In Search Of Well — series
Volume One
Blue Demon (Source of Water)
— CHAPTER TWO —
"Sofia"
The night was as black as pitch, and the storm didn’t spare but kept raging with an intensity that haunted her even more. Sofia, sprinting desperately amidst the dense forest, was drenched to the bones by the ongoing torrential downpour. Her soaked hoodie clung to her skin, as well as her mid-blonde hair. Her breath came in short, fearful gasps, and her heart pounded like a war drum itself, so fiercely that it appeared louder than the thunder booming above. Lightning crackled across the sky, casting flickering shadows through the trees while she raced like a lost child in the woods.
I can’t… I can’t die! The words thudded in Sofia’s mind before escaping her trembling lips. In those brief flashes of lightning, the terror in her eyes was undeniable.
Not here, not now…
The air was thick with the scent of wet-earth, but all she felt was the weight of dread pressing down on her chest. Sofia couldn’t think—but only run, that she didn’t even dare to look back, for she could hear those who chased her behind.
Not by these soulless reapers, at least!
And she could sense them—demonic creatures of rage unlike anything she could have imagined. Their forms were somewhat writhing as if they were melting, evaporating, and reforming all at once. The little away she fled with every step, the louder their growls became, a haunting symphony that sounded like bubbling noise from the depths of boiling water.
I am exhausted! This… is never going to end! Sofia’s head was consumed by nothing but frantic thoughts. Fatigue clawed at her limbs, but she was acutely aware stopping meant her death. If only she faltered, the watery ‘fiends’ would close in, and end her with a fate worse than death.
Panic fueled her steps, driving her forward blindly despite exhaustion. Every time Sofia’s foot slipped and she stumbled into damp leaves, she scraped her hands on the rain-soaked terrain, gasping for air, and forced herself back up after each fall.
Be like Sofia, my lovely companions—
However, Sofia stumbled as she finally emerged from the forest. Halting her run, she found a vast, desolate landscape seemed stretched out before her—barren, devoid of light and life in sight. Jagged stones jutted from the ground like broken teeth of a shattered jaw.
Standing on a protruding surface, entangled with tree roots, she leaned forward with her mouth agape, gasping heavily as she felt her energy waning after running nonstop. Her hands rested on her knees, and her expression was one of a silent scream of despair itself.
In the moment, she gazed ahead only to stare into the nothingness. The landscape was shrouded in eerie dimness, with a few faint glimpses of ribcages and bones scattered throughout the expanse that added to her misery. The silence was deafening, more than the words could ever be - broken only by the sound of raindrops, distant thunder, and the monstrous howls echoing from the forest behind her.
Apparently, Sofia found herself at a critical crossroads: stranded between whether she should dive into the darkness ahead with no idea of what lay beyond, or face the creatures closing in on her after she barely maintained a distance from them.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning split the sky, causing Sofia’s heart to skip a beat. She let out a scream in fright, but a flicker of hope sparkled in her eyes. By that brief illumination from the heavens, she caught a sight of silhouettes of what seemed to be structures or perhaps a city—offering her a glimmer of salvation.
“Buildings?” Sofia whispered, her voice barely audible over the storm’s fury. She squinted, forcing her tired eyes to make out the shapes through the darkness with another lightning strike illuminating the view.
“They must be…” Her heart raced with the realization that these structures might be her only chance of refuge. But her moment of rest was abruptly shattered. The growls of demons ominously echoed from the forest behind her, leaving her shivering with a chilling reminder of the danger that was still lingering around her fate. Sofia took in a deep, shuddering breath and found no other way than to continue running towards the distant buildings.
Her each step on the drenched and rugged earth echoed along the sound of splashing water, adding another layer to the chaotic symphony. She squeezed shut her eyes against the thunder crashing to earth, shattering both the ground and her ears. Despite these obstacles, she was too focused on her sprint with her hands clasped firmly over her ears. Her heart brimmed with hope to reach the buildings at all cost, and thus, she missed to notice until it was almost too late.
The ground vanished beneath her feet, and a piercing scream erupted from her throat as she skidded to a halt.
Eyes widened, her breath caught in her throat as a wave of horror washed over her. Her heart pounding, her trembling legs teetered at the unexpected precipice of the land. Her gaze trailed down only to witness an abyss that left her frozen in place. A chasm she beheld, flowed by an immensely deep and long river of lava before her eyes.
Panic surged through her, intensifying with every second she stared at the abyss of hell. The glow of lava casted its fiery radiance upon her face. Despair tightened its grip on her. She found herself hopeless as the buildings she had once spotted now appeared to be on the across-side land to that chasm, separated by the lava river from the world beyond. The river flanked Sofia, leaving no way for her to cross it, hence undoubtedly, she found it a dead end!
Wiping off the water from her face, her determination to flee only faltered when her gaze scanned her surroundings for an escape route, but found only disappointment staring back at her.
Sofia, barely maintaining her steps precisely at the precipice’s edge, felt her strength on the brink. But before she was able to think of her next move, shivers ran down her spine and her lungs forgot to breathe when the demonic creatures finally neared.
Glancing behind her shoulders at the demons, in the midst of the chaos, where a few seconds stretched to minutes, hopelessness gripped Sofia’s heart like a bear snatching a fish from a rushing stream. Her eyes drowned in fright.
“It can’t be…” a silent plea escaped her lips. “There should be any other way,” She felt defeated, urgency pulsed through her limbs. “There has to be…” In profound fear infilling her eyes, she took a hesitant step backward and fell into the ditch, into that fierce, bubbling lava awaiting to swallow her existence!
Just as Sofia’s hopes vanished like a bird with wounded wings falling from a giant tree—abruptly, a mysterious figure appeared out of thin air right before her face, hidden completely in shadows of the cloak, the unknown savior clutched Sofia’s hand, and swiftly flung her across the lava river.
Sofia collapsed to the ground on the across-side landscapes to where she came from. Her head collided with the surface forcefully, causing a resounding impact that echoed through the corridors of her skull. And with that, she found herself unable to hear anything except for a faint, continuous whisper amidst the thud of her heart, the heaviness of her breath, and the constant hammering hiss of rain striking her face from the heavens.
Sofia’s consciousness slipped through her control as if the sand slipping through the parted fingers. With her face towards the direction, she had come from, her vision blurred as she struggled against the encroaching darkness spreading before her eyes. Yet, even in her fading awareness, Sofia managed to catch a glimpse of the obscured forms of those watery demons who had unforgivingly chased her this far.
Not only them, she either got the hunch of that mysterious savior—they all met their instant demise by crashing into the molten river of lava.
Who was that person? Sofia wondered. Am I saved? I wish… finally.
A whirlwind of confusion enveloped her mind that was on the edge of falling asleep. Faces unknown swept through her eyes. What did I occupy with all this while? She heard the voices so familiar. Had I even fulfilled what she said?
At the moment, a quite distinct thought crossed her mind, like an urge filled with both pity and urgency that she felt—the need to aware someone of something vital.
I must inform them about him…
They need to know that it is here.
Both of her statements conveyed different concerns and motives. Where ‘him’ reffered to a person of great significance, ‘it’ suggested a looming presence—like a tide crashing down the fjord, a hint of something far more threatening than the Angel of Death itself.
However, as then the thud of Sofia’s heart grew louder in her ears, she momentarily felt herself gently floating down a calm stream with little or no current. The quietness was profoundly hearable, before eventually, eventually, she lost consciousness.
(Prologue)
*It’s been three years since it began…
The Apocalypse!
Shattering the serenity of our world, an unexpected explosion (had) rocked from a massive mountain near ‘Stonehill’, an abandoned valley nestled somewhere amidst the mountains. Its shockwaves did not just tremble the foreground but shook the entire planet; we too felt our souls burdened under the aura of that calamity. Wasn’t it just an explosion? You wonder. Apparently, it wasn’t—but rather the birth of unwanted guests.
As a result, the explosion caused a thick mist rolling toward the valley, only to engulf it—Stonehill—for an entire week. But before the mist settled, an enormous ‘Cube’, made entirely of stabilized water, ascended from the swirling fog into the sky, disappearing into the clouds as it floated away. From that moment on, it remained unseen, as all of us were left occupied by the apocalypse it initiated – an event that no one had foreseen. The real threat, however, was what emerged next from the mist after the Cube—eerie, unsettling creatures we came to call the ‘Water Demons.’
Those creepy beings stand at eleven feet tall (height), made of still water, and with a malevolent task sowed into their souls; erase mankind like a literal eraser. They possess a horror ability to instantly evaporate any human they touch. The victims vanish into thin air like vapours. Meanwhile, the Water Demons grow stronger, muscular, enraged, and gain fast motions by absorbing the strength of those they hunt down.
Following the chaos that led the world to an apocalyptic nightmare even under the daylight, no one dares to step on the same ground as the Demons. Over a hundred nations have fallen into destruction and met their ends within weeks of the Stonehill explosion.
Families were torn apart, cities were wrecked, and apparently, survival became a daily routine. Before stepping off the bed, people anticipate what will happen to them by the sunset? With every sunrise, darkness shines brighter, propelling the hearts of humanity into despair like an eternal nightfall. The remaining nations, precisely the surviving ones, forced themselves to utterly embrace isolation within designated safe zones.
W.N.C — that is a source of our world, an organization to controls Earth’s economy, resources, defense, and more under the command of the ‘12 Councillors’—enacted a ban upon each individual, preventing everyone from stepping beyond specific realms and cities. This restriction tends to remain until a solution is found to avoid the deadly touch of the Water Demons, who are rampaging around the world in an intent to erase the last remnants of mankind.
Anyway, apart from all the chaos unfolding around us in sight, behind the veils for the past three years, the enormous Cube of water has been circling our globe. It never stops flying across the sky, and to shower down a specific kind of rain whenever it detects ‘life’ beneath it. While animals are also affected, if any human comes into contact with that enigmatic rainwater, that very individual instantly transforms into a Water Demon himself !!* (prologue ends)
— TO BE CONTINUED —
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