Chapter 1: Awake

When I opened my eyes, I was on a train surrounded by unknown people with tense faces. Their faces were as pale as snow and they were either praying or looking out the window in dread. I looked around trying to remember how I got here but apart from mind-piercing pain which made me frown, nothing else came to my mind. Due to the intense pain, I stopped trying to recollect my memories. A soft and slightly worried voice came from beside me,

"Albert, Are you alright? You don't look too well".

As I turned around, I saw a beautiful and mature-looking woman sitting next to me. Her fair skin was spotless apart from being covered in bits of dirt, her long auburn hair was loosely tied, and her green eyes were as entrancing as stars. When I didn't answer and stared at her in a daze, she got worried and shook my shoulder while calling out my name. I hurriedly regained my senses and replied

" I am alright, just lost in my thoughts."

"Well, don't be too worried. We will be out of here soon."

I nodded and then looked out the window. The scenery was covered with thick white fog. You could only make shallow outlines of the building far away. The whole surrounding was covered in layers of snow and looked desolate and grim like some huge accident had happened here in the past leading to the abandonment of the place. An old man sitting in front of me sighed and said,

"Aurene, You both made the right decision by leaving that place."

The man had a stern face and he looked like he was in his mid-sixties. The auburn hair woman next to me looked up, her eyes filled with sadness, and said

"It was hard leaving our home where we grew up and where our parents are buried but for the sake of my little brother, we had to go."

'so, the name of the woman next to me is Aurene, and apparently, she is my sister.'

While I was digesting that fact, the train suddenly start slowing down. I looked out the window to find out the cause.

"Weird, the train is not supposed to slow down until it reaches Wimraf."

Just as the old-aged man in front of me said that, a loud roar that no living being should be able to produce came from above. That roar made all the people in the cabinet freeze. As everyone starts looking around to find the source of that inhumane noise, I saw it.

An obsidian eye that was darker than night and filled with evil madness was staring right at me outside the window. When I made eye contact with it, my breath stopped and an unimaginable terror that could not be described with words filled my heart. I couldn't move my eyes away from that dark eye. And then with a loud noise, the cabinet in front of me was destroyed.

I felt a warm liquid flowing down my cheek. I touched the liquid and saw that it was red in color. I slowly looked ahead and saw a huge, thick hand covered in terrifying and hideous black fur with big claws slowly slide back. The old man who was sitting in front of me had turned into a terrible human mush. I only came to my sense when I heard Aurene shrieking loudly.

"He is de-de-dead."

I instinctively held her hand. I heard the sound of the monster rampaging ahead while the people were crying and fleeing. I pulled Aurene and escaped from the hole created by the monster. Due to the fog, barely anything was visible. I trod towards the outlined building and soon reached a tall and humungous wall. I touched the wall with my hand.

'Damn, This is a sturdy and smooth steel wall. We can't climb over it nor break it.'

I looked back at Aurene and saw that she was taking deep breaths. I asked her

"Are you feeling alright now?"

She simply nodded her head.

"Let's try to find a place to hide from that monster and to warm ourselves."

She nodded her head again.

We walked around the wall trying to find a place to get in. soon, we reached a huge gate. Unlike the wall, the gate looked dilapidated and severely damaged. We both push the gate with all our strength and it slowly opened with a creaking sound.

As soon as we step inside, a pleasant feeling permeated my body. It felt like a burden was lifted from my body. I could probably sprint around for a long time without feeling tired or could lift things that were too heavy before. While I was enjoying this feeling, Aurene muttered beside me

"I don't like this place. It feels awful. Let's quickly find a place to hide."

With that, she took my hand and start moving forward.

'Weird, Why does she say that it feels awful.'

We walked around trying to find a suitable place to take shelter. The whole place was eerily silent apart from the constant howling of the cold and dry wind. Many of the buildings were damaged as if some huge battle took place here, with pieces of rubble lying here and there. This scenery definitely invokes a feeling of dread inside a person. It also makes one question just what happened here.

"There, that place looks secure enough to stay."

I looked at where Aurene was pointing. There was a strange round-shaped building in front of us that was in much better shape compared to the rest of the structures here. It was built with a strange and unique material that I do not know of. The material looked even sturdier than steel. The entrance to the building was open, there was no door apart from a red tape that sealed it. The red tape said

"DO NOT ENTER"

We both glanced at each other and then nodded our heads simultaneously. I carefully removed the tape and slowly moved forward inside the building.