In the middle of the winter's coldness, had suddenly surged a wave of warmth, its black smoke, violently chasing away the glacial mist covering until now the city.
On top of a hill where stood a pristine white church, were laying two corpses : Celia and Asaki's. One, that of the red haired girl, was almost fully covering the second, that of a white-haired man desperately trying to clearly see what was going on.
"The hell...?"
Muttered the Aurora, as her two orange eyes reflected the horrific sight with terror ; Before her, in the middle of a screaming city, were dressing three raven black towers of smoke, miserably trying to reach the heaven in their abstract form.
Facing so suddenly such an horrific sight had some effect on everybody actually able to see it, and so the Aurora, whose heart violently pound against Asaki's back. Crushed onto the ground by the girl's weight, the man was still unsure about something...
Whose heart was actually pounding so hard ? Celia's, or... His ?
Another dreadful scream suddenly echoed in the middle of the forest, instantly stopping the thunderous noises of both of the survivor's heart inside Asaki's ears. But it didn't really relieve him from anything, another sudden surge of fear invading his mind as he yelled.
"Celia ! Get up quickly !! We need to leave, now !"
Suddenly pulled out of her trance, the Aurora moved by reflex just after Asaki ordered her to do so, jumping a few meters from him while grabbing her hiking bag during the movement.
Within a second, Asaki, filled by a sudden fear, quickly rolled on the ground ; clumsily grabbing his bag as he then, hardly got up, glancing with a great attention at what was behind them.
"What's going on Asaki ??"
The man sadly didn't have enough time to answer to his companion, his legs instinctively propelling him at full speed as his throat only yelled the only thing crossing his mind at the moment.
"JUST RUN !!!"
And as the figure of the pale man quickly disappeared from her sight, Celia did the only thing her mind could order her to do ; Following Asaki as if her life depended on it.
Asaki wasn't that weak in terms of physical abilities, he went to the gym around three times per week and liked walking and running within the nature... But, such a sudden start, at such a speed... The man's legs already started to burn after only a few dozens meters away.
The forest's ground was also really dangerous, there was roots, frozen leafs and mud, to not mention some holes across the only "road" the survivor's could follow.
Trees became wider and wider each steps Asaki took at their direction, breathing with difficulty as the cold air was painfully burning his lunges.
"Aaah... Aaah... Aaah..."
Behind him, Celia, as an Aurora, quickly caught up with him ; Her face only a tiny bit red as small screens of white smoke continuously escaped from her lips.
"Why... Why are we running to... the explosions ??"
Others thunderous screams kept echoing around the survivors, as an awkward rumbling followed them, making the entire ground shake with strength.
"T-their... Their screams..."
Celia barely dodged a tree's branch by a hair, sliding on the ground a few seconds before redressing with a small jump, not losing any speed in the process.
"And... And so ?"
Violent coughs escaped from the running man before he could answer, luckily avoiding falling on the ground multiple times already because of its slipperiness.
"They we... They were coming from... Behind us..."
°°°
Another violent sequence of coughs escaped from Asaki's throat as the forest's entrance finally appeared in front of the two's position, a black and dense smoke hiding most of the concrete gray ground before them.
"..."
A third series of horrific screams echoed from behind Asaki and Celia, and this time, fair closer than before. The Aurora didn't needed anymore to doubt about Asaki's reaction, herself hearing pretty distinctly the disgusting growling behind them.
"Wh... Where does they come from ?!!"
Now, even the Aurora started to get pink, the air becoming mire and more burning, and irritating because of the black smoke. In front of her, Asaki kept running, even though Celia was now almost running by his side.
His gaze had widened a lot since they almost reached the entrance, filled by a mix of hope and fear, as his legs could barely keep the rhythm up.
"The... Cough cough... Sound of the explosion m... Must have attracted them.."
Where did those explosions come from ? Why ? How...? And, by who...??
This was too sudden to be real, although Asaki had already lived enough strange experiences here to not be that much surprised... Still, in what world, could they already run for their life after they just left the church ?!
'F*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck'
Breathing became so hard that now, it didn't change anything to keep breathing or not, the effects too miserable to change anything about their situation now.
Soon... Asaki knew that he'll faint away, entering inside the black and burning smoke only reinforcing even more this thought.
"Asaki !"
In front of Celia, the pristine figure quickly disappeared within the smoke, swallowed by its burning darkness in no time. And just after he did so, the Aurora also quickly disappeared into the black hell, the ground suddenly changing into a harder and straighter one.
Still, they both were unable to breathe nor properly see now, and soon... Their corpses won't be alone in the smoke's darkness.
"R...Ru..."
A small whisper echoed within the smoke, sadly covered by noises of steps and pain moans as the burning and sharp ground also wounded both's foots, tremendous sounds of steps quickly joining the weir orchestra which had taken place.
Celia kept running, firmly holding one of the kitchen's knife she had on her as her eyes, crying because of the coldness and smoke, suddenly saw a distant form falling onto the ground.
And at the same moment, Asaki, hardly running because of the pain, coldness, and tiredness...
Had fall on the ground.