(pov : Asmara)
-I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING EITHER, BUT I NEVER DOUBT YOU. I MAY BE A DEMON LIKE YOU SAY, BUT YOU'RE WORSE, SO SHUT YOUR MOUTH OR I'LL THROW YOU INTO THE MIDDLE OF THIS FOREST AND DISAPPEAR, LIKE YOU DID TO US, WITHOUT ANYTHING OR ANYONE. WE WERE A TEAM, BUT TO YOU WE COUNTED LIKE CAKE. WE HAD TO WIN, WIN, BUT WIN WHAT? WIN WHAT? DID YOU EVEN ASK US FOR OUR OPINION? WE COULD HAVE CHOOSE A SIMULATION, BUT NO, NO... YOU ONLY THOUGHT OF YOURSELF.
Silence
The wind has picked up.
He's blowing heavily behind us, as if he wants to push us towards something...
Roum walked quickly, his face closed off… I think, each step resonated throughout my entire body.
I can feel his breath in my stomach, panting, too fast.
Yes, I only thought of myself, and I will continue to do so. How do you expect me to deal with people like you, especially you? I have never failed, never again, but that is no reason to seal my lips.
Joy walks a few meters away.
She appears injured, but shows no pain.
His steps are regular and straight.
His empty gaze, fixed straight ahead, chilled me to the bone.
I don't recognize anything anymore.
She was always ready to throw a barb, sarcastic, always the first to piss me off.
At that point, she stopped speaking.
I'm not crazy, am I?
Her lips sometimes move, as if she were whispering to herself.
"We're getting close..." said Roum between breaths.
"What?" Joy asked.
- The capsule.
I raise my head.
Fool, fool, it's not her, it's not her.
-mhhhh hmmmmmm mhhhh
shaking me on his shoulder
"Asmara, stay calm, we'll be home soon," Roum murmured softly.
YOU'RE COMPLETELY STUPID, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE YOU'RE A FAKE, YOU'RE TOO NAIVE AND STUPID
Between the twisted trees, a metallic light pierced the mist.
A capsule. Silvered, partially melted.
Our starting point.
Our last hope.
Now in danger
I want to talk.
But no words came out.
I simply stare at his back, that broad back which trembles slightly under the weight of my body.
Roum… he's not really Roum anymore, is he?
Since the forest, since that night, something has changed.
He became more stupid and blind.
I could sense it in the way he spoke
Trees are becoming less common.
The ground becomes hard, metallic.
We finally reach the perimeter of the capsule.
She is there, lying half on her side, hiding
Roum steps forward and places his hand on the door, a click is heard and the door opens in a blue flash.
And, right in front of it, a man.
Our escort.
An old man.
Installed at the back
He straightens up when he sees us, out of breath, his hand on his earpiece.
- You're alive! Good heavens, I thought…
He doesn't have time to finish.
Roum lowers me down, almost sets me down at his feet, gently places me on the ground.
I stagger, my limbs and mouth sealed shut, stunned, I look around.
Everything seems strangely calm. Too calm.
"Open the main door quickly, we have an injured person," said Roum in a hoarse voice.
The man nods his head and complies.
The whistling sound of the hydraulics makes me jump.
Hot air escapes from the capsule like the breath of a sleeping beast.
I want to go in there, take refuge there, flee from this forest, these shadows, them.
But before I am free, a sharp noise tears through the air.
SHRACK.
The head of the escort rolled on the ground, slowly, as in a nightmare where time is twisted.
Her eyes, still open, met mine for a second, then went dark.
I let out a cry, and stumble backwards.
- mhhhh MHHHHHHH HMMMMMM
- Don't move.
Roum's voice?
No, that's not his voice.
Too calm. Too cold.
I look up.
And I see her.
Joy.
Or what's left of it.
His body is twisted.
Half of his face was human, the other half engulfed by a moving black substance, like living tar.
Her eyes, two hollows of shadow.
Her mouth was torn in a smile that was too wide, very wide.
She is moving slowly.
Every step echoes.
Black filaments slide from her arms to the ground, creeping around her.
"We have the rest of humanity," she murmured.
His voice echoes in my head, not in the air.
With the sudden appearance of thousands of shadows
Roum doesn't move.
Fixed.
Her eyes widened.
I can see him searching for his words, but nothing comes out.
They looked at each other.
A long time.
A very long time
Joy was watching him
He stared at him.
Silence.
Then Joy moves forward again.
Her hand brushed against his shoulder.
- Thank you for bringing us home, "Roum", he's no longer the boss.
Roum opens his mouth.
A breath.
Nothing else.
The movement is so fast that I don't see it coming.
A blow.
A whistling sound.
A sheaf.
Roum's head falls in turn, in slow motion.
It rolled in the other blood, bounced, fell, and slipped against my foot.
I scream.
An endless howl.
I crawled backwards, bumping into the metal partition.
But Roum… Roum was still moving.
Black filaments spurt from its severed neck.
They contort themselves, dig in the earth, then crawl towards his head.
They seize it.
Gently.
And they bring her back.
Before my eyes, his head reattached to his body with a wet cracking sound.
Her mouth opens, letting out a hoarse breath.
Her eyes blink, then she sees me.
Humans.
Shadows.
I'm going to throw up.
Again.
And again.
My vomit mixes with the blood of the decapitated guard, forming a viscous mixture that sticks to my knees.
I want to close my eyes, but I can't.
I can't.
Roum slowly straightens up.
Behind him, Joy smiles, or at least what remains of a smile.
It approaches, its filaments creeping into the capsule, penetrating the walls, the circuits, the bodies.
The air is filled with the smell of burning iron.
"We have the rest of humanity," she repeats, her voice louder, echoing in my head like an order.
Roum was looking at me.
But he said nothing.
her horn… Her body moved on its own, like an animal ready to pounce.
I understand.
It's over.
It was not an exploration mission.
It was an execution.
I kept quiet.
But this time, nothing mattered anymore.
Just the wind, the forest, and the silence. And a death that awaits me only at the beginning.