SKULL: Cursed Souls

Prologue

"Hope," I cried.

I can only bear the tiniest hope in my heart that I can still live when I heard the gunshots echoing in to the air as I ran to the woods. I followed the wind's whispers in every step and turn through the dimly lit place because the moon had hidden her precious face behind the dark clouds.

A deafening sound rattles the sky, and I could no longer hear the footsteps that were following me. An outburst of rain lurks near, but I find no cover to keep myself alive through the cold night.

I continued to rummage through the dark to find myself a shelter because the shades of the trees may be able to help me survive the imminent thunderstorm but not from man's murderous hands.

The raindrops' sound is louder which means it's coming close, and I can only surrender to my fate, I hid myself below a tree and the cold blows of the wind passed to warn me of the rain which shall fall above me in just seconds.

I hugged my legs while sneaking myself between the large roots of the tree while the heavy rain falls from above. The sound of a rattling sky is once again heard then a blinding light stroke the land in front of me.

I could not believe my eyes when a palace within the woods had revealed itself. I am certain that this palace was not here neither is the empty field that is in front of me now.

My eyes could never fool me, and I know that despite having myself black and blue, my senses were still strong and even in such a dim place, I know that this palace wasn't there and had only revealed itself when the land it is standing was struck by lightning.

Shelter had come fort my way thus to deny the sky's blessing, I shall not. I ran towards the palace, never expecting to be greeted by the empty halls and a rather colder wind. 

The hall is both long and wide, it could fit hundreds if not a thousand, and its ceiling is tall with tens of chandeliers that lights up this place right now. I look amidst the hall and a stall with a book placed above it can only be seen, nothing more than that. The book seems to whisper to me, and my feet could only move as if pulled by an invisible rope towards the stall. Each step that I took were never of my volition. I tried to stop myself but then I reached it. 

The pages of the book turned themselves on their own.

"Cursed Souls! Damned to the depths of earth! Sinners that turn the lands to filth!" a loud voice, deep as well and hard as a rock, the words echoing in the halls.

"But you shall bring fort their salvation and denial shall cause their eternal demise!" it echoes again.

I closed my eyes when arrays of warm light bore down on me. I breathed in fear of the unknown as I still hear the droplets of rain from the outside and the ravaging sounds of thunder. I felt the light's comforting heat and suddenly, the sound of the water changed. It was no longer the rage of the thunderstorm's cry but rather the solace of a river's gentle waves.

I opened my eyes to the now clear sky as the water drifts me across. I hear again of water that are dropping down the rocks, but it brings me no fear unlike the thunderstorm but rather a relief in my heart.

Decades later, midnight of March 13, 2015 in the middle of Takipsilim's(Twilight's) forest.

The tight ropes that tie my hands feels like they are about to crush my bones as I desperately untie them while the blindfold kept me clueless of who the people are around me. I cannot even yell for help because of the cloth that covers my mouth, but I can certainly smell their rotten and bloody odor as they move, more certainly that I can hear their footsteps and breathing while they continue to go in circles, sometimes stopping in front of me.

They kept moving around, keeping me anxious of what is about to happen to me. Suddenly, all their footsteps stopped for some seconds before they moved aside, and then heavy footsteps approached me while they speak in a deep, roaring voice.

"Evil devours human. Humans are fed with evil. They willingly do it. Sin! Haha! You sinners are parasites, your host is exhausted. Yes! Earth doesn't need you. But you! Ryder... You have been chosen to abolish parasites in this world. Are you in for it? If not, then death be upon you."

Days earlier, at dusk in the streets of Bukang-Liwayway(Daybreak).

"I have a family! Please don't do this!" A man shouts.

"Have you thought of that when you tricked others and ruined their lives?" another asks and only received silence, "I don't think so!"

The other started to run for his life after seeing the man who is aiming to smash him with a piece of heavy metal.