Hide And Seek From The Grim Reaper (Part 2)

Third-person POV:

"Aaaaaahhh!!!!"

A scream filled with terror came from the little girl as they all witnessed the woman who had been standing at their room's door now lying lifeless on the wooden floor, with blood beginning to pool beneath her like a dark pond.

Her eyes were wide with horror, and there was a massive slash mark on her back. They all fell silent, too shocked by what had just happened. The two brothers and the other children simultaneously but slowly looked up to see who had killed the woman. Their eyes widened in horror. Some were already trembling violently, and others began to cry in fear, but silently.

A chilling figure, dressed in a tattered black robe with a skull mask on its face, made its presence feel like the Grim Reaper from storybooks or legends. But, even more chilling were its blood-red eyes glowing from behind the mask, and the large scythe in its hand had fresh blood flowing on it, also glowing eerily under the reflection of moonlight streaming through their room's window.

It's like coming out of a horror movie. They all remained frozen in place as if their feet were glued to the floor, staring at the Grim Reaper.

Darien, trying not to let fear take over his mind, slowly clutched his brother's hand tightly. Eirian didn't look at him but squeezed his brother's hand back because they were worried that moving an inch would result in an immediate slash from the Grim Reaper.

The girl accidentally let out a loud whimper, making her the next victim. The Grim Reaper immediately looked at her, causing the girl to freeze. In the blink of an eye, it lifted its scythe and slashed the girl on her bed.

At that point, everyone began to panic. They all ran scattered, some running out of the room, some crying hysterically and screaming for help, some still frozen, trembling in fear as they watched one of their roommates brutally and mercilessly murdered before them.

Some of them tried to use their powers, but they did not affect the Grim Reaper.

"Go away! Go away!!! Go-!"

'It's no use; no power in this world can stop them. The system has set it that way. I've set it so that no power can stop them, no matter if you're a hero or a demon king. Not one,' Darien thought with an unreadable gaze.

He then pulled his brother to one of the beds and hid there. Eirian just followed him without a word because his brain seemed to have shut down. He was still too shocked by what had happened to think of anything.

The scene kept replaying like a broken film clip in his mind. But his brother's voice immediately brought him back to reality. He hadn't even realized they were both under the bed, hiding from the Grim Reaper, who was killing all their roommates one by one.

"We'll go to our hiding spot as soon as the Grim Reaper leaves here or when it's busy looking for his 'guests'. But we need to vary if we don't want to be caught by the others," Darien said in a whisper.

Eirian could still hear it, even though the room was filled with the cries and screams of children whose lives were being taken by the Grim Reaper.

His brother still looked calm and steady, but Eirian could feel Darien's fear too, because he could feel the trembling in his brother's hand that he was holding. Suddenly, his brain finally caught up with what his brother had just said.

'The others? Wait, there's more than one Grim Reaper here?' he thought, starting to feel hopeless.

"Darien.. What do you mean-" Eirian didn't get to ask as Darien suddenly put a finger to his lips to silence him. At that moment, the blond boy just realized why his brother shushed him.

The room was now silent. Too silent. Eirian swallowed nervously and turned to look at the situation from under the bed they were in.  Since they were underneath, they could clearly see the bodies of their roommates strewn across the floor.

Eirian covered his mouth, feeling like he wanted to vomit; the smell of blood was too much, while Darien's expression was filled with guilt. He looked down, staring at the children's deaths. 'If only I could save some of them...' he thought, the guilt beginning to grip his heart tightly. 

He needs to stop thinking about that. Darien knew he needed to act immediately. He turned to look at his brother, who still looked shocked by the horrific scene before him.

'I must make sure Eirian is safe. We can't stay here forever. These Grim Reapers are intelligent too; they will search every place they think humans are hiding. That means we need to be smarter than they are.

Eirian and Darien's usual hiding spot is safer. In the original plot, Darien also hid there until time ran out. No one ever found that hiding spot. We'll be safe in there. Darn it! The Grim Reaper is starting search now,' Darien thought.

The hazelnut-haired boy then tugged on his brother's pajama sleeve to get his attention. Eirian turned to look him with a confused and worried look. Darien subtly moved his head towards the door. He hoped Eirian understood his signal to move now.

The blond boy looked where his brother pointed and immediately understood the signal. Eirian nodded in understanding to his brother, even though he still looked scared and confused about what had happened, but he believed Darien and he knew he needed to make sure his brother was safe.

Holding hands, the two of them began to crawl whenever the Grim Reaper turned away. They crawled slowly, from bed to bed, holding their breath and being careful not to make any sound.

It wasn't long before they were almost at the last bed closest to their room's door, a path to escape, but that hope was shattered when Darien suddenly noticed that Jin boy was there too, hiding under the bed.

He hadn't seen him because he thought it was just a fallen blanket, but it turned out Jin was hiding inside it. Jin also looked shocked, and out of fear of being found, he immediately pushed the two of them, making a loud creak from the wooden floor.

The three of them froze as the Grim Reaper looked at them with a gaze that sent chills down their spines. Jin began to tremble in fear and immediately crawled out from under the bed.

But at the same time, he gets an idea, Jin managed to pull Eirian, who was trying to help his brother up, and threw him towards the Grim Reaper. He gave a snickering smile and managed to use his fire magic on the Grim Reaper to obscure its vision.

Darien, meanwhile, was stunned; he hadn't expected that plump boy to do that. He could feel his blood run hot and rise from anger. He was furious. He was angry at himself for trying to help that damn boy earlier and at Jin for being so selfish.

'I hope karma eats you,' Darien thought, cursing Jin.

"Thanks for buying me time!" Jin said with a sadistic smile and ran out of there.

Eirian was also stunned because he hadn't expected Jin to be so selfish and do that. He immediately froze again when he noticed a looming shadow above him. The blond boy could hear his heart pounding wildly.

Like slow motion, he turned around to see a black robe right in front of his face. He swallowed hard and looked up. Mint eyes met blood-red eyes.

The Grim Reaper lifted its scythe, ready to slash him. Eirian still couldn't look away from the Grim Reaper; he was too shocked to even move. Even though his mind was screaming at him to move, he couldn't.

'Forgive me, Darien... Please save yourself,' Eirian thought for the last time.

"EIRIAN!!!"