Earth: The Second

Manifestation of Evil

They have passed one and a half hour walking. They realized that the path inside the ruin is similar to a maze, with many turns and dead ends. The team carefully proceed, creating map sketch and notes, at the same time, carving markings in every intersection, to make sure they won't lost when they have to go back.

So far, no monster in sight, only bugs and small animals that pose no threat and just ran away. Izanagi and Chap, start to discussing wherever is the right time to go back, while the other three girls are in silence observing the dark wall.

"Are you scared Kiki?" Yulia's question makes the kid startled.

"Ah! A-actually... Yes... A little..." Kiki answer shyly. Once again, she feels bad for her adult companions who have to worry for her.

"Oh? I thought that you believe in Izanagi's leadership will make our mission success aren't you?"

"Yes, that is true... But I afraid that I will hinder everyone... Because I'm a child..."

Yulia held Kiki closer to her side. "No one feels burdened to help you Kiki. Maybe true that we all treat you like a kid, but you're the youngest here after all."

"If... If I have more ability in battle... I will be much more helpful for all of you," Kiki starts to sob.

"It's okay, we're all want to help you from the bottom of our heart."

Yulia hugged Kiki again, and Kiki feels much more at ease. Izanagi, Mila, and Chap smiling from the bottom of their heart after hearing that conversation.

That wholesome moment suddenly stopped, when Mila hear some strange noise coming from behind.

"Ssshh!" Mila's hissing sound a warning to her team, also to repel the potential beast that might be they encounter.

Chap and Izanagi ready their weapon, while Yulia and Kiki prepare to run to Chap's back if something storming them.

Splat! Splat!

The sound that Mila hears is coming from the 'creature' behind them. Actually, calling that thing 'creature' is too generous. It has the shape of a dead tree branch, covered in dark goo, around its body is looked like small dots that looked like eyes, and each of them, blinking at different tempo. Its 'legs' are made out of pairs of long stretched human hands, arranged just like a centipede.

The party looked at that creature in terror, It is not an ordinary beast or monster, they are very rare, sometimes even called a cryptical creature called 'Dark Monster'. They are different from other animals that eat, drink, sleep, and reproduce. The dark monsters attack every moving animal that they encounter, plants that are come to contact are wither and die, record from people that come to contact describe them are "manifestation of evils in this world".

Guruguruguru! Krakkrakkrak!

It is letting out a weird unsettling sound. Those eyes are looking at the team, observing them one by one, until it fixed its gaze towards Yulia. Once again, it letting out weird sounds, as if interested in something.

"This is not good! Chap! Take the lead!" Mila screamed from where she stood. Chap moves to do just that, he lifts his shield towards the monster and screaming taunt.

"I'm your enemy here! Beast Gaze!" screamed Chap. That was also one of the skills, similar to Izanagi's Echo. Chap's Beast Gaze supposed to pull the enemy's attention toward him and raise his aggression. In the best case, they will attack without attention to their surrounding, giving Izanagi and Mila a chance for a surprise attack.

However, it didn't seem interested to Chap. Those eyes just blinking once, but it never shows any aggression toward the man with a shield. In the other hand, the Dark Monster keeps wriggling happily the longer she see Yulia.

"What is that thing…" Yulia creeped out as she can feel a terror directed exclusively to her.

GUSHAAAAA!!! GUSHAAAAAA!!!!

Again, the Dark Monster shouting a creepy shriek, but this time, it's clear that it's ready to storm the party.

"It's coming!" Izanagi screamed, and the party goes into a battle stance.

But the creature decides to not trouble himself with other members. By its centipede feet, the find itself crawling around the wall, and ceiling of the maze. The team, especially Chap, did not expect this to happen.

"Damn it!" Mila screamed as she pulls an arrow toward the Dark Creature. The arrow flies swiftly and stabbing the creature. Despite that, it does not stop, nor feeling pain. Black tentacles coming out mysteriously from the creature's body, they're rapidly wriggling into Yulia's body, and take her out of the ground.

Yulia, too shocked to fight back, now in the creature's grasp. She let out a scream, but the Dark Monster does not care.

"I won't let you take Yulia away!" Izanagi raises his sword and storms toward it. The monster moves in a spiral pattern on the wall, ceiling, and floor, so he can predict it easily. Too bad that courage is not enough, Izanagi's not matched with the creature's car-like body. His sword did not make any damage, and he ended up crashing into the wall.

The creature escapes into the darkness, with Yulia screaming in terror.

"Give her back!" Izanagi shouted angrily, he quickly gets up and chasing the monster that took his lover. All of that happens while his remaining team screamed at Izanagi to come to his senses, there is no other way, than to chasing up Izanagi.

Izanagi is chasing the sound coming from Yulia and the monster, while the rest of the team chasing the light that comes out from Izanagi's torch. They are lucky enough to take the same turns for the rest of the maze until they arrived at a large hall with infinite darkness all around it.

"Yulia! Yulia!" Izanagi screamed, searching for the woman and the monster. But this time, there is no answer. No weird monster chuckling, or Yulia's agony.

It's just… Darkness.

"Izanagi, calm down, you're storming into the unknown part of the maze, and we don't even make the backtrack symbol to go back," said Chap.

"But Yulia… Yulia is there…" cried Izanagi.

"Forget it, you know what will happen to her," this time Mila is speaking. She has been an adventurer since she was a child and this scenery is not strange to her.

"You heartless woman! She is your teammate too!" Izanagi replied angrily.

"I know you love her, but just because she banged you few times, I have to risk my life for two naive couples! Do you forget why we come here? Do you forget about Kiki!"

"Enough!"

For a while, the screams of those two are filling the entire room until Chap step in. "True, remember about Kiki. Look at her now," asked Chap.

Kiki is sitting on the floor, her eyes are full of tears, and her face bright red. She is exhausted from running and emotionally traumatized by what happens to her figure mother. She is just a 12 year old after all, and she has never faced death before.

Izanagi and Mila hung their head in despair. How come it be this bad? He thought that this job will be a grand opportunity for them to earn a lot of money and move forward. Maybe even entirely retire from this dangerous job, but does money even matter if she can't save the one she loved?

Too bad, that train of thought has to stop quickly from the sound that coming from the other side of the room. A dirty and wet sound, followed by a weird and unsettling shriek. But even more, surprise waiting at bay.

The dark hall, suddenly light up by countless fire torch from the dome-shaped wall. It was activated automatically, probably magic. What they faced on the other side of the room, is even more terrifying grotesque. A similar dark goo, that appeared previously from the dark monster, is now shaping like some kind of baobab tree, with hundreds of eyes.

Izanagi, Mila, and Chap also saw the creature that took Yulia away, but the Dark Creature, is melting, and now became a part of the Baobab monster. The nightmare does not end here. Yulia is there as well, at the stem of the tree.

"Yulia!" Izanagi first seems relieved for a chance that he can save Yulia, but his hope is shattered right after he sees the condition of that woman.

Yulia's eyes are opened, but her eyeball is rolled behind. She is panting, and can't mutter a single word or scream, drolls are flooding her cheek. Her clothes are ripped apart, and there is a bulge on her stomach.

Only God knows what happened to Yulia in this short time.

Yulia is not alone, together at bottom of the stem, are figures of humans, but mainly have become corpses, and skeleton.

Her fate has been sealed.