Fire and Despair (1)

<Chapter 2>

The giant eye in the sky stared at the Kingdom of Rathia's people. Unknown to them at the time, three other eyes had emerged behind dimensional cracks in the sky right above the other three kingdoms. This ominous entity would soon be called the "Abyssal Voyeur" by the various scholars and mages from the Magick Guild.

"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!"

A deep, piercing scream rang out across the night sky. It was the scream of the Abyssal Voyeur, its voice causing the hairs on the back of the people's neck to stand. An indescribable dread firmly planted itself into the minds of those who heard the voice, growing rapidly until it blossomed into a kind of fear none of them have felt before.

The effect was almost immediate. The residents of Derba Village had no time to even run for their lives or scream for help. Rather than dying painfully, the villagers sank powerlessly to the ground like puppets whose string have been cut by a rogue puppetmaster. No villagers were spared; both young and old alike fainted a mere few seconds after hearing the Abyssal Voyeur's scream. What followed next was pure nightmare.

Since the dimensional crack opened directly above Derba, it was only expected that most of the damage would befall the village. Similar instances of fainting happened within a hundred kilometer radius but the place that received the most damage was no doubt the village of Derba.

Dark steam started to rise from the bodies of the people affected and soon a thick black liquid could be seen oozing out of their orifices. The dark liquid slowly spread to engulf the bodies and upon completion, a kind of metamorphosis ensued. Those who had previously been normal villagers in the midst of the harvest season sprouted black bat-like wings at their backs and two similarly colored horns on their foreheads. They grew tails and sharp claws, their limbs elongating to twice their original lengths. The "villagers" were now back on their feet, red eyes wide open and mouth agape to expose rows of sharp teeth. This was the start of the Demonization Phenomenon.

It became obvious not long after that these demons only had one desire and that was to kill every living human in sight. What made these demons the stuff of nightmare was not their strength nor their mindless desire to kill; these demons only targeted humans as if ordered by a higher being. Those who were killed by these demons transformed into demons themselves causing more spawns of destruction to rise with every death.

Those in power did not just stand idly by while the demons began their march to the nearby villages. The rulers of the four kingdoms immediately deployed their trump cards. The Kingdom of Heris from the south mobilized their Alchemist Warriors; the Northern Kingdom of Chime sent out their Frostweavers; the Kingdom of Damaltica to the east dispatched their strongest Beastmen armed with runic weapons; and the Kingdom of Rathia of the western territories sent out the Magick Military and the top cadets of the Magick Military Academy.

In another village, a group of people were huddled inside an old house made of stone. A young boy with black hair and black eyes tugged at the hem of his father's shirt as if pleading for the night to end.

As the dimensional crack opened, the residents of Saumar Village were also roused from their slumber by the consecutive tremors. They too saw the giant eye in the sky and heard the bloodcurdling scream. However, only a few of them were affected. Those with strong constitutions or mental stamina were able to escape demonization.

The people inside the house could feel the heat from outside. Those who had transformed into demons started to blindly attack their fellow villagers upon opening their eyes. Houses were wrecked and set to fire; many villagers perished inside their own homes.

The stone house's owner was called Hilda, the village midwife. As the oldest in the village, her house was also one of the sturdiest having been made mostly of stone as opposed to the other houses that started to use wood as their primary structure a generation later. This was one of the reasons why the boy and his parents sought refuge in the old maid's quarters after fleeing from their own burning house. Although the family knew they had to flee the village, the boy insisted on bringing along Hilda who was too old to escape the carnage on her own.

In the background, black-skinned demons were still rampaging. The boy could hear the cries of the poor villagers running away from their deaths. A few moments later, the screams seemed to have disappeared.

"You can leave me here," Hilda solemnly said. The fires from the outside illuminated her wrinkled face and dyed her white hair a tinge of orange. She looked so calm, as if she had already accepted her fate. "Run away and never look back! You can still make it out of here."

"No! I don't want to leave you!" the boy desperately cried. He wasn't usually this stubborn, but Hilda was like a grandmother to him.

"Come on, Jeri," the boy's mom gently said. She hugged the boy tightly while saying goodbye to Hilda with her eyes. They all knew they couldn't stay for long.

"Go and leave this place. If you don't, we will all perish. The military will be here soon."

The boy's parents were silent at those words. They knew that by the time the Magick Military arrived the whole village would have already burned to the ground. Even at the tender age of seven, the boy understood this fact.

"AAAAAAAOOOOHHHH!" An ear-splitting shriek broke the silence.

"Go! Now!"

Without a moment to spare, the father grabbed his son and carried him towards the back door. The trio sprinted towards the forest located behind Hilda's stone house as fast as he could. They passed several trees as they ran and made sure not to look back for fear of slowing down. After running for a while, the father finally spoke to his family as he gradually came to a stop in the middle of the woods.

"There should be a cave near here. We accidently discovered it while out hunting with the other men. It's well hidden so we should be safe in there for a while until the military--."

His words were abruptly put to a halt when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. A pair of menacing red eyes lit up from deep inside the dark cave.

<Chapter 2> End.