It happened twenty years ago. The event that shook the world now referred to by us as The Calamity. The human race had poisoned planet earth to the extreme, however humankind was able to prolong the inevitable outcome of extinction through various scientific endeavors meant to stall severe climate change. Billions of people constantly cried out for help. Their cries were answered. On November 11, 2097 at 9 o’clock AM, Pardex, the leading company in climate reversal research, announced they had the solution to earth’s dire situation. People who felt hopeless and thought that the world was forsaken became elated. The entire human race became filled with joy in less than an hour. That tiny speck of hope which everyone had within them suddenly grew. They had a chance again. Little did they know, but that glimmer of hope would soon be permanently extinguished.

Pardex called their its creation ETHeR. It came in all states of matter. Supposedly, by releasing ETHeR into the atmosphere, the air would become clean again. Supposedly, by releasing EtheR into seas and rivers, the water would become drinkable again. Supposedly, watering the lands with ETHeR would make them farmable again. Supposedly, humanity was saved. That afternoon, at 9 o’clock PM, Pardex released ETHeR into the atmosphere and selected rivers and that afternoon, the world changed for the worse.

Instead of the atmosphere becoming clean, it turned into noxious gas. Instead of the water becoming potable, it turned into poison with quicker effects than cyanide. However, despite all this, the worst was yet to come.

When a human breathes the noxious air, they turn into monsters. The first symptom turns the infected into what I call a “Lost”. The infected becomes confused and loses all sense of who and where they are. The second symptom is ossification. Random parts of the infected person’s body become bone, forming a weapon or incomplete, or in some cases complete, exoskeleton. And the third and final stage of the infection is demonification. The person, if they can still be called that, goes insane, forgetting who they were before and turn into a savage beast. These creatures, aptly named reapers, can sense human presence and have hunted what's left of the human race to near extinction.

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For an unknown reason, some are immune to the ETHeR disease. Despite their ability to fend it off, these “uninfected” are not strong enough to defend themselves from reapers or the mutated beasts that most wildlife has become. This is where I come in.

At one point, I was an infected, slowly losing myself. However, the process abruptly stopped after the ossification stage, giving me the power to turn almost any part of my body to bone at will.

I gained strength and speed similar to that of a reaper. I obtained power previously considered superhuman, but now only considered inhuman. I guard a camp of about one hundred humans and they are growing stronger every day. I will protect them until one of us dies. I will help them achieve humanity's former glory.

I am Grim, and this is my story.

Hello everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of my story. I know its really early but please, if you have a comment about my writing style or ways to improve it, or even to just say hi, please leave it in a comment or send it to me as a PM. These interactions with my readers are what drive me to write and, when I stop getting them, I end up stopping that story. Thanks again for reading and see you guys next chapter!

Blovix