《Hell-Bound》Chapter 2- Red Sky Day
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The day (1 December 2018) started normally; albeit I slept in a bit since it was a Saturday. I mean, I was already lazy normally, on a weekend obviously I’d take the opportunity to be a bit more lazy… oh, looking back how I wish I woke up early… how I wish I hadn’t slept in… how I wish I was more prepared, for what happened when the clock struck twelve.
In the end, I had woken up at ten, about three hours later than normally, to the sound of Emilia knocking on my door. Though I hadn’t known that until I answered the door after putting on a plain black shirt, and she then entered the room, looking worried…
“Emilia, what’s wrong… sorry if I’m a bit tired, I just woke up.” I caught her staring at my yawn as I poured my coffee out; placing a cup of tea in front of her which she sipped quietly… eventually she spoke.
“Arthur, you know how I call my parents every morning?” I raised a brow… obviously I knew, what with how I’d sometimes catch her mid conversation (I believe she spoke in Russian most of those times; making me think she is actually Russian. Considering I can’t pronounce her surname properly, I’d hope I was right)
“Yeah, of course I know… why, is there something wrong with your parents?” I asked, honestly worried…
Though I had never met, nor spoken to her parents, my friends family was my family, and I took care of my family. She nodded, and my gut sunk.
“I call them at eight every morning, since it would be around three PM in Russia (confirmed Russian here) but they haven’t picked up… they’ve never done this. Even if I called a bit late they always picked up… I’m worried.” She stated as I frowned… I had to be calm, but something just wasn’t right.
Emilia was a punctual person, always on time, rarely late, a habit she claimed to receive from her parents who were even less likely to be late than her. Having one person miss the call was strange; having two such was disturbing…
“Have you tried calling again?” I asked, knowing her answer already, as I walked up to my computer and opening the internet, noting the time to be half past ten by now as I typed in Russia, Moscow, and the date, hoping to see daily occurrences so far. As I typed though-
“Yes, I’ve called three times, no answer…” I bit my lip in frustration, Google giving me only the knowledge that Moscow was currently off the grid, and something was happening… something bad. But what, I did not know. I’d calm Emilia down though, as she hadn’t seen the results yet.
“I’m not sure what I can say that would make this better Emilia…” I really wasn’t sure, I mean, I’m not exactly the greatest at comforting another human being…
“But from what you’ve told me, your parents are strong people, surely they will be alright and you’ll be able to talk with them by tomorrow at the latest about what could have kept them.” I hated lying to my friends, but this was to make sure Emilia didn’t get more worried than she currently was.
“Yeah… yeah, you’re right… still, I’m going to stay here for a while, if that’s alright with you…” I wouldn’t refuse, if anything happened to my family… “Sure, you can stay a while…” I said as I worried… but I also noticed another thing while typing. This ‘blackout’ was spreading, and it had started in Japan…
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It seemed to be moving from the East to the West, meaning that America would be hit roughly last… but at what time would it be hit? I didn’t know, but I wasn’t about to go into this without some protection, no matter what it might be.
Call me paranoid, but when you have a friend who thinks we’ll die to zombies (Michael) and a friend who believes aliens will kill us all (Matt) you become paranoid.
With that thought in mind, I picked up my favourite knife; it had a wooden handle with an engraving of something similar to the Japanese Hawk on it, and had an army feel to it. Emilia noticed the knife and got confused.
“Arthur, what are you doing with that?” she asked as I took note of it… it wasn’t that big honestly, and other than a grown man and something roughly the same size it would be worthless… but it provided a small sense of security at least.
“I have a bad feeling; I want something to protect myself.” I stated, and somewhere in the back of my mind I noted the time to be 11:04, getting closer to noon, while Emilia seemed to… change. She always seemed quiet and caring, almost like a mother in some cases, but now she seemed focused and determined.
“You’re worried and actually seem active for once?” Yes, I was that lazy- “If that’s the case, can we stop at my dorm, and I’ll get something for myself.” She seemed to notice that I felt something was wrong, majorly wrong, but at least (I think) she hadn’t made the connection with her parents yet.
By 11:20 we were out of her dorm (and I rarely stepped in there, though her room was surprisingly girly for someone who seemed to not care about that) though I don’t know what she got as she tucked it away before I could actually see it.
“What do you think it might be?” she asked and I honestly didn’t know how to answer… All I knew was that it was big, and was causing communication failures as it passed. Whether that meant everything stopped working or even something worse, I did not know.
“Honestly I’m not sure, but… look, I don’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill, but apparently it’s more than Russia that’s in a communications blackout, it started in Japan and Australia, then moving west… we will likely be hit last (or Hawaii but I didn’t really count the island in there)…”
I finally admitted something was in fact wrong, and Emilia bit her lip (something which drew my attention to said body part, which I soon crushed with the will of it not being the time or place for thoughts in that direction) before she nodded, going back into that tense feeling I got from her.
We sat in the park waiting, not wanting to be inside a building when whatever this was hit and I was surprised when she took my hand as I turned my head to her raising an eyebrow. She surprisingly seemed a bit embarrassed as she answered “I just needed a bit of human contact for this.” And I accepted it.
Then… then it happened. The clock struck twelve… and everything suddenly felt wrong. It was a feeling few people should face in their life ever. The feeling of being stared at by a predator, a hulking beast capable of taking your life before you could move… and with that feeling, the sky seemed to bleed into a red, crimson the colour of blood. And with that colour, a voice was heard.
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“Tick, tock, tick, tock... The clock strikes twelve. Tick, tock, little humans… try to survive.” The voice was eerie, and for some strange reason, vaguely familiar, as a faint rumbling was felt through the ground, before the voice once more spoke. “Oh yes… do make this interesting…” and with that, the ground rumbled…
And the ground opened, creating sinkholes throughout the area, and then… then it got horribly disturbing.
Things, giant, disgusting, centipede looking things appeared from the sinkholes, screaming in a voice that sounded too much like a tortured human voice, and with that, I turned to Emilia, who seemed even more disturbed than me…
And I was very disturbed… I expected bad things, but this… I barely had time to think as a nearby… Centipede, went and impaled someone on one of its many legs before eating the person, the sight of the blood and gore almost making me puke… almost…
In the moment, I hadn’t noticed, but it was something I noticed later, after the situation, was that I wasn’t actually disturbed by the death itself, but more the viciousness of the death. After all, I didn’t know that guy, why should I have cared that someone I don’t know died, but couldn’t that Centipede thing at least be clean about it?
But, at the time, I didn’t have the thought capacity for that, as one of those things was coming for Emilia and me, causing me to grab her arm and run… “Arthur, oh no, Arthur what do we do!” she shouted at me as I struggled to think up an idea, before I barely managed to think up one, though the thing was getting a bit too close.
“Maybe an alley, it would be forced straight at us and wouldn’t be able to get us as easily… Emilia… let’s kill it.” It was strange and I didn’t know why I thought it, but all I knew was that I wanted that thing gone instead of me…
Emilia would later tell me that, while the plan was insane, the fact that I had a smile on my face (a nervous smile, but a smile nonetheless) was a bit more noticeable, and she just barely agreed with a nod.
It was a close call, but we managed to escape into an alley way, the thing crashing behind us still… the breath of the thing, hot and revolting, could practically be felt on my back (I’d say neck but its mouth was so huge my back felt it too) as I could only think of one option that would get us out of this alive… a crazy one, but judging from its legs (which were on its side instead of under it), it would work, as I looked at Emilia as we took those last few steps.
“Duck!” I didn’t have much time for more as I pulled her with me onto the ground, the huge maw of the creature gliding over my head, something I barely recognised as I stabbed up, absently noting Emilia with… a gun. A gun of all things in her hands (a Makarov now that I think about it) shooting at the thing as I stabbed…
It was also while I stabbed that I noticed something… the creature… wasn’t actually that ‘strong’? It seemed big, and it was pretty quick, but… it had barely been able to damage the walls, and it didn’t seem to be… heavy. In fact, it was easier to lift than I expected…
It also happened to die from either the cut to the… neck? I’m not sure on centipede monster physiology, but if it wasn’t that it might have been a bullet to the spine or something.
It screamed for a second then died, and I vaguely noted the blood on me was vaporising into steam, along with the thing itself as it died luckily not leaving us trapped under it.
We lay there on the floor for a moment, just basking in the fact that we were alive, but by then we had to stand… after all, there were more than just one, and we just barely managed to slay one. I turned to Emilia, a tired smile on my face… “…we survived for now… let’s stay alive.” She smiled back… now to make sure we kept breathing.
It was an hour later, and after somehow killing another (this time I shot it since I was curious on the gun… I’m honestly pretty accurate) and the sky’s colour started to return, making Emilia and I both extremely glad, seeing as we’ve basically been stuck inside this dead end alley for the past hour, not wanting to leave our safe spot…
It was immediately after this feeling of joy that it was turned into despair… because the voice spoke once more… and again, the voice was eerie, strangely familiar, and disturbing… this time, it also sounded giddy, and quite frankly if it weren’t for the severity of its words I would say I was annoyed by it.
“Ah, you all survived, a full hour of fighting, it is breath taking what humans can do to survive… it’s also kind of sad you know? Because I wonder how many of you survivors thought about what was happening to the rest of the world as you survived?”
Compared to flush of joy, the cold touch of realization was much more noticeable for me after that, both Emilia and I freezing in realization.
“For instance, did you know that there were, this morning, eight billion humans on earth? Fascinating really, how you’ve populated this planet. It’s also fascinating that in one hour for each time zone, I managed to cut that population down to six point seven billion. Aren’t I the little mass murderer…? It was glorious!” I felt my fist clench enough to draw blood in anger at the flippancy of the voice and its laughter, wishing the embodiment of it was here so I could punch it.
“Wow, just imagine what I could have done had I kept that up for longer! But that’s beside the point, the important thing is that I killed a lot… and the fact you can learn by my jolly tone is that I enjoy that fact… and detest the fact that I haven’t killed more.” The sudden switch from jolly to quiet anger was sudden, like going from top speed to a dead stop instantly.
“See, I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I? My name is Chronos, with a ‘c’ for you Greek fanatics. I also happen to not be a Greek or a god… maybe. I am, however, a demon… to be precise, the Ruler of Hell.” The sheer absurdity of the statement had me confused, but by now I could do nothing but listen to the words of this mad man… technically demon, but still.
“Now, I’ll be honest with all you humans… the reason I killed your families, had your fathers ripped limb from limb, your mothers eaten whole, and your siblings stepped on by bladed limb is simple… I’m bored.” …WHAT?
“That’s the spirit, get angry, get indignant, it’ll make what comes in the future more fun… because you see, I’m bored because I’m strong, because I have conquered Hell, single-handedly, in only eight years since I actually started. Then I took a four year break to get bored, and here we are.” That’s… I don’t know what to think about this… Emilia looked less disturbed than me though, I wondered why…
“See, while conquering Hell was fun; it was limited in what I could do after I had done so. So I figured, what else was there to do… then I realized it.” The pause here was palpable, and I could practically feel the voice smiling… “War. War in all its glorious forms will be my solution to my boredom. I would have started attacking Heaven, but even I am not that insane. So instead, I figured that I would attack Earth, procure a checkpoint for when I actually do invade Heaven.”
This… all this death… was because a warmonger with too much power and an entire world at his disposal got bored, and decided to start with the ‘easy’ target… it can’t be… it can’t be that human lives are worth that little… I ignored the small voice inside of me saying that obviously they were worth less than the lives of my friends and… family… no…
“So, today was my opening strike! A pretty strong one too, considering I took out roughly a fifth of all humans out in one hit! But, if I kept doing this the war would get to simple… but, I’m also a bit fair, despite my overwhelming sneak attack, I’m going to step back and give you humans two days before the next bit of ‘rules’ pop up in this war… so until then, rest… mourn… heal. Gather your hate and anger, and get ready for this war… because if you humans don’t make this interesting… well, I get the feeling I’d just get ‘bored’ again.” I could hear the threat, and I noted it, but I barely cared as Emilia shook me back to reality, her eyes worried as she noticed her phone had signal once more, a phone call from her parents coming through making her happy…
At the same time, my phone went off, and it was Michael, as I answered, hoping he was doing better than I was. “Oh it’s good that you’re alright man, you are alright yeah? Arthur, Arthur, you there?” he was high strung, and I breathed out in hearing him being that energetic.
“Yes, I’m fine, Emilia and I managed to survive by helping each other, even managed to kill two of those things.” I admitted as I heard Michael sigh. “Yeah, Alice and I managed to take out a few who tried to hurt the family while we were visiting.” And there that cold feeling was again… that dread that I couldn’t shake off that something just… wasn’t right with the world anymore.
“Arthur… you okay?” Michael asked one more time, noting my silence as I shook my head. “No… maybe? I’m worried about my family, I mean, the only ones at my parents’ house would be my parents and Denis since Angelica went to go visit a school friend but…” I heard Michael swear a bit.
“Shit, of course you’re worried, sorry man, I’m sure they’re fine… but anything happens, you tell me. You know I’ll help you out.” He would. Michael was more of a brother to me than James ever was (and I just noted that I actually did care whether or not James was alive or otherwise...) and I knew he’d help me.
“Thanks man, I’m going to go check up on them now, you should call Matt and John to check if they’re alright.” I heard Michael acknowledge my request as I put down my phone, noting Emilia talking animatedly in Russian before she noted me, saying some last words, and ending the call, and she noted my worried look.
“Arthur, are you worried about…” she asked as I nodded, she frowned, grabbing my arm and dragging me along with her as I just followed along, allowing myself to be dragged forward… normally I’d take my arm back and just walk, but I felt… I knew that something wrong happened during this. What it was… It could only be that… but I was hoping it wasn’t.
“Come on, I’ll drive.” She had a good car though she rarely drove, it was a BMW M3, a car Michael would probably sell his first born for, as she unlocked the doors and pushed me into the passenger side, before getting into the driver seat and starting the engine.
I was feeling a bit out of it, but even in my strange state of mind I noted that the streets were in ruins, dead bodies lying around, some of the blood actually causing the wheels of the car to slide occasionally, and some buildings had holes in them… it looked like… no that analogy didn’t really work when it WAS the scene of a disaster.
I barely felt the time pass as we drove, until we stopped in front of my house… and immediately, I felt the tears spring to my eyes upon seeing the front section of the house having bloodstains near it…
I got out of the car, walking to the front yard… I couldn’t step further. I couldn’t go inside… I didn’t need to anyway… I fell to my knees at the sight of my mother lying with her right half practically gone, long since pale from lack of blood, and my father… the only thing left was his upper body, his lower half having been chewed away apparently… and as for my youngest sibling, Denis? All I could see was his tiny stuffed teddy bear, lying in the puddle of blood near my father…
I heard Emilia gasp behind me… I felt her walk to me and hug my back, holding me close… but I couldn’t move and I couldn’t focus… I could do naught but cry, as I came to a startling realization… other than possibly James and Angelica… I had no one left to truly call family… I was practically alone…
That, more than anything, made me cry for the first time in years.
I sat there for quite a while, my only companion being Emilia during this time… it was still bright in the day, and I could hear the many sirens as police, military, medics, whatever was necessary was moving through the huge city looking for survivors. Apparently we had been found at one point, but left alone after they saw we were okay, though the bodies of my parents were covered…
I couldn’t stay here. I was feeling increasingly depressed just from being near here, I had to leave. I finally stood, though I almost fell due to the numb feeling in my legs, only Emilia’s arm reaching for mine kept me from falling onto the grass as she helped me stabilise myself…
“Emilia… thank you… for everything.” She didn’t have to be here… she was my friend, yes… but still. She didn’t have to wait for me for so long, she didn’t have to bring me here, and she didn’t have to… to hold me when I broke down… but she did. She did and I would always keep that in my memory.
“Arthur you would never need to thank me for that… I’m your friend. If I didn’t, I couldn’t live with myself.” And that only finalized the thought in my mind that I couldn’t repay that act. I was brought from my thoughts when I noticed my phone ringing, the caller ID showing Michael, as I answered.
“Arthur! I’ve been trying to call for the last half an hour… is… are they?” he asked as I winced at the reference to my…
His reference to the corpses behind me, as I breathed in, willing the pain to stay away for a moment. I needed to focus in the now. I had to focus.
“…My parents are gone… so is Denis… I’m not even sure about Angelica and James.” I admitted after a moment of silence, hearing the sharp intake of breath from Michael before he swore and I heard something sounding similar to a thump.
“Shit… Arthur, come over. Come here, now. You shouldn’t be alone during this.” Expect Michael to be the one who was so worried he wouldn’t want me out of his sight. I turned to Emilia, holding the speaker part of the phone away from me while covering it.
“It’s Michael… he heard the news… wants me to stay by him for a while.” I admitted which made Emilia smile and nod, something which I wasn’t sure how to react to. “What’s with the smile?” I asked as we got in the car, apparently it was set in stone that I would be going to Michael.
“I’m glad you have friends other than some foreign girl you only met in the year that would help you out that much.” I frowned at the insinuation as we started driving. “Emilia, you aren’t ‘some foreign girl’, you’re my friend… more than that, in my books.” She seemed to freeze for a second as what I just said seemed to finally register to her… then a blush was on her face as she slowed down with the car, still driving though.
“O-oh? What am I to you then?” she asked as I narrowed my eyes… despite what Michael and the others think about my skills with the fairer side of humanity, I was quite knowledgeable with psychology… I had to be with… let’s stop that thought there. That way laid sadness.
“Emilia. Whether you are family or something more, you are important to me… how important, well… I’m not sure on that yet. But make no mistake. I cherish you as much as Michael by this point, and he’s been my friend since I was a child.” She seemed a bit confused, but happy at the final point.
Maybe, just maybe I’d try to be more than friends with Emilia… but that would be in the future… my emotions are in too much disorder for me to randomly decide to be with someone like that… besides, that just seemed wrong… even with my tears from earlier, I don’t think it fully hit me… to start dating today, on the day that… thing, calling itself Chronos, attacked and the day…
“Emilia… whatever I do about how I treat you, it will have to wait… I’m just… not in the right state of mind as I am currently.” She frowned, her eyes glossing for a second. She understood, knowing that I was right.
“Arthur… alright. I’ll… I’ll wait.” I nodded, looking blearily at my own hands as we drove, trying to sort through my feelings without poking my nose in the direction of the cause of my depression… I couldn’t deal with that just yet, I wasn’t ready for that.
I was, however, ready to note the excitement… the thrill… the… morbid joy.
The joy that disgusted the current me… it disgusted the me that was sad, yet felt this primal lust for what occurred earlier…
Combat, in all its glory. That was the first time I’ve ever actually ended the life of something… weighed my existence versus another creatures existence, and came out the victor, my opponent left wanting. It made me proud, knowing that I caused one giant centipede monster to bleed itself through the ‘throat’ and another to have holes in what might have been its brain.
I enjoyed the pain I likely caused, I enjoyed hearing the screams of those things as they died… and that disturbed me quite a bit.
I knew a bit, not enough to be an expert, but even I knew the enjoyment of truly hurting someone was disturbing… Michael had called me a sadist quite a few times half-jokingly, but I always told him straight that I only enjoyed messing with people using my words…
Now, it appears I would have to revise that sentence… to change it to admit that I truly did enjoy the pain of others.
Was I insane? Was I disturbed in my mind? Emilia seemed to notice my disturbing line of thought as we stopped; we didn’t really have to worry about obeying traffic laws when most people were already at certain places and trying to be thankful for having survived.
“Arthur… what is it, and be honest with me… with what you are going through, lying wouldn’t be a good thing.” I frowned at that, but I also acknowledged that I wouldn’t lie to her at this point. I moved a hand through my hair before dragging it onto my face.
“Emilia… Am I evil? Am I a monster?” she seemed very confused as I furthered my explanation. “I… I enjoyed those fights earlier… I enjoyed hearing the screams of those centipede things as I killed them, and I enjoyed that I lived while they died… and I don’t seem to care that other people died around me… does that make me a monster?” She stared at me for a moment, thinking, before nodding at something… then punching my shoulder. She hit surprisingly hard.
“What was that for?” I asked as she shook her head. “Arthur, you aren’t a monster… you may be an adrenaline junky with a competitive streak or possibly someone better suited to having been born in the era of the Roman Coliseum, but you aren’t a monster. And the proof is in the smaller things.” I was confused at her words as she sighed, finally having decided to continue driving; we were almost at Michael’s house too.
“What smaller things?” I asked as she seemed to be annoyed at my line of thought… before she seemed to realize something and speak. “Well… the fact that you care for others for one, and how you treat your friends… and the fact that you cried.” She didn’t have to say anything more, as I smiled at realizing what she meant…
“See? If you were a monster, that wouldn’t have truly made you happy… if you were truly an evil person, you wouldn’t care about anyone but yourself, and even if it isn’t everyone you care about, there are people you do care for… and besides, realistically a person can’t always bring themselves to care about people not related to them in any way.”
She had a point there… I was still thinking about it as we pulled up at Michael’s house. I noted his eyes brightening upon seeing Emilia’s particular car (his favourite to be exact) but kept it down as he saw me, before reached over, giving me a pat on my back as he gave me a short man-hug.
“Arthur… We’re here for you man.” He said as he leaned back, motioning for Emilia and I to go inside (I absently noted the approval in Michael’s face when he nodded at Emilia, who nodded back.)
As I stepped inside I immediately got a hug from Alice who rubbed my back, I heard a faint, ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ before she stepped back, not knowing how to continue as I nodded… we were similar in quite a few ways, that was one, not understanding how to reply to certain things.
“Thanks…” I didn’t have to say more, I was the kind of person who would say three words and imply an extra twenty, and luckily most of my friends knew how to read my small tics. Alice nodded, having understood my one word as more than was simply said.
Michael popped up with a cup of tea, a calming drink for this moment, as I sat sipping…
It was surprisingly colder than he would normally make it (so hot I burn my tongue) which told me he was being a bit more attentive than he would normally be…
Well, of course everyone around me was like this… I was… I was… I fought back the urge to rage at the idea that I was the only one of my friends to lose someone. I couldn’t think like that, there were others who lost family, some who had even less than me…
Yet, I couldn’t find it in me to care. It was selfish, childish and probably some other word ending in -ish that I’m not thinking of, but I didn’t care really…
The part of my mind that noted ‘normal’ human behaviour said that I should care that I’m not the only person with problems…
But there was a larger part of my mind that said ‘so what, my friends don’t have problems, I do, and any other problems don’t exist.’ And I was finding this very confusing…
I had always felt that my morals were probably a bit weirder than most, now I find that my morals were practically non-existent beyond not wanting certain extreme acts to occur to anyone (rape and abuse were just a few of the things I found detestable) which is… difficult to accept honestly.
Still… sitting here, drinking tea, with my closest friends- wait. “Where is Matt? And did you find out what happened with John?” for some reason the three (Michael, Alice and Emilia) all smiled at that, before Michael nodded.
“John’s family was fine, they apparently hid in their basement for the duration of the problem, and as for Matt well… he’s Matt. If he’s like that, how do you think his family is?” Point, John’s family was quiet and stayed out of most problems so they would be fine. And as Michael said, Matt was Matt… that was explanation in itself.
“That’s good… why are you all looking at me like that?” I asked as Michael gave me a shoulder hug. “Try to stay like that for as long as you can, alright?” I blinked at that… whatever. As I was thinking about that, we heard the TV announce something.
“We now cut to an address from current American President Clayton Andrews.” So said the voice of the reporter as the view on the TV changed to show a podium and a man of Native American Indian decent (it was actually confirmed himself that his name was actually Chayton) before he stood and looked to the camera.
“Citizens of America, no, citizens of the world… the world on which we live has come under attack less than two hours ago by a force of the supernatural.” At this point, he looked down for a moment, before snapping his stern eyes back to the camera.
“I am ashamed to say that we, as a race, were unprepared for such an attack. However I am not ashamed to admit that we should not have needed to be prepared… no one could have anticipated it… but nonetheless, I am sorry for all those who have fallen today.” He had pain in his eyes… I had never met the man obviously… but I had heard good things about him.
“They are giving a presidential announcement eh? At least they are finally picking up on things and talking to us about it…” Michael complained a lot about the government… but I think that’s just because his application to the military was either denied, ignored or they took too long to respond. President Andrews was actually one of our better presidents, after the fiasco that was Donald… John disliked him with a passion for obvious reasons.
“The Supernatural being known as Chronos has given us a time. Two days… a meagre amount of time… but we will not falter. Rest, recover, and mourn, for we will strike back. Despite their size and strength, we know their beasts to be weak to our weapons. Should they attack again, we will be victorious.”
I wasn’t convinced though. Why would a clearly extremely powerful being (one who conquered those things that killed roughly a billion people alone) not have outfitted his soldiers with defences against weaponry like that?
Even we had bullet proof vests (being shot would hurt, but not kill right?) and if you look back at our history armour and shields, there were methods of protection… why was there none?
The only explanation would be that there were only a few powerful… things (I did not feel it right to call them demons just yet, despite the fact they came from Hell) and most were easily killed like those basic foot-soldiers (who again, killed around one point three billion people) or those ‘foot-soldiers’ were in fact just expendable and worthless… both ideas were worrying.
But that didn’t mean I could just let this, Chronos, go free… no, he would die. I don’t care how, but I would kill him, I would rip the skin from his flesh, mash his muscles to pulp and slice them off his bones before grinding those to dust as well, if only to let him feel a portion of the pain of humanity (I say that, but honestly I just wanted to hurt him for hurting me and my family…)
“That being said… let we, who still live today, fight for those who died today. Fight, for those of us who are still here, and fight, for those who will come… and let us remember in our hearts this day when the sky turned red, this Red Sky Day… God Bless The World.”
I appreciated the change to the usual ‘God Bless America’, it showed that it was more than just us…
And with that, the TV shut off… and from now on, the First of December, 2018, would be known as Red Sky Day… and it would be the day everything started going downhill for me.
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- In Serial27 Chapters
The Elemental Arena
*A Rational-Adjacent litRPG Survival Series.* The time for the trials has come, pitting the mortal species of the galaxy against one another. By completing challenges, clearing dungeons, and defeating rival species, the players may forge themselves stronger and smarter. But only one species will be declared the winner. Earth has finally qualified... ...and participation is mandatory. A twenty-nine year old data entry clerk works together with a group of internationally diverse players to survive. Learning synergistic skills and using teamwork, can humanity achieve an upset? If they don't, their lives are forfeit. Author's note: Chapters will be anywhere from 6k to 10k in words, varying based on the plot beats instead of specific word counts. Realistic actions and teamwork will be important aspects of my story. I'm trying something a little different in writing a realism focused litRPG, hoping to capture the essence of how real people would react to their situation. People are complex and don't always get along. I don't recommend starting the series expecting wish fulfillment tropes just because it's tagged litRPG. It's a survival story with the game settings on Hell difficulty. The plot hasn't gotten there yet, but in the future of the series I want to recreate my nostalgia of forty person raids on Ragnaros, but with the high stakes of boss battles in Sword Art Online. I also love puzzle rooms so expect one of those each book. Warnings: mild PG-rated language, graphic violence and gore, and graphic medical content.
8 177 - In Serial25 Chapters
How to Make a Mutant
Mana.... The source of magic has been harnessed by humans to make electricity. And so, mana pollution has reshaped the environment, corrupting plants and animals into new and terrifying monster species. Perform a [Scan] and document these creatures! This is How to Make a Mutant! This is a companion piece for the story Fragment of a Dragon Soul. Please check out the actual story! The ancient monsters from Burden of a Fire Dragon will also be appearing here.
8 166 - In Serial85 Chapters
Anchor Points: Age of Heroes
If you had a chance to reset history, knowing what we know now, would you take it? Six years after kicking an alien expeditionary force off the surface of the Earth back to their staging bases in the asteroid belt, and aided by stolen alien technology, the United Terran Republic Navy has finally achieved enough warship production to put the enemy on the run. Despite the facade of unity projected by the Earth's new federal government, deep cracks still lie under the surface that threaten the stability of world peace and the ability to protect humanity with a unified military response. Within this backdrop, the North American Union, now a mere state in the greater union, has created or reopened multiple off-books projects and black sites to house secrets both old and new that would be far too toxic or dangerous to be known to the wider world at such a delicate stage in world history. One of these secrets will draw Captain Henry O'Toole from his comfortable posting with the Jupiter Fleet straight into a world of conspiracies and secrets that could destroy the new, still fragile world order. Captain O'Toole will take command of mankind's first true starship with a secret mission that would be seen as treason by the new federal government. His orders are to use a prototype faster than light drive to travel through dimensions higher than spacetime and ride the expansion of the universe to create an off-books colony solely for the NAU. There are consequences for escaping time's jealous grasp, which instead position them to have a chance to change the course of human history. Fate has called the Indomitable Will and her crew into the Age of Heroes, will they be able to rise to the challenge?
8 135 - In Serial7 Chapters
Effigy Of Madness
Alioth Is your average F ranked adventurer. He comes from a family of D ranking adventurers who mainly survive by being luggage carriers for the rich and powerful. Luckily for him He was able to snag a deal with a SSS+ ranking adventuring party due to a chance deal ,he made with the leaders of a S rank party To take 1% of all the loot gathered. Upon enter The SSS tier dungeon He is brought into a perilous situation only to be saved by one of the party members a strange but quirky arachnid girl .When the dungeon is completed he is deceived and instead of 1% he really is only allowed to choose 1 item. Thinking its better not to be associated with these types of people and wanting to make his leave he choose something deemed useless by the party to avoid being hunted down later. This was a some sort of statue that displayed a women being killed by her own tentacles . After choosing the worthless reminder of his deceit not only did the Dungeon lord awake from his slumber but he trapped the party in the dungeon to toy with them for his entertainment .Forcing them to fight through 9999 levels!
8 58 - In Serial49 Chapters
Low Tide \ JJ Maybank
She was the first person he trusted with his secret. His safe place.He was the first guy she let all the way in. He could ground her when nobody else could.-"𝐓𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧."-"𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕀 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦, 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦'𝕣𝕖 𝕞𝕪 𝕨𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕖 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕. 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕤𝕥 𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕚𝕟 𝕞𝕪 𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕀 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖."-JJxOCAn Netflix Original: Outer Banks FanficHighest Rankings:#1 in johnbookerrougtledge#1 in kiaracarerra#2 in obx #3 in surfing #2 in boats#2 in netflixoriginal#1 in pogue
8 151 - In Serial42 Chapters
Slipping Away (KnB fanfiction)
Their friendship last eversince Winter Cup ended and now, they made a promise to have a match again in National. However when Seirin fought Kaijo, suddenly a certain bluenette fall to the ground trashing and struggling. The next thing they knew the bluenette have stop breathing. What happen to him and what will happen next? Find out in Slipping Away. KnB and the medias are not mine. I only own the plot of Slipping Away.
8 179

