The elevator dings.
As the doors open a barren, gray desert is shown. The sky, or lack thereof is unnerving.
Ronan takes the charge and takes a step out and turns around to examine the elevator, the only thing visible is a never-ending rope stretching upward.
Calen watches him, suppressing the loud ringing within his head. He eyes him curiously as he bravely steps out.
"Wow... Just like that?" He makes out from jumbled words in his head.
It's quiet, eerily quiet. A brisk breeze chills the skin it touches. Ronan looks down at his plaid button up and cargo pants, shivering ever so slightly.
Just then the back of the elevator is ripped open, a large hand grabs Kaitlyn and throws her to the side.
The ringing within Calen instantly vanishes and is replaced by a primal urge to run. He tries anything to move, but his legs just won't move forward.
Lyra grabs him by the collar and runs out of the destroyed elevator, then tugs roughly on his collar and tosses him onto the dusty ground.
A large, gray foot stomps into the elevator, its flesh tearing against the sharp metal.
As it struggles to remove its foot, Kaitlyn feels her head. Warm and red blood leaks profusely as her cold, metal hand feels the wound.
Calen's knees buckle, and his stomach lurches. His breath comes in shallow gasps. Run. His legs scream at him to run, but he can't. He's stuck between the need to survive and the horror of leaving her behind. While he has trouble deciding, Ronan pushes past him in a rush and quickly brings Kaitlyn to her feet and helps her back to where the group is congregating.
The beast howls in pain as it slowly dislodges the metal from its foot.
Ronan, sharing a shoulder for Kaitlyn, reaches Lyra and Calen.
"We have to get the hell out of here!" Ronan exclaims.
As if that wasn't apparent enough, Calen watches in horror as the behemoth frees itself. A few loud thuds are heard as it reveals itself.
A giant lumbers forward, its towering form covered in grotesque tumors and deep battle scars. Patches of cloth and leather hang loosely over its body, failing to conceal its unsettling genitals. Standing at over fourteen feet tall, it exudes a menacing presence.
Calen gags as his view finally reaches its head.
Its eyes are gone, replaced with dark pits.
It looks around aimlessly, then listens. The group stands very, very still.
Slowly, after its sight and sound failed it, it takes a big whiff of the air.
The group stares at it. Tears well up in Calen's eye, he is too much of a coward for this.
It flicks its head in their direction, it had smelt them.
"We need to move!" Ronan shouts, but his voice cracks. Nobody moves. Kaitlyn grips her bleeding head, eyes unfocused. Lyra tightens her fists, shoulders rising and falling with deep breaths. Calen wants to scream, wants to cry, wants to... "MOVE!" Ronan shoves him, snapping him out of his daze.
As if rallied together, they all take off in a singular direction. After a while of running, the loud thumps slowly fade into the sounds of the flowing wind.
Calen starts to drag his feet, trying to do anything to convince himself that this is all a bad dream, that he isn't going to die, that a giant behemoth is not trying to eat them.
"What's that?" Lyra points off to the right of the direction their heading. In the distance a small church can be seen.
"I would say it's better than walking in this desert." Ronan comments. He keeps glancing over his shoulder, expecting another attack.
They set off for the church.
As they walk, Calen eyes everybody's Soul. Ronan holds his sword by the sheath, covering the spiraling dragon's head. Lyra closely examines the watch, clicking buttons to seemingly no avail. Kaitlyn flicks the metal hand with her fleshy hand, she rubs her fingernail in pain.
In order to subset his fear, he instead focuses on his jealousy. "Those look so cool." He grimaces as he thinks to himself.
Between his jealousy and fear, the ringing in his head still remains. He would do just about anything to make it stop.
Calen tries not to think about how hungry he is. His throat is also quite dry.
After about another 40 minutes of walking, the group arrives in a quiet town.
Standing beside a church with cracking, gray planks, they survey the town. Buildings are sparsely placed and desperately in need of maintenance.
The town is deathly silent, the wind barely stirring the dust on the cracked pavement.
After checking for threats around the immediate area, they enter the church.
A long row of benches follow a path in the middle. The back of the church has a raised platform and a podium standing in the middle of it. The cracking planks allow for light to leak in, nobody questions how there is light.
A strange symbol hangs on the back wall, a mess of tangled, red wires.
"Odd." Calen states.
"Very odd." Kaitlyn adds on.
"Too odd." Ronan tops it off.
Lyra sighs and walks off to explore.
"Be carefu-" Ronan tries to get out, "Whatever."
As Lyra pokes around the benches and messes with a door in the back, the remaining group together on the platform.
After a bit of small talk, Calen speaks up, "I have a question."
Kaitlyn and Ronan look at him.
"How come you all act like this is normal?" He shifts around nervously, "I'm so scared, I wanna shit bricks. I can't do this."
Ronan and Kaitlyn think for a second.
Kaitlyn speaks up, "I would probably say it's because of these." She points at her metal hand and then motions towards Ronan's sword.
"I would have to agree." Ronan nods as he comments, "What did he call them...? A Soul? Yeah that was it."
Kaitlyn tacks on, "Don't get me wrong. All this shit is weird, but it's like... how do I say this... it feels oddly nostalgic?"
Ronan eyes widen and points at her as he non-verbally agrees.
Calen can't tell if he feels jealous at the fact that he isn't like them, or happy that he isn't.
"Now I have a question for you." Ronan asks.
Calen looks at him, curiously.
"Why didn't you let Tutuphu manifest your Soul?" Ronan inquires.
"Doesn't it hurt really bad?" Calen asks, the question dripped in fear.
Ronan scratches his cheek and thinks, "I think it does... in the moment it does. It all feels so distant now. It was almost heavenly after it was done though."
"I wonder if you'll ever manifest one now?" Kaitlyn asks, mainly to herself.
Calen, discouraged, leaves Kaitlyn and Ronan to discuss their next steps.
He pokes around the church, doing small tests of courage while peeking outside the cracked walls, half expecting to see something. He peers under the benches, while looking, he eyes a weird, metal ball.
He walks around the benches and picks it up. It has decent weight.
"Feels familiar." He mutters to himself.
He takes a second to ponder on it. Why does it feel so familiar to him? He has never seen a ball like this ever.
He sticks the ball in the back pocket, it clinks on his phone.
"Wait..." He reaches in his pocket, "My phone!" He exclaims.
Everyone looks at him, and after quickly shushing him, they all reach for their phones too.
He tries to click it on... nothing.
He clicks his tongue, "Did your phones turn on?"
"Dud." Lyra kept her comment short, and returns to messing with the door.
"Nada." Kaitlyn adds on.
Ronan just sighs and puts it away.
Calen puts his back up and keeps looking around.
After calming down, the ringing in Calen's head persists, but it's much more bearable now.
Calen walks over to Lyra, "Whatcha doing?"
"Trying to bust this door." Lyra slides her ID between the door and the frame. She sighs and takes the card out, "Wanna give it a shot?"
Calen grabs her card and takes her spot, the ID reads, Lyra Songheart.
Calen spends a few minutes sliding the card around, to no avail. He hands the card back, "I'd best leave this to you."
"Worth a shot." She shrugs as she jiggles the door handle.
Just then, a gentle knock is heard from the large church doors.