A place of blood

Dreigh and the others all looked behind them but saw nothing. The area was covered with dense foliage and trees but the remnant was still pointing in that direction and the more he stared at it the paler his face became. The remnant closed his eyes and ran to the side and vomited. Vira ran towards the remnant and gave put his hand on his back. He closed his eyes and a blue emitted from Vira's hand giving the remnant comfort.

"Vira and Endo stay here with him. I will go with Rond to check the area, follow us after you make sure he is alright." Dreigh looked at Rond and they left. They cautiously moved forward. They have no idea what their comrade had seen but by his reaction, it was certainly not a good thing.

Dreigh slowly parted the leaves obstructing their way and vision when he felt a sticky liquid on his hand. He looked down and saw something red on the leaves and his hands. Rond was also looking at Dreigh's hand before he looked at the space created by them parting the leaves.

"Dreigh takes a look," Rond's trembling voice whispered through the silence. He looked ahead and stilled at what he saw. The scene reminded him of the battlefield they had escaped from. At that moment, the air's putrid smell became so strong and suffocating. The metallic smell of blood permeated even the wind that had just blown by.

In front of them were the dead bodies of the remnants who left the military institute. Dreigh covered his nose and closed his eyes for a moment to recover his bearing. After a moment of not moving, Dreigh opened his eyes and surveyed the area, he could see bodies belonging to the first group of remnant who left. He approached one of the bodies and kneeled beside it. Dreigh held the dead body's hand and pinched it a few times. He did this to a few more bodies before he stood up and returned to where Rond was waiting.

"Some of them had died for a long time now. The remnants who first left had died first since rigor mortis has set in while the others just recently died," Dreigh explained in a grave tone. "Let's leave now. The attacker might come back again."

Rond and Dreigh hastily left the place and returned to where they left their comrades. Three remnants looked at the two of them with frowns on their face. The remnant with them explained what he had seen and refused to move from where they were. He resolutely remained where he was so Vira and Endo also stayed and decided to wait for Rond and Dreigh to return. During that time interval the remnant suddenly talked and told them what he saw, since his ability was enhanced vision, he could see a few kilometers clearly than a normal person and additional to that ability was that he could see beyond obstructions that can block the vision.

It was difficult to believe what they have heard but the genuine fear in the remnant's eyes was believable and when they saw the grave faces of Dreigh and Rond, they knew that what the remnant had said was true.

"Let's leave this place. We need to find the others and warn them. This place is not safe." Dreigh left and the others followed. The group reached the place they were supposed to meet with the others but none of the other groups were there yet. Rond and Dreigh looked at each other in agreement.

"Let's look for them," Dreigh gestured for them to follow. They first went to the nearest path one of the groups had taken. As they approached a clearing, the sky slowly turned dark until their surroundings were clothed in darkness. Endo generated a small flame to give them light but they regretted it. It seems like it was better for them to not have created light.

Black, wriggling, dark things were all over the place and the worst of it was the unrecognizable bodies of the groups who were with them before. Even Lina's body was nearly unrecognizable, if it weren't for the yellow bright ribbon she always wore they would not recognize her. Everyone was dead except for them and now the attention of the weird creatures inside that darkness was shifted to them.

"Finally I can get rid of all of you," a sinister laugh echoed through that space, and pressure unlike any other they have felt came at them in waves.

"Let's get out of here!" Dreigh instructed in urgency and they all turned back to the way they came from. They run the fastest they have run in their entire lives, not even minding the scratches they got from all the branches and leaves they passed by. They were running for their lives.

The man who was watching all of this grinned and once again let out a laugh with this laugh the weird creatures moved to chase their preys. At first, they were a bit slow but they slowly gained momentum and surpassed them and blocked them. Dreigh and his group were forced to stop and face these creatures.

Endo sent out a fierce fire towards the dark creatures but this had no effect against them. They only stood there looking at them although these creatures don't have eyes. All of them were all black but the feeling of being stared at was particularly strong.

"Fire can't stop them," Endo exclaimed in astonishment. He was used to using his ability and destroying things but these creatures were of a different level.

"Do you think you can escape this place? You will all. die here," the voice once again spoke and dark things moved to attack them. Dreigh immediately held up stones and made a wall around them. Rond also manipulated the earth and reinforced the shield made by Dreigh.

They could feel the tremors as the dark creatures continued to pound on the man-made wall they have made. "What do we do now?" The remnant who can clearly see asked with a tinge of panic in his voice.

Dreigh was about to answer him when he saw parts of the dark creature was entering through the cracks in between the wall. A dark ax suddenly landed in front of them and the wall broke into pieces. He maneuvered and rolled to his right to avoid being sliced in half by the dark ax. Endo and Dreigh ended up on the right sight by avoiding the attack while the other three stumbled towards the left direction.

"This is not good! Rond take them away. Don't let these creatures get near you!" Dreigh did his best to relay those words but before Rond could move, he was sent flying away from Vira and the other remnant.

"Running away? I think not. You will stay here to join your kind," a man appeared in front of them as he grinned in delight at seeing the things he despised suffering.

"You!"