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Chapter 41 âScrew the Rulesâ (Since the previous title didnât work)

Henry immediately brought his blast gun upwards and shot, his arms recoiling from it and two monsters of corruption launched away from just mere bullets. To be fair, there were a lot of bullets in one shot. He stepped back while readying for another shot, when another monster darted towards him and pounded his chest. He didnât feel much pain, but it was enough to make him stagger backwards, almost falling down the stairs behind him.
He understood why his older brother led him there. It was revenge. Henry would be glad to fulfil his family membersâ dying wishes.
He swung his arm, bashing the stock of his blast gun against the monsterâs head. It staggered back and screeched in pain. The monsters of corruption looked like gargoyles which would perch on things and wait for their prey. Only now, they were mobile.
Henry stopped the screeching by blasting the monsterâs face to shreds. Blue blood burst from within and splashed onto Henryâs prisoner clothes. The others crept forward at a fast speed, but Henry moved his blast gun slightly to the right and fired, the spreading bullets ripping two of them apart. He turned around and rushed down the stairs, but one of them caught him in the right shoulder and sent him sprawling downwards, pain blooming all over his body.
âGet. Off!â Henry spat as he wrenched the monster away from his shoulder and shot it in the face. He got up and opened the door to his parentsâ room while keeping an eye on the staircase. He entered the room and shut the door silently. He turned around and saw his parentsâ bed, the very same bed where Henry would always go to when he was scared. Now, he was rarely scared of things.
He still kept his blast gun on ready in case the door would get blasted down. He walked over to the bed and sat on it, then the feeling of painful nostalgia flowed through his mind like a waterfall suddenly crashing into his skull. It made him somehow angry about the mayor, like he was somewhat contributing to the death of his family even though Henry had no evidence of it. He had thought of the laboratory back then, the place Henry had wished he had never entered. Hearing the mayor in this laboratory gave him a sense of doubt about him, and it was further strengthened by the rise of the gigantic monster of death. It also made him feel guilty, because he couldnât do anything to stop this.
As expected, the door burst open and it broke Henryâs thought process. He brought the blast gun up and fired at the gargoyle-like monsters multiple times. Each one of them died quickly and painfully as he fired. Or so he thought.
There was a load ramming into him like a bulldozer and he crashed into the ground sideways. From the corner of his eyes, there was a monster of corruption with its claws raised. Henry swung himself upright and his elbow smashed into the monsterâs cheek, causing it to roll sideways. He ended the monsterâs life with a pull of a trigger.
Lying on the ground, he looked at the ceiling, ignoring the fact that this room was stained with blue blood. He turned his head only to find a tiny glowing light under the bed. He frowned as he went closer towards it and touched it. The light started to grow bigger until it was as big as a door. Henry still frowned as he got up and pushed the bed away from the glowing floor. It was an entrance to a basement. He didnât know there was a basement in this house.
âHello?â Henry said, directed at the brightly lit entrance. A white stairway presented itself to Henry and he stepped down, looking for answers.

Chapter 42 âScrew the Rulesâ

The beast woke up in a rather quiet place. It clicked its tongue, scanning the location it was in. It was a cave with a roof above it and a clear path in front of it.
Maybe itâs a trap, thought the beast.
But still, the beast went on its way, picking itself up and pacing quite slowly on its four legs. On its way, it had come to a conclusion that it could form coherent thoughts.
I wonder if any other brothers could think like me.
It didnât know, but it was hoping to find out more. Then the beast jerked its head slightly up. It remembered the death of the mighty monster of death, the monster of darkness responsible for it. It didnât feel remorse because the monsters of death were considered enemies among the three types of monsters. Sometimes they roamed alone, like the slain one. Sometimes they hunted in packs, or even armies. Instead, the beast felt proud for killing a large beast.
Even with its thoughts, it couldnât speak. All it could do was roar, groan, growl and let out a whimper, anything but speaking tongues. Its tongue would twist and turn if it did so. The beast hoped that could be solved with practice.
After about a few minutes, it heard voices. They were unclear even with its supernatural hearing, so it picked up its pace, curious.
â..experiment!â
It finally picked up its first word. A word it understood. It galloped now. The voice was getting clearer and clearer. There were also sounds that were sudden and loud, louder than the voice it heard. Then, there was a different kind of sound, then the voice spoke up again.
âWhere are you?!â
Then the same sound went off again.
âNo, you freakinâ donât!â
The same sound went off again. Then a consistent sound was released, then it became softer until it couldnât be heard. Then it heard footsteps.
âAlright.â
At the end of the path, there was something blocking the beast from continuing. It stopped, then backtracked a few steps, then galloped forward, bringing itself towards the obstacle, which was apparently a wall, and crashing through it. The debris didnât bother it one bit as the beast landed on a different kind of ground. It was smoother than the one before. It clicked its tongue and sensed multiple similar shapes with figures inside them. It also sensed a large anomaly a bit further on. It was a hole leading downwards.
What happened here? Looks like a mess.
It went further towards the hole and updated its radar. It still couldnât identify the end of the hole.
There was a human here. No, no. Two humans. But this hole. I donât understand..
Since the hole was curving sideways, it plunged into the hole and landed on the side of it, sliding on its back and going as fast as gravity would pull it down.
Along the way, it clicked its tongue once more and detected a vast structure moving downwards and a bit towards the left, like it was escaping the wrath of a figure sliding down the hole as well. The mechanic sound was piercing the beastâs eardrums, but it couldnât burst them open.
Instead of focusing on the structure, it focused on the figure with the stick-like weapon it was always scared of. It clicked its tongue and sensed the structure falling faster and stopping when it landed on a platform. The figure jumped from one side of the hole to the other, trying to slow down and land on the platform too. So, the beast did the same, except that it wasnât jumping towards the other side. It was just grinding its claws on the dirt before landing.
âHey, whyâre you here?â
The voice came from the figure, which now stood a few metres away from it. It understood the figure, but couldnât speak.
âYou going to kill me, boy?â
The beast shook its head and the figure was taken by surprise. Its face was written with shock as it stepped backwards.
âWhat are you, a monster of darkness or just a human in disguise?â
The beast tilted its head in confusion. Wasnât it a monster of darkness all this while? In response, it just let out a whimper, trying to show ambiguity in its voice. It heard the figure release a short breath and stepped forward. The beast backed away in reply.
âDonât worry. Iâm not going to hurt you. And itâs nice to have a friend once in a while-â
An explosion happened from within the structure and out came a floating slender creature, looking at the both of them.
âMove!â
The beast moved towards the right while the figure moved towards the right. A laser beam lashed out from the head of the creature and thrust into the platform, cutting it instead of the beast, or the figure for that matter. The beast bared its teeth and charged towards the creature, only to be disrupted by a sudden blasting sound from the figureâs stick-like weapon. The beast sensed little pellets rushing out from the weapon and ramming into the creature, causing it to fall to the platform.
The beast sprinted towards the creature when the figure tackled the beast.
âNo, this is mine. Please do not kill it.â
The beastâs anger flashed for a moment before calming itself down. It clicked its tongue and felt like there was a wall of figures as tall as this one near it. It whimpered to warn it.
âWhatâs going on?â
The beast went and tugged at the figureâs clothes to pull it around to face the wall of figures. When it finally did, it stepped back a few times.
âYouâd better run. Iâll handle them myself.â
The beast did what it was told. It ran the opposite direction of the wall of figures before it heard torrents of gunfire.
So, the word is gunfire, then.

Chapter 43 âScrew the Rulesâ

âWhat the hell?!â
The scientistâs hand, which was holding a pistol, started to spasm. The pistol was in the air when Rose pulled her hand back, force pulling the weapon towards her hand. She snatched it in the air and aimed it at her.
âWhatâs your problem?â Rose said with a stern look on her face. âHelping me by catching me like a princess, then threatening me with this pistol?â
The scientist half-grinned awkwardly, then turned around and ran away, his white coat flapping behind him like the wing of a bird.
Rose smiled while turning around, knowing it was Kogh who did it. She had no idea how he could do that. Making the scientistâs hand spasm.
âWhere were you?â Rose asked as she approached him with a heartfelt tone.
âI-I was searching for you, when I got attacked,â Kogh answered as he pointed towards the man nailed on the building. It would scare or shock other people, but not Rose. She had gotten too used to blood and gore. Heck, she had a goat foot in replacement for her already-eaten foot.
âLetâs get out of here,â Rose said.
âYes, sure,â Kogh replied. âBut where do you want to go?â
âWe look around. Probably something other than this trash of a city.â
âWhy donât we see your dad?â
Roseâs face distorted with bewilderment. It was a sudden request, but after what Kogh had done, she was immediately willing to consider it, even though she vowed never to see him again. But she was also sceptical about it as well.
âWhy?â was what Rose asked.
âWell, Iâm just curious. If it isnât okay with you, weâll just go on and explore.â
âOkay,â Rose said. There was an awkward short pause with an ominous tone to it because of Roseâs eyes staring at his, perhaps piercing into his soul.
âCut the nonsense,â Rose broke the silence with a cold tone. âWhy do you want to see my dad?â
No, that wasnât how I wanted to word it.
Kogh stepped back once. He was probably assuming that Rose was somewhat offended and mad at him for reminding her of her dad. She didnât have a drive of revenge to get at her father, no. But she just didnât want to see him because she probably shamed her dad by running away. It probably caused him grief, and for that, she hated herself for it. Maybe if she were to see him, that grief would grow stronger, or maybe replaced by resentment, strong resentment.
âI..â
Then police cars and ambulances were on their way to the scene. It felt like plentiful minutes before they had arrived, but it was only a mere minute. Sirens blazed in the night sky, roaring from the distance.
âWeâll talk about this later. I have more things I have to discuss with you.â
Rose shrugged. She saw Kogh offering his own hand to her.
âCâmon. Letâs go. You donât have your axe, right?â He was frowning already.
âI donât need it,â Rose declined as she rose into the air, baffling Kogh in the process. He smiled in the end and rose as well. The both of them escaped the scene before anyone arrived.
It was a wonder no one was there at the time. No civilians were walking around, let alone noticing the nailed man, and yet, the police were somehow notified about the incident.
The night breeze was so cooling and relaxing to Rose. She could have stayed out in the sky for as long as she wanted to. The clouds above her were almost non-existent, but for whatever reason, she couldnât see far ahead. There were no new cities she could see, even from the height she was at now, which was approximately a few hundred metres up. Only Wonderland was visible to her.
âThere are others,â Kogh said.
Rose turned her head to face him.
âWhat do you mean?â
âThere are more of us. I killed three of them so far.â
âSo, this isnât just special anymore, then?â
âIâm afraid not. You can also do what I can do.â
Rose didnât reply. Kogh didnât need another answer. All this while, she only thought of the urge to kill and murder right now. She didnât feel it anymore, and she thanked goodness for that. It was like food in front of her, and that she was hungry. But she knew the food was toxic, poisonous. Only her conscious mind held her in place, only for a short amount of time.
Her mind snapped back into reality as she saw a towering piece of block in her way and other buildings that fell down to worship it. Lights flashed from below, and walls surrounded the newly-found city.
âA new city. This time, we sneak. I donât want us to be separated again.â
âSure,â Kogh said simply.
What could await us in this city? Rose thought.

Chapter 44 âScrew the Rulesâ

It was so bright that Henry had to shut his eyes tightly. It took a while for Henry to open his eyes and adjust to the brightness. Even then, this room was so eye-piercingly bright. He was standing on white ceramic tiles. Next to him were tables that ran forward to the wall, trapping Henry in between. On the tables were all kinds of apparatus expected from a laboratory. Liquids of different colours in a few of the test tubes lay stagnant. In front of Henry was a row of tubes big enough for him to fit inside. All of them had been broken. Shards of glass lay scattered nearby. Henry guessed that the tubes imprisoned the monsters of corruption.
Questions rushed into his mind. Who was operating in this lab? If my parents were here, what were they doing here? How the hell did they have time to work when I was with them the whole time? Why were they hiding this from me, or my brother?
Then a question bolder than every other question. Was the beast, which killed his family, from here?
Henry threw himself into a raging fit, his hands smashing into the glass tubes and flinging them off to the wall. Glass was shattered and broken; liquids of all colours were splashed on the walls and floors. His hands were slit by the glass shards along the way. Blood trickled down his palms and the back of his hands. Some of the blood even flew everywhere, though it was very little.
After he was done thrashing around in anger, with glass all over the tables and floors, he clenched his fists and grimaced in pain.
Even after crashing the laboratory and making huge noises, Henry expected the monsters to have arrived. So, he readied himself with his blast gun aiming at the doorway, ignoring the pain in his hands, but the monsters never came. What came instead was a gunshot. That made him jump, then move out of the destroyed laboratory.
He entered his parentsâ room and saw a man in the doorway with another blast gun. He was wearing a guardâs armour, metal breastplate and leg guards to protect him from harm, although not much from the lower back and front. His face turned towards Henry and made a grin.
âHenry, good to see you.â His voice was low and rough.
Immediately, Henry brought his blast gun while the man raised his hands in surrender, his blast gun pointing at the ceiling.
âHey, hey! Iâm not here to arrest you. Iâm ordered to come find you.â
âFind me and do what? Put me into jail again?!â shouted Henry.
âI said, Iâm not here to arrest you. Our general ordered the search. I proposed a guess that you might be here. I wasnât wrong, after all. Iâm-â
âWhat do you mean, general?â Henry questioned, cutting him off. âDoesnât the mayor indirectly control you? Or is the mayor ordering the search?â
âAbout that..â The guard, though he wasnât guarding anything, trailed off, then continued after a short puff of breath. âHeâs gone.â
Henry frowned as his response, then asked, now putting his blast gun down. âAre you searching for him?â
âWe are, but we didnât succeed in finding him yet. My order was to find you, not the mayor. Other soldiers are finding him right now.â
âSo, two more questions,â Henry said, as he held up two fingers to him. âWho is this general, and why have you switched sides? One moment you lot werenât even trying to kill that mother load of a beast, then the next moment youâre here, presumably on my side.â
âThis general? Heâs General Popsicle.â
The guard laughed at that name. Henry knew General Popsicle, but not much. The soldiers usually called him Popsicle when he wasnât in earshot, probably because he looked like one. His hair was always straight down, looking like a mushroom head, and when he was standing as straight as a tree, he did look like a popsicle, except with black as its top and camouflage green all the way down. Though, when he was nearby, they would address him as General Exen. Henry would love to be called that name. But the name Henry was good enough.
Or maybe Iâd already grown to love it.
âWhatâs he trying to do?â asked Henry.
âHeâs gathering up men to take back what was ours when that mayor took control.â
âLike a rebellion? A sixty-year-old rebellion?â
âUm..â
âAnd what did the mayor do to make you guys rebel? He revolutionised this city!â Henry felt bad for defending the mayor. Henry admitted to himself that the mayor had done some terrible things.
âHe took lives. A lot of them. And who knows? He could be killing someone right now. Plus, since thereâs no one controlling us, whatâs the purpose of a rebellion?â
âI see your last point. But whereâs the evidence to back the previous statement up?â
âThe monster of death.â
âWhat if it was just a coincidence?â Henry said, even though it was already enough evidence from his own point of view. He wanted to take it back in order to save time.
âItâs not. Did you see what happened?â
âAlright, what are we going to do when we get there?â
âWe take orders from Popsicle-â
âHey,â Henry cut off.â Iâm not taking orders from anyone.â
âOkay, then. Think of it as a suggestion. You can help a destroyed city get back on its feet.â
The guard smiled slyly and left the room.

-----

I feel as though the conversation had some inconsistencies. Though, I can't fix it since my 'writing mood' isn't there.

Chapter 45 âScrew the Rulesâ

Avus was no special being. He was a human, capable of thinking, walking, communicating, running, figuring how to use a weapon, and possibly more. But a human could not resist bullets penetrating into his body.
All men are made of water. Avus thought. Heâd remembered the sentence from a television show somewhere.
And his body was currently being penetrated by bullets. He could only land a few shots on a few soldiers, but even then, they didnât die from the shot because the bullets only cut past their arms, or legs, or chest. There was an army of his own soldiers, firing at Avus. He didnât even know how they found him. Even so, Avus the mind could not die. And that was a blessing because he would be immortal this way and a curse because he would be immortal.
Avus was born two centuries ago and had lived until his first body died of old age. He thought he could rest in peace, away from labour, sufferings, losses. But no, he woke up in another body, a young boyâs body. He had found out from one of the people in a village that the body he was possessing had died of starvation, though that one person was frightened when Avus asked him. But in this body, he had travelled all the way to East and had revolutionised the city. Halfway through the process of revolution, he was about sixty. Cancer took him away, but since he finally wanted to do what he wished in this life (which was revolutionising East), he had to make a body. A clone, a shell, fit for Avus. Of course, he had to do this in secret. So, he set up laboratories, one under East and one in Klensburg. And now, this was his third body, being shot to shreds by people he trusted.
Maybe the soldiers killed (or tried to kill) Avus because he had done some horrible things. He did. Some of the experiments he had carried out were horrifying, even to him. But in order to move forward, sacrifices needed to be made. Some of the experiments involved mutilation, torture and murder. This was to see how much pain monsters of corruption, darkness and death could handle, or how they could perform revival on themselves, or how they could defend themselves. They were still human, despite them being primal and wild and instinctive.
His third body had blood flowing out from everywhere. Bits of flesh were laid out on the platform like scattered clouds. He didnât even have the chance ask them how they had found him out. His vision was gone from the bullet that impaled his eyes through. He felt excruciating pain, something he had never longed for, and since he was immortal, he would have to feel pain every few generations. It was a little annoying and a lot more depressing.
The experience of being in a state after death was like sleeping, but without any dreams. Then, he would wake up, but in different sets of eyes, lungs, ears, hands, legs and nostrils. He had never been in a womanâs body before. His fourth body was still a male.
He opened his fourth eyelids and looked around. He was on a soft bed. Next to him was a woman in her thirties, sitting on the side of the bed. She wore brown ragged clothing, covering her chest and groin. Her hair was a rich brown, falling to her hips. What Avus noticed was the beauty of her. Him opening his eyes made the woman shriek and stand up.
âGeorge! Youâre alive!â The woman shouted.
Her eyes were filled with tears and her mouth angled to a smile. Apparently, his name was George. Avus shook his head sideways.
âNo, George is dead. Iâm another person now.â
The woman tilted her head and wore a frown of confusion.
âHoney, what do you mean? Donât you remember me?â
The fact was, Avus did remember who this woman was, but only because he took every memory from Georgeâs brain. This womanâs name was Clarissa, Georgeâs wife for at least five years.
âI wish I could explain, but itâs too complicated. Iâm not George, Iâm sorry.â
âWhat?!â The woman shouted. Her face made it obvious that she was in disbelief and desperation. âYou are George! Look at yourself, please!â
This room was the entire house. There was only one bed, shared between George and Clarissa, a side of the room dedicated to cooking and a table and chair stuck to another side of the room. The door was opposite the kitchen side of the room, and it was where Avus, or George, aimed for. But Clarissa snatched his hand and pulled him close to her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head into Avusâs hard chest.
âPlease, donât leave me..â She was already starting to sob.
âIâm sorry. Please leave me.â
âNo!â
The woman let go of Avus and shook her head violently. Her arms spread out in means of blocking Avus, but it didnât do any good. He laid his hands on her left arm and gently pushed her arm away. She resisted, returning to him and embracing him once more. He kept on moving, despite her desperate but futile attempt to keep him away from the door. After a few seconds, she finally released him.
âThen tell me. Who are you now?â She whispered.
âIâm..â Avus hesitated for a moment. âIâm Avus.â
That was the last Clarissa had seen of her revived husband.

Chapter 46 âScrew the Rulesâ

It ran with all its might. Gunshots filled the air like lightning as the figures behind fired their stick-like weapons, presumably at the friend it had made.
Too bad he died so fast.
Weirdly enough, they never shot the beast. It constantly clicked its tongue, but the figures never pointed their weapons at it. Instead, after the lightning storm of gunshots, a few figures walked over to the dead body and carried it back to where they came from.
Wait, where did they come from?
Behind the wall of figures, there was a hole, leading up to a larger area. It was too far for it to detect, so the area was fuzzy. It made him want to explore that place. But considering the big number of figures, it decided otherwise. Ahead of it was a..
Dead end?
It swore that the platform it was on went for miles to come. Suddenly, there was a wall in front of the beast. It updated its radar once more and sensed a slender figure, quick as a brother of the beast exposed to the blessed warmth of the sunlight. It was running towards it with its weapon aimed at the beast.
Not if I can dodge it!
The beast moved to the side and the weapon fired, it firing an explosion of a sound near the beastâs pair of ears. It stuck its claws into the ground, and then lunged by pulling its limbs. Its teeth would have reached it when the figure dodged, just like the beast. It dug its claws into the ground again as the figure aimed its weapon at it. This time, there was no way it could dodge the shot this time.
âDonât you move!â Its voice was more feminine than the previous manâs voice.
The beast did as she said. She took a step forward.
Not again. I do not want to be knocked out once more.
The beast shook its head. The figure took a step back in shock.
âI said, donât move!â The voice was fiercer now.
The beast shook its head longer than before.
âDonât move, or youâre dead!â
This froze the beast in place, except for its tongue. It clicked its tongue while keeping its mouth shut, but then it couldnât detect much. In fact, it did the opposite. It jumbled up its surroundings. Now, there seemed to be hundreds of figures walking slowly towards the beast. It was about to shake its head in horror, but then it remembered it couldnât, not when she was threatening to kill it.
âGeneral Exen, this one can understand us,â the woman said, then stepping her boots on the ground.
So its surroundings werenât jumbled up. There were hundreds of figures coming forth. That made the situation even worse. Now, its life was in the hands of these unknown people.
âA monster of darkness?â It was a deeper, much more masculine voice than the womanâs voice, and a bit more masculine than the previous manâs voice.
âYes, sir. For whatever reason, it followed Avus down here.â
Avus? So he was the friend before..
âBring it. Shoot it even if it bares its teeth. I donât want my men dead because of it.â
âBut you said-â
âI know what I said, Jeyne!â General Exenâs voice boomed throughout the place. Then his voice lowered to a mere whisper. âBut donât you understand these monsters?â
The beast kept clicking its tongue against the roof of its mouth, intending to know where it was brought to. Exen turned around and stormed from the beast and Jeyne. It heard many more footsteps than Exenâs alone.
Thank goodness for Exen..
âCâmon,â Jeyne commanded with a suddenly strict tone. âYou need to come with me. You heard him.â
The beast walked forward, not really sure what to expect with a weapon aiming at its spine. At least it didnât get knocked out like the two times before.
Was it the man who shot me, or when I was electrocuted, or maybe both?
It didnât know where it got the fancy words. When it woke up in that dark place, it knew a few words like âhuntâ, âkillâ, âbloodâ, âfleshâ, or any other words related to hunting and killing. But it was picking up more and more words on its own, even without anyone saying anything. It was as though words were flooding into the beastâs brain, though slow as a snail, but sure as sunrise.
âMove!â
Jeyne planted her boot on the beastâs behind and shoved the beast forward, breaking its chain of thoughts. It sulked for a bit before placing each paw forward, continuing on its merry way to whatever lay ahead.

Chapter 47 âScrew the Rulesâ

Rose perched on the edge of the concrete building. The winds were cruel to her, gusting at her to make her fall. She peered into the depths of the city. This time, instead of cars rushing by, or people walking around on the sidewalks, there was nothing around.
âSo, can we talk now?â Kogh said behind her.
âAbout what?â She said while turning around to face him. His face gleamed in the moonlight. Somehow, Kogh looked better than the last time they had met. His face had seriousness written all over his face.
âI want to see your father.â
What are your intentions? Rose thought.
âWhy?â Rose asked.
âThis isnât something I can explain. I just have an urge.â
Rose took a closer look at Kogh, but he didnât show any signs of lying. She frowned afterwards, then lost her footing on the edge and fell down.
It was about forty feet before she could stop the fall in a sloppy manner. She saw Kogh falling with her, but she curved and flew, parallel to Kogh and sat on the edge of the building. She looked down and saw Kogh flying up like her and sat just next to her. Her hair flew up from Koghâs sheer speed.
âYouâve got to teach me that!â Rose exclaimed right at Koghâs ear.
âAaah!â Kogh recoiled from the shout and shut his right ear with his hand. âIâm sorry?! I was busy being shouted at!â
Rose giggled at his remark. Kogh rubbed at his ear and sighed.
âPractice makes perfect. I canât just tell you and suddenly you can do it. It takes practice.â
âAlright,â Rose stood up. âWhy not start now? I can already fly, and I didnât even practise!â
âAfter this, can I see your dad-â
âSure, sure. Whatever. Now, letâs get going!â
Rose jumped up and used the force to propel her forward, piercing the clouds and making a hole on them. She flew for a few more seconds before staying stationary. The moon was exposing the whole of its face at Rose, like a god far away in space. The sky was clear, with no clouds save for the cloud she just went through. The Darkness region was known for its constant drought. Only East wasnât taken by the Darkness, at least for now.
She only took a while to enjoy the blackness of the blanket that covered the sky when Kogh was next to her. He seemed like he was standing still instead of hovering constantly.
âWhen you want to stay at a place, make a platform,â Kogh explained. âIt will save a lot more energy when you want to fight or do whatever you want.â
âWhat?â Rose said. âHow do you do that?â
âWell, you simply condense the force under your feet and the platform will appear from there. Like I told you-â
âPractice makes perfect,â Rose finished. âDonât you ever say that phrase again. I hate it.â
This silenced Kogh for a while.
She thought of a cuboid of narrow width and large area and imagined it under her feet. Eventually, it appeared beneath her feet, so she wouldnât have to waste any more energy.
When she used the force, it would leech off of her physical strength little by little. Rose wasnât as hardy as Kogh, so it was especially tough for her to get every technique right. With every second of using the force, she got drowsier and more nauseated. Each minute, her legs would go wobbly and she would collapse to take even a short rest. Sweat would dribble down her face from time to time, and she would wipe off the sweat droplets with the back of her hand.
After practising with platform-making, which took much longer than she expected, about an hour or so, she went to pushing and pulling with the force. It was almost like the six science fiction movies she had watched when she was a child, thanks to her father. She got pushing and pulling right, since she had first used it on the scientist in Wonderland. She moved on with blade-making, or blade forging, as Kogh had named it. It used a lot of imagination, but luckily for her, she was imaginative enough. She formed a double-edged blade that was jagged at its sides, all the way until the sides met into an ultimately sharp one. She knew that by feeling it, since the blade was basically transparent and almost invisible.
âStick with that blade, unless you need to improvise,â Kogh had said, in his serious tone. âItâs easier than thinking up of another type of blade.â
Then Kogh taught her to throw her blade. It wasnât like throwing her axe at all. She had to push with the force to hurl the blade. It used a lot more energy than she thought. This made her a bit jealous of Kogh, since he had much more energy than her.
But no fear. Iâll get to his level in no time.
Next was flying. This one wasnât as bad as throwing her transparent blades, since she could already fly before she got into this unknown and unnamed city. But she couldnât do air tricks, like spinning yourself in the air, or diving downward then come back upward. Only the air tricks were the tough ones.
âYouâll need only these skills for now. In time, youâll come up with newer skills or technique along the way,â Kogh advised. âWho knows? You could be better than me.â
Yeah, thought Rose. When Iâm stronger than you. Probably happening in never.
âFor now, keep practising. Youâll get it soon,â said Kogh.
The whole day was spent on the roof of that tall building, throwing jagged pale blades at targets Kogh had made. They were guards Kogh and Rose had fought before. It was good, considering that most of their enemies now were humans instead of beasts.
When she gave up for the day, she sat on the edge of the roof again. She looked down and saw a man standing in the middle of an intersection of roads, looking around as if to search for something. His head turned around and faced Rose far up. He took a step back in horror and ran, as quick as he could.

Chapter 48 âScrew the Rulesâ

Henry liked wind blowing against his face. It was a special feeling to him. His hair flailed wildly on his head as he put it out the window next to him. The guard, who introduced himself as Ebonos, took the front wheel while Henry sat next to him. This vehicle was an ordinary car. Once in a while, it would stall and Ebonos would curse almost silently as he tried to revive the engine. Obviously, this car had been in use for more than a decade or so. His blast gun sat next to Henryâs legs, its barrel facing the roof of the car. The guardâs blast gun was on his lap, jumping around as the road got bumpy.
âHey,â Henry started. âWhere are we going?â
âThe mayorâs office. Thatâs where weâll meet Popsicle,â Ebonos replied.
Henry put a finger on his chin. âI wonder what he looks like now.â
âTrust me,â Ebonos said, keeping his eyes on the road. âHe still looks the same as ever.â
âHow do you know? Iâve worked for the mayor longer than you ever did!â
âDoesnât mean you worked with Popsicle longer than I did.â
Henry looked at Ebonos with speechlessness. His mouth was a gaping hole, empty without words to fill, and his finger was raised, pointed up. When he couldnât think of any more words, he shut his mouth and lowered his hand, wrapping it around the barrel of the blast gun.
âAnd plus, you didnât even see me before, did you?â
There were no conversations after. The only sounds Henry could hear was the carâs engine humming in a low rumble. It wasnât as if the conversation before made it awkward. It was that Henry hadnât thought up of something interesting enough to say. Ebonos was a cool person to Henry, so he wouldnât have any problems talking to him.
A few minutes later, they passed by the destroyed office building of the mayor.
âOh, I forgot. This is where..â
Then Henry remembered the tragic and sudden death of his friend. Tears welled up in his eyes, but never further. He reacted quickly enough by shaking his head side to side and wiping his eyes out as to prevent Ebonos from noticing. Luckily, he never noticed and Henry sighed a breath of relief. He didnât want to look like a random baby to Ebonos. He sniffled to keep his snot from leaking, but Ebonos didnât notice as well.
âWhere what?â Ebonos asked.
âThis is the mayorâs office that monster of death smashed. Thatâs all,â Henry said, sniffling again.
They passed by building after building. The streetlights made blurs of light as they overlooked the car from their height. Each building they passed through was featureless. It looked like they were at the edge of the city already.
âWhere are we going?â asked Henry. He sniffled again.
âKlensburg.â
He frowned at Ebonos. Klensburg was a deserted city, though nearby East. A city infested with monsters of corruption and sometimes monsters of darkness. No one would ever go there unless it was scouting or for the joy of killing beasts.
âWhy are we going there?â
âOur headquarters is there.â
âOkay,â Henry said, sniffling. âFirst of all, why Klensburg? Itâs full of monsters!â
Ebonos chuckled at what Henry said. âDonât worry. Itâs safe.â
âHow are you so sure?â
âWeâve got sentries set out to guard the area. They work on shifts. And before you ask, Popsicle decided to settle at Klensburg because it wouldnât be as obvious as settling in East. We couldnât head over to Fisher Village just because it was too far from East. Trust me. In my opinion, Fisher Village would also be fine with me, if it werenât for the number of monsters of darkness there. My God, itâs unbelievable. Thank goodness they stay put. They never move anywhere, except-â
âSpare me the lesson,â Henry disrupted, sniffling. The snot was starting to go away. âContinue with whatever..â
âAh, yes,â Ebonos continued, keeping his eyes on the road and not on Henry. âKlensburg is closest to East, so why not?â
Henry nodded with agreement. Another question came into his mind, but it was shoved away when the car stopped at the city exit. Iâm not supposed to be seen here, Henry realised. He quickly stuffed his blast gun down, hiding the barrel from prying eyes.
âHey, Ebonos. Can we get out of here? Quickly?â
His head turned to face him, already full with confusion.
âWhy?â Ebonos said as two guards started walking toward the car. They were armed with blast guns and their faces were hidden in the dark. One of them was fatter than the other and he walked slower than the other guard. They wore the same suit as Ebonos.
The snot came back, so Henry sniffled again. âI may have killed a bunch of guards..â
Suddenly Ebonosâs left hand was in front of Henryâs face. âDonât worry. I think these guards wonât notice a thing.â
The slimmer one bent down and leaned forward at Ebonosâs side, trying to identify them. Henry made an effort to hide his face by looking down and pretending to wipe his face.
The slim guard spoke out. âEbonos.â His voice was of a somewhat young boy. âWho is this?â
Henryâs body tensed. If he brought his blast gun out now, he could have a chance at-
âHeâs John,â Ebonos lied. âHeâs a new soldier.â
The fat one moved over to Henryâs side of the car and looked below to see Henry fumbling around his face, as if itches filled his face.
The slim one looked up and half-shouted, âNew soldier, move him out.â
âWait!â The fat one said back. He lowered to take a closer look at Henry. He could see the guard in the corner of his eyes. He couldnât recognise him, but the guard could, seeing that he brought out his blast gun to point at his face.
âTim, what are you doing?!â The slim one said.
âHeâs the one who killed my friends, Noah!â
Instead of banging the door against Fat Tim, a name Henry decided, he raised his hands in surrender.

Chapter 49 âScrew the Rulesâ

It looked like Avus was wrong about his wife taking a last look of him. He had hoped that he never saw Clarissa again, but he did and he loathed her for it.
The village was barren because of the Darkness plague. There was a farm that was abandoned, its plants now wilted and dead as George, Clarissaâs husband. The houses around Avus were made of wood, but they looked like they were about to collapse and crush their inhabitants. Avus counted three with windows and four more without windows. Instead, they had little spaces in between each wooden board no wider than an arrow slit. Without water or food for so many years, Avus was surprised there were still people here. Speaking of water and food, I need an answer from this village, Avus thought. After the last house, there were no more civilisations standing out.
Clarissa was clutching onto Avusâs right forearm, demanding answers like a confused wife should. He didnât have any reason to hate her, and for that, he also loathed himself for loathing Clarissa for no apparent reason. Maybe because sheâs holding my freaking forearm, thatâs why, he tried to reason with himself.
âWho are you?!â Clarissa asked the same question from before, but with a raised volume and tone.
âI told you, Clarissa,â Avus said, looking into her shapely eyes with a serious look. âIâm Avus.â His own voice was deep, not like the previous Avus.
Clarissa pulled at Avusâs forearm and made him stop. âStop lying!â Her voice was filled with desperation and her dark brown eyes deep with despair.
âLook,â Avus sighed. âItâs the truth. I donât care if you trust me or not. But please, stop pulling at my hand.â
She instantly let go of him afterward, but she continued to walk with him, apparently eager about something.
Iâd probably hate myself for doing this, but.. Avus took a deep breath and turned his head to face Clarissa, the beauty. âWhere do you get your food and water?â
She stopped walking for a moment, forcing Avus to stop moving as well. âThere was always this mysterious man, all hooded with black cloth. He would give us food and water every day. I think he was here a few hours ago.â
Avus frowned for a moment, and stared into Clarissaâs eyes. âYouâre lying, arenât you?â
In Georgeâs life, he had never once suspected his wife for lying, even if it was a big case. And every time Clarissa did something wrong or made a mistake, which was quite frequent as far as Avus could remember, he would forgive her almost immediately. Too bad Iâm not George anymore.
Clarissa brought both her hands up in defence. âI have no reason to lie to you. You only stole George from me, thatâs all.â Avus could hear the sarcasm in her voice.
âNever mind,â Avus said, turning back to face the wasteland. âIâm going to East.â
âBring me along as well,â Clarissa said, grabbing his sleeve by the hand and looking at Avus with determined eyes.
âBut I warn you, Clarissa. Itâs going to be one hell of a ride. So, if you die, donât say I didnât warn you.â
âIâll still go.â Clarissa tightened her grip on the sleeve, then let go. âJust, wait for me.â
She turned around and went back into her, or their house. It took ten minutes for her to pack everything she needed. Avus knew from the luggage she brought out. It was a bag with one strap to be hung around Clarissaâs shoulder. It looked big and heavy, but if it really was, Clarissa was strong.
Avus went without caring for Clarissa. Then he saw Clarissa walking next to him, her brown bag in between of them.
âWhatâs the name of this village?â Avus asked, even though he already knew, from Georgeâs memories. The situation was stale, so he wanted to lighten it up a little.
âWhat?â Clarissa was looking at the ground when she snapped back into reality, it seemed to Avus. âThis village? Itâs often called the Village of Despair, or the Bringer of Death, the Dark Village, but we donât call it that. A village is what we call it. Nothing more. And besides, I hate calling my village pessimistic names.â
âWhy the names?â
âEach day, at least one villager dies. George died today. But he is technically alive right now.â Avus heard that tone of sarcasm again.
âStop that,â Avus said, suddenly irritated by her tone.
âStop what?â
âThat voice you keep-â
He never said the next word. When he felt a soft rumble, he jumped back a few feet and a large red monster of death that looked like a worm, ate the ground where Avus was and sprouted out like fountain water, but it stayed in one piece instead of everywhere. Its mouth was a large gaping hole, like a stone well in a typical village filled with water, but wider than that. It had skin so red, it looked like blood. Its teeth were jagged outward, being able to pierce into the ground easier, and they looked as though they were rotating like power drills. Its eyes were squashed into one area, both eyes adjoined together as though the monster had one eye.
Avus saw how long it was and guessed it was about forty metres, then he snatched the bag from Clarissa and ran to the right, urging her to run with her, away from this worm, âWe need to get out of here! Iâll take this bag for you!â
She ran with him, but she still had to ask him, âWhy?! Why are we running?!â
âDidnât you see that worm?!â Avus said, already huffing and puffing from running a short path of fifty metres or so.
âIs it dangerous?!â
âOf course, it bloody is! Look!â
Clarissa had to only look once, or twice if she did really see the wormâs spiralling teeth, before she turned back and ran faster than Avus.

Oh my goodness. My writing back then is probably worse than the recent chapters.
Yay! Itâs finally Chapter 50. So rules come back at Chapter 51. No dialogue after this chapter. If youâve missed them, youâll get them at Chapter 90, if I ever reach there.
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Chapter 50 âScrew the Rulesâ

Henry wasnât shot, to his surprise. He was spared the energy pellets, but they rammed their elbows at Henryâs head until he fell unconscious, and by âtheyâ, he meant Fat Tim bruising his left temple to almost a blue-black colour, and by âelbowsâ, he meant the stock of his blast gun.
He was now lying on a white bed, with white bed sheets and a white and soft pillow under his head. He woke up, and placed a hand on the side of the bed while blinking his eyes to the brightness of the room. The light bulb was shining too brightly for him to open his eyes completely. It was like the same room back in Henryâs house. The laboratory.
Next to him, Ebonos sat worriedly and looked down on the floor, his hands holding his head upright. He was wearing the same bodyguard armour. When Henry shifted up, he probably heard the shuffling of bed sheets and looked up with a grim face.
âHenry,â Ebonos started, his voice was definitely urgent, or that Henryâs ears were not functioning. âI need to take you somewhere.â
Without much protest, Ebonos took Henry by the upper arm and dragged him forward, forcing him to quickly stamp his bare feet on the floor. It was smooth to the touch and it stayed that way as Henry dragged his feet and shuffled as though he was waist-deep in thick mud. Ebonos struggled with Henry, so he tugged at him.
âHey, whatâs wrong with you? Get a grip.â
âI have an obvious bruise on my left temple, I just woke up, the lights are too bright, youâre pulling at me so hard, even though I can barely keep up, Iâm going to a place where I could get executed or tortured. Nothing wrong with me, then, right?â
âYou got the last bit wrong. Youâre not getting tortured, or executed. Youâre going to Tim and youâre apologising and explaining to Tim why you did such a thing. Itâs not my intention, but Popsicleâs. He wants it done quickly too.â
âThat mushroom head wants me to apologise for something I had to do?â
âI told you, itâs on Popsicle, not me. I follow his orders.â
They were quiet for a while. Henry still shuffled his feet to get into the next room. The texture of the floor suddenly changed. It was dark brown wood this time, but the walls were cemented and tiles. He saw long brown tables placed systematically and brown stools attached to the tables. In front of the large room, more like a hall, there was a steel counter with glass shielding half the place, but no one was manning it at the time. In fact, no one was here at all. Probably not time to eat, he thought as he passed by the cafeteria to a long hallway.
The hallway was curved and Henry somewhat hated it because it made him dizzy. It was wide enough for both of them to walk side by side. All doors were on the right and made of the same dark brown wood as before, though they looked more stylish, with grooves patterned like a womans brown hair falling to her feet. Each of them looked different, but when Henry took a closer look, they had different kinds of grooves. Light came from fluorescent bulbs four feet above them, but it didnât sting Henryâs eyes anymore.
And it was strangely familiar as well.
âEbonos, where are we?â
âWeâre in HQ, what do you mean?â
âThis hallway,â Henry said. âIt looks exactly like the one in the mayorâs place.â
âWhat? I donât know..â Ebonos trailed off.
His hands were still wrapped around his upper arm, and it was irritating him, so he tried to pry his hands off, but Ebonos resisted and held on.
âWhat the hell are you doing?!â Ebonos exclaimed.
âItâs getting annoying. Get your hands off of me,â Henry said, his voice soft. He didnât want to raise his voice for now.
The two men stopped and wrestled for a bit. Henry used his left hand to pull Ebonosâs fingers apart while Ebonos let go with one of his hands and fought with Henryâs left hand. His right hand shoved, or at least tried to, at Ebonos, and his right hand scuffled with Henryâs right hand. Soon, Henryâs left hand evacuated and both his hands pushed at Ebonos successfully, and he rammed against the wall, letting go of his hands altogether.
âPlease,â Henry pleaded softly.
He shuffled forward, never waiting for Ebonos, but he recovered quickly and followed Henry to his side. Henry looked down while Ebonos looked forward. Footsteps echoed around the hallway, the sound bouncing like a crazy jester, though it was only Ebonosâs footsteps.
Henry knew where they were going, and when they reached the end of the hallway, Henry twisted the doorknob of the same kind of door as the others and pushed it open.
There stood the mushroom-headed general, Exen. He was a little gaunt, probably from doing his rebellion work. He stood tall, taller than Henry in fact. The ceiling was lower than the hallwayâs and a light bulb impaled through it and stayed there, glowing orange light across the room. Popsicle was clad in a generalâs suit; similar to the one Henry was wearing before, until he was arrested. His hard helmet was sitting upright on a wooden table in a comfortable range from his hands. Two chairs faced each other, with the table blocking their path.
Henry locked eyes with Popsicle for a few seconds before Ebonos interrupted.
âSir, you sent for him?â
General Exen nodded his stout head and shooed Ebonos away like a stray dog.
When Ebonos shut the door behind him, Exen frowned. âHenry, itâs been a long time.â
This time, His eyes strayed away to the helmet while his right hand scratched his neck. âYeah, I had hoped I havenât seen you since my arrest.â
Exen seemed to ignore that statement. âI heard that one of my soldiers accused you of homicide. Tim, as I recall. Is that it? While you think with your miniscule brain, why not have a seat?â His lips curled into a smile, something Henry hated to see after a mockery.
âNo, I can stand, thank you,â Henry said while nodding his head politely.
There was a click coming from Exenâs hip; an ancient pistol, its golden slide shimmering with light. Bloody hell, a modified pistol. âI said, why not have a seat?â Exen said courteously.
Henry strode to the nearest chair, pulled it and sat on it, grunting while doing so. When he looked up, he saw Exen taking a seat as well.
âNow,â Exen said, smiling. âCould you tell me how it all started?â

Contrary to what I said almost a year ago, I now wish for comments, anything, whether itâd be praise or criticism or both. If itâs praise, sure, Iâd like a bit of praise. But I crave criticism. I crave improvement upon myself. So please, if you have even pet peeves, let me know.

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Chapter 51

Rose was floating in the air, or rather, standing on an invisible platform while Kogh was sleeping. They had discussed that unless they wanted to get separated again, Rose proposed to take the first watch, or that was what she saw in a television show but Kogh objected, since it was highly unlikely that they would get involved in a fight. But he couldn't care less, or at least that was what he said.
When Rose laid her eyes on the unknown man who fled from the streets, she brought it up, but Kogh reassured her that it was the least of her problems.
After a few hours of waiting in the moonlight, Kogh woke up and saw Rose perfecting her flight techniques. Rose saw him smile.
Rose looked away from Kogh for a second and below the building, she saw an army of men, lined up in a square-shaped formation. Their helmets and suits were thick with olive green and their faces were hidden in the shadows of their helmets. Some of them looked squat, so they stood at the front. The rest were lean and tall and positioned at the back. One thing was for sure; they were armed with range rifles.
What are they doing with them?[i]
There was a man standing in front of all of them. He was facing them, shouting at them. He looked different and had more accessories than the soldiers; more badges that stood out in the dark and a beret that had a similar colour as the soldiersâ apparel. That was what Rose noticed before the man shouted something that set every soldier into motion. They brought their range rifles up at Roseâs face.
Rose fell backwards, deliberately, before she heard explosive bangs. Mixtures of orange and yellow streamed above Rose and danced in the darkness until they withered away. She saw Kogh rising and realising what was happening before another barrage of shots came. No one was in target, yet they were shooting. That bemused Rose. The edge of the building was getting chipped off little by little. A few seconds later, it wasnât anymore.
Rose beckoned Kogh to follow her as she peeked off the building. Another chorused shot sounded. Below her, glass shattered and fell, women and children screamed and men tried to get every person out of the building. [i]They arenât after me. Theyâre after the people below me.
Kogh was starting to escape when Rose urged him to rescue everyone inside. Kogh said it was suicide. Rose said it was necessary.
Rose summoned six blades of her own; all jagged at their sides, and threw them down like spears at the soldiers. A few died immediately. One soldier sprouted blood from his chest, another one lost his right arm, and one fell to the ground, holding his lost left calf. She heard screams from the men, even with all the gunfire.
Kogh came to help. He boosted past Rose and stood high above the soldiers, then plummeted into the army. He crushed two men under his feet and caused a shock wave throughout the entire area. Everyone was flung away from it. Some crashed into building walls and some simply lurched backward and scratched their elbows or knees. But Rose saw Koghâs intention; to disarm them. Their range rifles were on the ground instead of in the clutches of men.
Rose ran forward and fell from the building. She could see millions of shards of glass at the ground floor, but there were some that remained in the building. She plunged a few floors deep before twisting herself to barge into the building.
She landed on glass. She heard a scratching sound under her boot and goat foot. Men, women and children panicked for their lives. Some children were confused and strayed around in a stampede of flesh. Some were being pulled by their mothers, and were asking why they had to go. A few men shielded their families from the gunshots, their backs facing Rose. A few more men just pushed at one another just to get to safety. Some gentlemen they were, Rose thought while snickering. She would still save them anyway.
The problem was that she had no plan to begin with. She could carry a few people at a time with platforms, but she feared for her stamina, or lack of. Kogh could do it. He could freaking withstand a ton!
What she did instead was that she grabbed two people at a time and escaped through the building window, which was now just an opening for Rose to fall through. The person she was holding on her right was a child, looking at her with bewilderment. He looked younger than her. The other one was a woman, probably in her mid-thirties. She was screaming, but the child wasnât. When it was almost time to land, she boosted herself up, dropped both of them off, advised them to hide from the soldiers, then flew up to rescue some more.
When she came to the same floor, she saw a man holding a blast gun, aimed right at her face and demanded to know where his wife and child were, among the mess of unnerved people. She lifted her hands up in surrender and explained that they were both down there and safe. She offered to help him get down, but he refused vehemently and ran off.
As she tried to grab two more people, there was a monstrous screech from outside. She swirled around and saw the monsters that tore Kogh apart before. The bee-like monsters of corruption.

OH MY GOD! IT'S RUINED! I'm reposting it to repair it (Obviously).

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Chapter 51

Rose was floating in the air, or rather, standing on an invisible platform while Kogh was sleeping. They had discussed that unless they wanted to get separated again, Rose proposed to take the first watch, or that was what she saw in a television show but Kogh objected, since it was highly unlikely that they would get involved in a fight. But he couldn't care less, or at least that was what he said.
When Rose laid her eyes on the unknown man who fled from the streets, she brought it up, but Kogh reassured her that it was the least of her problems.
After a few hours of waiting in the moonlight, Kogh woke up and saw Rose perfecting her flight techniques. Rose saw him smile.
Rose looked away from Kogh for a second and below the building, she saw an army of men, lined up in a square-shaped formation. Their helmets and suits were thick with olive green and their faces were hidden in the shadows of their helmets. Some of them looked squat, so they stood at the front. The rest were lean and tall and positioned at the back. One thing was for sure; they were armed with range rifles.
What are they doing with them?
There was a man standing in front of all of them. He was facing them, shouting at them. He looked different and had more accessories than the soldiers; more badges that stood out in the dark and a beret that had a similar colour as the soldiersâ apparel. That was what Rose noticed before the man shouted something that set every soldier into motion. They brought their range rifles up at Roseâs face.
Rose fell backwards, deliberately, before she heard explosive bangs. Mixtures of orange and yellow streamed above Rose and danced in the darkness until they withered away. She saw Kogh rising and realising what was happening before another barrage of shots came. No one was in target, yet they were shooting. That bemused Rose. The edge of the building was getting chipped off little by little. A few seconds later, it wasnât anymore.
Rose beckoned Kogh to follow her as she peeked off the building. Another chorused shot sounded. Below her, glass shattered and fell, women and children screamed and men tried to get every person out of the building. They arenât after me. Theyâre after the people below me.
Kogh was starting to escape when Rose urged him to rescue everyone inside. Kogh said it was suicide. Rose said it was necessary.
Rose summoned six blades of her own; all jagged at their sides, and threw them down like spears at the soldiers. A few died immediately. One soldier sprouted blood from his chest, another one lost his right arm, and one fell to the ground, holding his lost left calf. She heard screams from the men, even with all the gunfire.
Kogh came to help. He boosted past Rose and stood high above the soldiers, then plummeted into the army. He crushed two men under his feet and caused a shock wave throughout the entire area. Everyone was flung away from it. Some crashed into building walls and some simply lurched backward and scratched their elbows or knees. But Rose saw Koghâs intention; to disarm them. Their range rifles were on the ground instead of in the clutches of men.
Rose ran forward and fell from the building. She could see millions of shards of glass at the ground floor, but there were some that remained in the building. She plunged a few floors deep before twisting herself to barge into the building.
She landed on glass. She heard a scratching sound under her boot and goat foot. Men, women and children panicked for their lives. Some children were confused and strayed around in a stampede of flesh. Some were being pulled by their mothers, and were asking why they had to go. A few men shielded their families from the gunshots, their backs facing Rose. A few more men just pushed at one another just to get to safety. Some gentlemen they were, Rose thought while snickering. She would still save them anyway.
The problem was that she had no plan to begin with. She could carry a few people at a time with platforms, but she feared for her stamina, or lack of. Kogh could do it. He could freaking withstand a ton!
What she did instead was that she grabbed two people at a time and escaped through the building window, which was now just an opening for Rose to fall through. The person she was holding on her right was a child, looking at her with bewilderment. He looked younger than her. The other one was a woman, probably in her mid-thirties. She was screaming, but the child wasnât. When it was almost time to land, she boosted herself up, dropped both of them off, advised them to hide from the soldiers, then flew up to rescue some more.
When she came to the same floor, she saw a man holding a blast gun, aimed right at her face and demanded to know where his wife and child were, among the mess of unnerved people. She lifted her hands up in surrender and explained that they were both down there and safe. She offered to help him get down, but he refused vehemently and ran off.
As she tried to grab two more people, there was a monstrous screech from outside. She swirled around and saw the monsters that tore Kogh apart before. The bee-like monsters of corruption.

Chapter 52

The beast laid itself on the smooth concrete floor. It sensed that it was caged in by iron bars, but bars were easy if the sun was shining upon it. Too bad it wasnât. It also sensed two people about fifty metres away, standing and shifting once in a while, probably because they were restless creatures. It was Jeyne and another person, discussing matters foreign to it. Still, it could understand what they said. They were talking about the beast and about what she should do with the beast. It heard a suggestion from the other person that the beast should just be set free. Jeyne had opposed this, saying that it might come back for them. A few more suggestions were to cage the beast until General Exen said something, train it to help them, or the worst; experiment with it.
If they want a piece of me, they won't get it for free.
Food, particularly pig or cow meat, was stuffed into a plastic bowl. It sat opposite the beast, but it could drag it closer to itself by extending its limb. It was peculiar what General Exen said about the beast, that they understood its kind, when they really didnât. Monsters of corruption, darkness and death were never hungry. They might feel hungry, but they could never die of starvation. They simply ate for pleasure.
It heard boots thudding loud against the floor, and it became louder each second. Jeyne called out for the beast, and it lifted its neck at her voice. She explained to it that she wanted no harm from the beast, on her promise that she would not harm it. It nodded its head before it heard a series of clanking sounds of the iron bars. It clicked its tongue without opening its mouth, its cheeks expanding and deflating.
It stepped out of the cage on its four paws. It probably spent half an hour in the cage that was only a few inches above the beast. It felt uncomfortable in there and thanked goodness it had got out of it.
Clicking its tongue had become second nature to the beast, but doing so without opening its mouth was a hard thing to do. Somewhere deep down in its brain, it knew manners, respect and tolerance. It could realise that constant tongue-clicking was annoying to almost every person in the world. However, its sense of its surroundings was severely retarded because of it. It could only sense a few metres in a radius around its head.
Jeyne patted the beast on its neck, then asked the beast to walk with her. It complied, only because it had no other choice. Both of them fitted past the door and strode across a curved hallway. Jeyne asked if the beast could really understand her, so it nodded. She shook her head and stuck her index finger out. Index finger...? She said to lick it if the beast thought this place was uncomfortable to it. First, it prioritised well-being over honesty, so it didnât lick her finger.
The next question was that if the beast would like working with them. She said to touch her finger with the tip of its nose. Well-being over honesty. Well-being over honesty. It craned its neck to the lowered index finger and tapped it with its nose. It smelled of meat and withstood biting it. It returned its neck to its original position and faced Jeyne as though it were paying attention to her. It sensed a movement at her face, probably somewhere near the chin. Chin?
The beast heard all sorts of sounds coming from nearby. Clanging of glass, voices of men and women, banging of forks and spoons on plates and tables. The beast was confused by the time Jeyne reached another door and pushed on it, opening it.
Immediately, the beast wouldnât have to click its tongue to collect information. Sound was already bouncing around the sides and ceiling of this room. But a few seconds after, there were only muffled voices and whispers coming from the people here. The scent of meat hit its nose like a pungent perfume.
Out of nowhere, someone slammed his hands on one of the tables and demanded a reason for the beast being here, in a deep and thundering voice. Jeyne shouted back in defence, calling him a bloody idiot along the way. The both of them then sent barrages of shouts back at each other until General Exen barged through the door behind the beast, along with a man of a scent it was semi-familiar with.
Is he the one who shot me?
Jeyne rested her palm on the beastâs neck while apologising to him. The man who was called bloody idiot sat back down with a loud thud. Exen then raised his voice and commanded everyone to eat within five minutes.
The beast turned toward the man and approached him slowly, sniffing at him with its nose.
Then it jerked its head up. Yes! He is the one! It lunged at the man, but he shifted to the side, dodging its sudden charge. It landed roughly on the floor, but swirled around to lunge at him again. This time, it opened its mouth and revealed its teeth, aiming to, at least rip his arm out. He moved a second time. It barely missed him, but it only clamped its teeth at a piece of cloth and tore it apart. When the beast wanted to twist around for the third lunge, Jeyne was already wrestling it to the ground, trying to pin it onto the floor. Only Jeyne was at motion; no one else was.
Jeyne begged the beast to stop, her words entwined with a rough, but gentle voice. Well-being over honesty. Well-being over honesty. It relaxed and lay on the floor.
General Exen suddenly barked out a command to Jeyne to cage the beast. She protested and said that Exen already told her to take the beast to familiarise itself with the headquarters. Still, Exen wanted the beast caged. Only at night was the beast able to wander around freely. The beast sensed Jeyneâs head drooping. She complied with his order and escorted the beast back, warning it that the next time it tried to harm someone, it would be Jeyne who would be executing it.
The beast whimpered while following Jeyne back to its cell.

Chapter 53

Avus held Clarissaâs warm hand as they were running from the gigantic worm-like monster of death. Every few seconds, they would hear rumbles from behind, indicating that the worm had drilled through the ground. Avus urged her to get any kind of weapon from the bag. Since there was nothing but land in front of them, he didnât need to worry about clashing into something. He unslung the huge bag and presented it to Clarissa for her to search it. She said that there wasnât a weapon inside it, but Avus insisted that she searched the bag for one. So she did.
In truth, the worm was slower than them. A blessing from the gods! He remembered the line from a show somewhere. But that doesnât mean we should stop, should we?
What she found were cloth, probably blankets for the both of them, rationed and packed food in paper containers, pillows for some reason, a dozen wooden sticks with a blunt end and a sharp end, more cloth, rope, string..
Avus shouted tonelessly at her and snatched one of the sticks from the bag and forced her to take the bag and run. He turned and faced the gigantic worm. Its drilling teeth were aimed at him as the worm saw a chance to finally eat a human. It arced higher than Avus and was already coming down on him. Avus smiled and ran past the drilling teeth to the belly of the worm.
As far as Avus knew about their anatomy, monsters of death were the strongest of the three kinds. They usually wore shells that protected every part of their bodies. They were the strongest, but they werenât the fastest. The monsters of corruption were, followed by monsters of darkness. They had shells for protection, even though they were predators. What was even more baffling to Avus when he was doing his research, was that all the monsters never had to eat. He didnât understand how they could survive without ingesting food to refill their energy. That question hadnât been answered, until a year later when Avus was experimenting with a particular monster of death. He remembered that it was four-legged, had red fur, eyes like two pools of tar, nose as flat as a road and teeth that could bite through steel.
He imprisoned that beast for a few days. Then when he came out with his hypothesis (whom Avus had found was invalid), he provided himself with tools of different blade sizes and started surgery. He found out that every time he made an incision, the wound would be patched up by itself, healing in only a few seconds. After that, he recorded the time taken for the wound to heal. The deeper the cut, the longer the monster of death took to heal. He had, but slowly, stuck an iron spear through it and pulled it out with care as well. It took a few hours for it to be healed.
Nevertheless, Avus had long realised they were human before he had carried out his first experiment. He didnât make an effort to spread the news, but somehow it did, and now his own soldiers were after him, but he was in another body. Thankfully, people wouldnât know who you were until youâd done something holy or inexplicably wrong. He was never holy, though.
Avus aimed the sharp end of the stick at its belly and thrust forward, using his body weight and muscle strength, and stuck it into the worm. He heard a half-screech, half-growl, all mixed like in a mortar bowl. He jerked his head around and saw the worm attempting to re-enter the dirt. It was like dirt was a safe haven for it. Not for long, you bloody twit!
He jerked the stick out of the worm. The hole he made was leaking blue blood. Avus shouted a war cry and plunged the blue stick into the wound again, but he twisted it round and back, worsening the wound. He couldnât pull it back out again. The stick was inside the wormâs belly as the worm moved above Avus. No, you donât, bloody beast!
He twisted around and sprinted for its head. He was following the stick to where the worm had dug its head into. When he reached it, he was in time to grab the stick and jerk the stick out of the worm. Now, it wasnât focusing on Clarissa. It was focusing on Avus.
The worm came out to his right. It screeched and aimed its teeth at him, but he was well out of the way. So, it stayed in that position until it plunged into the ground again. But while it did so, Avus stabbed at the worm as if the stick was a dagger. He didnât bother twisting the blue and bloody stick. Every time he stuck it in, the worm screamed the mix of screeching and growling. By the tenth stab, Avusâs ears were ringing.
Wait. Simply stabbing the worm wouldnât help. So he switched his plans.
He thrust the stick inside again, but instead of pulling it out, he moved it downwards, tearing more flesh. Then he pushed the stick further in and forced the stick to make a circle, a hole big enough to enter the worm.
He had one question in mind. Doesnât it move?
He turned and checked, then saw only the body leading into the ground, its head buried in the ground. No, this isnât enough to kill a monster of death. It shouldnât be.
He realised that he stank of copper (or blue blood), told himself to forget it, and entered the worm through the manmade hole.
Immediately, he found himself traversing in the stomach. The extra space around him was probably three times larger than he was. Most of the blood around here was already spilled from the hole, so he could walk around freely. But it was weird how it had a stomach. Okay, fine. For digesting food it wants to eat. But it inconsistently ate, so the stomach would have eroded through its body. Then he remembered his theory. Monsters of corruption, darkness and death were humans before. This worm was a human before as well. They were infected by the Darkness plague, so those ill with the virus showed large and severe symptoms after a few days. The reason why they could heal up in time was because the virus could expand until its wanted size. The human mutated with the help of the virus, growing, enlarging itself to this size. It grew so much that the organs inside were rendered useless, thanks to the mutation. All organs were useless by then, except for the ones in the digestive system.
For reasons Avus still didnât know, the virus decided to preserve the digestive organs.
But for reasons Avus did know, he had to cut through everything in the worm, regardless of whether the worm was human or not. This time, he had a good reason to kill and torture it: to save his and Clarissaâs lives.
With his virtuous reason, he stabbed away.

Chapter 54

Henry changed his clothes, from a ripped shirt and pants to a blue collared shirt and beige khaki pants. That cursed beast ripped my sleeve up. But I hated that shirt anyway, good for me. That shirt reminded him of the jail he was in.
He walked with General Exen to a room they had prepared for him. He never thought he could have his own room again. Popsicle was spouting out things which Henry thought were garbage. He was talking about how secure the base was, and how everyone was loyal to him and some other drivel he never bothered to take in. He was silent the whole time. What happened in the interrogation room caused Henry to never engage Popsicle in another conversation ever again. Exen was continuously and vehemently mocking and cursing at him for tiny things, like killing monsters of corruption for his own life, or killing men for his own life. Exen was pressuring Henry to admit that he was horrible human garbage, but he never listened to him when he did admit that his past crimes were wrongful. Maybe he never bothered to. Henry didnât know.
Still, Henry couldnât take him seriously because of his hair. Had no one ever commented on it? Henry thought. For years, he hadnât changed his hairstyle. He felt the need to question him, but he held his tongue.
When they reached his room, Henry shoved the door open and looked around. He laid his eyes upon a bed, properly made with a dark blue comforter with squares scattered to compliment the light blue bed sheet under it. It was supported by a sturdy type of wood, the darker one acting as the four pillars with lighter one holding the mattress. A pillow sat away from the comforter, beckoning to Henry to come forth.
There was a table in front of the bed, made of the same type of wood and on top of it was an alarm clock which said, â10:37 PMâ.
A fluorescent light bulb was attached to the ceiling, shining its radiance throughout the room. It wouldnât be bright if the white walls in the room werenât painted white.
He plunged into the bed prepared for him and bounced a bit before he could rest his head on the pillow. Exen asked if Henry needed anything. Henry replied with a middle finger up at his face. He let out a bark of laughter before he shut the door with contempt.
The next morning, the alarm clock beeped methodically its irritating, teeth-grinding high-pitched noise. Henry didnât want to get up and set it back to snooze. But then he did, but instead, he grabbed the alarm clock and flung it downwards. The clock broke open and the noise ebbed away into malfunction.
He turned sideways, planted his feet on the ground and went to the door he had never seen before. When he opened it, he found a bathroom, tiled with effort. The lower half of the room height was spotted with tiles, while the upper half was bare of any tiles. A toilet bowl sat just to the left of him. A sink was stationed by the wall in front of Henry, and a glass mirror, all smudged and dirty, was facing Henry. He saw his own face.
He spotted grime and dirt all over his face. He probably forgot to wash it from before. But what was more noticeable was the bruise Fat Tim had left behind. Fat bast*rd. A blue-black lump still rose from his left temple. It looked horrible, but Henry had seen worse. His hair was in a mess as well. Bloody bedhead. There were a few strands of hair sticking out obviously from the sides of his head, making him look like a girl with a ponytail at each side. He sighed, twisted the faucet and started to tidy his hair.
By the time he was done, someone had knocked into his door. Henry demanded from the bathroom in a loud voice who he was. The unidentified person barged in after that and saw Jeyneâs face through the mirror. She looked sad and angry at the same time. Whatâs the word..? Whatâs the word..? Ah, yes! Distraught!
Jeyne suddenly bowed down to the level of her hips and shouted a speech of apology on behalf of the beast. Henry turned his face sideways partially and looked at her with his pupils slid to the left. He asked why she did this and what she meant about the behalf of the beast. She looked up and said that the monster of darkness, the one that tore his sleeves, wanted to apologise for attacking him. It told her that it thought Henry was the one that tried to kill it.
Henry frowned and said out loudly that he didnât believe her story, but he shrugged and said it was okay. Jeyne said that the story wasnât false. Of course, you bloody idiot. You donât go around telling people a lie, then deny it.
Henry stepped out of the bathroom and went past Jeyne to exit the room. He heard footsteps from behind, but he didnât bother. Last night, Exen told him to come see him in the interrogation room once more. He claimed that he needed to ask Henry a few questions. He turned to his right and started off in the corridor. There was a click as the door closed and Jeyne paced forward to his side.
Jeyne wanted to know what Henry was going to do. He shooed Jeyne away instead, saying that he didnât need another person to devastate his life. He already had Exen for now.
When Henry arrived at the interrogation room, Popsicle was already there, smiling at him and motioned to him to shut the door. Jeyne slipped in before Henry closed it, though Exen shooed Jeyne away like Henry, but with a stricter voice. Jeyne never questioned him and complied to leave.
This had become part of Henryâs first routine in this base. He would wake up, meet with Exen and talk, and by âtalkâ, he meant being mocked over and over by Exen, eat lunch in the room, then âtalkâ, and leave for dinner (or a light snack, if Exen wanted to extend the mocking).
But through a month of this routine, he was pondering upon something.
Just what the hell was that monster of darkness?