Chapter 2: Destroyer of Worlds
Shit!
He tried calling his sister to forbid her from listening to the sky and to get away from their house, as his too, was surrounded by the trail of trees.
He searched for his phone inside his pockets, but quickly found it was missing– probably when he fell from the sidewalk!
After realizing his inability to warn his sister from the dangers posing before them, Gray was enraged.
Nonetheless, he was lucky that his city was modernized and didn't have many trees growing wildly.
There was only a forest in the outskirts of the city; but luckily, nobody lived there.
"I-I have to go home as fast as I can…" he muttered under his breath.
He started to run like he never did before in his life, all with a thousand thoughts shooting like fireworks in his mind.
'How come everything is happening right now? Zakaria said that the signs of the end of the world didn't happen yet!'
'He should be a muslim—but if so, how did the Quran predict the sun rising in the west without any issues?'
'And if I remember clearly, the Quran said the Antichrist would come before of the end… But as far as i know, there shouldn't be anyone like that in the world right now!'
'Both Christianity and Quran have a trumpet sounding at the end times, but the former didn't have the sun rise in the west.'
'Ultimately, both of those religions could be right in some way!'
He gazed at the scarlet sky and saw a plane soaring amidst the red sky filled with dense clouds, dust, and smoke.
He slowed his pace down to take a small break, as Gray's body wasn't trained enough to run for a long time.
"This heat… is unbearable." he heaved, "Will Kathy be alright? She is stronger than me, but will it be…enough?"
Gray gazed at the sky once more.
Nothing he had experienced in this damned day couldn't compare to the horrifying reality striking him.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
His heart pounded in his chest like it had never done before—his breath became shallow as his eyes widened.
The plane that once had flown unbothered had broken into pieces!
But that wasn't the worst thing.
Oh, how better it would have been if it were just that.
He saw an uncountable amount of beings soaring wildly throughout the heavens—one of them had crashed headfirst into the plane!
Nothing existed in Gray's life in that moment.
He was utterly dazed.
His ears rang while the choir still sang.
The only thing he could do was stare at the creatures blankly, his mind spinning with confusion and horror as he tried to understand their features.
Those beings were simply horrifying.
They were gigantic and extremely asymmetrical; they had a multitude of appendages and organs oozing red pus in every part of their disgusting body.
They had bat-like wings consisted by unsightly flaps of skin stretched between the bones of their uncountable fingers and arms.
Then there was their utterly grotesque faces: their head was split open, revealing a black organ full of large, nauseous insects feeding and reproducing continuously over their grotesque banquet.
The red pus leaking down the revolting creatures rained upon the earth like a macabre cry from the heavens themselves.
'T-This is hell, and I'm stuck inside it.'
Crash!
The booming sound brought Gray back to his senses.
The debris coming from the plane had nearly crushed him, making the young man run once more.
…
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Although he was exhausted, Gray couldn't stop running, afraid to see one of those creatures behind his back.
And even if he was close to the street connecting to his house, he still had to be careful, for the fire was still burning almost everything in his way.
"Wh-What are those things?! What did we possibly do to deserve all of this…!" he cried out, clutching his tear-filled eyes.
Gray sobbed and heaved multiple times before taking a difficult, yet needed, deep breath.
If he wanted to survive—and most importantly—his sister to survive, he had to get his thoughts sorted out.
'T-There is too much fire, I think the firefighters won't be able to come here. Many houses are actively burning, too many to count…'
A sudden realization came into light.
'W-Wait…'
'I didn't see anyone in this entire day, excluding my sister and the workers…'
How was this possible?
After everything that was happening there should at least be someone running away!
Unsure, he started walking amidst the fire ridden neighborhood.
Gray turned left as he reached the end of the steet.
The view of the beautiful house where Zakaria and Casanova had worked was reflected into his dark eyes.
It laid in ruins.
The ravaging fire had consumed it, ruining the work they had spent so much time on.
The rebars melted; the second floor was almost destroyed and the walls were covered by black ash.
Even the most simple action a human was able to do was painful.
The tremendously hot, burning air hurt his lungs with every breath.
But thankfully, the house wasn't on fire anymore.
A tremendous doubt started to form inside his mind.
'Should I check if the people are alright or should I just rush back home?'
Thinking carefully for some moments, he made his mind up, deciding to venture inside the ruins where his so-called friends had worked.
His heart was beating loudly as he tried to prepare for the worst outcome.
Gray was utterly tempted to leave the house.
Yet, due to his relationship with his so-called friends, he kept walking.
The inside of the house was covered in dark spots; the windows were destroyed and the wooden doors had melted.
An overwhelming and pungent smell permeated his nose. He brought his hand up and covered it, easing the horrid sensation.
He was also lucky there wasn't too much smoke inside the house.
Otherwise, he would have suffocated.
Gray shouted nervously, his voice almost cracking,
"Is anyone here…?"
Silence.
"Does someone need any help?" he repeated.
Nobody replied once more.
'Someone might have fainted due to the high concentration of Co2. That means I have to keep checking…'
Gray started looking inside the rooms, inspecting them thoroughly.
…
'Nobody is here. I'll check the last room and then I'll go home,' Gray thought, hoping to see his sister alive and well.
As he walked towards the last corridor, he noticed something strange.
This part of the house was filled with holes and cuts!
And it wasn't burnt!
'It looks like a bear fought here. D-Does this mean that one of those sky creatures was here?! If so, is it why nobody is inside?'
Gray had a bad feeling.
In front of him was a door.
It was not burn, but it retained the same damages as this part of the house.
Seeing that the handle wouldn't do much, Gray kicked the door down so he could search the last room.
A disgusting, hideous smell instantly permeated his nose.
He did his best to brush it off, entering the last room.
It initially seemed that nobody except some flies were there, but then…
His gaze landed on his right.
There, he saw an uncountable amount of…
Bodies?
Some were charred, some had their limbs or their head missing from their bodies, while some were compact and fused with other corpses, resembling canned meat.
An unfathomable amount of flies covered them. The disgusting insects gnawed at their flesh, burrowing tunnels and desecrating them.
Somehow… no blood was present.
The smell was extremely nauseating.
The stench of death, burnt flesh and decomposition permeated the whole room, worsening the putrid smell.
Gray could recognize only the corpses that weren't badly damaged.
Zakaria was one of them.
He died just like that, without ever telling his loved one what he felt about her.
Tears quickly welled up in his eyes; the dread mixed with the overwhelming effect this situation had on his mind made him run out the room to vomit.
…
Gray's mind replayed the scene of their compacted corpses endlessly, making him fall to his knees.
He did his best to stand up, but failed to do so.
And after two long and grueling minutes, he found the courage to stand up and walk.
"I can't stay here. I… can't." he repeated to himself, doing his best to ease the pressure on his mind.
The young man turned around and slowly retraced his steps to exit out of the house, his heart still racing.
He then heard a low, strained voice call for him.
As he turned around to see who or what had called him, he abruptly froze, paralyzed with fear.
On the roof of the villa stood a dark, gigantic mantis.
The beast was mangled, with dark wounds permeating its tough skin.
The horrific insect was holding Casanova's legs and arms with its front raptorial legs, tearing the flesh off his belly and eating his intestines.
The animal antennae and eyes moved frantically, as if in great pleasure.
With every bite, the man's face contorted with pain. His once pure white hair now were unkempt and tinged in bright red blood.
"Walk backwards slowly, don't look inside its eyes…" Casanova said quietly, snapping Gray out of his dazed state.
The strain on Casanova's voice was clear–he wasn't going to survive for more than some minutes.
The boy walked backwards as slow as possible, avoiding the alien gaze of the creature posing before him.
His breathing was shallow and quick.
Gray was profoundly afraid.
…And the beast understood.
Its predatory instinct suddenly activated.
It jumped down the roof with unreal speeds and started running towards the boy.
Casanova, still stuck between the beast's maws and claws, glowed with a dim light as the muscles of his body expanded rapidly, making him yell before coughing heavily,
"My lord… I require your strength!"
The sound of his booming voice stunned the animal, making it screech in horror before it slowly fell in the ground.
Like the beast, Gray fell to his knees in pain, dark-red blood trickling down his ears.
The sudden thundering of another trumpet worsened the ringing inside his ears, making him feel like his head was about to explode.
Slowly, his vision dimmed.
Slowly… everything turned black.
…
Gray jolted awake, his face riddled with beads of sweat.
As his vision gradually returned, he noticed that Casanova was sitting next to him.
It seemed that the man had protected him during his unconsciousness.
His mouth was filled with blood… his vocal chords had most likely been torn from the strain… and his body's intestine and stomach had been half-eaten by the beast.
His unwillingness to die was truly remarkable.
"I'm sorry…" Gray muttered, ashamed by his incompetence.
Somehow, even with his vocal cords torn, Casanova still could speak.
"…My fate was sealed as soon as the beast caught me… Your presence gave me the strength to end its pitiful existence."
Casanova coughed lightly before saying,
"Hah… It was lucky I wasn't 10 years younger… I would've killed it without breaking a darn sweat…"
The man laughed weakly before breaking into a coughing fit.
Gray was shocked, for he had never seen the man act like this.
Ever since he was young, he remembered Casanova as a grumpy old man.
"…Now go home." Casanova ordered, wiping the blood off his mouth.
The young man nodded.
He wanted to stay there with him, to at least stay until his last moments, but deep down, he knew he couldn't do so.
Gray stood up and started walking.
Yet he couldn't help but look behind him, noticing that Casanova was muttering something.
Even though he couldn't understand the beginning of Casanova's speech, as his hearing had mostly been impaired, allowing him only to hear from close-up, he could barely grasp the end by reading Casanova's lips.
Strangely, the man was apologizing.
Gray gritted his teeth.
As the boy kept walking, many different thoughts clouded his mind.
Gray exhaled as he tried to sort his thoughts out, failing miserably.
The situation was just too unreal for him to stop thinking about it.
How could Casanova even kill the creature?
Did he possess some kind of powers?
'It's not unrealistic after seeing everything that is happening right now…'
But if Casanova couldn't kill one of those monsters without dying, does it mean that everyone would face the same fate, with no way to get out?
Color drained from his face.
'…I-I don't want that to happen…'
Even though his house was close to the one where Casanova and Zakaria had worked, because of his injuries, he had some difficulty in walking and balancing himself.
This caused him to be slower, slower than how he wanted.
…
Once he reached his house, he saw that its condition was better than the others.
This caused him to feel overjoyed, way less anxious.
Gray walked up the three small stairs.
For every minute of that damned day, he had always been deeply worried for the safety of his sister.
After all, she was the one who raised him when his mother passed. She was the one who used to read him stories when he was afraid to fall asleep. She had used to cry all night, but only when he was asleep.
She couldn't show that side to him, she had to be strong.
And even though she wasn't much older than his brother, she had to grow up to be the sister that his mother had wanted her to be.
And she did way more than enough.
She was the best sister he could have ever wished for.
Gray gently opened the door.
There, he saw a tall, dark monolith.
On its surface there was a depiction resembling a tree lacking any leaves; at the end of every branch there was a sphere containing a name inside it.
Gray was too far to see the details.
On the top of the 'plant' there were various branches pointing upwards, resembling a crown. An enormous halo covered it, causing it to resemble a sun. The roots of the tree were gigantic wings burrowing deep inside the ground.
As Gray's gazed below the monolith, one supine being entered his line of sight.
The figure was garbed in a mangled, brown hood, its back was riddled with strange geometrical and pulsating shapes emitting strange colors he had never seen in his life.
It was bowing down at the feet of the monolith, with its head on a trail of blood.
Gray's heart dropped.
He slowly followed the trail with his sight, trying to pinpoint its original location.
Subconsciously, he started to grind his teeth.
Deep down he knew whose blood was it.
Deep down he knew.
But seeing it with his eyes broke something in him.
His sister lay amidst a dark puddle of blackish blood.
Her throat was slashed and her white shirt tainted red. She held her left hand on her chest, while her right was still holding her phone.
A pure scream of rage, rivaling the one before the choir was painfully emitted by Gray.
After hearing it, the figure turned around to face the maddened boy.
The young man didn't waste a second.
He started running towards it, unfazed from the 4 eyes and grey skin the being possessed.
The figure stood up as fast at it could, brandishing a blue knife from its pocket.
The being moved extremely fast, and before Gray noticed it, its dagger pierced him in the eye.
But…
In that precise moment… he was an unstoppable force, for the being had created a monster greater than himself.
Gray grabbed the otherworldly creature by its neck and threw it against the monolith with every ounce of his strength, leaving the monster stunned, giving him the upper hand.
Resembling a primal beast, Gray grabbed the figure's head and smashed it on the monolith.
He did so, again and again.
Even as the creature's body went limp, he did not stop.
He kept on going and going.
Until at some point, its head turned into a viscous amalgamation… made by fragments of his skull, brain matter and blood.
...
The young man dropped the monster; its corpse fell like jelly.
As he walked towards his sister, he fell down to his knees. Tears resembling a waterfall soon came from his eyes.
Every tear was like a burning needle worsening the condition of his left eye, but that pain couldn't still compare to what he was feeling.
He removed his bloody gloves and wiped his sister's bloodied face.
He checked her breathing, but it wasn't there.
He tried to feel her pulse, but it wasn't there.
Close to her was her phone, still unlocked.
His face contorted with an endless pain, causing him to crumble into a fetal position.
Little Gray—37 missed calls.
As the world started to end, as the apocalypse raged upon humanity, she had tried to call him all along.
Gray screamed and clawed at his own face for hours, horrified of having abandoned his dear sister in the time of need.
…
Gray couldn't let her body be defiled by the flies or the decomposition.
He decided to bury her in their garden, as it once was their mother's favorite place.
He carried her body outside, away from the dead creature and the monolith.
The sky was filled with the flying beings, their pus still raining upon the earth.
Gray heard a different trumpet.
It was the third one he had heard.
He then saw an enormous star fall from heaven, blazing like a torch and as fast as a lightning.
Yet… even if faced with this apocalyptic reality, Gray couldn't care anymore.
He had already lost everything that mattered to him.
At this point, Gray just hoped to find his sister in the afterlife.
And if his sin of murder led him to be locked inside the chambers of hell, he was determined to claw out of it with his own fingernails.
An extremely bright flash almost blinded him, making him cover his eye once more.
Once the flash of light subsided, he could see an enormous, mushroom-like shockwave making buildings crumble like paper.
It was clear now.
He was going to die.
But at last, he would surely find his sister once again.
And before Gray could feel any pain, his entire body had vaporized, leaving behind a dark shadow.
Eternally etched into stone.