Amir yawned as he wiggled around under the covers, trying to find that sweet spot on the bed. It was already morning, and the soft rays of light that entered through his bedroom window shined across the side of his face, gently tugging him awake.
Despite the gentle pleadings of the sun for him to awaken, Amir remained defiant. He clearly had no intentions of getting up as he quickly plopped a pillow down onto his face, shielding his eyes from the light.
Typically, most university students—as Amir was—would already be up and about at this time in the morning, preparing for school. But Amir was different. He was already in his 4th and last year in university, so he had more free time than the average student. Most of his classes weren't scheduled until noon, which was why he often remained in bed till much later in the morning.
And today was no different. He planned to stay in bed till either he was awoken by the loud honking of passing cars or till his 9:00 am alarm sounded. But given that it was dead silent outside, the latter seemed more plausible than the former...
Wait, the latter was more plausible than the former? Impossible.
Amir lived in an apartment that was beside a major road near a university. It was practically impossible for it to be quiet as hundreds of cars pass by every hour. In fact, in his 4 years of living there, he had never once been awoken by his alarm. The noise from the morning rush of commuters would always wake him up long before his alarm ever could.
Finding the silence strange, Amir reluctantly opened his eyes and slowly got up from his bed. He drearily dragged himself to the window on the other side of the room and poked his head outside to inspect what was happening. Part of him expected the road to simply be under construction or closed for the day—a scenario that, while unrealistic, wasn't out of the ordinary. However, what he saw was something... strange.
Upon gazing outside, he was instantly met with a road filled to the brim with cars, busses, trucks, and other vehicles—which wasn't surprising, for it had always been a busy road. However, as he looked closer, he saw through the windows of the vehicles that all of them were empty—there were no drivers or even passengers.
What the hell? his drowsiness started to vanish.
Continuing to look around, he noticed that it wasn't just the vehicles. There were no pedestrians on the sidewalks, no vendors manning the food stalls, and even the street sweepers that were always diligently cleaning the streets weren't anywhere to be found.
"What's going on?" he asked, confusion clear on his face. "Was there an evacuation? Why wasn't I woken up?"
Amir tried thinking of a scenario where the people were evacuated in a manner that did not alert him, but he found it improbable. Any efforts of a mass evacuation would have definitely woken him up from his slumber. Not to mention the fact that he lived in a fairly peaceful state, with few natural disasters that could even warrant such a mass exodus of people. So that begged the question: what the hell was going on?
Stepping back from the window, he returned to his bedside and grabbed the phone charging on the nightstand. He quickly checked social media to see if there were any posts about what was happening, but there were none. Scrolling along his feed, he was met with the usual memes, selfies, and irrelevant posts that people made. It was only after a few minutes of searching did he come up with the brilliant idea of pressing the 'most recent tab.'
Oh yeah, that exists...
Opening the recent posts, he became even more confused. All the 'new' posts he saw were made over forty-five minutes ago—meaning none of them were actually 'recent.' Wait, doesn't this tab update every minute?
His feet suddenly went cold. Hurriedly, he opened up another social media app and went over to the recent posts. There he saw the same scenario: all the posts were made forty-five minutes ago, with none of them being truly recent.
"Wha—" he was dumbfounded.
Moments ago, he was thinking that some minor incident had occurred, which caused everyone in the local area to be evacuated. But seeing as how even everyone on the internet seemed to stop posting, he guessed that something major must have happened while he was sound asleep.
Did a nuclear war break out!? he suddenly thought in a panic. Nuclear war was the only thing he could imagine that would cause such a pause in the world. No, wait. If nukes were launched, then the government should be issuing warnings on TV and on every cellular network by now...
Amir closed the social media app and went directly to his contacts. Instead of sitting around, panicking and guessing like an idiot, he would just call his best friend—Izach—and ask him about the situation.
He raised the ringing phone to his ear, but as he did so, the ground suddenly shook, followed by the sound of a powerful thud. Fear gripped his entire body as he realized that his guess might have been right. "Shit! Is the city being bombed!?" he ducked down for cover, bracing for impact.
As he lay on the floor, the ground shook again, and another deafening thud resounded. This caused Amir to tuck his body even tighter, as he half expected the building to suddenly collapse either due to the shaking or the shockwaves of a nuclear blast.
For a minute, the rhythmic quakes followed by a powerful thump continued. Amir remained in his tucked position with his hands protecting the back of his head.
When the shaking finally stopped, Amir decided that it was probably best to stay tucked for a few more minutes in case anything happened. So, he remained there, head down with his hands behind his head, waiting.
Amir lifted his head after what felt like an eternity. By now, the shaking had already subsided for a few minutes, so he figured it should be safe to get up now. He shot a glance at the window, only to see that the world had not yet been annihilated by nukes. Wait, so it wasn't a bomb? Then what was causing that shaking?
Tentatively, he rose from the floor and walked once again to the window facing the road. He poked his head out, looking first to the left, and when he found nothing astray, he tilted his head to the right.
It was there, in the middle of the road, where he saw something hellish.
[https://i.postimg.cc/VkzdBLS0/Amity-sketch-of-a-behemoth-demonic-insanity-highly-detailed-mas-b66939a7-92d0-48df-b7d3-c1b36f62e623.png]
A titanic creature with four arms postured like a gorilla stood ominously in the middle of the road. Its sheer size eclipsed the three-story buildings that it stood next to, and its large bulging arms crushed every single car it had passed.
Amir didn't have the words to describe what he was looking at. The only thing that popped into his mind was 'behemoth,' but even that didn't encapsulate how terrifying the nightmarish creature looked. Out of sheer fear, Amir pulled his head back and ducked under the window. He smartly didn't scream when he saw the monster as he was afraid to draw its attention.
"FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" he cursed under his breath. By this point, his earlier confusion had already been transformed into absolute pants-shitting fear.
Am I having a nightmare? I must be right? he questioned the nature of his reality. But it doesn't feel like a dream... No, it has to be. Something like that can't exist in real life.
Given the fear and circumstance, Amir concluded that he was, in fact, dreaming—he had to be. Because the only other alternative would be that he had gone insane and was hallucinating, that, or it was actually real. He couldn't choose between which was worse.
"Ok," he spoke out loud. "If this is a dream, then I should be able to control things, right?"
Amir took a deep breath. He raised his hand and pointed it to his bed, imaging that he could use telekinesis to lift it. He started concentrating really hard, causing his face to flush red. But, no matter how much he tried to focus and imagine, nothing happened. Maybe I'm trying too hard? he wondered.
So, he tried again. This time with a calmer approach. He remembered one of his psychology professors saying that dreams were controlled by expectations and belief and not by the conscious mind. With that in mind, he started thinking that he was a mystic monk, able to float through meditation. But, same with the bed, no matter how much he tried to believe, nothing happened.
Am I missing something? Why isn't it working? Maybe if I—
A low visceral growl came from the window behind him when he was about to try something else.
No...
Amir turned around, and his heart dropped. The massive creature previously at the end of the road now stood outside his apartment building, emanating growls that shook his entire body.
How... how did it get there? Sweat dripped down the side of his face. I didn't hear anything!?
Amir wanted to make a run for it, but as he continued looking at the grotesque mass of flesh through his window, a sense of futility overtook him.
There was no escape. There was no hope. Only death awaited.
His surroundings began to darken, and cold, chilling air rushed through him. His mind kept telling him to walk forward, closer to the entity.
"A human?" A deep, baritone voice echoed in the air, breaking the trance Amir had fallen under. "No, you can't be. All humans should have already been transferred by the Luminous to that place."
Amir stood silent, his hands and legs shaking from terror. What just happened? Why did I suddenly want to walk toward that thing!?
"What? Are you a mute?" The deep voice spoke again. This time catching Amir's attention. "I could swear you spoke just a minute ago."
"..."
"Uh.. ah.. who... who's there?" Fear filled his mind, but he was able to squeak out a question.
"Ah, so you weren't a mute. Just scared. Well, I wouldn't blame you. Most living creatures lose their sanity once they see a Hollow."
Amir looked around the room, attempting to find where the voice was coming from. "A.. a hollow?"
"Yes, a Hollow," The deep voice answered. "That thing you are looking at outside is a Hollow and is also my wonderful pet."
"A Hollow is your..." Amir paused, not really knowing what he was asking, "pet?"
"Yes, though I must say, Hollows aren't all like that, you know. It just so happened that this one wasn't very smart, so I tamed him. Some are more intelligent, like you and I."
"Me? What do you mean? Wait, who even are you?"
The voice chuckled. "Apologies, I should have revealed myself to you before speaking. Allow me a moment to reform."
From the cracks and openings of the room, a black, smoke-like substance started seeping in. It rolled on the floor and gathered right before Amir, swirling around as it slowly formed a figure that somewhat resembled a human yet lacked any defining characteristics such as a face.
The figure stood over Amir, continually breaking down and reforming. And much like the creature outside, he could not even begin to describe this being. Amir could only assign a word for which to call the thing, and the word he chose was 'unknown.'
[https://postimg.cc/BPpvT1FF][https://i.postimg.cc/fkn0hcT8/grid-0-1.png]
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"Ah, that's better. Now you don't have to look around every time I speak. To go back, you asked me what I meant, Yes?"
Amir nodded slowly, eyeing the Unknown.
"I suppose I meant exactly that—you are a Hollow, like myself." The Unknown said, gesturing his incomplete arm.
Amir didn't quite understand. What even is a 'Hollow?' The closest guess he had right now was that it was some sort of race made up of ghost-like creatures and massive behemoths. But the last time he checked, he was neither of the two.
"Uhm... with all due respect, may I ask what a hollow is? And what the heck is going on?"
The Unknown tilted its head, forming a hand before raising it to its non-existent chin. Amir could feel that it was observing him intently; for what reason, he didn't know. Was I supposed to know what a Hollow is?
After a brief moment of silence, the Unknown lowered its hand—or, more like, evaporated its hand.
"So you did not meet with one of the Luminous?" The Unknown asked. To which Amir simply shook his head. "And you also don't know what's happening? Strange... very strange indeed. Well, if you wish to learn, just grab my hand, child."
The Unknown proceeded to form a bony hand using the black smoke swirling all around. It held it up, offering a handshake, reminding Amir of stories about how the devil would make his deals through the same act.
This made him even more apprehensive than he already had been.
Amir paused. He started looking around to try and find an excuse to refuse the hand. But as he digested his current situation, he realized he had no other option. There was a massive monster waiting outside, for Christ's sake! Who's to say it wouldn't just crush the building like a coke can if he refused?
Taking a deep breath, Amir threw caution into the wind and reached out for the hand of darkness.
I don't like this... but I don't really think I have a say in this situation.
As soon as they made contact, Amir suddenly convulsed as information flooded his mind at a rate far too fast for any human. The Unknown simply watched, unphased by the developments. It seemed that it already expected this to happen.
Shaking uncontrollably, Amir gained the information he wanted. However, before he could contemplate on what he had learned, darkness surrounded his vision, slowly coaxing him into unconsciousness. A few seconds later, he blacked out, falling onto the arms of the Unknown.
"..."
The Unknown gently laid Amir on the floor. "What an interesting development. It seems the Luminous, as well as I, have made a few... miscalculations. Luckily, fate seems to have delivered you directly into my arms. "
∞
Amir awoke for the second time today... maybe? He wasn't exactly sure how long he had been out for, but if he had to guess based on how terribly he felt, then he had to have been blacked out for at least 12 hours.
A groan escaped his mouth. "Uh... am I dead?"
And as if answering his question, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his head. "Ow, fuck! Ok, definitely not dead."
Truthfully, he wanted to just lay there and wait for the pain and nausea to pass. But as he remembered what happened prior to his untimely blackout, an urge to get up and inspect his surroundings filled him.
He propped himself up to a seated position, using both arms to support his unsteady body. Once upright, he rubbed his eyes clear of the crust blocking his vision, allowing him to see where he was. And o' boy, it surely wasn't his bedroom.
"A beach?"
He blinked several times, trying to confirm whether he was actually seeing right. In front of him, a vast blue ocean lay. He watched as the gentle waves kissed the edge of the shore before receding once again to restart the cycle.
"Did I just get kidnapped?" He wondered if his previous encounter with the Unknown was just a hallucination induced by being drugged. But as he looked up into the cloudy sky, that thought quickly vanished.
High in the air, likely a thousand feet above the water, he saw a massive island hovering steadily. Water streamed off its edges, forming several majestic waterfalls and mesmerizing him with its beauty.
Before Amir could even utter a word, something else appeared in his vision.
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《 Home Screen 》
《 Luminous System (Common) 》
【Announcements】
【Bio】
【Stats】
【Classes】
【Resistances】
【Quests】
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
《 Home Screen 》
《 Hollow System (Common) 》
【Announcements】
【Bio】
【Stats】
【Classes】
【Resistances】
【Quests】
----------------------------------------
"What the—" Amir blinked. "Luminous system? Hollow system?"