Monsters Ascend

Four days had passed since we arrived at the shelter. The good thing was that mom gave us some time to explore and see parts of the place, though there wasn't much to see; we talked a lot though. Life was still a bit complicated, but not as much in the shelter. Though I wasn't the only one having a tough time, having neighbors literally close by exposes you to many of their conversations or stupid fights that sometimes kept you awake. I got to know some kids my age, but it never felt the same as when I met Benily. Since that day, we haven't had a conversation, we just greeted each other and went our separate ways.

These four days since the evacuation, mom still hadn't heard anything from dad. That really worried me, though mom just kept saying everything was fine. I guess she was just saying that to keep us from worrying.

It's now the night of the fourth day, so mom and Vivia went to bed after dinner. I, on the other hand, stayed up a bit... maybe thinking about tomorrow... nah, the food just didn't sit well with me. Unfortunately, this place doesn't provide as good food as I hoped. No wonder Mom laughed when I thought we were going to eat well.... well, I'd better get some sleep. I try to focus on something boring and fall asleep... 

...

... 

"...Jin-ta..."

Mmmmmmmm.

"...Jinta..."

Mmmmmmm, what? Ahhh, what's going on? I feel a breath on my face and a voice close to my ear...

"Jinta."

I open my eyes.

"..."

"AHHH!"

"!!!"

"Jinta, what happened!?"

It all happened very quickly. I saw Benily right in front of my face. My heart is still racing. When I saw her, I screamed and suddenly she seemed to vanish into water. Why am I all wet? Wait... I still can't process it well...

"Jinta, what happened?"

I wasn't delirious then... I'm completely soaked... and I saw how she quickly dissolved into water... I start looking around to see if I could spot her, but she doesn't seem to be anywhere.

"Ah, sorry mom, I got scared, that's why I screamed."

I remembered that my scream woke mom up and I didn't respond to her. And Vivia... of course, still sleeping.

"Did you wet yourself?"

Now that I think about it, she already saw everything wet and I said I got scared, it all fits to believe I peed myself.

"No, it's not that, it's just water. I'll change the sheets."

"..."

I left the place with the wet sheets to put them in a corner of our area. Mom looked a bit worried but also sleepy, I'm sure he'll be in bed by the time I come back in and he'll be asking me more questions tomorrow. Honestly, what happened unsettles me, so I wasn't ready to answer any questions about it.

I go back in after a while to sleep again, and sure enough, mom is asleep. All I do is put new sheets on and change my clothes. Alright, back to bed...

...

Earlier I couldn't sleep because of the food, now it's because of fear...

...

"!!!"

I notice someone throwing a stone at our tent. I see mom is still asleep, so I go out to check...

"Ah..."

"Oh."

It's Benily. She hides the second stone she was probably going to throw if I hadn't come out after the first.

"Benily, what are you doing here? Did something happen?"

Benily shrinks a little, but then she gathers the courage to come closer to me.

"Ah... I wanted to ask for your help..."

"Yeah... what is it?"

"Could you come with me to the bathroom?"

Bathroom? I was a bit puzzled. Doesn't she have someone from her family to go with her?

"Sorry, my family member doesn't like to be disturbed at this hour when they're sleeping."

"Ah, I see... mmm, alright-."

"AH!"

Benily suddenly lets out a small scream. At that moment, she grabs onto me as if she's scared.

"What happened!?"

"Sorry, the truth is I hear some screams near the bathrooms..."

She tells me, but I don't hear anything. Honestly, it's very quiet. Only we are making noise... is she hallucinating?

"Mmmm, alright, let's go, I'll go with you."

"Ah... thanks."

She responds with a slight smile. She's really pretty, blue hair, green eyes, and her holding my arm feels incredible... damn, I'm getting distracted.

Focusing now, we head to the bathroom, which wasn't far. Occasionally, Benily would react as if something startled her. Maybe it's because of the noise she says she hears. After a few minutes, we arrive. I waited at the door while she went in... ah, I forgot to ask if she was the one who turned into water over me. I know it was real, but I'll ask when she comes out...

"Eh... Jinta."

Benily was coming out, though that was quick.

"Oh, are you done?"

"No, I mean, why are you waiting outside?"

"Eh?"

"You were supposed to come in with me, to check the noise."

Ohhh, be more clear, I thought it was something else... so you're one of those who get scared but still face it...

"Ohhh, but honestly..."

Honestly, I don't feel safe, but it's probably just a delusion. I don't hear anything, but I guess I could still go with her....

"Alright, let's go then."

"Yes."

I agree and we both enter the women's bathroom. In summary, for those who have never been in a women's bathroom, it's the same as a men's bathroom, but cleaner.

"Jinta, over here."

Benily had gone ahead. We went to the corner of a wall and there she started hitting it.

"Wait! What are you doing?"

"The noise comes from here and it bothers me."

Ohhh, that's odd. She went from shy to aggressive, though her face reflected more discomfort. I should help her, but I'm so confused, why go this far with a delusion she has?

"Hey, I really don't hear anything, are you sure it's a noise?"

She doesn't answer, she keeps hitting and kicking the wall until finally, with the last hit, she breaks it. Part of it falls down like it was a hidden door. Maybe that's why it broke so easily, it didn't have other layers and seemed to be made of weak material.

"Alright, let's go."

Since when is she in charge? Also, won't this be a problem when the guards find it?

"Yes..."

I just agreed and followed her, what else am I going to do? She didn't even pay attention when I told her to stop.

...

We entered what seemed like a secret passage, or at least I'd prefer to believe that than it being built to enter the women's bathroom with other intentions. Anyway, Benily was ahead of me and the whole hallway was narrow. Two people couldn't walk side by side and the walls were made of quite fragile material, like board. Lastly, the lighting was weak, you couldn't see very well, but it was enough to guide us to the end of the hallway.

We reached a larger area, we didn't go out immediately, we limited ourselves to observing the surroundings first, but the few lights weren't doing a good job. Although from what we could see, there were also many things scattered around. We started to go out and went a bit further in. There we saw...

"AHHH!"

Benily screamed when the head of a lizard fell in front of us. At least that's what it looked like. It was red, and seemed to have horns. It scared me too. Both of us, at a reasonable distance for the fear we felt, looked at the creature's head and suddenly:

"What are you doing here!?"

A guard said, grabbing us by the collars of our shirts, me and Benily, with his hands. We both tried to resist, but it was in vain and he took us to another area with more light.

"!!!"

Benily and I didn't see each other, maybe she was as scared as I was. I didn't know what to do. The guard sat us down on a log that was there and in front of us was someone else.

"Mr. Lairen, these kids broke the wall of the women's bathroom and-"

"Yes, all right, go."

"Yes!"

Lairen was the name of the man sitting in front of us. From the order he gave the guard to leave, he seemed to have a higher rank. He didn't have a helmet, his hair was yellow, quite long, and his eyes dark. He was wearing light armor, which also held his sword at his waist, but what caught my attention was that he was holding a piece of ribs in one hand that smelled really good...

"Do you want to?"

Damn, he read my mind, of course I want some, I'm sick of eating grains! Now that I look at Benily, I see she's also eyeing the ribs. Good to know I'm not the only one.

"Wait here, don't move."

Yes, my king, anything for food. Lairen leaves for a moment and I notice my fear went away thinking about food...

"It's here..."

"Eh?"

Benily seems to say something, so I turn to her.

"This is where the noise comes from."

Is she still on about the noise? I still don't hear anything, so I don't give it much importance.

Lairen arrives with two more pieces of ribs, handing one to me and one to Benily. He gestures for us to eat, so I take the first bite.

"How are you?"

Lairen asks me.

"It tastes amazing, I haven't had something like this in a long time."

Honestly, I thought it might be poisoned, but I didn't care.

Benily has not tried it yet. Maybe she was unsure, but seeing me do it motivated her and she also took a bite, but after a few minutes she spit it out.

"Benily, don't you like it?"

I said, getting a bit closer to her.

"Benily no? Don't worry, I don't like it that much either..." Lairen comments and continues:

"I suppose you saw the head of a lizard. What we're eating are the ribs of that creature."

Ohhh, it tastes really good to me...

"Don't they know its name?" I ask.

"They recently named it" and continues:

"Big wings, tough scales, fangs that broke structures, and fire that came out of its throat. They called it a dragon."

"But... where does it come from?" I ask Lairen and he responds:

"I suppose you two saw the light that started it all, right? Many call it The First Impact because they believe a second one is coming. The thing is that light left a hole covered by strange clouds. From there, these creatures started coming out."

Since the first day?

"Well, I don't want to drag this out, I'll get to the point" Lairen gets up and continues:

"This event brought anomalies that affected people, at least some. But the curious thing is that to find them there are many methods and one is to feed them a creature that comes from the hole. They like the smell, but can't tolerate the taste."

Lairen moves towards Benily and throwing her piece of meat, he lifts her by the shirt.

"Ahhh, no, I just didn't like it!" Benily shouts, but Lairen responds:

"Yes, maybe you didn't like it, but I also heard rumors about a girl who wet the floor a lot. Your Sico you still don't control it well, that makes it act under pressure, so let's check it out."

With his other hand, Lairen takes out his sword pointing it at Benily. Her terrified face says it all.

"Wait, I think this is too much..."

I tried to intervene, but it seemed like only the two of them were in their world and suddenly, to everyone's surprise, Benily turns into water.

"I thought so," says Lairen.

She turned completely into water, falling to the ground and freeing herself from Lairen, but it didn't end there. She started to move, but slowly.

"You won't be able to maintain that form for long."

Said Lairen, who was moving towards the puddle that was trying to escape from him, but was too slow. In that, the puddle takes Benily's shape again, but now she looked exhausted. Lairen, who was behind her, surprises her by knocking her out with the hilt of his sword.

"Hey! What are you going to do to her!?"

I shouted at Lairen, though I knew I wasn't in a position to defend myself, I couldn't help feeling angry. Now he was moving towards me.

"I'm not going to do anything bad to her, Sico abilities are very scarce. We'll just experiment a little with her."

"Wait, in what way...?"

"Dinner's over, kid."

...

Lairen was close to me, but out of nowhere I got hit and couldn't tell where it came from... I'm on the ground... and I'm losing... consciousness...