The night was almost over. The first few streaks of yellow had already marred the sky but the sun was yet to rise.
Even now, it feels like I am in a fever dream.
I was sitting on the edge of the small platform where I had healed Arthur.
My feet dangled down. The bottom was quite a deep place with a whole lot of spikes and trees. I can't call it a forest, of course, but there were quite a lot of them.
I had imagined the sunrise to look a lot more beautiful in another world.
And I was right.
Or maybe it was because the horror and fright that I had experienced in the night regarding Arthur, the morning feels so much more blissful.
Arthur was still asleep. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but he was covered by his own spare clothes that formed a pile over him, hopefully keeping him warm.
As I was lost in my thoughts, Michael slipped one foot and let it dangle downward and folded the other one underneath him, sitting by my side.
His bun was let loose and the long, thick strands rested serenely on his shoulders.
He didn't say anything and kept his eyes straight in a thousand-yard stare, just looking at whatever was in front of him, or maybe even beyond. Without looking at me, he reached for the inside of his pocket and pulled out a small packet of biscuits.
"Eat up."
It felt more like an order than an act of kindness.
"You can't order me around." I huffed.
He clicked his tongue and then grit his teeth. "Eat up." Although there was no change in words, his tone was much softer.
Smirking internally at the win, I took it from his grasp.
As the crinkling sound of opening the packet reached my ears, he spoke at the same time. "Why did you come here? It's not because you miss your lover boy, do you?"
I almost choked on the first piece of food I had eaten in so many hours. How can someone be so humanly annoying?
But putting that aside, I TOTALLY FORGOT TO TELL THEM WHY I CAME HERE!
Quickly swallowing the biscuit, I turned to him.
I was about to speak when I looked down and then at the Grand Canyon-like structure that I had only seen in pictures, almost missing the cloud of dust approaching behind a large hill a few dozen miles away that started to cover the sky.
"What's that?" My own voice ringed in my ears.
"It's... too soon," Michael muttered.
A gasp escaped my lips as I realised what it was.
Michael frowned and casted a fleeting glance at me. "Tell me about why you are here later." With a panicked expression, he stood up. "Oh, fuck me!"
I tried to look into the distance but a voice jolted me to look back.
"The reconnaissance units are here, it seems"
It was Arthur. He was slipping into his grey hoodie while walking towards us. Once he was around five steps away from us, he stopped, looked at me and smiled for a brief moment.
"Good to see you, Astrid." Before I could reply, he turned his head to Michael. "Don't say I didn't tell you. You were too plastered at that time."
"I am not." Michael grumbled. "But what does it mean? This isn't supposed to happen. Why are these things here? It can't be a coincidence. Right after last night."
I was so confused. There were so many unanswered questions.
Who was Ed? What are these things? What does he mean by scouts?
"The Wujins we killed." Arthur started explaining. "They were gatekeeping hundreds of thousands, if not a million of them, behind the colosseum-like structure. They are going to use it to gauge our strengths and weaknesses before attacking Seoul." He paused, stroking his chin. "But there are still a few days before the Frontier opens up. It's only been a day since we came here. Why now?"
What is he talking about? It's been 3 DAMNED days!
"Arthur." I called out as he looked in my direction.
Before I could talk, his eyes went wide. As if just realising my existence.
"Why are you here? You are not supposed to be here." He mouthed, not talking out loud. The crease in his forehead evened out and he breathed shakily. "Temporal lag."
"Huh?" Michael scowled.
"How many days has it been, Astrid?" He asked. "Since we left?"
"Three days."
The ground beneath and the sky above rumbled as a giant wave of green started to fill the horizon.
I took a frightened step back.
Hundreds…thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of those abominations were filling the distant space and were rushing towards us.
Arthur stepped in front of me and placed his foot on the edge.
"Not sure if this is a declaration of war." He spoke, sending a shiver down my spine as Michael angrily stomped, placing his hands on his waist. "2 of us, against all of them."
A gnawing sense of fear and morbid despair gripped at my insides.
"Arthur, we can… I can unseal the Frontier, I can-"
He turned back, his features muddled by the shadow casted by the sun behind him.
"Can you see the tangible dome beside you?" He asked, his voice brittle.
I gulped and then looked back.
"It was a small place to the eye in Seoul, but it's actually a whole country. Continent even. They'll catch up to us before we even reach the end of this dome."
"Fuck, FUCK!" Michael's fist collided into the wall as a crack went up its surface.
"Don't destroy the only good thing we have." Arthur spoke calmly as he took out a bandage and placed it over the wound underneath his eye. The one I had forgotten to heal. "We have to make a plan."
"What plan? Those things are nothing, but I don't think we would be in a condition for actual soldiers after dealing with a million of them! Not if the soldiers are like that bastard Ed. And I felt someone else too. Probably the 'Lord' fella he mentioned about serving."
Arthur shrugged. "Then we have to stay alive long enough and hope for external help." He paused, and his tongue made a bump into his cheek. "Or you'll die trying."
"Huh? You? Have you lost your last brain cell?"
Arthur looked away, glancing at the incoming wave as the sun continued its ascent.
"We. I meant; we die trying."
A chilling sensation gripped at me.
Somehow… I had a very bad feeling about what he said.
**************
A/n Illustration of Arthur looking in the distance is posted in Illustrations Gallery.