7 The Wake

'Scarlet Strings Of Destiny.'

Night Seven...

"Lumo! Irene!" Brave yelled with panic when she heard the voices.

She could hear screaming coming from the other part of the house.

Cliff Williams took off running past her the second he had heard them as well. He didn't even bother taking the door as he quiet literally slammed his shoulder into the wall breaking past it and sliding out into the hall. He fired down it ripping the floor apart as he did so as he took off running.

Brave was very athletic. She had to be.

She lived in a village full of hunters. She often went out with all the men as she found it fun. Her and Irene both did. This of course stopped when the men were called away for world war three which could break out at any day now. Instead she 'trained' with the Father of her Church Father Darvin.

He taught her how to throw a punch and that was really it.

The main point of this being Brave was, or at least assumed she was pretty good when it came to physical stuff.

But this man in the suit was literally moving at a blurs speed and crashing through any wall that was in his way. He couldn't be human... That she was sure of.

"G... Geez." Brave muttered hopping through the holes in the wall using them as a short cut to get to the front of the house. "Father Darvin is gonna be so pissed when he see- Oh he's gonna be so pissed!" She stopped when she arrived at the front of the house.

Or at least what used to be the front of the house.

Now there was a massive hole that lead to the outside and most of the front room was gone.

Much to Brave's horror she saw...

Things...

It was hard to describe them...

On the ground laying in her own blood was Irene. Her back was cut open and she seemed to be barley clinging to consciousness. She held the baby in her arms having used her body as a shield to keep it safe. Williams stood next to her placing a green rock down on her back for some reason. The thing had began to glow and her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

"That will keep her alive at least but I don't have time to fully heal her..." He hummed.

At the place where the entrance was they now stood... Large creatures. They were all covered in thick black skin. They looked vaguely humanoid. Large creatures with tentacle like arms, glowing red eyes, and twisting demonic horns. There were two in total. One of them held Chase, and Max, with its two tentacles and the other one held Lumo.

"W... What the hell are those things." Brave said with eyes filled with fear.

"Mares." Cliff Williams sighed grabbing the handle of his sword. "Low level ones at that. I'd say these are just Baron level threats. Normal humans can't see them so this girl here didn't have a chance to dodge them. I'd say they cut her back open. They likely can't tell who the New Blood is so their plan is to just eat everyone."

"W... What?" Brave said with wide eyes. "Oh God... What do I do. Chase. Max. Lumo. How do I save them-"

Williams fired forward at a blur like speed as a white aura covered his body. He swung his sword up and in a single powerful slice split the beast holding Chase, and Max, in half dropping the two boys who fell to the ground unconscious. The one holding Lumo let out a loud roar but Williams twisted his body swinging his sword out and easily slicing the head of the beast off as its corpse collapsed back dropping Lumo.

"Whoa..." Braves eyes were wide at the display of power from the sunglass wearing man. She had seen many hunters preform crazy feats to take down the rare bear or mountain lion they stumbled across but this man was in another league of his own. "Lumo." Brave shook her head getting back on track as she ran over to the girl running to her side.

"B... Brave- Ahh!" Lumo cried out as she tried to stand back up but collapsed back onto the ground.

"Oh God Lumo are you okay-"

"Stand back." Williams said pushing past Brave. He placed his hand on Lumo's stomach. "Fero..." He hummed as the white aura around his body seemed to cover around his eyes. "Her ribs are broken but thankfully thats it. I still have some of Blacks trinkets so I'll be able to heal her. Same goes for the others to. They'll live. Nothing I can do about the house though."

"O... Oh thank God." Brave said letting out a sigh of relief as a few tears of happiness dripped down her face.

"B... Brave whats going on?" Lumo asked weakly coughing in pain.

"W... Well... Honestly I'm not really to sure..." Brave sighed. "But I know you and the others are going to be okay-"

"Wero." Williams spoke placing his hand over Lumos face and causing the girls eyes to roll to the back of her head as she blacked out.

"What did you do to her!" Brave yelled with wide eyes.

"I just knocked her out relax." Williams sighed. "Now listen. Where are the two people who run this Church? I sensed three Imps here?"

"I... Imps?"

"Thats what you are."

"What-"

"For the love of God... I don't have time to explain it okay. Now where the hell are the other two?"

"I... I don't know."

"Damn... Did that other Mare get to them first... There was him and three others... But then another one was created... Thats five Mares. I just killed two. That means there's still three... But can I even beat that other one-" Williams aura flared to full force as he fired forward wrapping his arms around Brave and jumping away as something slammed through the roof of the house.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU WITCH!" A voice cried out echoing throughout the darkness.

"T... That sounds like..." Braves eyes were wide as she was reminded to the other day when that boy had been picking on that cat. This thing sounded like him but way louder. She shook her head for a moment. "C... Can Mares... Can Mares talk?"

"Some can. This ones stronger than those other two I just killed." Williams said his arm slung around Brave as he carried her and used the walls to jump up busting through the roof of the house and spinning around and landing down on the ground down below. "I'll need to be careful with this one. He must have turned recently."

"T... Turned?"

"Yeah. Mares used to be humans."

"What." Brave felt her heart ache. She had a pretty good idea who this one was.

The houses walls were torn down more as the creature ripped its way out. Williams let out a curse when he saw it. The thing was small. Child sized. "A kid huh... I would get stuck with one like this." He sighed shaking his head. The creature still had a human like face. It looked almost like that boy she had punched. His hair was gone though and his skin was a pitch black and his eyes a blood red. Other then that he looked the same though. He was even still wearing his clothes.

"I'll kill you, you witch." He roared firing forward towards them.

Williams set Brave down dropping her as he drew his sword a pale white aura covering him and the blade. He swung out with it. "I'll end him in one strike-"

"Wait don't kill him!" Brave yelled in a panic grabbing onto his back. "I know him-"

"Idiot-" Williams slowed down for the fraction of a second and that was all the Mare needed to ram its arm through his lower stomach. Blood splashed out of Williams mouth as him and Brave tumbled back him landing on her and soaking her in his blood. The Mare let out a crazed laugh as his fingers grew longer and became whip like. He jumped at them and began to slash out with them but Williams managed to raise himself up on all fours and used his body to block them stopping them from hitting Brave as the whips instead ripped his back apart making him yell out in pain. "D... Damn dumbass girl. I... I'm dead because of you dumbass." He hissed out. Despite insulting her he didn't budge keeping her safe with his body as a shield.

"S... Sir." Brave said with wide eyes filled with horror as she was pinned under him. "I... I didn't mean to... I just..."

"You knew him right." Williams groaned letting out a hiss of pain as his back was being torn apart. "Not anymore... This is what happens. Humans who feel negative emotions... Some that feel more can be visited by 'him' and when 'he' comes 'he' turns them into these things. The soul within that Mare has been corrupted beyond repair. His soul has been shattered and he's been turned into a monster. Once they're like this there's no way to convert them back. He's stuck as a monster."

"A... All Mares are like that..." Brave whispered horrified.

"Y... Yep. He's going to eat us to level up then he'll likely turn your siblings into Mares as well." He said making Brave's heart sink.

"T... There has to be something I can do." She cried out.

"T... There is." Williams groaned. "On my belt there's a combat knife. I need you to slit my throat and then kill yourself with it."

"W... What?"

"If he eats us he'll evolve into a higher form. We need to kill ourselves before he can. Thats the duty of a Wake. If we can't beat a Mare we must commit suicide so they can't use us to evolve. You don't want to see what'll happen if he eats me... He'd level up a few times and could even become an Alpha. It's the only way to keep the casualties to a minimal."

Brave gulped her hand slowly grabbing his knife. More blood was splashing out of Williams. She had never seen so much human blood. It was amazing that he was alive. She held the knife in her hands slowly her arms shaking as she got ready to ram it into his throat. "S... So a... Are you an Imp?"

"Y... Yes now shut the hell up and kill me." Williams growled out his arms beginning to give out.

"E... Earlier you called me an Imp to. And you said that Wakes kill these monsters... Mares. So then I'm some kind of Wake to right? In that case I... I can kill it."

"What?" Williams let out a grunt of pain as Brave roughly threw him off of her sending him slamming down into the ground back first which sent waves of pain through him. "D... Damn it you idiot."

Brave stood back up gripping the knife with both her hands as her body shook. The Mare had stopped as it stared at her its eyes filled with rage and anger and also a bit of joy. "T... Take this!" Brave yelled stepping towards it and swinging the knife. She was sloppy though. Her form untamed and her power far to weak. The Mare easily stepped to the side dodging the strike. It was like she was moving in slow motion to it. She was far to weak to have even a chance at stabbing it.

The Mare laughed his face twisting into a grin. "Finally. I'll kill you. Over and over its said again and again and again. It's all I can think about. I bet you'll taste so good." He laughed back handing her across the face hard enough to actually send her flying through the air.

Brave let out a cry of pain as she slammed into the dirt and rolled across it. She groaned blood dripping down her face as her lip was busted and some of her teeth fell out. Despite that she still managed to get back to her feet and jumped at the Mare with the knife. Once again she was still to slow her form to sloppy each strike of the knife missing it as the beast casually dodged her its grin getting wider and wider.

It slammed its elbow down onto her skull a loud crack echoing out as blood began to drip down Brave's head and she was forced to her knees her skull and head having been busted from that. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as her vision got blurry and she began to shake nearly throwing up from the pain she felt.

And at that moment a small thought went through her mind.

That man...

The one in the suit.

He had been shining so brightly.

And she...

She had been seeing in the dark right?

"I'll kill you. Kill you dead." The creature growled his face twisting into a grin. "Kill, eat, evolve, make more. Thats my job. Kill. Eat. Evolve. Make more. I'll eat you. I'll gobble you up. I'll evolve. I'll turn your siblings into Mares. They'll eat more. We'll evolve. More. More. Eat. Hunger. I'll devour you."

Over with Williams he was struggling to keep himself sitting up. "L... Looks like the last bit of his humanity is fading. He's turning into a mindless Mare now. Damn girl. She should have just killed us both-" A bright white light and a wave of heat exploded out of Brave as all the snow around her was melted and turned to steam and the Mare was burned. Williams eyes were wide when he saw the aura. "W... What the hell? A child has this much aura with this much force and heat-"

Brave gripped her knife and jumped up, her brain barley able to think straight due to that last hit. It was as if something else was guiding her as she stabbed up and slammed the blade into the stomach of the beast making it roar in pain as its eyes went wide. Just as soon as the aura had started it faded though the light and heat vanishing as Brave dropped to the ground. Her eyes began to close as she stared up at the beast her body and mind giving out.

"Damn you!" It screamed out in anger. "How dare you! How dare you harm me! How dare you-" A Greatsword slammed down splitting the beast in two as its fell apart.

Father Darvin stood behind it blood covering him as he breathed heavily. In his hands he held the sword Leena had turned into. The blade was cracked now and several pieces of it were missing. As for Father Darvin he was covered in so many wounds and his right arm was gone...

Brave stared up at him as her mind began to go blank. "F... Father Darvin?"

And with that she blacked out.