[M] The God of Terror {{RedKayne & Hannelorian}}

[Hannelorian]

Cecilia said nothing, offered no protest, though her mind was unsettled. Every last neuron screaming that they were making a tremendous mistake. Exhaling deeply she took a hold of Scarlet's hand, it was calloused, the way Cecilia expected it to be. Yet there was a warmth radiating from it. A pleasant warmth, something reassuring. That sensation however was short lived. Scarlet carried a smile on her face. "Thank you, Seb. Reason finally prevails." Scarlet wasn't shy with her opinion, but that opinion was a scathing judgment of Cecilia and Cecilia felt it. It cut her deeply, an unfortunate prophecy of sorts.

Ayden volunteered to lead. Announcing his intention. Cecilia felt a disgust rising within her. "You do that Ayden. Lead." Cecilia couldn't help but roll her eyes as they began their descent. Scarlet slowed the further they went down. Her lungs choked on the miasma that seemed to surround them. Coughing, trying to push out whatever had invaded her but it was no use, it sat within her lungs like a disease.

Emma's hand was cold. There was no sweat, no moisture. The skin was perfectly smooth which one might expect of her. Never a hard day's work in her life. Still it felt wrong. Unsettling, unnerving. As though she were a walking corpse. Cecilia remembered her grandmother's funeral. Everyone garbed in their best mourning blacks. Cecilia, a teenager, stepped forward in the line that passed the open casket. The lights in the funeral home were dimmed. The smell was sterile, reminiscent of bleach and other assorted cleaning products that were hardly masked by the dozens upon dozens of memorial flower arrangements.

Each mourner passed. Paying their respects, some of the closest family members placing an object into the casket. Cecilia did not smile, nor did she cry. She remained stoic. When her turn came, her black gloved fingers raised slowly to the edges of the black that fell from the neat black hat she wore, she raised it, tossing it over the back of her head. Her eyes tightly closed and fingers now gripping the edge of the casket. Within a few deep breaths in and out, her chest rising and falling she leaned forward. Her lips grazing the flesh of her Grandmother's perfectly preserved forehead. It was cold, lifeless, she could feel the bumps of the worn away bone. The skin that had been paper thin in life seemed even thinner in death.

Emma's hand felt like that of a corpse. Cecilia knew that now. They progressed into the oppressive darkness until they had reached the bottom of the stairwell. The world of literature, particularly spiritual literature would suggest that up was the holy path, the way toward God. Down was the way of the sinner, the Devil's road. Perhaps there was some truth in those notions. They chose death, they chose the devil, and what delighted Cecilia most was that Scarlet, for all of her holier than thou bullshit was blissfully unaware of the symbolism.

A door. At the very bottom there was simply a door. It was nothing remarkable. Painted white, it looked as though it dated back to the early 1900s, right around when the library was built. Fitting. It opened easily and led them into a brightly lit room. Stacks that raised to the ceiling. And in the center what appeared to be a stone altar, entirely out of place. It looked ancient, as though millennia of water had eroded it from the beauty it once possessed to mere nubs. At the center lay the bones of two bodies, skin completely stripped, both badly burned. The smell of burning flesh once more caught the noses of the party. Stronger than ever before because they had reached the source.

Scarlet was the first to break hands. She proceeded forward, stopping at the burnt bodies. When she looked just into the distance a hand raised to her lips, covering them in absolute shock. Collapsing to her knees, Scarlet let the tears break free, open sobs of agony. Cecilia followed in suit. When she saw it she was left stepping backward nearly tripping over a book or stone or some such object.

Laughter. Heinous, sadistic laughter. Emma cackled as she watched the reactions of the other women, who glanced back between her and the burnt bones, and then forward at something the boys wouldn't see until they moved a bit further forward. "You really believed it, didn't you?" Emma called, the smile on her face warping into a sinister grin. "You should have ignored your doubting Thomases." A sick, twisted laugh burst forth once more. Cecilia understood now. It had become perfectly clear.

Before Cecilia and Scarlet lay a wall, bookcases pushed over to expose the aging paint behind it. Laying limp with his back propped against the wall was Cooper. Cooper in all of his glory, a pool of his own blood, wrists slashed undoubtedly by his own hand. More disturbing was what remained on the wall above him, a message inscribed in his own blood. As evidenced by the red of his fingertip. "My God..." Scarlet whispered, taking steps back until she had bumped into Cecilia.

The message was clear.

"Harry. Burned. Alive.
Emma. Devoured. Harry. Spirit?
Murder. The voices.
V..oi...ces.. Madne...sss...
I... w.on'...t...let him... tak...e...m.e...
Bl..oooddd....f.l.owsss....
For..giv..e.. me...
I ha...ve... but... two... fac.ess.
One for the world.
One for God, save me."

In Cooper's own hand, his final words. Harry was dead as Scarlet and Cecilia both knew, burned alive. Emma, according to him had been devoured by Harry's spirit? And if that was true... who was this laughing, this mocking figure just behind them. The one taking so much joy in their suffering.

Cooper, driven by madness had taken his own life, and left a message with his final breaths.

The truth will out.

Coop was dead. Cecilia failed him.

[RedKayne]

The laughter rang out, cold and sharp, slicing through the oppressive atmosphere like a blade. Emma's voice—once trembling with guilt and desperation—had twisted into something unrecognizable. Sadistic mirth spilled from her lips as her head tilted back, her body trembling with the force of her unhinged cackling.

"You really believed it, didn’t you?" Emma sneered, her voice dripping with mockery as her cold, dead eyes darted from face to face. Her expression warped further, her smile now something grotesque and inhuman. "All your scrambling, your noble little mission to ‘save’ poor Coop—it was all so pathetic."

Sebastian didn’t hesitate. His instincts had been screaming all along, and now they roared with certainty. In one swift motion, stepping behind the cackling Emma, and without a word, he drove his pocketknife into the back of her throat, the hilt slamming against her pale skin with brutal finality.

Emma’s laughter stopped, replaced by a gurgled choke as blood dribbled from her lips. Her body went limp, collapsing to the floor in a heap. Silence fell, broken only by the shallow, panicked breaths of the group. Sebastian quickly returned to the others, near the altar of corpses, as they tried to steady their panic breaths.

"Is... is it over?" Ayden questioned, stepping in front of Scarlet with a protective arm as they all watched the corpse.

And it moved. It rose.

A low rumble emanated from Emma’s body, growing louder until it became a deep, resonant chuckle that sent shivers down their spines. Her lifeless form began to convulse, the shadows around her writhing as if alive. Slowly, she rose to her feet, the knife still protruding from her throat. Her skin began to bubble, transforming, as she grabbed the knife from the back of her neck and pulled it out. With a soft chuckle, the shapeshifting creature tossed the bloody pocketknife to the ground near the group.

Except, the knife wasn't covered in red blood... but gold.

The creature's true form stood before them. Silver hair, pale skin with even paler white eyes, silver armor adorned his body. His presence was suffocating, the air itself thick with dread.

This creature, this deity, released a low chuckle at the ground - standing between the group and their exit with the stairway. "Well done, Sebastian," he said, his voice a deep, reverberating growl. "Your instincts are sharp, sharper than most. I commend you for that. With that, you can have a reward and know whom you are facing. I am Erebus, the God of Terror," he respectfully bowed, as if this was a polite greeting instead of tormenting the group all this time.

"But also, there must be a punishment with your action," he straightened his posture, his tone turning cold. And the price for your defiance must be paid." Before anyone could react, Erebus extended a clawed hand toward Ayden, black lightning crackling between his fingers. With a flick of his wrist, the lightning shot forward, striking Ayden square in the chest.

Erebus’s clawed hand extended toward Ayden, black lightning swirling around his elongated fingers like venomous serpents. The air itself seemed to freeze, heavy and suffocating, as time slowed for everyone in the room. Ayden’s breath hitched, his body instinctively flinching back, but the lightning was faster—inevitably, unrelentingly faster.

The bolt struck Ayden square in the chest, piercing him with a crackling burst of raw, malevolent energy. His scream was gut-wrenching, primal, a sound that tore through the room and into the souls of those who heard it. The black lightning coiled around him like a living thing, wrapping his limbs and chest in twisting tendrils, jerking him upright as if he were a puppet on strings.

His body convulsed violently, his muscles spasming as the energy ravaged him. The stench of burning flesh filled the air, nauseating and oppressive. Smoke rose from his body, curling upward in faint wisps that seemed to dissipate into Erebus’s towering shadow. Ayden's eyes—wide with agony—locked onto Scarlet's for a brief, haunting moment. "Red... run."

The lightning intensified, its crackling roar deafening. Ayden’s screams gave way to silence as his throat gave out, his body slackening even as the lightning continued to tear through him. His skin was charred, veins glowing faintly beneath the surface as if they were filled with molten metal.

With a final, thunderous burst of power, the lightning released Ayden, sending him crumpling to the floor in a lifeless heap. His body was still smoking, faint wisps of charred skin rising from his blackened chest. The room went deathly quiet, save for the faint crackle of residual energy dissipating into the air.

Erebus’s pale eyes gleamed with cruel amusement as he surveyed the shattered group. His voice cut through the oppressive silence like a blade. “I’m sure you’d all love to mourn,” he drawled, his tone mockingly sympathetic.

Sebastian stood motionless, his breath caught in his chest as the weight of his actions bore down on him. He immediately grabbed the pocketknife on the grip, his grip on the blood-streaked knife and trembled, his mind a whirlwind of guilt and disbelief. He had acted on instinct, convinced he was doing the right thing, ensuring the group’s survival. Instead, his choice had spiraled into catastrophe. More than half the group was gone now—Harry, Emma, Coop, and now Ayden.

He thought he had been their savior. Instead, he had become their undoing.

Erebus’s smile widened, sharp and predatory, feeding off the despair in the room. “But,” he continued, his voice dropping to a sinister purr, “my fun is just beginning.” He tilted his head, watching them like a predator deciding how best to toy with its prey. “You have exactly one minute to run,” Erebus announced, the room vibrating faintly with the menace in his tone. “One minute to flee from the terror that awaits you. The clock starts... now.”

With a flick of his clawed hand, the room seemed to darken further, the oppressive shadows pressing in closer as though they had a will of their own. A low, rumbling laugh emanated from Erebus, echoing ominously as he stood back, giving them their head start—but the gleam in his eyes promised no mercy.

[Hannelorian]

Cecilia stepped back as Emma began her mad ravings. Cecilia knew it, she knew this was a bad idea and yet here they were. What's more is that she knew Sebastian had felt the same way. In the blink of an eye Sebastian had thrust his pocketknife through Emma's throat, and the vile words had been replaced with a guttural and grotesque gurgling. Choking on her own blood as the last pained breaths of her life escaped her. Cecilia breathed out a deep sigh of relief, but it was far too soon.

Ayden asked if it was over. Cooper would have told him not to. In every movie when the character utters those words it guarantees that it would not be over. Cooper would have been right. Emma's form rose from the ground, skin bubbling, as though it were melting, the sound of bones cracking and of course laughter as it plucked the knife from it's neck. Cecilia watched the spot on the ground where the discarded object lay, golden aether. Her eyes widened. It was here that she knew this was no human, though everything that had occurred already suggested that.

With his true form revealed, there could be no doubt. Scarlet realized it was exactly as Ayden had said. A God had been tormenting them, toying with them all along, playing a sick and twisted but deadly game of cat and mouse. Ayden stood before her, protecting her though Scarlet wondered to what end? Nothing could save them now. They as mere mortals were pathetically useless before the power of an actual God. The God of Terror no less. Scarlet began to pray, pray as she always had. Praying to God, her God if that was a creation that even existed for mercy and forgiveness. For hope. For protection, for a savior.

Punishment. Even the Gods meted out justice as they saw fit. Cecilia knew one of them would be killed, it was a feeling that tore through her body but it didn't matter. Even if one knew, one couldn't stop it. Scarlet recoiled and shrieked as the lightning struck Ayden and he of course screamed. Her hands covering her mouth, Scarlet could not stop screaming as Ayden died painfully before her. The smell of burning flesh and hair, melting fat and muscle. Cecilia then understood that the acrid stench she had smelled earlier was in fact, the smell of burning flesh. She swallowed hard while stepping back until she could go no further, her gaze shifting between Ayden falling to the ground, Sebastian and Erebus.

Scarlet finally quieted down as the lightning stopped ravaging Ayden's body. In his final breath he commanded her to run but Scarlet could not. Instead she fell to her knees and scrambling the few feet between her and Ayden's smoking corpse. Tears streaming down her face, her chest heaving as she sobbed heavily, she couldn't hear anything that was being said to them. Cecilia watched Sebastian as the guilt he felt consumed his soul.

Cecilia had killed Emma. Sebastian had killed Ayden. Their choices, their horrible choices led to the deaths of their friends but it didn't matter. They weren't coming back. The small consolation she told herself was that nothing was going to have stopped this from happening. The moment Erebus chose them, chose their group, death seemed to be a forgone conclusion. Her eyes fell upon Erebus as he told them they had a minute to run. "Fuck." Cecilia launched forth and darted to Scarlet, kneeling down, taking precious seconds of her own time. "Scar, we have to go. We will mourn him later. You need to do this, he wouldn't want you to die. He loved you."

Cecilia grabbed her hand and pulled her to a standing position, Scarlet nodding vaguely, clearly in shock, she said nothing. Pulling her toward Sebastian, Cecilia reached out and grabbed his shoulder, nudging him along. "Let's go. Now Seb." Back the way they came, to the stairwell. Cecilia wondered if Erebus would keep his word. If they had what remained of their minute, it should mean that the obstacles in their way were quiet, at least for a few seconds more. The sound of Erebus parting laughter was haunting. It wormed it's way through Cecilia's brain as she dragged Scarlet along for the ride.

One minute, sixty seconds. Not a lot of time. What could you do in a minute? One couldn't finish their hot coffee, or even a good glass of wine. One couldn't make a meal, or read more than a page of a book. What could they do with their head start? Just about get back up the stairs and into the library proper. "Can you even hide from a God?" Cecilia wondered aloud, mostly directing it in Sebastian's direction as Scarlet was barely keeping up, let alone talk. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck fuck, fuckity fuck fuck." Cecilia swore aloud, cursing the damn situation but she was not going to give up. Not yet. There were still three of them and that means they stood a chance, no matter how small that chance would prove to be. "Out of your head Seb. Survival first, right?" She called to him, a desperate plea for him not to give up.

[RedKayne]

Sebastian stumbled forward, dragged by Cecilia’s grip on his shoulder, her words barely cutting through the storm raging in his mind. Survival? What was there left to survive for? The heavy weight of Ayden's death clung to him, crushing his every thought. He had thought he was protecting them, making the hard choices no one else could make, but now he couldn’t shake the image of Ayden’s charred body from his mind. His friend's final scream echoed in his ears, a horrifying melody of failure and regret.

“Out of your head, Seb. Survival first, right?” Cecilia’s voice broke through the fog, sharp and desperate.

Sebastian swallowed hard, his throat dry and his chest tight. He knew she was right—they had to keep moving. They had to live. But it felt hollow. Live for what? To be hunted again? To watch someone else fall because of his decisions?

He turned to glance back, the stairwell looming closer, Erebus’s laughter still rattling in his skull. Scarlet stumbled behind, silent tears streaking her pale face, her steps heavy with grief. Her pain mirrored his own, and in that moment, something shifted.

Survival wasn’t about him anymore. It wasn’t about his guilt or the mistakes that had led them here. It was about them—Cecilia, Scarlet. They were still alive. And they needed him.

Sebastian gritted his teeth, shoving the guilt down like bile in his throat. He tightened his grip on the pocketknife in his hand, slick with Emma’s blood, and forced himself to keep moving. "We’ll figure it out," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. His voice cracked, but there was a flicker of determination there.

Cecilia’s question still rang in his ears: Can you even hide from a God?

Sebastian didn’t know. He wasn’t sure if anyone could. But he knew one thing, while they were running up the stairway—if Erebus wanted them dead, he’d have to earn it.

[Hannelorian]

Cecilia was in fact, grieving, she had a deep desire to mourn the loss of her friends. Each of them beautiful in their own way, and now their candles had been snuffed out once and for all. Never another sunrise, or sunset, never another can of slop they were lucky to find. No more God toying with them. None of them had a good death. But maybe now they could find their own peace eternal. She pushed hard as she moved up the stairs, but she didn't stop at the first floor, she went up another flight to the second.

"Scarlet, you have to find a weapon, okay?" Cecilia was pleading with her friend, and she wondered if Scarlet could even hear her. Scarlet's mind replayed Ayden's death like a movie that never ended. Just the same looping footage over and over again. The lightening strike, the screams and the smells. It was a nightmare, but so much worse because it was real. She couldn't wake up and find him beside her. Or even in his sleeping bag in the next room as she found him this morning. Her tears were hard, and almost constant, though the sound of her sobbing had lessened as they moved. Her chest felt heavy, like she could barely draw in breath and the frantic pace at which the group ascended felt like it was too much.

"I can't. I can't do this. I can't... do this." Scarlet finally said as they hit the landing in the dimly let stairwell, the concrete walls that surrounded them and flicking lights left them sparingly in illumination. She wanted to give up. "Not without him. Not-" Scarlet struggled to catch her breath and wiped some of the tears from her cheeks. "without him..." Ayden had been Scarlet's strength. What she lacked he provided, and he kept her safe, and alive for so long. "I love him." Scarlet confessed, unable to bring herself to speak about him in the past tense.

Cecilia stopped her handle on the metal bar that opened the door, her head turned back toward Scarlet with a look of sympathy and the weight of what had just happened. "We have to go... I know it's hard, I know it seems impossible but we have to go and we have to go right now." Cecilia offered her free hand. She could practically hear a clock ticking down in her head, her fingertips wriggling to encourage Scarlet to take her hand. "We're not leaving you." Her tone was practically begging.

"Ready or not here I come."

The simple phrase rang through all three of their heads like a bell that one was right next to when it was rung. Loud. Deafening, sinister. What's worse is that the voice sounded like Ayden. Hide and Seek, that was the name of the game now. Fucking children's game references. Their minute was clearly up. The stairwell began to fill with that familiar fog and the scent of Ayden's burning flesh, the crackling of lightening that riddled his body could be heard in the distance. "We don't have time." Cecilia dropped her grip of the handle and took Scarlet, pulling her, using her own body to depress the metal bar and let them out onto the floor.

Cecilia looked around at the structure in dizrepair. A sad sight, but not one she cared to think about. Instead she immediately darted to the left, her muscle memory kicking in. Second floor, home to the balconies that overlooked the grand atrium, the cafe, and all books in the 'B' classification. Cecilia had always appreciated how the Bibles were categorized with the letter code BS, had times been different she might even have smiled. But it looks like bullshit was right, that fucking book couldn't have been further from the truth, and if any of that shit did happen, it wasn't because of mighty old man in the sky. It was assholes like Erebus pulling the strings.

Cecilia stopped and caught her breath. "Safest place in the whole building is rare books." Cecilia said her hands running through her blonde but soot filled hair. "There's a vault in the back of the section, everything was temperature controlled, special access only... not that a lock will do much, but.. if we're stuck here for a hot minute... that's the bet." Cecilia wasn't used to being the one who made decisions. "Unless you have a better idea."

[RedKayne]

He glanced toward Cecilia, who was already calculating their next move, her determination fierce despite the hopelessness of their situation. She was stronger than he’d ever given her credit for. “Rare books,” Seb echoed, nodding as his grip on the knife tightened. “It’s a plan. Better than running in blind. Let’s move.”

The echo of Ayden’s voice—the thing that wore his voice—sent chills down Seb’s spine. "Ready or not, here I come." The phrase was playful, mocking, and unbearably cruel. Seb’s jaw clenched as they pushed through the door onto the second floor, the fog creeping up behind them like a living thing. The burning stench was growing stronger, and Seb knew they didn’t have much time.

As they darted toward the rare books section, Sebastian stayed close behind Scarlet, his free hand hovering near her back to keep her moving. Every instinct in him screamed to protect them both, to keep them safe, no matter the cost. He couldn’t lose anyone else. Not like this.

When they finally reached the rare books area, Seb paused, his eyes scanning the space. The grand atrium loomed below, its eerie silence punctuated by the distant crackle of electricity. The vault Cecilia had mentioned was their best shot. She was right—locks wouldn’t stop a god, but it might buy them a moment. A single moment could mean everything.


Scarlet was still shattered by Ayden's death, her declaration of love spilling from her lips between ragged breaths. Seb couldn't help but wonder, in the logical recesses of his mind, if it was simply grief amplifying emotions. After all, their romance had barely begun. But the end of the world had a way of accelerating everything—passions, choices, even despair. Seb didn’t fully understand, and now wasn’t the time to try.

"Scarlet," Seb said, his voice firm but not unkind as he scanned the dimly lit corridor behind them. "If you want to honor Ayden, then stay alive. Don't let that bastard win. Ayden’s last words were to run." He turned to meet her tear-filled gaze, his expression hardening. "And don’t you dare say you can’t anymore," he added, his tone sharpening. It wasn’t a threat, but every time Scarlet stopped, caught in her grief and despair, she cost them precious seconds—seconds they didn’t have to spare while the God of Terror was on their heels.

Seb’s fingers tightened around his pocketknife, its blade still slick with golden blood. "We can hurt him," he said, a spark of defiance in his voice. "And if we can hurt him, we can kill him." His gaze flicked between Scarlet and Cecilia. "Let’s find weapons—anything we can use—and fast."

The sound of a low, guttural chuckle echoed from the shadows, sending chills down their spines. A faint toot from a tiny trumpet followed, its playful sound warped and sinister in the oppressive silence. And then, out of the darkness, he emerged—a twisted, bloodied killer clown, sharp fangs glinting as they dripped crimson, his eyes burning with malevolence.