The hole made in the ceiling by the monster was directing light from outside on the monster. Under the spotlight, the dangerous beast had garnered the attention of everyone present in the church and was also the source of chills that ran down of everyone in the room. The red color liquid dripping from the monster's mouth was enough to make everyone understand what was going to happen next. 

Unfazed by the gazes on it, the Monster looked around the church, its gills opening and closing rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, the monster then lunged at the nearest human. It only took the monster around a second to completely rip apart the woman in question, and by that time, hell was set loose in the church.

People were screaming, running around and there, most of them started heading towards the gate, but it is before they could even open it, the door was uprooted from its hinges, and one of the other monsters barged in, crushing a few people under the weight of the door…

Jarad, who was too scared to know what to do, was glued to his place, but one push from the man beside him was enough for him to get out of his stupor. He stumbled back a few steps and started frantically started looking around for a path from which he could run away.

While people were panicking, the old man was trying to quell everyone’s panic. “DONT WORRY EVERYONE! ONLY SINNERS WILL BE KILLED.” It is then one of the monsters bites the head of the priest.

Jarad then heard the sound of glass breaking, he saw that someone had broken one of the windows to his right. And like a herd of sheep people started lunging outside the window escaping the church from there. He was going to follow them, but then he realized that this was probably not the time to follow the herd, it would only make him a target.

Instead of following everyone, he turned to his left and went to the untouched window there, broke it, and jumped out of that way. As he escaped from the window, he was greeted by a forest, where everything was covered in snow, from trees to the road.

Instantly he started running deeper into the forest, as he took a few steps, he realized that the snow was way deeper than he had anticipated, he didnt have proper footwear or the clothes that could help him survive this cold. Still, he couldnt stay here, otherwise, he would die for sure.

It was very difficult to walk in snow that was as thick as this one while running was not an option, but still, his steps didnt falter, he had to survive for his family, he could not die here. It took a lot of effort, ignoring the burning sensation from his legs he moved forward, and soon he was able to make some distance between him and the church.

When he looked behind, he saw that the church was now on fire, from time to time he could still hear the screams of his fellow refugees, he felt sad as if he could save any of them, but he was powerless.

‘From the looks of it, my decision of not following the herd was indeed correct, no monster is after me now.’

But still, he was not out of danger yet. He might have evaded the attack of the monster, but he could still be killed by the cold instead. And he did come pretty close yesterday. Instantly he started moving as fast as he could, he figured that if he moved fast enough then his body would get hot, and that would probably help him stay warm in the place

SCREE

He stopped. He felt that it was the sound of a Horney bird, if its nest is nearby he could procure some food from there. Looking back, as no monster was following him, he decided to look around for the nest. He could really need something to eat right about now. 

After looking for a while, under a tree not too far away from his previous location he found something peculiar. There were these three shells of broken eggs, lying out in the open in snow. He got on his knees and started inspecting the eggs.

These eggs were at least 10 inches big, which was absurd as he had never seen such a big egg before. The more peculiar thing about the eggs was the shells themselves, from inside the shells were solid, while from outside the eggs were covered in goey stuff gray stuff.

He was not an expert in eggs, but he had never seen or heard of eggs that were solid from the inside and goey from the outside, while the question about the beast that these eggs belonged to remained a mystery to him. But it was then he realized something that sent a chill down his spine.

He instantly got up and started looking around warily, and it was at moment, that something fell from the tree behind him. The little being that fell down on him, dug its teeth into his neck, instantly he grabbed the little thing and flung him away.

The creature slammed into the ground, it is then he saw that this creature was a miniature version of the one that massacred the church. Before he could run away, two more of these creatures fell down on his neck and dug their teeth into his neck.

Before he could get rid of the other two creatures, his body lost any power it had, and he fell to the ground, seeing this as its cue, the first creature came running to his body and started devouring his neck with the other two. He on the other hand stayed lying on the ground, feeling every bite that the little runts took out of him.

Slowly his blood started getting absorbed by the white snow, giving it a dark red color, similar to that of a Rose. And before he knew it, he closed his eyes forever…

***

2 weeks later

Adui looked at the horizon, black snow clouds were slowly making their way to them, soon the capital would also be covered in snow, and this was not a good sign at all, not at all. He knew what this snowfall meant, and he knew what kind of destruction was heading their way.

Coldness had started showing its effect on the kingdom, just in front of him was the garden, the one that had several blooming flowers just a few weeks ago, now it was nothing more than a large piece of land on which every piece of plant is dying.

Adui heard footsteps, he looked back, one of the maids of his mansion was standing behind him. 

“Yes?” he asked. 

“Master, someone called Ben is here to see you.”

“Let him in.”

The maid then went away, and soon Ben came to Adui, the old man was dressed in heavy dirty clothes from top to bottom, most of his face was covered in scarves, and the dirty clothes on him made him look like an oversized hobo for some reason.

“What the hell are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be inside, in front of a fireplace or something?” The old man asked as he rubbed his hands against one another.

Adui looked around warily and then turned toward the old man. “I was waiting for you. You know that we cannot talk in front of servants, epically the ones that the Queen herself appointed”

But the old man was not buying it. “How can you be so sure that the servants are spies?”

“Because this is what I would do if I were in the place of the queen. I would plant some spies to keep an eye on the man who brought me such crucial information.”

“So what now?”

“Let's go on a walk.” He still wasn't sure that someone wouldn't eavesdrop on him from the mansion, so he liked talking about important stuff in the garden, where he was sure that no one could hear him.

As they walked deeper into the garden, he couldnt help but feel bad for the flowers that had been ruined because of the weather, the coldness had ruined most of the crops around the kingdom as well, and currently, the whole country is going through a food shortage.

As they made some distance between the mansion and them, he looked around once again to see whether there was anyone following them or was in the vicinity, it was only after making sure that no one was around, did he started actually speaking with the Ben.

“So what is the status?” he asked.

“I have contacted the captain, he had agreed to pick us up from the Geojule pass. The boat has been secured, and I have also hired some mercenaries that would escort us there.”

“Good. Anything else?”

“Yeah, there is one pickle.”

Adui raised his eyebrow with concern. “What?” 

“It's Jarad. He has gone missing.”

Adui stopped walking, he turned towards the old man. “What happened?”

“I dont know. I met with Clair, she was a mess. There was no word from Jarad in a while, the noble that he went to meet had admitted that no Jarad came from the capital to meet him. So people are speculating that either, he is killed or is taken as prisoner by Geon. Apparently, there is a theory that Geon is planning a coup.”

His eyes widened with surprise. He knew Geon and knew that there was no way that fatso and his son would dare to throw a coup, and he also knew what was situated near the Geon’s territory, the Rose Valley.

‘Was Jarad killed by Ulaspas? Or did he got hunted by the Vampas.’

There was a small chance that Jarad was still alive, but based on the clouds that he was seeing, he was speculating that he wouldn't be alive for long. If he is in captivity, the cold would get to him sooner or later, if he is out there somewhere then he would surely die from the cold.

But the main problem with all of this was the fact that this could make things very difficult for his plan, he wanted to take Jarad and his family with him, off the island. But with Jarad's disappearance, Clair would show a tantrum, she would not come with him.

If she stays here, she would die for sure, the cold would only worse from here. While he cannot in his right mind be able to leave behind Clair and her family and go off on his own. He had to take them with him, no matter what.

Now stuck in a tough situation he started wrecking his brain, to make Clair come with him, he would either have to prove that Jarad was dead and only then there could be a slight chance that she would agree to come with him. But the problem was that he had no way to know whether he was truly alive.

He cannot go out there and investigate, he would risk exposing himself to the Ulaspas family. He cannot ask anyone else to do it, he could not trust anyone with the investigation, so he was just stuck…

He then turned towards the old man. “Ben. You go tell the captain, delay his departure by a week. If any word Jarad comes during the week, we would be able to move forward. But if not, then tell the mercs that we might need to get a little physical.”

The old man was surprised. “You sure you want to do that?”

“Yes. Clair is a very stubborn woman, she would not back down. But we cannot leave her here, not at this time. We have to take her with us, either by hook or by crook.”