WMMAP - [S1] Shelter You - (愛)してる

Chapter 48: Fear Beyond Death

"Ah... Goddamn, it... Who turned off the sun?"

Freeing himself from Hypnos – The god and the personification of sleep's realm, Lucas complained. His eyes scanned the room as nocturne was now continually descending upon the waking world.

"Did I sleep through the Entire day again?"

He was no stranger to the pitch-black world. Night had always been his favorite time, even as a child. It had been that way since he was old enough to scramble over the window, ignoring how dangerous it was for a child to sit on the balcony and watch the moon traverse the vault of stars.

He looked up through the dark sky, eyes scanning for the silver moon, but seeing only its diffuse glow through the thick clouds and Zeus' tyrannization. Lucas's stomach suddenly felt sick as he witnessed the lightning flash behind the thick clouds; its roar was strong enough to shake the room.

He had been rooted to the bed for so long, Lucas realized, then moved his stiffed muscles. His fingers brushed onto the fabric of his bedsheet, tapping lightly.

"Raven? Where you at, boy!? Raven!" Lucas cried out as he gripped the blanket wound tightly into his fists. Flashes of skysplitter were the only candlelight and his only guidance to view every object in this room, drizzly.

As he hurled himself up from the bed into the blackness that awaited him, he fell deeper into the blackness of his mind. The thoughts of mortals everywhere were touched by this darkness. It was nothing but an illusion that sapped their morale and infected one's dreams with nameless fears hounding them day and night.

As he wandered, palm dragged on the wall, Lucas found the door handle. When the shock of freezing air roused him from the dark, there was one truth that he feared.

The yawning, starless night was far from being harmless. The truth was, perhaps, more unsettling.

"Athy?" He called for his girlfriend, fear creeping into his voice as he looked around.

There was no sign of her or of anyone else in the gloom. And yet, the private bodyguard could not shake the idea of dread off. Then there was an ominous sound from somewhere, a subtle scream, an invitation of horror.

Adrenaline flooded Lucas. He sped up to wherever his feet lead him. Down the stair, his instinct guided him.

A pool of liquid, he noticed. He tracked down the source even though what was waiting for him was nothing but terror. The closer he got, the water began to glisten and morphed into a scarlet shade.

As if the sky was at its mercy, it ended his uncertainty. What he remembered as Athanasia's living room, with another roar of lightning, Lucas was paralyzed, incapable of doing anything more in front of a silhouette – a body lying across the floor.

Her skin used to shimmer with Starfire was covered in liquid rose petals. Her eyes used to burn with the power of the celestial were now as dull as the scorn of the moon.

"NO!!" He cried, staggering to her, but everything started to slow down, pulling him away from the scene.

Sudden light flared ahead, sunlight gleaming brightly.

Impossible. Dawn was an hour or more away.

Lucas bolted upright, gasping, drawing in a great lungful of air as he ran his hand down a face sheened in a cold sweat. His eyes flitted around, seeing nothing in his room –Not. This was not his room.

Unfamiliar bed. Unacquainted presence. The unexpected guest was right by his side.

His eyes widen, heart pounded mercilessly upon seeing his light bringer. With all the necessary vision of sunlight that enflamed her, Back turned to him, and Athanasia slept peacefully. His shaking hand hovered over her head, deemed to touch her. He would have woken her up with this current state. Instead, his trembling hand fought its way to his shirt, clutching his left chest where it ached, trying to slow down his breathing.