Only an Illusion of Peace

Chapter 1

Five years earlier...

Something was wrong.

The citizens' screams were deafening as they all ran away in terror, not daring to look back or even grab their kin. It was every man for themselves.

But I stood frozen in the middle of the road. I couldn't move. I just stared at what laid ahead of me. The giant cloud of shadow that was apparently the "Monster" that was destroying towns and killing thousands of people.

Its ominous blood-red eyes just stared back.

It didn't attack any civilians, it just stood there.

I didn't move for a bit, but the shadow started coming closer to me with every passing second. Soon enough, its tall figure was looming over me. Its red eyes dug into me as I dared to look up.

I was now face to face with it, if it even had a face. I took a step back to examine the entire creature.

Something seemed...off about it.

Many questions flowed through my mind. Why isn't it attacking me? Why would it attack all those innocent people, but not me? But, of course, the Monster wouldn't be able to answer those questions. It couldn't even talk.

The shadow bent over, its head almost touching the ground. It just peered at me, interested. It also seemed to be shrinking, like it was transforming into something. I could see a human face forming before the Monster shot back up, looking behind me.

"Leave her be!" A soldier yelled as he threw a spear straight for the Monster.

The spear flew right over my head but missed the monster. The Monster reacted in an instant. Instead of it running away, it went right through me, then it just evaporated.

It felt like I had just been crushed.

I fell to the muddy ground, gasping for air. I felt like I was suffocating under the weight of a boulder.

The Monster had disappeared, but the soldier was above me, panicking.

I took hold of my chest. I couldn't breathe. Shutting my eyes tight, I tried screaming, crying, but nothing would come out. Tears tried to leave my eyes, but they couldn't. My body wouldn't let me cry.

Trying. Attempting to breathe. But I couldn't. I just couldn't.

With one last attempt, the boulder-sized force was lifted from my body, the burden away from my bruised and battered lungs.

As I took in a deep breath, the soldier crumpled to the ground like a piece of paper. Coming up from his chest, a mysterious gray cloud flew up from it. It floated in front of me for a split second, then rushed into me.

I sat up, finally catching my breath. I looked over my shoulder at the soldier. He showed no signs of life.

A shudder passed down my spine. He was dead, but the Monster was nowhere to be seen. Just his body lying in a pile of mud.

I started to stand up and take a look around. My legs felt weaker than before.

"Mom?" I asked, hoping someone would hear me, "Where are you? Is anybody else here?" No one responded. The town was empty.

Gray clouds started crying their tears down onto me. I crossed my arms to try to keep warm. My hair became soaked in a matter of seconds.

"Excuse me?" a voice asked.

I whipped around, my arms immediately going to a defensive stance. A boy two years older than me was reaching his hand out for me.

"Are you okay?" he asked.