Tall buildings jutted into the air, woven from concrete and glass. Concrete roads separated them in blocks. The sky above them was a clear blue, white clouds scattered randomly. Through the filter of the plexiglass dome, the sky looked ever so distorted- ensuring the inhabitants within would never really see the true version of the sky. Or, at least, most of them, for a boy who’s name was Sun.
His name was pretty fitting. When he was born, the sun revealed itself from its long slumber behind dark clouds to shine upon the city. So he was named. He was always a bright child at the top of all of his classes. He was also curious of the natural world to an extreme extent. He always asked questions, and when he could find no answer, he looked himself.
During recent times, however, he began to second doubt this. Three years ago, one person disappeared without a trace, as if they never existed. They weren’t found. Every three days from then on, someone goes missing. Whether they were in their homes, outside, in their vehicles, or even sleeping in someone else’s house- they would disappear. It was unnerving. The city was shaken to its core, and so what had once been a bustling remnant of humanity was beginning to decline, slowly but surely.
In the nearly empty streets, Sun was walking. The day was like any other, although much duller compared to when he was younger. Only a hundred people walked outside, as opposed to thousands. He would ignore it, meet his parents, talk to them, and go to school, do his work, then go home and repeat.
He sighed. Day in, day out, everything was the same nowadays. Boring monotony. Deep down, he wanted an escape.
As he knocked on the door to his parent’s house, his nose picked up a hint of something. Something terrible. It was as brief as it was disgusting. He held back a gag just as his parents opened the door.
They were much like him: black haired, pale skinned, blue eyed. The father had opened the door, and welcomed him inside. There, they talked about common, everyday things: the house bill, how their days went, the latest episode of their favorite tv shows, and so on and so forth. They refrained from the topic of the disappearances for an easy reason.
Once Sun exited the house, waving his parents goodbye, he walked out onto the sidewalk.
And then it came again. Stronger and longer lastring. A smell much like rotting fish blended with...ice cream? It was, by all accounts, disgusting, but for some unknowable reason he decided to follow his nose.
In the darkness of an alleyway, he was greeted with the sight of some sort of...creature. It resembled a human embryo early in development. It was as large as a grown man, maybe even bigger. From its midsection was a gigantic hole bigger than his fist leaking the stinking orange liquid. Sun gagged, but continued to look despite every single cell of his body telling him to LEAVE NOW. The fluid trailed all the way up a building and to the roof, making it appear as though the creature was thrown from a height and then impaled…by what exactly?
“Hey! You!” The boy looked up. There was a pink haired woman, with skin paler than any human he had previously seen. She was wearing a strange suit of armor- halfway between medieval full plate and a skin tight bodysuit. In her right hand was a long spear. Without warning, the woman jumped down.
That’s dangerous! She’s going to die! Thought Sun. But when the woman landed as if she fell only 0.5 meters and not 200, he realized she was special...One of those- wait, he couldn’t remember yet.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, leaning into Sun’s face. Her bright red eyes, although they had no hint of malice in them, were quite uncanny. “You foolin’ around with aliens?” The boy stammered, his heart skipping a beat.
“Well, I, uh- was just curious! I smelled something weird and I went to go check it out. That’s all! I had nothing to do with this!” He nervously laughed.
“No need to shout!” The woman raised her hands. “Run along now! It’s dangerous to be near one of these things.” The boy obliged, heading rapidly outside of the alleyway.
I wonder what her name is…
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Desks were arranged neatly in a grid, stopping right before an invisible line that divided the students from the teacher, who was in this case an old man with more wrinkles than a well-worn bedsheet. To the back of him was the blackboard, to the front of him was an aluminum podium, and to his left was the door outside. Light shone through the windows of the classroom, making indoor lights unnecessary.
There were fifteen students in the room. Sun was one of them. He had donned a school uniform. Not only was it necessarily, his previous outfit had taken on the smell of the orange fluid, which made it unwearable.
The old man, seeing that all of the students were accounted for, began to spoke. “Now, I’m sure you’re aware of the current threat to humanity. You were raised in a generation built from the ground up for it. But you have only heard the basics. This lesson will explain the complexities of the enemy invaders. Akiko!” he called out a female student’s name, pointing to her.
“Yes?”
“Tell me when the invaders first came and what happened soon after.”
“The invaders first came three hundred years ago in 2023. They came from another solar system entirely, landing in the middle of the Amazon. At first, they appeared as a small organic boil on the surface of the earth no more than 5 meters in diameter, but they began to rapidly assimilate the land and organisms of the planet, growing in size every second. By 2123, 90% of the world’s land surface had been assimilated.”
“And, Sun, can you tell me of the new field of science that was discovered when the aliens invaded?”
Sun spoke up. “Yes. Earth Force Science. It was created after the discovery of an invisible ‘life force’ the aliens generate that passively breaks down all Terran life within a certain radius. Most of the life force comes from the chunks of the planet they bring with them. It was soon discovered that Terran life has this life force, too, although the planet produces much less life force than the alien planet does. As long as the aliens hold that advantage over us, they’re unbeatable by conventional weaponry.”
“And Sun, do you know what this field of science is used for?”
“I do not know, teacher.” He had to be honest. No reason not to be.
“It is involved in the creation of Flowers.”
“Flowers…?”
“Yes. The code name for a project to turn human women into superweapons. All for the sole purpose of beating back the aliens.”
Akiko raised her hand. The teacher nodded.
“Why human women, specifically?”
“The first human embryo exposed to the alien life force was female. It became a tradition of sorts to wash developing female embryos in alien life force. 9/10 of the pregnancies are terminated, but of the few left, they turn into Flowers: women powerful enough to change the tide of this losing battle.”
“Excuse me, sir.” asked Sun. “Just as there are types of flowers, the plant, are there types of Flowers, the people?”
“Yes. There are six types. Roses, Lilies, Daisies, Lotuses, Tulips, and Irises. Each of them focus on a special field of power. Roses, for instance, focus on defense. Lilies on energy projection, Daisies on agility, Lotuses on physical strength, Tulips on intelligence, and Irises on sociability. Of course, every Flower has a little of each. Every Flower has a personalized weapon called their Petals.”
“I think I saw a Flower earlier.” said Sun. “Do they only appear when there are aliens, or do they always survey areas in advance?”
“The former. They know the presence and strength of all aliens within a certain radius. If you’re saying you saw one, that means an alien was here…” The teacher’s brow wrinkles more than usual. The students look at him, fear in their bodies. “Why didn’t you report this to the city officials? They’re made to deal with this.”
“Because it was dead when I saw it, and I thought it was the latter.” And also I was too scared. He thought, but didn’t have the guts to say. “I apologize. Do you mind if I go and do so now?”
“Go ahead and do it now while you can.” Sun obliged, heading out into the hallway and down the stairs. As he walked near the front doors, which were surprisingly empty, his nose picked up a familiar- while still disgusting- smell. headed out of the building, he saw a trail of orange liquid running to the left of the gates. The liquid made a splatter on the area in front of the gates, while the trail itself was thinner. From a quick guess...it landed here, and was dragged to the side of the building. Following the trail, making sure not to step on the orange liquid, he soon found himself at a dumpster at the back of the school.
He cursed himself. He had strayed away from his goal and for what? Nothing but literal garbage. He turned around and saw it. A small hexapodal creature just sitting there. It had wrinkled smooth skin and thin straight hair dotting said skin in patches. It had six beady black eyes- all staring towards him. Its very existence made him feel uncomfortable...and sick. Before he could even think, it jumped at him. It fell in two, cleaved mid air by a spear’s swing. It rapidly dried, soon turning into a pile of dust.
“You again!” The pink haired girl pouted. “Always finding yourself near aliens. You some sort of spy?”
His mind went blank for a bit. “I-uh-no! No, I’m not a spy! In fact, I was going to report the alien to the city council just a ways from this school!”
“Oh! Okay then! Let me follow you there!”
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“...And why do you want to do that?” The boy asked, confused.
“So I can back up your statements, silly!” The pink haired girl held out her clean hand. “Lemme hold your hand.”
Sun thought it was strange that a woman would offer to hold his hand after meeting him only twice in her life...but she was a Flower. They were probably weird. He obliged. Immediately, he felt the smoothness of her gauntlet, the chill of metal. He couldn’t even feel her feminine hand.
“Giddy up. I know the way!” The Flower dragged the boy. He tried to fight back against it, but she was far too strong. Most likely a Lotus. He would have to make the best of it.
“Hey, I would like to ask you a few questions.” he asked, his tone meek.
“Sure! Go ahead!”
“So, uhm...do you have any special powers or anything?”
“Oh, yeah, I do. I can heal wounds and reverse healing into wounds!”
“Is that all you can do?”
“Nope! But the aliens always listen to Flowers. I can’t just go around telling people my powers willy-nilly! So sorry!”
“...You talk weird.” he blurted out. He expected the girl to at least stare at him, or worse, but she just giggled.
“Yeah! People say I talk funny. Just trying to be polite. I can’t be rude.”
Can’t...be...rude? “Is that literal or metaphorical?”
“Literal. I just don’t have it within me to be cruel, hehehe.”
“Do you just wander everywhere?”
“No. We’re assigned to one city to protect. Sometimes we help with other Flowers when they’re struggling, but that’s fortunately rare. There’s also one other scenario.”
“And that is?”
“When a mass of aliens starts to grow. The Flowers unite to take it down before it grows too much.”
“...Also, what’s your name?”
“My name? Oh, uh...Rafflesia.”
“The corpse flower?”
“Yup!”
The two stopped at the location of the city council. It was a tall building made mostly out of shining glass, the pinnacle of human technology. The glass doors automatically opened when the two humans walked through. Seeing the counter staffed by a male bartender, Sun immediately walked up.
“Excuse me, I’d like to make an appointment with the city council.”
“What for?” asked the bartender.
“Aliens have been spotted in the city.” The man’s face went pale.
“In that case, just walk in! Emergencies like that can’t afford a waiting time!”
The boy obliged, heading through the hallway and stopping at the solid wooden doors. He knocked. “Excuse me! I’d like to inform you that aliens have been spotted! I have a Flower with me?”
“I can confirm it!” said Rafflesia.
The turning of a lock could be heard. The doors opened, revealing a plain office in the style of the ones from the 21st century. A shuttered window let only a small amount of light through. The man sitting at the desk was easily over fifty.
“Take a seat.” said the man in a deep voice. The boy and the girl obliged. “Where is your proof of this?”
“Oh!” Rafflesia reached into her pocket and pulled out a vial filled with orange fluid. She placed it on the desk. “Here. Alien blood.”
How did she get that? Thought Sun. She must have had it earlier, but judging from the color, it’s fresh. She must be so fast that she gathered it up in a vial earlier this day before I could see.
The smell could be detected even through the vial, now that it was out of her pocket. The man’s nostrils curled, visibly holding back a gag. “Proof taken. Rafflesia, work with the city defense force. I’ll guide you to the garrisons. Boy, go back home. You did your part.”
“Hold on! How would the aliens get into here?” Sun asked.
“They would dig to the city and go up here. They act as a hive colony. They can easily, say, drive a tendril through the earth to pop up in cities.”
“And what prevents them from doing this to every city in the world?”
“Flowers. That, and the city defense force. We have special anti-alien weaponry.”
“This anti-alien weaponry, does it have any side effects? Is it dangerous to look at? Hear?”
“Not at all, if that’s what you’re wondering. All you need to do is stay in your house. Trained men and the Flower assigned to us will be more than enough. It’ll be all over in a few minutes.”
“Alright. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Rafflesia, too, for helping our city.” He bowed and walked out of the building. The sun was setting, turning the sky into a deep gold. School was over.
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Sun awoke from his slumber to the sound of shattering concrete. He rushed from his bed and to his window to see a sight that would burn itself into his brain forever.
A large tentacle had burst forth from the ground itself, wriggling. It towered over the nearby skyscrapers- it was easily the biggest thing that Sun had ever saw. Already, it was beginning to send out smaller tendrils that interwove themselves with the concrete, assimilating them. It had smooth white skin like the creatures earlier, and was covered in strange red dots. On a closer look, those dots were in fact eyes- resembling insect eyes. Had they assimilated an insect? He could see that it was beginning to grow an array of insectoid features. Stingers. Hairy legs. Pincers. Wings. They all began to combine into some sort of pseudo-insectoid creature located on the surface of the tentacle. In but a few moments, a creature was fully formed- save for the head.
Before Sun could think any more, the creature sprouted a most uninsectoid like head. It resembled a canine’s, long, broad, and powerful. Four eyes sprouted from its empty sockets. Fully formed, it flew away from the tentacle- joined in the thousands by its brethren that had been gestating at the same time.
Sun didn’t know what size they were, with nothing to compare it to. But when he saw one of them land on a car, crushing it into a pancake, he knew they were no mere insects.
Sun darted back to his bed and hid under the blanket. This situation would pass soon. He knew.
He hoped.
Those hopes were dashed when something flew through his window, shaking the entire house. He pulled away the cover to check- it was Rafflesia, covered in bits of glass and concrete dust. A gaping hole in his wall told him everything he needed to know.
“Rafflesia!” He rushed over to the injured girl, or at least he thought. Surprisingly, she wasn’t hurt or even dazed- she got back up with no stagger.
“Sun! Get out of the house! It’s not safe!” Another loud crash, this time emanating from the lower floor. It was good that he lived alone- otherwise he would have risked more than losing his possessions. He grabbed onto the Flower’s hand and held on tight as she leaped out of the hole, landing onto a lamppost. Sun was given the dishonor of seeing his house demolished by one of those car-sized creatures, as it was rapidly assimilated and was beginning to shift into something unrecognizable. The tendrils began to extend to other buildings. Screams could be heard within them.
“The man said it was safe to stay inside! So why…”
“The alien infestation was far greater than expected. We expected, at most, a small infestation. Instead there were millions of tons of alien biomass sitting underneath this city.”
“M-millions?”
“You heard me!” Rafflesia looked down, seeing the tendrils crawl up the lamppost. “Crap! Hold on tight!” She leaped into the air once more, jumping from building to building- everything was being rapidly assimilated. Sun could tell that she was holding back- otherwise, the G forces would have killed him by now. She soon found a stable platform- a building at the other end of the city. There, the two teenagers could see the army mount resistance.
A futile resistance. They were slain to a man, their bodies assimilated and turned into more of them. A horde swarmed the city.
Sun stared. That was all he could do as his body grew numb and his vision blurry.
But Rafflesia had different plans. She put Sun down and leaped down the building. The boy called out, snapped back to reality, but he soon changed his mind when he saw the weapon in the girl’s hand shift shape.
“Such a bother. I wish I didn’t have to reveal my real weapon…” From a plain looking spear to some sort of red polearm with what resembled a folded up lotus at the end- at least, according to what he saw in botanical texts. The girl walked slowly, approaching the horde...and then stopped a good 50 meters away. The aliens had noticed her, and had begun to close the distance.
She can fight one alien… but thousands?
Sun’s illusion of Rafflesia’s incompetence was dispelled rapidly when five hundred of the aliens died right then and there, vaporized in a gust of flame. Shockwaves rippled across the city- as if a battleship had fired its broadside. Rafflesia stood, her spear head smoking.
Smoking?
As five hundred more aliens came closer, flying over a smoking frontline, Sun tried to look closer- in case he missed something. But his eyes were useless- he saw the same thing again.
She’s...using energy projection? But I thought she was a Lotus? As the aliens drew closer to a nearby store, which was thankfully empty, he changed his mind once more as he saw person-sized chunks of concrete break apart, smoking. He noticed one thing he didn’t- the ever so slight movement of her shoulders.
She...she must be attacking so fast I can’t even see her! It all clicked together in his head. She can thrust her spear so fast it sets her opponents on fire, turning them into ash.
He watched wordlessly as Rafflesia slew hundreds after hundreds of aliens without much effort. She wasn’t human. Of course, she was a Flower. But to think she was this strong- it was as if she was some sort of mythological hero. Like Herakles.
In that moment, he felt nothing more than hope. Hope for the future. Hope that the Flower would save all.
But in that hope was a nugget of darkness. Deep within him, ever so slightly, he felt that something would go wrong.
When the horde of aliens was gone, reduced to ashes, Rafflesia stood in front of her only remaining foe, the tentacle. Now it had stood in silence, perhaps preparing to summon more of its creatures. Taking a deep breath, the Flower tightly gripped her spear and prepared to deliver one thrust to the tentacle, one that would destroy it entirely.
But her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of breaking glass and the screams of the innocent. To the source, the two looked- Sun’s parent’s house was being invaded by the alien creatures.
“Mom! Dad!” Briefly, Sun considered jumping down- but only a slight hint of reason saved him from doing such. Rafflesia darted to the house with such a speed that Sun’s eye could not see and ripped the wooden door off its hinges with one hand. She stepped back, her eyes affixed wide.
“What? What happened!” Sun shouted. Deep down, he knew, and moments later- it was confirmed when it walked out. A cat’s tail. The fins and scales of a fish. The faces of his mother and father, writhing in agony. All smashed together in one unrecognizable heap of flesh.
He stared emotionless as the abomination lumbered like a snail. Closer and closer, it approached Rafflesia, who stood there. The Flower gave a sad look towards the boy. She knew what to do...she just didn’t have the heart. That was obvious with just a glance.
“N-No! Don’t do it! Please don’t kill my parents! Do-”
Boom. Like the aliens before it, the abomination was now ash scattered in the air. That was the last thing Sun saw before he became unconscious.
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Sun awoke to cool drops splashing against his skin. Drops of...what? Water? Urine? He opened his eyes and saw that the sky was overcast, a deep gray that the sun could not reach through. Rain. For the first time in his life, he felt rain. He was restricted by the dome to only using one or two of his senses- now he had access to all five. He could smell the rain interact with the soil. He could feel it splash across his skin. He could hear it fall onto the ground. When sticking his tongue out, he could taste it. And, of course, he could see it, but in a new light. He slowly but surely got up, having trouble with the muddy ground. It must have been raining for a while. For how long? Hours? Days? Was he asleep for weeks?
“Oh, Sun, you’re up!” A familiar voice caught his attention. Appearing from behind a strange boulder shaped much like a wall, Rafflesia walked up to Sun. “Are you okay? Feel sick? You must have sleepwalked out of your shelter when I was hibernating.”
Sun struggled to speak. He stammered, but eventually he made a response. “What...what happened?”
Rafflesia answered simply, her face stony. “The city was destroyed. The aliens were simply too great in number.” It was not like her to lie. From their brief interactions, Sun knew that much.
He almost fell back unconscious, but steeled himself. “You’re lying!” He shouted. But this in of itself was a lie. “If...if you’re not lying...you’re exaggerating! To scare me!”
“Neither lying nor exaggerating. I’m telling the truth. Your city is gone. I’m sorry, I did my best.”
Sun started to tear up. The city he lived in for 18 years…the city he was born in...the city he was raised in...the only place that he knew...was gone.
His teacher.
His classmates.
His pets.
His...his parents… Remembering it now brought tears to his eyes, but he did not cry. Seeing the boy, Rafflesia hugged him.
“It’ll be all better. Okay. Cry as much as you want…”
And so he did.