5
Joseph was puzzled, but after a moment he realized why Alek was muttering those lines. The man in the rust-eaten sarcophagus loved poetry. It was like a tribute to him. It soothed him. Maybe the lyrics weren't right at the time, but Aleksandre wasn't a good speaker. He just remembered some lines he read to him a few days ago.
"Look in the closet by the door for some clothes. You will find something to suit you, and the young lady some shoes that will help her run as fast as possible."
They both nodded and rushed towards it like they were some hungry animals. William looked at them and nodded. Joseph snorted, looking at Chandra. William was her lover, but she kept him a secret from everyone. Only he knew, because he read her emotions and joined thoughts towards him. Chandra looked at him through her long lashes and her face flushed when she noticed that Joseph had a little bit more and was about to reveal her secret.
The smile that appeared on his lips said it all. Chandra rolled her eyes and Joseph started to mumble something but stopped when she glared at him.
"You'd better not say it!"
"Say what?" Joseph pretended not to know anything as he dressed in some clothes found thrown in the closet.
"You know," Chandra shot him a look.
"Ah, it's not my fault that..., yes, I saw everything."
William was red, as he was hearing the conversation between the two of them.
"Enough childish with the teasing. Continue after we are sure we are yet to catch the dawn of a new day," Alek interjected, ready to open the heavy rusted metal coffin.
He gestured for them to open the door once they were all ready and he quickly stepped forward, leaping over the cocoon destroyed by their earlier fall. Fangs bared, he bit his wrist, letting the dark red liquid drip into his palm as he touched the object in front of him.
Fleeting, his eyes glimpsed. The iris was like a red circle and inside it another bloody dot, being connected by small red stripes, and the rest of the eye was completely black, like the feathers of a raven. Joseph realized that they had similar eyes, in a way.
Both were transformed from a young age, only the hybrid in front of him was one of five that appeared out of nowhere one day, plunging the world into chaos. Alek was the fourth who could communicate telepathically or read minds with a simple touch. To Joseph, that man was still a mystery. It was often like a closed book and difficult to decipher.
Although, as he passed, shards crept into his mind. The one trapped in the sarcophagus was not one beast, but two, fused together. Two beasts united in a deep sleep. All he saw was blood, bones and spikes sticking out of the spine and a viscous liquid. One of them was just a ghost, sleeping forever.
Joseph shook his head and took a deep breath, watching Alek in childish fascination. Snorting, he drew his attention to him. Alek winked at him and then turned to finish the drawing painted in blood and venom that was like acid.
With quick movements, he created a pattern in the shape of a spider, and then, he pressed hard in the center. A muffled sound echoed throughout the room, and the hybrid jumped next to Joseph as he blinked, taking him by surprise.
"I don't think we should be here when it opens fully."
Aleksandre warned them again, and Joseph approved fast. He grabbed Chandra by the arm and pulled her after him, keeping in mind the map the hybrid next to him telepathically showed him.
Once outside, everything trembled with every step they took. For a moment, their heavy breathing was the only thing left to be heard.
Instead, the forest and the waterlogged earth shackled their ankles in the swampy ground, and the roar of the branches crashing against them was a murmur imprinted in the mind, like the thoughts that were haunting them.
"Run away! As fast as you can!" he shouted to the two, who could barely breathe.
The rustling of leaves made them lose hope. The tremor of the forest and their every step was revealed in the distance by the snarl of the beast the four left behind. Everything was together with that of thunder. It howled through the pitch-dark forest like a hunting horn in the middle of the night, making them hope they might get out of his range. They could escape the hell that would fall upon that place, with the complete awakening of the sleeper.
For some, the resurrected one was a monster with a human face, for them, at that moment, it was their only hope to catch a new day. He was a sinner, like the toxic fog that surrounded them. A mixture of smoke, ash and the whitish canopy that trapped them like a spider's web.
They ran out of breath, but they were still forced to run as fast as possible. Chandra and William, on the other hand, were too tired to cross the endless forest, as they were constantly running. Joseph could see the end of the forest, and that pushed him to his limits. Suddenly he stopped, as Aleksandre disappeared from his sight.
Before him, everything was shrouded in a sinister darkness, as if something was about to happen. It was a maze made of branches and leaves that looked like the blades of a rusty, dull knife. The unkempt strands of William's hair caught in the branches like a dead man's fingers. They were ready to wrap him in an invisible chain, causing him to lose his lead over Chandra. His breathing was getting heavier and his body ached. It seemed as if all the muscles were being torn from his bones. His heart was pounding in his chest, and the cold was a lasso running through his wet, blood-soaked clothes. He could feel the cold of that late night whipping him.
Fear dominated him.
Joseph turned, leaving his sister to go before him, while he waited for William.
"A little more!"
Suddenly, the wind blowing through the bare trees swept the leaves from the ground, scattered like the torn pages of a book. In the midst of the madness, a soft voice took over everything, sounding like an echo.
It was a whisper full of bitterness, but also of liberation. It was warm in tone, but embraced by a feeling of sadness and emptiness. It was a murmur for those who had no relief. Then he stopped suddenly. After them, only the flames that engulfed the house with the ferocity of a feline took over the valley. They were lost in the tumult of flames, letting everything collapse at their feet with a deafening crash.
Instead, with each step Aleksandre took, he let drops of blood trickle between his fingers. It was like an invisible string for him to find them. It had a scent that only that certain hybrid could distinguish. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he sank deeper into the impure water.
"To the river!" he shouted, waiting for them.
Finally, all of the arrived in the water which had a foul smell. And yet, they had no other solution. They had to jump into it to mask their smell, but also to escape the maelstrom of flames that could engulf the old forest at any moment.
Slowly, one by one they jumped into the cold waist-deep water, feeling their whole bodies being shot.
"Will he find us?" Joseph asked, looking back.
The cold made him shiver, but with the help of the beast in him, his body warmed up. He looked at Chandra and motioned for her to come to him. His body radiated enough heat for both of them. Aleksandre followed him, although William would have preferred to freeze from the cold, but at the urging of the young woman he hardly joined the group. He gulped and clung to the hybrid, who let a grin play on his lips. He would have preferred to hold her in his arms, but the situation made it so that what he hated most kept him alive.
"Surely! It just has a very fine nose, and secondly, it's the first hybrid to appear."
With this last thought they pushed forward through the swirling waters, knowing that behind them would begin a fight without a winner, like five decades ago. In the end, they managed to cross over to the other side and catch their breath for a moment before continuing on their way to an unknown destination.
What they left behind was the hatred, pain and nostalgia of a fallen era, taken over by a world of the damned. Two chimeras of a decaying, rotten and treacherous sphere would collide.
Two beasts out of hell.
Joseph paused for a second, looking toward the shore. He clearly perceived the beginning of a long and bloody night...
He put his hand to his chest instinctively, realizing that his only image of his mother remained in that room on the floor, tainted with impurity.
Everything was suffocating, and the creature's whispers beckoned him into the darkness, yearning for fresh blood.
He moistened his lips, and his tongue bifurcated into six parts, each with suction cups filled with venom, paralyzing the victim, but also increasing the affected area. He growled and his eyes shone in the darkness.
Another battle started, but with him... he was doomed to eternity.
The END
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