by J Deleon
“This Red Orb, is it what’s causing all of the disasters on earth?” Adam asked.
“So it has started.” Lescion started to walk again.
“What has started?” Adam caught up.
“The Red Orb. It is approaching. It’s hard to explain it all, but you must know. Yes, the Red Orb is what’s causing those disasters you speak of. That is the first of many changes that occur.”
“Wait, so things are just starting?”
“Yes. The disasters are what start the approach. The planets in the path of the Red Orb all suffer the same fates.” Lescion shook his (without any further information, Adam simply understood Lescion to be a male) head.
“Oh, man.” Adam cringed at the thought. Maybe it was best for him to be taken away. “Then why did you take over?”
“We didn’t take over. Like I said, heading to your planet was a foolish thing to do. Our king sent us there in chase for a specific item.”
“Wait, what?”
“We cannot talk about this here. I will explain this all once we are safe.”
Silence fell once more as the two continued walking.
Ian
Ian was held up by Scott and Kevin. They guided him as the group made their way through the city as fast as they could. The aliens were coming, and they were not ready to confront them just yet. The roaring continued behind them as they scurried along the shaking roads. Another mild earthquake was setting in, causing them to take cover.
The conditions of the city were bad enough, but the disasters continued to come. Ian feared that they were actually getting worse. He didn’t bring this up to Scott, however.
The quaking stopped, allowing the group to continue on. Down alleys and fallen buildings, they stopped once they had come across the largest split in the earth they had seen yet. It stretched for miles and wide enough for an entire building to fall in. It divided the city in two with an empty void in the middle.
A roar was heard, louder than before.
“What now?” Kevin asked.
Ian watched as Scott looked around, then stopped at the sight of something on the other side of the hole.
Ian’s eyes widen as he tried to make out what it was they were looking at. “There’s people over there.”
Jennifer
“We’re not ready!” Zayn, a young man they had found wondering the streets shortly after the beginning, announced.
“Yes, we are!” Sean told him over the sound of the concrete breaking around them.
The roars grew louder as the monsters’ silhouettes grew larger. Debris from the fallen buildings were being tossed around like trash, parts of the city sunk into the gaping hole in the earth, and Jennifer and her group struggled to stand their ground. Soon enough, the monsters became visible and the group started to shoot.
Jennifer shook as she tried to aim at the large monsters. Their overbearing size frightened her so.
After pulling the trigger until her finger was numb, she realized that the bullets were having no effect on them. Jennifer didn’t bother reloading after the realization; instead, she lowered her gun and watched as the monsters lashed out at the city, nearing them.
“Jennifer!” Cecily called out.
Jennifer turned to her, she was loading her gun, preparing to shoot again.
“We need to fight!” Cecily ran towards her. “We need you. Please!”
Jennifer turned away, afraid of the unknown. She had no idea what she had gotten into. She spent all of her time working up the courage and strength to fight back, to fight alongside Cecily, to get her family back, but instead, she turned away from her in defeat.
“Hey, wait!” A small voice yelled. “We’re coming!”
Jennifer opened her eyes and looked up. Running on the other side of the gaping hole was a group of people.
Emry
“Get out of my head. Get out of my head.” Emry, half awake, mumbled repeatedly as she stumbled down a long road, exhausted. The voices had stopped, but her mind continued to think that they were still following her.
Something had come to her the day she was separated from her group, and it had driven her crazy. It took her days of subconscious walking to make her way out of the large city and out into the open fields. Sleep rarely met her, but when it did, she saw nothing. Once a young girl filled with wondrous dreams, now alone, searching for nothing.
Having not eaten since her departure, her body was starving; however, to her mind, there was nothing wrong. She couldn’t find the strength or motivation to eat anything, even though her stomach growled and her body ached. She continued on her journey to nowhere, waiting patiently for the day where she starved to death. Death seemed more appealing than to live with the voices in her head.
Emry was far from her city now. Even at the slow pace she had been walking, she managed to make some distance between her and the aliens.
Not one alien or monster had been seen since she left—something she was grateful for. The aliens had taken away everything from her, and now she was alone again.
“Get out of my head. Get out of my head.” Her words became softer as her feet slowed down. Her eyelids became heavy, soon closing all together. Emry fell to her knees and then on her face. She felt the dirt on her skin, the cold rocks piercing her clothes. “Get—”
“The Red Orb.” The same angelic voice whispered into her ear.
Emry’s eyes pride opened. It was night time now, hours had past. She was still lying on the floor, but she couldn’t move. She stared blankly in front of her where a small child with long black wings, crouched with its back towards her. The sight mortified Emry. She couldn’t tell if she was imagining the child or not, but the scene felt real. Maybe this was death. Emry didn’t know at the moment. All she could do was watch as the small child bobbed its head slowly up and down, as if tearing something apart with its mouth. The head jerked left, then right with struggle every time.
“The Red Orb.” The voice spoke with cold lips gently touching Emry’s exposed ear.
Emry held her breath, her heart raced, her skin turned cold, and the soft touch paralyzed her. She felt it now. It wasn’t just not being able to move now, her mind and thoughts stopped as well. Everything in her body shut down as the small child lifted its head to listen. It appeared as if it heard the angelic voice as well.
“She won’t listen to you.” The small child spoke. Its voice was soft, tender, and naive. “Not this time.”
A tear rolled down the side of Emry’s face as she listened to it unwillingly.
“Must not be stopped.” The angelic voice continued.
“But they’ll die.” The small child told the voice.
“Find the tower.” The lips felt like ice on her ear. “Destroy the others.”
The small child lowered its head and slowly rose. Its wings spread out wide, they were bones fused together with, what appeared to be, various feathers from different birds sewn together. The child had made its own wings.
“Stop it.” The child said sternly.
“You must not stop the Red Orb.”
“I said stop it.” The child continued to look down, clenching its fists. Its feet were long, gray, and thin. Its body was deformed and horrifying. Something was wrong with the child.
The closer Emry examined the child, the more she realized that it wasn’t a child at all. Right in front of her, the once small child morphed into a disfigured creature. Its head was made out of pieces of bloodied skin, the scales from the monsters, and different types of material Emry had never seen. Its body was coated in a different variety of substances, all giving a macabre gray color. Its fists became a palm, unlike any human’s, with fingers from ten different kinds of creatures sewn on. The monster Emry was now looking at was a self-constructed being from the darkest part of life. It inhabited everything that caused fear and the very nature of death.
“Stop it now.” The being spoke now in a low, distorted, version of its previous childlike register.
“Or it will come.” The lips faded away from Emry.
The being in front of her vanished in an instant, leaving Emry alone once more. Emry was now able to move, but she didn’t bother. She felt frozen in fear. As the night past, Emry cried until her body shut down. Whether if it was her falling asleep or her dying of starvation, Emry was finally able to dream about something other than the Red Orb.
Scott
“Hey, wait!” Scott shouted at the troubled group. “We’re coming!”
Scott bolted around the edge of the bottomless pit and towards the group. There was nothing stopping him from making his way around the wreckage, to the other side. Ian and the rest of them trailed behind, but were still following him regardless of the sight of monsters.
Jumping over pits, maneuvering past obstacles, and dodging whatever the monsters through at them, Scott and his group readied their weapons to attack alongside the strangers. Scott’s injuring was bad, but he fought on. He knew Ian’s wound was worse and needed more help.
“They’re everywhere!” One of the strangers shouted at Scott who was now approaching them.
“Just shoot at the aliens! Guns don’t hurt the monsters!” Scott stopped right next to him, pointing his gun at the enemy.
“Then how are we supposed to stop them?” A lady up front asked, continuing to shoot at the monsters.
“Just do it!” Scott found his target—an alien that resembled much of a muscular man—and shot it down from the top of its monster.
Ian and the rest of the group made it over; exhausted, but ready to fight. The monsters had made it over to the groups, causing them to split and take cover all around. Scott stayed with Ian, helping him up, and a lady from the other group. The three of them ran past the flying cars and pieces of building to make their way to the side of the large road. The three took cover behind a small vehicle where they watched as the monsters thrashed their way through.
“Do you have a gun?” Scott asked the lady.
“Y—yeah.” The lady replied.
“Can you shoot it?”
The lady hesitantly shook her head.
Scott grabbed the gun from the lady and handed it to Ian.
“You stay here. Shoot if anything comes your way.” Scott turned to the lady. “You make sure nothing happens to him.”
The lady nodded. Nodding to Ian in assurance, Scott stood up and ran out into the battlefield.
There were aliens, monsters, and people all around. The aliens swung their swords and shot their bows as the human’s shot their guns and swung their bats and other miscellaneous weapons. The monsters ruled the interstate, leaving no room to wander. Their large feet stomped on the ground with every step. The humans swarmed all around, trying to make their ways around and on top of the monsters. The aliens fought to keep the humans away, but they continued on. Not wanting to runaway anymore. Many human’s managed to make their ways on top of the monsters, fighting off the aliens and taking over, but the monsters were too much for them. Many of the human’s that had made their way atop of them were soon thrown off.
The monsters trampled over the streets, towering over both the humans and aliens. Both factions steered away from the scared monsters, but few didn’t make it. The monsters trampled the scared and weak while the brave continued to fight. In mere minutes, the interstate was filled with both humans and aliens on the ground as the monsters walked above them.
Scott stayed grounded the entire time; not from fear, but for Ian. He kept close to him as he watched his fellow group members meet their demise. He saw Ryan screaming at him to come and fight, but Scott stayed where he was. The officer did his best to save Ian, but he feared that he was turning on his own beliefs by doing so.
“Just hold on, Ian!” Scott finally shouted as he ran into the havoc. Ryan and the others fought bravely against the aliens. It was Scott’s turn to do the same.
Scott ran underneath the monsters and towards the aliens. He knew his gun wouldn’t do anything to the monsters, but they would certainly kill their owners. He fired one after another, killing more aliens than anyone else. From what Scott observed, he was the only person around who was actually capable of firing a weapon. The people from both his group and the unknown group looked as if they didn’t know how to shoot at all. Whether it was because of fear from the aliens or just being at war, they weren’t doing much good. The people with close ranged weapons were the ones who were doing the most work. They fought off the aliens with everything they had. Scott was proud of them all.
“Jennifer!” A young lady, not too far from Scott, shouted.
Scott focused his attention on the lady. Scott started after her before stopping at the sight of a monster doing the same.
“HEY!” Scott shouted at the young lady. Seeing that she continued to run, Scott went against his best judgement and followed her.
The monster was just behind her, quickly making its way down; it appeared as if it was getting ready to consume her.
“LOOK OUT!” Scott yelled, finally getting her attention. The lady turned back, saw the monster, and quickly jumped to the right.
The monster hit the ground, falling to its stomach. Scott sprinted over to the lady to help her up.
“Are you okay?” Scott asked her.
“I’m fine!” She stood up. “Jennifer!” The lady started off again, searching for Jennifer.
Scott didn’t chase after her this time. Instead, he noticed the corpse of a fallen alien near him with its sword just a few inches away. Scott turned to the monster that nearly ate the young lady and noticed that it was starting to get up. Out of both fear and bravery, Scott picked up the sword, and stabbed it straight into the monster’s jewel-like eye. The monster emanated the piercing screech, but the light from the eye only flickered before dying out. As the screech faded and the light burned out, the monster fell once more; now lifeless.
Scott pulled the sword out of the eye and turned to look for the young lady. Down an alley, the lady stood, confused and looking around for her friend, who was nowhere to be seen.
Gwen
Her body flew, hitting a soft, white surface. She curled up on the cold ground. Gwen was in great pain. She felt as if she was about to break.
The shaking of the ground stopped and the soft humming was gone, but was replaced with a quiet melody that spoke no words, only elegant notes.
Gwen opened her eyes and saw nothing but white all around. She held her elbows, not moving a muscle as her eyes wandered the scene.
“Gwen.” A powerful voice spoke.
The words manipulated Gwen, forcing her to want to get up. As Gwen stood, she tried to fight the urge to start walking.
“There’s no fighting.” The voice told her.
Gwen’s foot started to rise, but she forced it back down.
“You will walk.” Despite Gwen’s disobedience, the voice retained a leveled register.
The pain that had consumed her body was too great for her to fight any longer, she began to walk.
There was nothing in front or her. She was walking to nowhere.
“There is no denying me. You will always follow destiny.”
Gwen didn’t speak. She only listened to what the voice was telling her.
“You do not wish to speak. I understand. Only actions will do.”
Gwen shut her eyes tight as her feet guided her way.
“As you can see, you are walking. Without saying a word or thinking of the action, your feet started to walk.”
A silhouette of a person burned into Gwen’s mind. She tried to block out the thoughts, but nothing else would surface. Everything in her mind had cleared except for the silhouette.
“Not even your mind can determine what has already been set.”
“Stop it.” Gwen clenched her fists.
“So you do wish to speak.”
“I said stop it.” The images burned her forehead. “Stop it now.”
“You are the one who has the essence. Of him.”
The
silhouette in her head became engulfed in flames, screaming in pain as it fell.
“The time is now. Aligned with his passing. His kin has been born.”
Gwen’s feet stopped moving. She felt herself standing still once more. Her eyes opened and looked around. There was still only whiteness all around. Suddenly, Gwen felt something crawling up her shoe. She looked down and saw a black substance quickly making its way up her left leg. It was a darkness like no other. Not one hint of light penetrated the vantablack material.
Gwen tried to kick it off, but it continued to move up her waist and onto her left arm. She tried to shake it off, but it continued until it settled onto the palm of her hand. Gwen watched as it seeped inside of her skin, causing black veins to spread from the center. They looked like roots sprouting all over her hand. After spanning just a little over an inch on each root, the strange blackness stopped moving. It was now inside of her, planted.
A sharp pain cut her hand on every inch of the blackness. Gwen fell to her knees and squeezed her hand, trying to stop the feeling.
“STOP IT! PLEASE!” Gwen yelled. “STOP IT NOW!”
The pain in her hand stopped. Gwen’s tension released as she fell limp onto the ground. She was nearly lifeless.
“Judiceen; his blood.” The voice spoke. “This is what will help you. The task at hand cannot be done without it.”
Gwen stared blankly at her palm; the Judiceen had taken over it.
“I don’t want it.” Gwen uttered.
“But it is yours.”
Gwen closed her hand, not wanting to look at it any longer. “What will it do?”
“It will spread. All through your body and mind. It will consume you.”
“Why are you doing this? Why me?” Gwen continued to stare.
“It’s your destiny.”
“What’s my destiny?”
“The Red Orb.”
Gwen’s eyes widened. She sat up tentatively.
“What about the Red Orb?”
“You must stop it.”
