the liquid mist form of the shadow, and becoming one with it, then – all of a sudden everything turned black.
"W…where am I" Vince uttered. In the distance, he could see 2 people suspended in the air, and below them was a man looking up at them. To get a closer look at them, Vince then begins to sprint. "W…what is this place" he thinks to himself. It seemed they weren't in the forest anymore. "What is all that noise" he thought to himself again. All Vince could hear as he was sprinting was, "Ki…kill me", "This rope, it feels weirdly amazing". "Put the stool here, let me hang the rope on this tree, and… gasp, gasp - I… can't breathe", "Please, p…please have mercy". These were the voices he was hearing, all the voices had one thing in common, they were gasping for air. The voices were a mix of women, men and children. All these voices were too many though compared to the 3 people ahead. As he kept sprinting, he then suddenly slipped, it seemed not to be an accident but something that did that, this shadowy realm was uncanny. Ropes started to form out from the shadowy mist ground and grabbed onto Vince and pulled him at whiplash speed towards the 3 people in front of him; it was so fast he didn't get to blink.
"Chr…CHRIIISSS" Vince shouted, he was broken at the sight of what he was seeing. It was a suffocating sight. Chris and Dean were both choking with ropes around their neck, they were on the brink of breathlessness. But there was a man below them, looking up at them suffer. Slowly he began to turn and direct his gaze to a restricted Vince. STEP, STEP, STEP. Slowly, he got closer and closer to Vince. He then began to speak. "How… you asked me, how dare me right?". His voice was chilling to the bone and psychotic at the same time.
With all the events that was unfolding seconds ago, Ven Percy and Alana were witnessing it "Ven Sir, where did that boy go, he vanished" Alana said in a terrified tone. "NO, NO, NO. This is not good. I can't tell the time in here with this Umbra's twisted ability, if its sunrise I am done for" Ven Percy yelled in rage. "What is Umbra sir?" Alana asked. Still in rage Ven Percy yells "Remind me to take you out from the core, if we even make it back to the motherland, your foolishness truly amazes me. Umbra is the scientific name they use for those shadow creatures in the EXP sector, and you should know that already. You are making me talk too much and my neck hurts from what that creature just did to us. Now put yourself to good use and grab that idiot Dean". Alana then thinks to herself "I am not in the EXP sector though you hate-ist, do I look like a nerd". "Yes sir, but how about the Meraki boy?" Alana asks. "We took too long, its too late, touching that thing is signing up to your own death row. As long as we are alive, we can hunt for him later on. Now grab Dean and let's head back to The Motherland before its sunrise. Make sure not to touch that Umbra, I have warned you" Ven Percy said. After saying all this, he then thought to himself "I am probably dead as it already is. It must be sunrise already outside of this shroud that this Umbra has created. Fuck, it's all fucked! The Sven gives no second chances, well unless I can…"
Back at The Motherland, a core soldier runs with all his might and starts heavily knocking on a door. Knock, Knock. "Come in. Don't ever knock on my door like that again you hear me." A man said with such composure you could feel the authority he possesses. "Speak" the man uttered. "Yes, Sven sir. Ven Percy has not reported back even though his time limit until sunrise has been reached. We think either he has been outsmarted by the escapees, or the boy has awakened his Meraki, or they have run into a Shadai ("Umbra" EXP sector dialect)" the soldier relayed. "You are giving me too many OR's. It doesn't matter what the conclusion is, he hasn't satisfied my order or my time limit. Prepare the troops and bring him and the boy back to me. Everyone or everything else kill it on sight" the Sven said in a commanding airy voice. "Yes, my Sven!" the soldier quickly responded.
STOMP, STOMP, STOMP. A troop starts stomping through the Bridge of Life and heading out towards the main gate. All these troops are armed with guns and armory that was unexplainable.
STEP, STEP. Every step terrified Vince as the man continued to get closer whilst speaking "A little boy like you, asking me how dare me? Hahaha, what a joke, you are all made the same. Do you have any idea what I have been through? What your Motherland has put me through and countless others, huh? NO HOW DARE YOU!" The man began to aggressively ramp out and yell in Vince's face. "You know when I died, I thought I was gone for good, I though heaven didn't exist, but this… this is more than heaven. The lot of us, hunting all you pest, infections, hunting you down with this unknown power bestowed unto us by who else but the one above to punish you… is simply marvelous! The stench of that Motherlands is on all three of you… you reek of murder. That's why you must go through the suffocation I went through. Do you see these rope marks on my neck, do you hear those countless voices. That will be you soon" the man lectured to Vince.
Chris, although choking, managed to whisper so faintly "V…Vin, Run". Vince was so horrified, it seems his prior unknown power was lost somehow. "Pl…Please let us go" Vince begged, tears began to well up in his eyes. "Huh? Oh little boy you think this is pain? I am just getting started. Your ancestors should have had mercy on me when they hanged me up on that tree" the man said whilst sadistically smiling. As he was speaking, he started to tighten the ropes on all three of them even more. GASP, COUGH. "That suffocating feeling, feel it, savor it" the man said. These three guys were being suffocated to the point of only a final breath been able to rush out their boy. But then suddenly, the ropes began to loosen. Alarmed by another presence entering its realm, the man disappeared.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING YOU IDIOT! YOU PUSHED ME" Alana yelled out. "Baby, you shouldn't even be on this mission, you shouldn't even be in the core period" A guy yells out whilst caressing Alana. The guy seemed to have the same garments that the troops heading out The Motherland were wearing. "I keep telling you… you have to sto..."
CRACK, SNAP
A shadowy rope had suddenly locked onto this guy's neck and snapped it with rapid pace. "A... uh...j…JACOOB" Alana cry's out in complete and utter horror.
STEP, STEP, STEP
"Welcome thy pupil. The show is just getting started, join us" The man was mercilessly suffocating Chris, Vince and Dean just moments ago shouts out proudly
NEXT CHAPTER – November 18th