A Golden Piece of Bread

After running at a rapid speed, I eventually reached the stairs, and I rushed upwards. I fell a couple of times, but my mind wasn't worried about any injuries, I just wanted to get out of this place.

As I rushed, I eventually reached the exit but *Bam! * My head crashed on the closed exit. "Ugh! Damn it!" I could feel a slight pain on the tip of my head. The wooden trapdoor was as solid as a rock.

I fell a few steps backward but quickly got back up. I clenched my fists and started hitting the wooden trapdoor with all my might. "Aa..Aa…ugh" I struggled but nothing seemed to work. But then suddenly I felt a bit of strength in my arms. The veins in my right arm started to imitate a green light. It looked like some kind of green liquid was flowing through my veins. I used all my strength and punched one more time.

The wooden trapdoor cracked open with a significant impact. Even I was shocked by the amount of strength I had just shown. However, I was too scared to think about that. I just climbed up as quickly as I could.

Because of the sound of the impact some people were headed this way. I could hear their rushed footsteps.

Suddenly their footsteps quickly got closer until they burst the door of the room open with a loud noise, slamming the door on the wall. There were 5 men.

They quickly entered the room. "What the hell made that noise!" one of them said angrily. His eyes searched throughout the room but he couldn't see anyone.

But then their eyes fell on the broken trapdoor. "It looks like someone entered the lab," said the man standing in the middle. He looked bulkier than the others. Maybe he was their leader.

His face was covered like a ninja. Maybe he was an assassin too. "co..u-could it be that the Veilkeepers are here" said the person standing on the right in a worried voice. It sounded like he was hoping that his suggestion was wrong. *Who are these Veilkeepers?*.

"Idiot! Don't even joke about that!" said the man standing on the left side. "Then who was it?". *Why are these people so afraid of these Veilkeepers* "If they really are here, we need to quickly search this entire area, Go and tell the chief" The middle man ordered the two men standing behind him. As the two men standing behind left the leader noticed someone hiding behind a desk. Seeing this he got happy. He thought he had caught the culprit. He slowly approached the desk with quiet steps as he took out a sharp knife from his back and pointed it toward the desk. But the moment he turned around the desk he saw nothing but a bunch of fallen books and documents on the floor.

I had already left that place before the five men arrived. I was running down the hallway, as quickly as I could, passing through the mysterious hall rooms one by one. Eventually, I found the room that they gave me and my sister to spend the night in.

"Sis!" I said as I burst through the door. There, I saw her setting up a futon on the floor. "Oh, you are back. Look shin they gave us these soft futons. I have never touched something warm like this. It's so soft and comfy!" she said with pure joy on her face. Our whole lives we lived on the streets. We never knew what it felt like to sleep in a warm place.

Mom always told us that in other parts of the world, there are many seasons: summer, winter, spring, monsoon, etc. Sadly, in our country, snow falls all year round. So, the thought of sleeping on a warm sheet of cotton is pure luxury to us.

However, I had no time to be happy. After seeing what I saw, this place is no longer safe for us. "Sis listen," I said as I grabbed her hand and gave her a stern look "We need to get out of here," I said. Understanding how serious I was, Sis replied with a serious voice "Is something wrong?". Her previous happiness was now completely gone. "This place is dangerous. The people here aren't what they seem. If we stay here for too long, they might even kill us"

Sis stared into my eyes as if trying to process it all. She thought that there must be a reason why I was acting this way. She wondered in her head "What did he see for him to be so scared". But while she thought of that, something occurred in her head. "b-but what about mom" she said to me in a hesitant voice. "She is not here right now. Besides if we really want to see her someday, we need to first save ourselves. Let's leave this place"

After a little thought, she nodded her head in agreement.

On the other hand, 2 men went to inform garyuu. However, as soon as the 2 men mentioned that the veilkeepers might have entered their underground lab garyuu raged in anger. "THOSE BASTARD" He clenched his fists, causing the veins in his arms to tighten up. "HOW DARE THEY INVADE MY TERRITORY!!" He said as he grabbed a huge hammer that was hidden under the main table of the bar and smashed the table with it. Every chief that was working looked his way but neither of them was shocked nor scared. They all had a straight poker face. Almost like mannequins. "Go and search every corner of this sector. Catch those damn traitors at all costs" garyuu ordered the chiefs. "Understood" all of them replied at the same time and instantly changed their outfit into white cloaks. Perhaps they are more than just simple chiefs. They all vanished from the room in the blink of an eye.

On the other hand, Sis and I managed to find a backdoor somehow. Just as we were about to get out, we saw 3 unknown people with white cloaks. They were searching the whole place. But before they could find us, they noticed a different person who wore a black cloak and immediately chased after him. I and sis slowly got out and started to run toward the exit of the alleyway.

It was still nighttime. Around 3 Am. We both held each other's hands and ran as fast as we could. I eventually saw the exit. We got closer and closer until

Sis suddenly pulled me and herself behind a wall. "Shh!" she said as she pressed her palm on my mouth to silence me. I thought "What is she doing".

She then looked over at the exit. I looked toward the exit as well, Only then I realized why the people of this city are afraid of the night. Because the outside looked nothing like before. When we first arrived at this city, It looked fairly normal. But now it looks completely different.

When we first arrived, it was crowded with people but now it's crowded with some strange beings. The beings that roamed around the city were not humans, they were vampires. They all had white hair and red eyes. They wore bright white suits. 

They roamed around the city like they owned the city. Not only that, but some of them had human slaves crawling beside them with a leash on them. "What happened to the people from before" I thought. When I looked toward a house, I could see some people hiding in their houses. All the houses had their lights turned off. Only the streetlights and store lights were on. The bakery shop from before was still there, but it no longer served any food. The shop was full of dead bodies and human flesh. A skinny man who wore a crow mask sold this human flesh to the passing vampires in exchange for gold coins.

However, the bakery shop wasn't the only one. Every other shop did the same thing. It looked like a scene from a horror movie. The stone roads were covered in blood leaking from the shops. The entire city was filled with the scent of blood.

In all this madness 2 figures stood out to me. These figures weren't vampires. They were something much worse, something otherworldly. A being that came from hell. Unlike vampires, they wore black cloaks, and their face was mostly covered by the cloak. Their height was around 12 ft. twice the size of an average human being.

They were holding a scythe-like weapon in their hands. When they turned around, I was finally able to see their faces. Their faces were a horrifying sight. They had red dark-red skin. Their eyes had catlike pupils, and the white part was pure black. A strange kind of black fog was leaking from their skin. They had beastlike teeth. These things in front of me were demons.

They walked slowly, almost as if they had no self-consciousness. Suddenly, from one of the houses, a little girl comes running out of the door chasing after a ball. The demons noticed her almost immediately and a pair of dark chains came flying from under the cloaks of one of the demons and grabbed the child. The chains held the little girl up in the air. It looked like the demon was controlling his chains without even touching them.

"Ahh..papa-mama help me!!" the little girl screamed in agony. The girl was looking toward the door of her house hoping for her father to come and save her. The father did come out but, instead of helping his child, he closed the door of the house, on her face. "Papa…. papa why are you closing the door…papa…please..papa" she cried looking at the closed door. Tears fell from her eyes like snow, but no one came.

Suddenly "SLASH!!" The demon that held the child up swung his scythe and cut off one of the legs of the child. Blood rained on the ground like water spraying everywhere. "AHHHHHHH…..IT HURTS IT HURTS!" The child screamed in pain but not a single person hiding inside their houses reacted.

The demon then used his chains and stroked the child's neck until she fell unconscious. The other demon gathered the cut-off leg from the ground. The one that held the child loosened his chains and the child fell on the ground. The chains were still intact. Both demons started walking again dragging the child on the ground behind them. They dragged the child, leaving behind a trace of blood. Eventually, they both disappeared from view.

This twisted display of horror made me question reality. Sis stood beside me in fear. I could hear her heartbeat.

But before I could move, sis fell on the ground unconscious. What happened to her? Did she have a panic attack? Just as I was about to check up on her I could feel a slight pain in my neck. When I reached out with my hand to touch the pain in my neck, I saw two strong needles pierced in my neck.

Before I could take any action, my body started to loosen up. My vision got blurry, and I fell to the ground. As I was slowly losing consciousness, I could see a man walking up to us. He had a white cloak on. "he looks like one of the people who were searching the bar". I thought in my head as my consciousness faded away.