Elifero burst through the front door.
"Mom!"
His voice carried through the house.
No answer came.
Elifero stood in the doorway, breathing heavily from the run home. His clothes were dirty, scratches covered his arms and knees, and the flowers he'd picked for Bloom and Raim were still clutched tightly in one hand.
For a moment, he simply listened.
Nothing.
The lights weren't on.
The house was completely silent.
Elifero frowned.
That wasn't normal.
Usually, whenever he returned from playing, he didn't even need to enter the house to know his sisters were home. Bloom and Raim were almost always arguing about something—who had taken what, who had started something, who was sitting where, or some other disagreement that only seemed important to them.
Their voices could sometimes be heard from outside.
But tonight...
Nothing.
"Bloom?"
Elifero stepped farther inside.
"Raim?"
His voice was quieter this time.
Still nothing.
A small knot formed in his stomach.
Then he remembered.
Mom said she was going out to buy groceries.
Maybe she hadn't returned yet.
That would explain why she wasn't answering.
But Bloom and Raim should've been here.
Elifero swallowed.
"Stop hiding."
He forced a smile.
"I brought you—"
His voice died before he could finish.
He looked down at the flowers in his hand.
The apology.
He had almost forgotten about them.
Elifero slowly moved through the house.
One room.
Empty.
Another.
Empty.
Most of the doors had been left wide open.
The twins' bedroom door, however, remained closed.
That wasn't particularly strange.
If Bloom and Raim were somewhere in the house, that was probably exactly where they'd be.
Elifero approached it.
The house seemed darker with every step.
His breathing had finally begun settling after his run through the forest, but the strange feeling in his chest hadn't disappeared.
If anything, it was getting worse.
He remembered the deer.
The blood.
That thing standing beside it.
No.
Elifero shook his head.
He was home now.
Whatever he'd seen was back in the forest.
This was home.
Home was safe.
"Bloom? Raim?"
He reached for the door.
His hand trembled.
Elifero stared at his fingers.
Why am I shaking?
He tightened them into a fist.
Then reached forward again.
His fingers wrapped around the handle.
He pushed.
The door slowly opened.
And Elifero's entire body went still.
Blood.
For several seconds, his mind couldn't understand anything beyond that.
Blood.
On the floor.
On the walls.
Across the bedding.
There was so much of it that his thoughts simply stopped.
His fingers loosened.
The flowers slipped from his hand.
Their delicate petals scattered across the bloodied floor.
Then he saw them.
Bloom.
Raim.
His sisters were huddled together near the other side of the room.
Alive.
"Bloom...?"
Elifero's voice barely escaped his throat.
The twins were clutching each other so tightly that their arms trembled.
Their faces were wet with tears.
Neither screamed.
Neither called his name.
They simply stared at him.
Their eyes were wide.
Terrified.
And silently begging him for help.
Elifero took a step toward them.
"Raim..."
Neither moved.
Something wasn't right.
Their eyes weren't looking directly at him anymore.
They were looking...
Past him?
No.
Elifero followed their gaze.
Something shifted in the darkness behind them.
His heart stopped.
The room suddenly felt impossibly small.
Moonlight broke through the torn clouds outside, spilling through the window and stretching across the floor.
For the briefest moment, the light reached the darkness behind his sisters.
Something was there.
Elifero froze.
His body remembered the forest before his mind did.
The deer.
The torn flesh.
The thing beside it.
His foot moved backward.
One step.
Then another.
His breathing quickened.
Bloom's lips moved.
Maybe she was trying to say his name.
Maybe she was trying to warn him.
Elifero couldn't hear anything over the pounding of his heart.
He took another step.
His heel caught against something.
"Huh—?"
His balance disappeared.
Elifero reached desperately for the curtain beside him.
His fingers closed around the fabric.
For half a second, it held.
Then—
Rrrrip!
The curtain tore free.
Elifero fell.
His body struck the floor hard.
"Agh!"
Cold wetness immediately soaked through the side of his clothes.
His hand landed in something warm.
The torn curtain had allowed more moonlight into the room.
Elifero blinked.
Then looked down.
Red.
His palm was covered in it.
His arm.
His shirt.
His chest.
Blood.
"No..."
His breathing became shallow.
Slowly, Elifero turned his head.
Someone was lying beside him.
A body.
He stared.
Something was wrong.
There was no head.
One hand remained curled around the handle of a kitchen knife.
Elifero's eyes widened.
He recognized the clothes.
"No..."
His lips trembled.
"No..."
His eyes slowly travelled downward.
Toward whatever had caught his foot.
Dark hair.
A face.
Eyes that would never blink again.
His mother's head stared back at him.
Everything inside Elifero shattered.
"AAAAAAAH!"
His scream tore through the house.
Elifero kicked backward wildly.
His hands slipped through blood as he desperately tried to get away.
"No! No! No!"
He shoved himself across the floor.
His stomach twisted violently.
The metallic smell filled his nose and mouth.
Blood.
So much blood.
He couldn't breathe.
Couldn't think.
Couldn't understand.
"Mom!"
Nothing.
"MOM!"
His voice cracked.
Her face remained motionless.
Elifero's sobs became desperate, broken gasps.
His hands clawed against the floor.
He pushed her head away from him, then immediately recoiled at what he'd done.
"Mom..."
His sisters.
Elifero's head snapped toward them.
Bloom.
Raim.
The darkness behind them moved.
Every instinct inside him screamed the same thing.
Run.
Elifero tried to stand.
His legs nearly collapsed beneath him.
RUN.
He stumbled toward the doorway.
Behind him came a sound.
He didn't turn around.
He couldn't.
Elifero ran.
Through the hallway.
Through the front door.
Into the night.
And whatever he'd brought home for his sisters remained scattered across the bloodied bedroom floor.
Far beyond the village, a horse thundered across the earth.
Pedro pulled hard on the reins as something caught his attention beyond the treetops.
Smoke.
A dark column of it climbed into the evening sky.
Pedro's expression changed immediately.
The village.
"No..."
His horse shifted beneath him.
Pedro stared for only another second.
Then his heels struck the horse's sides.
"Go!"
The animal surged forward.
Hooves hammered against the ground.
Pedro leaned close against its neck as they raced toward the distant smoke.
Branches whipped past him.
Wind tore through his blondish hair.
The smell reached him before the village did.
Smoke.
Burning wood.
Something else.
Pedro's heart began pounding.
"Come on!"
He urged the horse faster.
The distant cries of animals carried through the forest.
Then screams.
Human screams.
Pedro's blood ran cold.
"Elifero!"
No answer.
"Bloom!"
The horse galloped harder.
"Raim!"
His voice disappeared into the wind.
Pedro gripped the reins.
Please.
His jaw tightened.
Please don't let me be too late.
By the time Pedro reached the house, silence had settled over it.
Not peaceful silence.
The kind of silence that told him something terrible had already happened.
Pedro dismounted before the horse had completely stopped.
His boots struck the ground.
"Elifero!"
He ran toward the house.
No answer.
"Bloom! Raim!"
Nothing.
Pedro reached the doorway.
Then stopped.
Blood.
A trail of it stretched across the floor.
His breathing changed.
"Elifero...?"
He stepped over the threshold.
The smell hit him immediately.
Pedro's face hardened.
He followed it.
One step.
Then another.
Until he reached the room.
He stopped.
Bloom.
Raim.
Their bodies lay motionless.
His sister-in-law lay nearby.
For several seconds, Pedro didn't move.
His eyes simply travelled across the room.
The blood.
The bodies.
The destruction.
Then his hands slowly curled into fists.
A low sound escaped his throat.
Not quite a cry.
Not quite a scream.
Rage.
Pedro turned sharply.
"Elifero."
He hadn't seen Elifero's body.
That meant—
Pedro rushed back toward the entrance.
There.
Bloodied footprints.
Small ones.
They led away from the house.
Pedro immediately recognized their size.
Elifero.
But there were other marks beside them.
Deeper.
Heavier.
Claw-like impressions had torn into the earth.
Pedro crouched.
His eyes narrowed.
He didn't know what had made them.
And right now, he didn't care.
Elifero was alive.
Or at least he had been when he'd left the house.
Pedro stood.
He ran toward his horse.
"Come on!"
He mounted and pulled the reins.
The horse turned sharply.
Pedro followed the trail.
The village was falling apart around Elifero.
He ran without knowing where he was going.
People screamed around him.
Homes burned.
Smoke rolled through the paths he had walked almost every day of his life.
Someone rushed past him.
Another person lay motionless beside a burning house.
Elifero didn't stop.
He couldn't.
His mother's face remained in his mind.
Bloom.
Raim.
Blood.
Every time he blinked, he saw them again.
His breathing came in desperate gasps.
"Mom..."
He stumbled.
"Bloom..."
Another explosion of burning wood sent sparks into the night.
"Raim..."
Elifero stopped.
For the first time, he looked around.
This was his village.
The place where he'd grown up.
The place where he'd played.
The place where everyone knew everyone.
The place he'd believed would always be there.
And it was burning.
Flames climbed across rooftops like living things.
Smoke swallowed the sky.
Bodies lay scattered between homes—some completely still, others writhing weakly against the ground.
Elifero couldn't understand it.
Yesterday, everything had been normal.
This morning, he'd been angry because his sisters wanted to follow him.
He'd complained.
He'd left them behind.
And now—
His chest tightened painfully.
"No..."
A shadow moved somewhere behind him.
Elifero didn't notice.
He simply stared at the village.
Then—
"ELIFERO!"
The voice cut through everything.
Elifero's head snapped around.
Through the smoke—
A horse.
Someone was riding toward him.
"UNCLE—?"
Pedro.
"Elifero! Hold on!"
Elifero barely had time to understand what was happening.
Something moved behind him.
Fast.
Pedro saw it.
His eyes widened.
"ELIFERO!"
The horse thundered toward the boy.
Pedro leaned from the saddle.
His arm shot outward.
Elifero felt a powerful hand grab him.
His feet left the ground.
For a terrifying second, the entire world spun.
Then Pedro pulled him against his body.
"I've got you!"
The horse bolted forward.
Elifero clung to him.
"Uncle—"
"Hold on!"
Behind them, something pursued.
Elifero heard it.
Heavy movement.
Fast.
Too fast.
He buried his face against Pedro.
The horse raced through smoke and fire.
Then—
Something struck.
The horse screamed.
Its front leg collapsed.
Pedro's eyes widened.
"Hold—!"
The world flipped.
Elifero felt himself falling.
Pedro twisted his body around him.
They hit the ground.
Hard.
Dust and ash exploded into the air.
For several seconds, Elifero couldn't hear anything.
A high ringing filled his ears.
His vision blurred.
He coughed.
"Uncle...?"
Something heavy lay partially over him.
Pedro.
His arms were wrapped tightly around Elifero's body.
He had shielded him from the fall.
"Uncle Pedro?"
Pedro moved.
Slowly.
He pushed himself upward.
His arm trembled violently.
Then he coughed.
Blood splattered onto the ground.
Some of it landed across Elifero's clothes.
Elifero's eyes widened.
"Uncle!"
Pedro coughed again.
More blood.
"No, no, no—"
Elifero reached toward him.
Pedro caught his wrist.
Hard.
"Listen..."
His voice was strained.
"Uncle, you're bleeding!"
"Elifero."
Pedro tightened his grip.
"Listen to me."
Elifero's eyes filled with tears.
Pedro tried to stand.
His body refused.
Pain twisted across his face.
Still, he forced himself upward enough to look directly into Elifero's eyes.
"You... live."
Elifero shook his head.
"What?"
"You only get one..."
Pedro coughed.
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
"...one life."
"Stop talking! We need to—"
"Listen!"
Elifero froze.
He had rarely heard Pedro speak to him like that.
Pedro's expression softened almost immediately.
"Remember this."
The sounds of destruction continued around them.
Fire.
Screams.
Something moving through the smoke.
Pedro's hand moved from Elifero's wrist to his shoulder.
"Run."
Elifero shook his head.
"No."
"Run, Elifero."
"What about you?"
Pedro didn't answer.
That frightened Elifero more than anything else.
"Uncle..."
Pedro looked toward the darkness behind them.
Then back at Elifero.
"Don't look back."
Elifero's lips trembled.
"No..."
Pedro shoved him.
"GO!"
Elifero stumbled.
"UNCLE!"
"RUN!"
Something emerged through the smoke.
Pedro turned toward it.
Elifero stood frozen.
Every part of him wanted to go back.
To grab Pedro.
To somehow pull him away.
But Pedro's words struck him again.
Run.
Elifero turned.
And ran.
Tears blurred his vision.
His lungs burned.
His legs felt weak.
Still, he ran.
Behind him, the firelight danced across the ruined village, illuminating bodies and shadows alike.
Pedro's voice followed him through the night.
"You have to survive."
Elifero ran harder.
"No matter what you see."
His feet struck the dirt.
"No matter who you lose."
He sobbed as he ran.
"Never look back."
Elifero wanted to.
More than anything, he wanted to turn around.
To see Pedro.
To see his home.
To see if somehow his mother would appear.
If Bloom and Raim would run after him.
If this entire night could somehow become something other than reality.
But he didn't.
Behind him, smoke rose into the sky.
The night groaned beneath the sound of destruction.
The world Elifero knew burned.
And he never looked back.
Morning eventually found him.
Elifero lay beside an unfamiliar road, kilometres from the village he'd once called home.
He didn't know how long he'd been walking.
He didn't remember when he'd finally collapsed.
His body simply couldn't carry him anymore.
His clothes were stained with dirt, ash and dried blood.
His knees were scraped.
His palms were torn.
His throat felt raw.
He lay curled beside the road as pale morning light spread across the horizon.
Then—
An engine.
Elifero's eyelids fluttered.
A vehicle approached along the road.
He barely understood what he was hearing.
The sound grew louder.
Then slowed.
Tyres crunched against gravel.
The vehicle stopped.
Elifero tried to lift his head.
Bright headlights stabbed into his eyes.
He squinted.
Everything was blurred.
A door opened.
Footsteps.
Someone was approaching.
Elifero tried to focus.
He could only see the person's lower half through the glare.
Pants.
Boots.
Slow, deliberate footsteps.
Elifero tried to move.
His body refused.
The stranger stopped beside him.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then a rough hand reached down.
Elifero flinched weakly.
He was lifted from the ground with surprising ease.
His head fell against the stranger.
He wanted to ask who they were.
He wanted to tell them where he'd come from.
He wanted Pedro.
His mother.
His sisters.
Home.
But his mouth wouldn't cooperate.
The vehicle's engine hummed quietly nearby.
The smell of fuel mixed with the cold morning air.
Elifero's eyelids grew heavier.
Images flashed through his mind.
Fire.
Blood.
Bloom.
Raim.
His mother's face.
Pedro coughing blood.
Run.
His eyes closed.
The stranger carried him toward the waiting vehicle with steady steps.
Elifero felt the cold touch of metal beneath his fingers as he was placed inside.
The door shut.
The engine grew louder.
Tyres shifted against gravel.
And as the vehicle began carrying him farther and farther away from everything he had ever known, Elifero finally lost his battle against exhaustion.
He sank into darkness.