Lightning streaked through the sky like furious claps from an enraged thunder deity. Rain fell on the icy floor, sweeping up the blood of fallen comrades through its cold currents.
Explosion after explosion claimed the lives of thousands of soldiers and monsters alike as the neutral zone between the frontline and middle ring was bombarded with war shells meant to claim life, becoming a graveyard of corpses.
The moment Lloyd awoke from his slumber, he found himself unable to move. What's more, he was in a pit about five meters deep and wide, on an elevated platform that made only his neck and head visible from the sides of the pit.
Slowly focusing his blurred sight, he slightly made out the images around him. He observed the trees, raindrops, ice, and most importantly, the pit.
The lanky crater itself was filled with so much blood and gore, his waist was almost fully submerged in the human bio matter. Even worse, both his hands were chained to the ground with shackles of owl talons, feathers, and blood. Escape seemed impossible.
His head rang with pain as a migraine pulsed through his skull. He knew of the consequences of someone like him using the Golden Mercury. Although he was mentally prepared for it, that didn't make the pain more tolerable.
Lloyd could barely keep himself from vomiting the dinner he had had before he was deployed. The intense dizziness and head pain he experienced, paired with the disgusting soup of human body parts he found himself in, it was a shock he had held his dinner in till now.
Soon, Lloyd's memories came to him one by one. He remembered what had happened to Colt and finally regained his concentration. He quickly turned his head, frantically looking around the battlefield, searching for the corpses of his comrades. Apart from five strange stones ahead of him, there was nothing else worth noting.
At the moment, the blood moon was covered by some rain clouds. If not for the fact that the five strange stones were right in front of him, he wouldn't have noticed them
For a second, Lloyd had adopted the idea that Colt's death was nothing but a bad dream.
Seeing that he could find no corpses around him, he assumed that Colt was able to evacuate with everyone but him, and for a moment, Lloyd felt relief.
Deluding himself that he was the only one left behind, Lloyd assumed everyone was safe, that he was the only one who had to die. That fugal assumption brightened up his mood. He felt like he could keep his food in his stomach. After all, it was his last meal.
As if reacting to Lloyd's delusion, the rainclouds moved, and the deep crimson blood moon once again became visible, illuminating the battleground.
As soon as this happened, Lloyd could now make out crushed trees and multiple craters, all filled with the blood and guts of people. Even worse, there were people suspended on platforms and submerged to the waist just like him.
But unlike Lloyd, all these people seemed to be lifeless corpses.
Lloyds greatest weapon had always been his mind; as such, he had memorized the faces of most of the people who lived at the farthest parts of the left wing of the base. At the moment, he had about nine hundred faces and names memorized.
Because of his strange hobbies of looking at the files of all the staff, he could recognize most of these people.
In front of him were soldiers Ronan, Visk, Kimberly, Cross, and Beck. And behind him were soldiers Biss, Lovett, Waller, Francisca, and Nancy.
These people were arranged in a circular pattern, with Lloyd in the center of the circle.
Lloyds heart became heavy. He wasn't all that close to any of them, but seeing so many comrades' dead before him, his face couldn't help but sadly frown.
Once again feeding his delusion, he stayed glad that he couldn't see any of the members of his squad.
Before he could notice any other anomalies in his surroundings, he heard multiple large steps pecking through the snowy floor.
As the steps drew closer, the large pangs that came from them became more acoustic, shaking the ground with each pace.
Soon, the large owl monster appeared before Lloyd, staring him down with an almost confused face as it asked. "Why have you yet fallen to despair?"
Its voice was harsh yet pleasing at the same time. Almost like a dead relative calling out to you within an evil forest. But Lloyd was not swayed by its sweetness. It sounded human, but it looked like an eldritch horror that climbed its way out of the pits of hell. Just like its voice had changed, the way it spoke changed as well.
Before its grotesque transformation, it sounded like a jovial teenager who had yet to understand the folly of man. But now? Its manner of speech was like that of an enlightened monk.
Lloyd pondered for a few seconds and then replied. "Why would I? I may not know how they did it, but it seems they managed to escape. How could I despair when I am the lone sacrifice from my squad?"
Hearing Lloyd's words, the owl monster's face twisted in confusion as it stared at Lloyd more intently.
After he completed his observations, he smiled and then asked Lloyd a question.
"Do you not see what is before you?"
The moment the owl monster said those words, as if bending to his will, the rain clouds parted even more, and revealed the blood moon in its full glory, casting a large plum of red light upon the battlefield.
With this bright red lunar light, Lloyd could now see everything in far greater detail than before. Acknowledging the owl's words, he looked forward, only to see those five strange stones once again.
Unlike the first time he saw them, with the brighter light from the moon, he could now make out their details more clearly.
The five stones were all about the size of a basketball or smaller. What's more, each stone seemed to have a face on it.
And just like that, all the delusions Lloyd had fed himself vanished. Those stones weren't stones at all. They were all human heads. But they weren't the heads of any random humans; they were the heads of his comrades. The squad he called his family.
Bruce, Summer, Briggs, Luna, and lastly, Colt.
In an instant, the food that Lloyd so desperately tried to hold in exited his body with a furious flush as he vomited. His eyes, watery and full of sorrow.
Without the light of the moon being as intense as it is now, the heads of his comrades were too close for him not to notice them for a reason as simple as dim light.
In actuality, Lloyd noticed them the moment he woke up. His mind simply wasn't willing to accept it. Unable to cope with the fact that they were dead, his brain simply chose to ignore their deaths.
But the moment a second party brought it to his attention, he couldn't keep living in his own delusion.
The owl man started laughing, its body shaking with ecstatic amusement, its many red eyes gleaming with malevolent phrenzy as it saw Lloyd's world crumble to dust. It laughed as if mocking Lloyd's very reason to live.
Lloyd, on the other hand, felt empty in both mind and body, his tears unable to cease as they rolled down his cheeks.
He understood he was being mocked, that his fallen comrades were being mocked.
But he couldn't do anything about it. Deep down, he wanted to rage forward and attack the monster in an attempt for vengeance, but every time he moved his hands, the chains that bound him seemed to pull him down stronger.
All he could do was listen to the cacophony of laughter while observing the owl's monstrous, joyful face.
Soon, after the sound of his gentle, dejected sobs drowned in the overjoyed laughter of the owl monster, his tears dried, and all his emotions dried up with it. He didn't know what cruel fate made him cross paths with this monster, but he cursed that fate.
Rubbing salt into Lloyd's wounds, the monster spoke again. "Are you enjoying this art I made for you?"
"While you slept, I took a look into your memories, gently acquiring information about all the people in your battalion."
"It took me a while to kill and gather the ones you were closest with, but it seems this beautiful circle of art I constructed for your despair didn't bother you as much as I thought it would."
"That was quite disappointing to be honest."
The owl monster stopped talking as it moved closer to Lloyd. When it got close enough, it used its feathers to lift Lloyd's head before it continued talking.
"You see… I find the sorrow and agony of mortals to be quite enticing. Making your kind suffer is a pleasure I regularly indulge."
"Your spirit is broken… but you seem to be holding on to something. What is that something? Show me."
Upon saying that, light pink aura surged from the owl monster's feathers into Lloyd's head. Revealing all his thoughts to the owl man.
Lloyds' face pulsed with pain as his mind tried to resist it. But no matter how hard he tried, the owl man's power made it seem like his cognizance showed no resistance.
In an instant, the owl man smiled as he found what he was looking for.
"The girl you saved from my attack before. Your memories tell me her name is Winter Blosberry, is it not? I see it now. The reason why despair has yet to make your soul fester. It is because I have yet to claim her head."
"Rejoice now, Ye named Lloyd Scofield… through your memories, I now know where she is."
"I will kill this maiden and present her severed head to you. Perhaps then, your soul shall fester."
Once again, the owl man laughed.
Lloyds' face turned grim and bland. He was afraid of what would happen to Winter, the last survivor. But as fast as his concerns came, they vanished and were replaced with anger and longing.