The skies stole the moon's colour and thus, the moon burnt red.
Was the world going to end? A minute ago everything was normal and now Armageddon. Was this some sort of phenomenon? Perhaps I am dreaming.
I pinched my cheek and felt a sting. Definitely not a dream. What could be happening outside? There weren't any screams, no loud bangs or anything. The lack of action done in such a dire situation gave me more dread that I'd like. In the face of death, I shall close my eyes.
I didn't dare to explore outside. In truth, I rather die in ignorance than to die with despair knowing my impending death awaits. I shall lay here on my bed and wait nicely with my eyes closed.
Minutes passed and nothing happened. Regardless, the uneasiness of my heart never faded away. Whatever I do, I must never open my eyes. If I do, I will find out the truth. There must be nothing but silence in this room and I will not think about the near future.
Crash!
My still quiet world was interrupted with a loud bang.
Thump! Thump! My heart started palpitating furiously, what was that sound? At least let me die quietly in peace. Regardless of all my whining, I still had a strong compulsion to investigate.
There was something tugging on my right pinky. A red thread was tied to my pinky. Like a moth to a flame; I followed the thread. It was as if all doubts was cleared out of my mind.
Following the thread slowly, it led to my parents bedroom. Whatever created that loud noise was behind this door. If I open this door, who knows what I would find and who knows if I would be safe. A part of me wished for my parents to be fine and safe in there; however, a part of me wishes otherwise. That a great beast laid within, ready to finish me off in one gulp.
Taking one big breath of air, I prepared myself. I turned the doorknob, slowly pushing the door. The gap in the door slowly revealing to me what had transpired within. The room once white, splattered with red paint all over the walls. The ceiling now having a huge gap showing the beautiful red hue of the moon.
In the middle of the room was what captured my eyes the most. An angel.
Even if I had trade my eyes for anything, it would be this very image. The world seemed so still at this moment, it was as if the world itself stopped to take a look at her. Her hair was as white as snowflakes and she herself were like those snowflakes; with a small touch, she could disappear at a moment's notice.
Her wings stretched across the room, drenched and dripping in blood. The more I looked at her, the more enthralled I was. Her porcelain skin was untouched by any scar, at least besides the obvious one lodged into her chest. Her very presence brought otherworldly beauty, almost like those of classical paintings depicting nature and goddesses.
This was the image that artists around the world wishes to encapsulate.
Beautiful. Enchanting. Ravishing. Stunning. All of these words were created to describe her yet they all paled in comparison to what she is. I was speechless.
The blood, the entrails, organs and whatever left of my parents seemed to make her look ever more beautiful. I really couldn't put a finger on how I felt. It was... foreign, alien almost.
Her eyes told many different stories with each blink. One of anger, one of anguish. And then she looked around her, the actions that she had done. She glanced at me and now her eyes told me another story; one just for me. Her eyes held so much regret, yet she still smiled at me painfully so.
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A boy woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling. Deafening crashing sounds of water surrounded him. He was under a transparent ceiling almost. Water droplets formed onto the ceiling and dripping around him.
'Ah the sky... Its golden'
Almost immediately, for no apparent reason, he reached his hand to the sky.
"Is this rain?" The boy muttered to himself.
"What else could it be, snow?" A girl's voice could be heard.
"Ahh!" The boy jumped back.
It was only then did the boy took notice of a white haired girl's presence. She had a mischievous grin on her face and was crawling slowly towards him.
"W-what do you want, why did you kidnap me!"
"Kidnap you? Haha, why would I kidnap someone like you for!?"
"..."
She sighed and then pointed towards a direction, "Look, two other kids under two parasols. I too was brought here against my knowing too, up to you if you believe it or not really."
He scanned his surroundings. She was right, there were kids besides her. A boy with grey and red hair. A girl with mint green hair. They both slept peacefully under the heavy rain. A couple minutes of silence passed.
Having soothed his nerves, he asked, "So, how about your parasol?"
"Mine? Oh, it couldn't handle the weight of the rain, so I ran here. Weird parasol you got here but if it works, it works right?" She looked up at the transparent parasol.
"Yeah..."
"So what's your name?" The girl probed him.
"Ah my name is... My name is..."
'What was my name?'
Questions of his own identity started piling on his head. What was his name? How old was he? What was the last thing he remembered?
Taken aback, the boy sat there, quietly. Trying his best to retrace his steps. His memories were all so fuzzy, remembering his past is bits and pieces. He only knew the facts but not the images.
The boy lived alone with his dad, having moved into a new apartment far away from his old one. Having no school, he always stayed home. The last thing he remembered was a girl who handed him a feather of some kind? Whatever it was, it was hard to remember any other detail besides the girl.
'A girl with a bright smile and... And what?'
The boy furiously scratched his head but no answers came out. It was like the words didn't come out from his head. Realising it was useless to pursue the matter, he recalled his name.
"Yeol"
"Huh?" The girl looked back at him. She went silent as well after asking about Yeol's name.
"Yeol, that's my name."
"Well my name is Pio and-"
"WHERE THE HELL AM I!!!"
In shock, the two immediately looked in the direction of the noise. The girl with the green hair had woken up. Yeol wouldn't have guessed that the girl who was sleeping so peacefully just moments ago would be so loud.
'In all honesty, her reaction was reasonable. Waking up in a foreign land, golden skies and a red moon. Red moon? Am I even on the same planet anymore?'
He immediately scanned his surroundings again. Checking every nook and cranny if there was any other peculiar detail where he could be. The skies were golden but the moon was out. The rain was pouring; so heavily in fact, that it might crush his body if he dared to walk out. And the grass, it was white. How did he not notice all of this?
"Hey, how heavy is the rain? Also, quite embarrassing from my part but did you notice the red moon and golden skies?"
Pio answered, "Really, really heavy. In fact, if I didn't seek refuge here fast enough. You would've seen a pretty corpse next on these lovely patch of white grass here... Well maybe not pretty actually. I doubt my body would stay intact after staying in this rain for too long now. As for the moon."
She stared straight up, "Yeah, I guess it really is red, the skies are golden too. Anyways continuing myself from early when I was introducing myself-"
Yeol stopped listening quickly after she started rambling on, taking on a mental note that this girl was not normal in the slightest. It was as if this is the norm for her, perhaps he was the weird one. He was a shut in after all. However, that green haired girl was acting like it wasn't.
'Ha! Its 2 against one, I'm the normal one.' Yeol started grinning to himself.
"Hey, what's with the stupid smirk you have on your face? I was just talking about my human slave collection. You want one?"
"S-slave collection?? W-why do you even have one in the first place... Wait no, please I didn't mean to wrong you, please don't take m-me."
"Aha! I knew it, you weren't listening to me." She then started laughing to herself, mocking and poking fun at Yeol.
'This girl..."
Hours passed. The rain showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Yeol stared into the far distance while Pio won't stop talking to him; not like he was listening in the first place. He sighed and checked on the other two. The other girl looked calm despite her previous performance and the boy had just woken up from his slumber.
"Hey Yeol! Lend me a hand!" Pio was doing her best to lift the parasol.
"Wait isn't this dangerous? What if it topples over and we'll be under the rain."
"Nah, it's fine I promise. If anything happens, we'll just run to those two." She pointed to the other two parasols not that far from here. "Better than doing nothing right?"
Yeol kept quiet and then nodded. Placing his hands on the pole, he signaled to Pio. "On the count of 3."
One.
Two.
Three.
The two tugged at the pole with all their might. At least as much might two children can muster. However, no matter how much they tried, the pole wouldn't move.
"Ah? What may you two possibly be trying to achieve?"
The two kids turned around. In the midst of the heavy rain. Under the golden skies and red moon, stood a bandaged man. Wrapped from head to toe, badly done drawings on said bandages that somewhat resemble a face.
Yeol immediately took the chance to ask. "How are you standing under the rain? No, I meant who are you and where are we?"
The bandaged man smiled, "I am Phitet, I have summoned the four of you here to slay the demon king! Does that sound interesting?"
"Sounds cliché, not my style really." Pio retorted
"Haha! Yeah it really is unfortunately, however a monster like you shouldn't talk to me about how stories should go. And as for you, I think you got caught up accidentally. You aren't meant to be here. A mistake on my part" The man bowed to Yeol
"Off you two go now. I'll talk to the others. Scram"
It all happened so suddenly. The man had waved his hand and now the two were staring directly into the silver moon. Their heads were cut clean off. The moon was rotting, it was eating itself directly and now it had set its gaze onto the both of them.
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A girl woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling. This time the ceiling was an actual ceiling.