Sterth and the Unknown

Lord Kaiser expression saddened, knowing that he will have to make Yuna wait a little longer, but he knew it was probably for the best.

“I understand…” he said gloomily.

By the time they arrived, the sun was already setting. They got off at Vilne station and made straight for the Boundless Forest, with Deimos at the front.

They walked past Brimor, as Lord Kaiser and Atsuo longingly looked at their academy, thinking about their close friends.

Suddenly, Atsuo stopped in his tracks, his jaw dropping open, and his face turning a pale color. In one of the windows, the Dreig in Red, stood, staring back at him.

“Sleeper, what’s wrong?” Lord Kaiser asked, following his gaze.

Seeing nothing there, he turned to Atsuo, who was visibly sweating, and back at the academy, trying to find what was troubling him.

“What do you see?” Lord Kaiser said uneasily.

‘The Dreig in Red’

“Huh? Nothing…” Atsuo said.

‘…what the fuck am I saying…”

‘The Dreig in Red… at the Fortunatus dormitory…’

“Sorry about that… I’m okay now...”

‘NO. STOP. WHY…’

“Shhh…”

Atsuo fell on his knees, grunting as loud static penetrated his ears. He felt like his head was going to explode.

After a couple of seconds, it stopped, leaving Atsuo breathing heavily and wondering what just happened, as Lord Kaiser and Deimos looked at him sympathetically.

Yet this time, they did not ask if he was okay.

Before Atsuo could react, he saw that they were at the entrance to the forest. He blacked out again, and it was already pitch black.

‘What happened in all that time…’ Atsuo thought to himself anxiously, as he sunk his fingers into the ground beneath him, clutching the earth.

“What are we waiting for?” Deimos asked, out of nowhere.

“There is no blood moon…” Lord Kaiser said, looking up at the sky.

“Blood moon?” Deimos asked perplexed, “Aren’t those once every couple of years?”

“Yeah. We don’t have that long…” Lord Kaiser said, turning to Atsuo, “if you will, sleeper…”

Atsuo stared back at them for a few seconds, settling down, before starting to speak.

‘What if nothing happened at Brimor…’

“What if there was a total lunar eclipse right now, just like that day…” Atsuo tittered, standing up.

‘No…’ Atsuo thought hopelessly.

The next second, the moonlight lighting up their surroundings, turned a faint red.

Deimos glanced from the blood moon to him, taken aback, before his attention turned to the violent winds from within the forest, carrying a repulsive scent.

Atsuo’s eyes widened.

‘This isn’t right…’ he thought to himself, looking inside the forest.

‘Why is it there…’

Within the forest he saw the Dreig in Red, staring at him with its heavy and bloodthirsty gaze.

‘Are they not seeing it?’ Atsuo thought anxiously, as he side-eyed his companions.

“Alright,” Lord Kaiser said, “turn on three… ready?”

“Yeah” Deimos and Atsuo replied.

‘No’

Atsuo couldn’t feel his body.

“One…” Lord Kaiser began counting.

‘WAIT…’

“Two…” Lord Kaiser continued, not hearing Atsuo.

‘DON’T LEAVE ME ALONE…’

“Three!”

‘NO…’

The sounds from those accompanying him vanished, while blood started oozing from the trees and red undergrowth spread under his feet.

His eyes darted from side to side, and his heart raced as he looked for anything that could help him in this situation.

He flinched at the sight of the Dreig, approaching.

He closed his eyes hopelessly.

Squeezing his eyelids as hard as possible, he prepared for what was about to come.

But nothing happened.

He slowly opened his eyes, finding himself in front of a large gate, just like the one from his dreams.

His eyes shook in terror as they opened and he started walking towards them, unable to control his body.

He walked inside, revealing a land of many shades of red. It was a gory sight as trees oozed blood and vines hung from them like someone’s insides.

‘Is this it…?’ Atsuo thought to himself hesitantly.

‘Is this… Sterth…?’

The gates creaked and closed behind Atsuo.

Moments later, he regained control of his body, looking around.

The gate was gone. Instead, he was looking at crimson valleys and an endless canyon with a strong current of blood.

Greatly disturbed, he chose to go with the forest he saw in front of himself when he first arrived.

He turned back around, finding that the forest was now gone. His eyes widened as he saw empty plains before him, with no horizon in sight.

Not daring to turn around again, he started walking down the dark-red barren land.

He felt like he was walking forever, yet there was still no end in sight.

Curiosity almost got the better of him, when he wanted to check the ground he covered behind himself, but he quickly stopped himself and continued onwards.

It was getting tiring, his mood and psyche was constantly deteriorating as he dragged his feet along the scorching ground.

Suddenly, rumbling erupted from above. Atsuo was reluctant to look up, due to deeming himself unprepared for what’s going to happen beneath his feet after.

A few seconds later, he felt something fall down his neck, then his face.

‘Rain?’ he thought cluelessly, stretching out his hand.

He watched his palm quickly accumulate drops of blood from above.

‘I need to find some cover’ he thought, ‘but where…?’

There was not a single thing in sight that he could possibly use to help him hide from this horrible ‘weather’.

Accepting the inevitability of himself getting soaked, he held his jacket over his head and continued walking straight.

He arrived at a small fork in the road, near which lay something resembling a human skull.

Reluctantly, Atsuo reached out his hand to get a better look, when something washed over him after contact.

“AAHHHHHHHHHH” he cried out after pain compressed his head and memories began flooding in.

In them he saw a man desperately running away from something. He ran for days before arriving at the same fork in the road.

Crying at his own helplessness, the man took the spear in his hand and sunk it right into his own throat.

Horrified, Atsuo stumbled to the ground, holding his throat.

Despite the man’s exceptional physique, whatever was chasing him, terrified him enough to kill himself.

Atsuo scowled at the thought.

He did not want to think about what happened to the man’s body.

Before he ended up the same, he got back up and went to the right, at a faster pace than before.