VERSE VI
They could all feel it. Fear chilled their bones and made them shiver.
The heatwave emanating from the Haven was surprising and disastrous at the same time.
The sky had been coloured with grey and hint of red. Nature excelled best at creating elements of disasters- red lightening striking the soil from the sky, causing internal rupture and soil destruction.
Kato watched this whilst their Uncle flew as fast as he could.
He looked below, seeing the people screaming and crying for help as they ran.
There is no help coming, and everyone pretty much knew that.
He looked back at the Haven many kilometres away from them. The outpour was oblivious, if not taken care of this would destroy the whole of Section 2.
Officials or the Supernaturals. They are supposed to be sent here for urgent rescue and those that would lock off the area, but he knows how it's done.
A place disregard is used as a tool to experiment how strong or dangerous and outbreak can be.
Though it's quite not probable, especially because the seal placed by the Supernaturals Board in this nation, the Western Central.
Regardless, no one in power wants to loose their most important workforce or whom they use. So menials and unimportant people of whom are thought to be gotten rid of are used to test a danger level.
It's how it works, and even he has no enmity on that. One cannot sacrifice his most needful objects on a matter that the stakes on the opposition isn't fully revealed or measured yet.
So, the people dying and the lateness of the Supernaturals would be treated as a way to measure the danger level of this Haven.
But another thought coincided with this, as he knew that the Haven of Devils is by far the most dangerous or maybe that's how it's labeled in the texts.
He looked at his sister, who seemed to lack control over her tears. Kato wore a expressionless face whilst holding on tightlyto his uncle. He just realized he didn't wear his shirt as wind blasted against his face, causing his lips to flow with the motion of the wind.
It could be felt in the air now, an encompassing heat which quickly raised his sister's temperature as he could see from her face.
She was crying for the individuals at the forefront. These citizens had long been vaporised by the increasing heat. Their Uncle increased his speed.
Kato then saw how soft Yuki was, she was far too soft. Even if they are in tears and dying, nobody can save them. Their uncle is already with them, so her tears are futile. He closed his eyes and he could hear the screams of his fellow people, he could hear nature and its naturality collapsing at the presence of the supernatural. Intensified disasters, criticizing the very place he once lived.
His bloodied hands tightly gripping his sister's kids. He wanted neither of them to fall of ,but he began to waver.
A loud shill cry instantly made them shiver to their spine and Uncle Li lost his flying ability for a second, insantly making them drop thirty feet down. The tree branches grazed on his chest causing him more deep wounds before he regained his ability and flew back up again.
They were all panting. The realization that everyone almost died was insane and yet terrifying.
A devil's cry made a supernatural lose his powers. Kato gripped his uncle tightly whilst closing his eyes. The screams and wails of his kind had increased drastically as he could simultaneously hear the shrill cries and trumpets of devils with their heart pounding footsteps.
Behind Kato, it gave of a terrifying million army massacre. The roars of destruction and echoes of oblivion, just how he "remembers" it.
"A war, more like a one man slaughter. He could feel and see it. ".
"Kato!!". The sudden shout of his name welcomed him back to the present. He was atop his uncle's leg, blood and flames around them.
Smoke rising into the atmosphere, with red scenery all around him. It seems that nature had given up, given uo to protect what it had. Trees burning and falling.
He coughed, and it actually became more prolonged and worse. His eyes were tearing up- the more he wiped, the more it continued.
He was in shock. He immediately searched around for his sister, and saw his sister beside Uncle Li. She was pressing against his chest with her hands to make him breathe.
Kato saw his uncle's body, disheveled, disfigured and dismembered.
He had his arms ripped off cruelly and his had major cuts on his chest and abdomen.
The soil itself was hot, and all the grasses had been charred and destroyed. Dust all around, causing medium obstruction to vision.
Damn it!. How?. He was just atop his uncle's back few moments ago.
He looked up to the sky. The grey sky has actually been coloured red, as if splayed across with the blood of the people.
A drop of liquid from the sky touched Kato's face.
Rain?. He thought. No!. The drop of water on his face burned him harshly.
He looked at his sister, who seemed worn out. In a haste to drag her out, he saw the large twig that had pierced through her back.
She seemed not have realized it.
" We have to find shade!" . He screamed but no sound was produced. His eyes widened in horror. He doesn't want it to be what it is.
He shook his head, casting the thought aside even though it seemed to be true. He struggled to move, but a wild sensation ran through him.
He began to feel his ears ringing, his vision collapsing in on him, his strength like it was sapped away. He was covered in red smeared with dust and filth. He could smell it, the stench of charred flesh, cackling in the flames around them. He struggled to crawl, stretching his hands towards his sister, with his last ounce of strength.
Who called him back?. What happened? How did all this happen within moments?.
He knew something happened whilst he closed his eyes, but now he remembered nothing. His brain was literally empty on the volition.
His sister turned to him, with a terrified and scared look on her face.
He could see her tears as she slid across the rough hot soil towards him.
She carried him in his arms, her voice muddled. He could see but with a blurred vision.
Yuki is strong. He thought. She is still standing, moving, struggling, crying admist all this.
And he just slumped. Something is wrong!. Maybe it's because she is a gifted, that's why she might resistance to all this. But he took time to think, "Where are the so called gods when you need them?".
So Lady Benzaitan just doesn't know what's happening to her loved child or she doesn't want to lend a helping hand.
He read his sister's lips, and he immediately discovered why she was terrified.
He looked at his body and his heart raced. Fear gripped him hard. He had felt pain too much that he didn't even know, his waist had been ripped off from his abdomen. He was in half, right there.
What scared him wasn't the pain or that he was going to die, what feared was he was going to die without seeing his sister reach the top, without slaughtering the House of Omi and usurping power from the abusers.
What happened?. Yonikaharu's mother had told him about pain nerves and how it works, and how to utilize it to get an enemy to submit to you or give you information.
He couldn't feel pain, but it hadn't taken more than a few seconds and agony seared through him. Like a tidal wave, it overcame him. He made futile rattle movements to calm the burning pain he felt, like a thousand needles being pierced through the anus ,he gnashed his teeth as smoke rose to the heavens.
The sound of massacre, this is it. Wails of help, scenery of oblivion, deaths for many. No supernaturals were in sight, or even if they were, — he stared at his uncle's corpse— they are dead.
He could no longer feel his waist but the incredible pain complimented and replaced his waist. His breathing became more rushed and shorter.
The RAIN! The acid RAIN!. Pain kept his body wide awake, and he could see his sister clearly. She had been bruised on her face. Blood was dripping from her hair.
Seemed like she injured in the the center of her head.
"The rain ...burns." He struggled to say. His sister shook her head.
If what her brother said was true, she had to leave her uncle's dead body right there.
Burning rain?. She didn't know what to do, there was no shade in sight. Nothing, just roaring bright orange flickers with incredible heat, that seemed they were being roasted in the fire, of which they would be if they do not get out of there quick.
She tried to console herself, shaking her head to get rid of her tears. This tears can't solve anything.
She could only carry something, she carried her brother's upper half on her right shoulder.
Her feet, repelled and her pain sensors extremely active against the hot soil.
She clamped her teeth together to withold the pain. She could feel her veins and her body having rapid movements to control and overcome the burns on her feet.
Her clothing had burned off, leaving only a sling from her left shoulder to the right side of her abdomen, revealing part of her bare chest. Her black shorts had some parts of it burned and some on fire.
She hit at the fire quickly to put out the flames. Spotting her brother's lower abdomen close to a flame. She ran towards whilst her feet was pierced by pieces of filth beneath her.
Her tired were being vaporised as she ran closer to the flames to get the lower part of her brother's body.
She arrived there, quicky grabbing it by the leg drawing it suddenly unto her left shoulder.
" You okay?. ". She found herself say. Her voice was croaked and the air was not friendly.
A sharp pain spiralled through her from her back. She turned to see what happened behind her, but she stared at her brother. Kato wore a dim smile with a dead look in his eyes. He had removed the large twig from his sister's body and held it In his hands.
She couldn't say anything to console him. Absolutely nothing, nor even say goodwill or anything positive. It's was disaster, all around her and to her.
Kato had been unconscious for since the early hour the Haven first got unsealed in the morning till now where the sun had past it's highest and began descending, the fourteenth hour if she was precise.
She couldn't decipher what went wrong, but it happened as soon as he fell asleep on Uncle Li's back.
It seemed like all natural elements had just turned against them, hindering them from escaping the devils wrath.
Twigs encaging them, the earth opening up holes to swallow them, the air suddenly blowing against them stagnating their flight and ability to breathe. The rain, it was a burning rain. Just like Kato described, but how?
There was clearly no liquid or rain in the atmosphere?. How did Kato feel this burning rain?. The question began to burn through her mind? He even said "Shade".
She was beginning to get skeptical, but she never stopped moving anyway.
Yuki began to run, blasting through the flames. Anywhere seen as a path, she followed. Holding her brother, gripping him on her holders. She was not going to lose him, no!.
Her vision began to fail her, the red and orange lighting around became more intense.
It seemed she was running straight to the heart of the fire.
She began to cough, from a little then it prolonged and became chronic.
Damn it, Kato was right all along!. Where are the gods when you need them?.
She needs help and she's crying for it.
Her feet was numb and sore now, it made her sting all over.
..
What the hell is going on?. Kato was brazed by hot leaves as they were in motion. Being hit repeatedly against his sister's shoulder like they were galloping.
How did all this come to be?.
Suddenly, the ringing in his ears and his blurred vision climaxed. Hitting his body with intense pressure, he blacked out for a second.
He felt his stomach gurgle with his body in motion. He spat out a large volume of blood, it seemed like he had a vomit.
Something was eerie, and unnatural. He wiped his mouth with his hands, and looked at it.
The dim expression on his face was wiped off onto a horrified look.
His blood was black, pitch black. There was no hint of colour, nothing except black.
At first, he thought it was just a vomit catastrophe, especially since he had his core destroyed.
But he glanced over Yuki's shoulders, spotting the lower half of his body. The blood on it was black and it kept flowing out despite the half of him not being connected to him.
What surprised him most is the fact that he is still very much alive. Though having bits of weaknesses and some eccentric feelings warping around his body disabling basic functions, he was alive.
How?. It's not like he doesn't want to live, but how is he living?. Was a god intervening in his matter or is it a sentient devil?.
This is impossible, especially for a non superhuman. It was, but yet he was living through it! Like some being whom crossed and defied fate.
A lot of thoughts began running through his mind, he couldn't comprehend the world around him this, he felt destroyed. His mind collapsing against him, making him crumble.
He could feel his self waning, sinking into darkness as that was the only he could see now.
Struggling, to find a way out, his self fought. Swimming in the darkness of what seemed like liquid and air all the same.
Surface! He must get to the surface of the sticky darkness.
Futile kicks and waves, he persisted through, determined to get to the surface of his air-like liquid.
Was this a dream?.
All he could see was darkness, and his struggling self being glued to the sticky black liquid.
A dream?. No, it was far too vivid. He could feel the sticky liquid slowly burning his skin apart.
Damnit, what is this?. What deity is toying with him now?.
He suddenly remembered the mark from the seal placed by the House of Omi.
In a bid and his determination to verify the absence of the seal, he dragged his arm off the liquid.
There was a sudden loosening.
A sensation of loss and torture flushed through him .
Something felt empty, he used to control that particular thing. He couldn't see, so he couldn't register what he lost.
Well, that was what he thought. That he needed only his eyes to identify his surroundings, but he was wrong.
He felt strands being forcefully loosened from his shoulders. An eerie snapping sound was produced, accompanied by a scream of futility. The flesh on his arm had been ripped off, leaving behind his bloody black stained skeleton.
But Kato couldn't see it, that even his bones had been modified into the color of darkness it's self. The very darkness that seeks to consume him.
Emanating from his fears and experiences over the years, it seems ever growing.
So defeaning, was his scream. His throat gurgled so hard at the pitch of his weeps. Then he felt another loss. His fluids were flowing atop his body from a location so close to his chest.
He felt a cold blade past his throat as quick as it could be. Black blood splurged like geyser from his throat, drizzling across like rain atop his body. He could taste a cold liquid in his mouth, but it had a very faint taste of blood.
His tongue caught the taste, and he matched with a particular provoking smell from his ties. His ties with the House of Omi.
The taste at which all power is vanquished, and the noblemen are fallen. Forced to eat the rotten flesh of his former classmate back in kindergarten, as his punishment for failing a task. He still remembers how he cried when he saw her lying dead amongst her kinsmen. He recalled it.
The taste of decay. His blood's taste perfectly matched decay.
Decay?. Was he finally dying?. Did the sins of the House of Omi finally build upon him?. Is this his damn condemnation?.
He couldn't scream anymore.
He gnashed his bloody teeth to express and spiral out his agony. Saliva mixed with his black ornamented his mouth, his lips discolored from his blood, dignifying his pain.
His vision was glitching, through in and out. He managed to control himself, restricting his balance from being easily sapped from him.
He could hear the water bubbling and stirring up. He could feel an increase, an increase in temperature.
His mind raced even more.
He doesn't even know what happened to his uncle. How the heck did all that commotion happen with a second he fell asleep.
And his body was still alive
Questions began to devour him insatiably. He was impatient,wanting more answers. He began wading, wading that seemed he was tied to a pole with a thick rope. Everything was turning against him, even his own damn mind.
In this frustration,he let his mouth carve a word in a spur of his emotions. He finally cursed.
Just what the fuck is going on!.