“Ahh, this is quite the sight. You mortals have grown and prospered recently. I mean look! There’s so many of you! You have done well.”

At the sound of these words, the Kimbri people as a whole felt pride, and most importantly, relief. So, their gods had turned over a new leaf! He was proud of them! He would almost certainly help them grow and prosper, especially after saying something like that!

“Ahh yes, there are so many of you, especially high-quality ones. We will grow fat off of this feast. In fact, we may never starve again! COME FORTH MY BRETHEREN, AND LET US EAAAT!”

The only words to describe the next few moments was pure, unadulterated chaos. Confusion reigned supreme, only to be replaced by horror. Everywhere there was civilisation, creatures from the Kimbri’s grim tales and horror stories emerged. Some appeared in a burst of flame, and some rose from the depths of the ocean. Some erupted from the ground and some simply materialised out of the thin air.in spite of their wildly varied appearance, they all proceeded to do one thing, and one thing only.

They ate.

It was almost every Kimbri for themselves, as creatures from their collective nightmares ran amok. The level of slaughter had never been seen before, with creature’s intent on consumption of body and soul attacking everything. Missi, Yorogo’s wife, had handed him her eggs in that moment, her insight and instinct outclassing his.

In the next moment, she was dead.

To his shame, he didn’t even try to fight the creature. He simply did what she told him to do and ran. Now he sat in the cave that once brought him solace, weeping openly and cursing at the thin air. How could this happen? Why could this happen? He wept and wept even more, holding the eggs, which were the only things he had left, tightly towards his chest. Hours passed and he remained in the same position, unsure of what to do, unsure whether it was even worth it to try and go on. Maybe he should do his offspring a mercy and end their lives before they even came into this wretched world, so that he and they could join his wife in the void.

But he wouldn’t do that. It was up to him now to keep the children alive, something that his wife died to do. The least he could do was try and eke out an existence here in nature, away from the cities where the monsters congregated. All he would have to do is hide for the rest of his existence. An easy decision, he decided, compared to having your very being consumed.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

He decided to go through what he had, in the hopes that it would aid his survival. He rummaged through his pockets and found a pen, some coins and his personal AM radio. Barely anything, but perhaps he could find uses for the radio’s internal component. Perhaps he could use the battery to start a fire since nightfall was beginning to set in, and he didn’t want the eggs to freeze.

He picked up a rock and attempted to ply open it’s casing, cursing that he hadn’t brought anything else with him. He contemplated just smashing the damn thing open. Later on in life, he would thank whatever forces were out there that he didn’t, because in that moment he heard something coming from the radio.

A faint buzz.

He snatched it up and turned the dial, hoping that someone was out there, and that someone would hear him. After a couple of minutes fiddling with the thing, he heard a voice. There were people out there! Others survived and perhaps they were doing more than just surviving. In any case, he had to figure out what they were saying, so he listened. Closely.

The first thing he noticed was that the voice was strange, in that even though he could understand what it was saying, it had none of the inflections that made the Kimbri language what it was, so it ended up sounding like some sort of robot droning on. Stranger than that, however, was what the voice was actually saying.

“We have detected multiple breaches on your world, with Deity Class beings present. CSS forces are currently engaging them and evacuating locals. Should you hear this message, respond immediately and we will send help to your location. Good luck.

Yorogo heard the message repeat for ten minutes, weighing out his options. To be fair, there wasn’t much to weigh out. He didn’t know what the hell the CSS were, or what a Deity Class being was, or what ‘breaches on your world’ meant, or what they were referring to when they said they were evacuating locals. But what he did know was that it was very unlikely the gods or their minions knew how to use a goddamn radio, so he took his chances and chose to reply.

“Yes, whoever you are I need help. Me and my children are in danger and I don’t know how the fuck any of this is happening. Please help us.”

He paced around the cave, wondering if the right decision was made. Did he just lead those creatures to where he was? It was too late to worry now, so Yorogo bit his tongue and chose to wait. To his pleasure, he didn’t have to wait for long, since the radio started to buzz a few minutes later.

“Heard loud and clear. We are sending a unit to escort you within the next three minutes, so wherever you are, please hang on tight. What’s your name, if I may ask?”

“My name is Yorogo.”

“Well then don’t worry Yorogo, I can guarantee your safety. Just sit tight.”