"F-Fuck..."
Faraam turned his body toward the door of the destroyed church and ran toward it.
Cursing in his mind, he ran toward the gates of the city, intending to leave.
These last three days, he didn't waste energy running without a goal or a destination.
But now it's different. He understood the gravity of his situation.
Leaving the city, he ran to the opposite side of where the pagoda was.
He was half-correct. Indeed the thing that killed everything in this place resided near the pagoda, but not inside of it...
It resided in the shadow of the pagoda.
The shadow must have been so large that only the shadow of the pagoda can contain it.
And only when the eclipse happens can it move freely.
Faraam, however, didn't have any hope on this.
Because it ruined the concept of shadows.
Shadows from his understanding don't have a form, or at least aren't shackled by a form.
In a way, they are both free and not.
They have the freedom to be anything, yet at the same time they are shackled by what they connect with.
Since shadows cannot exist without something casting them.
And if that thing was really a shadow residing inside the pagoda shadow, then why didn't it already kill him when he entered the city?
Faraam had a guess for why it didn't kill him.
It was given to him by that sleeper who wrote the blood text.
[For when the sun and moon align, the shadows will rise.]
"They can only escape the thing that binds them when an eclipse happens."
When an eclipse happens, all shadows cast by things merge together, thus escaping their prisons.
"I need to leave. As fast as possible." He muttered, gritting his teeth.
***
Two days passed since he left the city.
Faraam sat inside a house in one of the ruins he encountered.
His naked body started to change. His muscles became less visible, and his skin color changed, giving it a little shade of brown.
The sun wasn't merciful.
His stomach hurt like hell from hunger, and his throat was drier than the land where he was.
Faraam was too tired. The fear in his mind, the restless nights, and the hunger and thirst. All of it made his mind too exhausted.
If it was anyone other than him, they would've already died.
The sun in the sky began to fall as the moon rose, taking its place.
'I should start moving...' he thought tiredly.
He opened the hinged door, which was about to fall, and started walking.
Everything was silent. Which was really terrifying, but Faraam got accustomed to it.
Even after two days of endless escape, he still couldn't see anything in the distance.
And Faraam didn't have any hope for fate to shine upon him.
In the end he was cursed by it.
The stakes were not on his side. Which only made him more stressed.
***
Faraam stood in the middle of the desert. His dark eyes looked at the blue sky where the sun remained above, bathing him and the land in light.
His heart thumped faster, and adrenaline ran through his veins like nothing before.
In the sky, to its east. A small part of the moon was visible.
"It has started... the eclipse."
He had no time. In a matter of hours the eclipse will begin announcing his doom.
But Faraam's eyes were not filled with terror, but with hope!
Far in the distance, he saw something he never saw while he stayed in this land.
It was the color red. Not the color of blood nor the sunset. It was pure red.
It was undoubtedly a new land he never saw nor knew about, but it should at least be better than this dead land.
Well, it didn't matter if it was better since if he didn't escape in a few hours, he would die.
And so Faraam ran. His bleeding legs continued without stopping.
The pain of stepping on a stone or thorn. the pain of feeling his body being burnt by the sun. Faraam felt them all, but he never stopped. He will never stop, not until he reaches his goal.
Hours passed, and the moon was fully visible now, and soon it will reach the sun.
So was Faraam; he too was getting closer!
It was a race. A race against time itself!
And in front of him, darkness began to take place in this land.
The eclipse has started!
That didn't mean everything was gone. Until at least the shadow of the eclipse reaches the pagoda, he should still be safe!
With a tired mind and body, Faraam ran faster.
He crossed one hundred steps in mere seconds!
In front of him, the shadow started to ripple like water, and then a black figure resembling humans emerged.
Faraam summoned his Sword of Despair, and the moment it fully materialized, he cut through the shadow.
His sword cut the shadow completely without encountering any resistance.
Faraam didn't even give it a glance as he ran past it.
Behind him, the shadow fully regenerated and looked at Faraam and then vanished back to the ground.
Faraam ran forward, maneuvering through the shadows, not giving them the chance to attack him.
Suddenly a wall of living shadows emerged in front of him.
Faraam cursed in his mind.
He took a deep breath and threw his long sword forward. The sword reached the ground, penetrating it.
Reaching the long sword, Faraam jumped and landed on its hilt, not losing his balance like a professional dancer.
He then jumped again above the wall of shadows, passing them completely.
The long sword in the ground vanished and then materialized again in his hand.
In the sky, the moon has reached a quarter of the sun.
Time was running out for Faraam.
But Faraam grinned. Because the faraway red land was in reach!
If he could live for a few minutes, he would survive!
Behind him an army of shadows was looking at him.
Some were humans, and some were creatures words couldn't describe.
They all looked at him for a moment, and then they all vanished in the shadow beneath them.
Faraam looked at the ground beneath him. Slowly it started changing to red.
He still hasn't escaped this cursed land, but he was near to doing it.
But then, Faraam felt it. Fear found its way into his heart. His breath became broken... as even breathing became something hard to do.
'S-Something is coming!'
He needed to escape by any means! He ran for a few seconds, and then he started walking.
Even moving his body became harder. No. It was like his whole body stopped listening to him.
It wasn't just his body that was trembling—even his shadow was too!
Faraam looked behind; the moon had reached half of the sun. He couldn't see the pagoda from here, but he was sure that the shadow of the eclipse had reached it.
'Ah... I'll die.'
Nothing happened. The creature from the pagoda gave him a glance and left...
Faraam finally felt control over his body, and the moment he did, his body fell down.
The adrenaline was gone, and the pain came like a cannon.
But he didn't care. He looked down at where he was and laughed.
He had just noticed he was lying on a red hill.
He had escaped this cursed land.
***
Author Notes:
I know I'm very late for the update schedule, and I'm sorry. I had taken a little break for family stuff, you know, and I hadn't had enough time to write a chapter. Again, I'm sorry. I will try to upload more than one chapter a day, but no promises.
Leave a review on this fanfic and chapter and some power stones so more people can read it.
And see you again tomorrow.