Atrium IV
The night swallowed Gerard whole.
Atrophii enveloped him, wrapping her mutilated arms around his waist, placing her inhuman jaws around his gorgeous neck.
Then he was gone.
Frank brushed dirt from his eyes, forcing his body out of shock. His lungs seem to cave in, and he fell back to the ground, gasping for air. Gerard was..
“Gerard!” Mikey stood up, storming the field. “Gerard!” Glasses askew, he threw them on the ground. “Damnit! Gerard!”
“Mikey.” From his place on the ground, Frank clutched at his chest, pawing at his heart. Begging it to stop. “Michael. Please. It’s killing me.”
”He killed Gerard! That son of a bitch killed my brother!” His narrow face contorted into rage, his brows shadowing his face. Frank watched in awe and fear as his friend roared to the skies, tearing out his soul. “You took him away from me!”
“You took him away from me!”
-x-
“There was nothing I could do for the two. The bodies were beyond repair, and the souls had already drifted away. I could barely trace them, sir.”
“Well god damnit, Moro. What good are ya’ then? Huh? Those boys would still be alive now if you hadn't been so goddamn afraid!”
”He’ll kill me, sir. If he catches me anywhere near even his crows..”
”And now half of the team is dead. Because of your fears.”
Alendré raised a hand to his temple, running a thumb along the bridge of his nose. “My brother is sending teams to Vanity Plains like there is no tomorrow. And for all we know, there might not be a tomorrow. Everyday is an uncertainty, and I’m sick of it.” The man turned and thumped a picture on the wall. A boy of six grinned, a front tooth missing. His gleaming emerald eyes screamed mischief, and an innocence only children possessed.
“This boy is the key to it all. Find him. He’s here, I know it.”
“Sir, what if one’s already dead?”
Alendré glanced at the clock over Moro’s feathered head. “Then you better find them quick, yea?”