Acidic Rise of Souls

~𖦹𝚁𝚎𝚍 𝙼𝚘𝚘𝚗 𝚃𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚛|𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟷𖦹~

******12AM-Midnight*****

   (Echo’s pov) *It’s midnight, and I’ve decided this was the perfect time to go hiking. I mean, what isn’t perfect about this night? I heard there was a full moon!* I grab my flashlight and bag, before heading outside. I look outside and notice the color of the ground. Its red. I walk outside of my house and into the grass. My ash hair in a tight ponytail, black gene shorts and sweatshirt, kneehigh black socks, and grunge decorated shoes giving a new red color, flow in the gust of cold air. “Weird.. It wasn’t supposed to be cold tonight or windy- hmm..” I say to myself. I walk to the woods and hear a branch break sound, since I’ve done this multiple times I expected the neighbores cat to scurry out to meet me like always, but no cat. They must have thought it was dangerous with this moon, might interfere with the sight of their cat.

    I walk deeper into the forest, tho, it’s quiet.. An unsettling feeling comes over me as I stop halfway on my hike. “Bleh…” I say getting a shiver once again. *Maybe I should head back… I don”t like this feeling-* I run back through the woods, [crack] [crack], I fall on my face, and turn around to see the neighbors cat wounded. “Oh my god, Milky?” I pick the cat up and take it with me running off to home. I run inside and lock the door. I place Milky on the clean table, grabbing pet first aid. I wrap the paw that had a bloody scratch on it and the neck and stomach. I call the neighbors. “Hello?”-Owners “Hey, I found your cat, Milky, in the woods, she is hurt badly but I helped her. She- Oh I notice she has alot of dirt on her, do you want me to bring her over?”- Echo “Echo.. Sweetie… No offense but you shouldn’t be drinking and walking into the woods, Milky died yesterday… I hope you didnt just bring a racoon into your house… Goodnight Echo, be safer next time.”- Owner. 

    They hung up. “Wha-what?” Tears ran down my face at hearing this.*Was I hallucinating? They have to be lying…* I look at Milky, not realizing the bandages had turned black, I unwrap them. The blood was coagulated. That only happens after death…. I look at Mily’s eyes, Black and blue in the middle glowing, the white fur was dirty and covered in blood. Like it got into a fight with a wolf…. The teeth were a bit sharper than they were before too. “Milky… Dear Milky.. You really are dead…” I look at their paws, usually the claws are trimmed but their sharp.. Sharper and out.. Their mouth is filled with blood. I walk to the door, Milky wanted out. I walked with the dead cat. *maybe I’m dreaming? Or the red moon gave it life for tonight? No I'm dreaming.* I walk with this cat for what seems to be hours before meeting a wolf. It had no eyes and its jaw was broken but still attached. You can see its ribs, and the organs… 

    “This is a really weird dream- Huh?!” the wolf looked my way and charged with its sharp claws and teeth nearly touching me as I grab Milky and run. Milky jumped out of my arms and ran the same direction I was. My house. *What was happening? God- If this is a dream, it’s very realistic! And I'm not dying in it, but I am also not going hiking right now!* I open the door, letting Milky enter first. I lock the door and hear multiple howls, along with my cell ringing. “Yes? Who is this?”-Echo “Echo! Stay inside! Lock everything, and whatever you do, do NOT open the door for anybody! There is living dead things!”-Zechleo “I-I Notice That… I went on a hike and found the neighbors cat Milk-”-Echo “The neighbors cat is dead!”-Zechleo “I. Know. And so is the wolf with the broken leg. I had to grab Milky and run inside to lock the door. Milky seems normal besides the eyes and other body, but he isnt agressive.”-Echo “Echo.. We need to figure out why they are behaving this way tomorrow, maybe there is more to it then the red moon-”- Zechleo “I'm going back out..”-Echo “Wait! Echo! No!”-Zechleo 

   I hang up. *Time to figure out what in the hell created these things. And what they are…* I grab my buttons I used to communicate with Mily with and let Milky tell me things. ‘Stay Inside’ The cat pressed. I shake my head, with confidence. “Milky, I love you, but I will risk my life to figure out what makes you this. I'm sure your in pain, but alive. Yes?” ‘No. Not Pain.’ button pressed. I run upstairs, grab my heavy protective suit. The one I used to do my old job, checking for gas leaks, and searching houses for bombs. Not a fun job to have at 16. “Milky behave while I'm gone aight?” I say before pulling up my gas mask. Nods come from Milky with a small mew. I run out, lock the door, and go deep into the woods, more than usual.

    I go into the cave my parents warned me about at 6, when I started hiking. I walk inside, turning on my flashlight. *Oh..My..God-* “That’s the stone our teacher gave fun facts about… Aziklinx Acix (Az-ick-Lynx Asix). The moon was shining right on it all night- It must have charged and sent the magnetic fields in the ground with some electrical, acidic message. “Zechleo-”-Echo “Echo! You better not have-”-Zechleo “The Aziklinx Acix crystal is charged by the red moon. aka, blood-moon. It sends magnetic messages through the ground, there is at least 15 of them in this world, and they stretch through thousands of magnetic fields, millions!”-Echo “This, this is to much!”-Zechleo.

    She hung up. *Leaving me alone now? Cool! I'm going to look more up about this!* I look at my phone to search up the reasoning: The whole world has has a red moon, from 1 am to 12 am aka all day! Just like in your fave zombie movies, dead things are crawling from the ground!

*I should just head home…* I run home, bumping into the wolf that tried to attack me earlier. It heard me and clawed into my skin through my heavy duty suit. *I should have remebered this is old and thin-* I got bitten on the side and clawed badly in the stomach. Before the teeth could disembowel me, a wolf with multiple ears, purple and yellow… It looked like Zechleos OC, the one she made for her new game, it attacked the zombified wolf and used its tail to put me on its back. It ran to my house and I unlocked the door, ran inside with what looked to be Zechleo. “Zechleo, I know thats you!” Zechleo became human with a worried look. “You didnt get bitten right!?” Zechleo rushed towards the door, locking it. “Well.. Ofc not!” I lied. I started to feel light-headed. I fell to the ground.

   Description:Echoes eyes changed from a grey to black with white glowing in the middle, her blood coagulated where you could see it, she took off her armor and her clothing only being a crop top and shorts both black. Still concious. Her hands growing into clawlike paws, and her teeth being sharper. Her organs showing from the wolves tear in her skin. She became a wolf with grey fur, multiple eyes on her head looking at Zechleo.

   “The stone isn’t supposed to do that…” Zechleo said before I walked towards her barking. It sounded more like an agrssive scream though. “Echo! Fight it! Please… Plea- I-I'm sorry.. I have to go!” She ran off crying, coughing from the feeling in her throat she had from crying. I try running after her but she closes the door. “Z-Zech- ZECHO!!” I screamed in pain and anxious she was going to hurt herself.. “Echo?” She ran inside, seeing me in human form crying. “Echo, I really hope you dont give in-” She then remebered, her mother is my aunt. We’re related, which means I already am an echolocation creature, except we each have abilities, mine is better sight, I see sounds from vibrations, and I saw red vine magnetic fields from the crystal. It was too much. 

“Hey, Zecho?” “Yeah?” “When you were in your form- was it hard to hear?” I asked when i noticed the horror on her look. “Well.. the crystal was loud, but i heard multiple dead living things..” She replied. “We should go to sleep.. Wheres Milky by the way?” Oh yeah! Milky. “Milky! Hey it’s okay to come out!” [tip tap tip tap] “Meow!^^” the cat purred. “Awwe..” I started crying.. What if by the red moon everything is over.. I'm dead.. Mily is dead..? What if because I was only bitten, I won't get completly dead but alive and Milky is dead? “Echo… Don’t worry about anything right now, alright?” She hugged me and got milky some food, just because we’re dead-ish, doesn’t mean we aren’t still functioning, somehow our blood when there is an open wound it gets coagulated, but the rest of it brings new vains to needed areas since it can’t heal itself from the infected area. 

    “What happens after tonight-? What if… I'm dead?” I ask, Zechleo looked at me, in thought. “I- … We’ll find out… I love you Echo, sleep now..” She tucked me into my bed and Milky layed on my side. Zechleo went into her own room and slept.

[knock, knock, knock, crack]

“Echo! Goodmorning!” Zechleo greeted with breakfast in her hands, the cat Milky was similiar to it… “Is that the- nevermind actually. Thankyou!!” I said hoping for no suspition of the similiarity I could sense. I ate it no question, I was hungry, for everything, but i was only slightly. “Zechleo, where is Milky??” I could no longer keep the panic inside. “Echo… Who is Milky?” A sudden smile creeped at the corner as I passed out.