"Riken, wait."
Those were the only words that little Leo could remember before everything went to hell.
No matter how hard he has tried, no matter how many hours he has spent, desperately trying to remember. He just can't. Maybe it was a repressed trauma, or maybe he passed out because whatever had happened in that gap in his mind was too much for him to handle.
Either way, he just could not remember.
"Jason…?"
But this part, he did remember. This part, he could never forget. No matter how hard he tried either.
"Jason!? Wake up! Mommy…"
Leo stared in shock as he helplessly shook the bodies of his older brother and mother that were laid down in the snow. His father was nowhere to be seen. The snow around them had become dyed with blood.
"Oh my god.. No, please no… wake up Jason…"
Little Leo muttered softly as hot tears streamed endlessly down his face. He could not understand what had happened.
A big black dragon had landed on the ground, and shook the ground with so much force it caused him to trip, but before his face planted in the snow, Jason, his older brother, caught him by the arm.
Then the black dragon said those words, but everything after that in his memory was blank. It made him sick. And while looking at the state his family was in, it only doubled that sickness causing him to vomit in the snow.
"Jason.. Jason please, please… Mommy, why…"
The ten year old boy almost could not speak. The shock and sorrow he felt seeing the reality of what happened to his brother and mother was too much for him.
He did not want to believe it, he could not believe it. And yet, here they were, dead.
"No no no no no!"
Leo howled as either one of his hands were gripping the arms of his brother and mother. The flesh on his mothers arm felt cold, almost like the snow. But his brother's arm, there was a hint of warmth.
Leo's eyes widened in fright as a hand suddenly landed on his face. Staying still, afraid to even move thinking that it was some danger, his eyes focused on the hand. It was Jason's hand.
It was drenched in his own blood, it seemed that Jason had been pressing the hand against some unseen wound.
"I'll come find you.. s-soon… kay..? Buddy…"
Jason's last words were soft and strained, blood leaking out the corners of his mouth. His celeste-colored eyes had lost their shimmer. And after he finished speaking, his hand slid down little Leo's face, leaving a bloody hand mark, then plopped back down in the snow.
Jason died with his eyes open, staring at his younger brother. A sad, but deeply empathetic expression filled those eyes for the last time.
"Wait… Don't, not yet, please.. No come back! Jason! Jason!"
'Why is this happening?! Why did this happen!'
'They can't leave me here! I don't want to be alone in this scary place… Please don't leave me here, Jason! Mommy!'
'Oh my god… oh my god oh my god… they're dead. They're really dead…'
Leo shook his brother's body over and over as he wailed, sobbed, and every possible negative emotion filled him. He would constantly shake Jason's and his mothers body while screaming out their names. His never ending flow of warm tears becoming a light red color from the blood on his face.
Minutes passed like this, little Leo's knees had gone pink from the snow even through his pants. Unbeknownst to him though, behind him were multiple black and red dragons. Each with slightly distinct features.
However, the leader of them, the one with the yellow eyes who had landed earlier, was perched at the head of the small army. And by his side, the red dragon from before, who had apparently now lost an arm.
An arm would indeed be the appropriate description. Because right now, that same red dragon for a lack of better words was now a human. He was in black, scaly fitted armor. his skin was as white as Leo's, and he still had the same black eyes with those red vertical pupils.
He seemingly had a shaved head of red hair, and at the ends of his forehead were the same colored horns he had when he was a dragon.
"This is it? This pitiful child is what we risked everything on? Aasimar!"
Riken, the name of this red, now human looking dragon who had lost an arm. Riken's voice was louder than the crying that came from little Leo. Causing him to suddenly tense up, and turn his head in the way of the voice.
Leo's eyes widened in horror and despair seeing the handful of dragons behind him. These monsters were so unbelievably powerful that just one of them was more than enough to level a city. So it was not hard to imagine the fear that filled him upon seeing this.
Little Leo's voice trembled,
"Was.. it you?"
Little Leo had always been a kind person. Even as a younger child whenever the kids on the playground would make fun of him for his unordinary appearance, he could never find it within himself to get mad at them. Even if he was usually teased about it in school, before this apocalypse, even then, he was kind.
So, when the realization hit, that his mother and brother's death was probably because of the dragons, he definitely felt something. But it was still fleeting, because no matter how much he cried, or how much pain he was in, the dragons were still superior beings.
He wanted to feel rage, and be burning with hatred towards them. But knowing that any one of them could end his life without a second thought overtook that yearning for anger. Instead, it was replaced by just helpless fear and despair.
The dragons looked at the little boy indifferently, not responding to his question. Leo took the opportunity to finally look around, the cages, the warehouses, everything… it was gone. Melted away from the white fiery breaths of the dragons.
A horrifying realization entered Leo's mind upon seeing this.
'They killed them all… every last one of them… oh my god-'
Before he could even finish his thoughts he vomited again.
"Do not question me, you know it must be done."
Aasimar, the black dragon with the golden eyes, said while his dragon head glanced down at Riken. Then he, too, suddenly transformed into some "human form."
Like Riken, he donned a similar but distinct, black, scaly fitted armor. With the same type of eyes and horns except his pupils glowed gold. And at the ends of his horns, instead there was a shade of yellow. But unlike Riken, he had black dragon wings protruding from his back. He also had long flowing black hair.
On his armor, over the heart, was a symbol of a black serpent, coiled around a cracked, golden crown. The symbol itself was encircled in white, to highlight the black of the serpent so it didn't blend in with the rest of the black armor.
It was unknown whether or not the wings were an intentional display. Or that maybe Riken simply could not do the same. But it did not matter, because right now, at this moment, Aasimar had walked up to the pitiful little boy. Who was kneeling in the snow by the two bodies, a dried bloody handprint went down his face.
Tears still flowed from little Leo's face as he looked up in despair at the devil that stood over him now.
"So what if it was me? Boy?"
Leo had no answer, he had never spoken to a dragon, ever, and especially not in the six months of imprisonment. They spoke English but it was unknown how they knew it. Their voices sounded human, yet they weren't.
Staring at Aasimar, Leo couldn't help but feel awe and wonder at his otherworldly appearance up close. Especially now, in this weird, human-like form. But those emotions were only a flicker, not lasting for even a second. After all, these things were monsters.
"Will you call your father now? Or allow me this kill?"
His words made no sense to Leo, but before he could even think of a response, Riken called out, his voice a mix of confusion and anger.
"We need him to finally go home, do we not? Why are you-"
Aasimar interjected,
"Fool, we have what we need."
As soon as he was finished talking, he bent down on his heels to meet Leo at eye level. The faintly glowing golden pupil reflected in the celeste-colored eyes of the boy.
Just then Riken shouted out loudly with rage.
"He is his son!"
A few black dragons behind him suddenly tensed up, as if ready to attack at any second.
"Question me again, Scale Regent, and see what happens!"
Aasimar said, glaring angrily back at Riken, he was intent on doing this no matter what. It seemed as though for some reason, his hatred for this boy surpassed logic and reason.
"By Silos we will be punished!"
Riken shouted helplessly to himself as he stood down. He glared at some of the black dragons defensively, and with Aasimars approval, they too, stood down.
Leo watched this unfold with utter confusion and helplessness. As he slowly put together the meaning behind their conversation, he vaguely understood that he was going to die.
"W-Wait, are you g-"
Just then before he could even finish a word, Aasimars black, claw of a hand pierced through little Leo's chest. Before then pulling out. The pain was sudden and filled him with so much shock, that his head twitched as the tears began flowing again.
Slowly looking down at the wound, he realized that he couldn't breathe, because, in the area where his lungs should be, there was a big bloody gaping hole.
Leo's death was not quick. Or not quick enough, at least for him.
'Oh my god… I am going to die, I don't want to.. it's too scary!'
'But… Jason, and mommy… and I don't even know what happened to daddy…'
'Maybe it's okay… maybe I'll see them again, it would be better than here… right?'
But it was not okay. No matter how hard Leo tried to convince himself in the fleeting seconds before his death, he was truly terrified of facing the unknown. What would come after? Would it just be darkness? Would there be a heaven? Or would he not even know, with his mind and soul fading out of the universe into obscurity.
'No… I don't want to..'
Hot, burning tears streamed down little Leo's face. He could not speak, nor could he breathe, so his head just burned without the oxygen as he waited for the inevitable.
"Oh god, it's too scary! It's too much! Please, I don't want to be awake anymore… pass out! Just pass out already!"
His mouth spurted out blood, his body was already laying back in the cold snow, Aasimar had long retreated back to his mini army.
The handful of dragons took off from the ground and flew to the altar. On the top of the altar sat a ginormous, rainbow hued, ethereally flaming ball of fire. Burning silently, and everlastingly. This was what the humans in the cages were chosen for. To feed this… thing.
Every day, a handful of humans from each cage would be poured out from there, into this thing. It wasn't a lot, but it still meant their deaths. And with the entire city's population, or what was left of it, as the stock, Leo and his family had managed to luck out in the past six months.
Suddenly, the sky boomed with thunder, and handfuls of more and more dragons flew down from the sky and into the flaming ball, disappearing in the process. It was as if the whole army that had decimated earth was waiting in the skies above to finally leave. With this it began snowing heavily.
This all happened in a matter of seconds, with Aasimar being the last to leave.
Leo weakly stared out at this scene, his celeste-colored eyes dulling to a glossy gray now.
'I don't wanna die…'
And with that last thought, in this cold and chilling silence of a wasteland, all alone, little Leo's consciousness finally faded.
He died.