It was a day filled with amusement, laughs and enjoyment. And yet, an ominous feeling seemed to spread through the air. The younger ones enjoyed themselves and had fun. However, the older ones…
"I don't feel right, darling. We should go".
"You're always like this Mom, enjoy yourself. We never come to Coney Island".
…
"I'm not feeling well, it is like a pressure on my chest, I want to go home".
"But you were okay a few minutes ago… we drove so far and there is a festival today-"
"We should go, Harold. You know Dad has heart issues".
…
All over the city, the older generation felt insecure and constricted… as if they had suddenly lost their path.
Adrift.
**
**
"WAAAAAAAA!!!"
"SO FAST!"
In the front of the Rollercoaster, Andrew and Clare were having fun together. However, at the furthest back of it, that wasn't the case at all.
"Why don't you drop that hideous expression and enjoy the ride, Beatrice?" Gloria crossed her arms, ignoring the breathtaking speeds of the rollercoaster just like Gaby who also seemed unbothered, merely annoyed by the fact that she had to be right at the back while Andrew enjoyed himself at the front.
Beatrice wasn't much different.
'It should have been me...' Beatrice's cracked her teeth in irritation, but after releasing a slow sigh, decided to let go of it and merely do her job as a bodyguard.
The date continued with her scorn only increasing inside. A part of her felt the ghost girl Sophia right in front of her face laughing at her misfortune. Nevertheless, as the date continued, Gloria and Gaby's grins receded ever so slowly upon feeling something in the air.
"Gloria…" Gaby spoke first as they sat in a coffee shop, overlooking from the distance how Andrew and Clare were getting some cotton candy for themselves. Gloria, perhaps due to her experience, didn't look as concerned as Gaby did.
"I feel it, how odd... we're not in 'that' season yet".
"What are you two talking about?" Beatrice noticed their conversation and as bored and irritated as she was, decided to join and reap off the benefits that she could in the meantime: information.
Even amidst the jovial atmosphere and blazing sun, she felt eerieness... like the feeling of incoming rain, and yet... there wasn't a single cloud in the sky.
"Hmn. You know ghosts exist just like we do... you're quite close to that girl too".
"I am not. But you can continue, what about them?"
"We supernatural entities have power ranks and among us as well. There are some particular creatures that are quite dangerous, they're called the soul eaters".
Like reality had glitched in front of her, Beatrice watched in awe as once again the cups of coffee refiled on their own. There were many questions she needed to ask but her attention was grasped.
'Since Andrew and I are already involved in this world to this degree... we might as well learn everything we can'.
"Soul eaters. That name alone doesn't sound nice but what does it have to do with this?-"
"Do you know the Limbo?"
"Isn't that hell?" Beatrice's eyebrows twitched, she wasn't very good at religion but as far as she was concerned, they were the same illusory thing.
"No, Limbo and Hell are two different places" Gloria giggled as if ridiculing her ignorance.
"S-so hell and limbo exist…"
"Of course, you dummy. Hell is our home, we are demons. Really sometimes I wish to just consume your soul and leave it at that~"
"…"
The gorgeous bodyguard gulped audibly, unable to sort out how she should feel, outraged or scared.
"I guess hell is for bad people... and that's also your home?"
"That's correct, evil souls go to hell~"
"Then what is limbo for?"
"Limbo, eh?~ well... Limbo is for particularly strong existences who were sealed there because they were... troublesome"
"I don't get it".
"You don't need to get it as you humans would mostly never step in Limbo. But my point is, that is where Soul eaters live. They are creatures that live with the exclusive purpose of torturing and plundering the souls of those that were condemned in Limbo. Unless there are particular circumstances... they are unable to leave that place".
"So you're saying… there is a soul eater somewhere here? is that what you're trying to convey? if that's the case shouldn't we be getting the hell away from here?" Beatrice tapped her fingers on the table while having her latte... misled by Gloria's calm attitude, just like Gaby.
"Not really, not yet at least. But we can feel some faint presence. However, this should be impossible. Penance aura is what you'd call the energy that allows them to keep living and this energy is usually found just at Limbo, this creature shouldn't be here, it must be a powerful one, trying to invade this world but it is fated to fail just like all of them".
"What is penance aura like?"
"We demons or anyone else in creation are unable to feel it. It is an aura exclusive for Soul Eaters, like their own oxygen... the existence of this aura makes them stronger and ferocious... just like us demons have a different type of energy: delicious and exquisite fear~" Gloria licked her lips and even Gaby yelped a little... as if they had touched upon a topic that shouldn't be threaded.
While Beatrice thought everything was interesting, she wanted to know more and share this information with Andrew, she couldn't help but think that they were being too laid back about all of it.
'They're the experts, maybe I'm just overthinking'.
"If Penance aura is the 'energy' of soul eaters and fear is the energy of demons, then... what is the energy of ghosts?"
"Spirits? I'll leave that to you darling~"
"..."
"You tell me, Gaby. When she said 'season' what did she mean?"
"Ah, that… let's just say there is a period of time in which the earth is shrouded by all energies. This allows all creatures to invade this world wantonly and devour every living being in their way and each other~"
"Eh!?" She was shocked, 'Why do you say it in such a sporty manner!?'
Gloria finished her coffee and sighed in pleasure, "It sounds exasperating you don't need to worry that only happens… every ten thousand years".
"When was the last time it happened?".
"…"
"..."
Gaby instinctively looked at the 'oldest' one among them, Gloria who tilted her head and started counting with her fingers before delivering Beatrice the brightest of smiles.
"About ten thousand years ago?~"
**
**
"Why is the portal getting bigger!?"
Number 552 had long since stopped swimming towards the shore. It was a difficult task considering his wounds and to top it off. A major threat loomed on his shoulders.
'If Adrift materialises in this world it will be a disaster I need to call the headquarters somehow!'.
However, upon checking his pockets and belongings, neither his phone nor communicator were there.
'I lost them?!'
Watching his struggle, the creature who by now had its two massive arms trying to pry open the portal, continued to watch him grimly with that wicked eye.
"THERE IS BOUNDLESS PENANCE AURA IN THIS REGION, HOW LUCKY... IT MATTERS NOT THE CAUSE, WHAT MATTERS... IS THAT I CAN FINALLY BE FREE!"
*WHOOOSH!*
Like the noise of tearing the most pitiful garments, or the most feeble flesh... the portal finally receded, torn open forcefully by this creature to the utmost fear of the heavily injured agent who felt the immediate backlash. The lantern that had been in his hands with all its sacred energy focused on the portal, shattered like a bulb exploded by the force of a hammer.
By then, nothing could stop this soul eater from invading this world.
"MAY YOU ALL LIVING BEINGS LOSE YOUR PATH WITHIN THE PITIFUL TRANSCENDENCE OF SOULS WHICH YOU CALL LIFE!"
**
**
In the fortune wheel, Andrew felt off. He had enjoyed the date to the utmost.
'Who would have thought that Clare would even go as far as to pay most of it, she really... behaved like a true girlfriend today, but... why do I keep feeling this odd'
With the beautiful and tired Clare leaning on his side, with the sight of the bright sun and the sea shining in the distance, things couldn't be any better, and yet...
"Something is wrong, Clare…"
His natural instinct told him to call Sophia. She had been nowhere to be seen the whole day, but this feeling he was getting was one he'd usually only consult with her.
"Hmn? What is it? If you're worried about the people looking at me, don't mind them... I'm yours today, alright?~" Clare was in her own world, as feeble as she was ignorant of her surroundings, enjoying what she could only consider the best date they had ever had, and it was just starting.
"It is not that… forget it, it is hard to explain".
Andrew rubbed his temples, noticing how the blue dot shining at the further corner of his eyesight started shining madly. Almost invasively... like urging him at all costs.
'Consume a soul'.
'I don't like this feeling... w-why are you pushing me to do this? I don't even know how to consume a soul... what soul can I consume, at least explain to me!'
Even though he dwelled in his thought, seeking answers... there was no answer, just a prompt, 'Consume a soul'.
"I wish we could stay like this forever... don't you have something to tell me?" Clare's eyes fluttered, this was the perfect moment to officially start their relationship.
Andrew for his part, didn't know what to do. He had realised today that there might be lingering feelings for the beautiful Clare who was willing to change and push things forward but at the same time, it didn't feel like the right time.
His gaze instead diverted to the beautiful sea, looking for an answer within his mind. Stall or give it a chance?
"The sea looks so beautiful" He couldn't help but say to which Clare's gaze drifted also towards the gorgeous landscape at the front of the wheel that had reached the apex of height.
Sadly, they didn't see the same thing. What she saw made her flutter in feelings of love. What he saw... made him pale in fear.
A silhouette, ever so slowly, rising from the sea... bigger than a cargo ship, darker than the blackest night. A chained titan shrouded in the void, his or her hair blazing with bluish flames.
His first thought was... that it had to be a ghost because clearly Clare wasn't seeing the same thing he was seeing.
He closed his eyes several times, but the illusion didn't shatter, instead... it became more prominent as the creature rose to the highest altitude, almost matching the wheel they were at.
"C-Clare we need to go" He stated in a hurry, a broken voice in a rush, looking for a way out and yet unable to find it. They were at the peak of the fortune wheel, 'where can we go?! how can I alert the guy down there that he has to move this quickly!?'
"Why? It is so nice here" Seeing Andrew so exalted, Clare didn't know what to do. She even went as far as to take another look at the sea, but there was nothing there, what could have possibly changed him this much?
With nowhere else to go, Andrew could just only hope whatever that thing was, would just go away. It was his first time seeing anything other than a ghost and yet, for the briefest of moments he felt it... his gaze met that titan's.
The creature picked up something from the sea which Andrew pressed had been an animal and devoured it for a nice period of time, seemingly enjoying it. It wasn't until it finished the 'meal' that the chained creature finally placed its blazing blue eyes back at the fortune wheel.
It didn't give Andrew any good feelings, and the fright within his heart was only confirmed when all of the sudden and for apparently no reason. The creature jumped.
As if in a slow camera, Andrew's eyes followed the silhouette of the void creature, agape... leaping through the air with an abnormally strong impulse with the darkest of grims and the most evil intention.
Until it landed in front of them, and it wasn't a soft land.
*BOOOOOOMMMMM!!*
What followed was despair.