Chereads / Forgotten Ashes / Chapter 2 - Defeating Evil

Chapter 2 - Defeating Evil

Eram watched as the Latch Force managed to cut off one of the creature's arms. It screamed while shooting a beam of fire. One of the members of the Latch force was hit, falling to the ground with a burning hole through their chest.

Eram grimaced as the smell wafted over. Looking at the creature with fury, then with a puzzled look, he was unable to understand what he was thinking.

Surveying the battlefield while his body recovered, Eram looked for a way to help. Quickly leaping into action, Eram ran to one of the nearby buildings.

Upon approaching the building, which was falling apart, he sprinted for the door that was hanging off of one hinge. After entering the building, Eram immediately bolted for the stairs. 

As he climbed the stairs, his knees started to wobble. Looking at the ground, which kept getting further away, he trembled. The stairs were mostly intact.

The third-floor stairs, though, unlike the others, were mostly destroyed, with only two out of the twenty steps remaining. Eram began to sweat profusely. Looking around the room, he noticed a long wooden board that had crispy, burnt posters.

He brought the board over to the remnants of the stairs. After adjusting the board a little, he placed the wood on the first stair, creating a makeshift bridge. Then, taking some nearby rubble, he placed it on the bottom of the board. After a few breaths, he clamored up the shaky bridge.

Looking over the edge of the building that was falling apart, he trembled. Biting his lips, he continued, he was going to jump the remaining distance that the boards couldn't reach.

He took deep breaths to get his blood flowing more and wobbled at the fastest pace he could, barely managing to move when the building shook violently, causing him to slip a little.

Looking over the edge out the window Eram shouted.

"What the hell am I even doing?"

Eram got back up. He frequently looked over the edge, taking small breaks, sweating more each time.

As Eram managed to prepare to jump, the bridge fell. Erams eyes were agape. He shivered in horror as the jump in order to make it to the next floor got wider. 

Eram shouted at the top of his lungs as he jumped.

As his feet left the step, the building shook violently, tilting slightly more. He reached for the next step, only barely managing to grab hold.

His hand was turned white. With another shout, Eram began to pull himself up, rolling on the next floor. Panting heavily, he gazed over the edge down to the first floor, sweating all the more.

'Damn, that was worse than I thought'

Eram sighed, sprinting up the stairs once more. Every step, every breath, he made it up the building to the highest floor.

Without a second to waste, he moved everything he could get his hands on to the side of the building, which had been mostly destroyed. Eram glanced out the window.

The more items he moved, the louder the creaking of the building became. The building started screaming as it began to tilt.

Eram looked over the building once more, staring at the fight below. The red creature seemed to be winning, with two of the members of the Latch force down on the ground.

He locked eyes with one of the members as the building began to fall. Eram noticed the Latch Force moving out of the way quickly as the creature kept firing lasers.

Gulping, Eram bolted for the stairs once more.

The floor was creaking, falling apart, and vanishing as Eram sprinted. He smelled the air that was dusty and smelled of fire, ashes, and death.

"Damn it! I'm going to shit myself!"

Eram was staggering through the collapsing building, barely making it to the fourth floor. Looking down the third floor, he began to pant.

"Three! Two! One!"

Eram leaped for the floor as soon as he said one; however, fate decided to play a cruel trick.

The building gave a final scream as it collapsed.

Eram fell all the way down to the first floor, landing on both of his legs, completely shattering them. He lay in a pool of blood screaming, the building collapsing around him. With some bout of luck, none of the collapsed building landed directly on him, but all around.

Eram began to cry; however, he stopped himself as he noticed the red creature buried under the rubble. The members of the Latch Force quickly recovered. one of them holding their arms out, letting out a green light, healing the two that were down, about to die.

A few seconds later, the demon sprouted from the rubble, similar to that of a parasite infecting a garden. And just like gardeners, the Latch force used their weapons to dice up the creature.

The creature continued to regenerate significantly faster than what Eram could. The latch force continued to cut it up as one member stopped, reached into his bag on his back, pulled out a vase, and threw it.

The creature let out a guttural scream as the vase shattered, spilling a clear liquid. The red being started smoking.

After a minute, it finally died, while Eram finally healed.

The latch force checked around the rubble. After their search, they went to Eram, who was lying on the ground in a pile of blood. One of the members asked in a distorted voice.

"Are you okay? That was extremely brave of you, and it might have just saved our lives."

Eram stood up and brushed off some of the rubble.

"I'm fine. I appreciate your worries. I have a healing ability that can heal me from almost anything."

The Latch Force member let out a distorted laugh.

"Well, if your okay, why did you come help us?"

The Latch Force member was confused as to why such a young boy would risk so much.

Eram thought about it for a minute. 

"If you would have died, I would have died soon after. I originally came over here to watch, though it attacked me."

Eram laughed, looking away from the Latch Force member.

The Latch Force member looked at his comrades.

"Everyone look at this rubble for a minute."

Eram smiled, leaving the latch force, heading towards where his group was at. Erams winced every step. He was smiling from ear to ear. After stretching, he started to run.

The more he moved, the more he wondered.

'That was amazing! I wonder why, seeing that creature die, I got excited?'