The truest form of innocence.
A form that had yet to endure the cruelties of its older counterparts...
A child.
But here it was...dragging against the snow with bated steps, hollow-eyed and stripped of warmth.
Skin as pale as the snow, whilst parted strands sat atop its skull, thinned and covered in frost.
It looked like a ghost.
A little ghoul.
A parody of what it once was.
"...oahhh!"
The sound floated through the air, alone, as it seemed that even the Veil had hushed its tone witnessing this madness.
Words couldn't describe the feeling that climbed...climbed through Riven's bones, as he just stood there...
What sad reality was this?
He'd gone from simple training; stumbling over little steps, learning to defend himself, as well as breathe, as he fumbled with wooden swords....
And now? He'd reached the highest rung of survival.
The apex of all challenges.
WOOOH!
...Actually no.
The lowest.
"...Oahh!"
The place where survival was no longer about living, and more about choosing where you got to die in the face of something that should not exist.
A recurring feeling.
One that didn't get any easier at all.
WOOOH!
The wind pulled at the child's stature, swaying its uneven legs in steps.
crun- crunch.
Its appearance seemed to void out all of the other entities that surrounded their path.
Had time slowed for them? Because it seemed the world thinned onto its own spot; minuscule as it was.
WOOOOOH!
"...ahhh!"
It sounded like a cry.
Not a groan, not the heavy wails of the others:
"URRHHHHH!"
"OOOAAHHH!"
It was thinner.
A call. A call for help, fractured into something...
What was it?
WOOOOOH!
It sounded familiar.
"....ahh!"
It sounded:
'...Human.'
The thought flowed, but after watching for so long...Riven knew it wasn't.
That much was clear.
He wouldn't be stupid to truly believe that...
Right?
"URRHHHHH!"
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
Saphira had already stepped away from the window, but the sounds of death still resounded through her mind, as she clutched her head.
Painful, enduring.
'...Why?'
Why was it like this?
A forever question, whispered countlessly.
The answer was simple:
It was the nature of survival.
WOOOOH!
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
Just like how Riven's mind clouded dark, or how blood dripped from his palm, Saphira had been plunged into a pool of misery.
Her lips trembled, but no words came. It was as if her chest had locked, unable to inhale air. The weight of the sight....
"URRHHHHH!!"
The weight of the sounds...
It crushed every ounce of warmth she had carried from her old life.
Her hands cupped as if to pray, the words trembling at the edge of her lips.
"URRHHHH!"
But nothing came...
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
The sight had slain even faith...crushing it before she could expel.
Tears threatened to fall as she fell back into a seat, her contemporary still watching the scene, deathly still.
He wasn't in truth.
His jaw clenched until his teeth ached. His chest heaved with uneven breaths; a weight pressed down joining hands with the fear creeping.
If this was a song? The crescendo was on the horizon.
Everything was piecing together like a cruel tapestry...
The images of the diary wouldn't leave.
The rhymes whispered louder:
"Blood. Blood. The blood I seek..."
Was he here too?
WOOOOH!
No.
The screams outside tore the thought apart.
The living he'd killed? They blurred into a single frame.
His jaw tightened. His breath came shallow.
"Why did I wake up here?"
SSSHHHHHH----PPPAHHHH!!!
Another one.
Another loud expel into the cold air.
Another bright, luminescent blue light tearing through.
Saphira looked up as Riven followed.
"URR----"
The groans and moans paused.
CRUNCH! CRU----
The steps that thundered through piles of snow stopped.
What was it?
Where was it coming from?
Why did they seem to respond to it?
'...Who was it?'
The questions weren't their own anymore. They slid and drove through both Riven and Saphira, the way hunger mows through bone.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
The pause didn't last long...
"UAHH!"
The dead moved, all turning to one direction.
The church entrance.
WOOOOOH!
The wind laughed as a wash slapped Riven's nape. The child turned stiffly, joints seemingly frozen, as it turned.
The collective scene of dozens of jaws opening in call....
He wouldn't forget that.
"OOAHHHH!!"
Saphira pushed herself upright, her breath catching.
"Why--why are they coming here?"
Her voice cracked in the stillness, thin against the sounds of turning steps and jaws chattering.
Riven didn't give any answer.
What answer could he give?
That question wasn't made for him...
WOOOOH!
It was a desperate plea thrown out at the world, the cold sky, and whatever commanded it.
'...That light.'
It caused this. All of it.
Riven's hand clenched, knuckles whitening.
He thought he might drive this very fist, into the wall just to drown the chaos around him.
"OOOAHHHH!"
They were coming.
Slow in movement, but large in feel.
WOOOOOH!
The cold had an extra bite to it.
"Hhhrrummmmmm...."
"OAHHHH!!!"
"Hhhrruuummmm..."
What was that noise?
"OAHHHH!!!"
Not that one.
"Hhrruummmmm...."
That one.
It rolled slow, dragging through the wind like a hymn.
Riven raised his head, looking at the surrounding mass emerging.
"Hhrrrummmm..."
Thump!
There it was again.
WOOOH----
The hum didn't fade.
It deepened.
The dead, once snarling and stumbling, froze mid-step.
Their jaws slackened as cries wallowed away, as if stolen from their throats.
"Hrrummm..."
Thump!
The wind stopped.
Even snowflakes seemed to hesitate, hanging motionless in the air.
Saphira's head snapped up, her lips parting in soundless breath.
Riven's hands shook as his lungs locked tight against the chill.
Thump!
"Hrrummm..."
Through the white haze, a figure stretched, tall.
Too tall.
Thump!
It was long and dark.
Every step carved silence deeper into the world.
This wasn't a man.
It couldn't have been.
Thump!
"Hrrumm..."
Those long limbs stretched, as his visage shadowed amongst the haze.
The only true feature, was thin carved slits where eyes should be.
...They burned faintly, as if embers were trapped within.
The dead bent forward, like wheat caught in a gust of wind.
Their groans didn't return.
His steps were soundless against the frost, as he stepped closer, and closer...revealing the bones that pushed at the fabric of his red garments.
Thump!
A mask covered his face.
"Hrrummm..."
It rolled through the air, as everything around watched...
And then, beneath that hum, words slipped out, fractured, low:
"Blood....the blood of swine. Your flesh is weak. Your marrow is mine."