Noen stood in the wild, completely unaware of where he was going. His steps were the only thing he followed, and wherever his mind took him to find Sera.
The sound of the lullaby kept ringing in his ears, though there was nothing else besides the feeling of getting closer.
Slowly, time passed, or even hours for him. Sera was still nowhere to be seen, and just then, a thought crossed his mind.
"Is she in the same illusion as me?"
A genuine worry and an uncertain look were on his face.
But his posture was still calm as ever, and so were his eyes, shining with a faint glow of red under the moonlight, 'a look of a predator.'
The wind flowed softly as his hair lifted upward, eyes staring blankly at the sudden appearance of a beauty standing still on the platform, looking at the radiating moonlight.
Her hair fluttered in the wind, so did her clothes, covered in white, delicate colouring reflecting the glow of the gown, but something was off about her, although his senses didn't show any response.
He said, muttering to himself, "Is this..."
Before he could have said anything, he felt his head falling. His eyes were in a state of shock while a jet of blood flowed out of his throat.
The woman looked back, an eerie smile rising on her cheeks while she stood, placing her hands on her face.
A piece of cloth fluttered in the wind, almost unusual, like a dull blade glinting innocently.
Her eyes were hollow, just a dark that seeped through her sockets.
And far in front of her, his head lay motionless, his body falling with a thud, while the soil soaked the blood gushing out of his headless corpse.
His eyes twitched, looking sharply at her face in complete bloodlust.
His body stood completely fine, while it placed his fallen head back, hissing in a cold tone, "You are the same lady who's been singing..."
"You are annoying," he said, holding his hair back. "My ears had started to hurt from your continuous blabber."
"So... give Sera back, and then you can die peacefully."
"Or..." his voice getting deeper, "I will get her in my own way."
The woman screamed, reacting to the provocation as more strips of cloth appeared, where Noen prepared his sword, ready to strike.
His stance still immature, but he jumped with brute force, pacing his way through her attacks.
Cutting through everything like paper, but he wasn't unharmed.
His body was bleeding, torn from the sharp clothes, eyes still scanning the battlefield, while he struck with everything he got.
His hands moved, focusing deeply. Just then, his senses screamed, his body reacted on its own, a cold swaying over his body. He quickly shifted his blade upward.
It broke, shattering into pieces in front of his eyes. An instant shock dawned over him as his expression shifted to a more serious look.
His hands were still shaking from the impact, but there wasn't a single glint of fear on his face. Staring menacingly, he tore his own hand for a new sword; for him, pain was just a small price, but something crossed his eyes way before he could react. An impact crushed his chest, ribs tearing out.
Smashing him on the ground, his face went pale, coughing a mouthful of blood, his heart clenched tighter, struggling to even breathe, yet he stood once again to fight.
Forming a blade, tensing his muscles, he plunged that sword deeper into his chest. He laughed with a hoarse voice.
The surroundings shifted to a cold silence, every noise holding into stillness. Noen looked upward from the shadows, his eyes glowing in lifeless red, his teeth stretching across his mouth, a creepy smile rose on his face, while his body stretched back to his original form, but more dense than before. Holding the hilt of his sword,
He jumped, speed reaching an inhuman level, running around while those strips followed him as if they were never behind.
A maniacal laughter echoed across the sky, a bloodlust hidden behind it, and with a final swing, everything turned into chaos, jumping around on the trunk, a trail of light forming behind his back, the whole battleground turned into a pool of blood.
He stopped, gathering his breath, quickly looking to both his sides. He created another blade, lunging forward to close the distance, but those strips came again.
His thoughts racing, "I can't reach her like that, even if I brute forced my way out."
Something hit again, but this time he didn't remain to see it, his eyes falling out, his body crumpling apart. He became minced meat, while the blood burst out in small beats.
A trail of blood was visible, shining over the white cloth hanging up in the air, looking completely harmless, while the whole forest stood destroyed, dust and blood rising through the air.
His hands rose again from the pool. The sight was disgusting, his body forming back from the thick blood, every fibre moved like small worms, rebuilding his body from nothing, just pieces of his flesh.
He stood again, gritting his teeth; the pain was visible in his eyes, though it never existed.
"I won't die that easily," he said, coughing up some blood.
Screeekh.
The woman screamed, whipping the strips of clothes like wind, and Noen, he also prepared his sword.
Blood dripping from his hands, he stared at her coldly.
***
Lub dub lub dub
Somewhere deep in the darkness, a heart hung in the sky, throbbing every minute with a beat, hand raised to its below, grabbing it as they would take it away.
And in the walls of the darkness, eyes stared at a womb clinging to the vessels, holding it like a last breath.
A silhouette was clearly visible under the red membrane, bounded by ropes of flesh connected to its body. The figure was of a girl, lying inside like a baby, completely motionless.
On the floor were hundreds of crippled hands, trying to reach for the womb, looking desperate.
Red throbbing with the heart as those hands moved closer,
closer... and closer...
They grabbed the womb, sliding their fingers on it, tearing into its flesh, reaching for the girl lying inside it.
From above, a giant figure came close, her eyes stretched darkened with the shadow, a smile stretching across her lips while her sharp teeth shone across her flesh.
Her face was pale, wrinkled with time, eyes staring with a hollowness. She whispered,
"Sera..."
Where the heart kept beating, its sound echoing across the bloody darkness, as the beat slowed down, disappearing with the pain of suffocation.
It pumped its last blood…