The First Step: Painting the sky red. Part- 3

Moonlight filtered through the thin membrane of mana covering the Soma Familia flooding into Soma's room through the open balcony.

Its brilliance softly illuminated a series of shelves lining on one side of the room- on those shelves were various potted plants and several bottles filled with clear soma.

There- at the center of the dimly moonlit room beside a table full of empty bottles and a cauldron of wine, stood Soma dressed in a dirty loose-fitting white robe- lost in his 'hobby' as he carried on as though it was just another night.

Seconds turned to minutes, and that's when he felt it- a light flicking off. And soon, like slabs in a domino, followed more- some in quick successions, some after a minute or two.

Every time one of his 'children' died, Soma felt it. Feeling of a twinkling star vanishing from the inky night sky while you gazed at it…

But it wasn't his job to deal with it. To him, nothing came before his wine. Maybe after filling the bottles up he'll go and take a look.

Minutes then turned into tens of minutes, and then the sirens blazed on, tearing through the calm and then-

"Zanis… fell," he mumbled- not even the slightest flinch in hands, nor did his unblinking eyes left the bottle he was filling.

What if a drop spilled?

Zanis was a means to an end- so was everyone else. Although, they weren't before, at least not until they all succumbed to soma.

To him- his relationship with his 'Familia' was simple and crystal clear- they are to raise enough money and materials to fund his 'hobby', and in return, he rewards the top 3 with a cup of soma, regardless of the methods they apply.

But not without consequences, it now seemed.

-AHHARRA!

A horrified shriek of a man ripping his throat out pierced through the serenity of Soma's chamber before another 'star' vanished- another death.

-HIYYA! - AHHA! …

And a second later, collective roars of tens of his 'children' tore into his room from below, and-

-KLIRSH!–AHHA!–MAAA! MAAAA!

Then rushed a dying cry of a woman, calling out for the one who gave her life. Her dreadful wails- her last voice burst through Soma's room, but not even a slight quiver ran through her God's hands.

For he knew- it was the first of many to come. After all, that monster killed Zanis, a Level-2… what are they before it?

Insects.

"Consequences…" he mumbles.

Even the crunch of his children's flesh and bones being ripped to shreds by that monster below couldn't move his eyes away from the soma.

The echoes of war… horror continued to rage on below but never once did the monster screamed in pain.

Many of his 'children' cried for their mother, some for their father- their heroes, brothers, lovers- but none cried for him in their dying moments. None wanted him- none cared for him. He and they all knew- it was his wine that was precious, not the God.

Lights after lights- stars after stars that monster extinguished, never to light up again as its pace gradually increased.

Every second a roar would turn into a dying shriek.

Loud 'Booms' would resound- metal clamping against metal- curses, and pleas of mercy mixing together a horrifying symphony of death, while the monster laughed.

A laugh so evil, as though a million demons screeched together in ecstasy.

And soon came a point when no one dared to enter the mansion.

Hundreds surrounded Soma's residence- weapons drawn, arrows aimed, spells chanted- tears and growls sculpting their pale white faces.

But none dared to enter anymore.

No one knew what it looked like- how it moved and killed because none survived to tell the tale.

Some rushed their friend or enemies, "You go first, I'll follow," not even a single step could they muster.

Whatever it was… it was no human- they were sure of it.

Nor was it something they could survive against.

Even amidst all the terror, chaos, and hopelessness- not even a single soul asked about their God inside the same mansion as that thing.

Is he safe? Will it target Lord Soma, now that there's no one left to kill inside?

No one asked… no one bothered.

Wine surely wouldn't interest it, right?

And why the 'it'?

"WHO ELSE!!!" the entire manor quaked from its roar alone- a roar no living thing could ever make, like thousands of iron nails dragged over rocks- grating hundreds of souls standing outside.

A roar contorted with such evil that they all shivered with eyes wide, hands clamped over their ears but hearing everything, nonetheless. The weak lost their sanity in an instant while nightmares would forever plague the strong… if they survived, that is.

The bright-lit entrance of the mansion was never so demonic. It resembled an entrance straight into the darkest pits of void itself.

Even Soma couldn't feign ignorance any longer- not after hearing that roar- A tremor ran through his hands- the same hands that didn't even flinch when feeling the death of his 'children'. For the second time since his origin, Soma's- a God's heart shook.

The first was during The Heaven's Massacre- that look in her eyes…

But tonight's horror had just begun.

A deafening silence ensued throughout the manor, seconds turned into tens of… and just as his heart calmed-

-TAP-TAP-TAP.

Footsteps approaching resounded outside his door- for reasons he himself did not know- each step churned his gut harsher.

'What is it?' he couldn't help but ask, "It cannot be anything beyond the realm of mortal," he spoke to himself as a hand slowly raised to his chest, "then why do I feel as such?"

But he was, after all, a God- there's nothing his Devine Pressure cannot subdue.

Just as that belief settled in, that thing sang along with a million more, sending tremors in that belief.

"After Sparrows~… Three Times Call~"

It was as though thousands of centipedes crawled onto his skin, clamping their teeth deep into his flesh.

While it sang on as it came closer.

"~After gull does three-time fall~

~Come Maiden~

~Mistress, Mouse, and Hen~

~Come Fisher, Farmer~

~Frog and Wren~"

"Monster…" Soma's lips quivered, tongue dry as he channeled his last line of defense- His Devine Pressure.

While it sang on…

"~Once a king dressed in white~

~Warmed by the flames on feather bed~

~While everyone starving cried~

~Chilled by the winds, the Month of Ice~"

Never in the God's life did his heart pounded so loud, taste his saliva thickening in his throat and beads of sweat trickling down his brow.

While it sang on, but its tone shifted, its grated voice gritted through teeth…

"Eat them of Frost!

Eat them of Snow!

The Monarch Decreed-

To them below~

Up! On the Spike!

He perched his Head!

~Cursed his Name!

~Burned his Stead!"

-TAP-TAP-TAP.

Its footsteps echoed sharply 'thab-thab' down the wooden hallway, drumming hammers in his ears, like a booming beat of a heart consumed by madness born out of desperation of a condemned prisoner.

Pitch black miasma thick as tar oozed from the door, wafting in a gut-churning stench of rotting corpses and decay.

While it hummed on- gentler this time, as though singing a lullaby…

"~Husssh-a-bye and don't be affright~

~Mama will sing through all the night~

Many an hour before morning sun~

Don't dream of horrors…yet to come~"

-CREEEK…

And the door opened.

Drenched in the pitch-black miasma, it glared through the slight shimmer, as if the air in front of it was being wrapped and twisted. As it took a step forward, in a flash of pale silvery light, the silhouette of a man appeared. A sword stabbed through his waist- a hatchet on his back, body infested with arrows and bolts, an arm twisted and deformed. But most of all, that black eye staring right through Soma's existence…

"You're the monarch," it screeched.

Insanity broke in Soma's mind the second it spoke.

But he was still a God.

Soma's lips curved a mock, "You're a funny one, assassin- ACLK!"

But the blade coming out of his mouth tore Soma's words into pieces.

It wasn't here to talk.

Soma's eyes snapped open as a second later, he realized… it vanished before he could even blink his eyes.

Drip-drip the blood dripped from the blade in his mouth- tongue beneath the cold bloody metal, tasting the blood of his children.

Not even a thought could form before its soul quaking screech resounded from behind, "And the joke's on you, bitch!"

And the next second, everything flashed red.

-BOOM!

A thunderous explosion shook the earth, rattling the world awake as an enormous blood-red pillar of light erupted from Soma's chamber, shredding the mansion into pieces- piercing through the sky above, drowning the entire city blood-red.

An event written in blood- forever to be marked in history as the night the Heavens wept blood.