The building was intact. Even though the surrounding district had become an expanse of smoking rubble, somehow this particular place had remained completely untouched. How, or why had it come to be this way. That was to stay a mystery.

Even the glass door leading to the interior was still locked, appearing like a window to the vacuum of space, to somewhere other than the warm place I remembered it to be. Somehow, without hesitation, without fear of that which lay inside, or that which didn't. Clipping like a phantom, his body entered the building getting lost in the shadows. The videotape of memories stopped rolling, now it was my turn.

I kneeled down, picking the nearest piece of debris I could find. Within a matter of a couple of hits the door had cracked open, and the path forwards cleared.

The crawling silence inside was enough to confirm that no one was living there anymore. Only the glass shards cracking under my feet, only my breath and heartbeat, stood still to the passing of time. Even though I had a rough idea of what was waiting for me, I could not help myself but feel grateful.

Grateful for the fact that I had been able to get this far down the road, which now stood behind me.

'This may be my last day.'

I thought for no one but myself.

As I came to expect, all lights were out. No elevator, I had to take those stairs, not that it mattered anyway. My eyes shifted to the void living in those steps, my hand instinctually reached for the pocket in my trousers only to realize I had lost it long ago.

'Whatever.'

I continued advancing, getting engulfed naked in the shadows. The first step resounded somewhat foreign the lonely echoes didn't find any other disturbance. Still, the second followed shortly after, and soon the third. My eyes weren't useful anymore, but I didn't need to see. I limited myself to following the faint traces of a distant memory.

Memories of that place guided me, preventing me from falling, the faces behind those doors, those innocent people, I remembered them all. Perhaps, their destiny was to remain closed forever.

Now, the one in front of me...

'It's time.'

My hand moved to shake and weak, grabbing the handle of the door. With a dusty creak, it opened, leading to a seemingly untouched interior. White-painted walls, a mirror, and a couple of plastic flowers decorated the hall. Little light filtered through the windows, allowing me to see. My steps burrowed in that cold marble floor as I traversed the door. The smell of burnt charcoal that impregnated the outside seemed to fade away.

" You are back, took you a while. "

I didn't move, my heart stopped beating. Those words were uttered by my mom, she would always receive me when I entered through that door. It took me a while to understand, that they weren't meant for me. A warm smile on the face of my vanishing memory, as my mom embraced him in a hug, both disappeared before me.

I stood there silently for a few seconds, before deciding to walk over the door. The interior showed no signs of wear, everything was just a little dusty, otherwise the same. No noises, no clicking, no shouting nor talking, no music. Lifeless, as all I had seen so far.

The eerie orange light filtering through the open windows lit the hallway, a few spots of the floor drenched in a dried black substance, veering left as if leading me to one of the dorms. Just a couple of feet before me stood a wardrobe with an unmarked picture of the whole family, droplets of blood clearly staining and running down its surface.

I glanced around me as I walked. My heart pumped in an arrhythmic manner menacing with shutting down for good. Living room, bathroom, dorms, and kitchen, every door in the house had been not only closed but locked as if someone had wanted to hide something behind them. There was one single exception though, it was the place all marks of death lead to too. My room.

Somehow I already knew. Better yet, I had already known, long ago. I faced forwards just before the frame, my family's smile frozen in time together.

I didn't want to, but I couldn't let them wait, they had already waited long enough already. So I looked.

'Huh..?'

In a flicker, the scene shifted. The heavy air, the dark atmosphere, the dust, the blood were gone. The sun shined high in the sky, light flooded the interior of the building, untouched buildings occupied the blue horizon, birds chirped and trees shook as a breeze of fresh air entered through the open windows. On that same room, that same desolate room I thought I saw, were th-

My legs had moved on their own, I had entered the room and now I was being hugged from all directions. My father, mother, sister, brother. Not only them, my friends, my uncle, my grandparents...

They were all there, they were all here around me, they were with me. They were alive, I was touching them with my own scrapped hands, I smelled the odors, the sounds, it was all real. They were all here with me.

"I'm so glad you are well."

My raspy voice felt muted in their warm arms. I didn't want them to look at me, I kept my face low, large streams of tears flooding down my cheeks to the point I found it difficult to see, snot pouring down my nose. They understood and leaned closer.

"I had such a bad time. I thought I would die, every second. I thought I was alone. Done for!"

I finally found the strength to raise my voice.

|Ugh-mm|

"I missed you!"

My little sister looked up at me with one of those tender smiles she very rarely showed.

"You did very well brother, who could have thought you were that strong."

My mother's fingers wiped my tears.

"I'm so proud of you darling."

She had always been a woman of few words, her forehead pressed against mine.

My father's hand shook my hair.

"You seem to have grown a lot too, you are almost a man now you know?"

"This rascal is already more of a man than you punk."

My Gramp's voice, he stood seated in a chair not so far away, a wide smile on his face, one that I hadn't seen in almost a decade.

"I bet my kidney if you keep that up every girl in town will soon fall over heels for you."

In a half-mocking tone, my grandma spoke while picking a seat right next to grandpa.

The scene grew silent for a moment. All of a sudden, I noticed my body growing colder and weaker.

"Hey bro."

My brother stood beside me, everyone staring at him with soft smiles, almost as if on the verge of breaking down.

"Teach that bastard a lesson for us."

His green eyes locked on mine. My vision grew darker by the second, I had stopped breathing. I could still hear voices in the background.

"Yeah, give him a good beating!" My best friend shouted in an attempt to reach me.

"Make us proud son!" My dad shouted, his palm resting on my shoulder, his relieved tone never flickered up until the last seconds.

"We trust in you!" My old crush's voice.

I woke up on the cold floor, my agitated heart resumed its beating, as everyone disappeared, one by one.

"You can't, come ba-"

It was far too late, only one person remained by the time I could utter any words.

"See ya, bro."

I was alone again. Before me, the reality that hid behind the dream rose to the surface, the remains of those I loved.

That was it. This was it.

I buried them with my own hands in the yard and closed their eyelids to let them finally sleep. Steps sank onto those falling ashes as I sat on a pile of concrete, there was a fifth hole waiting for its carcass, the burying would have to be done by someone else. With a knife at hand, the blade approached my neck drawing blood, but it didn't carry the determination to end anything. I probably didn't even have the balls to even try committing suicide.

I looked at my reflection, a pitiful state, I would probably die from dehydration in the next few hours.

'Beat that bastard, huh?'

Even if it had been their last wish, it was ridicule just thinking of doing something to that mass of flesh. Just one of those monsters had already been enough to deal with me, never mind something almost a hundred times more massive.

Still, if I didn't try I wouldn't probably be able to sleep tonight. I stood up, put the kitchen knife in a pocket and-

| SHWWIIIFFft |

A bluish shine flooded the hellish landscape. Whistling like a supersonic bullet, a projectile traveled hundreds of meters in the distance before coming to a deceleration just a few feet beside me, its shape flattening out as it came to a halt.

'What the heck!'

It all happened in the bait of an eye, like roots in thirst for water, blue glowing branches grew in all directions in an attempt to get a grasp on the mantle of reality, a thick blue mist flowing out of the disk's fauces.

'Is that... A portal?'

My theory was confirmed the moment a tall man stepped nonchalantly from the gate which closed several seconds later. I quickly gave a few steps stealthily to hide behind a half-collapsed wall, only peeking slightly through its edges. I observed...

The man stood nonchalantly, he didn't seem to notice my presence. He seemed to be examining a holographic display coming out of his wrist, a metallic mask covered his entire head. A deep diagonal light ran down the helmet's surface resembling some kind of scar.

'Who the fuck is that?'

He was armed too, on his belt sat a heavy orange-colored gun much bigger than any other I'd ever seen. Thick brownish robes covered his body but weren't able to hide the armor hidden under them.

'A superhuman.'

Luckily for me, his hands remained buried in his pockets he wouldn't draw that gun, at least for now.

The hologram turned off, his face now aimed towards the general direction of the colossus, the titan's now four eyes affixed on us.

I gave a step back in an attempt to fall back, I had learned the hard way to fear that blob's guts, but alas, the moment I moved in the slightest, I had already been discovered.

"A pitiful sight, Isn't it?"

Utter, complete, deafening silence. I had been discovered.

"You can come out."

It really happened.

'Shit'

I followed his order. Even I could understand making this guy mad would make more harm than good. I left the side of the wall with my hands raised, my sunken eyes glaring at his hands for the slightest movement while strongly gripping my knife, still hidden behind me.

"Those dead bodies..."

He spoke again, his filtered and mechanic tone sending shivers down my spine. My expression became a scowl. I didn't answer, but the man seemed to understand what I wanted to convey.

"Death is a bothersome thing, isn't it. You don't come to realize how close it lurks until it's too late..."

| HIHIHIEJHIE |

The tension in the air rose as the calamity laughed despicably. Its grin wider than ever, eyes locked onto us with insane murderous intent.

| I'll SEAL BOTH OF YOU INSIDE ME |

My fingers cracked and trembled to thrive in the cooking pressure the monster emitted onto us. My jaw trembled and shook as my teeth gritted.

"Duhh. Shut the fuck up."

The creature stopped talking as the mysterious man gave a step ahead. His legs started moving leaving a trail of footsteps in the ash that covered the floor. His gloved hand moved, signaling him to follow after him.

"Judging by your stare I bet you won't want to miss it. The moment I burst open this leech that is."