On a night full of joy where the summer festival will be held in Sirius City, South. Many people came, they were not humans but in human form, classified as Spirits and called "Fiore". Even though they have human form they still carry the characteristics of their own race, such as pointed ears, horns, tails, and many others. They act and behave like humans, no more and no less. Starting from children, young people, to the elderly, they happily welcomed the festival because it coincided with the largest playground that would be inaugurated that night.
"Hey, have you heard that there will be famous celebrities as guest stars!?" exclaimed the young girl with her friend who was walking through the city.
Her friend nodded excitedly, "I heard too, but what I'm waiting for the most is the music festival. One of my school friends will be performing," she said while looking around, where it was very crowded and full of excitement.
The people gathered in front of the gate of the playground pushed each other because they wanted to be at the front to see the inauguration, the girls from before chuckled at the sight, "I think we should just go around first, it will be hard to get out of the crowd there," she complained, preferring to just walk around.
"I hope it doesn't rain, because it would be really disappointing," said her friend while looking up at the sky, where dark clouds covered the stars and the shining moon.
Her friend nudged her shoulder, "Don't say that, it will really happen normally. Didn't you hear? The weather forecast said it would only be cloudy tonight, we can still enjoy this festival," she replied with a wide smile.
"Haha... that's right, I guess I was just thinking too far ahead. But hopefully this will go smoothly..." she muttered as she continued to walk around the city with her friend.
A few moments later, strong winds blew and the weather grew darker. Light rain began to fall and people began to look for shelter. The atmosphere became a little noisy because people were securing their goods so they wouldn't get wet and visitors were complaining about the bad weather. The old man who was also taking shelter heard something, like the melody of a viola but no one around him was playing a musical instrument or even playing music, "How strange, where did that sound come from..." he muttered while looking around, he approached one of the young men, "Excuse me son, did you hear something that didn't sound like a musical instrument?" asked the old man.
The young man who was playing with his cellphone turned to him and at the same time a thunderclap echoed, "Nothing, I just heard thunder. Did you hear me right grandpa?" he replied politely.
"Ahh, that's right... sorry son. It seems like my hearing is impaired. But I feel like I heard it clearly," he muttered looking gloomy because he felt uncomfortable about something but didn't know what.
Back to the two young girls earlier, her friend lost signal on her cellphone and told her friend, "Hey, my cellphone lost signal. Is yours?" she asked in confusion because it rarely happened.
Her friend took her own cellphone from her shoulder bag, she was surprised because hers was also gone, "Same here, mine is gone too! What should I do, I haven't sent my last assignment!"
Her friend giggled despite the critical condition, "Come on, you'll get a zero grade~" she joked to her friend.
People began to realize the strangeness that was happening, because in a developed city like Sirius City, signal loss was rare. They began to wonder and were confused, until they heard the melodious sound of a viola. They all heard it in their heads, the sound became darker, not like a viola anymore but a cello followed by scary bells. The children who heard it became scared and whined, "Mom! What's that sound! I don't want to hear it!" shouted one of the children to his mother.
"It's okay, mom is with you. You're just tired from playing a lot earlier ..." replied his mother who tried to calm her child.
His mother also got goosebumps because she heard the sound of the cello music that was so dark and the sound of the bells that added to the tension in her mind and the people who also heard it. People began to panic because they didn't know what was happening, the sound didn't stop for a second, they tried to cover their ears but it was useless. The panic grew worse, the chaos became more and more noisy and the joyful festival changed instantly. The rain was getting heavier but the chanting still rang inside their heads, making them helpless and had to endure hearing it.
The young girl who was with her friend cowered in fear and covered her ears while whispering in fear, "Stop... please... this sound is too much..."
Her friend who saw it could not do anything, could only mourn it while holding back the melody in her own head which slowly made her feel very uncomfortable. "Who did it, this will make me crazy if I hear it continuously..." she complained while holding her own head, her tears falling by themselves because she could not bear the sound that was too scary.
From the dark sky appeared a large portal of light and a creature came out from inside it, black balls fell together with a giant white statue, right in the playground that was about to be inaugurated. The light continued to shine brightly in the midst of the heavy rain, three red chains came out from inside it and moved in the same direction as the statue fell.
People who saw the incident gasped, confused by what happened, "What is that, did you see it!?" one of them shouted to be heard over the noise of the rain.
"Is that a giant or a statue? I have trouble seeing it," said the person next to him who was trying to see in the pouring rain.
Some people who were near the playground tried to ignore what they heard in their heads and went to find out. The ground shook when the statue had fallen to the ground, it had no face just a flat surface. The black balls turned into very large ants and roamed around in the playground.
The sound of water spots was heard inside the playground indicating that someone was inside, that person was Asteria running away from a group of ants the size of a large vehicle, jet black with some kind of ancient silver writing surrounding their bodies. The ants and the statue were the same creature, Spirit, the difference being that they were called "Morte" because they were wild and dangerous. Asteria continued to avoid going to a carousel where her step-sister, Annabella, was hiding from her because of personal problems. She went around the playground trying to find the location of the carousel, because the heavy rain made it difficult for her to see plus the darkness of the night.
"Kelvin is so dumb, I warned him about Annabella, but he did it instead," Asteria muttered as he tried to find Annabella's location in the playground while being chased by the Morte ants. Asteria's feelings felt divided, between regret and annoyance, as if there were two different thoughts.
Inside the carousel horse-drawn carriage, Annabella curled up and just listened to her music at high volume using earphones, so she didn't notice the dark melody and the commotion outside. She ignored the vibrations caused by the fallen statue because she felt like she didn't care about anything anymore. "Stupid Asteria, I just drank blood like usual, but why did he suddenly forbid me like that..." she muttered gloomily and her eyes looked sleepy. She leaned against the side of the seat and fell asleep soundly.
Asteria continued to run as fast as possible while avoiding the pursuit of the Morte ants that had just emerged from the black balls that had fallen earlier. The giant statue walked towards the carousel, where Annabella was hiding. This made Asteria know Annabella's location, he used his power, Chaos Force, to move very fast and kick the hand that wanted to grab the merry-go-round. The statue's hand was cut off and thrown into one of the buildings there.
Asteria also had heard the same dark melody experienced by people, but he was used to it because he had experienced it before so he could ignore it. "That melody, it feels familiar. And This statue is like The Mother?" he muttered when he saw the statue trying to attack again by wanting to step on him. "Too bad, but I'm used to that sound," said Asteria confidently and once again attacked back on the soles of it feet. By speeding up his movements like before, make him was more superior and caused the statue to fall to the ground, shaking the ground around him.
Asteria fell because he had to shoot high to hit the statue's feet, fortunately he had time to roll to the ground before falling in time to minimize the impact, "My energy is drained a lot, it seems like the statue has the same power as The Mother, making energy usage three times as much..." he said while panting. He tried to run towards the carousel before the Morte ants found him.
The strong sound and vibration from the previous battle between Asteria and the giant statue made Annabella wake up from her sleep, "What is that?! What kind of festival makes such a sound?!" when she wanted to open the door of the horse-drawn carriage, Asteria had opened it first and shocked her, "Asteria!? How did you get here?" she was shocked and she took off her earphones and looked around, "What happened and what is this sound in my ears??" she asked, confused because she heard the sound of a dark melody and the sound of a bell that was so terrible. She gasped when she saw the giant statue starting to stand back up in the middle of the playground and the Morte ants chasing them.
"I'll explain later, we have to get out of here first," said Asteria in a hurry and carried Annabella in his arms, running through places that were hard to reach by the statues that were targeting Annabella.
The Morte ant swarm lost track of the two of them, but seeing people who had just entered the playground made them new targets. The ants moved quickly and did not give them time to run.
"What is that! The ants are so big?!" shouted one of the men who was immediately attacked by the ants.
"aaaahhhh! run away!" shouted the others trying to run but it was useless, the ants had come and gnawed at them all. They were devoured without a trace and the ants grew in size after eating them all. One of the survivors, crawled with both his legs missing and one arm eaten. "Help me! Someone!" he groaned in pain, but the ants heard him and chased him.
After greedily finishing them all off, the ants went outside in a scattered manner to look for Asteria and Annabella. People saw the Morte running in fear in the rain to save themselves, "What is that! Everyone run!" shouted one of the teenagers.
One of the Mortes heard her voice and their predatory instincts were triggered by the screams, their goals changed and caused chaos. The screams of the villagers were muffled by the heavy rain. The sound of a dark melody and the bells that kept ringing in their heads made everything so chaotic. The security guards helped them escape and ordered them to the nearest shelter, "Follow our instructions! Go to the shelter, the shelter, make sure you all leave!" one of the officers commanded while helping the villagers.
But the chaos did not stop there, Asteria who continued to run in the park did not come out of there, he felt confused and stopped for a moment behind the wall of the building, "I've run here and there, but ended up in the same place. Is it just my feeling?" he whispered while looking around.
"I feel the same way, Asteria. We've passed this place many times, but we seem to be running in the same place," said Annabella who also felt anxious. "What is that statue? I've never seen it," she asked curiously.
"What is certain is that the statue is a threat to both of us," answered Asteria while turning his head to the side to peek at the statue. Surprised to see a red chain hiding behind the body of the statue that was looking for him, made him realize it so that two chains moved quickly towards him, "Let's just keep running, I can't fight it in this condition," he said who immediately continued running, but still he seemed to be going around in circles in the same place even though he took a different path.
Wherever he went, Asteria ended up in the same place like an endless maze. "It's the same here, I just keep going back to the same place," he complained as he kept running but to no avail. "What a hassle, a replica statue of The Mother, who made it this time? Is it The Watcher again?" he whispered to himself as he kept running without stopping and tirelessly.
Annabella who saw Asteria's struggle trying to save her felt warmth amidst the chaos, "Even though she strictly forbade me..." she thought in her mind and her hands unconsciously gripped his clothes, feeling dependent on him. Suddenly she held her head because she felt excessively dizzy, "Asteria... please, what happened to me..." she asked, starting to breathe heavily.
Asteria stopped suddenly, his breath getting more and more labored because he kept running. But he cared more about his sister, checking her head with a gentle caress, "Is the statue's voice or the melody you heard..." he muttered, guessing the cause, "You should sleep first, Anna. Leave it to me," his hand rubbed her eyes and use one of his powers to put Annabella to sleep.
It didn't take long for Annabella to fall asleep in Asteria's arms. At the same time, unexpectedly, the two red chains moved faster than before. Before he could be caught, Asteria let go of Annabella and jumped so high. Unexpectedly, the third chain shot very fast and pierced his chest from behind, binding his heart tightly making him vomit blood from his mouth. "The third chain??!" he thought in surprise at what happened. The other chains followed and bound his body, bringing him in front of the statue. A toothy smile appeared on the statue's face and its mouth opened wide.
"There's no mistake, this statue is similar to The Mother. But there's something different..." Asteria thought while trying to free herself, he also tried to use his powers but couldn't activate them, "Seriously, these chains are killing my power from my heart?!"
Asteria's physical heart was part of his control to control his powers, because his soul as Encore still couldn't hold it so he put his control on his physical heart. The third chain pulled Asteria's heart out by force and made a hole in his chest, the blood flowed profusely and he growled in pain as a result. Not only that, the Spirit in her body was absorbed by the statue that had opened its mouth. Asteria's body also weakened because of it, he struggled but the sound from the statue made his pain worse than usual and gave pain to his soul directly too.
"Damn... If they all get sucked in, I have to... start over again..." Asteria groaned as he moved some Spirits that he could accommodate into his soul as Encore.
Every sound wave that came from the statue made him more painful, his eyes became heavy from losing a lot of blood and he almost lost consciousness. When everything was successfully absorbed, the third chain flew back into the light and disappeared along with the other chains, bringing Asteria's heart. Leaving Asteria with some Spirits that he managed to save. The statue floated and slowly returned to the sky too, following the red chain. Before losing consciousness, Asteria whispered softly, "Phoenix..., Caladrius..."
The cry of the Phoenix bird rang out loudly and created an explosion. The statue failed to return and was destroyed by the explosion, its debris fell and rained down on the city. The playground that was affected by the explosion made a crater below it with nothing left, fortunately Annabella was saved by Asteria who sent one of her other Spirits to protect her in the form of a snow-white bird, that's Caladrius. Asteria who fell to the ground was saved by Phoenix and lowered him slowly. The debris from the destroyed statue emitted a kind of mist and made the power inactive. Phoenix and Caladrius disappeared as a result, returning to Asteria's body.
"Asteria, something's strange. It seems to have something to do with the debris of the statue," said Phoenix in Asteria's head, thinking the debris was the cause of they back into Asteria's body.
"I know..." He coughed and vomited blood from his mouth while checking his chest which was now perforated due to her heart being forcibly removed. He saw a large white light like a portal reappear and drop so many Mortes from there, "Hey hey hey, seriously... they released the Spirit I had and made it into Morte..." complained Asteria who was annoyed and helpless because of his weakened condition.
In his very weak condition, he tried to walk around the puddle caused by the Phoenix explosion to reach Annabella who was on the other side. When he managed to get there, the Mortes were already on land and some were flying in the sky. He quickly carried Annabella on his arms then leaving the playground. With the statue defeated, the maze effect also disappeared and Asteria was able to escape.
His eyes opened wide again and forced his body to move away. The dark melody had disappeared from people's heads after the incident, but they were faced with a new problem where many Mortes appeared from the sky and destroyed the city. People who took shelter in shelters were hit by one of the giant turtle-shaped Mortes and did not give them time to save themselves. The remaining people tried to save themselves and forgot about others.
Chaos could not be avoided, more and more victims fell without any sign of stopping. People's lives were lost like falling leaves in the dry season. Heavy rain only made the atmosphere worse, covering up the sounds of the riots that were happening. Who knows what happened to the Fiore there, who were preyed upon and hunted by the Mortes relentlessly. How Asteria managed to get out of the riots safely is still unknown.