"AHHHHHHH!"

I woke up in a surge of panic and fear. I was frantically shaking and dripping with sweat, ready to run as fast as I can. My skin looked as pale as a ghost, and I felt extremely frail. I trembled all over like a madman; I was in a nightmarish daze, my chest beating profusely with the insanity. A force pinned me down while I was hyperventilating. On the ground, I was shaking and held still by a single arm of a woman as the fog from my ears and my vision started clearing.

"Akin, calm down! You need to relax. It's not real, okay!" A voice said.

A young woman called out in a comforting tone. As my vision cleared, my sense of self came back an new, and my sanity reached back to reality. I could piece together what I could describe. Skinny to the bones as if someone hadn't eaten in days, a tired but loving gaze looked at me with a single arm reaching out towards me, with the other not visible like it was never there.

Her voice continued, "It's okay, it's not real. There's nothing to fear, Akin. You need to relax. We must keep moving forward, okay? We need to head over to the Canaveral".

I still trembled and nearly cried. "Akin, did you have another nightmare again? Can you please tell me what it is you saw? Try to remember, okay?" She tried to comfort me and asked me the same question she always does when I have this. I slowly calmed down, slightly relaxing and trying to stop the movement. "Do you remember anything, any single piece or detail?" She asked me, but as I calmed down, my mind pieced together what I could remember. She's my sister, Anne.

"Do you not remember me? Please tell me you do, lil' bro." Anne asked me in a worried tone but still tried to comfort me. She lessened her grip on me. Her eyes showed fear of being forgotten. In the forsaken world, we only had each other left. After the event we called "The Rupture," our father, mother, and extended family vanished from the world we knew.

"I remember you, Anne. Please don't worry." I replied, trying to comfort her. She asked the same question again, but I told her what I could remember from that nightmare: nothing.

"You still remember nothing, Akin? Can't you try to remember?" She asked. No matter how hard I tried to remember, I just couldn't, not even how I felt during or before it, almost as if my memory was wiped. I still tremble slightly, but it's just smoke and air in my mind. I can't grasp or place pieces together or comprehend them.

"You gotta remember, Akin, we still got miles upon miles until we get to Eden and safety. You need to remember the plan for today, right?".

Oh, right, today's plan was to... I can't remember anything regarding it. I know we are low on resources, but we usually have a schedule for what to do between night and day and for the week. We would sometimes prepare the shelter and hold out for a stampede. Those usually happen within days at best, and at worst, we'd be bombarded within the hour.

A horde of demons always entered the fray through the gates of hell. They always would come out from the gates and amassed a slaughter. They usually contain primarily imps, who resemble goblins and orcs. They set anything and everything in their surroundings into a hellish blaze, even melting metal with utter ease.

In rare instances, there are devils akin to a large demonic eagle. It pusses flesh, blood, and acid and looks horrific. They are akin to regular birds, but their violence is beyond human sanity. Their vulgarity and the amount of meat they shred are off-limits. They rip and tear any food they can get their talons on and feast. They leave out remnants that can barely resemble any living being.

"Sorry, Anne, but I can't remember anything about that," I said. Anne looked at me with an annoyed face but ultimately sighed.

"We need to get resources before any other refugee or person does. Just look around. There are barely any rocks, grass, or dirt that are even passable as edible. most of the dirt left is infertile and contains way too many diseases and pesticides. You shouldn't forget the plan, okay?" Anne said.

Anne was right, especially with the number of refugees rushing into the Milky Way. Many still die from a lack of resources or cannot handle the conditions on the planets in this galaxy. Most of which are carbon-based, unlike the other galaxies, which contain sulfur-based or hydrogen-based atmospheres. Less than half of this galaxy can support life or settlement despite this.

Most resources on earth alone, like plant life and rocks, were far gone. Earth and its inhabitants alone are on the last legs of existence. I often wondered why are we here. Why is this happening? What is the meaning of this torture? Why can't a god or someone intervene? Isn't this wrong? Can anybody save us? I always wished that something could save us, I held hope that something would happen and Eden would be our safe haven, but in truth, I'd often confine that somehow and somewhere, Eden might be a false paradise, another trap for hell itself to take control. I'll still move forward despite that if it means I can live a little longer.

"I'll list the plan for today since you forgot, but don't ever forget, okay?" Anne said.

"Yeah, I'll try not to forget, Anne," I responded.

She continued, "Akin, I trust that you can scavenge food, wood, and medical supplies around the street at the Health Bay. You should and will need to take only a quick 20 minutes at most to get necessities for us. Since we don't have medication for you, I suggest you hold tightly on that axe you have there. Stay on guard and beware of any folk. I'll go scavenge for ammunition, armory, and maps, We'll both come back at the three-way right here around 40 minutes, and then we will go look for ammunition and prepare the candles, campfires, and lights with a mural of the one himself.".

Before we headed off our separate ways for a while, we prepared our equipment to transverse the terrain. It's usually filed with bodies of all and any kind. Whether it be fingerbods, whose bodies are comprised of a shell stronger than any concrete or ceramics that could ever be made, imp bodies, Zion bodies, animal carcasses, and human remains. You name it, and that creature is dead somewhere in the vast sea of blood, sorrow, and forgotten nature. Travel becomes extremely difficult in these conditions for any human, much less any alien or extraterrestrials currently on this planet. Not only do these piles pollute the already dying planet, but they also can cause harm to us from acid, toxic gases, you name it. The world... No, the universe became a desolate realm of isolation, and the residents were in the middle of the inescapable disaster.

We prepared for this after the many near-death experiences we both experienced. I always came with a family relic. An old-fashioned axe that gleamed in the light sky and had a pristine cleanliness to it with the handle. The handle was made like any other wood but had a name engraved into it, which read "Cyrus". Anne has a NUKUN® pistol, a nuclear-powered pistol that fires high-powered lasers capable of melting through buildings with ease and can blind demons for a short period of time. This always came with weaknesses, the gun needed a nuclear battery to charge up, which already was an extremely rare commodity. The stations worked as well, meaning that you could need another battery to even charge it and with the right port. We prepared clothes as well meant for traveling such treacherous areas. We have gas masks from police riot equipment and self-made canes made out of taped-together batons. We also got many different maps from sets of technology that could be used without connections and technology through the cache. We have a map of the world, the street, and the galaxy we are in.

We headed off our separate ways and prepared for the worst.

I prepared my axe, map, and mask and headed around the three-way corner, climbing and moving along the piles of corpses of anything that lived once. The plant life is piles of ash, dust, and forgotten essence. The former sentient life on the ground is now just grotesque abominations of puss, flesh, and faces beyond recognition or just pure evil. Any building and creation of life are destroyed relics from the past, holding no value other than as temporary food sources, broken shelters, or defendable remains.

Around the corner, lies the Health Bay Pharmacetual. It lies near the park, which has been left to grow and thrive into a new ecosystem thanks to the removal of regulations since that day. Over the years, the buildings around the countries since that day were destroyed, and turned into grounds for incomplete and dirty plant life. The parks barely remained and only showed the disgusting dirt that had been infested with viral pests. The smell is putrid and always makes me regurgitate

With each step I take, I disgrace their bodies as if they were stepping stones. I questioned how I lived this long and how I didn't end up like the bodies I crossed over. I remember the time before this universe went to hell. I was a young kid, but when it happened, I woke up with a lost eye and my sister a one-armed cripple. I lost my left eye to some of the first demons in the aftermath. I wasn't religious ever, even still to this day after the event we call "The Rupture". Was it only sheer luck, especially with what I have?

As I kept going down the street, everything started turning different. Unrecognizable buildings turned into fleshy constructs, filled with eyes looking down on me, mouths licking their lips, cackling or whimpering. corpses grabbing onto me. They chant words of despair, regret, and sadness. They look under, seeing me as a vessel for prayer & forgiveness. I always felt I had been watched. A sense of dread always washes over me, and I always feel an unwanted presence.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

The once burning haze that was the inferno sky turned into a blood-like haze before my very eyes as I stepped closer and closer to the lot. The street of bodies and piles I walked across kept shifting from a pile of bodies to an indescribable road with differing shapes, sizes, and confusing spaces. I felt an immeasurable weight placed on me as each body, each former being I stepped upon as I traversed across the long street. Almost as If I were to carry their baggage and regrets.

Along the path, I also remember many voices and friends. They don't chant or place their regrets and wishes on me. They uplift me with their glowing spirits and say farewell. They help me with the immense weight loaded onto me by them. They point me toward the parking lot to the pharmacy. Over at the lot, I saw a peculiar man standing over. He had wings like an angel, I'd imagine, but it was different. The man's wings had a dark aura and color around them. He had a tall stature, emanating an aura of arrogance and pride. A man that looked unscathed among the madness of this world. His body was lean and straightforward. It looked like years of experience and homage were engraved into that body. Despite that, I was still allured to keep going.

I edged closer to the man, gripping hold of my axe. I listened to the echo in my gut and the head of Anne warning me. Especially when I'm having another one of these episodes. I approached carefully, unsure if it was a doppelganger or an alternate of some kind. I took one more step before he opened his mouth.

"Lease your grip, human." He said with utmost confidence and clarity. I can sense his ego and pride from here, it sent chills down my spine. I gripped Cyrus tighter than ever, preparing to swing toward him as a defense. The thing approached me with a piercing gaze and an annoyed expression.

"Who and what the hell are you? Are you an angel, a devil? " I yelled out, standing my ground inching slightly farther. I felt scared to the core. This man, as far as I'm aware, survived countless hordes, as his body is unscathed throughout the madness. My fear mixed with a sense of awe from this man. I sensed a hint of cleanliness and elegance. I looked around, unsure if he was even real. I was already well aware the chaotic buildings I surrounded and the perplexing roads I passed by weren't by any means real. The moving bodies and decayed spirits shroud the reality I was in.

"Me? I guess you can call me an angel. As for my name, you could just call me Alastor, but I will not ask again. Lease your grip, BOY." He snarked at me with an angered look. I still held onto it tight like my life depended on it, but I asked a simple question.

"What are you doing here, and what do you want?" I struggled to give demands while holding a facade of composure, but behind it was fear and worry. I was soaking and felt jelly-like. I knew my gut lingered too long for him to realize this, I'd stood my ground and could barely grasp anything.

"I took a grand fall, but as for us, we are the saviors of existence. You are looking for Eden, aren't you?" He said. 

What? How doe- 

"I can hear your thoughts too. I've been there before. I remember the times and the peace over there.".

"H-How do you know my thoughts about Eden? Where is it? It's somewhere in space as far as I know. HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW?." I screamed out, gripping my axe to the point my fingers were crushing. He took a solid glance at the weapon, then at my face, and looked back at me with disgust.

"Relax, you really shouldn't try to strike someone like that. I won't need to go for a low blow, especially for you. But If you are looking for supplies, they are all there." He said, walking toward the living boat that sailed the vast seas which was formerly the Health Bay. I followed suit right after entering the boat only to find a desolate store with no sign of the angelic man. I tried to ask him another question, but he vanished inside the ship.

The floorboards were gone entirely without a single remnant or memory from the past, being replaced by a dark substance of some kind that stuck to the floor. The shelves were slightly impacted in terms of structure, but they were filled with filth down under and had parts broken apart like they were used as weapons. The roofs were just former shells, showing a substance from above akin to dirty and unclear water that vibrates throughout. The shrapnel and former homes I see around here show me that this was a place of shelter. I followed and checked around the empty halls to find a single piece of dirt or medication but none. There were no prescriptions to help me deal with the pain or stay in a single time, place, and idea of reality when it happens.

I looked around the walls hoping to find an unpainted piece of surrounding to bring as a resource for me and my sis to crunch on, but my efforts were futile. I thought about eating a part of the metal, but it would be too hard to digest without causing damage to my already dying voicebox and would leave a very painful exit quickly. I checked around the back but found an empty stack of metal shelves and dust in the air.

I scattered around the room, looking for at least something for me and my sister to eat. While looking around, I heard a noise. It was a squeaking noise with scattering footsteps I could hear across the room as it ran across the aisle of shelves and empty air. I chased it down, trying to intercept it, but it was just a small gray thing. A family of rats, the size of a big tube on each of them and their fur lacking. Their skin blistered with acne and foam. I swung downwards, slicing the head of the one behind the rest. I turned and twisted around from room to area to space, chasing down like a hyena trying to eat a rabbit. I managed to cut half of the second rat before it crawled into the hole with the last rat. I looked down at the disheveled rat that was soon to be consumed, hearing it shriek and cry its last breath before it passed into the abyss. My stomach gnawed at itself in a form of shame, but I kept moving forward as I put their corpses in my bag.

I walked around the backroom, scouting for any more rodents, pests, and any living being or something edible. I found remnants of a battle in this place, seeing a huge wall broken down. Shelves and corroded bodies were toppled over and scattered across the floor from here. The barriers around the base were squirming around their shattered selves. I looked back up to see Alastor again, in his usual stance as he looked towards me.

"I guess you are looking for something to chew down on. It's right this way if you want to follow me." He said, making a sign in his hands to follow him. I felt I was going pulled toward him, I stood my ground slightly and longer as I kept moving forward.

"You again... Can you explai-" I said right before Alastor cut me off again. I raised my hand to grab him by his shoulder, but my hand phased through like he was nothing. I fell right past him and watched as he stood over me. I saw a face of disgust and annoyance once more from Alastor as he walked over my body, only to see him vanish the same way. I stood over to see a dimension of some sort, like a regular room in a pharmaceutical, before the end times. It gleamed with working lights, clean air, and potentially food too. I walked into the dimension only to be released back into reality.

Echoing screams were heard throughout the city, along with a burning sensation that came with a smell of sulfur and fire. I looked around to see the hellish atmosphere of the once-abandoned pharmacy. As I turned to my right, I awoke to a hazy fog and an immense pain rearing from my left arm and head. A red oozing substance drained down from the tip of my head and bandage. I struggled to get up from my suspension, looking up and seeing a hole between two buildings. I arose something near me. I was in total confusion about what happened and why am I here. I tried using my left arm as leverage, but I couldn't move it at all. I looked down at my left arm and was horrified at the result. It was twisted and mangled beyond belief. It croaked and broke every time I moved it, I writhed in pain the more I stood up and spun my arm around. I looked up to see a reddish creature. A massive elephant-like creature with four black eyes and the color of dripping blood all over it. What would be a trunk was a massive horn that had many scars across its blood-stained lance.

I watched as it prepared to rush me over again while my body still trembled from the damage I'd taken. I took a glance around for a possible exit out of this hell. I saw a broken window and dashed toward it. The pain was insurmountable, but I escaped as that creature barreled through several more buildings. I got a grander view of the behemoth that chased me down. It was massive in size and was half the size of the buildings before it collapsed. The destruction was massive as it burned and totaled everything. I tried stepping back before it tried chasing me down, but I couldn't stand on anything. I fell right through and ate shit on the dirt below the former park. I got up from the desolate land of unediable substances and hazardous dirt, looking around at the dead metallic stumps. I started running in the dirt to get away from the creature before it spotted me again, As I ran and ran, the sky started changing above me.

A glint of light above made me look from below to see a different color other than the burning sky and smoke I usually see. It stretched out more and more into a clear light sky, different from the hellish atmosphere I had seen since I was twelve. As I was looking, it appeared a figure was falling out from that sky faintly. It appeared to be falling rapidly with the figure of a kid with short hair. Despite how beautiful the sky looked, I still had to keep going as this area would be infested with creatures sooner or later. Before I tried to keep going, I heard a destructive thud that was followed by a thundering shockwave, blasted against the far north. I flailed on the ground, witnessing a familiar sky figure on that ground.

I stood back up, watching the boy laid out on the ground, asleep and soundly breathing. His skin and body show no sign of damage, internal or external. As I started watching him, I noticed the ground acting differently. The dirt started being more clearer and vivid. Greenery began sporting diversity all around the boy, encompassing his very body as he slept like a baby. I got a better look at the kid, he had long white pajamas that covered all but his small fingers. His hair was a lustrous white that gleamed in the bright yellow sky that returned from the resurrected sky above. His height was exceptionally short, no bigger than the bottom half of me.

As I took a closer step to the child, I heard a hunger-filled growl and warm breath behind me. I tried gripping my hand, realizing I lost Cyrus somewhere in the destruction a rhino-like demon created. As I turned around, it cackled an ear-shattering roar with the crunchiest sound coming out of its mouth. I tried to run away from that beast, but before I could, I tumbled over the boy and felt some weight be released off me. I looked around to find a missing piece of me inside that... that thing's mouth.

I cried in agony as my eyes faded into the darkness and among the rest of the creatures, beings, and forgotten ones. I wanted to go back before then, before my insanity peaked as a child before I was released into a forever world of torture, horror, and tears, back to my sister.... Back to my family and everything that was before this. My tears created rivers all around me as they flashed me toward the river of the dead. The creature stood over me, ready to take its final living crutch from me. I couldn't accept it, and never would. All I remember before transporting is the disappearance of that creature disintegrating as I faded into the darkness. An unearthly glow that is familiar stands above me. 

I see an awoken boy.

Then I faded to black.

Date: December 25th, 2333