A misty haze hung eerily over the city, as it rained sporadically throughout the day. The clouds were a mosaic of dark greys, some drooping from the sky spawned a sense of trepidation among the populace.
Videl looked out the hospital window. He watched the rain slowly bead up and slither down the glass as the Doctor's words infected his mind with dread.
"what did you say?" he forced out with a lump in his throat, hoping he heard wrong.
"We've done all we can," the doctor stated softly before hesitating, "I'm sorry, but your sister —she's going to die."
His vision blurred as a sick feeling was birthed in his stomach and clawed at his throat.
"She'll be lucky to make it through the night," The Doctor pressed on, "I assure you, we'll make her passing as comfortable as possible."
Videl stood motionless, silent.
"Would you like us to try waking her up so you can talk to her?"
He looked into the room and saw Jaklyn lying there, skin pale white, her cheeks abscessed, and her head void of her fiery red hair. She looked as if she was already dead, and for a moment, he pictured her in an open casket instead of a hospital bed. He clenched his jaw tight to stop it from quivering.
"Gonna... die…" he muttered to himself, as he walked past the Doctor, his eyes filling with tears.
"Mr. Kimber?" The Doctor insisted, as he watched him walk off.
He drifted through the hospital on autopilot, all the while murmuring "gonna die" over and over.
He ambled out of the hospital, almost walking into someone. The skittish rain was now a downpour, and the clouds blended with turbulent vigor, creating an even more ominous horizon.
"Why?" He demanded quietly, as the crashing rain washed away his tears and the sound of his voice.
"First my mother—" he clenched his fists white, "then Sam..." his voice grew louder. "Now my sister!" He screamed with hoarseness. The wind started to gain ground.
A woman bearing a cautious look under her umbrella steered clear of him as she walked into the hospital.
He was soaked now. His clothes slumped over his figure and his once lambent green eyes were replaced with dull, bloodshot despair. He breathed in heavily before a smirk overtook his face. It slowly widened into a smile and, finally, morphed into fractured laughter.
With a flash of lightning, his laughter stopped. He stooped his head back down, and, with his dark brown wet hair covering his eyes, he breathed out slowly. In that moment, something changed in him, something broke. He no longer felt the weight of all that had been happening in his life. He no longer felt anything, except numbness and emptiness.
"Why…"
"Why am I even alive?" He asked himself, as he watched the rain hammer into the sidewalk.
"Might as well die too."
He had no destination in mind, but every step felt right as he walked into the street. A black truck slammed on its breaks, stopping just short of smashing into him.
"What the fu— Hey! Dipshit! Get outta the fuckin' Road!" The driver started honking his horn.
Videl paid the man no mind, and walked across the street then continued down the sidewalk. A few people would pass him, some wondering why he had no coat or umbrella. He hardly noticed them as he drudged on through the city. The wind kept increasing, and a passing gust sent a shiver through him. He embraced it.
He continued walking like a zombie until he came to a bridge. The rushing waters in the river below caught his attention, and he leaned over the railing to watch it crash by.
He felt light—almost weightless, as the words "good enough" fluttered from his lips.
He climbed up onto the railing, and let the white caps further hypnotize him. Everything seemed quiet now, and his surroundings slowed as he exhaled and leaned forward, opening his arms. Just as he started to fall, something blew him backwards. He landed hard on his back, half slumped into the street.
He opened his eyes and found himself gazing at something unexpected. It was some kind of swirling blue vortex floating just in front of where he stood on the railing prior. As he pried himself up, lightning crashed loudly around him.
Suddenly, the hair on his arms stood as he witnessed numerous funnel clouds dangle from the sky, some forming black twisters that danced violently in the background. A monstrous booming of thunder and an intense gale heralded an earthquake.
Videl fought to keep his balance as the ground shook! A radiating blue light brought his attention back to the blue anomaly as it started pulsating. It culminated into an explosive flash that broke his balance, and sent him back onto his back. As he unshielded his eyes, he saw a fierce-looking woman with wings floating before him, a bloodied sword and shield in hand.
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Is—is this a dream?
The woman focused her gaze onto the young man stretched before her. She furrowed her brow as if to show disgust, and, with a bizarre accent, stated, "So it's begun…" then proceeded to fly off into the hellish skyline.
Videl watched with bewilderment as she grew into a dot on the reddening horizon. As he got back to his feet, the sky's hue intensified, and it seemed as if the world was ending.
"What is happenin—" He tried stating emphatically before an uprooted street sign smashed into the left side of his head, knocking him unconscious.
Some time later, the sound of birds chirping mixed with sirens ringing coaxed Videl awake. Stretched over the road, he opened his eyes to rays of sunlight shining through dispersing clouds in a bright, blue sky.
What’s going on? —Suddenly, his head throbbed with pain, “Ahhhh!” He yelped as he cradled his head. His left hand squished into his hair, and the shock made him pull it away just as fast. His hand glistened with blood in the light, inciting him to frantically inspect his head. Through his blood-soaked hair, he felt out a gash spanning from his brow, over his ear, and to the rear of his head.
“What the fuh—” he started before prior events began flooding his mind. Memory of a blue vortex and a winged woman confused him further.
No way that was real...
He looked around to find the street a mess. A large branch was only a few feet away from him. I'd be dead if that had landed on me— "...Dead" more memories flashed in his head, and he recalled why he was trudging around the city, why he stopped at the bridge.
"Jaklyn!" He sprang to his feet and started running in the direction of the hospital. His vision blurred from getting up so quickly, and he fought to keep his balance.
The city was a disaster and livid with commotion. As he approached the hospital, he noticed a mass of people and vehicles crowding the doors. When he got closer, two military choppers flew by, and he made out what he thought were gunshots in the distance. He didn't stop long to think about it as his sister weighed heavily on his mind.
Continuing forward,he pushed through the crowd. The inside was even more congested, yet he didn't stop for anyone as he pushed on into the patient's ward, sprinted up stairways, and ran towards the inpatient sect. When he entered the hallway, doctors and nurses were scrambling everywhere as alarms went off. There was just as much fear and confusion there as there was in the lobby.
Oh please, no! The storm must've knocked out the life support. He frantically ran through the hallway, his face flush with fear. 309! He almost ran past the doorway, barely catching it with his hand and slinging himself backwards.
Sitting upright with a face full of vibrancy was Jaklyn. Videl’s eyes filled with tears as he watched her yawn while stretching her arms. Her eyes focused on him, “Videl…” she said with a pleasant surprise before her face became worried, “Videl—You’re bleeding!”
Videl’s body trembled as it flooded with warmth. He wiped his tears away before hugging her tightly, “I thought you were dead!”
Jaklyn paid his words no mind as she looked at his head. “What did you do?!” she asked as she lightly touched the wound, “This is bad! You need stitches!” Unexpectedly, her hands started glowing a warm chartreuse light, washing Videl with a sense of relief.
“Ahh!” Jaklyn yelped as she pulled her hands away from Videl and started shaking them frantically until they stopped glowing. She brought them down slowly and studied them with a confused look.
Videl touched the wound on his head, and discovered that it had partially healed, “What did you do?”
“I don’t have a clue,” she replied before the TV in the room announced, “We’re here live at one of the many bright, swirling anomalies that have popped up all over the city!” The words made Videl tense up as he remembered his own encounter earlier that day.
“Videl—” Jaklyn started before he shushed her and focused on the TV.
“They appeared during the freak storm we had earlier, and there seems to be all sorts of different colors and sizes. So far no one knows the reasoning as to why they appeared—ohh wait!” the reporter paused, “...Yes! It seems to be doing something!” The camera focused on the orange vortex as it pulsed and grew in size, “It seems to… to be getting bigger…” With a flash of light, something flew out of it. The camera swirled around trying to capture whatever it was. “What is that!? It’s a… It looks like a—” the reporter’s voice was cut short by a loud thud followed by some gurgling. The camera swirled again, showing glimpses of the reporter lying lifeless on the ground with a large arrow jutting out of her chest. Then the camera focused back towards the anomaly, revealing about half a dozen strange looking green creatures with weapons, all snarling.
“Is this a movie or something?” asked Jaklyn.
Videl said nothing and kept watching as a creature flew into view of the camera and went for the cameraman. Terrified screams were heard as the camera fell, landed, and still showed the anomaly and creatures.
Other people could be heard screaming as the creatures screeched in provocation. The one with the bow notched an arrow and slowly watched a person run before shooting him in the back. The screaming intensified, and a man brandishing a handgun ran into view of the camera, took a stance, and unloaded the magazine into the crowd of creatures. They recoiled and screamed as most of the bullets found a mark, causing them to ooze bluish blood. One of the larger ones took action and sprinted forward towards the armed man. The man yelled as he tried shooting the gun more before throwing it at the charging creature and turning tail to run. The large creature gained ground quickly, caught the fleeing man, and sunk its ax with a downward slash deep into his right shoulder.
Suddenly, a winged woman landed behind the creature that had just cut down a man, pierced it through the belly, and ripped her blade up and outward. The other creatures howled as one of their own nearly split in two and slammed into the pavement.
Videl recognized her. A knot formed in his stomach as he went white as a ghost. It really did happen!
The woman gave the creatures very little time to react as she glided over the ground towards them. They seemed to be intimidated as they tripped over each other trying to flee, yet they were too late. She flew by them, decapitating one, and dismembering the other two. She stood dominantly as she flung the teal blood from her blade with a quick downward swipe.
The ground started quaking as the vortex expanded, created a brilliant flashed, then revealed a massive, grotesque creature with a large club and a menacing look. It instantly made out the winged woman, and With its club raised high, It roared and charged her. Without fear or hesitation, she dodged the club as it came crashing down into the street. Proceeding quickly, she sliced the creature's achilles tendon, forcing it to take a knee. It looked around in an angered daze while slobbering and flailing it’s club. She rolled through the gap between its legs, planted, and with a flap of her wings, launched herself upwards, lancing her blade deep into the monster’s head from under its jaw. A bone crunching sound rang out as she twisted her blade in its head. She then flew a short distance away and watched the large creature slowly collapse into the ground causing dust to billow everywhere.
The vortex pulsed violently before exploding into nothingness. Without wasting any time, the woman spread her wings, and flew away.
Jaklyn watched as Videl stood silently, skin faint, and eyes still on the TV waiting for something to happen. She was even more confused than he, but she sensed something had to be done, something to take Videl’s mind off what was just shown. She started wiggling out of bed.
Her movements snapped him back to reality. “Hey! What are you doing?” he demanded.
“I feel better,” she plopped out of the bed, “I wanna go home.”
“But the cancer—they… they said you were going to die!” Videl replied with a troubled expression.
She smiled brightly, “Well I'm not… watch—” she started doing jumping jacks emphatically, making an overly serious face.
His tension melted away as he watched her.
“—Ahh,” she grabbed a hold of her patient’s gown in an awkward fashion as it came loose and almost fell off. She looked away, wide-eyed still clutching it together tightly.
Videl huffed a good chuckle, “You must be better if you're back to your awkward self.” He walked over to a small closet, pulled out a white bag, and set it on the bed. “They’re your clothes,” he smiled lightly, “I’ll be in the hallway waiting.”
“We’re really leaving?” She beamed.
Videl nodded, “Yea… yea, let’s get outta here.”