As he reached the bottom of the stairs of the apartment building, stair 1 of 435, as he'd come to know it, he finally noticed the silence. There were always sirens in this part of town, even if they were distant, the shrill wail could nearly always be heard over the thrum of engines and occasional horn. But there was none of that now. He nervously eyed the door to the outside, wondering what was going on. He opened the door to the grey light and biting breeze of a March morning, and stepped through.
The sight that awaited him left him gaping. On the normally busy city street outside, hundreds of people were standing on the sidewalk or beside their cars, all looking up at the same blindingly white object hanging in the sky a hundred feet or so above.
It appeared to be some sort of crystal, Aran thought. It wasn't giving off light, just reflecting it in every direction in a way that made it seem bright. He imagined to garner attention, which he had to admit, was working. Whatever was happening seemed to be affecting the whole city, as he could see another obelisk further down the street.
What followed was chaos. As the obelisks began to lower, people broke down sobbing in fear, ran towards the obelisk, or simply stood in shock. Aran had started walking towards the obelisk, but was quickly swallowed by the crowd, roughly shoved in every direction in the crush of bodies. It was nearly two hours before he reached the structure, which he now saw was about 10 feet tall and seemed to be made of mirrors that showed nothing but silvery light. As he finally squeezed through, his hand brushed the obelisk, and a calm entered his mind. A smaller version of the obelisk appeared in his hand, and in his surprise, allowed himself to be swept away from the strange device.
It was only once he found himself standing alone, that he blinked and realized he hadn't learned anything. Looking down at the crystal, his mind was immediately filled with information.
The Law of Supremacy, it seemed, was more than just might makes right. The Law governed all beings within it, and the laws of reality for anyone touched by it. The Judges brought new worlds into the Law when they were judged to be ready to advance to a new stage of civilization, or when the world's inhabitants were past a point of technological advancement. Aran guessed Earth was the latter, as nothing about humanity led him to believe they were ready for a higher state of civilization. Theirs didn't seem to be all that great, from where he stood. The Law categorized every being by race, level, and attributes, all of which determined the strength of a being. The Judges were a group of divine beings who served the Law, and spread its influence to new worlds. Their identity, how they'd become Judges, or if they'd always been wasn't covered by the smaller obelisk.
Aran let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. He needed to sit and process all of this. He wandered to the sidewalk and sat down on the curb. He wasn't alone, several other people were in various states of shock, standing listlessly. He looked up at the people still milling near the crystal, and wondered how they were handling this. He felt strangely... detached, as all of this was happening to someone else, and his reality wasn't fundamentally changed in the span of an afternoon.
He sat there for several hours, watching the shadows creep longer on the street in the pleasant fall air. It seemed so... normal. The earth was no longer alone, but it just kept turning. But it wasn't normal, not anymore. He'd just learned for a fact there were beings in the universe that could manipulate everything he saw, and how he saw it. That was going to shake a lot of people's psyches to the core. Now that he thought about it, the information in the crystal would probably cause as many issues. The crystal had spoken about mana, and how some individuals with the talent or skills would be able to use it to perform what was essentially magic.
While at first his eyes had widened at the thought, he realized it must be how the Judges essentially mastered reality, and the thought was utterly horrifying. To say he felt insignificant in the face of such absurd power was a laughable understatement. He grimaced, wasn't that how he'd always felt though? He'd been hated and mocked his entire life, and he'd learned to never expect an ounce of mercy. The idea that people could wield such awful power set his teeth on edge. His mother would surely have used it torture him in ever more viscious ways. He had to stop the train of thought there. He was hyperventilating, panic rising in his throat to choke him. He could not allow fear to take over, or he'd sit here all night shaking.
He pushed it all aside, and looked up. The day had slipped away as he sat contemplating, and evening was casting long shadows in the city. The street was still strangely silent, as if the whole world was still holding its breath, waiting to see if this was all a dream. Aran realized with a start that he'd need to find somewhere to sleep. He could never go home again, and he wanted to keep pushing forward, but tonight there would be no push.
He stood and started walking. He checked his wallet, only 23 dollars and a few loose quarters. No hotel, then. He'd seen the homeless huddling under bridges and in alleys, and he'd likely need to find one of his own, to shelter away from the chill. He walked for an hour, headed east on a side street. Between two large buildings, apartments he assumed, there was a cramped alley, perfect for sheltering out of the wind. Walking far enough into the alley he wouldn't be disturbed if someone passed by, he sat down with a thump against the wall. Not that he expected anyone to pass by. He'd seen very few people out, and only one car passed him in all the time he walked.
The sun had gone down while he'd searched, and as he listened to the dull drone of the various pipes and radiators of the buildings around him heating the homes of people safe and cozy in their beds, sheltered from the terror of the day, he fell asleep.
---
The dull tap of nails on cement, accompanied by the soft whistle of sniffing, woke him. Even in his drowsy state, he smiled. It was likely a stray dog, looking for scraps. He'd always loved strays, as his mother would never have allowed them to have one of their own. When he'd fallen asleep, he'd sat beside a large bin, hidden from view of the street, and now moved to peek around the side. The dog would probably make a great companion for the evening, and if nothing else would cheer him up. Aran's mind froze as he got a look at the creature methodically searching the alley. It stood on 5 legs, one of which looked frail and dragged a bit as it moved. Each leg ended in a single foot-long talon, on which it balanced, piercing into the concrete with each step. Its hide was black and dry looking, cracks forming along every fold in its twisted torso. Aran's mind reeled as he looked at where a head should be, only a single, large eye flicked back and forth, searching. Only then did he notice the small flaps in the skin around the eye opening and closing in time with the sound of the sniffing.
His mouth was dry. Should he call for help? He doubted anyone would hear, much less venture out to see what was happening. As his mind raced in an endless loop of panicked dead ends, he sat perfectly still as the monster creeped closer. He couldn't move. Aran was terrified beyond action, and could only stare at the approaching horror. As its foot-spike landed, it stopped. Its eye slowly swiveled towards him, and Aran's breath hitched in his throat, making a nearly imperceptible noise in his throat. The creature immediately sprinted towards him, its legs making an unholy skittering as it ran. The sudden movement jolted him back to reality and he tried to stand and run, but the creature was already upon him.
The monster turned as it hit, throwing its shoulder to knock him on his back, and positioning itself above him. He shrieked in horror as the underside of the creature split open to show row after row of jagged, mismatched teeth covered in saliva. He rolled to the side, desperately trying to get away. It shifted quickly to cover him, one leg stabbing down at his hand to pin him in place. But the talon didn't pierce his hand, only managing to slam it into the ground. Aran wrenched his hand free, grimacing at the feeling of the talon scratching along his skin. He felt his cells tighten in his hand to compensate. Mind racing, he looked inward. The crystal hadn't explained anything about mana other than it was a part of every living creature, and throughout space. In desperation, he mentally grasped at the strings, and tried to force them to change, to get this thing away from him. They didn't budge, and he rolled as another talon sank where his shoulder had been. He couldn't move them that way, then.
The monster had by now positioned itself and centered the mouth over him. With a sudden lurch, it dropped. Aran twisted as it fell, but it wasn't enough. The maw closed on his left hip, and the teeth sank into his flesh. He felt the connections in his cells brighten, then break, as the creature sawed into him. He screamed in agony. He was bleeding now, more than he thought he could, as the beast thrashed above him. He swung wildly at it with both hands, trying to break its hold, anything to make it stop. The pain had to stop, to end. His mind couldn't take it, and he felt himself losing control to blind panic.
His terror seemed to flip a switch internally. It felt as if every cell flared into an inferno, and the connections flexed. His whole body burned, the inferno of energy turning his cells into an impenetrable wall. He watched as the creature's teeth failed to penetrate him any more, and his flesh knit back together. The creature started to rise off of him, confusion in its bulbous eye. That wasn't okay, that thing couldn't just *eat him* and get away with it. His terror coalescing into fury, Aran reared his arm back, feeling the connections swell even further. His fist slammed into the eye of the beast, black blood and gore spewing all over his face beneath.
The creature reeled, talons slipping on the ground as it toppled back. Aran pulled his feet towards him to keep from getting crushed under it, and watched it’s twitching body slowly bleed out. He stared at it for several minutes after it had ceased moving, his body slowly coming down from the adrenaline.
“What the fuck,” he finally whispered. “What the fuck!?” He gingerly prodded the body with his toe, and immediately felt a rush of energy. It felt like he’d just grabbed a live wire and it was pumping pure life into him. It ended as suddenly as it began, and he was left feeling just as winded as before. The body hadn’t moved, but he still didn’t feel safe. It felt like he’d absorbed energy from the body, which shouldn’t be possible. None of this should be possible, monsters with spike feet shouldn’t be attacking him in the middle of the night!
Thinking of the creature's body, he looked down at his own. His pants were shredded where the beast had tried to eat him, but luckily his jacket had survived with only a few small tears at the bottom. He was still covered in blood down his leg, but he didn’t feel hurt. He ran his hands over the area, and found only a few thin scars where the teeth had gone particularly deep. His body had managed to heal the wounds in an instant, and even prevented the monster from doing any more damage, incredibly. Looking inwards again, he could feel where the new scars were immediately. The cells there felt different, like they were stronger, and more tightly connected to the others. All of the strands felt more alive, now that the monster was dead, a little brighter now. He looked towards his core, and it felt brighter too. He couldn’t quite see the core as well as his cells though, like it was blurry and out of focus.
Aran frowned. The crystal hadn’t explained any of this. He guessed that the connections were mana, and that each was bridging back to his core, but he didn’t know if it was mana as well, or his soul, or something else. The Judges might be able to change the universe at will, but they didn’t seem to be able to make a very good guide for it.
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A sound ripped Aran out of his thoughts as he whirled around. At the far end of the alley, another of the creatures was slowly stalking towards him. He quickly dropped into a wider stance. As he was debating whether to run or fight, it rushed him. The moment’s hesitation was all it took for the beast to reach him, and he braced for impact, hoping the connections would tighten.
The creature launched itself at him, as he crossed his arms in front of his face to shield himself. He clenched his eyes shut, and felt the monster slam into him. He stumbled back a step, and opened his eyes in surprise. The creature had bounced right off, landing heavily on its back with a muffled thump. Aran didn’t hesitate this time, launching himself on top of the creature and going for the eye. The creatures talon’s scrabbled over his back, trying to find purchase to skewer him. It’s forelegs pushed him away, as he tried to slap them away. He grabbed one of them as it retracted to try to stab him once more, and tried to force it down on itself. If those talon’s could pierce concrete, he was sure they’d have no trouble with the beast’s thick leathery hide. The beast was strong, though, and as he struggled to move the talong closer to it’s chest and frantically swivelling eye, he started to feel the strands linking his cells beginning to lose the brightness that had infused them since the other creatures death.
As the connections weakened, he could feel his cells starting to loosen, and the talons started to scrape away at his flesh, little by little. With a surge of fresh terror, he realized he was going to run out of strength to resist the beast before he could kill it. In a frenzy he threw the talon away and willed everything he had into his arms. Lifting them over his head, he balled his fists together and brought them down as hard as he could. One of the beast's limbs moved to intercept his blow, and snapped with a sickening crunch as his fists pushed through unimpeded. With a sound like overripe fruit bursting, he pulped the beast's torso. Lifting his arms again, he slammed down again, and again until only red paste covered the cracked concrete.
Letting his arms fall to his sides, Aran leaned back, still on his knees, and inhaled deeply, trying to catch his breath. He immediately vomited to the side. The smell of the creature’s blood and viscera was indescribable, and each new breath brought fresh nausea. After emptying his stomach of everything he’d eaten in the last week, he finally managed to breath through his mouth and stop himself from retching. He stood, and had to bite his lip hard enough to draw blood to stop himself from screaming in pain. The monster had managed to dig shallow grooves all over his back before he managed to kill it. Tears streaming down his face, he forced himself to shuffle off of the monster and brace himself against the wall of the alley.
He closed his eyes and focused on breathing slowly, and looked inward. He felt the same influx of energy as before, and knew the monster was completely dead. As he watched, the depleted strands of energy spanning his being surged into life and energy spread across his battered body. The scrapes and cuts immediately began to heal, with only the barest hint of scars remaining.
Aran let out a long breath. This was insane. Yesterday he’d sprained his wrist trying to pry open an expired jar of pickles, and today he was surviving monster attacks and coming out stronger for it. A grim smile split his blood soaked face. Monsters. That was the only way to describe them. He looked over at the bloody remains of the beasts. The Judges crystals hadn’t lied, then. These must be the new “fauna” they’d brought in. They certainly provided the challenge the crystals had said Earth was lacking. If he hadn’t been able to bind his cells together or whatever he did, he would certainly be dead. Most people would be too, he thought.
The thought slapped him in the face. There could be more of these things out there, and probably other people out on the street! He had to let someone know, maybe the police could issue a warning or something. He fished in his pocket for his beat up flip phone. His face fell when he pulled it out. The small screen was cracked, and the hinge was mostly ripped apart. It must have been damaged in the fight. He’d have to find someone to borrow one from, or see if there were any of those old phone booths nearby. He started walking towards the end of the alley, and that’s when he heard the screams.
The sounds triggering some primal herd instinct in him, Aran’s pace increased to a run. As he reached the edge of the alley, the sounds of breaking glass and the faraway shriek of sirens joined the cacophony. He slammed to a stop. The sight that greeted him made him want to turn and run as fast as his legs would carry him. Thousands of the monsters from the alley were swarming up the street, climbing over vehicles and up the walls of the buildings lining it. There were several windows and doors shattered open and screams could be heard from within. As Aran stood in shock, another beast saw him in the open and charged.
This time, he was ready. Bracing himself for the impact, the strands flared to life, energy surging across his body. The creature sprinted toward him in its lopsided gait, and leapt the final meter. Aran’s body moved faster than he thought possible, and his punch went wide, slamming into the beast’s shoulder. The limb connected to it went limp, and before it could recover, Aran followed up with another strike, ready for the speed this time. Black blood erupted from the eye, and the beast fell twitching.
After a moment, the now familiar wave of energy filled Aran’s body, and this time, he felt it enter him and flow into the center of him. It felt like an empty pond that had suddenly been filled for the first time. A brief sense of discomfort filled him, then dissipated just as suddenly. The pond felt bigger, now. Just slightly, but enough to accomodate all the new energy and have room for more. He grinned. That could be useful, if he could keep making the pond bigger, he’d never have to worry about the monsters being able to hurt him again.
More creatures were approaching, however. He counted at least 7 that seemed aware of him now, and hundreds more were pouring into this part of the city. He took a step back, and started running. He could handle one of those things, but 7 would undoubtedly be his end. He needed to find somewhere to hide, or at least not so open. He sprinted down the street, strands of energy pumping his legs full of vigor.
He’d managed to put a few blocks between him and the monsters when a police car swerved around the corner, sirens blaring. The driver slammed on the brakes as he nearly ran into the car, hands impacting the hood hard enough to leave dents. Two police officers immediately got out of the car and hurried towards him.
“Are you alright? Jesus is that blood?!” the first officer, a heavyset man with greying hair and serious brown eyes said as he reached Aran. The second officer, a woman of similar age took one look and immediately shouted she was getting the first aid kit.
Aran waived the officer off and shouted “We’ve got to get out of here, more are coming!” He frantically looked back towards the street, looking for the beasts.
“What? Who’s coming?” the officer asked, making soothing motions with his hands, which only served to irritate Aran. The sounds of rapid tapping of talons on asphalt made them both turn to look up the street. Only a soft “Dear God” escaped the man’s throat before one of the creatures slammed into him, the force of the blow toppling him into the side of the cruiser. His head hit the side of the car, his neck twisting at too hard an angle. With a sharp crack, he died instantly.
Aran had leapt to the side, and other of the creatures had made it to him almost instantly. Grabbing it out of the air, he twisted, slamming it onto its back beside him. With a single sharp jab, he ended its existence. Another had leapt over the car, intending to reach the other officer, but had overshot the jump and tumbled past. The other officer had drawn a pistol and was already trying to use her radio. She managed to get two shots off before it had righted itself, but it didn’t go down. Righting itself, it charged her again. Aran sprinted over, slamming into its side, and toppling it. As it scrabbled to find purchase to stand, he slammed both fists into its eye, killing it.
He stood up, panting heavily. The officer crouched next to the car, eyes wide and visibly shaking. “Jesus. Jesus Christ what is that?! Oh God, oh God Ben!” She shakily stood, looking for her partner. She screamed when she saw the monster devouring his limp body, firing every round in her pistol at it. The creature sagged, one of the rounds seemed to have hit some vital spot in it, and it shakily collapsed on top of the dead officer. She continued to pull the trigger, the gun clicking hollowly as she shrieked at the monster.
Aran looked past her, and couldn’t see any more of them coming. He approached the officer, trying to get her attention. He called to her a few times, before gently touching her shoulder. She whirled, pistol held as a bludgeoning object, and only barely missed his face. She immediately pulled back.
“Fuck! Don’t do that! I could have killed you!” she yelled.
“Sorry, but we need to leave, there are more of them out there! Please, please, do you have anywhere safe? We can’t stay here!” the words coming out in a rush. She looked at him, and seemed to find some measure of composure.
“There’s more of those things? Do you know how many? We’ll need to…” she paused, and looked over at the corpse of her former partner. “Oh god, Ben,” she whispered, tears falling freely down her cheeks. She dropped to her knees beside him, trying to push the creature off. Aran just stood there a moment, unsure of how to comfort this stranger, and also anxious to get somewhere safe. He’d seen 7 of them previously, and just because they hadn’t all shown up at the same time didn’t mean more weren’t coming.
“Ma’am? Ma’am, listen, I’m… I’m sorry but we really need to leave. There are lots of those things up the road, thousands. We’re going to need all of the police, or something and I just really want to leave. Can we please leave?” he said, volume rising with his panic.
“And go where?! The whole fucking world is in a state of emergency kid, and now these things are showing up out of thin air! We were the only unit sent over here, because the entire city is going to hell. We’ve got reports coming in from every block there are things attacking people, there is no safe place!”
Aran stumbled back. There were even more of these things? It sounded like the whole city was being overrun, and he had nowhere to run. He fell to his knees, and felt tears welling up. “I don’t know what to do,” he mumbled. “How are we supposed to live like this? There are so many of them…” The police officer looked at him, and all he saw in her eyes was pity.
“Listen, kid, there are people working on it. I heard most other cities are still okay, and that the government is going to send help! Maybe the army can fix this, keep us safe. We’ll be okay, I’m sure they’re already on their way,” she said, punctuated by the sounds of breaking glass and screaming.
She stood and helped Aran to his feet. “My name is Sergeant Melony Vicken, you can call me Melony. I doubt the station has any more room for us, but let me call in to see if a shelter has been established. And I need to report on… Ben.” She stood and moved away, talking quietly into the radio on her uniform.
Aran stood, staring down the road and tried to ignore the sounds coming from the people still fighting for their lives. Instead, he looked inward once more, and his core felt fuller, more vibrant. He tried looking into it, pushing to see more, but wasn’t able to discern more than a hazy image of depth. He shook his head, and looked over at Melony. Her face had gone pale, and she was speaking rapidly into the radio.
“What do you mean it’s been overrun? What’s overrun it? There should be dozens of officers on sight and a small army’s worth of ordinance!”
The radio crackled with the voice of a dispatcher: “I don’t know Sergeant! We’re not getting any more information out of Central HQ, and I’m the only dispatcher responding on comms, I’ve got dozens of calls coming in for help, and some Army guy on the line asking for updates every 5 minutes!”
“Fucking finally, are they close?”
“They’re being cagey and won’t tell me their ETA, something about Operational Security or some shit. We need them now, Sergeant. There have been… a lot of casualty reports.”
“Jesus, I know. When is that ambulance supposed to arrive? There are people dying here on 5th, and we- I can't get close, there are too many of these things.”
“Sergeant, I don’t know. Every ambulance in the city is running, I have no idea what kind of ETA you’re looking at. Based on what we know, I’d advise you to find a safe spot that you can defend until the army arrives. Leave something outside, so the Ambulance can find you, better yet, radio in to let us know your approximate location ASAP.”
“Roger that, I’ll find something, and escort this civilian. Out.” The radio fell silent, and Melony turned to Aran with renewed vigor. “Alright, we need to find someplace to hole up, ASAP. I think we’ll stay in this area, if we can find someplace that can hole up for a while. Let me just take care of Ben… and we’ll go.” She moved to the side of the dead man, gently pulling him to the side of the car, and laying him down. She removed his badge, pocketing it quietly. Aran turned away, giving her privacy to let her partner go in peace.
A frustrated sigh surprised him as he turned back to her. She was sitting back on her haunches, glaring at the side of the cruiser. “Those fucking things punctured the tire. I’ll have to change it. Mind lending a hand?” she said, standing with a grunt. Aran nodded silently as she moved to the back of the vehicle and opened the trunk. He joined her, grabbing the spare tire as she started to jack up the front.
As she worked to first unmount the punctured wheel, then start on the replacement, he squatted awkwardly beside her. “What’s your name, kid?” she finally said, breaking the silence between them. He imagined it was to help drown out the noises from up the street, to keep them both from losing it.
“Aran. Uh, Briggs.”
“Pretty crazy day, huh Aran? First we get crazy talking crystals falling from the sky, and now monsters are running through the streets. These so called Judges seem like real assholes so far.”
He could only nod in agreement. Their so called Law didn’t seem to be much more than a bloody free for all so far, and it hadn’t even been 24 hours. The thought was sobering, that things might get worse. He struggled to imagine much worse than the whole-sale slaughter of a city by horrifying eldritch spike monsters, but he was still struggling to wrap his head around everything that was happening.
“Have you… felt any different since Judges crystals came?” he asked tentatively.
“I mean, yeah, everything changed. I’ve just been trying to keep my head above water and keep the city safe. That’s been keeping me going, helping people’s made it bearable, the fact that there are things outside our little world, and they can change it with a snap of their fingers.”
Aran nodded, but inwardly his mind was racing. She’d thought he was talking about emotions, obviously she didn’t feel the connections or pool of mana within herself. Maybe he was crazy, or maybe he was the only person who could feel it. Best not to mention it to her, she might not want to help someone she thought was crazy. Or worse, treat him like some breakable invalid, and lock him up.
Melony finished mounting the tire and stood, wiping grease on her trousers. “Alright, lets go. We can drive until we find a serviceable building, preferably with minimal windows.” As they started to get into the car, a terrifying screech echoed across the city. Both of them instinctively crouched, huddling next to the car.
“What the hell was that?” Meloney hissed.
“I’m not sure, but it sounds big,” he muttered back. The two of them looked around for a moment, before getting in the car. With a muffled cough, the engine came to life, and they slowly rolled down the street, heading towards the docks at the western edge of the city. This part of the city looked deserted, with no cars or people visible at all.
“Looks like everyone evacuated. That’s why we were headed to 5th earlier, to help get people out of the city.”
“Shouldn’t we be evacuating then? I mean if they were trying to get everyone out, why are we staying?”
“I guess you didn’t hear that part then, the whole city is in lock down, every district has had calls coming in nonstop. I’m not sure if it's the same creatures across the city, but nowhere is safe, and all of the roads have been ordered closed. I think maybe the army is going to surround the city and try to keep everything contained until we can establish some order.”
Aran stared at her, aghast. “So we’re trapped?! In here, with those things and who knows what else?”
She shook her head. “It's only temporary. We’ll be out in no time, we just need to wait it out a bit.”