THE GOLDEN CITY

By, LUM3N

The sun eclipsed against the earth and the skies were ridden of clouds. The cold winter air came blowing against Amir's black coat, and his cerulean eyes dazzled with the sun's radiance. Thomas Grandstone stood right beside Amir as they glared at the gorgeous mansion ahead of them.

Although the mansion was beautiful, the two felt disturbed by its presence. Something sinister lurked in the manor, because that's where President Gladis Knight was kidnapped.

Amir reached to his slim pocket, and pulled out a silver pistol. "Are you ready?" Amir bellowed as the wind shimmered into his hair. Thomas nodded reluctantly, then the two trudged forward. The path was coated in crimson blood, Thomas wanted to puke, yet Amir didn't have a reaction. Amir followed a specific set of rules, and one of those was to never give away how you feel, especially on missions such as this one.

Tension began to build up in Amir's torso as they grew closer to the massive mansion. The manor reeked of putrid flesh and gunpowder, evidently, something had gone wrong. Thomas walked up the stairs that led to the porch, and in just a few seconds, he kicked down the door.

The manor was consumed in darkness, all they could make out was a large stairwell in the middle of the entrance. The floorboards creaked rapidly as the two made their way in. The putrid stench began to grow stronger, until they could almost taste it. Amir glanced at Thomas, however, he was gone.

Amir's heart halted, fear began crawling up his throat like a spider. He wanted to puke, but he couldn't show emotion, because then his enemy could manipulate him. Amir clutched at his heart, and kept his pistol in his left hand. "Thomas…?" He bellowed, the fear in his voice was evident.Suddnely, a low moan could be heard from upstairs, it didn't sound like Thomas though.

Amir slowly brandished his gun to his right hand, then he trudged up the stairs. Amir made it up the stairs, and an ominous hall filled his peripheral. The moan could be heard again, it bellowed against the halls until Amir's ears rang. He was sure it was President Gladis Knight.

He began walking into the pitch black hall, the moans grew more sporadic and wild, until it nearly sounded monstrous. The floors below him shook, the windows crackled and the wind came pushing against his coat. Amir reached his hand to the doorknob, a cold sensation spread into his fingers. He turned the doorknob, then pushed open the door. Dust emerged from the silver flooring, within the dust, crimson eyes sparkled in the imminent darkness.

Amir froze in fear, those eyes consumed him with terror. Goosebumps trickled down his arm, suddenly he was no longer frozen and instead he was shivering.

The darkness began to fade, revealing a disgusting creature before him. A blob of humans mashed together like yams. Its skin drizzled down its flesh and its multiple eyes drooped down from its sockets. The creature moved awkwardly, its mouth slumped over lazily, it looked as if it was suffering. The creature slid towards Amir, its mouth began to open, revealing a gaping hole of nothingness.

Amir pointed his pistol at the creature and began spraying away. Each bullet smashed into the creature's insides, yet it didn't stop. He kept on shooting until his clip was empty, he threw the gun into the creature's mouth. The beast simply devoured it, without chewing.

Abruptly, time froze, but the creature was suddenly in the air. Its mouth was vicious and throbbing, suddenly, darkness consumed his vision. He had been eaten.

Basking in defeat and despair, he wallowed. His tears drenched his face, he cried a river. "Why..?" He pondered, suddenly, light pierced into his eyes.

A beautiful paradise unfolded before him. A Golden City. The city was absolutely gorgeous, the city was coated in gold, from the buildings to the streets. From afar, it looked as if the city had levels, at the lowest level, the city seemed dirty and destroyed, however as the levels got up it grew more beautiful.

Amir adored the city's beauty, but as he looked up, he realized he was in a gigantic cavern. He wondered, how did the light seep into the city? Then he looked at the gargantuan hole in the cavern, which allowed some type of light to creep into the golden palace. At the top of the city, a massive golden castle lay, the castle touched the gaping hole in the middle of the cavern.

Amir looked in awe, the city was truly an extravagant piece of art. However, he pondered, how'd he get here? He was just dead, from a blob like creature, so how'd he appear here?

Then that's when she came, her scarlet hair fluttered in the golden winds, her crimson eyes sparkled in the light. She was an angel standing on top of a building. She was beautiful.

Amir reached his hand towards her, however she was quite far away. Suddenly she glanced at Amir, her eyes menacing yet dazzling. Her face tensed up, then her skin wrinkled. She leaped down from the building majestically. In one huge leap, she landed right in front of Amir. He wondered, how was that feasible? How could someone leap from a building and reach him, it was impossible.

Her gaze stoned him, "What're you doing on floor 1?!" She screamed, her hands tightened as she spoke. Her voice didn't match her, she was a ferocious yet beautiful woman, but her voice was high and squeaky.

Amir nearly chuckled, then he remembered her lunging down from the building. "Oh- uhh? Floor 1? What do you mean?" He asked.

Her face untensed, "What do you mean? You're on floor 1, you know that, right?" She asked once more.

"No, I don't even know how I got here." He said.

"You don't?"

"Not at all," He replied.

She froze for a moment, then she opened her lips. "You're not a Eraphim, are you?"

He looked at her confusedly, "An Eraphim? What're you even talking about?"

Silence fell over the two for a while. "You're from the overworld, the place without mana." She declared.

"Mana? Overworld? I suspected this was in a cave, but I didn't know it was inside the Earth."

"So you really don't know? Come with me, this floor is very dangerous."

Amir stared at her, then averting his gaze. "Why should I trust you?"

She cackled, "If you don't you'll die again."

Amir froze, he didn't want to feel the touch of death again. "I'll come."

"By the way, I'm Scarlet." She said before clutching onto his arm, her feet tensed up and suddenly they were both sauntering through the sky.

Amir looked in awe once more, before suddenly blacking out.