"Riken, wait."
Those were the only words that little Leo could remember before everything went to hell.
No matter how hard he has tried, no matter how many hours he would spend in the future desperately trying to remember. He just can't. Maybe it was a repressed trauma, or maybe he passed out because whatever had happened in that gap in his mind, was too much for him to handle in the moment.
Either way, he could not remember.
"Jason…?"
But this part, he did remember. This part, he could never forget. No matter how hard he would try either.
"Jason!? Wake up! Mom…"
Leo stared in shock as he helplessly shook the bodies of his older brother and mother that were laid down in the snow. His father was nowhere to be seen. The snow around them had become dyed with blood.
"Oh my god.. No, please no… wake up Jason…"
Little Leo muttered softly as hot tears streamed endlessly down his face. He could not understand what had happened.
A black dragon had landed on the ground and shook it with so much force it caused him to trip, but before his face planted in the snow, Jason, his older brother, caught him by the arm.
Then the black dragon said those words,
"Riken, wait."
But everything after that in his memory was blank. It made him sick. And while looking at the state his family was in, it only doubled that sickness, causing him to vomit in the snow.
"Jason... Jason please, please… Mom- Mommy, why…"
The twelve-year-old boy could almost not speak. The shock and sorrow he felt seeing the reality of what happened to his brother and mother was too much for him.
He did not want to believe it, he could not believe it. And yet, here they were, dead.
"No... no no NO!"
Leo howled as either one of his hands were gripping the arms of his brother and mother. The flesh on his mother's arm felt cold, almost like the snow. But his brother's arm, there was a hint of warmth.
Leo's eyes widened in fright as a hand suddenly landed on his face. Staying still, afraid to even move thinking that it was some danger, his eyes focused on the hand. It was Jason's hand.
It was drenched in his own blood, it seemed that Jason had been pressing the hand against some unseen wound.
"I'll come get you so...soon… kay? Leo..."
Jason's last words were soft and strained, blood leaking out the corners of his mouth. His celeste-colored eyes had lost their shimmer. And after he finished speaking, his hand slid down little Leo's face, leaving a bloody mark. His arm then fell back into the snow.
Jason died with his eyes open, staring at his younger brother. A sad, but deeply empathetic expression filled those eyes for the last time.
"Wait… Don't, not yet, please.. No come back! Jason! JASON!"
'Why is this happening?! Why did this happen!'
'They can't leave me here! I don't want to be alone in this place… Please don't leave me here, Jason! Mommy!'
'Oh my god… oh my god oh my god… they're dead. They're really dead…'
Leo shook his brother's body over and over as he wailed, sobbed, and every possible negative emotion filled him. While screaming out their names. His never-ending flow of warm tears becoming a pinkish color from the blood on his face. Those same tears and blood being the only true sense of warmth he had felt in a long time since the weather became cold.
Minutes passed like this, little Leo's knees had turned pink. Even through his pants from the snow. Unbeknownst to him though, behind him were multiple black and red dragons. Each with slightly distinct features.
The leader of them, the black one with the yellow eyes who had landed earlier, was perched at the head of the small army. And by his side, the red dragon from before, who had now apparently lost an arm.
An arm would indeed be the appropriate description. Because right now, that same red dragon for a lack of better words was now a human. He was in a black, scaly fitted armor. his skin was as white as Leo's, and he still had the same black eyes with those red vertical pupils. The black scaly armor however, seemed to be laced with a redness, the same color as his eyes.
He had a shaved head of red hair, and at the ends of his forehead were the same-colored horns he had when he was a dragon. An insignia design was on his armor above his heart... it depicted a rising flame shaped like a dragon's claw. He also had a red stubble.
Then he suddenly spoke.
"This is it? This pitiful child is what we risked everything on? Aasimar!"
Riken was the name of this red, now human looking dragon who had lost an arm. He was calling out to that black dragon with yellow eyes, Aasimar. Riken's voice was louder than the crying that came from little Leo. Causing him to tense up and turn his head in the way of the voice.
Leo's eyes widened in horror and despair seeing the handful of dragons behind him. These monsters were so unbelievably powerful that just one of them was more than enough to level a city. So it was not hard to imagine the fear that filled him upon seeing this.
Little Leo's voice trembled,
"Was.. it-it y..you?"
Little Leo had always been a kind person. Even as a younger child whenever the kids on the playground would make fun of him for his unordinary appearance, he could never find it within himself to get mad at them. Even if he was usually teased about it in school, before this apocalypse, even then, he was kind.
So, when the realization hit that his mother and brother's death was probably because of the dragons, he definitely felt something. But it was still fleeting, because no matter how much he cried, or how much pain he was in, the dragons were still superior beings.
He wanted to feel rage, and be burning with hatred towards them. But knowing that any one of them could end his life without a second thought overtook that yearning for anger. Instead, it was replaced by just helpless fear and despair.
The dragons looked at the little boy indifferently, not responding to his question. Leo took the opportunity to finally look around, the cages, the warehouses, everything… it was gone. Melted away from the white fiery breaths of the dragons.
A horrifying realization entered Leo's mind upon seeing this.
'T-They killed them all… every… oh my god every last one of them…'
Before he could even finish his thoughts, he vomited again.
"Do not question me, you know it must be done."
Aasimar, the black dragon with the golden eyes said as he glanced down at Riken. Then, he suddenly transformed as well. His dragon figure glowed with a white light that seemingly had a black outline to it as well.
Then it morphed into the figure of a human. The transformation reminded Leo of something from a video game or animated tv show. But that thought was in the back of his mind as the reality he was facing was much more important.
Like Riken, he donned a similar but distinct, black-scaly fitted armor. With the same type of eyes and horns except his pupils glowed gold. And at the ends of his horns, instead there was a shade of yellow. But unlike Riken, he had black dragon wings protruding from his back. He also had long black flowing hair.
On his armor, over the heart, was a symbol of a black serpent. It was coiled around a cracked golden crown. The symbol itself was encircled in white, to highlight the black of the serpent so it didn't blend in with the rest of the armor. His armor did not have any hue to it like Rikens did, it was simply all black.
It was unknown whether or not the wings were an intentional display. Or that maybe Riken simply could not do the same. But it did not matter, because right now, at this moment Aasimar had walked up to the pitiful little boy. Who was kneeling by the two bodies in the snow, a dried bloody handprint went down his face.
Tears still flowed from little Leo as he looked up in despair at the devil that stood over him now.
"So what if it was me? Boy?"
Leo had no answer, he had never spoken to a dragon, ever. And especially not in the past six months of imprisonment. They spoke English but it was unknown how they knew it. Their voices sounded human, yet they weren't.
Staring at Aasimar, Leo couldn't help but feel awe and wonder at his otherworldly appearance up close. Especially now, in this weird, human-like form. But those emotions were only a flicker, not lasting for even a second. After all, they were monsters.
"Will you call your father now? Or finally… finally allow me this kill!?"
His words made no sense to Leo, but before he could even think of a response, Riken called out, his voice a mix of confusion and anger.
"We need him to finally go home, do we not? Why are you-"
Aasimar interjected,
"Fool, we have what we need."
He then bent down on his heels to meet Leo at eye level. His faintly glowing golden pupil reflected in the celeste-colored eyes of the boy.
However, Riken shouted out with rage.
"He is his son!"
A few black dragons behind Riken suddenly tensed up, as if ready to attack at any second.
"Question me again, Scale Regent! and see what will happen…"
Aasimar responded with a dark tone, glaring angrily back at Riken, he was intent on doing this no matter what. It seemed as though for some reason, his hatred for this boy surpassed logic and reason.
Riken stood down after that, shouting helplessly to himself,
"By Silos we will be punished!"
After that Riken glared at some of the black dragons defensively, and with Aasimars approval, they stood down as well.
Leo watched this unfold with utter confusion and helplessness. He slowly put together the meaning behind their conversation, he vaguely understood that they wanted to get rid of him.
"W-Wait, are you gonna-"
Just then before he could even finish a word, Aasimars black claw of a hand pierced through little Leo's chest. Then pulled out. The pain was sudden and filled him with so much shock that his head twitched, and more tears began flowing.
Slowly, looking down at the wound, he realized that he couldn't breathe. Because in the area where his lungs should be, there was a large bloody gaping hole.
Leo's death was not quick. Or not quick enough, at least for him.
'Oh my god… I am going to die, I don't want to.. it's too scary!'
'But… Jason, and mommy… and I don't even know what happened to daddy…'
'Maybe it's okay… maybe I'll see them again, it would be better than here… right?'
But it was not okay. No matter how hard Leo tried to convince himself in the fleeting seconds before his death, he was truly terrified of facing the unknown. What would come after? Would it just be darkness? Would there be a heaven? Or would he not even know, with his mind and soul fading out of the universe into obscurity.
'No… I don't want to...'
Hot, burning tears streamed down little Leo's face. He could not speak, nor could he breathe, so his head just burned without the oxygen as he waited for the inevitable.
'Oh god, it's too scary! It's too much! Please, I don't want to be awake anymore… pass out! Just pass out already!'
His mouth spurted out blood, then his body fell over into the snow. Aasimar had long retreated back to his mini army.
The handful of dragons took off from the ground and flew to the altar. On the top of the altar sat a ginormous, rainbow hued, ethereally flaming ball of fire. Burning silently, and everlastingly.
Suddenly the sky boomed with thunder, and large amounts of dragons flew down from the sky and disappeared into the flaming ball. It was as if the whole army that had decimated earth was waiting in the skies to finally leave. With this, it began snowing heavily.
This all happened in a matter of seconds, with Aasimar being the last to leave.
Leo weakly stared out at this scene. His celeste-colored eyes dulling to a glossy gray now. He did not understand why this happened to him, why the dragons singled out his family? Where was his father? Why he could not remember what happened after Aasimar landed, telling Riken to wait. Why was he the only one still alive by the end of it? Why, why, and why... the word echoed repeatedly in the depths of his fleeting consciousness.
Why did these dragons come to earth? What did the humans ever do to deserve this apocalypse? To deserve this dehumanizing imprisonment? Why was this reality so miserable? Why did life have to turn out this way, is there not a God watching? If so, where has he been, what has he been doing while humanity suffered. And maybe since these people were never liberated, there was no god.
And if that were true... where will he go after he dies here?
'I don't wanna die…'
And with that last thought, all alone in this cold and silent wasteland, little Leo's consciousness finally faded.
He died.