Flames

Her lungs burn continuously, reminding her of the labored breaths she has. But her determination can not stop her, each step seemingly faster than before.

Sand invades her shoes, pricking her defenseless feet and rubbing the skin into burning red. She grits her teeth as she continues her sprint, towards an intact ruin. Trucks and other modes of transportation park outside of the ruin with guards standing around.

She swiftly hides behind covers, keeping her breaths as silent as possible and moving towards the entrance of a temple. Noticing a pair of guards looking after the entrance, she ponders a method to get past the guards before noticing something in the corner of her vision.

Two workers carried a crate before being surprised by the weight, nearly dropping it. "Hey, did they bring some extra heavy stuff?" The other man just shakes his head before telling his co-worker to lift it up.

In the crate, she keeps her mouth shut and hopes the men would eventually reach their location faster. She feels her heart beat like a drum, as if the sound of her heart beat can be heard by the world.

It takes a few agonizing minutes for the box to finally settle down before hearing the workers leaving the crate alone. She peek out to survey the surrounding, confirming she is indeed inside the temple before leaving the crate.

She sees people walking around the ruin, picking up any artifacts they deem noteworthy for further research. She ignores all of them and continues her way to the deepest part of the temple.

As soon as she enters that part, she gasps silently. Men and women surround an altar that is in the middle of a platform. At the altar lies a shard with static texture on it, shifting its color as if the world can not comprehend it.

One man with gloves approaches the shard carefully as everyone around becomes tense. In her horror, the girl rushes into the room without caring how she had blown her cover.

"Don't take it out like that!" She shouts, bringing everyone's attention to herself before stomping towards the platform. "I have told all of you not to immediately remove the shard like a normal artifact!"

One man, who has a sneer on his face, blocks her path before pushing her back. "I think I speak for all of us that all your 'warnings' are lunacy." He orders a pair of guards to arrest the girl, who struggles while protesting to the man.

"The Glitched Heart is on the altar to regenerate from it's fragments. If you really want to remove it then let me give you instructions!" She suddenly feels her face smash into the ground before her hair is pulled to face the man.

"We have taken too long to keep it here." The man says slowly. "And everyone wants results. It's just another artifact, nothing more, nothing less." The girl can tell he emphasizes the word 'just', as if he really doesn't care what significance it holds.

He lets go of her hair before the guards drag her out to the exit. In her blurry vision, she can see the man who is taking the shard reach out his hand towards said item before pulling it out without struggle.

The attacker scoffs and laughs. "As if those lunatic superstitions are even real to begin with. Let's bring it back!" Everyone begins leaving the area before a shrill sound invades everyone's ear.

Men and women clutch their ears, trying to block out the painful sound. For the captured girl, however, it becomes an opportunity for her to take back the artifact. Fighting against her pain, she runs towards where the shard is.

Until a monstrous figure manifests in front of her, impeding her from continuing her path. It is humanoid in nature, but all of its limbs are horribly twisted. The body shivers for a moment before the limbs twist once more.

The shrilling sound stops, thus everyone lets down their hands before gasping at the sight of the monster. The girl takes a few careful steps back before quickly hopping back to avoid an attack. The monster tumbles on the floor because of its uneven limbs, struggling to stand back up.

A guard confidently goes towards the monster and pulls out his pistol to shoot it in the head. To the surprise of many, the bullet did not hurt the monster, merely causing it to struggle even more.

The air suddenly phases in and out, as if it is a screen that is glitching out before it breaks like glasses. A horde of similar looking monsters pour out of the hole and kill anyone who catches themself in it.

Panic rises in the temple and people run away from the horde like the plague. The girl runs with the pack, trying to ensure her own survival. Screams of fear, pain, help and more echoes in the temple.

People beg others to save them, some try but are immediately engulfed by the sea of monsters. Some brave fighters try to bring as many survivors as possible while trying to slow the horde by shooting them.

The girl notices her attacker run amongst the pack before falling on his knees. His face becomes ghost white as he sees the horde approaching faster than before. He scrambles on his feet, trying to stay away from the horde.

He feels someone pulling him up before seeing the girl he hurt before. He got back on his feet before running with her, pulling her as he is faster of the pair. The girl keeps up with the man as they run towards a transport car, where survivors are hitchhiking.

The girl tries to get into before feeling her body flying into the vehicle. She reonrientates herself and couldn't believe her sight. The attacker gets consumed by the horde and, to her, seemingly saves her.

The vehicle begins moving, escaping the incoming horde as fast as possible with other vehicles that got the chance. The temple and the horde become smaller as they create more distance.

People mutter with each other, wondering what has really happened and what they should do. Some are crying, trying to make sense of the situation or denying it while some are calling the police station.

By the time they reach the town, officers and soldiers are escorting people to evacuate. The vehicle slows down and puts to a stop so that the officers can inspect the machine.

The girl notices a man in his 40s with grey stubble. His face is rough with a stony expression as he speaks to his fellow soldiers. He wears a normal soldier uniform and kevlar armor like his colleague.

The girl hops off the car, startling everyone, and quickly makes her way to the old man. "Sir Steven!" She yells out to get the attention of the man. He turns around before shock plasters on his face.

"What are you doing here Xing Tian?! Evacuate with-"

"I'm sorry I failed!" She bows to the man, feeling guilty about the situation. "I tried to warn them again but they just wouldn't listen." She had tried to warn the archeologists many times before, and even Steven agrees with her.

But seeing the situation now, the old veteran knows what truly happened. "Don't blame yourself for this." The man speaks softly, trying to comfort the girl. She lifts her head up to see the man face to face, who quickly schools his face to hide his surprise.

'Errors in her eyes? Is she a robot?' He thought to himself but swiftly denied the possibility. The girl is fully flesh and blood, but the Errors in her eyes bring some skepticism. But for now, he must push such questions away.

He has a duty to do in order to make sure the citizens are safe. "Right now, the only thing you can do is to get out of here." The girl nods before asking him, "What about you?"

"We will follow the rest of you once we confirm everyone has been safely evacuated." He turns away from the girl, but not leaving her out of his sight. "Until then, you have to follow everyone."

"Sir!" One of his men calls out as he jogs to him. "T-the hordes! They're approaching the city at a faster rate than before." Everyone becomes shocked by the news before the commander reaches out to his walkie-talkie.

"All units, prepare for combat! And hurry up the evacuation, we don't have much time!" As soon as he finishes speaking, a building explodes and the horde approaches the area. Without a word, all the soldiers begin firing their guns at the horde.

"Get out of here Xing Tian!" The girl obeys him before running to the opposite direction of the hostile area. She sprints towards a car before being stopped by one of the monsters. Without any time to react, she falls on her back and watches the monster approach her.

The monster raises its arm and swings it down towards her. She brings her arms together to block the incoming attack and expect pain to fill her world.

It never comes, fortunately. She slowly separates her arms and sees what has happened to her. To her shock, Steven stands in front of her with his arm wide open to defend her. He has a large gash across his chest, bleeding profusely.

The world slows down as he falls on his knees, succumbing to his wound, as she helplessly watches.

At that moment, the world turns up in flames.