Despair.

The brilliance grew spreading across the sky. Miss Chin rushed to Sen's aid. The boy was curled up ,his left hand clutched the right as his groans grew more loud.

"Sen!" Miss Chin shouted extending her hands to the boy.

" it hurts , make it stop!" Sen cried out as miss Chin tried

to stop him from harming himself.

Sen's arm was red hot. It was as though his blood had changed to molten lava and was now pumping through his veins. On its palm was a dark oozing substance and a couple of steel needles. It was coming from what

seemed as black wound at the center of his right palm. It pulsed ,spurting the dark ooze all over miss Chin's clothes. It had a foul odor as though something had died in there

and was now slowly rotting in Sen's hand. And with every passing second it grew.

On closer inspection Miss Chin found a couple needles on the wound. They were placed on intervals of three each of them piercing the wound. The needles were small hardly noticeable to the passing eye.

" What were you doing to this boy?… Iliad " she asked disgusted by the sight that

was assaulting her eyes and smell.

She cut a strip of clothe from her clothes and bandaged the wound. As she was tying it, a force rushed through the land pushing her away from Sen.

The brilliance faded, replaced by silence. Sen's vision was a little blurry. When it

cleared he found himself surrounded by ruins , debris that used to be their

village. The pain had started to fade ,his hand now throbbing from the excess stress

it had endured. Around him was a dark pool of ooze dripping from his hand. He

was lying down with on chest as his clothes soaked in the ooze.

The sky—wrong, shifting, an endless swirl of crimson and black. The air was heavy and charged. Around them, broken pillars were scattered, the only remnants of the village square where Sen and his friends used to play. The land stretched vast and lifeless. One thing was certain—they were nowhere near Salur. Nowhere near Laptove.

Distress filled theair , people worried of their current predicament. This was new to them and new was bad.

The silence was interrupted by a sharp piercing scream coming from a small distance from where Sen was. Concerned Sen tried to rise and walk towards the scream. 

" Hey?! —— I can't move!"

" What's —— What's going on here?!" another shouted indistress.

Miss Chin ,a distance from Sen ,was immobile struggling to even move a finger.

The atmosphere dampened when another scream was heard. This time male. It was cut short with what seemed like choking.

" The shouting is coming from over there. " Sen thought as he scanned the area his eyes could scope.

There was a fallen building obstructing Sen from what was going on. But Sen could feel something coming. Something sinister that made his stomach churn. With every step whatever it was took ,Sen's breath became

heavy , pressure from the arcane energy it was exerting.

 Suddenly he heard a scream from behind . Sen couldn't turn his body but he knew something was wrong when the sharp

smell of blood hit his nostrils.

" There are more?! " he thought as his heartbeat rose threatening to break his chest.

" Hey … is … anybody there ? " he said his voice lowering to a whisper.

Suddenly behind him , a dark mass of swirling darkness, streaked with flares of deep Violet appeared. The creature lifted its head. Red eyes—glowing, empty, vast—looking down on him. It reached out, an arm forming from fragmented shadows drenched in blood, stretching toward him.

" No … No … " he said in a low tone as fragments of the possibilities to come rushed through his mind. " am … I g…" he said his eyes closed and voice fading accepting his fate.

No! It wasn't after him. It was after the old woman just a few steps in front of him. It was after Granny Chin.

" Where did u go? …,

Sen "Miss Chin asks her eyes scanning the area looking for him. Then the creature made it's way forward. The pressure from it presence was immense. With little effort its footsteps formed depressions on the ground as the soil and rocks rose slightly into the air.

Sen was surprised at what Miss chin had asked. He was right

there. He saw the creature advance more and more.

" Miss Chin! , Miss Chin!! "he shouted .

" She can't hear me "

The creature was one step away from her. She was delirious, the impact from the earlier force obviously had taken a toll on her aged body. Not knowing that her fate was sealed , she continued calling out Sen's name as the creature raised it's unnaturally shifting hand ready to strike her.

A sharp, wet sound filled the air.

Sen's eyes widened. Miss Chin's expression froze as she looked down.

An arm—twisted, inky pierced through her stomach.

Her mouth opened, a small gasp escaping as she turned her head. The creature was there, inches behind her, its limb buried deep within her torso.

Slowly, it retracted its hand. Blood gushed from the wound, drenching the ground beneath her. She staggered, knees buckling then looked to the sky, eyes glossy.

" What did … u do with,… Sen" she said her words dying as she fell to the ground.

Tears pooled in Sen's eyes. Miss Chin ,the lady who had scolded him for stealing fruits from her stand was now dying choking in blood trying to say his name. He couldn't move. His breath hitched. His heartbeat rapid, erratic—pounded in his ears.

"What's going on here? "he thought ,eyes wide from anguish.

 The pain and throbbing from his right hand had become numb. The shouts and cries all blurred out as Sen sunk deep into the abyss of despair. That day was supposed to be a celebration,it was supposed to be fun. Why? Why was this happening to him. He thought.

More cries were heard. The air was filled with the stench of blood and smoke from the burning buildings. The creatures moved slaying everyone in sight but Sen. They loomed over him, their head tilting in an unnatural manner. Their eyes—bottomless pits of swirling red—held no malice, yet something within them sent a deep-rooted terror crawling up Sen's spine.

Had he seen these creatures before? Maybe in his dreams or in a book. Distorted memories of his encounter with something that looked like them rushed through his head.

None of that mattered now.

Miss Chin was on the ground lifeless. Blood trickling down where she had been pierced forming a pool around her. The noises had died down.The creatures seemed to be moving randomly now to see if there were any survivors. Sen's eyes were empty. Everyone other than him was killed and he was stuck immobile soaking in their deaths. He remembered miss Chin and how the

creature killed her.

" Miss Chin… " he said trying to extend his hand towards her.

He felt it. His index finger moved. As he continued, more and more his paralysis became undone. It was like thawing a block of ice with a candle.

One of his legs was finally free. He dragged himself towards Miss Chin. Slowly but surely he got there. Her body lay in scarlet. On both knees Sen reached out to trying to pick her up by the head. Then his hands started trembling. His voice shaky as he let out a horrified shriek.

Not from the pain. Not from the fear. Nor the blood. But from the cold and devastating realization that he had got his mobility back.