The Last Esper [BL]
Chapter 23: Through fire and dust

Chapter 23: Through fire and dust

Rhys rushed out of the Burrow before anyone could stop him. As he crossed the threshold, chaos overwhelmed him. People running, children crying, adults pushing each other with panic in their eyes. Some rebels shouted orders, others handed out weapons or helped guide the weaker to shelters.

He wasn’t there to help.

His gaze searched the crowd for a face. Just one.

"Eun-woo..." Rhys murmured, more to himself than anyone else.

His feet began to move before he could think clearly. As the terrified crowd fled, he did the unthinkable: he turned toward the heart of the chaos. He pressed on, weaving through desperate bodies, debris, and shattered concrete.

People of all ages walked past him, faces pale, covered in dust and fear, stumbling over each other in their desperation to survive.

Rhys dodged them one by one, steady and without stopping.

The streets were open with cracks that hadn’t been there before, some filled with fire, others smoking. Above, the sky twisted into violet hues, as if the city were being swallowed by a nightmare. The air gave off a metallic smell.

The mechanical roar coming from the public address system pierced Rhys’s ears. The alarm wasn’t a preemptive signal. It didn’t warn of danger before it arrived. It couldn’t detect the breach in the veil between dimensions until it was too late.

Human technology could barely register the changes in pressure and energy when the Rift was already open... when the monster had already arrived.

Before, when Espers still existed, it was different.

The Espers were the first to sense the disturbance. Even from miles away, they felt the distortion in the air, the invisible tremor in the foundations of the world. They anticipated the rupture and stood before the Rift before it took shape.

And, many times, they closed it before it could be fully opened.

Between the swirling black clouds and the thick layer of dust, Rhys managed to make out the creature.

Its tentacles swept across buildings like paper. One of its limbs landed not far away, the impact shaking the foundations beneath its feet. Rhys stumbled, covered his face with dust, and kept moving forward, without stopping.

Rhys caught a glimpse of several of his fellow rebels on the rooftops. They were armed, firing both bullets and improvised explosives that exploded against the monster’s tentacles. For an instant, it seemed they had a chance when one of the colossal limbs was ripped off and the creature staggered.

The creature’s blood fell in thick, dark drops from above, splattering the concrete, staining the walls, soaking the living and the dead alike. Viscous fragments of tissue slid across the pavement and clung to everything they touched.

Rhys felt something hot and thick drip onto his face. He spat it out immediately, savoring the bitter, metallic taste of alien blood. He squeezed his eyes shut as a drop fell directly onto his eyelid, sticky and viscous. He rubbed his face with his jacket sleeve, but the fabric was already soaked and only spread the stain.

But then, a guttural rumble shook the city’s foundations as if hell itself had responded, and the creature raised another of its tentacles.

In the blink of an eye, the buildings were leveled. Concrete shattered into a thousand fragments, steel twisted, and the figures who had been fighting valiantly seconds before vanished in a cloud of dust.

Rhys screamed.

He could do nothing to save them.

With a dry throat and a queasy stomach, he continued forward through the ruins, debris crunching under his boots, dodging fallen cables and cracked columns. The air smelled of smoke, metal, and blood.

The streets, once teeming with life, were now gray, empty corridors covered in dust and ash. It was as if the city itself had been flayed.

Rhys paused for a moment, his breathing ragged. He raised his voice, hoarse from the dust scraping his throat.

"¡Eun-woo!"

The echo bounced off the ruined walls, colliding with the empty spaces of broken windows, and dissipating without response.

Rhys never lost hope of finding him.

Something inside him told him he was headed in the right direction. He had no proof, no sign. Just that certainty that beat in his chest like a drum.

Because Eun-woo was an Esper. And though Eun-woo barely knew who he was, it was in his nature to answer a Rift’s call.

Suddenly, the creature began to retreat.

Something pushed at her with violence, a force not born of weapons or explosives. It was as if the world itself was rejecting her. The creature disappeared on the other side, and seconds later, the Rift closed as if it had never existed.

Rhys ran toward the epicenter of the disaster, his heart hammering in his ribs. He groped his way forward, his eyes burning from the dust.

Then he saw him. Standing motionless in the thick fog. Alone and covered in blood.

He couldn’t see him clearly, but he knew it was him.

"Eun-woo..." Rhys whispered.

Eun-woo turned to him, and for a heartbeat, Rhys felt time stop.

Eun-woo’s eyes glowed like live coals, and there was something inhuman in his gaze. Something cruel and ruthless.

Rhys swallowed and took a cautious step toward him.

"Are you ok?"

He got no response.

"Eun-woo," Rhys insisted, closer now. "Are you hurt?"

Getting no response again, Rhys ran up to him. He stopped right in front of him, his eyes quickly scanning him for any visible injuries.

"Eun-woo?"

Eun-woo slowly raised a hand and held Rhys’s neck. It wasn’t a gentle touch, but a firm, determined one, as if he needed to hold onto something real in the midst of the chaos.

And then...

He kissed him.

Rhys froze.

He couldn’t move.

He didn’t want to do it.

Eun-woo’s lips were warm and soft. The kiss wasn’t shy or hesitant, there was no sweetness or gentleness. It was like an explosion. Like a fire.

Rhys didn’t know how to respond. He stood frozen, eyes wide, breathless. His heart was pounding so hard he could barely hear anything else. All he could feel was the trembling in his chest, the tingling on his skin, and the butterflies in his stomach.

He liked being kissed like that by Eun-woo.

But at the same time, dismay gripped him. He didn’t understand what he’d just witnessed or why Eun-woo was kissing him so urgently.

For a few seconds, the world ceased to exist. There were no ruins, no blood, no horror. Only the warmth of that kiss and the memory of red eyes glowing like live embers.

For a moment, there were only Eun-woo and him.

Then, Eun-woo stepped away.

He gave him a crooked, daring, and triumphant smile. The red glow in his eyes gradually faded.

And in the next second, Eun-woo’s body collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been suddenly cut.

Rhys reacted just in time, catching him in his arms before he hit the ground. He felt his skin damp with blood, the suffocating heat of fever, and the faint trembling of breath on the verge of collapse.

"Eun-woo... what the hell just happened?" Rhys muttered, knowing he wouldn’t get an answer.

But there was something he did know.

Something that no longer needed to be thought about.

He wouldn’t leave Eun-woo alone.

Carefully, he adjusted the Esper’s limp body in his arms, feeling how light it was. There were still traces of blood on his face, on his cheeks and closed eyelids. His skin burned, damp with sweat and dirty with the dust particles still floating in the air.

Rhys swallowed.

He couldn’t stay there.

He started walking, making his way through piles of rubble and silence. His arms ached, but he didn’t stop. He huddled Eun-woo closer against his chest, protecting him with his body as he moved forward.

The road back to The Burrow had never seemed so long.

Every so often, he looked around, expecting to see enemy silhouettes among the charred wreckage. Blackwood’s soldiers would arrive soon. It was only natural. A Rift had opened, and something—or someone—had closed it. The Regime’s sensors would have picked it up. It was a matter of minutes, maybe seconds.

How am I supposed to explain this?

The creature wasn’t repelled by an army, but by a single boy who had just kissed Rhys on the lips and then collapsed in his arms as if the universe had charged him for existing.

The wind blew harder. The sky was beginning to clear, though it wasn’t a clear sky. It was a post-disaster sky, with gray clouds and floating ash.

The doors of The Burrow were still far away.

Rhys felt that with each step he was not only moving further away from the epicenter of destruction, but closer to another rift. An internal one. One he could no longer ignore.

Because as he walked with Eun-woo in his arms, he thought about how he would protect him from the world.

And how to protect the world from Eun-woo.

In the distance, the whiz of a drone cut through the air.

Rhys looked up.

The soldiers were already coming.