On the outskirts of the plains, a woman and a boy took shelter inside a rundown cabin, with the woman being Lether and the boy being Fereez. "You idiotic boy.." - Lether grasped her forehead before proceeding to glance at the curled up boy next to her that was lying down on the dirty bed facing the wall. "Why did you...?" - Lether uttered, sounding exhausted though not physically. Her question was met with silence as the boy refused to utter anything nor move. "Fereez.." - Lether turned her body towards the boy. "Fereez..!" - Her voice rose.
She got closer, her irises were minimized and her eyebrows were gravely furrowed. She then gripped the boy's forearm with so much force that it made him flinch. "FEREEZ!" - She shouts, causing the boy to begin trembling with muffled sniffles following shortly afterwards. Upon seeing such a scene, Lether's stiff shoulders loosened and her expression softened, she released a heavy sigh before backing off and scratching her head.
"Damn It..." - She whispered.
With multiple blood-curdling screams and monstrous howls echoing outside, Lether grasps her tiny rosary before proceeding to shut her eyes.
----
Surrounded by the thickness of the forest, Baskir navigated through the foggy darkness armed only with a large battleax tied to his back. "LETHER!! FEREEZ!!" - He yelled, as he soared through the forest.
Focused solely on finding the two, Baskir completely ignored everything around him. The screams, growls and the sounds of flesh being repeatedly torn apart. A sweat slid down his cheek despite it being absurdly cold.
After a while of running however he eventually ran into something he absolutely cannot ignore. As soon as Baskir entered the vicinity, his senses immediately screamed for him to flee. "Wha..what the hell?" - Baskir thought to himself as he looked down, his arms couldn't stop trembling and his feet were paralyzed on the ground.
He instinctively reached for his battleax and turned around to assess what it was. And there he found..
"..huh?"
*Woosh*
- a singular leaf soaring through the air.
"Wha-what the hell was that?" - Baskir questioned himself as his eyes scanned the entire area. To which, he found nothing. He heaved a sigh before slowly softening his grip on the battleax. "Ne-never in my years of warfare have I felt..."
Aware of the danger he felt just now, Baskir visualized an image inside his head of what the creature causing it would've been like.
His eyes widened before his face became a breeding ground of terror, his heart started to throb faster and quicker with adrenaline surging through his veins. Multiple droplets of sweat slid down his muscle-tight arms as he proceeded to imagine the sheer prowess of that creature.
However, after a few moments of silence, he took a deep breath and sheathed his ax. "Le-lets get out of here.." - with a fidgety body language, Baskir attempted his hardest to slowly and silently make his way towards the cover of the larger trees.
Unbeknownst to him however, a large crater embedded on the ground have slowly begun to open, revealing a gargantuan eye that resembled a salamander, it opened half-way and remained for a moment, before jolting open and quickly locking in towards the direction Baskir took off to.
...
Inside the coziness of the orphanage. Cale sat beside a window staring intently towards the fog-covered forest nearby. However, an abrupt chill ran up his spine breaking his concentration and resulting in the widening of his eyes. "Wha--What the hell was that!?" - He yelled, before slowly closing his arms in an attempt to embrace himself. "I-I..?" - His eyebrow rose as he laid his eyes on the uncontrollable trembling of his hands.
Though, it does not seem like that the kid was the only one who felt the humungous presence just now. Inside a room somewhere in the orphanage, a large shadowy figure with long hair sleeping on a wooden desk slowly creaked its eye open. "..Hm."
...
Fereez'es snifles reverberated around the rundown cabin, causing a small vein to throb on Lether's forehead. Though, instead of scolding the child, she just stole a glance towards the boy facing the wall before once again closing her eyes.
"...Fereez." - Lether uttered, with eyes still shut, her utterance was met with the same snifles from the child. Met with such a scene, Lether couldn't help but half-open her eyes as a certain bittersweet memory resurfaced inside her head causing her to bite her lower lip. "..I am not angry Fereez. just..." - the memory continued, but it stopped when she immediately sealed her eyes shut and gripped the rosary tighter. Her mouth went agape and hanged, before..
"I.." - ".."
"..I was just worried." - Lether uttered, blankly staring towards the wooden floor. The snifles from Fereez slowly began to halt as her voice entered his ears.
"I don't want that to happen again.." - In spite of her efforts in shutting the memory down, small glimpses of it kept echoing inside her head like a swirling tornado of needles.
"So don't do it again..."
- She continued. But was met with silence.
"Everybody..doesn't want anyone..." - Her mouth went agape and trailed off, before she gritted her teeth.
"The outside at night is extremely dangerous...That is why we forbade everyone.."
"..."
"It isn't for our sake. But for yours. and everyone elses."
"..."
"So promise me."
"..?"
Lether turned around and faced Fereez, which to her surprise, was now focusing his gaze on Lether.
"To never go outside at night again."
- With a small smile, she extended out her pinky finger towards the small child. His saddened expression softened as he reluctantly reached for the pinky finger with his own and intertwined it with Lether's.
"There we go."
- Lether's eyes squinted, but her smile widened. Seeing such a scene, Fereez couldn't help but to reciprocate and form a small smile of his own.
"Yeah.." - He whispered.
"Hm. Well no---!!!"
Before she could finish her response Lether's eyes quickly jolted upwards. She then pulled the small Fereez towards her into an embrace using nothing but the pinky finger. "Wha-what's wrong..!?" - Fereez asked,
Lether's expression grew grim, her embrace around the child tightened as her eyes became more and more grave.
"Wha-Why..? Sister Lether?"
"It's..."
...
Somewhere in the forest, Baskir made an abrupt halt on his tracks, without wasting any time, he hurriedly analyzed his surroundings, though he found nothing but perpetual gloominess.. "..tch." - he felt that they..no "it" was there. He calmly reached for his battleax before whispering.
"Too Quiet.."
The forest, that was once filled with blood-curdling screams and horrifying howls suddenly became eerily silent.
It was as if the entire forest stood still for the moment, for everything inside it dared not to make any noise because they didn't want to get caught.
--
"Its here.."
- Lether glanced at the still forest outside the window before stuffing the small Fereez inside a closet.
"Fereez. you must listen to everything I need to say..." - Her tone was calm yet her expression was grave.
--
Baskir closed his eyes and attempted to heighten his other senses. "hm.." after a few moments of meditating, a nerve immediately sent a jolt of adrenaline up his gut making him reflexively retreat a few steps back.
"...Tch."
-Whatever the creature was, it radiated an aura threatening enough that it made a warrior like Baskir instinctively maintain a safe distance.
Gargantuan stomps echoed throughout the forest, their steps were enough to shake the earth beneath. Its sheer appearance brought a new wave of dread that overtook Baskir's reasoning.
Baskir's eyes grew in the face of the creature emerging from the darkness, it was large enough to effortlessly destroy the trees on its path.
"Well.." - Baskir's horrified expression transitioned to a troubled glare with a sly smirk, with sweat proliferating on his face.
After its emergence, two pairs of gigantic red orbs stared directly at the paralyzed Baskir, Peering through his flesh.
"I'll be damned.."
A strange bluish window materialized in front of Baskir.
[ ??? ]
EPI : 6.0
EVALUATION : EPI Lvl 5 - Colossus Class
Analyzing Possible Course of Action...
Complete.
[RUN]