THOMAS POV
He heard curses as he slowly fluttered awake.
He sat up, holding his head.
When he looked around, he saw the same figure from earlier healing Autumn.
"H-hey...ugh," Thomas groaned while sitting up.
The figure then stops arguing to himself.
Then turns to look at Thomas.
"I-I think Leo needs your help," Thomas say.
....
"He's fine," the figure answered.
The hooded figure started healing Autumn again.
This time in silence.
Not even long, Autumn awoke holding her head.
The figure then stand up and raised his hands outward.
Suddenly we see Leo pixelized in front of them.
He fell on his knees, clutching his ribs,
while blood leaked from his lips.
The hooded figure started healing him.
Thomas looked in the sky and noticed that it was a light shade of red.
And the clouds were getting dark, very dark.
After a while, the figure stopped healing Leo.
He turned and started walking.
"Wait!" Autumn demanded.
The figure stops.
"Who are you?" she asked.
The figure turned and looked at them.
Face hidden, but his unblinking eyes weren't.
"Nobody," the figure say. "Only a mere helper."
"Now hurry." He pointed to a path.
"Leads to Lenon, you must stop them."
"What?" Leo asked.
"We are not going." He looked at Autumn.
"And that's final."
"I never was going go this time,"
Autumn said in defence.
"Good," Thomas added.
"You four are the worst," the figure muttered.
The hooded figure held his head and sighed.
"It seems you guys don't wanna leave this world after all."
"Huh?"
"There's a key in Lenon," the figure said.
"Find it and you will be one step closer to getting out of here."
"Ok, who the fuck are you?" Thomas asked.
In an instant, Leo dashed forward to grab the figure.
But it was like he grabbed smoke.
Their particles flowing all about.
"Find the key," the figure said before fading out of existence.
.....
A long silence lingered over them.
The breeze blew softly, carrying the scent of smoke and ash.
Leo's fist clenched, turning his knuckles white.
Thomas stood there as if realizing there's something else going on deep within this cursed world.
Autumn held her hands together, looking down silently.
"So... what do we do?" she asked, breaking the silence.
"We find that damn key," Leo says.
Leo got up and started walking along the path, while the two followed.
The road was filled with lots of curves and sudden corners.
The road was big enough for about two chariots to pass on.
30 MINUTES LATER
Along the road, they noticed that the sky was a more darker shade of red.
And lightning flashed while thunder roars.
"How far even is Lenon?" Thomas asked.
4 HOURS LATER
The weather was worst. They all panted as they were climbing over a hill.
Thunder roared in the sky and lightning flashed.
The moon was red, which made the rain falling also look red.
When the lightning flash this time, it illuminated the sky.
And what the trio saw were shadows.
Giant shadows, one with four arms, horns, and wings.
And another shadow of a giant, with a halo over its head.
A single horn was in its forehead.
Both giants cocked back their hands.
Like they were ready to strike.
When that happened, Thomas looked at Leo, then at Autumn.
The rain made his spiky hair lay flat.
...
"We'll get out of here," Leo said.
"End of the world or not," Autumn added.
The road then started rising.
While climbing the hill, red fog surrounded them.
It smelled of blood.
When they climbed the hill.
The trio looked and saw fire at a great distance.
The fog blocked their view, but they know it was.
"That's gotta be Lenon," Thomas muttered.
Suddenly, a loud impact happened
over at where the fire was burning.
A small earthquake rattled the ground.
The earth cracked from over the city to them on the hill.
Leo stepped back
"This is suicide" he said in shock
"We can't turn back now" Autumn said
"Tsk" Leo hissed
"What if he's wrong?!" He snapped
"CROSS. Remember?" Autumn asked
"What if I was wrong?" Leo asked
"Guys?!" Thomas shouted
When Leo and Autumn turned.
A huge explosion rattled Lenon, and wave of energy came their way
It demolished everything in its path
The hill crumbled immediately and everything went dark
....
SOME TIME LATER
Leo groaned while slowly awakening
He felt weight on him
Leo pushed but it was heavy and he felt weak
The weight on his body barely budged
He gathered all his might and pushed while turning
And his weight rolled away
There were huge amounts of rocks on him
The light was in his eyes making him struggle to adjust
He stood up shaking and turned
What he saw was Autumna laying on her belly few feets beside him
He got up and shook her
"Autumn get up" he said
....
He shook her again but no movements
She gently awoke and sat up
...
"What happened?" She asked
Before Leo could answer a few rocks exploded
Debris and dust flew all about and a few flicker of flames
They both coughed and watched as the dust calmed
They saw Thomas flashing his hands and brushing off debris
"How long were we out?" Thomas asked
He noticed that the sky was blood red again it was clear and bright
No sun, not even clouds just a gray sky
"I don't know" Leo answered
They looked around the destruction but all they saw were more ruins
"Look Lenon!" Autumn pointed while floating in the air
They then ran off in the direction
30 minutes later
They arrived at the broken city gate the other half no where to be found
The city was mostly flat and filled with ruins
They cautiously entered
The breeze blew like it was haunted
Carrying the scent of ash and despair
A few creaks could be heard from boards and buildings
"Damn" was all Leo could say as he examined
Autumn floated above the ground gently avoiding objects in her path
Their were no sights of blood, only corpse that seemed to die months ago
But truly it was yesterday
Thomas looked at a corpse leaned on a cracked wall
The corpse had a shattered blade beside it
It's face was mostly skeleton
They moved along
'Where the hell are we supposed to find that key?" Thomas murmered
"We don't even know what it looks like" Leo added scoffing
"Wait!" Autumn stopped "Do you guys hear that?"
They all listened
They could hear a faint sound of someone crying
Cautiously they started following it's source
When they reached, they peeked and saw a boy crying
The boy sat in a small crater crying in his hands
Autumn flew out and slowly
"Hey are you alright?''
The boy didn't answered
She flew close and touched his shoulder
The boy look up and suddenly Autumn screams
Autumn and Thomas rush out immediately
And what they saw shocked them
It was Frederic but he looked cursed
His skin was gray and his right eye were golden
The necklace rune was imprinted in his forehead head
His left eyes were hollow, his arms longer than usual and his body skinny
"Frederic?" Leo called in shock
The boy has tears streaming down his face
Two figures lie beside him a man and a boy also rotted to bones
"I understand now" Frederic said voice also cursed
....
"W-what do you mean?" Autumn stuttered
"Tell...mom that-"
Before Frederic could finish
The hooded figured pixelized behind him and touch his head
"She's dead" the figure says
Frederic's eye went wide
But in an instant the figure pulled
The rune on his forehead glowed,
and what appears to be a soul gets pulled out
Frederic's painful cry subsided instantly
His body went limp, eyes wide
The trio stood in shock as It happened so fast
They watched as the hooded figure
Had the soul floating between both his hands
He formed it until it shaped into a staff
...he then throws it at Thomas
On instinct he caught it
Thomas stared out into nothing,
Like he was seeing something else
"What did you do?!" Leo shouted in anger
"Relax I'm only helping"
"Bullshit!" Leo shouted
He dashed forward aiming for his throat
But the figure sidesteps easily
He started backing up quickly
But Leo recovered throwing a punch
to the face
Again the figure dodged
He grabbed Leo's hand and used his momentum to throw him
Autumn sees this as a chance since his back was turned
She flew forward to grab the figure
But upon contact her hand began to phase through the figure
She phased through and ended up crashing in Leo
Suddenly Thomas gets back to reality and fell to his knees panting
"Congratulations, your a step closer to beating 'CROSS' " The figure says before disappearing
"Get back here!" Leo shouted
Autumn ran towards Thomas
"Are you alright?" She asked
"No its just.." he held his head"I saw everything"
"What do you mean?" She asked
Thomas held his head clearly in pain
"It's alright you don't have to tell us yet" Autumn said
Suddenly Leo stepped forward
"Good news....or bad" he folded his arms" This is definitely 'CROSS' "
"What? Those son of a bitches" Thomas suddenly got serious
...
SOMEWHERE ELSE
Far off in a distant land, an explosion rattled a building
All the window got smashed by flames rushing through them
It was an apartment...well used to be
Out side the burning building four shadowed figures gathered
A bulky one emerged from the burning building
Two from out of the forest
And a more skinny one landed from out of the sky
They gathered around a crawling soldier in a black metal armor
The soldier did not have a lower body and desperately tried crawling to their laser rifle
The bulky one smirked and stomped the soldiers head crushing it
After waiting for the bulky one to savor the kill
"So... What now?" Asked a calm male voice
Before any could answer
A notification board popped up again
⚠️⚠️ALERT!!!⚠️⚠️
A KEY HAD BEING FOUND!!
...
The notification board soon faded
Suddenly a huge grin appeared on the bulky figures face
"We hunt"
The End