"One of us is going to die." Deborah said to Lucas, her voice reverberated in his head multiple times before he could actually process what she had just said.
"Die? Who dies? You surely would have seen that right?" Lucas asked, his concern wasn't for the others, he was concerned about himself because dying here would fly in the face of what he had promised himself, that he won't die until he truly needs to.
"I don't know which of us died, all I know is that one of us most definitely will." Deborah replied.
Lucas hung his head thinking about the possibilities, he thought about David, the young lad still had scars on his soul from when Karl burned him. Lucas theorized that an ability like that would leave lasting effects on David's soul, the only reason that Ravencroft didn't feel those effects was because it was of a way higher rank than Karl but since Karl and David were pretty much equal then those effects would be huge.
So at this point, Lucas had just two people in mind, David and… himself. For David, the effects of soul flame would most definitely hinder his movements and make it hard for him to fight to the fullest of his capabilities and as for him, Lucas believed that the others would use him as bait or leave him for dead if the situation demands, the only one he had a feeling wouldn't do that was David but… one of them had to die.
"I see.' Lucas finally replied, he raised his head and then said to her:
"Let's head back, we have a long day ahead of us, we need to kill a World Eater today so we can get back."
"Yeah." She replied. "I need something to cover my face."
Lucas was shocked at her statement. "Cover your face?" He asked, perplexity clearly evident on his face.
"Yes, as I said before the only one who had killed a World Eater was my grandmother and this was the day it happened." Deborah replied.
Lucas put his hands on his waist and then sighed, he remembered a little bit of what happened on the day of the calamity, like when "she" died or when it was said on the news that a Lindenheart had killed the horrendous creature that spawned from the gate, the same creature that nearly wiped out the entire nation in one fell swoop.
"I don't have anything nice for you and moreover, my clothes are covered in blood." Lucas replied.
"Give me that." She pointed at a piece of clothing hanging from his left pocket. Lucas pulled it out and it was a scarf, the same scarf he tied on his forehead at work to keep sweat away from his eyes.
He handed the scarf to her and said:
"Sorry if it smells like sweat and shit, I haven't had time to wash it in a while."
She took it from him, stared at it for a while before covering her nose and mouth with it.
"So you need to cover your face so your grandmother won't recognize you right?" Lucas asked, he felt weird seeing someone else, a girl intact, putting on a piece of his clothing.
"Yes, her recognizing me might invalidate our efforts so I need to keep a low profile." She replied.
Lucas shrugged and then started walking back in the direction of the camp, upon getting there he saw David and Karl sparring. David's attacks were far slower than when they fought against Ravencroft, Lucas deduced two things, either his soul is basically deteriorating or he's going easy on Karl.
Karl on the other hand seemed to be enjoying himself as he easily dodged David's attacks. His precise body movements showed that he had undergone some sort of training before coming here.
"Hey!" Deborah shouted, Karl and David stopped their mock battle and then turned to her.
"Hey Debbie." Karl said with a huge smile on his face and then he immediately shifted his head to the left as a rock flew past his face.
"I thought I told you not to call me that!" Deborah screamed as she hurled another rock at him which he dodged easily.
Lucas stared at them for a while, for him their behaviour was strange. They had a huge mission in a short while and here they were concerning themselves with trivial things like what names to call each other.
David walked over to Lucas and put his hand on his shoulder, then he pointed in the distance and then said:
"It's begun."
Lucas looked in the direction that David pointed, he saw the clouds in the distance conform and twist as if forming a tornado in the sky, that was a gate.
Gates formed in numerous places, the location where the gate spawned usually meant what kind of what rank of creature would come from it. A gate like this one which formed in the clouds or one that formed in the ocean would mean either a Catastrophe or a World Eater would appear. World Eaters themselves were very rare and ninety-nine percent of the time only appeared in the Imposition but the calamity saw a whole host of abnormalities which had never happened prior to it.
"Would you stop your bickering!" David screamed at Karl and Deborah who was still chasing the handsome guy, they both turned to him and Lucas who then nodded in the direction of the gate.
Karl's expression instantly became serious, "We have to move."
Lucas felt a shiver run down his spine, it began and this was the only way they could go home.
They moved into the city where the gate had spawned, shops were being discarded, people running away, even children being abandoned by their own parents.
Lucas saw a child crying, she was seated in front of a desolate building with no one around her, he was about to walk over when his heart dropped.
He saw "her" again. Her bright red was flowing in the wind as she picked up the crying child, Lucas recognized her beautiful face, the same girl he had fallen in love with years back but never had the courage to tell her, and this was the day she died.
Deborah noticed him staring and tapped his shoulder. "Do you know that person?" She asked.
Lucas nodded. "Yes I do, but I don't know if she would remember who I am."
"Let's leave it be." Karl said to him. "It might hurt to see her again but we have a mission to complete and completing it would mean returning home."
Lucas nodded, understanding what Karl meant as it was basically useless now. Her death was inevitable, it had happened before and it would happen again.
The four of them continued moving through the city, then when they saw what they were up against, their eyes widened and their mouths were agape in awe.
It didn't look like it had a physical form, as its form was constantly changing moving like smoke or water vapour, anything that came into contact with it got destroyed as it descended from the gate, its mere existence driving fear into the hearts of all who knew it was there and onto those who gazed upon it.
This was it, this was a World Eater.
Deborah's words echoed in Lucas's head once again.
"One of us is going to die."