Eternity City had proved to be a difficult place to navigate, there were many turns and loops one could lose themselves in, luckily Scarlet began to realize where they were.
An ancient palace began to unfold before them, it was a rustic yet beautiful building, it had four Arabic towers and in the middle was a chunky building. The palace was plated in rotting gold, yet texture wise looked like brick. Scarlet treaded forward confidently, whilst Amir was engulfed in wonder and fear.
"This is it?" Amir questioned as he followed her shadow.
Scarlet glanced back, "Mhm, it's where the king once lived, but he fled the palace because of a curse that resided in it." She explained.
"The king? I suppose this place would have a ruler, even if it's barbaric." Amir chuckled.
The two were faced with gigantic steel doors, the only thing that wasn't golden in this city. Scarlet ran her foot against the grimy golden path, and lunged forward, creaking open the door. "Come on," She whispered as she held the door open.
Amir nodded and swiftly walked in. Torches lit up the massive room, benches were piled on each other and food was stored on a crimson carpet. Despite the room being coated in torches, it was rather freezing. A few people were bent down grabbing at the food, others were sitting on the piles of benches gnawing at some food.
"Excuse me! May we get a portion of this food?" Scarlet bellowed, however Amir knew she wasn't asking.
Abruptly, the room fell silent, the only thing to be heard was the hearts pulsating rapidly. "Immortal's Kiss lies within that boy." One of the elders devouring food said.
Amir glanced around the room, everyone seemed to be staring at him. "I'm the one who she's talking about huh?" Amir asked Scarlet, in which Scarlet nodded back.
Scarlet eyes pierced into Amir's soul, she stared at him hauntingly, almost as if this "Immortal's Kiss" was a bad thing.
" Is that bad?"
Scarlet shook her head no, "She may just be bluffing, let's just focus on the main objective." She whispered to him, "Alright! No more games, we're here to take 25% of the food here, if you don't give us it, then we'll take it from you."
The elderly lady smashed her teeth together, "This isn't for us, it's for the beast that lies underneath." She explained sinisterly.
"Stop bluffing, hand us the food or I'll blow this place into smithereens." Scarlet threatened.
The lady cackled, "Release the monster." The elderly lady yelled as she fled into a nearby room. Abruptly, a loud roar seeped into the room. Then a gnashing sound followed, something was coming, something big and sinister,
Amir glanced at Scarlet and began swallowing his spit. "What's coming?" He asked her.
Scarlet glared at Amir, her eyes filled with confusion. "I'm not sure, just stay behind me and I'll protect you" She demanded. Amir rushed to her shadow as something emerged from the massive hall ahead of them.
It was big and hair, it's skin invisible to the naked eye due it's sheer amount of fur. Its fur was vantablack and its eyes gleamed a distinct red, like Scarlet's. The creature stood on four massive legs and it's body was skinny, despite it's lanky appearance the creature nearly touched the roof.
Amir reached towards his mouth, he wanted to puke. Yet somehow, he held it in. Scarlet's eyes were filled with resentment, but why? It was simply another monster, yet something about it seemed to be connected to her. The monster and Scarlet's eyes glowed blood red as they approached each other. Scarlet whipped out her blade in one swoop, then she bent her legs backwards, grinding her heels against the golden plated floor. She leapt into the air, soaring towards the creature.
"Its name is Rius The Fallen Father." One of the elderly ladies exclaimed. For some reason, those words struck Scarlet's soul, abruptly she fell down from the air and crashed into the food. The beast Rius glanced at Scarlet, then looked at Amir.
Amir slowly backed up, fear began to engulf him entirely as the beast approached him. Amir began to come into resolution, that he was going to die, just like how he should've at the mansion. He was going to be at peace, at least that's what he believed. But then he realized, he wasn't with God, he wasn't walking the path he needed to take to bask in the glory of Heaven. He was going to die with regrets, and he hated that.
The beast lunged towards Amir and in one swoop, he was gone, or so he thought. A girl with dazzling short blonde hair and diamond like eyes swooped in and cut the beast's hand off, saving Amir. How did she, why did she, those thoughts filled Amir's mind as he plumped onto the ground. The blonde girl glanced back at Amir, "I'm Alice." She said before glaring at the beast again.
Rius the beast growled at Alice, however she didn't flinch. Instead, she pulled out her weapons once more, which were dual sickles. Alice sprinted toward the beast, she slashed into its legs, then ran up them, then she'd leap onto its back, and stab her sickles into it. The beast roared, then it crashed its back into a pillar, forcing Alice to get off it. Alice quickly recovered by leaping on broken pieces of the pillar, then she'd lunge onto its back one more.
This time, Alice pierced into its spine and began ripping it out. Blood began oozing out from its wounds as she did so. Until, Scarlet emerged and leapt onto the beast. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF HIM!" Scarlet screamed as she pulled out her blade.
Alice looked confusedly, "Him? And why do you wish to protect it? Isn't it your enemy?".
Scarlet stomped towards Alice, causing Rius the beast to hurl in agony. "He isn't an it, this is my…my… FATHER!" She roared once more, then she swung her blade at Alice, however she quickly dodged.
"Your father? This creature can't produce human children, you should know that." Alice responded, still not resorting to violence.
Scarlet gritted her teeth as the monster leapt into the air, throwing the two of them off it. Alice quickly caught herself and landed on the carpet, so did Scarlet. "We have to kill it." Alice demanded of Scarlet.
"I don't know what they did to him, but, Rius is my father's name, and it has his fiery red eyes. I know it's him, just believe me!" She screamed in despair, yet Alice didn't listen.
Alice threw her sickles into Rius's eyes, then she'd leapt forward and pulled them out. Scarlet lunged onto Alice, pushing them both into a pillar. "STOP!" Scarlet screamed as she attempted to stab Alice, yet Alice managed to deflect it.
Amir simply watched the chaos unfold, he knew he had to do something, especially if Scarlet's father was the creature before them. Then, that's when it happened. Rius sprinted towards Amir, attempting to gobble him up.
"Activate," Said a voice in Amir's head.
Abruptly, chains grew out of Amir's left hand. Those chains gripped onto anything it came in contact with, and tugged on it. The chains gripped onto several walls, and Rius. Suddenly, everything came tumbling down, the building and Rius. The roof collapsed on everyone, resulting in a massive dust uprising.
Throughout all the destruction, Scarlet and Alice still were fighting. They didn't even look to see if Amir was okay. Although, somehow he was. In fact, he was unscathed. Amir glanced to his left hand, "How…?" He mumbled.
Rius leapt out of the debris, the beast quickly ran away before anyone could spot it. Scarlet swung her blade at Alice's neck, however Alice ducked, avoiding the attack. Alice slashed at Scarlet's leg, sending Scarlet tumbling down. Then Alice lunged onto Scarlet and attempted to stab her directly in the neck. "Stop now and I won't kill you," Alice growled.
"THAT WAS MY FATHER…!" Scarlet screamed again, this time she wasn't hostile, instead she broke down into tears.
Amir glanced at the situation, he didn't want to intervene, especially since Rius getting away was his fault. Alice pulled away from Scarlet, and allowed her to wallow peacefully. As the sun began to rise, allowing light to peer into the scene, Amir began to realize this place isn't what it seems.