Crimson's Prophecy

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In the end weeks passed in which Crimson and Sheila fought against creatures almost every day. Most of them shot knives out of their chests, just as the girl had said. The ones jumping from rooftops they almost never saw, but they were the easiest to defeat: If they saw some of those creatures jumping down Crimson or Sheila walked aside quickly and set them under electric shocks with the tasers they had stolen out of one of the castles; not only food could be found there, but also swords, guns, darts, maces, a few flamethrowers, of course the tasers as well as a couple of more weapons of which Crimson couldn't explain what they were. When he asked Sheila she either didn't know or it wasn't important enough for her to tell him - though he believed she kept it as a secret in the cases she knew but didn't tell him.

"Where does this world even start and where does it end?" Crimson asked one day.

The answer was as he had expected: "It doesn't have a start and an end because it's a universe." Sheila said it as if she was certain about it. So that topic was closed fast.

Nearly a month after Crimson and Sheila had met they walked on a path which led them quite close to one of the holes of darkness. The young man had seen one of those weird entities in the Kathrenian universe even before he had been in contact with Sheila when he had woken up after he had been removed from earth. That was the one thing Sheila couldn't explain to him at all, by the way, and it didn't seem like she was lying: She simply didn't know how people came to this universe because it always functioned in the same way in which it had worked for Crimson; just like him everyone else woke up from a sleep which wasn't avoidable as soon as the creatures decided you were strong enough for them.

Crimson's wound which had covered his whole back was mostly healed by now, not meaning he didnt feel pain sometimes when he wore a t-shirt Sheila had found in one of the open castles for him.

The holes of darkness were those places you could fall into. If you did, you would be in free fall for a couple of seconds before you found yourself in the upper part of the creature's world. From there you either fell on the ground and died, or - the second option - you fell through another hole of darkness before you returned to the non-existing sky again and would do so as long as you'd fall on the ground. In both cases you died.

When Crimson and Sheila came closer to this one hole of darkness they saw hands - someone was holding on to it, obviously not to be soaked into it. Crimson was the first who moved to the hole to check if it wasn't only his imagination that made him believe that he actually saw hands. It turned out that he didn't hallucinate and also had a clear vision. That's why he walked closer towards the hole until he was only one foot away from falling into it. "I help you to get out there if you wish," he said.

"That would be very nice of you," a girl replied, half frustrated and with one other half of irony in her voice.

As Crimson basically saved her life he switched on the flash light object similar to the one Sheila had and which he had found in one of the castles Sheila and him had broken into already. They moved a few steps away from the hole when he saw the girl's face: She had long, blond and curly hair. Almost like Lilith, Crimson thought, if they were only a bit longer. Her facial traits showed him that she was a very serious person and didn't smile that often. Not as often as Sheila, for example.

This didn't mean she was impolite though. "Thanks for saving me," she said and gratitude filled every single of those words she had spoken. It almost seemed like she wanted to hug Crimson - just like Lilith -, but the reason that probably held her back was her leeriness she probably felt for about everyone living in this universe. "I'm Scarlet, by the way. Who are you two?"

"My name's Crimson, that's Sheila," Crimson said before the other girl he had spent the past month with even had a chance to open her mouth and would have said how happy she was to meet another person who was somewhere other than where the slaves were - Crimson was pretty sure Sheila would have said something in that sense.