LEO'S POV
His eyes fluttered open, as he let out a few groans. He then suddenly became aware of his surroundings.
He was wrapped in what seemed to be a detached, black claw.
He ripped out of its grasp and slowly crawled away from it. He looked around and realized he was in a forest.
And up ahead, there lay a burning village, completely in ruins.
"CRAP!" he shouted between his gritted teeth, as he finally remembered the events of what happened.
He then ran off towards the village to find his friends.
THOMAS'S POV
He slowly awoke in the ruins of the village. What he saw appeared to be Gladwin, who had sent the monster flying to another side of the village.
"Ah, fuck!" he shouted in pain as he tried to move.
"I can't feel my legs," he thought. "I can't lose my legs in a time like this!"
He looked and saw a huge chunk of the roof on his lower half, and that's when he remembered.
He remembered seeing Autumn getting slammed through a wall, and Leo getting dragged off somewhere.
Then the roof almost collapsed on him—if he hadn't used his flames to boost himself out of the way, he wouldn't have been here worrying about his legs.
And that's when it hit him: Autumn got slammed through a wall with huge force.
He could feel her blood, which had splashed on him earlier, starting to dry.
He looked around for any signs of her but saw nothing, except what appeared to be a hooded figure slowly heading his way while floating off the ground.
"Holy shit, I'm gonna die," he thought, as the figure slowly approached him.
The figure stopped when it was now hovering over his limp body. The figure began to slowly stretch its hand toward Thomas.
Thomas tensed at first, but then he relaxed.
"What's the point?" he thought. "This world has been trying to kill me from the start."
He then closed his eyes.
"I just wish I could remember something—anything about my past—or at least... why I'm here."
Thomas waited to feel the cold touch of the figure, but what he felt instead was warmth and energy.
When he opened his eyes, the chunk of roof was removed from his leg, and better yet, he could feel them.
He jumped up and looked at the figure.
It had an intimidating stare, and he could not see any facial features beyond the hood, other than its eyes.
"Uh, t-thank you," Thomas stuttered.
The figure stared at him for a while before saying,
"Go help your friend."
Turning around, he saw Autumn flying before crashing to the ground.
She was clearly exhausted, but she wasn't injured—not a scratch.
"Wait, who are—" Thomas turned to the figure, but it was gone. "..you," he finished.
Thomas then ran toward Autumn, hugging her.
"You're okay," Thomas said, letting Autumn lean on him.
"Y–yes," Autumn said, panting. She then pointed at the black creature. "W–we need to stop that thing."
Thomas looked at the monster fighting Gladwin, then back at her.
"Why?" he asked.
AUTUMN'S POV
After she got slammed through the wall, she was sent reeling just outside the village gates.
She landed hard on the green grass, twisting and rolling, while tearing up the vegetation around her.
She lay there limp, her hands and feet twisted at some very bad angles—and she was coughing up a lot of blood.
It wasn't even long before her vision began to swirl with darkness.
While she began to choke on her blood, a single tear managed to streak down her face.
And before everything went dark, she started hearing something behind her… or someone.
It sounded like they were arguing.
"You guys are the fucking worst," the arguing figure said while touching Autumn.
She could feel warm energy entering her body.
"I thought the other four were horrible, but my god…"
Once Autumn was healed enough to move effectively, she spun around to face her healer.
What she saw was a hooded figure, face hidden, but the eyes were very visible—a long, deep stare that didn't even blink.
"You need to hurry," the figure said in a more serious tone, like it wasn't whining five seconds ago.
"You can't let Zerxes get that necklace," the figure said in a hushed tone.
"Zerxes?" Autumn asked.
"The creature that attacked the village. If he gets the necklace, we will go back to the era of Crimson Blood."
"What?" Autumn asked.
"Trust me, you don't want that. This planet barely recovered from the first."
"Those two idiots will fight till nothing's left to fight for," he added.
"Hurry!" the figure said.
"Wait, I—" Before Autumn knew it, the figure was gone.
She then slowly floated off in the air, then rocketed toward the village.
FREDERIC'S POV
Back in the ruined village, there stood the frustrated Frederic.
Hands shaking, not wanting to make the wrong decision, a few tears streamed from his cheeks and fell on the rune.
"Give it to me, and you won't cry ever again," Zerxes said.
He then started stepping closer toward the creature. Gladwin's back was turned, so he didn't notice.
All of a sudden, he heard a shout and saw Autumn landing with Thomas.
"FREDERIC, NO!!" shouted Thomas.
"Frederic, you can't give that thing the necklace!"
"I have to—I want my family back," he said.
"If you give that thing the necklace, it will destroy the world," Autumn said slowly, getting closer.
"Lies, all lies!" Zerxes shouted. "Kashrun must have messed with them somehow."
Frederic then gripped the rune tighter.
"Why would you give that thing the necklace?" Autumn asked.
"See, they don't understand. They don't know what you feel," Zerxes said.
"Help me, help you…" the creature then groaned.
Suddenly, Frederic could no longer hear him.
Frederic gripped the rune and shut his eyes for a few seconds.
He slowly opened them again and dashed toward the creature.
Just immediately, Thomas boosted himself with flames and zoomed toward Frederic.
He tried grabbing the necklace but failed and only ended up bouncing over Frederic and crashing into a burning house.
Frederic got up immediately and ran off, but before he could even make two steps, he was dragged off his feet.
Slowly rising, he struggled for Autumn to let him go.
"Eh?" Gladwin stopped his spell and saw the two midair, struggling.
His eyes then landed on the necklace.
"You fools!!" he shouted. Just immediately, chains appeared in his hands.
He cocked his hands back and took a swing.
But Zerxes managed to slap Gladwin's hands, and the chain only managed to hit Autumn.
She was sent flying, while Frederic began to fall.
Zerxes then broke his binds and dashed toward him.
And suddenly, he enveloped Frederic along with the rune.
"Frederic!!!" shouted Autumn.
…
Thomas suddenly arrived, and what he saw made his blood run cold.
He couldn't even swear this time.
The chains Gladwin summoned to fight him rotted, turning black and crumbling into dust.
Gladwin's eyes went wide, no longer golden.
"K-Kashrun… why are your blessings failing…?" His voice didn't overlap.
The monster tilted its head, almost curious.
Then its vertical mouth tore open down its chest with a wet shh-rrk.
Rows of bone-white fangs spiraled inside.
It inhaled.
The ground shook.
It then let out a chilling sigh.
"Your god is a coward," Zerxes said.
Suddenly, black wings sprouted from his back, and a single horn grew above his right eye.
"What. The. Fuck?" said Leo, who had just arrived.
He couldn't even take his eyes off what he was seeing.
Zerxes's side then started to swell. Soon, they saw Frederic fall out.
"Good job… boy," he said.
"Psst, Autumn, let's get out of here, now!" Leo whispered.
"We can't—this thing is gonna destroy the world," Autumn whispered back.
"What? Fuck the world?" Leo said. "It ain't even ours."
"What are you two whispering about?"
Zerxes asked, tilting his head in curiosity.
Suddenly, Leo tensed, clenching his fist.
But immediately, they saw Frederic standing up while groaning.
He looked around, then jumped a little when he saw Zerxes.
"Are you gonna bring them back?" he asked.
"Of course… I've never lied before," Zerxes said.
"But first, we got to take care of something."
Zerxes then motioned at the four of them, staring him down.
"Wait—" Frederic was cut off by Gladwin, suddenly twitching and groaning.
His body hung limp, even the trio were shocked and took a few steps away from him.
Slowly, Gladwin rose his head. His eyes were golden again, and a weird aura evaporated off him.
Zerxes smirked.
"About damn time, Kashrun!"
"We can take him together," Gladwin said to the trio, voice overlapping.
"Fuck no!" Thomas whispered.
"He's gonna kill us all," Gladwin said. "This world as we know it is doomed."
"I'm confused," Leo said.
"Time's up!" Zerxes shouted, rushing toward them while laughing.
End