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.
"Liv, what's the matter?"
'Uh, so her name is Liv. 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."
Mia's expression darkened, if only for a second.
Aezel leaned closer to the blind girl and asked:
"Is something bad going to happen?"
Though, at that point, I was kind of lost in thought, a grim 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 was… No! I'd rather not think about it.
Meanwhile, Liv 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."
Liv's expression paled as she continued.
"And then—"
She stopped.
And then, what! I thought, my features contorting in grim apprehension.
The blind girl was 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, I could care less about her mental state.
Impatience, along with a faint tinge of dark annoyance was slowly rising within me. It was then, however, that Liv 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. It was the most grotesque, and misshapen creature I'd ever seen. T-then dark mass of shadows rose from the depths of the darkness. A-and then, there was nothing but pure darkness."
"...!"
"...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 thing I had ever seen."
When she stopped speaking, 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.
"Huk... Huk..."
At that point, I couldn't help but frown deeply.
I hadn't seen this thing or being? But, just from the blind girl's "godly" description of it, it already gave me the chills.
...A terrifying one at that.
It was then, however, that a more chilling realization settled in.
Wait! Doesn't that mean that we were going to have to face this horrifying creature sooner or later?!
The sudden realization sent a chill through me. Every hair at the back of my neck stood on end.
No, No, Definitely.... Not!
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 expression.
My heart sank even further.
And just when the tense silence began to growl louder. Just when it began to creep in faster.
Flick!
I turned to face Aezel.
"...Is there really no way to avoid this?"
That 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. "Why? So we can rush to our deaths?!"
Just the blind girl's description of it, alone, had brought forth such a tense atmosphere.
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."
"...!!"
Filled with vitriol and a sudden surge of dark emotion, I was about to rush towards him, when-
Step!
I came to a stop.
"Huff..."
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."
One which I was certain I wouldn't like one bit.
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 always come true. There's no changing it."
He gritted his teeth, as though in dark annoyance.
"Nothing can..."
His words sent a chill through me, my heart pounding at their implications.
***
At that moment, however, Aezel clenched his fists, a plethora of dark emotions rising 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 in the vast dune structure, mirroring the bitter pain in his chest.
***
Right about then, my mind was blown into shambles. 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 should 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 out of this one.
I-It felt as though there was no way around it.
...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.
"...We head north."
Creak!
My heart sank at her words. At that moment, although I wasn't sure of a lot of things, I was certain of one. One that chilled my heart to the core.
And that was the fact that, this path we had no choice but to thread on, was going to be hellish, horrifying, and absolutely... terrifying to say the least. And the only thing we could do about it was:
Thump! Thump!
Try to the best of our abilities to prepare for the inevitable.