The Earth After Rebirth

Kiro walked down the grass infested asphalt as if he were scared to wake up the grass or even the buildings that surrounded them.

Like they would come alive and start attacking, he thought back to when they were ambushed by trees, he didn't want to rule anything out. The devs were definitely a sketchy bunch.

At a distance, he noticed a rundown shop, that looked like the one he went to the first time he dragged Hiro to buy the head gear.

He slowly approached, and opened the door so slow he didn't even notice holding his breath. Then a bell sounded from the door opening, something that didn't exist in the real world.

It startled him but he quickly relaxed. "What a dumb addition." He mumbled as he stepped inside.

The inside looked like space rubble. It was a complete mess, as though animals had been inside here throwing the biggest rage of the century.

Many head gear lay broken on the ground, that made Kiro's heart sink. All he saw was money, as fake as this was it was still heartbreaking to see.

Every step he took, there was a crunchy sound, announcing the breaking of more head gears. The white walls were now painted in red, blood splattered all over, even the ceiling.

"I wonder where did the bodies go? Surely the blood didn't just, grow on the walls on its own." He mumbled to himself, he did not however expect an answer.

"It seems, they were made ground beef. Bones and all." A cheeky voice sounded.

"Huh, who said that?" He looked around and saw nothing.

"Come on master, if you spent more of your time within you'd know it was me."

"Ren? What the—"

The spectres also didn't know why their voices were suddenly audible. Kiro theorised that, maybe because they were in the realm of the undead, their realm, it made it possible. He was sure when they cleared the dungeon it'd go back to radio silence.

"Well, can you smell anything?" Kiro asked, he felt idiotic he didn't consult them before.

"Yes, besides blood and guts? Death." It was Gin who answered.

"What does death even smell like?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Like darkness. You'll probably ask what that smells like, but even if I explained, it just wouldn't make sense to you. It's more of a feeling, terror, horror and the like."

"So you're scared?"

"Wh-what—who—what—me?"

Despite the scene before them, Kiro laughed at his stupid stuttering. He couldn't exactly see Gin's face but he could tell he was embarrassed.

They walked around the store, it seemed whatever caused havoc here was long gone. There was only silence and death in the air, he could sense nothing that was a threat.

He then signalled for them to investigate in the backroom, possibly a staff room. As they got closer to the counter, the sulfuric and rotten flesh smell got worse.

What greeted Kiro behind the counter wasn't something he expected, just there a rotting corpse laid comfortably in the pool of its own blood.

"Strange, there's a corpse. Why was this one left in particular?" Nobody there could answer his question.

They couldn't tell who the face belonged to, there was a hole instead of a identifiable face. It looked like somebody shot her in the face and possibly ran out with it, because they couldn't find a gun anywhere.

What was eerie about the situation was the fact that there were no flies harbouring the body, no maggots biting the skin from bone. The body was starting to rot, it had a black colour about it.

Slowly, Kiro opened the backroom door. Their noses were attacked by a sulfuric smell. The moment he opened the door, they were soaked in warm crimson liquid.

Kiro jumped back by instinct and stepped on the corpse destroying more of it, but he couldn't escape the blood, he was already bathed in it.

"What the fu—"

He was interrupted by a growling Kel. He looked dead in the room, slouching down, his wings pushed so low they seemed to be part of his fur.

He was looking at something like he was ready to attack. Kiro noticed the shadow, which disappeared immediately.

"Do you have it's scent?"

Kel nodded slightly. Nothing could fool his nose.

"Good boy." He turned to the spectres, "do you know what it was?"

At his master's praise. Kel's ears shot up. He wanted to be more than just useful, that would mean he won't be discarded and forgotten.

"Creatures of the night." V said proudly.

"Vampires?"

He took their silence as confirmation. Kiro sighed.

"Well let's go back, maybe others found clues too."

Soaked in blood, they left the little shop. When they got to the spot they separated, nobody else had returned. So Kiro collected some fire wood, he reckoned they'll need it during the night. The weather was changing from the warm sunny day, to a vicious cold infested night.

Hiro's team arrived first, with a luggage of food and water. In-game food and sleep recovered stamina after all, so this was smart of them.

Kiro quickly washed his face and hair. Kel was a bit depressed that there wasn't enough for him too. But he didn't despair and decided to wear the blood as a badge of honour.

Just before dark Felix and Nikolai arrived. It didn't seem like they were attacked by anything but they did look exhausted. The fire was alive at this point, Ishaan was roasting some meat for their dinner.

"Took you guys long enough!" Kiro said.

They simply smiled and nodded in agreement. Kiro didn't ask them anything, they were famished. They must've encountered some creepy things too along the way.

He decided they should talk after a meal. Which didn't taste that great, Kiro regretted tasking Ishaan to roast. He was a rich kid, why did he think he could cook.

The poor taste showed in everyone's faces. Kiro was a great cook but he wasn't a miracle maker, even he couldn't salvage their dinner.

So they had to put a sock in it and eat what was prepared. Though Kiro vowed to do it himself the next time.