The chase

In the darkness, Liana could feel the thumping of her heart, loud and clear amid the perfect silence. She hid inside an abandoned, under-construction building. Her hands wrapped around the soft bundle; that was her baby boy, Damian. Her legs were shaking, and sweat was dripping down her forehead and body.

"Come on out, you bitch!" someone yelled in a malicious and loud voice as one of the walls between herself and her pursuer blew open.

Liana ducked and started running down the other side of the stairs, almost crying in panic.

She had always been a fast runner. The best in her class. But this was something else. She was running for her life. Rather, for both their lives, especially her son's,

"How long do you think you can keep this up?" The voice roared once more as a few more bricks flew here and there.

"I will leave with my son; that's destined. Don't maul your feeble life in between. You have no power against my might. Stop annoying me, you little wench." The voice roared again as thunder rumbled in the background.

Liana kept going down, even though her body was terribly shaking. She was having a hard time holding on to the child in her arms.

The heavy footsteps following her weren't far behind. She could hear it quickly catching up as her fatigue and fright weakened her pace. She was struggling to find a proper footing as she descended the stairs.

"It's going to be alright. It's going to be alright," She was whispering in the baby's ears. But it was a reassurance for herself. She was trembling from head to toe. She had never seen anything like him before.

He was a perfectly sculpted man with hair as white as snow and eyes as red as blood.His bare shoulders had scales for skin, and his lower body was made of steel. At least it looked like steel or some sort of metal. The mere sight of him was enough to make one stop breathing in fear. Leave alone the ferocity of his vocals. Everything about and around him reeked of inhumanity.

"Stop playing already; I have no time for this." He was suddenly in front of Liana as she froze in her tracks, as if petrified.

As soon as he extended his hands to try and snatch Damian away from her grips, Liana took a few quick, involuntary steps backward. Neither did she think, nor did she look back.

They were in an under-construction building. The stairs that they were standing on had no guards. Her sudden retreat took her flying off the seventh floor of the unfinished structure.

As things around her zoomed past in slow motion, Liana turned herself with force. She thus positioned herself so that when they collided, the child stayed above, and she braced the earth. She was trying her best to make the collision as less traumatic and fatal as was possible for her baby. It was a motherly instinct. She didn't even have a moment to think about herself.

As the ground zoomed in on her, she closed her eyes. The impact sent her rolling across the ground for several minutes.

But hold on a second. Why would she roll over instead of smashing her skull open? She quickly opened her eyes. What met hers were those bright red iris, which were now rapidly changing color.

She was lying over the steel body, covered in scales, her hands tightly wrapped around the owner. His one hand held her around the hip, and the other firmly grabbed Damian by his wrap.

Before her brain could clearly decipher what actually happened, she stood up and pulled Damian back from his grip. He didn't seem as strong as he appeared, as Liana was easily able to take Damian back.

She removed him from his swaddle and checked him thoroughly for injuries.

The man suddenly came from behind as his hot breath fell on Liana's exposed back. She instinctively grabbed Damian in her arms before turning around. He raised his hands as she ducked for cover.

But he reached for her forehead and wiped something away. He then turned his hands around and showed them to Liana. It was blood. She was bleeding on her forehead. How bad was it? She had no idea. There was too much going on for her to feel anything. But it must have been bad because it was bleeding again after he wiped it off.

"You need to do something about that." The malice in that voice was suddenly gone as the creature pointed in her direction. It was still hoarse and heavy, but tender. Much more humane, as one might say.

Liana looked at him, confused.

Just a few moments ago, there was a ferocious beast threatening her with death. Wild and feral, vicious and raw. A blood-creeping image that had made Liana cower in fright. Now suddenly in front of her was someone, or rather something, with compassion.

Confused and puzzled, Liana didn't bother to respond to his gesture. Instead, she picked Damian up in her arms once more and started running as far away from the creature as she could.

This time around, he didn't seem to move. She wasn't being chased. Liana looked around. He was standing still in the position she had left him in, his sight fixated on her. Liana slowed her pace, but she kept running while looking back.

The creature standing before her was gradually morphing. The white hairs became shorter. His eyes were already changing colours.They were now a shade of green. His scales and steel had already transformed into skin. But his glare still hovered above her.

Before Liana could marvel or wonder at what she was witnessing her eyes turned blank. Everything around her was flooded with a stream of white, rushing from all directions. Within what seemed like a fraction of a second, the white turned black.Liana found herself engulfed in utter darkness—the darkest it could get.