The staircase felt endless.
Each step creaked under our feet like it was complaining about the weight of the world above… or like it was about to give way.
The sounds of battle grew distant, muffled by layers of earth, but we could still feel the tremors coming from above.
Every now and then, a scream pierced through the concrete.
And then silence.
The air down there was hot and damp. The light from Mei's baton cast our shadows against the concrete walls, making them look like living things, trembling as if they already knew none of this would end well.
I was still clutching the purple notebook in my hands.
It felt warmer than the air… like it was pulsing with me.
Raul was right behind us, breathing heavily, each breath more irritated than the last. Josh, panting, tried to keep up, clutching his crossbow with trembling hands. Sometimes he glanced back, like he was expecting something.
No one spoke — or rather, no one dared to speak.
Until Raul muttered, too low to pretend he didn't want to be heard:
"This isn't gonna end well…"
Josh answered almost immediately, with a breath of exhaustion:
"Shut up and keep walking. Hell up there is enough. We still have to carry out the Counselor's request."
Raul only snorted and didn't push it.
It was rare for him to stay quiet, which meant he was even worse inside than he looked.
Eventually, the metallic sound of the stairs gave way to something hollow.
The last step appeared abruptly, and in front of us a wide open hatch revealed an abandoned sewage tunnel.
The smell of rust and rot was strong enough to burn my eyes, but not as strong as the warm gust of air slipping through the cracks above — a reminder of the hell we'd just left behind.
The tunnel ended in a narrow opening, and from it a thin line of light spilled in.
Mei was the first to move closer. She climbed slowly, pressed her face to the gap and stayed still for a few seconds.
Then she whispered:
"We're outside."
We followed her one by one, and when I emerged, the cold night air hit me like a wave.
The sky was pitch-black, sprinkled with stars so bright they barely looked real.
And between them…
A purple aurora snaked across the sky, glowing in rippling bands, like the sky itself was… wounded and bleeding light.
It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time.
It didn't feel like it belonged to the same world as the torn-flesh creatures we'd faced.
"Stay together," Mei said, lowering the glowing baton. "We're not safe yet."
"Safe?" Raul scoffed, kicking a dead branch. "That doesn't even exist now that the city's gone. Let me guess… now we're the main course."
Josh cut in, anger in his voice:
"Raul, if you're not gonna help, shut up."
Mei turned slowly, her voice sharp:
"You two. Focus. One wrong sound and we're dead before we notice."
We kept going.
The forest was a graveyard of petrified trees. The ground was uneven, covered in ash and fossilized roots. The wind made a bitter, scraping sound.
In the distance, we could see the city's silhouette… skyscrapers shattered like broken teeth.
The purple aurora lit everything up behind them, like a scar trying to heal.
It was almost beautiful — in a horrible kind of way.
The silence there was strange.
A silence so deep it felt like it was listening to us.
That's when Josh, walking behind, stopped suddenly.
"Wait…" he murmured urgently. "Did you hear that?"
I opened my mouth to say no, but didn't get the chance.
A second later, I heard it too.
A thin metallic sound, like blades vibrating in the air — and it was rising in pitch.
Getting closer.
Mei raised a hand, silently ordering us to stay still.
The shadows between the trees began to twist, stretch, tremble.
Then they appeared — the creatures.
Tall, skeletal, deformed.
A mix of skin, bone, and fleshy feathers. Their long skulls resembled crows', but cracked, bent, and rebuilt at impossible angles.
And worst of all:
Some still had human features.
Whole faces or pieces of them were stuck to their necks like eternal masks of terror.
"Ecorvos…" Josh whispered, voice splintering. "No way… out here too?"
Mei tightened her grip on the baton, posture tense.
Raul spat before drawing the weapon at his waist.
"Shit… this is wrong. This is really wrong."
They surrounded our group in seconds.
Not in some organized formation — more like a swarm.
They wailed like starving things.
Mei raised her iron bar. Raul took position, and Josh lifted his crossbow. In the middle of it, they shoved me toward the center.
All I could do was press the notebook against my chest. I had no weapon and no fighting instinct.
Just fear.
"Hold the line!" Mei shouted. "Don't let them split us up!"
"Easy for you to say!" Raul snarled.
The attack came from the left. One of them leaped out of the shadows with a shrill screech and Raul twisted, hitting it in the throat.
A jet of dark, almost yellowish blood sprayed through the air.
The creature staggered but… didn't fall.
It roared and lunged again.
"Drop dead, you bastard!" Raul yelled, charging it.
"Raul, NO!" Mei shouted — but he didn't listen. "Damn it!"
Another Ecorvo crawled in behind Josh.
He fired fast and frantic, trying to push back the ones moving toward Raul.
I acted on instinct.
I threw myself to the side and shoved Josh just seconds before the creature slashed the air where he'd been.
Josh rolled, kicked the monster reaching for him and, without looking at me, tossed me a short knife.
"Take it, kid!"
In the same fraction of a second, he reloaded the crossbow and fired — the bolt sank into the neck of the creature coming at us.
With a dull sound, it fell, gurgling.
The first one that really stayed down — but no one had time to celebrate.
My heart pounded so hard it felt like it might explode.
Two more Ecorvos sprinted toward us, moving like broken animals, twisted but way too fast.
Mei swung the bar and crushed one's face.
Raul, covered in blood, shouted something incomprehensible — maybe "DIE!"
It was pure chaos.
Blows, howls, flying bolts and clashing metal all mixed with the stench of old meat.
I tried to breathe, but it hurt.
Then one Ecorvo leapt at me.
Its claws sliced the air like blades.
I still managed to roll aside, but felt a hot sting skimming my skin, close enough to burn.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
And then something hot hit my face.
Heavy.
Thick.
A body fell on top of me.
"JOSH!" Mei screamed — and my heart stopped, then lurched back to life.
When I opened my eyes, the world seemed to fall apart with it.
Josh's headless body was on top of me.
The crossbow still gripped in his hands shook like it had a life of its own. His blood ran down my face, my neck, into my collar.
His head rolled a few inches and stopped facing me.
His eyes were still open, that same determination frozen inside them.
"Josh…" I whispered, but my voice broke.
The strong smell of his blood made my stomach flip.
I turned to the side and threw up — or tried to.
My body was trying to expel something that wasn't there.
Raul glanced over his shoulder and, for a second, his furious expression vanished.
"Shit…" he muttered, before slitting the throat of the creature in front of him.
Mei ran to the body, smashing another creature aside on the way.
"No!" Her scream cut through the air as she dropped to her knees beside Josh. "He… he saved you…"
Her face was a mess of rage, despair, and disbelief.
But the attack didn't stop. Raul roared:
"We need to get out of here, NOW!"
Mei took a deep breath, gently dragged Josh's body aside like she could still protect him, then grabbed my arm.
"Up, Noah! NOW!"
I shook, almost fell. The notebook slipped from my hands, but Mei shoved it back against my chest.
"Don't lose it. A lot of people died trying to save you. So do NOT dare lose that."
Raul kept hacking away at the Ecorvos closing in, blood dripping from his shoulder.
"If we don't run, we're gonna die just like him!"
He shouted, and Mei nodded, yanking me along between the dead trees.
I looked back one last time.
The creatures were… playing with Josh's body.
Tearing, fighting over pieces, their warped shrieks sounding like laughter.
We ran.
I don't know for how long.
The night warped everything — seconds could've been hours. Hours could've been seconds.
When we finally stopped, Mei drew in a deep breath.
"I think we lost them… How are you two holding up?"
Raul bent over, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.
"How am I?" he said between nervous laughs. "We lost the old man and almost got eaten. I'm fantastic."
Mei shot him a cold look. Raul glanced away, kicking the ground.
"Josh died to give us a chance, Raul," she said, her voice hoarse. "He died trying to save the kid."
"I know…" he answered quietly. "But… what's the point? Why do we have to save him?"
I still couldn't speak.
The notebook felt heavier.
The blood on my face, my clothes, my neck… the sound of Josh's head rolling…
None of it would leave my mind.
Mei ignored Raul.
"We need shelter. They could come back."
The wind blew cold.
"And if they do?" I managed to ask, my voice breaking. "What do we do…?"
"We fight," she replied, steady. "Or we run. That's what we do."
Raul laughed dryly.
"Nice speech. But the Counselor's plan? 'Protect the boy'?" He glared at me with open contempt. "Was it worth losing Josh for that?"
Before Mei could answer, I spoke:
"I… I didn't ask him to die."
Raul turned, hatred in his eyes.
"Shut up, kid! You think you're special? Everyone's dying because of you and you don't even know why!"
"Raul, enough!" Mei raised her voice. "This isn't the time."
"Not the time?!" he yelled, eyes burning. "Ever since this kid showed up, everything collapsed! The Counselor, Josh… and now we're gonna die too!"
"I DIDN'T ASK ANYONE TO DIE!" My voice came out loud and cracked. "I don't even know what's going on!"
Raul stepped closer, fist clenched, and for a second I thought he was going to hit me.
"Then find out. Fast. Before everyone ends up dead."
Mei sighed, exhausted.
"That's enough… The Counselor gave us a mission. I'm going to see it through until—"
Her voice died in the air.
Something passed through her.
A red arc.
Mei stayed on her feet for one second before her head dropped to the ground with a wet thud.
My body froze.
Behind her, a massive Ecorvo was closing in.
Its torn wings beat slowly, letting out a rough sound, and the bone blade that replaced its arm dripped hot blood.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Raul screamed, charging the monster and slashing its neck — but the thing didn't move back.
Others emerged from the shadows.
Many.
"SHIT! RUN, NOAH!" Raul roared, face drenched in blood. "RUN!"
Three Ecorvos lunged at him.
He still fought, still screamed, and even as he fell, he looked in my direction and, with a crooked, painful smile, muttered:
"Run… kid…"
The sound of flesh being torn apart swallowed everything.
I tried to run, but the ground seemed to spin.
My vision blurred — and then I saw something impossible.
I saw myself.
My own body without a head, falling toward the ground.
And that's when time stopped.
The purple aurora swallowed the sky, the sounds vanished, and the familiar screen appeared before my eyes:
MEMORY DEVIATION CORRECTED
INITIALIZING CYCLE RECONNECTION…
The ground opened up and the purple light swallowed everything.
And the whole world went black.