The Fall

-Just kidding!-

In the midst of his descent, a vein popped out of Lian's forehead. It was hard to tell which emotion was predominant, his fear of dying or his anger towards that voice or whatever.

-Countermeasures started!-

As soon as Lian heard that voice, his transparent crown shone with white light, gathering some kind of energy from the surroundings. Whatever it was, it surrounded Lian's body, reducing his falling speed quite quickly.

However, Lian was still holding to Carol and Duran. Whatever that power was, it was only acting on Lian's body. It meant that the other two were still dragging him down.

-If I were you, I would reduce the amount of weight to decrease your falling speed.-

"Weight your ass! I'm not going to let anyone go!" Lian exclaimed in response. He had known those two for a good time, and they were good friends. There was no way he would let them go. He firmly believed that both Duran and Carol wouldn't either if it was them.

Carol and Duran looked at Lian with confused expressions. After all, it looked like he was talking to himself. But then again, they could feel that Lian's body was now serving as a deterrent to their falling speed. Duran couldn't help but shout out when he noticed that. "I don't know what kind of ghost you became friends with, but I won't complain even if you become a ghost yourself as long as you continue what you're doing!"

Now Lian didn't know if he wanted to beat the owner of the voice or Duran instead. "Keep talking and see if I don't just kick you away!"

"Ahhhhh!"

*Splash!*

Water spread everywhere around them as pain spread throughout their bodies. However, the voice's help did come at the right time. Even though Lian didn't let Carol and Duran go, the mysterious energy did reduce their speed drastically. It's just that the encounter with the water still hurt like hell. They might have even broken some bones from that.

Of course, they knew that it wasn't over. If they didn't swim up to the surface, they would basically drown. Not to mention that many more people were still falling from the skies nonstop.

*Splash, splash, splash, splash, splash...*

As soon as the three swam back to the surface, they saw how everyone else continued to crash against the water. Even the sound of bones breaking in contact could be heard due to the speed of the impact.

Duran quickly looked at Carol and Lian, telling them, "Let's get the hell out of here before someone falls on us!" Duran quickly looked around and decided on a destination. "Those rocks on the lakeside. There's enough space to hide under some of them. Let's go!"

Carol also added as she tried her best to keep her calm. "Take a deep breath and dive into the water. If someone falls above you, the water will decrease the speed at which they will hit your body!"

Lian and Duran quickly nodded as the three took a deep breath and dove into the water again. They only came out of the water to breathe before returning under the water.

Carol's idea was the right one in the end. There were two occasions when someone fell right above them. Fortunately, because of the water and the depth they were swimming at when those bodies hit their own, they didn't have enough force to cause any serious injury. Of course, the bodies of those people were pretty much dead already. Even if they weren't, Lian's group didn't have the time to help anyone. Last but not least, considering the injuries of the impact with the water, chances were that they wouldn't be able to save them due to the injuries they received from the fall.

Eventually, the three arrived by the lakeside and quickly hid under the rock that had enough space. Carol quickly closed her eyes and ears as she didn't want to hear all the screams and the sound of the bodies hitting the ground. As mentioned before, everyone who could think a little tried to redirect their fall towards the direction of the lake when they appeared in the skies. That caused this lake to be a focal spot for those people to fall in.

That situation continued for ten more minutes until finally, the sounds of things hitting the ground and water stopped. Duran and Lian nodded at each other and stepped out of the rocks to take a look at the surroundings. "This..."

The scene of gore that they expected to see didn't appear in front of their eyes. No, to be more precise, it was there but quickly disappearing. Everyone who had died, from every strand of hair to every drop of blood, was turning into specks of yellow light. Lian and Duran were certain that many more people had fallen around them. However, many of them had already disappeared. The same thing was happening in the lake, as they could see the specks of light coming out of the water.

There was one thing different, though. Lian's vision! Both he and Duran could see the specks of yellow light. However, only Lian could see that what was transforming the dead people into that was their own crowns. All the energy of the bodies gathered on the crowns, which surprisingly were detached from the bodies themselves. 'That's new. I went to my grampa's funeral back in my city, but his crown was still on his head, even with his dead body. Here, however, the crowns came out of everyone's bodies after they died.'

The crowns continued to absorb all the energy of the dead bodies until they were completely gone. Following that, the crowns would start spinning for a few seconds before they themselves disappeared as well. 'It's as if they're using the energy of the dead bodies to leave this place...' Lian thought.

It was then that he remembered the voice in his mind from when they were still falling. "Hey, the guy who talked to me. Do you know what's happening here?"