Shadow of Death (SOD)

Chapter 31

"....."

The silence in the room was deafening.

Everybody still stood rooted in the same spot as they had been.

Even though they could feel their bodies and were allowed to move, they still found themselves unable to.

They remained frozen in one spot, their minds struggling to process what they had just witnessed and heard.

Pin-drop silence.

The kind of silence that seemed so suffocating was what filled the Dawson’s house at the moment.

Asher’s hands were tightly clenched as he glared at the same spot where the so-called Shadow God had appeared and spoken to them.

The rage he was feeling at the moment was so great that his head and eyes were spinning the longer he stared at that spot.

The image of the Shadow God flashing through his mind was persistent enough to almost feel nauseating.

All the windows in the living room were shattered to pieces, leaving the window frames bare and allowing the cold breeze to blow into the whole house.

For some reason, the cold breeze sent a lasting chill running down their spines and through their bodies.

It felt like being thrown into an ice-cold sea and staying there for a minute.

Then, upon coming out, a breeze coursed through their bodies.

That same chill and coldness was what they were feeling at the moment.

Then,

FLICK—!

All at once, all the lights that had gone off earlier came back on simultaneously.

The whole house was now as bright as it was before.

Yet even the light seemed strange and scary to the Dawsons.

Their throats were dry at the moment as even Jack didn’t know what to say.

Beads of sweat trickled down their temples, dripping to the ground loudly.

"S-S-S-So... So Asher wasn’t out of his mind? He-He was serious?" Jayden asked while at the same time, gulping loudly.

He was trying so hard not to sound scared, yet from the stutter in his words, it was obvious that he was more than scared.

He was afraid.

"This-This is crazy. Tw-Two days? What is even going on?" Jack questioned as his mind struggled to make sense of everything he had just been told.

Everything today just went against all he knew.

If the so-called Shadow God hadn’t appeared right in their living room, he wouldn’t have still believed Asher’s words.

The voice, the mist, the crimson eyes, the words, and the aura it carried were too great to be all an act.

"Wh-What do we do now?" Jesse asked.

Her face almost moved to tears at the thought that they would die in just a few hours.

"Wh-What do we do?" Clara repeated the question as she stared blankly at the air.

Then she blinked.

Slowly, she turned back to face Jack.

"We need to leave this city before the time allocated to us is over. Come on, let’s start packing."

Jack remained rooted in his spot, his mind spinning as his ears could barely pick up what his wife had just said.

"JACK! Come on, let’s begin packing. We don’t have all day!"

Jack blinked and then nodded.

"Ye-Yes. Let’s go, kids."

Asher shook his head.

His back was turned to his family.

Head hung low as he gnashed his teeth tightly.

"It’s-it’s of no use. We can’t escape this city. We are trapped here."

"The hell do you mean we’re trapped?! Come on, don’t bullshit us. There has to be a way!" Jayden finally snapped.

"...."

"There’s no escape. There’s an invisible barrier over the city that doesn’t allow anyone who has entered to leave again." Asher replied quietly.

Even though his words were almost a whisper, they still carried through the tense room, loud enough for every member of his family to hear.

"In-Invisible barrier? But since when? I have come into this city before to survey the house we are living in at the moment so we could all move in."

Jack paused for a moment, his brows furrowing as he tried to make sense of what Asher was saying.

".... Yeah. I did. And I came out of this city perfectly before bringing you all in. So what do you mean by we can’t escape?"

"..."

Asher blinked.

His head slowly lifted as he repeated his father’s words in his mind over and over again.

He had come into Vespers before.

He had surveyed their house.

And, most importantly, he had left.

But if that was true, then how could the barrier have existed?

Asher’s mind began racing as he desperately tried to find an explanation.

Then, suddenly—

The hope that had begun lighting up in his eyes and soul was snuffed out almost immediately.

"I think the Shadow God was able to perceive your intentions or something like that. I think it’s able to know that you weren’t going to settle in alone but bring in more ’toys’, hence it was able to allow you to leave safely." Asher replied, his mind spinning with theories.

"But that’s bullshit. I’m sure the truck driver got out safely, right, Dad?" Jesse asked as she turned to face Jack.

The man remained silent for a few seconds.

His expression slowly changed.

Then his eyes stretched wide in horror.

"Ma-Maybe he didn’t."

Clara slowly turned her head his way, a raised brow appearing on her face.

"What do you mean?"

"...."

Jack gulped once more.

His throat had become painfully dry as the possibility began taking shape in his mind.

"Remember when you asked me to contact the driver and asked if he got home safely?"

Clara nodded.

"Yes?"

"And I told you his phone wasn’t going through?"

"Yes?"

"... Well, I tried again for three days straight, yet there was still no answer. I had concluded that maybe he misplaced his phone. But what if he didn’t even make it back to begin with? What if-What if—"

"—He died here." Jayden completed his father’s words.

His stomach churned in horror.

The sudden realisation was so sickening that he felt as though everything he had eaten that day was threatening to come back up.

Clara fell to her knees, and so did Jesse.

Tears welled up in their eyes at the sudden realisation of their perilous situation.

Jesse began sobbing at the thought of losing her family and possibly her own life soon.

It was crazy.

It was scary.

And most especially, it was worrying.

The reality they had just discovered was far worse than anything they could have imagined.

"Ar-Are we doomed?" Clara asked as she grabbed her hair in worry.

"Are we going to die, truly?"

Asher’s fist tightened.

His teeth ground back and forth as he stared ahead.

The fear in his family’s voices only made the pressure weighing down on him feel heavier.

Then—

His eyes blazed with determination.

"NO! We won’t. I won’t let anything happen to you all. I will protect you all with everything I have left."

"How?!" Jayden asked, cutting his little brother off with a frown.

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