Across The Realms

Chapter 16 (Holly Vendetta Chapter 3)

What just happened to her? What was all that?

The lingering concern for my parents' safety overshadowed my thoughts of the dangers lurking down below.

"Mom! Dad!"

I jumped onto the ladder, took a few steps down before locking the hatch from below. As I continued to descend the ladder, my eyes were unable to completely adjusted to the darkness of the tunnels.

Everything felt wrong when I got to the bottom, I could not hear anything. Not a laugh, nor a cry. Neither could I see. The tunnels were damned of light. Left with nothing but the pitch black emptiness. My legs began to wobble. Fear? Who? Me? Definitely! Fear of the unknown. Fear of what lurked in the shadows. Even so I had to press on to ensure the safety of my family. Stretching my arms out diagonally, I reached for the nearest wall I could touch. Once I found it, I could easily gauge my location and how to get home. There is no way I wouldn't know how to get home since I've lived here all my life. Though bumping into walls isn't something I could avoid while blind.

The moment my hand brushed against an uneven sandy surface on the side, I traced it all the way back home. Thankfully, I didn't bump into any wall along the way. However, I did trip over a few cushiony objects along the way.

I obliviously tripped over multiple danger signs till I arrived at my destination.

I still couldn't see. Yet, I just knew that I was home.

As I held the doorknob, I hesitantly winded it till the lock clicked. The door leaned back, creaking in its movements. It was the same inside as it was out here. No sound. No light.

My right hand cupped onto the light switch near the doorway, I swiped my hand up and heard a snap. The sole ceiling light in the room would usually flicker once or twice before remaining on. Buzzing as it attempted to turn on, it flickered.

At each momentary interval of light, It was like a nightmare being presented to me like a slideshow, a new horror unraveled before my eyes. Frame. By. Frame.

There was a body laying there... On the sandy floor on top a pool of blood. Just a body with nothing below the waist and his head staring right at me. I bit my lower lip as my teeth began to shiver.

D... Dad...

As I reluctantly moved closer, blood splashes onto my shoes. A different pool of blood that wasn't from his body.

A faint voice called out to me, "Sweetie... I'm here."

"Mom? Mom!" with a glimpse of hope upon hearing her voice, I called out to her

Following the calming voice into the back room, where I find my mother sitting in the corner bleeding out as she leaned on the wall.

Her guts were ripped open as she held it as tight as possible to slow down the bleeding. Holding back my tears, I knelt down beside her as I questioned her on her condition and how it led to this. She closed her eyes as she explained what she could. Why we hid underground. What we were hiding from. What happened to her and dad. She informed of anything she could before bleeding out. With better clarity mixed with loss, I embraced my dead mother with eyes blurred with tears.

My eyes had never been more open, all the bumps I knocked into on the way here. They were all bodies, dead bodies of the people living in the tunnels. Killed by the monster marching around upstairs. With time to process everything, I dawn upon the realization that it was all my fault. I left the hatch open when I decided to venture on the surface. That was how they got in and killed everyone. The monster, similar to the snake I fought, entered from the entrance I left for them and now the entire colony along with my family is dead. Falling onto my bottom in distraught as more tears rolled down my eyes, I wailed in agony. For my foolishness. For my silly mistake. For the heavy price I paid.

The familiar monotonous woman's voice rang in my head "You have suffered great loss. With nothing left that is yours, you beg that no more be taken from you ever again. Now, you want to take everything from them... Unique Skill Acquired, Steal."

It was this skill that allowed me to survive this long, the ability to steal the skills of monsters.

From what my mother could tell me before her passing was that during my her teen years, a strange unidentified object landed in a ditch on the other side of the city above. There was no news coverage on the issue. Weeks passed without a word, so the people moved on with their lives and it was eventually forgotten. Until, scientists realized that as each year went by all plant life slowly died out. Leaves and grass patches were rotting all over. That lasted all of about two years before matters got worse. Once nothing was left to be drained of, a tower suddenly grew on top of the object that landed and those monsters started spawning out of it rapidly. They solely targeted animals at first, so the military took this as an opportunity to study them and fight back when they could. Before long, even the animals dried out. That was when things intensified. Only the humans remained.

The military fought back. Lost and lost again. Then the army decided to force everyone underground. They had safe zones everywhere under the city. It was as if the government hid much more about this matter than they let on. One day, rumors were going around from bunker to bunker of someone who beat a monster barefisted. Some thought it was a hoax. Some of the occupancies of the underground bunker my mother used to live in went out to search for this rumored man themselves, which turned out to be real.

When anyone fights against a monster head on for the first time, a voice pinged in their heads leading them with a tutorial. Anything following that is fought based on their own merits given by what the elders started calling the "World's Voice" or to what I now refer to as the system. This system, however, does not affect anything beneath the surface.

With that, I set off on my own journey. To fight for my mistakes, fight for what I want, fight for where I want to be. Leading me straight to the monster dungeon I am in today.