Vincent walked through the thick crackling snow, up a hill towards the old rundown church. He knew his companion was there and was going to pick her up.
He encountered many monsters on his way, leading him to believe that they had started to notice the human activity in this area.
He stood in front of the old wooden doors leading inside the church and kicked them in powerfully. The doors flung open, making the mass of people inside turn their heads in fear towards him.
He stood inside the door for a couple moments, scanning the inside of the church for the person he was looking for.
It didn't take him long to find her and make his way straight towards the girl.
She was sitting on one of the wooden benches, anxiously staring at him as he approached.
As he came to a halt in front of her, he started calling out to her.
"Soraya Mikkelsen, follow me if you want to live!" his rough deep voice spoke.
Without waiting on a reply he turned on his heels and made his way back to the door, yet the girl didn't budge at all and he was forced to stop and turn back.
"What are you waiting for?" he asked annoyed.
"WHO ARE YOU?! How do you even know my name?! And die?! As long as I stay here, god is gonna protect me!"the girl shouted anticipated. She was clearly stressed out by everything that went on so far.
The people around them started to lash out one after another after Sorayas exclaim. They shouted at Vincent, as if trying to convince him or even themselves, that what they say is true.
"God is gonna protect us all!"
"He won't abandon us!"
"We are safe here thanks to god!"
Many such shouts echoed through the churchs walls and Vincent let out a long sigh of exhaustion.
"If you really think so then tell me, why did god let these monsters show up in the first place? God is nothing but an asshole, yet you feel safe praying to a being, that likes to see his believers suffer?! If you want to live, then fight for it or die, because no-one else is gonna fight for you and certainly not god. Now stop wasting my time."
With that Vincent turned to Soraya again and asked her;
"Do you want to live?"
The girl nodded, she was upset that this guy insulted her god, but she knew he was right all the same, so she swallowed her pride.
Vincent turned around again and Soraya followed suit. He was a person of little words but they were even more meaningful because of it.
The two of them left the church and once out of range of the other refugees , she asked him another question.
"Why did you say that earlier?"
Vincent shrugged, he thought it was annoying to explain and just pretended not to know either.
He knew she was still young and asking out of curiousity ,yet he didn't want to have idle chatter.
He took her in because she was a comrade in the past timelines and he knew she had potential, so he would train her.
"Starting today you will train under me. I won't go easy on you, so don't even think about crying to me. Ah and another thing...", he paused.
The girl looked at his back and repeated his last words questioningly.
Vincent continued forth with;
"It's a warning I have to issue to you. If you EVER meet a girl named Reverie, kill her!"
He said that without a hint of empathy, his voice was colder than ice and pierced through her ears sharply.
"Kill....why?", she asked confused.
"You don't need to know, just do as I tell you.", with that Vincent ended the conversation and the two walked down the hill.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gilbert fell backwards into the light that came out of the door. He braced himself for impact but it didn't come.
He floated about in the white light. He watched as the door closed in front of him and the Zom was pushed out.
He looked around but except for white light, he couldn't see anything.
A strange place he thought, while holding his wound.
Something unexpected happened then. His wound started to heal on it's own at rapid speed. The white light around him started to flood into the gaping hole in his shoulder and heal it. Whatever this light was, it didn't seem like it would harm him.
He let it be and watched as the bleeding stopped and the pain subsided.
Closing his eyes in relief, he started to see pictures flashing inside of his head.
The pictures showed a girl and her companions laughing and enjoying themselves. The next moment he saw a sea of fire and the girl standing in the middle of the flames crying, while holding the body of a man in her arms and staring into the flames with empty eyes.
He didn't know who these people were but he felt like the scene was familiar to him.
He continued watching the flashing images and scenes rushing through his head.
The next scene showed two men fighting with each other in a backyard. It didn't show why they fought but their blows at each other were heavy and merciless.
Gilbert felt a pain in his chest upon seeing this scene.
The next one showed the girl and another man with her. The two looked very close but in a platonic ways. The man petted the girls head and smiled gently at her with his crimson eyes, while the girl smiled brightly back at him.
The image vanished and made way for another scene, this one was different than the rest though.
He faced the girl which was staring at him directly. She started addressing him and for a moment he was shocked. He thought these were memories ,yet one of these memories was addressing him.
"Hello Gilbert. It's been awhile. Well for you it's the first time seeing me ,isn't it?", the voice said calmly.
Gilbert stared at her. She was beautiful like a porcelain doll. Soft white skin, emerald eyes and long curly stark white hair. Her hair was adorned with crystals and ribbons that held half up pigtails.
Bangs covered her forehead and a gorgeous white ruffly dress covered her body. Her chest imbedded a crystal heart which glowed faintly in a soft blue light.
"WHO...?" ,Gilbert started muttering but the girl cut him off.
"You don't need to know yet. I just want you to know one thing; Whatever happens in the future, please never blame yourself or Vincent." ,she said while smiling softly.
"Also...", she continued and Gil waited for her to finish the sentence.
"Please take care of Reverie. She's more self destructive than she seems.", the girl said in a sad and melancholic tone.
Gilbert didn't know what to make of it but he just nodded and the moment he did the girl faded away.
"Until we meet again, my dear precious Gil"
The whole area around him crumbled away and the girl vanished into thin air.
Whatever he witnessed here, was probably one of the many secrets of the abyss.
He fell into the depths of darkness. The next moment he opened his eyes and shot up from his spot.
He looked around and found himself in the middle of a street somewhere in the city. He checked his shoulder, which was now fully recovered, and confirmed to himself that this wasn't merely a dream.
Looking back up he took in the devastated area surrounding him and quickly realized he was out of the abyss now.
He wondered whether he should wait at this spot for the others or just go his own way for the time. While thinking what to do from now on, a deep voice rang out to him from behind.
"Well, look who we have here...if it isn't Gilbert"
-to be continued-