Chapter 277: Dread Approaches

Slimo, along with everyone else, lifted their heads to the sky hearing the sirens.

"What is that sound?"

Even Sheeby lifter her head off the ground being awoken by the strange blare before covering its head with her wings and going back to sleep. After three moments, the sirens stopped. Everything went back to normal. Squabee and Slimo circled the camp to ensure there wasn’t anything about to attack. Nothing. Slimo looked over at Squabee.

"Squabee, can you go check up on Maria and Jacob? I can’t shake this bad feeling I suddenly have."

Squabee downed a small bit of water before closing her bottle and resting it on her belt.

"I’ll be right back."

Jacob and Maria fell to the ground and covered their ears as the sirens blasted all around them. Even with his hearing already damaged, Jacob was able to hear the sounds as if there was someone screaming into his ear right next to him. He couldn’t begin to imagine what Maria was hearing as someone with healthy ears.

"What the hell is that sound?! Is it calling it from far away?!"

It took a few moments before the sound finally stopped. Right as it finished its final bellow, something whispered into their ears.

"Dread approaches."

Jacob’s eyes widened. He looked over at Maria and all around them.

"You heard that too, right?"

"I did. Stay close to me."

Jacob and Maria closed their hearts and calmed their emotions. They were ready. Their hearts pounded in sync, Jacob held his fists up while Maria held up her spear, and the leaves rustled around their feet. One minute turned into two, two minutes turned into five. Suddenly, they had waited ten minutes before hearing the first sign of a fight. Grass was being parted out of the way somewhere in the distance. Instantly, Maria planted her foot in the ground and sent her spear flying towards the movement. Her spear exploded through the grass and landed right next to where the movement was seen.

As the grass began to settle, a blonde woman with unkempt hair, covering her face with her arms was seen. It was Squabee.

"What the hell was that for?! I came to here to check up on you guys and I get a spear thrown at me?! And how did you get so strong already?!"

Maria sighed and lightly slapped her face.

"Squabee, don’t let your guard down. There should be something arriving here any second."

Squabee’s face turned serious and she ran her way towards Jacob and Maria.

"Let’s form a triangle. We can be more thorough with our scouting this way."

Her eyes drifted to the giant metal creature who appeared to still be dancing with no music coming out of itself.

"Uh... do I even ask?"

Jacob shook his head.

"Don’t bother. We are in the same boat as you."

"Got it!"

Squabee flipped herself around and stared off into the distance, ready for anything to come her way. One thing Jacob found fascinating was how the environment was being affected without a proper sun. The grass had been turned into a strange grey color; it was much thinner than it was before and the bugs that thrived in its brush were all a dark color, no doubt because of their now natural camouflage.

Thirty more minutes had passed without anything happening. Squabee was starting to fall asleep while standing up. Maria caught her a few times before she could hit the ground.

"Maybe we should head in for the night. I’m so booored."

Jacob looked at her hesitantly.

"What?! We can’t do that! We summoned something much more powerful than a Beast Spirit! We can’t trail it back with us where Sheeby and the others are resting!"

Maria sighed.

"But did we really summon it? I don’t see it anywhere."

They all looked around once more. Jacob even looked up in the sky to see if it was hiding in the shadows being casted by some clouds. Nothing.

"Just because we don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there. Remember, Spirits are masters at evading our senses. We can’t drop our guard for even a second!"

"You’re right, but I feel like we’ve dropped it so much by now. We are wasting our time with this. Let’s head back."

Jacob shook his head and sat down while crossing his legs over each other.

"I’m not leaving this spot until I know the others will be safe."

"But Jacob-"

Jacob refused to budge. His expression remained firm and determined. Maria knew there was nothing she could do to convince him otherwise. She sighed heavily and rested against his back.

"I’ll stay with you. Squabee, you can head back if you would like."

Squabee fell backwards and laid in the dry grass.

"It will be fine. I’ll wait here a few more hours with you two before Slimo gets-"

"Ehem."

Maria cleared her throat loudly, interrupting Squabee’s chat. Squabee raised an eyebrow and looked at the two of them before blushing slightly.

’Am I being a third wheel right now?! This is so awkward!’

"On second thought, I should probably head back now and give Slimo and the others an update. I’m sure they would be coming after us in no time at all if we didn’t say anything!"

Squabee threw herself out of the grass and began prancing away. She turned her head one last time at the two of them.

"By the way, how long should I let tell them know you two will be out here?"

"Just tell them to wait for Sheeby to wake up before coming to find us."

Squabee nodded her head.

"Got it. Three years it is!"

Squabee laughed at her own bad joke before walking off into the distance. Maria shoved herself against Jacob’s back, demanding attention.

"Yes?"

"Want me to take first watch? Are you tired?"

Jacob scoffed playfully.

"I’m always tired nowadays."

"Do you really think nothing happened when we killed that thing?"

"Probably not. I feel like it should’ve shown itself by now. That warning we read made it sound pretty imminent."

"So, we’re in the clear?"

"Supposedly."

"So, we are by ourselves?"

Jacob smiled.

"Yes. Yes, we are. If you don’t count whatever the hell that metal thing is."

Jacob pointed at the metal creature which was now standing still. It had appeared to run out of energy. Maria giggled and turned around in the grass. Jacob followed her lead and looked into her gorgeous verdant eye.

"Can I ask an embarrassing question?"

Jacob was slightly taken aback. Maria was normally very closed and to herself. If she was going to ask a personal question, he knew this was serious.

"Back then when we were stuck in the time leviathan, when we had that talk..."

Jacob’s heart grew slightly heavy, a small anxiety welling in his gut.

"I remember that talk."

"Do you think... I’m my own person now?"

Jacob remained silent for a bit, his expression growing much more serious.

"Are you?"

"I-..."

She cleared her throat.

"I think I am. However, I had that talk with you, yet I still followed you out of Paria like a puppet. I probably should have stayed with everyone else, but I still chose you over everyone. I still couldn’t bear to see you away from me."

Jacob nodded his head.

"And now how do you feel?"

Maria kept her eyes locked on Jacob.

"I feel like... I would choose you over all of humanity now. If anything, my feelings have grown even stronger since then. It feels like the more I try to distance myself from you, the more I find myself missing your presence."

"I see."

"Do you feel the same?"

Jacob smiled and brought her face close to hers.

"I do."

"Do you really?"

"There is nothing that could possibly stop me from loving you."

"But... I don’t understand. I was so mean to you. I hurt you badly, I almost got both of us killed, I despised that part of you that just wouldn’t change no matter what... but I just couldn’t give you up. I keep pushing you and pushing you and yet..."

Maria began to cry softly.

"You’re one of the only ones who refuses to abandon me. My parents never... I was always nice, but they didn’t-"

Jacob grabbed her hands tightly.

"Lidia and Slimo are your parents."

He lifted her chin and wiped off some tears from her face.

"Maria. Does it feel like I’m trapping you? Are you only with me because you know I won’t leave you?"

Maria’s eyes widened.

"I don’t-"

"Yes, you do. Do not think, Maria. Feel. Feel what it is you want and tell me. I will still love you no matter what."

"What I... feel?"

Jacob nodded his head. A thunderstorm started brewing above them as rain began to pour over the dark meadow. Flashes of lighting were some of their only sources of light for them to see one another. Jacob held Maria tight anxiously waiting for her response, her true response.

"I feel..."

A flash of lighting illuminated her body once more, and with it, a scarlet, Devil-like creature was revealed to be clinging on to her back, smiling at Jacob with its freakishly sharp teeth.

"Dread."

Jacob shook his head quickly and looked at her once more as another flash screeched through the sky. The devil was gone. He didn’t know if it was his mind playing games, but he did know one thing he wanted.

"Maria."

He brought her body close to himself. Both of their hearts could feel each other through their chests.

"I feel it too."

Then, Maria through herself into Jacob. No more lighting flashed across the sky, but rain still poured over the field. No one to disturbed them except the elements of nature. They were alone, as close together as two lovers could be in an infinitely lightless world.

Yet, in their shared fears, in their dread, they still found each other in the dark.