Yuna watched in horror as her own baby sister was dropped into the demon's mouth, her bones being crushed, shattered and her flesh being torn and swallowed as the demon drank her blood which dribbled from its teeth.
Then her mother's last words echoed in her head; "Protect Mirai."
Yuna crumbled to her knees then, guilt and fear tearing her apart completely. She sat there, unmoving and unresponsive as she fell away into the empty pit of her own mind. She had let her baby sister die.. and had done nothing, nothing at all, to save her… she failed her mother.. her sister, her brother, her father.. she failed them all…
The sound of shattering glass came as another demon crashed through the window to their room, but Yuna didn't even pay attention. Her mind had shattered entirely, she'd given up, she had nothing left to live for.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was her brother. She looked blankly over at Edric as hot tears streamed down her face… and then she passed out.
— — —
Yuna's head pounded against something hard and metallic, jarring her awake. For a moment, she had forgotten everything that happened, it was just a bad dream. But that sense of relief quickly vanished when she opened her eyes, looking around to see other kids, covered in blood with terror and trauma visible in their blank expressions. Some cried, some sat silently staring into nothing.
Beside her was her brother, Edric, lying unconscious on the metal floor. A sudden bump sent her slamming back against metal. She winced, letting out a yelp, and then she turned, grabbing onto metal bars. That's when she realized that she and the other children from her village were all in a cage being pulled along by a black carriage.
Yuna looked up. It was still night, but she could not see the stars, all she could see was the faint light of the moon shining against the black, dreary clouds hanging in the sky. She could hear the grunts and growls of creature, demons, moving alongside the carriage. She could hear their metallic armor clattering as they moved, as well as glints of metal in the moonlight, flickering in and out of sight.
She shivered at the thought of demonic figures just out of her sight. Then the image of her parents being torn apart flashed through her mind's eye, as well as her baby sister. Yuna tucked in her knees, burying her head in her arms as she began to cry, all the guilt coming down and crashing on her.
"Yuna, is that you?" Came a timid voice. Yuna looked up and saw a young boy only about a year older than her. It was a friend of hers, Tanner. The boy crawled over to her, sitting beside her.
"Tanner? They got you too..?" Yuna asked softly.
"Yeah… are you okay?" He asked.
"I… don't know. What about you?"
Tanner looked down. "Everyone is dead."
"Yeah… I know.." Yuna's lip began to quiver. Her eyelids were heavy and she felt tired, exhausted from crying so much.
"Why do you think they took all of us?" Tanner asked, "why not kill us?"
"I don't know. Maybe they want to save us to eat later?" She said.
"Or maybe they wanna make us into livestock.."
"Either way, we are prisoners. They are taking us to purgatory…" Yuna said weakly.
"We are gonna die…" Tanner said.
"You don't know that.." Yuna said meekly, "Maybe the gods will come for us… they will save us!"
Tanner looked over at her. "You think so..?"
"Yeah…" she said, but she didn't really believe her own words. She was just grasping onto threads of hope. "They wouldn't let us die.. they wouldn't…"
Tanner turned about, clasping the black iron bars. He shook them, causing the carriage to rattle slightly.
*CLANG*
Something struck the cage, and then the sound of some sort of creature hissing came through the dark.
"Silence." The voice hissed.
"What are you gonna do to us?!" Cried Tanner, "Let us go! Please!"
Talons wrapped about the bars where Tanner was and a nightmarish face appeared. It had red eyes that seemed dead and spikes jutted up from its head. It had no lips and bared it's sharp fangs as puss and spit oozed from its mouth. Metal nails and hooks were pierced through its skin throughout its face and neck.
"Quiet, boy, unless you'd like to die." The demon spat. "Behave.. if you do as you are told, you will be fine, but if you don't, you will die.. am I understood?"
Tanner gave no response and simply backed away from the bars, eyes wide with fear.
The demon hissed and backed away from the carriage, disappearing into the shadows.
"What was that…?" Tanner asked, his voice shaking.
"A demon…" Yuna said, her voice hoarse and weak. Her heart raced and and she began to fidget with her hands. She was terrified, she wanted to run, but she couldn't. Anxiety and fear tore at her mind and she began to cry once more, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Stop crying." A girl spoke.
Yuna and Tanner looked over to the far end of the cage where they could just barely make out a girl. She was older than them, maybe about twelve, and she gave them a blank, stern stare. Blood was splattered across her face and soaked her clothes.
"Just shut up, alright?" The girl said. "We can't do anything. We are their prisoners, and we can't escape. It just isn't possible, so give up."
"But.. we will die if we give up…" Tanner said.
"No, we won't die! The gods will save us… they have to." Yuna insisted.
"Shut up, you stupid girl." The older girl hissed. "The gods don't care. You could scream for them all you want, they won't come to save us. They don't care about some kids. So shut up already, stop depending on some false hope."
Yuna looked down at her blood-stained clothes. *The gods…* she thought, *can't hear me…?*