What's a Hero in Underworld?

【 Prologue 】

"Maintainers' rule no.1: Every word said defines your end. Mind your words."
— — —
"Dying is scary... but living is difficult. W...why do I have to live? ...This is probably why I keep getting nightmares."

"This empty subway station... it would probably be an ideal place to cook up something in secret if they weren't so noisy about it." Chris said, carefully inspecting every element of it. "Hey, I'll check the far right, you check the far left?"

Riley stared at Chris, holding back a deadpan; What makes you the one to say that?

"Fine." The words exited their mouth rather than the sour thoughts churning in his mind. Riley turned away from their colleague, walking down the left path while looking for anything that was left behind.

Chris smiled smugly with a tilt of his head, almost sighing before he went to check on his side.

Nothing, nothing...

Wow. They must have cleaned up their tracks here.

Riley held onto the straps of their backpack — a weary yellow one, in Chris's words — as they frowned. She was hoping to be able to bring back something.

They were snapped out of their thoughts when a boy — no older than 15 — peeped his head out from a corner shyly. "U, um. Excuse me... do you work here?"

"Hello..." Riley tensely responded before shaking his head, "No, sorry."

"That's okay... what're you doing here? It's really quiet." Eugene shifted from one foot to another, adjusting his glasses.

"We were looking for something we may have dropped around here, no luck though." Chris shook his head, his expression no longer smug and now simply neutral as he approached Riley once again, whispering in their ear. "Didn't find anything, we should head out and report back to —"

Yet before either could move, something stepped out from the station attendant's office, and the lights flickered.

Riley looked up in confusion, turning to Chris who had a fearful look on his face — which was unusual — and then to Eugene, who was looking in the same direction with an equally, if not more, freaked out look.

"R, Riley?" Chris asked in a shaky whisper, "Do you see that...?"

"See what?" She frowned in confusion before turning their head to meet something... unhuman.

Riley's eyes widened, hands moving to grab ahold of Chris and Eugene's wrists in case they needed to run.

Suddenly, the... thing lunged at them.

"Run!" Chris exclaimed, bolting for the stairs while Riley followed next to him, bringing along Eugene while all three were pushed by adrenaline to keep bolting for it.

"Is it still behind us?!" Riley asked, sweat drops beginning to run down their forehead and face.

Chris shook his head, "I don't wanna look, we're almost at the exit!"

Eugene, on the other hand, snuck a look over his shoulder and immediately began speeding up, "AHHHHH! IT'S FOLLOWING US!"

"Push open that door!" Riley shouted a little more loudly than she intended, reaching for the barred door with the others when a shock ran through their body.

She heard a quiet groan — it was hard to distinguish whose it was — and promptly felt gravity pull hard before suddenly letting go of the gate.

/ — Line Break — \

"Ouch..." Eugene mumbled, pushing himself back up to his feet, "W... What was that just now? Why am I..."

"Ohh..." one of the adults who had been with him groaned, pulling himself up.