The air crackled with flame embers, dense with burning ash, and the obscene scent of blood. Loud explosions and terrifying screams echoed from every direction. Daichi's eyes snapped open, laying in a crater.
He noticed the unnaturally red sky above, his lungs were aching and burning from contaminated air, causing him to cough up blood on the battered ground beneath him, and with every ounce of strength he has, he struggles to pick himself up.
Covering his mouth and nose with his hands. Limping toward shelter by the ruins of a building that looks like it was once a home.
Daichi, confused and disoriented. He leaned against the rubble, carefully breathing. hoping for even a breath of clean air. Then he looked around, and saw pure chaos, locals desperately heading in one direction, as if evacuating, or trying to escape.
Trampling those who aren't fortunate enough to move with the crowd, and leaving behind those who gave up. While others partake in the brewing violence.
Daichi looked toward where the most noise from explosions were heard, and all his fogged eyes could see was a single humanoid being hovering in the air, and colorful streams of light ascended toward it from the ground, fast and precise.
His instincts screamed at him to run, try to survive with the masses, because he knew, whatever that was, wasn't human. His thoughts were racing, jumbled, and reeling from what's happening.
"What the hell is that thing!"
"W-where even am I?!"
"MORI!"
He said to himself. His mind was a mess, yet he looked up, and what his eyes saw, his mind couldn't comprehend. The creature had two sets of wings, a halo that hovered above its head, its skin glowed, and it wore robes which made it seem celestial.
But its warm appearances were only a pretty lie. It had a smile, one of pure contentment, pleasure, and demonic intent. Its aura flowing around its body like golden mist.
And barrage, after barrage, it sent down golden showers of unimaginable terror, celestial spears of flame that burnt the very atmosphere it existed in, as if trying to escape. Each spear ripping through every laughable attempt the local humans made to fight back, and tearing through bodies like a harpoon to soft flesh.
And after every assault, colorful particles rose to the sky and added to this being's mist-like aura. It widened its horrific smile and intensified the attacks. leaving no hope for a foolish human.
Daichi stood there, mortified, frozen in disbelief, and shaking.
"Mori..."
"Where...are you."
he whispered, his voice hoarse, and trembling in complete horror, his mind can only fear for his son's safety.
But nonetheless. He started trying to move, hoping against hope that he isn't spotted by that thing or any hostile humans. And moving from ruined building to building, and from destroyed home to home.
He saw a trail of fresh blood. That's when he took out a flip knife he always had with him, being careful as he followed it.
The closer he got, the more he heard stifled whimpers under the chaos unfolding around him. And finally, he found who the blood was coming from.
He saw a young child, who looked the same age as his son. But she was cradling another child, one who looked much younger. Both bloodied, and scorched, pierced with arrow wounds. Which confused Daichi.
"Arrows?"
He thought to himself, stepping closer, lowering his knife as he noticed the broken arrow in her leg, but the second she saw him, shock and fear were plastered on her face.
Her hand flailed across the rubble around her, until she grabbed a broken stick and pointed the sharp end toward Daichi, trembling, with tears rolling down her face as she clutched the near lifeless child in her free arm even tighter.
"Let me help you.."
"Please.."
He said, almost pleading, with his hands raised slightly, showing he's harmless, as he slowly went closer, trying to inhale as little of the toxic air as possible. And as soon as he was close enough, he gently lowered the stick she was pointing at him. Kneeling next to her, she was still shaking, the fear visible in her eyes. Daichi noticed the horrific scene of the child she held so dearly.
The little boy in her arm was breathing shallow, his eyes half lidded, tired, and sorrowful. Every intake of breath, burning ash in the air would make him flinch in pain with slow streams of blood running from his mouth. He too had arrow wounds, several more than the little girl.
Still acutely aware of the chaos around him, Daichi was more focused on the dying children before him. Although he gagged at the gruesome sight, he used his knife to tear through the fabric of his shirt. And using it, he wrapped it around the girl's leg, slightly above the wound and tightened it to reduce blood loss. Then he looked at the little boy, and he knew he couldn't save him.
He started coughing again, his own blood spilling out of his mouth. But as soon as he stopped, he noticed he was almost finished tending to the little girl's wound, with only one step left, and that's to pull out the broken arrow.
Daichi touched it, and the little girl flinched and glared at him, still fearful of every move he made. She gritted her teeth, and looked down at the wound. And holding the broken arrow by the sharp head, she started pulling it.
"NGHH!!"
She grunts, tears spilling over on her cheeks, but she keeps pulling on the broken arrow. Daichi, still kneeling next to her. He tore more of his shirt.
And as soon as the girl pulled the arrow out, Daichi covered the wound fast, to stop blood from gushing out, but his fast movement surprised the girl.
She stabbed at Daichi's neck with the bloody arrow head. But stopped meters away. Sobbing, as her other hand was still holding the near lifeless body of the little boy. Daichi paused, alarmed by how fast she moved. Slowly, he pressed the cloth down on the wound, then tied it firmly with another piece of cloth.
And without a beat, the girl looked up, seeing the winged humanoid creature, still attacking from above, and another wave of fear struck her.
Pushing Daichi away, she frantically started trying to move rubble away from beneath her, with her free bloodied hand. Daichi noticed the urgency in her movement, and started helping throw rocks aside, as he struggled to push aside larger pieces of rubble.
The girl kept moving what she could, the hair on her arms rising, her fingers ripping and bleeding with her efforts. The more rubbles they moved, the more visible a door became underneath, and with both their efforts, it would soon be accessible.
Before Daichi even fully moved the last slab of stone, the girl had already pried it open, and crawled in with the little boy in her arms.
Daichi noticing her stream of blood to where they were, so he threw rocks and drew some of the bigger stones to cover the obvious blood trail, as he used more to surround the trapdoor in the ground, and a specifically placed one above the trapdoor, so it'd subtly hide the door after he entered.
Opening the door against the weight of the stone he placed atop it, Daichi slid through, and climbed down into darkness, closing the trapdoor above him.