The Inevitable.

As she shivered and gnashed her teeth together, she looked as though she had seen a ghost, or rather, something far... worse?

Flick!

Aezel tensed and dashed towards her.

"Livia, what's the matter?"

He had a trace of worry on his face.

'Uh, so her name is Livia. Interesting.'

However, I was much more interested in what had frightened her to such an extent.

A nightmare? Or was it something far worse?

"V-Vision. I h-had a vision."

At her words, Mia's expression darkened, if only for a second. Aezel, however, leaned closer to the blind girl and asked, his face full of grim apprehension:

"Is something bad about to happen?"

At that point, I was kind of lost in thought, a dark expression creeping up on my features.

A vision? As in, some sort of prophetic vision?!

The thought sent a chill through me. Especially, if said vision turned out to be a... prophetic one.

My body tensed at the thought. With a grim expression darkening my features, I could do nothing but grit my teeth together, while hoping that wasn't the case.

...Even if fate had proven to me much more times than I could count that it was a bastard.

Meanwhile, the blind girl shivered as she spoke:

"I-It was on a stormy day. 

"Lightning streaked through the cracked surface of the sky, and crimson liquid spread for as far as my eyes could see. Flesh, bones and exoskeletons, that see… seemed to have been ripped off their inhibitors were strewn across the ground."

Livia's expression paled as she continued.

"And then—"

She stopped, her face filled with sheer terror.

And then, what?! I thought, my features contorting in grim apprehension.

The blind girl grew silent for a few seconds, her body shivering and shaking as though whatever it was that she'd seen, had taken a toll on her mental state. At that point, though, I could really care less about her mental state and was more inclined to worry about my own fate.

...And when considering my bad luck.

Impatience, along with a faint tinge of dark annoyance slowly rose within me. It was then, however, that Livia spoke up once again, as though she'd found the courage to do so.

"I-I caught a glimpse of a dark mass of ghastly, slithering shadow and rotten flesh. I-It was the most grotesque creature I'd ever seen. I-I was then that dark mass of shadows rose from the depths of the darkness. A-and then, there was nothing but pure darkness."

Flick!

"...Until the final moment."

Her voice cracked as she spoke:

"As we all walked along the path of crimson that laid in its wake. I-I felt as though countless unseen eyes were staring at us from the shadows. A-and when we saw it... it was the ugliest, most menacing creature I had ever seen."

By the time she ended her speech, everyone tensed up as an eerie tension slowly crept into the atmosphere.

Thump! Thump!

With each breath that we took in the deafening silence that settled over us, the tension intensified, tightening around our chest and making it harder to breathe.

In that moment, a deep scowl marred my features.

I hadn't seen this thing or being? But, just from the blind girl's "godly" description of it, whatever it was already gave me the chills.

...A terrifying one at that. It was then, however, that a more chilling realization settled in.

Wait, doesn't this mean that we were going to have to face this horrifying creature at some point in time?

The sudden realization sent a chill through me. Every hair at the back of my neck stood on end as my breath hitched.

'No, No...!'

With heart pounding in my chest, I shifted my gaze away from the blind girl, and it was then that I realized that even the normally expressionless Mia, had a slight change in her features. 

My heart sank even further.

And just when the silence began to creep in faster. Just when it began to crawl its way into the walls of my mind.

Flick!

...I turned to face Aezel.

"Is there really no way to avoid this?"

This was the only salvaging thought I had managed to come up with amidst the grim disaster.

She was his sister. He had to know of a way out! He had to...

Aezel, however, shook his head. 

"No." 

My face paled even further.

"There's no point in trying to avoid it."

I scowled in deep irritation.

"Why?! So we can rush to our deaths?"

The blind girl's description of it alone had brought forth such a great sense of dread and unease.

Then, what of the damned creature itself?! Wasn't facing it just asking to be killed?

Aezel gritted his teeth.

"No, there's no point in avoiding it."

"You...!!"

Filled with vitriol and a sudden surge of dark emotion, I was about to rush towards him and deliver a devastating punch, when-

Step! Step!

I forced myself to come to a stop.

"Huff... Huff..."

I breathed in and out. I knew I had to calm down and calmly assess the situation. And, that was what I eventually did.

Based on what I knew about Aezel, as much as I hated to admit it, he wasn't foolish. Hence, for him to say this, there had to be a valid reason behind it.

Raising my head to face him, I exhaled shakily, gathering every little bit of courage within me to ask.

"...And why's that?" 

A grim expression darkened his features as he spoke:

"Livia's visions. They always come true. There's no changing it."

He gritted his teeth, hands tightly clenched together.

"Nothing can..."

Creak!

...His words sent a cold chill through me, my heart thundering in the silence that reigned over the dune structure.

***

At that moment, however, Aezel clenched his fists, a plethora of dark emotions swelling within him. 

Her eyes… that was the flaw. The price she had to pay for her divine blessing, they called it.

Yet… Aezel's expression darkened even further, an all consuming-hatred igniting within his pupils.

What kind of divine blessing is that merciless?! W-What kind of being is that cruel to their successor?

His body trembled at the thought, a wet crimson liquid dripping down his fist, the sound thundering in the tense silence.

Drip! Drip!

The sound echoed through the vast dune structure, mirroring the bitter pain in his chest.

***

Right about then, my mind was thrown into disarray. And, it was taking every little ounce of willpower within me to keep my calm.

...If only barely.

"There should be a way out of this. There had to be..."

I continued to mutter under my breath. However, no matter how hard I thought or pondered on it, I couldn't seem to find a way.

I-It felt as though there was no way out of this one.

...Only then, did I truly understood the grim nature of our current situation.

Clench!

Filled with a wide range of dark emotions, along with a deep sense of unease, I turned to face Mia.

"Now what?"

"..."

Mia's gaze shifted towards the crimson constellation shimmering within the endless void. As her gaze lingered on it, i-it felt as though seeing it somehow strengthened her resolve.

...Albeit barely, as a result, she was able to maintain her calm.

Twitch!

Amidst the wild turmoil that had taken hold of her heart, her grip on the golden sword tightened even further. Until, she could slow down the fear swiftly rising within her.

In that moment, she knew fully well that the battle with the horrifying creature was inevitable. And, the least they could do, was to try and make it to the Human acropolis before then.

...Even if somewhere deep within her, she knew that was impossible.

The silence that followed felt tense, and suffocating. Each second in it only served to heighten the unease curling around my chest like an iron vice. It was then, however, that Mia turned to face us, eyes burning with hardened resolve.

"Now,"

She turned to face the broken window, or rather, the nightmarish landcape beneath us.

I stared at her, heart pounding in my chest.

"...We head north."

Creak!

My heart sank at her words. But much more than that, however, was a faint sense of curiosity along with a deep sense of unease and dread.

Of all places, why north?

In that moment, a grim expression darkened my features.

Wasn't north the same region teeming with a horde of nightmarish scavengers?