Chapter 2

As the night was getting late the already cold January air became even colder. Everything has gone silent, almost as if not even a single soul was alive on earth. The only indicator of living beings were the lights in some of the houses. Eliots' sister and Seryoja were already asleep as it was past midnight, however Eliot couldn't fall asleep as he was cautious of the stranger that was sleeping in their house. He was sitting quietly, on the window of the room, lit by moonlight and thought to himself:

~Am I stupid? How could i let a complete stranger sleep under our roof, in the same room with us? What if he turns out to be a killer or one of those wanted criminals roaming around the country? ~

The wave of thoughts continued to torture Eliot for a couple of hours until something took his attention away from him. Because of the thinking it had already became 4 a.m.. Everyone should have been asleep however he noticed that his sister is awake and staring at him.

- Couldn't sleep well because of the weirdo? - asked Eliot

The sister didn't answer.

-...Try going back to sleep, I guess you are still tired. - said Eliot after a couple of minutes in silence.

Eliot stood up and started walking to his sister. As he got to the bed and sat on it he noticed something weird - his sister stared straight through him as if she didn't see anything around her, her eyes were tired and she had went pale as if she was dead. Eliot put his hand on her forehead to see if she had temperature or not, however the moment he did that something strange happened. She grabbed his hand by the wrist and squeezed it. Eliot got startled:

- Oi, stop joking around and try going to sleep. - he said clearly trying to make a joke out of it. However something felt off. Even tho his sister was ill and weak her hold was strong to the point it felt as if she could snap his hand any second. On top of that she acted as if she couldn't understand what Eliot was saying.

Eliot tried asking her again:

-Sis, please go back to sleep and...- he stoped midway through his sentence seeing something creepy. His sister didn't act like understanding him, however she put a creepy, long smile on her face and grinned at him. She pulled him up closer to herself and bit his arm. Her bite strength was insane. It felt almost as if she could break his arm by a single bite alone.

-Sis, please tell me this is a joke! - said Eliot with teary face almost ready to break up.

However there was no reaction on her side.

It was only for a split second that he felt as if his hand was being chopped off, when something unbelievable happened. His sister went flying straight through the wall, outside. It took a couple of seconds for Eliot to realise what happened when he looked at the responsible for it. The reason why his sister, or whatever she had turned into, went flying was no other than the mysterious stranger Seryoja. Without taking his time Eliot quickly asked:

-WHAT JUST HAPPENED!? What is with this super strength and what happened to my sister!

-I already told you, didn't i? There was a Soul Leech sucking off your sisters life and by the time i got here she was almost dead. I could have saved her if i came a couple of months earlier however it's not like the SLFO has enough force for detecting and killing each and every Soul Leech on the planet. - responded Seryoja.

- What is this SLFO supposed to be!? -asked Eliot still trembling from the even that just occurred.

- It stands for Soul Leech Fighting Order. - answered Seryoja.

-Okay i get that you are part of some organisation, however it still doesn't explain your unordinary power. - he said while trying not to look at the hole in the wall in fear that this thing will come back.

-Oh that? Well it's kinda hard to explain but to put it simply - he thought for a couple of seconds and continued - in the order there are currently around 20 more alive people like me, having similar powers, at least in terms of them making us extraordinary. We are called Soul Purifiers. The reason we have those powers is because we are rare cases that can sync with the pieces from the Holy Cube. It's said that only 1 in 50 000 people can sync with those pieces.

-I don't get anything from what you are saying! What is this Holy Cube thing and those people that you mentioned? And most importantly, what will happen with my sister? - Eliot asked clearly worried about his sister.

-One by one kid, first - I'll answer all questions about the SLFO later to you if you decide to come with me, and second - about your sister...- Seryoja took a pause before continuing with his sentence - ... she'll have to be killed...

A second after realising what he heard Eliot exploded:

-WHAT IS THIS BULLSHIT!? I THOUGHT YOU SAID THAT YOU WERE HERE TO HELP US, NOT TO KILL US!!! - he shouted angrily and at the same time worriedly.

- I know what i said, but sadly there is nothing else left for me to do except to kill her. Soul Leeches are dangerous if left alive, since in most cases they loose their minds and start going on rampages, killing lots of people, until someone strong enough shows up to kill them. - he stood next to the hole and continued - Your sister is only stage 1 currently so I'll be able to easily take care of her, but if you let her be and kill people she'll become upper stage and the Soul Leech will not only have control over her body, but over her mind as well. Simply put - in her current stage whatever is left of her soul is struggling and wanting to live but has no power to fight off the Soul Leech. I'm sorry that you have to go through this but thats the only way... - Seryoja jumped off from the hole he made and went straight after Eliot's sister . He was standing right next to her, ready to take her out when he heard:

- Stop!!! Please don't kill her! She is the only one left in my life, and if you do it I'll be left with no reason to live for!! - shouted Eliot while tears were dropping down his face.

The desperate shout took Seryoja's attention away for a split second and thats when the Soul Leech took the chance. It shot straight at Eliot desperately trying to take his life and got on the second floor in the blink of an eye. Eliot was trembling in fear as her appearance was completely different - her mouth got ripped apart when she got kicked out of the room and blood was running down her right eye. One of her hands was seemingly broken however strange black smoke was roaming around it, forming the appearance of a claw made out of smoke, and the same applied to her missing leg. Eliot closed his eye ready to accept his death, however in less than a second Seryoja got there and punched her in the head, this time resulting in it exploding into several pieces.

-See? I told you I'm enough to deal with it! I didn't even have to use my Holy Piece to finish it.- said Seryoja glad that he saved the kid.

Eliot realised what just happened and broke down. He dropped on his knees and started crying even more desperately then before as if wanting to die. The truth is he had just lost his last reason to keep up with this cruel world so he really did want to die.

Seryoja hugged the crying boy and said:

-Everything is going to be fine, calm down. I'll not leave you alone and neither will the organisation. I promise to help you live on...

       After that being said silence came again. It was still dark outside so the only thing that was heard in the darkness was Eliots desperate cry.

***(to be continued)***