Chapter 1: Oblivion
The sounds of footsteps echoed through the streets. Children ran across the market, shouting and chasing one another, laughing as they hid beneath the remains of a broken building. Even during these times, the children were happy.
Hundreds of people, young and old, moved through the strange market. Smiles plastered their faces — they didn't want the children to be afraid. After all, the young could not comprehend the horrors of the unknown.
Ahmed stepped slowly through the crowd, the shadow at his feet twitching. A child, no older than ten, stopped running to look at him. The boy's eyes widened, shoulders shuddering, lips trembling. And then, just as suddenly, his eyes dimmed. He scratched his head, confused, and ran after his friends, forgetting the young, indifferent man standing before him.
No one noticed — no one except Ahmed.
Hahh
He sighed, exasperated.
The Tethered always react this way.
As he continued down the falsely happy market, more people stopped, unease plastered on their faces, yet all would return to normal as if he had been nothing but a shadow. He stopped noticing them. He didn't care that no one saw him — and he didn't want them to either. Not anymore, at least.
It was tiring, keeping everything subtle, keeping himself invisible. He had learned long ago that people feared what they could not understand. Fear was a distant, polite form of loneliness nowadays.
"Breaking news! Breaking news! A new sighting of 'Mad Glitch' nearby Sector 137, as she eradicates another swarm of Anomalies!"
Ahmed slowed his brisk stride, changing direction to walk towards the man reciting the news
A swarm of Anomalies? And Sector 137 is nearby… why would there be a swarm so far inland?
Hohh~ Maybe the world really is ending… hehehe. Maybe you could finally die then?
Shut it.
As he berated the voice in his head, Ahmed arrived in front of the man reciting the news. Of course, the man didn't notice him — no one did.
"Mad Glitch was seen near Sector 137, where she single-handedly destroyed a swarm of thirty Anomalies. Witnesses said she laughed and smiled the entire time, utterly insane as she tore them apart. Some even claimed that the battlefield itself seemed to glitch — reality breaking and warping around her."
"Mad Glitch is nearby?"
"A swarm of Anomalies?"
"Are we safe?"
"What if that crazy woman comes here, what would happen to us?"
All around Ahmed, the citizens gossiped and worried, fear etching itself into their features. He did not blame them, for such powerless people — fear was a necessity.
Ignoring the misplaced fear of the Tethered, he continued his brisk walk, glancing at his watch. It was getting late, and he was tired — so very tired
Why do you protect them? What did they ever do for you? They're the reason you're like this are they not?
You know very well why I protect them.
But who protects you? Your alone. You've always been alone. No one was there to help you when your paren—
SHUT UP
Clenching his fists subconsciously, Ahmed's steps grew heavier. He continued toward his makeshift home, exhaustion echoing with each step.
Ten more minutes of walking, he finally returned to his home, a small, broken apartment within a collapsed building.
As he carefully opened what was left of the door, he took off his shoes and tossed the groceries onto the uncrushed half of the table.
Can this even be considered a home?
I think its alright. And if I consider it home, then why shouldn't it be so?
What would YOU know about having a home?
Fair enough
Swatting at floating dust, Ahmed closed his eyes, the shadows at his feet clawing at him and twitching. He checked all the shadows in his tiny home, making sure nothing unpleasant was hiding nearby.
Confirming his solitude, he stepped on the creaky floor towards his bed. Well... what he considered a bed.
Seriously, why do you sleep on a couch?
It's comfy.
So is a bed.
Not bothering to respond, he collapsed onto his 'bed'. Sleep seeping in, eyelids drooping, dragging him into the respite of sleep as the shadows around him twitched once more.
*****
A guttural screech echoed nearby, making it's presence known to all. Including a specific sleeping skinny man.
"Mannnnnnnnnnn"
Groaning, Ahmed pushed himself from the couch and yawned. His body protesting every moment of it.
Good Morning, sunshine!
What's good about it?
Sensing the general direction of the anomaly, guided by the screams of the Tethered, Ahmed moved toward the broken wall. Without hesitation, he leapt all six stories, landing silently amongst the rubble below.
Glancing at the panicked Tethered, he ran towards the anomaly, its never-ending screeches reverberating everywhere.
Turning the corner of the street, he was met with the harrowing sight of chaos, crimson blood flooded the street. Bodies littered and plastered the street and walls. Crushed corpses presented themselves everywhere.
At the center of this all, a giant, eight meter tall, pitch black skeletal monstrosity clenched another human in its long, bony fingers. A large, uncanny smile playing at what he thought should be its face.
However, Ahmed didn't even blink. Almost in an instant, the shadows at his feet clawed up his legs and body, manifesting into a suit, on top of the suit was a robe with a hood covering his head.
Why the suit?
I think it looks cool. So what?
The robe?
The less people that see my face, the better.
Finally noticing Ahmed's presence, the anomaly tilted its human like head towards Ahmed, smiling even more as Ahmed walked towards him.
The anomaly tensed, ready to pounce onto its next victim.
One step
Two step
Three step
As it was about to lunge for Ahmed, a low humming noise resonated around the anomaly. And everything went dark.
Everything within a forty-five meter radius of Ahmed drained of color. Humans, corpses, buildings, even the anomaly — all reduced to solid black and white. The air itself radiating cold dread.
The anomaly felt cold, somehow, a creeping dread crawling into it's head. No sound could be heard, only the quiet steps of Ahmed. Gravity seemed to be stronger, forcing the anomaly to kneel. Time bent — one moment felt strangely long, the next fleetingly short.
The people trapped within this void twitched in cold, inescapable dread. They watched as the man slowly walked towards the now kneeling anomaly, a large, spiky gauntlet forming around his right fist.
A deeper shiver ran through the people, as if the nothingness itself were watching — patient, waiting. A strange, resonating hum vibrated through the air, disorienting and unrelenting.
"You're an ugly one, aren't you?" The man casually remarked.
He stopped in-front of the anomaly, pulled his right arm back, and punched directly at the anomalies uncanny head.
The people watched in indescribable shock and terror as the anomalies head split, its body battered in multiple places at once, as if that single punch had rained death upon it.
Within two minutes, the monstrosity had wrought unspeakable, inhuman havoc. In the next, it was gone — erased, reduced to nothing more than a scar on the memory of the people.
A louder whirring surrounded the people, color flooded into the world, relieving their minds of the dread of the void. Their nauseousness disappearing, along with the man.
"Was tha—"
"Oblivion"
"Holy... , I, uhh...."
"Oblivion is here."
"When did he get here?"
Ahmed watched as the Tethered murmur to one another. He hated the name. Of all things they could have chosen, they chose Oblivion.
He began weaving between the corpses and Tethered, retracing his path home. No one could see him anymore, he wouldn't allow them to see him.
"Hahhh"
He sighed. The Tethered didn't care. The world didn't care. The shadows returned back to his feet. Alone, as always.
And yet... even surrounded by others, he still felt alone.
End of Chapter 1 : Oblivion