Drachen Fire Pt. 1

After the ozone layer was destroyed, the first new humans took refuge under the caves. As the story goes, underground cities were already a staple in worldwide culture by 2020. In hindsight, many wonder if that was in anticipation of an event like this. So much of our modern world seems to be hanging on the fragile thread of what was established only a few decades after Y2K. Nobody could have known that after every computer in the world changed to the year 2000, their devices started emitting untraceable amounts of chlorofluorocarbons, and many other chemicals that began to eat away at our protection from the Sun. By the time humanity caught on in 2036, it was far too late to stop it despite their best efforts.

Their best efforts, huh? Despite having almost four whole decades to learn about Y2K’s destruction, humanity never did. Some still wonder whether we’re taught the truth of our world after all.

Not that any of it matters, now. The past seventeen years of my life have been dedicated to the sole purpose of becoming a Scavenger Lord like my father. To be someone who can stand at his side and save the world from the mess I was born into. But now, on my very first expedition to the surface, it seems as if it’s all over.

My heart trembled as the elevator doors began to open. A wind of dust shot up at us as we awaited our deaths in anticipation. If this surface-dweller looked half as angry as it was on the monitor, there was surely no other faith for us.

Surface-dwellers aren’t known to be the friendliest of creatures and this one certainly didn’t seem to be the type. It was banging angrily on the doors. Teeth on every limb mimicked the sound of gunshots as they repeatedly scattered onto the metal. Even if this wasn’t the end, this would no doubt be a source of trauma for the rest of my life. All I could hope for was a swift death

The creaks made it sound like the elevator was hundreds of years old although it was built within the last twenty years. Rocco’s eyes were closed and I began to close mine as well but after a few seconds… Nothing happened?

When we opened our eyes, we miraculously found the elevator doors trying to close.

“What the hell is this?!” Rocco gasped. “This shouldn’t be possible! The doors never close on their own.” Despite how shocked Rocco and I were, unlike me, Rocco was able to adapt immediately. “Move your ass, kid! I need to make it to the control panel and send us down, now!”

“Where’s the panel at?!”

“...”

He didn’t want to say it but it didn’t take long for me to realize that the buttons to control the elevator were right next to the door…

“Are you kidding me?! Sir, if you go up there, you’ll die!” There was no way that I could allow Rocco to throw his life away for me.

Terrifying doesn’t even begin to describe the emotions swelling through my entire being, but being a Scavenger Lord means having the courage to do the things that terrify you the most! With this resolve, My legs began to unbuckle and they soon went into motion. Rocco already got a headstart but he’s an old man. I know I can outpace him. Rocco was already getting closer and closer, all it takes is a few more steps and…

“Bane, are you okay?!” Without stopping his charge, Rocco noticed I fell over and wanted to make sure I wasn’t injured.

He was almost to the elevator control panel and although the door was still trying to close, there was no doubt in my mind that the surface-dweller would gnaw its way through. In that instance, it was like a premonition, there was nothing in my head that could explain why, but I saw my mother.

Strength coursed through my veins once more and I rushed towards the control panel. My eyes could feel it. We would make it there at the same time. I’d grab Rocco and throw him behind me as I go on to take us back down if that’s even possible. Yes, this was the path to success.

Mere inches from the panel, I reached out to grab Rocco and…

The sound of shrapnel flying is often under-exaggerated. At least in all the movies and TV shows I’ve watched. They always made it seem like chaos was relatively quiet and suitable for the ears. Perhaps this was to maintain the composure of the viewer… Oh, I see. My father would tell me about these buildings that people of the old world often frequented. They would enter and talk to a man. This man would be a special person who handed them a piece of paper. Usually, it was one piece of paper per person. And the people would take this paper up to another person and… No, wait a minute, that’s not right. Was the popcorn before or after? Either way, it would end with them in this large dark room, and at the very front was a massive monitor. Sort of like the one in this very elevator except I think the screens there were even bigger somehow, and they would display pictures in even higher quality. These movies were treated like special events. Entertainment was seen as valuable. The people of the old world would take three hours out of their day to go somewhere and use money to pay for this entertainment. It’s so stupid! Why would they pay for that? Weren’t there more important things to worry about?! This train of thought only fueled my hatred for everything before me. But more than anything, I hated myself for being born in the wrong time. My life would be doomed to the error of faulty time, and now, was no different.

A giant piece of the elevator door flew past my head. An inch closer and it would’ve been lights out. Unfortunately, that may have been the preferable choice. Instead, the teeth of the unknown sunk into my uniform, and although my suit wasn’t pierced, I could feel the strength of this creature tightening on my organs. It was like a cold iron chain wrapping around my lungs. The only real thought I could muster was wondering where its mouth was. For all the teeth on every limb of this body, I couldn’t for the life of me, figure out where my body would be consumed.

At least Rocco was safe… Was he safe? It’s not like I had the strength to turn my head by any means so it wouldn’t even be possible to check if my dying moments even meant anything. What a waste. I’m ready to go now.

The surface-dweller crushed my body in its arms and began to raise me to what could only be its face. It didn’t look like a face by any traditional means but it certainly couldn’t have been anything else. Its eyes were placed on the bottom right and top left of his face. It had five of them, three on top, and two on the bottom. What looked to be its nose, resided at the very top of its forehead and it seemed straight out of Pinocchio with its egregious stick-like length. Finally, the most abhorrent feature of this surface-dweller had to be its mouth. Directly positioned where its nose should be, was an abundance of teeth in the same shape as the ones on the limbs but reduced in size by at least a hundred times. There had to be around ten thousand teeth all moving and fluttering in those mere inches of space, it looked disgusting. If that’s where I’m headed, we might be here for a while. Not like I haven’t accepted it anyway.

This world and everything about it is garbage. The circumstances are garbage. The people are garbage. Technology is garbage. In the year 2062, this may be the first era of humanity and Earth that has experienced a regression in progress. God, if you’re out there, perhaps you get off on this, or maybe you don’t even care. Part of me always felt like you were so far off into some outer plane of existence that you didn’t even have the opportunity to not care. Is that how insignificant we are? How insignificant I am? If that’s the case, I guess I should just learn to appreciate the beauty of nothingness and how pointless this all is, right? That’s what they say. The beauty of life is what you make of it. I guess, that makes sense, but that would take a lot of work and time, just to still end up with nothing. God, on the tiniest chance you can possibly hear something from anyone in this forsaken hell, please let it be me. Let my voice reach you. God, if you can hear me…

“Fuck you.”