OVERWORLD II

Committed

"Oh shit" Kristina gets up with a heavy headache, she covers her eyes and sits down as she tries to 'lessen' the pain. Her color starts to go away and she starts to turn pale. The man gives her cups of cold water in order to 'ease' the effects of the drink. She drank all of it quickly to which the man asked her to slow down and take a breather. She leaned back and savored the cold water, her color starts to come back.

"What was that?" She tirelessly asked.

"It was what we call, an essence"

"Essence? will you always keep that mask on?" She reached for the worn out mask, but the man leaned away for her not to grab it. He instead gave her another cup of cold water. She sighed deeply and the man put her hand down on her lap.

"Yes"

"Why?"

"Because I want to" She obviously cannot tell his expression even from the tone of his voice. She nodded and did not ask anymore questions regarding his mask and just drank all of the cold water; which helped. She drank it and even asked for more and he instead asked her to calm down, she might die from drinking too much water without taking a breather.

"So, do you remember anything?"

"....."

"Well?"

"No, I do- rather I cannot"

The man sits and lights up a fire as dusk comes and the moon rises slowly. Katrina starts to regain her strength and tests it by doing small movements like raising her hand above her hand, standing up, and eventually she can pace. "Come, eat" Katrina walks slowly to the man and he hands her a bowl of rice and then he put a piece of chicken with sauce on it from the hot pot.

"Adobo, a local delicacy" He said, Katrina replied with a "I know". She slowly sat down and enjoys the warm meal in front of the safe campfire. The man tends to it and feeding more wood to the fire making sure its alive. Katrina continues to eat and she worries about the man not eating.

"I am not hungry, you do not have to worry about me, you must worry about yourself"

"Okay" She continued to stuff herself as the man looks deeply into the fire, he seemed peaceful in that moment. He stands up and looks for some wood at the pile that he created. "If you want more, its on the pots" He pointed to the pots. He looks for something in the pile and came back with a thick and wide chunk of wood. He kept his distance from her and starts to craved it with his on nails.

"That does not look comfortable"

"I'm used to it, do not look her if you feel uncomfortable, just enjoy your meal"

"Uh huh"

He starts to carved out another mask as the one he is wearing is clearly worn out. Despite looking gruffy he carves the wood in a delicate and careful manner, and he is quick with every carve; confident.

After eating Katrina just sits at her spot earlier on the motorcycle and tries to sleep, but is distracted with the fire. The man continues to carve the wood and he is not tired at all, over an hour has passed and it is already nighttime.

"That's taking long"

"....."

"Is that really important?"

"Yes, it is"

"So, what do we do tomorrow, after all this?"

"You are a natural fighter, we fight"

"We? Like me versus you, or us against something?"

"The latter"

"Good, good"

He continued to carve until the sounds of the forest made her drowsy and eventually she went to sleep. The man continued to carve away and put his cloak over Kristina, he took off his mask and started to eat as he continued to work on the mask. He looks up in the sky.

"The world, is changing, Death"

The night ended and Kristina wakes up with the man putting out the fire and fixing the motorcycle, his mask looks the same and he gave the new mask to Kristina.

"I thought this was yours?"

"You thought, it is yours now, take it, and our enemies will not detect us"

"Enemies?"

"Yes, our own kind goes after us, those who try to kill us is our enemies. Unfortunately for us, our own kind wishes us dead"

"Us, what did I do?"

"I do not know, but they just mentioned you in one of their meetings, and I happen to hear them mention you and 1 things for sure... malice is involved"

Katrina looks shock upon what she heard from the man, "And you?" she asked. She still has no idea what his name is, so she thought of how can she trust him. The man did not respond but he understood why the question was asked.

"Call me, Hollow"

"Hollow?"

"Yes, I am a 'Hollow' person after all, I have no 'real name', no ambition, nothing, just a voice to talk to someone"

"Mind?"

"Mind?"

"That gives you a personality"

"It is complicated, and I do not wish to explain it further for you, just trust me"

Katrina gulped and nodded on what he said. He starts the motorcycles ignition and he hopped on. "Where are we going?" Katrina asked, he never said anything regarding what they do.

"We are looking for, Reapers, it will be hard to find them, but it is easy as well"

"So, what? Will we look for them?"

Hollow just looked at her waiting for her to hop in, and she hopped on without her curious side spilling out and just hopped on the motorcycle. Despite only meeting him not too long than a day, she already trusts Hollow and believes in what he says. She is a naïve girl looking for a purpose, and in a way Hollow offered her something and it is what she sooks, purpose. They ride for over 2 more days until they ended up in a metropolitan city. The lights brighten up the whole area, Kristina looked around filled with anger. She hears the people complain about something that other people is dying to have.

"This PHONE IS USELESS! LOOK AT IT! WHY CAN'T YOU FIX IT!"

The man ranted at the repair-person as apparently this has been the 3rd time he has been there. The same issues about his phone kept coming up. Kristina felt pity upon the repair-man who just stood there as he is being berated by insults. The owner stands there and seems to only watch as everything happens.

"Jerk, Hol- Hollow? Where are-"

"Over here" Hollowed called on her. They stand in front of a grand hotel. "Can we afford it?" Kristina asked, coming from a poor area she sees everything in this city as expensive. Everyone consuming or using expensive products, food, or even this hotel.

"Don't worry, I can"

They entered the room and the people in there are what Kristina expected, rich jerks. Some are drunk, attending an event held in the hospital, or just the stereotypical rich person. She looks around in disgust as everything they complain about is nothing to what she has to complain about. Hollow stepped to the front desk and grabs the key, he thanked the receptionist and threw one of the key to Kristina.

"Your room" He said, she looked down and sees the key with the room number 506.

"Where is this room?"

"Don't worry, mine is next to yours, 505, follow behind me"

They got to the 5th floor and it seems the no one is around. She looks around the hallways and calls out, but there seems to be no echo. Hollow moved forward and opened a door. "Wow" Katrina said. It was just a wall, the building is owned by Hollow and the walls are there just to hide the real floor.

"That is a lot of weapons"

"Right, some of them I obtained from other creatures, others, people, try and look around, get comfortable with some of them"

"Sure" Katrina is fascinated by some of the weapons. High-caliber rifles that is only available to the military can be found here. She examines some of the weapons, from swords to gauntlets to guns. Hollow sits down and turns away from here drinking something.

"All this weapon, and for what?"

"To defend myself, 3 years ago did you get sick?"

"Yeah, sores around my body, it made me feel weak"

"There are people responsible for those things, and I plan to kill them, all of them. They dragged our kind into it and it will happen much more"

"The Eclipse?"

"Eclipse?"

"The Day the Sun went Dark, and Men went mad. The whole world was in disarray, everyone wanted to steal things, it was as if discourse was what ran the world, then this creatures appeared from the sky. We here in the Oriental faced the worst, the casualties were over the millions, then when the eclipse passed, the world starts to go back to normal"

"Normal, people died"

"Yeah, all of those people who went mad, started to cry out and hide. Even the President went mad, the whole country was persecuted, the Nation's Summit had no idea what happened, and what to do, then those people starts to talk about, the end"

"Those people?"

"They claim, they are connected to an ancient civilization living under the world, and they say that we must choose side"

"And did you, choose side?"

"No, what side do you choose?"

"None" Hollow confidently said. He stood up and walked amongst the weapons, checking it out and seeing what fits for Katrina. He then grabs a dagger and plays with it then throwing it directly to her face, she quickly reacted and grab it by the handle.

"Good, use that weapon, see if you are comfortable with it"

He sits down right in front of her and waited for her to use it. "Go on" Hollow said. She holds the dagger into a comfortable position and starts to swing, her form was off and she treated it like a sword. "Its a dagger" He said, she has no idea to use the weapon, she swung it like a knife and he always has to say something but it was too vague. She hold it into a back-hand and he nods, she swung and it was correct for hollow.

"Good, sleep, tomorrow we must hunt, keep your mask on during the duration of the hunt, okay?"

"Okay"

Hollowed showed Katrina to her room and it felt cozy for her. Her own little room, it was just her in here without her mother nor brother laying beside her. She turns off the light and closes her eyes and listened to the cars outside. Rain falls onto the glass window and the taps make her feel at ease and calm, her mind finally finds it peace. In the distance she can hear the low growls of thunder, and it made her feel even cozier.

"I did it for our mother"

A cold whisper woke her up from her sleep, her eyes darted around the room as her body falls into a state of paralysis. She cannot move. The same chilling whisper repeats and this time its in different tongues, "Why?" Her mind ran wild of what is happening to her, and what could the voice do to hear. She moves her toe wildly in order to force her body to wake up, she closed her eyes and listened to her own breathing. The sound that she hears turns into a tormented scream, "KATRINA!" the voice screamed and she wakes up.

Her sleep was less than 10 minutes. Parts of her face and head starts to hear, but nothing that can stop her as it felt sore. She looks through the window trying to get some fresh air.

"Hmmm, fresh air"

She took a deep breath and smell the rain, it gave her peace. She stops enjoying the moment as she feel someone is staring at her. Instead of hiding away she looked for it, her eyes zoom to people's faces, even to those across the building. "I am paranoid" She said to herself, as the feeling went away. She gets back to her bed and sees a snail crawling up, she picked the little thing up and admired it for a bit. It has beautiful colors when she puts it up to the light.

"Cute" She said as she puts the gastropod on the pot outside her window. She looks at the snail as it crawls on the leaf and went back to sleep and snoozed the night away.

Hollow checks in on her as he heard the footsteps that she made. She slowly walk pass the creaky floor and closed the window for her. Through the window that he thought was a droplet of water, he sees someone through looking to him.

"There they are right!" Katrina talked directly into Hollow's ear. He panicked and hid his face using the window drapes.

"I'm sorry"

"Its fine, you should close the door, its cold"

"You mean the window?"

"Both of it!" Hollow walked out of the room and left the drape down on the floor. She did not see her face, being the curious girl that she is she wanted too. The drape is trapped in between the door and the frame and the door is not completely closed. She slowly opened the door and sees Hollow standing there, just there. Staring at the floor, his reflection. Katrina slowly stood up in order to see his face, and all he can see is his eyes staring directly at her. It was the same presence that watched over her.

"What is it?"

"....."

"Why are you crying, Katrina" Hollow kneels down with his mask on. Katrina fell into a deeper panic and ran out of the room and down to the ground floor. Hollow stood there confused as to what he did, he looks outside. A man draped in dark cloth floats on top of the building parallel to them, but what he thought was a person was nothing but a mere cloud. He sees Katrina walking outside but he left her walk it off. She will never go away.

"Calm down, Katy, it was something else, your just sleepy"

She sat down inside a 24 hour fast food restaurant. Eating her stress away from what just happened. It was lonely, despite the bright city lights that she saw when she entered, the whole place or at the least the area they are in are quite empty. She can hear the people behind the counter just talking, the people who are seats away from her enjoying their company or whatever they are doing.

"Alone, and lonesome"

She forgot to grab her bag which was in the room, it is where her Walkman is. She just hummed the music that she hears on repeat to herself in order to calm down. She took a deep breathe to calm her nerves, and as she inhaled she feels a sharp sting in her nose; cold. Everything starts to feel code, her warm food suddenly dropped in temperature.

"What is happening" She looks around as the people around her starts to dry up. The moisture within their body is sucked out. Their bodies fall down and they are on the brink of death. Katrina went up to the cashier registrar and checked if she is okay, their bodies look too fragile to even touch it but their eyes move, and their breathing clear.

"Still alive, stay alive please... what do I do"

"You sit with me little girl"

A man with dark long hair and subtle aura grabs her drink, but is now frozen. The man wears metallic gloves and the tapping that he makes is irritating, but familiar. Its sounds like the rapping of the rain from earlier. "Sit down girl" In his tone she does not feel any danger, but she was cautious. She moves around the man slowly as to not scare him.

"You do not scare me, if that is what you think, nothing scares me, but I can scare you, scare you enough that you can ran away. But as long as you are alive you cannot run away from the fear itself"

She sat down and the man's eyes are the same as the ones that made her feel uncomfortable. His red iris struck fear deep into her heart and mind. She wants to run, no, she needs to run. Away from this man, despite looking calm or acting nice, he can kill her in an instant. A snail crawls out from his palm, it is the same snail that she saw earlier.

"My, friend, how are we"

"Who are you?"

"I... am the sin of Sloth" He calmly said, she has no idea what that is but she is afraid now.

"....."

"Shocked?"

She nodded.

"Really? Well that is what I am, snails.. I love them, so small yet so deadly. People underestimate the snail"

"Sure" She said. The sin slammed the snail and ate it, a disgusting slurp as he consumed the animal. And a satisfied swallow came right after.

"Delicious"

He licked his gray and rotting teeth, and his stench was nothing that she ever smelled before. He put his hands on the snail's mucus and rubbed it into his hair, like gel.

"You see, me being lazy, I have developed my own power. It has something to do, with the mind, I'm lazy you see, that explains the snail, you get it yes? I control, people's mind, I can drive them to madness, unlike my brother, Mammon who just fucking absorbs imperium, and just go crazy. I can force people to go crazy. Like all this"

He raises his hands around as if it was something magical, which it is, or rather fascinating for Katrina; who is terrified.

"You see, you should have worn the mask, even when you sleep, that mask has spell on it that was hard to break, but you did know... Now I have free-access into your mind, and this is even without the omnituens"

"Half of the things you are talking about, I have no idea"

"really?"

"Yeah"

"So why don't you stop this Abaddon"

Hollow grabs Abaddon and everything went back to normal. Katrina and Abaddon switched places. "Let's go" He grabs her and they went back to the hotel. Katrina demands an explanation but Hollow continued to withhold the information.

"He was more aware, than we thought"

"Indeed, he was trained by Azrael, what more can we do, he knows our secrets, he must come to our side, he must"

As soon as they enter the 5th floor, Katrina came back to her senses.

"Those were the men that we need to fight right?"

"Some of them, but yeah, they are one of the type of men we have to fight, others wear suits or look exactly like us... tomorrow we start the hunt"

"With those men out there? We will be killed"

"No, they cannot kill me, us. Were stronger together, and I promise I can, and will protect you, now go to sleep"

"You?"

"I wish I can, but I cannot, not anymore, I'm afraid to sleep now go, even it if its out here"

"Okay, okay"

"Tomorrow, our mission will start, there will be death, innocent or not.. Are you ready?"

"Well, its the only thing I can do, be ready"

"Good"

Kristina grabs her comforter and makes a small makeshift mattress on the floor. She sleeps soundly to pass the night and Hollow stays awake at night watching over her. He can see his breath as the room starts to become colder.