Human's Nature

"K-Kaede..."

"I-I don't want to d-die," she stuttered, her legs giving out as she peed herself in fear.

The ogre approached, and I was frozen with terror. There was no way to take down that monster without a weapon or some sort of explosive. And yet, I couldn't just stand there and watch as it came closer.

"Kaede, jump through the window!" I screamed, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the glass.

"N-No!" she protested, struggling against me. But I kept a tight grip on her, not daring to look back and see if the ogre was still following us.

As we reached the window, I tried to jump through it, but Kaede held me back. I let go of her arm, and my momentum carried me forward, headfirst into the glass.

CRASH! The sound of the shattering glass was deafening.

I fell from the second floor, the height of it making me regret my decision in an instant. I felt the pain in my face as shards of glass dug into my skin, and my eyes filled with tears as blood trickled down my cheek.

It was only then that I realized I had fallen to the ground. I screamed in pain as I rolled over, the impact of the fall sending shockwaves through my body. That's when I noticed something was wrong with my legs. They were bent at an unnatural angle, like all the bones had been shattered.

My legs were broken, the bones snapped and broken. The pain was excruciating, a searing, white-hot agony that burned through every inch of my body.

"It hurts!" I cried out, clutching at my face and legs as the pain grew more and more intense. "Agh! agh..!" I groaned, rolling back and forth in agony.

Despite the pain, I could still hear Kaede's scream.

"NO!!!" she cried out, and I summoned what little strength I had left to drag myself towards the house.

Every inch I moved was pure torture, but I couldn't abandon my little sister, even though she is extremely annoying.

"Agh...Agh..." I let out a pained grunt as I arduously crawled towards the door of the house.

The door lay shattered and all that remained was the door frame, providing me entry without the need to navigate the back door.

It felt like an eternity, as I inched my way into the house, ascending the stairs. I could barely hear anything, my vision obscured by darkness. All that filled my ears was the ringing of my own pulse, as I lost all sensation in my body. As I reached the second floor, I could feel my face going numb, like I couldn't even move my jaw anymore.

"Hhaa..."

I let out a weak sigh as I stumbled into my room, once again greeted by a broken doorframe. There I found Kaede, sitting alone, tears streaming down her face as a pool of blood surrounded her.

"K-Khaedhe..." I called out, but she didn't respond.

She just kept crying, tears streaming down her face. The room was coated in a dark red, with chunks of flesh and organs scattered about. I finally realized what had happened when I saw her clothes, torn and tattered, and her skirt lying on the ground. Dried blood stained her thighs, a cruel reminder of what had transpired in this room.

I stared out the broken windows, the sky was no longer white but a beautiful shade of blue with the sun shining bright instead of the moon. The eclipse must have ended. But what happened to the room? The dark red chunks of flesh and organs scattered around, I couldn't comprehend what could have caused this and where the ogre went.

"...Kaede?"

"You're s-so l-late," she sniffled, her body wracked with sobs.

I struggled to see and hear, my vision and hearing were shrouded in darkness and my ears were ringing.

"W-What happ-"

"Don't move!" a voice stopped me from speaking.

I heard the sound of rushing footsteps, either from upstairs or downstairs.

"JSDF is here, don't do anything rash and we'll save you," another voice chimed in.

I was paralyzed and unable to turn my neck to see who was behind me. Kaede stood up and ran towards them, leaving me alone.

"Wait-" I tried to say, but the words got stuck in my throat.

"What's going on?" I heard the voice behind me ask. "Don't say that kid over there, did that..?!"

Suddenly, I heard a loud bang and I couldn't tell what they were shooting.

"—Hold on, this kid's legs are broken," someone said.

"It's not him?" another asked.

"Probably, we need to extract him carefully," the second voice spoke up again. "You shouldn't have fired without my permission."

"I'm terribly sorry, sir."

"Affirmative," another voice said.

And that was the last thing I remembered before everything went black. I was lifted, or rather dragged, by my hair and all of the pain was too much for me to bear. I finally succumbed to it, losing consciousness.

***

PROLOGUE HAS ENDED.