"Sophie run!" My fathers words barely escaped before the fingers had begun to wrap themselves around her. Lifting her body high into the air as if she were weightless. A scream began to form with all the might of her small lungs but it wasn't given the chance. The beast had lifted her above its head. The beast stood on two massive legs with two small arms protruding from its abdomen, acting as kickstands to support it's balance. Above them were two hulking shoulders of muscle housing longer arms that were as thick as tree trunks and about 3 meters long. Giving the hulking giant a height of around 5 meters.
The bloodcurdling sound of bones crushing and blood pouring out filled the place that her scream tried for. The hand of the monstrosity clenching as it held the now lifeless corpse above its head. The viscous blood pouring down into the gaping opening of its mouth. The jaw unhinging to an unsettling proportion leaving a massive abyss of teeth as it drank the warm red liquid flowing off its hand. Before it dropped the body in, the beaten remains falling straight into it's gluttonous gullet. My father still making a full sprint towards the scene, just 10 paces away. Had failed to arrive on time.
"No, why?" I stared in horror at it all. My fathers sprint died as he dropped to his knees in defeat. The beasts mouth closed as it's red and black ringed eyes of pure evil refocused. Now staring at the broken man on his knees, mere feet away from making it in time. Reality was even more cruel though. Even had he made it in time, little could've been done to save her. The beast stepped forward, the horrid scene about to repeat itself as its hand reached for the shell that remained of my father. My eyes were frozen, my body stiff and paralyzed. I could do nothing but watch as the only two people I had left in this world were gruesomely taken from me. The cracking and gushing noises filled the air once again as the man I looked up to became a snack for the abomination.
The thought to run never even crossed my mind. Despite the horror of it all, I was ready to welcome deaths hand at the same time. However reality remained ever cruel. The beast gave once glance in my direction and moved on. Satisfied by the meal it had found, it went on to return to whatever hole it had climbed itself out of. Broken and beaten, I stood. Devoid of all feeling and thoughts as reality snuffed the life out of the two people who made my world.
I dropped, laying on my back staring at the sky with only one thought plaguing my mind. "Why not me too." The sun made its way across the sky until the horizon was lit in red and orange marking sunset. Still shellshocked by the bomb reality had dropped, tearing everything from me in a cascade of gut wrenching events. At nightfall I began to wander aimlessly, most of the creatures were nocturnal. Making it the most dangerous time to travel. Which is precisely why I wandered, searching for the creature that would spell my demise. Yet by some twisted form of fate, I made it here. To my new home, the citadel known as Terra Pines.
The sight of a human making their way down the opening surrounding the slums drew a crowd. With the fall of humanity being years in the making, new arrivals to the citadels had ceased to happen a long time ago. The gate keepers had come to see the spectacle, armed and at the ready. Just to come face to face with a pale and frail boy, a blood and dirt mop of disheveled hair sitting a top his head. "What the hell, where did you come from?" The guard questioned me. "Androphera." My answer was short and lifeless. Maps were created at the beginning of the apocalypse. So the names and locations of nearby citadels were common knowledge. However communication has ceased to exist as all the remnants of humanities technology fell. Destroyed by weather, nature and beasts alike.
"Did something happen? Why are you here?" Fear and shock arising on the faces of the watching crowd as the guard questioned me. "One of the nightmare creatures tore a hole in the wall of Androphera, bringing a large following of smaller beasts with it." The somber answer came out, causing rumor and panic starting to spread like a wildfire. "Come with me, they lord of the citadel will need to hear you." The guard motioned for as another guard led the way. Bringing me inside the walls and towards the center of the citadel.
Guards escorting people from the slums through the city wasn't unheard of. While largely lawless there were certain creeds that were necessary to maintain order within the settlements of humanity. Heinous deeds could not go unpunished meaning only the most severe of crimes called for this precession. Because of the irregular occurrence of it every street we turned had people stopping to stare with intrigue. We reached the stairs to the parliament house of the citadel and the wide doors swung open. Revealing a grandeur Hall of marble floors and exquisitely done paintings. In the center of the room sat Lord Dextrus. Lord Dextrus was a tall man with broad shoulders and a kingly presence to him. The proud man had risen to the title of Lord not through riches. But through the power of his own hands, once standing as a bastion for humanity. One of the original gate keepers.
The guard to my right halted the precession while the other one announced the reason for our arrival. Upon hearing of the fall of Androphera Lord Dextrus's face turned pale with fear. "Bring the boy to a screening room. I need to hear more of his tale." With that lord Dextrus motioned with his hand. The precession into a journey down twisting halls till they led me into a lightly lit room. The room was grey and bland with one chair on one side and two on the other side of a rectangular table. They sat me there as I began to recall the horrible tale which had been the last month of my life.