Chapter 47: A Terrifying Possibility
Multiple footsteps echoed through the desolate street, bouncing off cracked pavement and reverberating inside the hollow, broken buildings that lined the path. The world had dimmed considerably, shadows bleeding longer with every passing minute. According to Merek’s estimation, it would soon strike seven o’clock.
Visibility had already become an issue, shapes grew vague beyond a certain distance, swallowed by the creeping gloom. Yet even in this fading light, Felicity gasped as her eyes caught something above them.
She clung to Merek, her arm loosely looped around his neck for balance, and stared wide-eyed at the surreal sight ahead. Three yellow school buses, twisted and crumpled, were stacked and wedged high up the side of a three-story building, like loaves of fresh bread squeezed together. Thick roots, sinewy and bark-skinned, coiled tightly around them, anchoring them in place like grotesque vines from some twisted fairy tale.
Further down the road, the mangled corpses of two colossal gorillas lay still, Stage-1 Silverbacks.
Their immense forms sprawled across the ground, covered in gashes, dried blood, and the other’s face was crushed in. The sheer size of them made Felicity narrow her eyes in disbelief.
"...Are the others alive?" she asked again, voice quieter this time, tinged with hesitation.
"Yes," Merek replied, his tone calm but firm, offering no room for doubt.
Behind them trailed Yuki, silent as ever. From the outside, she resembled an imperial knight, a noble figure clad in armor, now dulled and scratched by war. Her plume, still strikingly lustrous, swayed with grace as she walked. There was a strange beauty to her presence, both haunting and regal.
Yet one detail marred the image: the backpack slung over her shoulder. It looked oddly mundane, almost out of place.
To the untrained eye, the wraiths were simply heavily armored warriors, grim and stoic. Their appearance gave rise to the name title, knights.
But only a handful truly knew the truth: these were not knights at all, but dead souls bound to metal. Walking echoes of lives long gone.