Nightfall had enveloped the land, a trail of footprints marking a path highlighted by the scarce moon.

A slender woman panted heavily and ran as fast as her legs could, unable to remember how long she'd been sprinting. Where she went no longer mattered; anywhere would suffice to maintain the dwindling lead. Death was inevitable if her pace slowed. Exhaustion threatened to drain what little strength remained. She forced herself to continue with sheer desperate will as rain pelted her body, heaven's way of weeping.

Her loving husband and their innocent children - were all cruelly taken.

They were closing the gap.

Beatrice's lungs burned with every gasp; her legs tensed in agony. She tripped before rolling free from the mud's suffocating grip with a sob, plastering the thin garments to her skin. The beauty she once prided herself in no longer meant anything. It was as if fate had written her ending in events before her birth. What was once a quiet life had been reverted into a one-way ticket to hell.

Even now, it was distressful to recall what happened.

Half-hour ago:

Beatrice and her husband Joseph tucked their children into a shared bed and cautiously exited the room before coming together for a passionate kiss, glad to have some time alone. Slowly, the couple entered their bedroom as Joseph guided her to the edge of their bed before lying on top.

Their lives unraveled with a faint knock on the door loud enough to disrupt them.

"Kids?" Joseph called out.

No reply.

Figuring they only imagined things, Beatrice brought her husband down to kiss him again. She lifted his shirt over his head, the fabric tossed into the corner. Joseph adored how Beatrice's gray silk robe outlined her figure and complimented her pale skin. He loosened the robe's knot while teasing her neck with butterfly kisses, the aroma of her freshly conditioned red hair giving him goosebumps. With both halfway undressed, the knocking had returned harder than before.

Joseph groaned in frustration before kissing his wife. "I'll be right back."

Climbing off her half-dressed body, Joseph answered the door. Glancing into the hall produced nothing out of the ordinary. Thinking the kids were hiding nearby, Joseph stepped into the hallway. A quick peep through their cracked bedroom door revealed all three were sound asleep.

"Greetings, Joseph," an eerie voice called out.

Chills traversed Joseph's spine at the sound. He froze in dread as a steady breath that wasn't his own was released.

Fully clothed, Beatrice came out to check on her husband. "Is everything ok?"

Joseph gestured for her to remain silent, straining his ears to listen. Every muscle in the couple's bodies tensed, hearts no longer beating moderately.

Out of nowhere, an invisible force connected against Beatrice's temple that hurled her into the kitchen's far wall, knocking her unconscious. That same force slammed into Joseph's throat and wrapped around his neck. A strangled wheeze left him, the yell trapped inward as he felt his feet vacate the ground.

"Quite bizarre to have an uninvited guest waltz into your humble abode, wouldn't you say?" the voice snarled.

"W- who are you?" Joseph managed to speak.

The voice boomed with amusement. "Everything you'll learn to fear. This will mark the beginning where Edenia witnesses a reversal of ideology to fit its true superiority."

Joseph croaked, struggling to find his voice. "What do you want from us?"

"You, Joseph, will be the first to observe a new power. But first, I require information only you possess, and you will divulge it to me."

The grip over Joseph's windpipe loosened to allow a clear response, saliva dripping from his lower lip.

"And if I refuse?"

"Well... "

The force presented Joseph with a heinous scene. All three of his kids were held hostage by a shrouded male and female assailant armed with swords against their throats.

"Perhaps your offspring will suffer the consequences of your insolence."

"Wait! Don't! I'll tell you anything you want to know! Just leave them out of this!" Joseph pleaded.

"Music to my ears," the voice sardonically lauded. "Now then, what can you tell me regarding Argus's power?"

Nearly every Edenian knew or at least heard of the great Argus. This unknown entity must be a foreigner if they're inquiring about the land's deity. Such a question confused Joseph.

"Argus is... o-ur most powerful God and husband t-to Delia, a well-versed sorceress. He s-spared us all from an imminent apocalypse after having his two sons race atop his pyramid to defeat Blaze, the firespawn Delia herself created. Whoever destroyed Blaze would gain complete godhood and replace Argus as Edenia's next protector."

"Your words serve as validation. Even with what you've disclosed, I need more than what you disclosed. I'll have to use a different approach to extract the information I seek."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll soon find out."

A sinister red glow emerged, horrifying the kids and a barely awake Beatrice as their stares fixated on the oddity increasing in size. Two eyes with only one functioning pupil replaced the menacing aura to stare into Joseph's soul. The hand constricted Joseph's throat to reduce his cries for mercy. An unimaginable pain followed as knowledge was ripped away by unparalleled energy. His entire body convulsed, comparable to a trillion jagged swords attacking simultaneously. Joseph couldn't fight back or attempt to escape. His beloved family wept at the scene in helplessness.

Abruptly, the torment ended.

"Just what I was looking for," the voice remarked.

Shudders and violent coughs were all that Joseph could do, coherent thought gradually resuming. "I... beg you. No more..."

"That won't be necessary. Your cooperation has uncovered the missing clues for my plan."

Releasing a held breath, Joseph allowed his shoulders to sag as his sense of sight and smell returned.

"However, a complication exists in keeping you alive. My scheme will fail if Edenia's royalty questions you into revealing what happened tonight." The stranglehold tightened again. "Therefore, I cannot risk having you in their custody."

"B- But my family!" Joseph struggled against the solid grip in futility.

"Ah, yes..."

The voice examined Joseph's children. "Your son might grow to become an imposing warrior under my eventual leadership. I assume your daughters take after their mother."

Surprisingly, he commanded his two aides to free them. "They do not concern me, so I shall spare them. As for you..." Laughter boomed again. "Your usefulness to me has ceased."

In an instant, Joseph's neck was impaled. The now corpse dropped to the floor with eyes staring aimlessly into space. Each child huddled around their blood-soaked father, failing to contain their grief over his demise.

The concealed male approached his master. "What is our next course of action, my lord?"

"Continue hunting victims in preparation for the ritual and avoid suspicion from the King and his lapdogs. Joseph is one of the few who harnesses the quality soul needed to bring my plan to fruition. Any mishaps from this moment on are ruinous," the voice detailed before his single eye discovered an anomaly – the missing body of Joseph's now widow. "It appears we have a runaway."

Sauntering over was the svelte female. "Allow me to track her down."

"As you wish. Report back to the hideout when finished."

The voice disappeared alongside the other assailant.

"It's pointless trying to run away."

A feminine voice startled Beatriceto to stop in her tracks foolishly. "You're making me break a sweat."

Turning sharply offered Beatrice no visual, fear gripping her into a frozen state. Her head was on a swivel to see who was chasing her. Nothing but darkness persisted - or so she thought. A harrowing scream reverberated through the fields and beyond amidst the downpour. A flash of lightning streaked across the sky, the brief instant unveiling a frightful display.

Beatrice's decapitated head lying several feet away from her lifeless carcass branded with grotesque gashes, her face unscathed.