“For darker things are yet to come, Fear is born in everyone.” -A Raving Lunatic, room 1-002-B Saint David's Mental Hospital
----------------------------------------
The Night sky was always comforting. The sprinkling stars and the deep purples and blues that scatter the horizon, the endless void in space. It was an adventure waiting to happen, unfortunately things change, and Kylan was stuck in the modern world of dreary office work and applications. Sure, the world was large, incredibly so, but most if not all of it had already been discovered. Earth’s secrets rested in places that nobody could reach, they lay in the deepest, darkest depths of the ocean, and few other places. And unfortuntmnatly, it looked like such explorations would only be available long after this century or they would only be available to a select few individuals.
Thinking about it killed any sense of motivation, instead, it created a suffocating sense of uselessness. A feeling of being trapped. A feeling that nothing you did would push you into the unknown. Space... it was a place that was dreamed of but no man was able to go deep into it’s mysteries. That was the appeal, the idea of traveling to distant worlds and seeing the unknown, of finding remnants of lost civilizations that had died out, of seeing something that no other human had see Kylan paused at the end of the thought. That was the appeal wasn’t it? The ability to see something nobody else had ever seen before. That was what he wanted above all else, it was the adventure, the thrill of the unknown. Earth, was a prison for people like him. It was a realm coated in chains, binding each person within it with rules and regulations.
A sharp sigh escaped his lips as he looked out into the night sky, a brief flicker of light echoing on the horizon. Squinting slightly, Kylan paused, his head tilting to the side as the wind ruffled his dark brown hair. ‘What is that?’ he had seen the night sky ever since he was a child, meteorites, comets, even the rising space shuttles were able to be seen on the more clear nights. However, that flash of light? that was a first. Unless it was a bomb of some kind, in which case it would likely be the last. For him at least.
A soft chuckle escaped Kylan’s lips as he grinned at the morbid thought. Pulling his head down from the skies, Kylan looked at the empty campsite, his tent nestled up in a tree as those of his friends were all settled in various positions around him. He liked being in high places, and he wasn’t scared of heights.... he was quite afraid of hitting the ground if he fell though. So as a rule of thumb, he made sure to never fall.
The world shifted as if a sudden tremor had occurred. Stumbling as he heard the surprised groans from inside the tents, Kylan’s stomach started to tie itself into knots. ‘An Earthquake? here?!’ it was unheard of. This small forest was nowhere close to any fault lines, and as yet another tremor forced Kylan onto his knees, a started emotion pushed out of the depths of his mind. Fear. Something was wrong, something was horribly wrong. Space seemed to be shifting around him as the thin tendrils of.... something reached through. The sudden sense of vertigo causing Kylan to shudder as he tried to keep his stomach from forcing itself up his throat as the tremors slowly ceased.
Panting in a moment of brief reprieve, Kylan could feel the... other withdraw, the previous tremor being too weak to let what it was through. A nervous chuckle escaped his throat as he grabbed onto a handful of cool grass. When he was younger, he was told that he had 'good' senses from his parens. It ran down his mothers side of the family apparently. He could feel certain things, for example, danger. He could also feel when he was being looked at, it was a sort of itching sensation that started from wherever the perpetrator's gaze would land. Of course, this had to be done with the intention of looking at him.... or maybe it was just non-sense. Well, maybe not. He could still feel that, that thing worming it's way closer. Another tremor was going to happen.
Being proven right never brought as much fear into Kylan's heart as it did now. The world shook as animals flew into the night sky. Woken from their sleep, beasts howled and tried to defend themselves from an unknown threat. Wolves howled, Bears roared, birds screamed.... it was a cacophony of terror as something crawled through the widening cracks between the world and the entity. A tendril of energy wrapped around all living things, the animals calming down near instantly and as Kylan's tension rose to it's peak, a sudden popup startled him, his hand instinctively smashing through it.
System Downloading: 1%
That energy started to push into him, Kylan feeling the near absolute power that the entity had as it tried to pull him into it's System. In the corners of his vision, Kylan could see the outlines undefined shapes and objects, the shifting transparent hues moving and twisting in impossible shapes to comprehend. Fears started running wild through his mind, Kylar's body tense as his imagination raced. Something was trying to bind him, to... enslave him to it's will. An entity enforcing it's power upon all under it's gaze. There was no option to refuse the System it was downloading. And as he saw the number slowly start ticking upwards, a deep rooted fear sprouted in Kylan's mind as he thought of virus's.
He had no idea what the intentions of this being was, he had no concept or reference as to wether this system it was trying to create was for good or ill. So, he would reject it. It might be a discussion created out of fear, and it might possibly be the worst one available to him, however, if a being had enough power to create this construct, then what chances would he have to resist it's will if it was arriving with negative intentions? With all of his soul, Kylan fought against that energy, the world slowing into a sluggish pull of motion as adrenaline pulsed through him, his body straining as the download seemed to tick ever slower with each moment of his resistance.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
5%
He refused. He would not bow, he wouldn't kneel to a mere program. He would fight to the death before he would be affected by anything that would attempt to rule over his mind and body. Trying to stand up, Kylan groaned as he felt the air around him solidify, was it just him, or did it seem like time was moving slower? His hand slowly moved up from the ground as he fought against that invisible pressure, his bones creaking in his ears as he felt his joints pop. It was as if he hadn't moved for hours as he pushed against that energy trying to invade him.
4%
A grin slowly inched across Kylan's features. He was winning. We was fighting back- he could fight back. It was as this thought crossed his mind, that the energy around him suddenly shifted as if it noticed his resistance. Shifting as it violently drilled against his will, Kylan gasped, his lungs suddenly feeling as if they were being squeezed, his heart pulsing as it seemed offset, each irregular beat causing his chest to twist in pain. His vision started to blur as his body shuddered, the pressure on his body increasing as the air felt like stones piled onto every part of his form. Pushing against the pressure with a finger, Kylan opened his mouth to scream as he felt the wet crack, his bone cracking as he pushed against the energy coiling around him.
But the important thing was that he could move his mouth. Despite the pain, A grin formed on his face, Kylan groaning as his body pushed against the pressure, against the raw energy as the world slowed once more. The raw strength of the entity pulsed through him as it moved from the rift, spreading it's infectious influence through the land. It wasn't even Aiming for him, hell, it probably didn't even notice he existed and resisted it in the first place. Instead, that energy was building up around him as he resisted it, each wave forcing more of it onto his body and mind. Wobbling dizzily, Kylan felt something in his mouth burst, a sharp flavor of iron coating his tongue as he gagged, the world twisting and shifting around him.
9%
It moved up three ticks in the moments he suffered from his body's pain. Pushing against the entities power once more, Kylan forced all of his will against the mindless power as his body creaked in protest. It felt as if he was fighting a loosing battle against a god, the endless waves of energy crushing him as he pressed against it, his mind having accelerated into a state beyond his limits. Kylan Screamed in silence as he felt his right leg shatter under the effort of trying to move, his leg's giving out from under him as his vision was suddenly dyed red, the warm sensation of blood spreading down his face as a thick steam oozed from his eyes like tears.
Each moment proved that he was moving faster, thinking faster, as he could feel the drops of blood on his face slow, his the liquid itching as it stopped midway down his cheek, it's rolling motion pushing it down at an impossibly slow state. He was at his limit, and given the fact that the energy seemed to be moving at the speed of a person in normal time, he guessed that if he could beat it here and now, he wouldn't be forced to obey whatever the rest of humanity was going to be subjugated to. Well, maybe someone else would try and resist like he was.
25%
With a final burst of effort, Kylan pushed, his body straining as his broken bones screamed at him to stop, his eyes quivering from the effort as the air itself felt solid. Pushing against the energy with his will, he felt his vision sudden wink out of existence, a sharp pain assaulting his mind as the bones in his arms shattered along with the bones in his legs. Falling back, Kylan watched the percentage tick upwards a brief thought crossing his mind about how annoying it would be living with his life ruled by some system.
Only, he didn't hit the ground.
A sudden sensation of terror flooded Kylan's heart as he realized he was still falling. Tumbling backwards with his limbs broken, Kylan could feel time return to it's normal pace, his mind so exhausted from the effort to existing on such an accelerated pace that it was only by his pure will that he remained awake. He was blind, his limbs were broken, and he was falling far further back then a few feet. Cursing softly, Kylan squirmed as he tumbled through the air, his clothes sticking to his body as he fell the soft echoes of a song in the back of his head... something about free falling...?
And then, his mind winked out of awareness and into darkness.
----------------------------------------
Marus woke as he felt something wash over him, his body shuddering as he fell the tremors. damn. what the hell happened? Sleepily looking around his tent, it took a few moments before he realized that his friend Kylan was outside. Kylan's tent was usually in a tree as he had a bad experience with a wolf wandering through the campsite. It didn't attack or anything, heck, the wolf left after seeing there were more then three people around. However the event spooked Kylan enough that he decided that camping in a tree would be a good idea- and now an earthquake happened. About to step out of the tent, another tremor occurred, the violent vibrations followed by a sudden popup.
System Downloading: 1%
"The hell?.." Markus rubbed his eyes as the blue screen shifted with his vision. Was he hallucinating now? Looking at the percentage, A brief expression of surprise crossed his face, it was already at 5% in the space of a few seconds! Shaking his head, Markus ignored the increasing number, moving his focus on rescuing his friend. Pushing out of the tent, Markus cringed as he noticed Kylan's tree had fallen. However, as he moved his eyes across the dark clearing, he could see what looked like Kylan's figure on the ground. His body looked as if it was rapidly shifting, it's form a soft blur... Shaking his head, Markus tried to call out to Kylan only to hear a series of wet cracking as his friend slumped backwards. Horror filled Markus's face as he saw blood spray from Kylan's eyes, the red liquid glowing in the dim campfire before a loud explosive boom echoed and Kylan wasn't there anymore.
Kylan had disappeared. Swallowing nervously, Markus looked at the Download screen, reading the number rising from 54% as a pit formed in his stomach. This looked far to... game like.