"It can't be!" Harid had the death of his friend and all the people in front of his eyes and wondered if it all was the truth. He instinctively reached for his smartphone, but it was nowhere to be found. He realized that it had been left at that nightmarish place.
Immediately after he watched the tattoo lose all its glow, he walked out of the room and barged into the room of his sister. Without any words, he snatched away her cellphone and did a quick search for some news,
"Y-You are missing! Where have you been? Hey! What are you doing? Father was right, you joined some sort of a gang!" His sister protested and barraged him with conjectures and accusations while trying to take back her cellphone. He ignored her and read all the news' titles.
"Kidnappers strike again!"
"A Rowdy Mob Demands The Closure of All Subway Stations!"
"Police Hiding Information About Subway Incidents!"
"Martial Law Is a Possibility!"
"More People Disappear In Broad Daylight!"
"Even Squares Are Not Safe!"
"Squares?" Harid frowned while browsing the headlines. The incidents were more numerous than he had expected and it happened internationally. He could not find any information about people returning back, there were a lot of articles about the disappearances of people, but the reporters knew nothing. Nobody had a clue about who was doing it or where were the people that had disappeared.
"We should call police! Everyone is searching for you even at this hour!" His sister yelled while grabbing her phone and Harid thought that she was right, this incident was too big and he could not do anything with his meager power of an ordinary high schooler. He let her take the phone and call the police, while looking our of the window at the lights of the night city. She did it probably because she did not know what else to do.
"Aren't you calling the police?" He asked as if it had nothing to do with him.
"No. Mom. She will call them!" His sister answered.
What was he going to say to them? There was no way that his parents or police would believe him. He would end up locked somewhere or declared crazy. Based on the news, he was the only one who was able to return because of the tattoo.
Thousands of people kept disappearing every day and he was probably the only one who had a slight clue where and he was most likely the only one who was able to travel back and forth by using that tattoo and eventually could find out something.
He felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. His sister kept asking him something, but he ignored her with empty eyes.
He remembered the jet black tower.
The answers might really be there and he might be the only one who could obtain those clues. If he waited for the police, no one would believe him.
"No! They would!" An idea flashed though his mind.
He realized that there had to be some kind of a surveillance system in the subway and stiffened even more. The police would find out that he was among the ones who disappeared, the only one who returned.
In a flash, all movies where the main characters ended up as test subjects floating in green goo reappeared in his mind. There was too many cases and the number of victims still grew, they were going to get answers from him no matter the cost, even if they had to slice him into small pieces.
Was he too paranoid, or not?
He should try on his own, he could return again in an instant anyway.
The next second he was running towards the fridge and grabbed whatever he could there, his shouting sister following behind him.
"Are you crazy? Stop!" She freaked out, but he had no time for her. He had to hurry.
A bag! He was not going to repeat his mistake. He quickly loaded food into one of his bags that he used when he had too little to bring with him to school and ran out of the house.
Thank gods that he had managed to dodge his parents, they would have never let him go.
On his way, he used his other tattoo and added a bottle of shining green liquid into his bag, he had no desire to attract attention when he arrived at the other side. His sister shrieked something at him, but he still ignored her, there was only one picture in front of his eyes. The picture of the massacre in the subway on the other side that no one knew about and all the news tittles.
All the disappeared people were going through that meat grinder and no one except of him had a clue! In fact, he was a hero! No, he just wanted not to be sliced into pieces! After a stream of conflicting thoughs he quickly walked out of their home, not running in order not to look suspicious.
"Never go to the places where people vanish, they are dead!" He remembered to return and grab his sister by her shoulders and shook with her before he left in a hurry. He was sure that she was not going to follow him, she had never been particularly brave.
Shortly, he arrived at the station where he had disappeared, it was closed off, a red tape hanging over its entrance. He burst through the tape and rushed in the direction of the place where he had disappeared some time ago. He was sure that he would disappear again when it was time to teleport another batch into that crazy nightmare. His steps gradually slowed and when he was nearing the platform, his legs grew heavy. They were like a mountain when he stopped walking, unable to move forward.There was cold sweat on his forehead and his hand trembled when he wiped it off with a handkerchief.
He was afraid. So afraid!
He saw a patrolling policeman in front of the station and though that it would be wise to hide. He would see him if he kept standing frozen on the spot. Still, his legs did not move, because he was paralyzed with fear.
No, that was not it. Subconsciously, he wanted to be seen! Seen and caught, unable to enter that place of horrors again and meet the golden knights and invisible monsters that scavenged after them.
"Hey! What are you doing there kid?!" He did not answer and his legs did not move. He was going to be caught and interrogated in some safe, secure room in his hometown, scolded by his parents and his sister for fiddling with her cellphone and everything would be fine.
It was a pleasant future that he welcomed.
All the people could die as long as he cared, he was not going to return there again!
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"What is your name young man?" The policeman was close now and he could see his partner in the distance as they usually patrolled in pairs.
Inside his head, he saw the massacre again and his imagination multiplied it by thousands until the bodies even did not fit inside the subway. That was his doing. He could prevent it. Yet he was a coward like with that girl that time, grabbing her and intentionally pulling her to her death. He had been rotten to the core from the start!
His inner voice gnawed on his conscience until he could not bear it any longer and dashed towards the shimmering platform, away from the policeman.
Originally, he had thought that people were teleported twice a day only, but judging by the unnatural look of the platform, it had to function a little differently. It was more likely that there was a new place every now and then that served as a one way gate to the strange dimension and no one was brave enough to go near the places that had already became the gates. That would explain why there was influx of people in fixed intervals on the other side. There was a high possibility that the platform with dubious appearance that shifted and blurred like it was and was not there at the same time would still take him to the subway on the other side.
When he reached the distorted platform and his foot touched the floor, the image of new steel rails had been replaced with a single rusty one, his surroundings suddenly buried in dust.
Naturally, the policemen were nowhere to be found even after he had waited for a while, they probably liked their lives too much to follow him.
"Blood and dust everywhere." Harid whispered and looked under his feet, but there were no innards and gore, only blood.
"The invisible monsters, I have totally forgotten about them!" His premise was that he should not be afraid of the golden knights, because he could just teleport away like he had done before, but he had no idea what he was going to do about the invisible monstrosities. They might be able to bite him even before he spotted their presence.
"I should hear them, they should not be stealthy enough to approach right next to me without any sound." He tried to calm himself down, but it worked only partially.
He jumped off the passenger platform and walked in the opposite direction, not the one he had chosen the last time. The tunnel of the subway should lead him away from the city center and closer to the black tower, which he chose as his goal for his exploration mission. Thankfully, he did not hear the alarm from before and he moved noiselessly forward. It was logical that the fire alarm had worked only for that single station and it had actually helped him, attracting many knights and other monstrosities to that particular station.
After two hours, he could not help but smile despite the tension he felt after even the slightest noise. He looked under his shirt and saw five tattoos on his skin, he was walking though the third subway station and naturally had not forgotten to collect all the tattoos he could. It was strange that there was one garbage bin capable of branding him in each station, as if someone had positioned them there meticulously on purpose. He had not found more of them, even though he searched the first station he had passed though thoroughly.
"It is weird, all this is just too weird." He mumbled and decided to take a look around, because he had no longer any idea where the black tower was. He had found a map of the subway, but it looked old and most of it had been destroyed.
Luckily, the tower was massive and he was able to see its upper portion right after he had emerged cautiously from the station's lobby.
"The subway is turning away from the tower. I will never get there by following the tunnels." Harid's face distorted when he realized that getting to the tower might be like trying to find a way though a labyrinth if he continued though the tunnels.
Accidentally, he looked directly upward and noticed that there was a thick cable running from the top of the black tower roughly in his direction. The cable continued above his head and at its end, there was a tall tower that seemed to coincide with the location where the subway's tunnel was going.
"Seems like the next station is also the one from where the strange cable cars depart." He nodded and turned around, reentering the subway.
"If only some of it works, I can have a direct route to reach the black tower." He could only hope that he would find there more clues about the situation.
* * * *
Year 347 After Enlightenment, Karnas, the capital city of The Ulyan Empire
"This won't do, my son should march through the streets in something more spectacular than this!" A middle aged man frowned while looking at an armed figure in front of him.
"Father, give me a break!" The man armed with cold weapons and dressed in a shiny outfit that resembled armor threw his hands in the air helplessly.
"No, I won't. You are the descendant of the greatest Dreamweaver in the city!"
"Huh, I know someone who might disagree." The youngster looked thought the window at the azure tower that stood proudly in the distance.
"Bah, that scarecrow? He is nothing." His father insisted. "Let's dress you in something better."
"This is the best armor we have found there, it will be a waste of time to search for another." The son argued, bored with the whole parade that seemed to be very important for the head of the family.
"Then we just need to search more thoroughly!" The man in a purple cloak embroidered with gold grinned and his son started to fidget with unease.
"You know what they say about . . ."
"Nonsense! Don't be discouraged by fools. Our family is the engine of progress of this city! You have to face dangers to achieve results, not cover in a dark corner." He made a grand gesture with his palms and spoke with unwavering voice.
"Let's imagine the most beautiful armor in all existence, I summon thee here to underline the greatness of our line and adorn my son with your beauty!"
After a strange sensation had rushed though the room, the Dreamweaver's son looked at his hands and gasped in awe.
His figure was no longer dressed in an ordinary parade armor, but he found himself strapped in a beautiful golden armor with a deep blue cloak. It shone in the afternoon light like it was made from gold and when he moved his hand, it felt like a feather. It was truly a plate armor out of this world. Sturdy, light and incredibly detailed with unfamiliar beasts and symbols engraved into it. The motives looked a little disturbing when observed closely, but it could not lessen their mesmerizing perfection.
"That is how my son should look like!" His father stepped closer to him and grabbed his arms with his hands proudly and his son grabbed his in return.
"Beautiful!" He gripped his son's arms tight as if to encourage him and the young man reciprocated the gesture while smiling at his father.
"Beautiful, but not as beautiful as my son!" He laughed, but the moment he said it, the visor of the golden armor's helmet suddenly shut close, obstructing the face of his son.
"Son?!" The Dreamweaver called in alarm when he felt pain in his arms. the arms of his son gripping him with immense strength.
"Son, what are you doing?! Stop! It hurts!" He began to panic when intense pain assaulted him, his arms being crushed by inhuman strength of the golden gauntlets that held him.
"Help! Help father! ARGHHHH!" He heard a desperate shriek of his son from under the golden visor, his voice filled with terror and agony.
Along with their cries of pain, suddenly another voice spoke, metallic and unnatural.
"Not as beautiful?"
Blood flowed through the seams of the golden armor as it continued to break apart the man it was holding, disassembling him like a broken toy. After it had been satisfied, the metallic hand threw the body away like a used paper towel. Its posture shifted with the visor facing the window where on the streets people hurried back and forth either on foot, or in vehicles that were flying through the sky.
"Legions come, ugly dared to insult the most beautiful." The voice sounded again, tinged with anger. The armored hand lifted the visor again, revealing the face that seemed even more perfect than before, with hair akin to rivers of gold streaming down along its cheeks. However, in the eyes of the beautiful visage there was no humanity any longer, only a cold glint of anger waiting to be unleashed.