The darkness was enormous. Infinite. Endless. It fully absorbed him without missing a single piece. Covered him from all sides. Hid him in the deepest parts of nothingness. It took everything from him. He just existed and nothing more. There were no memories, no thoughts, no time. He was like a hollow shell of his former self, but without understanding, who or even what he was. Sucked dry of his own self. However, there were no emotions about that. No anger, pity, or anything. No desire to know why, where, or what to do. Just nothing, only calm darkness, which started dissolving even the last contours of his self-being that were left.
However, before his full decay, a strange feeling emerged. Unknown force not only embraced him but also filled everything back. Maybe it took only an instant or maybe a full eternity – at some point the pieces of his consciousness began to merge. Pictures of events were simultaneously projected inside him. Events that made his non-existent heart shrink. The more complete he felt, the more painful it got.
In the end, we failed. The wave was just too huge. Don’t think that anyone survived.
Nonstop shooting from every machine in a futile attempt to stop the swarm. Thousands of aliens had died, but more came as a replacement. Every single meter of advance was paid for by their blood. His units were destroyed one by one. Each took its price. Nevertheless, their numbers diminished unstoppably, inevitably decreasing his ability to fight back. A jammed machine gun buried the very first light mech. A few reckless charges of giant types took several tanks. Flying enemies focused solely on engineer mechs, which made it difficult to replace a constantly exhausting ammo. Loses accumulated and there was no sign of reducing the enemy’s torrent.
Still, Robert might have a chance to fight them off. Just barely. However, the assault on Leo’s position was even stronger. A flank attack on his artillery wasn’t a surprise, but he just couldn’t deal with it, when all his remaining forces struggled to stand their ground. Concentrating on organized retreats and trying to save as many units as he could, took all his attention through direct control. He managed to stabilize the defense with leftovers of his group, but then a new thing struck him. Leo’s bunker had been already breached by that moment.
In reality, it didn’t take long for the complete fall, but with their huge speed of processing everything made it hurt like hell to read literally last messages of their friend. His attempts to joke with new insults on Brad just to cheer up others. His unwillingness to die and a teary goodbye. His curses for his own virginity and his final joke of being reborn as the strongest Archimage in a future life. To read and to know that you couldn’t do anything. To know that another death would be just a question of time.
The next one was Zack. After that Marg and Brad. With the destroyed defense of his both neighbors, Robert’s attempt to persuade Captain to evacuate his marines was met with a strong refusal in the end. Nobody from his guards wanted to abandon him. Of course, there was no reinforcement or any miracle rescue. Rob was surrounded from all sides and had just a mere ten units when heavy infantry started to shoot in corridors in a futile attempt to stop the breakthrough. The aliens had learned long ago, who posed the biggest threat to them, and that naturally led them to aim for his control room in the first place.
Robert could even observe from outer cameras how insect-type aliens the size of a bear tore apart the armored bodies of soldiers. How James‘s bald head was bitten off in one swift and bloody motion. How Captain blew up himself together with several enemies, almost burying the corridor and giving a few extra minutes of life to Rob. It never stopped him. He methodically continued to shoot from the last three mech units. Even when sharp claws were already heading in the direction of his own defenseless body that was still connected to the equipment, Robert was calm.
“Was glad to know you all, guys. You made everything worse.”
That was his last message before darkness took him. There was no pain. No fear. Only small regret of leaving behind three mechs that could still continue to fight, but now, without him, turned into motionless and useless steel puppets. Maybe there was some relief of ending his insipid life. However, soon everything disappeared. There was only pure blackness. Emptiness. That was until that strange feeling emerged and brought his essence back. Those memories flashed before him as if drawing a line. The next moment his body uncontrollably breathed in. Almost like a switcher was turned on, his mind started to function. Robert abruptly opened his eyes and finally looked around.
To his utter surprise, he found himself on a stony plateau. Filled with small cracks all over the grey surface, it was completely flat and empty. Even bared from any signs of life. What’s more, it looked like it was floating in space. Robert could clearly see the borders of this strange rock that ended with nothingness. On the other hand, the darkness above him was not absolute – he saw hundreds of stars. Each had almost the same brightness but varied greatly in colors and sizes. Together, they made quite a picture, bewitching Robert for some time. He couldn’t understand the real reason, but he felt that even the smallest star here was something grandeur. Not just plain astronomical objects, no. Something much more. Almost divine.
Oh, that could be it. Then is this the afterlife? Looks quite boring, but guess beggars can’t choose…
Before Robert finished his thought, colorful lights emerged near him quickly transforming into odd people. It looked like the air itself had bent before straightening back with the new addition. Dressed in various outfits, those unknowns made a noticeable contrast between each other. There was a bearded man with leather pants, bracelets, and spiked black boots. His muscles were covered with a thin layer of fat, which made him look huge. Like real huge. However, even with a big belly he radiated primordial fury and strength. The pure barbarian who could break Robert in one motion with ease.
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There was another short slender man, not taller than 5 feet (1,5 meters). Equipped in a real space suit, he was like from another era. His face couldn’t be seen because of the toned visor on his helmet. This astronaut didn’t even check the surroundings, being fully absorbed by some high-tech equipment on his forearm. Another strange woman was not far from him. Redheaded, her curves attracted the attention of many men around. The main reason was her light grey tight-fitting costume, which only boosted the imagination. From his angle, Robert couldn’t properly see her face, but just from the reaction of others, he could easily bet that everything was on the same gorgeous level. A strange monk in a red robe and with a fully tattooed face. A teenage girl with pink hair, a violet t-shirt, and yellow shorts. Another soldier like him in sandy uniform and with visible scars all over opened parts of his body, including his face. There were many others, dropped in this place for unknown purpose. As far as Robert could see, everyone was unique in his or her own way.
Okay, no weapons so far. No acquaintances or I just can’t see them. I am still in my clothes. Even the spot on my collar from dinner’s ketchup is still there. Also, we are without a doubt from very different places. Like worlds? Dimensions? Maybe planets, not sure though with this one. If it is an afterlife then it’s quite strange. However, I definitely died. I totally felt it. Then someone resurrected me and took me here whatever this place is. Hope I’ll get some answers soon.
The next moment he realized that he couldn’t move at all. It was strange, but before this thought hadn’t even appeared in his mind. As if he was here, but his body wasn’t. As if any motion was fundamentally impossible, so he didn’t even try. Only his eyes were capable of moving. The same situation went with speaking. In this abnormal place, the silence was absolute. Everyone was like realistic statues in some weird museum.
Just nope. Rob, throw away this thought, quickly! Nobody is collecting dead people from all over the place only to make an exhibition from them. That would be a living hell… Crap, my imagination can ruin even the fact that my death didn’t stop my existence. Breathe, Robert, breathe. Wait, I can’t even do that!
He didn’t know how long it took him to calm down. Different scenarios filled his mind in an attempt to explain the current situation, but without proper information, any of them could be real. After fully accepting that he solely could only follow the flow, Robert managed to handle his emotions. The next minutes or hours or whatever time had passed, he kept himself busy trying to guess from what place every visible unfortunate colleague had come. He even named them so bored he was. In his eyesight, nothing had changed since the beginning and with his modified brain, it was stressful.
Most effects of his artificial upgrade were noticeable during the connection to the special equipment. However, in ordinary life even without the help of machines, his mind perceived much more. There was barely a noticeable feeling of slowing time when deliberately focusing which gave Robert quite a good reaction. Nothing more than that in this respect. No supervision or senses, no huge IQ to solve any problem in a moment, no photographic or even perfect memory. He couldn’t notice bullets or multiply five-digit numbers in mind.
Instead, while a human could focus only on a few things, he was like simultaneously concentrating on everything he was seeing without any additional effort. It could be named multi-tasking, but Rob preferred the “hyper-focus” term because it sounded more special and slightly correctly explained his inability to turn it off. Such a definition didn’t change an unpleasant effect. The effect quite often resulted in tough communication with other people. Each small defect, each spot of dirt on clothes, each small problem in appearance was fully observed by him and he couldn’t just unsee it. Of course, any normal man could ignore it and usually do it, but he naturally had to turn this ignorance to an epic level. That’s why the scenery before his eyes became old in no time.
Not fun at all. If we are waiting for someone then that person must buy the damn watch, 'cause…
Once again Robert couldn’t finish his new wave of cursing. As if someone turned on gravity, he felt an enormous pressure. Not on his body… the hell, he didn’t even know if he had one because he just refused to obey. He still could see some parts of it, including the shirt's collar with a red spot, but the unrealistic feeling of inability to move made his mind wonder if it existed in the first place and wasn’t a phantom image. Or an odd hologram.
No, something squeezed the essence of what made him actually himself. What came next was an irrational fear. Rob didn’t notice even a slight change in scenery, but he felt with his guts that someone was coming. The owner of this place and the person, who brought him from nothingness. A natural predator that emitted this aura of dominance, control, hunger, and bloodlust.
Robert didn’t know how he managed to interpret this pressure in specific sensations. It just came from a realization, along with the terror that began to embrace him. It took all his willpower to suppress it with his mind, constantly repeating that this was just an imagination. Delusion, hallucination, something unreal. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
A gigantic figure made of black smoke appeared above the stone field, entirely covering the space above them. Despite being the same color as the nothingness between stars, it radiated such power that Rob could easily distinguish it from the surroundings. However, only a humanoid profile was seen. That and a huge maw that took almost half of its face. It was darker than pure darkness. A black hole, which consumed everything – matter, light, and even time. Robert felt that just looking at it would suck his essence dry, but something made him to continue doing it. His perception of reality made each moment even harder. A strong desire not to surrender began to burn from inside. Yes, he was gripped by fear. Filled with it from top to toe. Even if Rob’s body could follow his commands, he was sure the growing panic made it impossible to move even his finger. He was a prey with a determined destiny, but he stubbornly refused to bow down despite knowing the incoming aftermath. Robert had died once already, nothing new for him. Only idiots were not afraid, but only the brave could overcome the painful feeling of a squeezed heart.
“Good. The flawed and weak were cleaned,” a heavy voice sounded in Rob’s mind. Unrecognizable whether it was male or female, it was deep and powerful. Almost divine. Hearing it made him snap from his concetration and he right away noticed the change. At least half of the gathered people slowly disintegrated into dust, which was immediately sucked into the opened maw of the unknown entity. With a small mental sigh, Robert found an empty place, where that curved redhead stood earlier. Decreased pressure helped to clear his mind and he directed all his attention to the next words that came from above.
“I greet you, mark ones! I am Wepwakor, God of Everlasting Hunger, Devourer of Souls, Venturous Hunter, and you will become my envoys.”