Shadows of Ascendancy

Souls Entwined (2)

“Hey! ”Someone grabbed her arm. It was a guy wearing a military uniform. “It’s dangerous here; debris can fall anytime,” he said. Elena looked up and saw that the other building around her was crumbling. “What the hell happened here? ”She asked when the military guy pulled her away from there.

“Last night was a war again. We are having a rescue operation around here when the lights suddenly get off, and all that we know is that everyone is screaming, and in just less than 30 seconds, almost half of us and the volunteers were killed,” he explained. Elena felt terrible and scared. She gripped her bag. She doesn’t know if she is feeling relieved that she is safe in her own home.

“Do you have any idea what is happening?” She asked. And the military guy sighed and looked at her. She noticed other military helping the injured and those that are no longer alive. “To be honest with you. We don’t have any idea yet. We don't have any idea where those monsters came from all that everyone knows is that the monsters are afraid of light.” He said and of course, Elena already knew about that, and now the same blue light with a message appeared in front of her. With the same message showing, she is so tempted to ask the military guy but she doubts that he will believe her.

She just says goodbye and starts biking back to her place. It’s still early, but she doesn't want to see anything dark around her. Upon reaching her place, she then begins her new routine. She was collecting the solar lamps and placing them in every single entry or window of her place. She is sitting on her couch with a pen and notepad. She lists the things that she will need to survive.

“Of course, aside from the solar lamps, I just hope they will last longer. I will be needing batteries that can be charged using solar too.” She jotted down the things that she needed to get in the following days. The blue light popped up again. She stared at it and read the details. "Necromancer, huh?” she whispered. Of course, she is familiar with that word. Way back when she was still in university, one of her hobbies was reading, and that word was not to her. Some of the protagonists that she encountered in the books that she used to read had those superpowers. As for her, she might have that, but she doesn't know how to use it. Her eyes noticed the number. 000004 again. She got curious, and she would like to know what it means.

Noticing that it was getting dark already, she opened the lamps and prepared her dinner. She is wondering if she will try the so-called “necromancer power,” although she doesn’t have any idea how to use it. It was past 9 p.m. when she heard a loud scream. It was so loud that she immediately realized that it was coming from the building. Still scared but curious. She grabbed one lamp and a flashlight. When she went out of the front door, there was no light in the hall, just like the previous night. Holding her lamp, she runs towards where the scream is coming from. It was on the lower floor. She then saw a woman crying and protecting her child, surrounded by monsters flying around and some crawling.

“Is your kid hurt? ”Elena asked. She was just a few feet away from them, holding the lamp so that the monster’s move away from them. And indeed, the monster immediately moved away, even flying out. She placed the lamp beside them, and she kneeled toward the two. “You two alright? ”She asked again. “I am, but my child was hurt.” She answered, and Elena looked at the child, and she saw that it was hurt by a monster. The wound is awfully big and will probably need stitches.

“We need to bring her to the hospital,” Elena said, but the mother was too terrified to move. “We need to move on. Come on. Here are the flashlight and the lamp. With these two, we can safely reach the hospital.” Elena gave the flashlight to the mom. “Never let go of this, ok? This is your life,” she added, helping the mom stand up. Holding the lamp, she helped them to the car. She checked for an open car with keys, and lucky for her, she found one in the parking lot.

“Over here. Hurry; don’t turn off the light, no matter what. Make sure that you stay within the light.” She sat down in the driver's seat while the mom and her kid were at the back. The mom did not even utter one word; she was crying and holding onto her child so tightly. Elena was watching them in the rear mirror when suddenly the car stopped in an area with no street lights and so much darkness. Even the car's headlight went off. “What is happening? ”The mom finally talked; she was so tensed that Elena could sense it. And so was she; she was getting scared too. Yes, she is scared, but she wants to help the child.

“Stay here, okay. I will check out the side. No matter what, don’t get out of the car,” she said, opening the car door. Holding her own flashlight, she checked the road, and multiple corpses of monsters were lying down, some of which were still alive. She pointed her flashlight at the supposed streetlight, and huge bat monsters were sitting on it, waiting for their turn. She felt cold after seeing those monsters. Without her flashlight, she would definitely be their prey. A scream was heard again, coming from the car. The light from the lamp was gone, the crawling monsters were banging on the windows, and the bat-like flying monsters were screeching on the roof. She tried to point the light of her flashlight at the monsters, but it was not enough. She can’t go near the car now since it is surrounded. The blue light message pops up again, but now it says, “Darkness calls, rise, souls entwined.”