But the silence did not last for long.
There was screaming now as the approaching footsteps got closer. The people in the room driven by panic, moved about in a very quick and disorderly manner, seeking for a perfect spot to hide.
Max slumped on the bed, beside what was left of Clifford, quite oblivious of the madness which was going on around him. Clifford's last words wouldn't stop echoing and re-echoing in his ears, and so did the sight of his sudden disappearance.
Most of the people in the living room dashed into Clifford's bedroom in search of a hideous spot. None of them stopped for a second to wonder why Max was not running with them, or paid him any attention.
"Hey, put that back," Max called tiredly, but firm enough as a young man roughly pulled the bedside table which covered the book Clifford told him about. He wore a black undershirt that revealed his strong arms and biceps.
Max could only imagine how many years of work out he had done, and his abilities.
All for what? He asked in his head.
To run around, and lift things that are better left alone.
"What if I don't?" The man asked with a frown, already daring Max to a draw. But Max only raised an eyebrow, and then looked away.
How could anyone be so thoughtless in a situation as deadly as this?
He was way too tired and sad to banter with him. Besides , with how mysteriously Clifford had died, Max didn't think he would want anything to do with the damn book anymore.
Who knows what the book contributed in Clifford's sudden and mysterious death? He asked himself, but his lips moved in a mumble.
"Huh? You are talking to me?" The young man called, and headed towards Max in a ready-to-kill quick movement.
Max only looked towards the ashes on the bed for a little longer than a few seconds. When he returned his gaze to his advancing enemy, he saw that he had scurried away to hide behind the bedside table.
The room was a rowdy mess now, messier than it was a few seconds ago. The creatures entered through the shattered doorway. People screamed and scattered
The strange creatures were too tall to be humans, and moved with a slow, deliberate precision that felt calculated rather than alive. Their bodies were lean and metallic, shaped almost like armored skeletons, with elongated limbs built for efficiency rather than life.
Jointed plates slid over one another silently as they moved, as if friction did not exist for them. Their heads were smooth and angular, lacking recognizable facial features.
No mouths.
No expressions.
Only a narrow band of glowing light where eyes should have been, cold, unblinking, and mechanical.
They didn't rush, they didn't need to.
They didn't panic, they simply advanced, as if the chaos around them were already decided.
Strange cables ran along their backs, pulsing faintly, connecting them to– the floating spheres above, maybe. Like servants tethered to a higher authority.
And worst of all, they never seemed to look around. They didn't have to. They looked through people, as if humans were data being processed rather than lives worth noticing.
Max remained on the bed. His heart pounding against his chest loudly enough for the strange creatures to hear it, but he did not move. There was no safe place around here, and knowing nothing about them creatures, running around could be really dangerous.
Then suddenly, everything stopped.
The screams cut off mid-breath. Bodies froze mid-step. Dust hung motionless in the air. Even the creatures halted.
And Max's heartbeat… vanished.
This can't be ordinary, or normal, Max thought but there was more. A strange coldness settled in the room so that Max shivered lightly, and instantly wished he was putting on thicker clothes.
His bedroom was just two doors away, but still, he didn't move. He would rather freeze to death than become a prey to these– he wasn't sure what to call them. He couldn't call them spheres anymore. Also, calling them Echelons was out of it since he wasn't sure of their abilities yet. What if they could read minds? What if they could hear his every thought?
The creature's eye-light intensified just then, blinding.
Max killed his thoughts when white light suddenly flooded his vision, almost blinding him. He looked quickly towards the direction the light, and instantly broke into a sweat when he saw one of the strange creatures looking at him.
What now? He panicked.
I did not say the words, I swear. I did not even think it. He said in his head, and stylishly looked away from the blinding light, and the scary creature that possessed it. His eyes fell on the bedside table, now moved away from its original position. Max's eyes looked quickly at the floorboards under which the book was, and looked away just as quickly when he saw that it was well covered.
But the light flickered as if it would go off anytime. From the corner of his eyes, Max saw the creature move in a rather uneasy manner away from him, and towards the bedside table, and his heartbeat increased.
He had looked away from the floorboard really quickly.
But the creature was heading for the young man who remained crouched behind the table, eyes wide in horror, with one hand lifted as if to shield himself. A drop of sweat hung frozen beside his jaw.
He was trapped, and he knew it. Even in his frozen state. Max almost felt pity for him, but he wasn't sure he deserved it.
The silence in the room settled into Max with a weight that felt unreal.
Not the usual quiet kind.
Void.
Silence usually carried something with it. Sometimes the soft rush of air, sometimes fabric rustling, someone breathing too loudly.
But this silence felt stripped clean, as if sound itself had been erased. They all remained in silence for a long time while the creature continued to look through every last person in the room as though they were only a piece of glass that one could see through.
Max remained sitting on the bed, and pretended to be frozen too. It bothered him that only the creatures and himself weren't frozen, but he didn't dare think about what it could mean. Instead he focused on the creature that was headed for the young man.
Loud music shattered the silence just then, freezing the creature mid-step. For a heartbeat, Max thought the world was ending until he recognized the sound. The living room. The radio he'd switched off hours ago.
So who turned it back on?