Arc 1 - Chapter 7: Live For Me

Dust enclosed the entirety of the station, causing everyone to sneeze and cough. Amongst the hundred of civilians who ducked and covered, all of them remained silent as they couldn’t lay their eyes in front of the building which toppled.

But the dust began to clear not at the station, but where Luke stood, in between the street and the roof. Covered head to toe with brown dust, he widened his eyes and quivered his throat.

“Mom! Mom!”

Pushing all of his feet muscles, he ran to the mountain of debris formed in front of him. Scanning his eyes, he found no limb or blood pouring or sticking out, leaving him no choice but to dig. Using the butt of his palms, he moved pebbles and small stones, trying his very best to get at least some of the weight off of his mother. Even though his efforts of strength weren’t working, he still tried to pry his way to rescue her…

“Mom! Please! Mom! Say something!”

He wanted to hear her voice, a call for help, he wanted…

“No! Please no!”

The more he struggled, the harder he tried. Scrapes, cuts, scars, and blood; flying through the air with every stone he turned, he continued digging. His arms started to slow down, despite his desperate attempts to push through the pain. He can’t cry, for if he cried now, he'd run the supply dry when he wished to reunite with her.

But it was a wish.

—Don’t stop! Don’t stop! Why are you stopping!? Why am I stopping!? Work! Work! Work! Work!

Feeling like his arms and hands were working against him, he slammed the debris with his bare hands, creating a weak thud that cracked his bones. Circularing rapid air through his dust filled lungs, every arm muscle flamed in soreness, along with his palms split open from the center.

Finally, he let his hands and arms rest on the stone.

—Please! We were so close! She was so close! Why… why … w-why—

He heard a thud.

“Huh?”

Luke, whose arms and hands battered, bruised, and scraped, harnessed the slightest dose of adrenaline. As if an electric current ran through his body, he began moving his hands and arms, digging more and more to the source of the thumping.

Clenching through the pain, his pearly white teeth showcased his resolve, as he chunked debris after debris from his scarred palms.

“Mom!”

The more he clawed, his strength returned bit by bit, as if hope was the medicine he needed all along…

Inch by inch, the debris he clawed vibrated, which led a muffled voice coming from the pile.

“Luke!? Are you there!?”

“Mom! I’m getting you out! Hold on!”

Lifting off one last chunk of stone from the pile, bits of it pierced straight to his bone, but that wasn’t what got his attention. From the rubble, Mary’s head emerged, and her dusted eyes saw Luke face to face. Her face filled with relief, her goal of keeping him safe succeeded, as she pushed up a teary-eyed face with her cheeks.

“M-Mom! How do I get you out!? Should I ask for help?! I’ll go get help!”

Fast with his dialogue, he lifted his knees from the rubble as he ran to the station. But just as he took two to three steps into his run, Mary spoke.

“Luke … come here …”

“M-Mom…”

“Just this once…”

Luke turned to look at his mother’s pushed down face, the corners of her lips raised to quiver a smile. With her eyes, she saw both of her son’s scarred and scraped hands, followed by his restful arms swaying back and forth without motion.

His eyes shimmered in sadness, bringing water to swell up underneath his lower eyelids. Almost melancholically, he walked toward his mother, standing right in front of her as he casted down his shadow.

In true silence, both mother and son were present in this world, and no one else. The world blanketing white, Mary thought of her words.

Words she’s afraid to say.

“I want you to go without me.”

Luke began to shiver, his hands extending slowly toward his mother’s cheeks. Swaying his head back and forth, the tips of his fingers trailed her pale skin.

“I … m-mo—”

“I know I was too harsh on you, and I’m sorry me and your father gave you the life you didn’t want.”

“No…”

“Despite your frustrations with me, or when you get in trouble for starting fires in labs, I just wanted you to know you were mine and your father’s worlds.”

Luke’s eyes watered, his throat convulsing as if his vocals kept him to remain silent. Her love being reached out toward him, it was clear this would be the last time she would ever see him again. Fighting back tears, he tried to control his trembled body, but his fingers which caressed his mother’s cheeks only shook more.

“I … I’m going to get you out! Please don’t say those words—”

“I never told you this, but I was just like you…”

Luke quenched his vocals, as he bent down with both his knees grazing the stone ridden ground. Being face to face, her head continued to be stuck under the mound of debris, while his thumb rubbed her upper cheek.

“Before I met your father, I didn’t have much freedom or choice of how I lived my life … I was a lonely girl, a very angry girl …”

Mary snuggled her head near Luke’s, her touch still vibrant with warmth and comfort. Smelling her perfume, his nostrils blistered with lavender and cherry, it overridden the stench of smoke and death.

“But when I met him, he was just like you, all shy and nervous. Even at his shyest, the moment I truly wanted to be with him, as long as death do us part, was when he held out his hand and said to me…”

Tears started to stream across Mary’s face, her life flashing one scene when he first met the love of her life. Both of Luke and Mary’s foreheads touching each other, it was nothing more than a bond between both mother and son.

As Joseph played inside of Mary’s memories.

[Live your life the way you want. So which is Mary? To stay here or wait for someone to just snatch you up from that miserable place!?]

“So please!”

The world began to color back into reality. His eyelids unable to damn his tears, it ran down his cheeks, as he continued to hold his mother’s face.

“Live for me!”

A river of tears strolled out from Mary’s face. Accepting the cruelty of the reality he lived in, he stopped his quivering, and his crying ceased.

“Last call! Last call for all children!” A last desperate call pleased out from the conductor himself.

Standing up, he ran toward the train station to catch the last boat. Tears marking his light-toned face, he had to deal with the fact that he might never see his mother again…

‘Don’t look back’

Continuing to make his way to the boat, the crowd of passengers dropped their shoving to see Luke’s presence. Making room for him, the citizens kept their humanity in the end, as they pushed Luke toward the boat.

“Come on! Bring the kid here!”

Dragging him through the crowd, every human and subspecies of human had already agreed to help him. Coarse and rough palms from the hard-working, smooth and paled palms from the fortunate and wealthy, all of them told a story, a story Luke will never know.

Once Luke set his feet onto the ship, Mary’s goal was set sail in the end. Wanting to see his mother’s face for the last time, he looked over to the rubble…

The rubble began to lift up.

Standing with just her knees, her bare hands held up the mound of stone rubble which blanketed her prior. Her body shaking and convulsing at the same time, she gritted every inch of her teeth, her muscles on the breaking point of exploding from her skin.

‘Even if I don’t get on that boat … I’ll … I’ll reunite with him …’ thought Mary.

Placing both of her feet on the ground, she tried to scale her palms to get herself out of the stone of rubble, but…

There was a man on top of the rubble. A man clad in all black, tall, almost a teen, had a mask covering his face.

—What?

The masked man was looking down on her, eyeing the woman who glanced up at him. The same man who gave Luke a last push to see the outside world, Luke let his hands drop to his waist.

Pulling out something from his pocket, he pointed it toward Mary. His hand extended out, it looked like he was about to help—

—He heard a gunshot—

________________________________________________________________________

(Solmonath 28, 56 / 4:58PM)

Silence was all he could remember.

Having it replayed many times over his head, he had to see his own mother be murdered in cold blood. The gunshot caused everyone to panic, leading everyone to bombard the boat at the same time.

Overfull, the conductor had no choice but to safely exit the city with an overcrowded boat.

Traveling through the city canals, everyone felt a sense of relief wash over them, except for Luke. Clinging onto his knees, he had himself curled up like a ball. Other refugees gazed at the depressed boy, most of them had the same look as him, their eyes clouded in mystic eye bags.

“What do you mean we can’t stop in Clastgade? We barely have enough fuel so why are they canceling—

“Conductor sir, please listen to this.”

Luke was near the door to the conductors room, overhearing the conversation taking hold from inside. The radio from within screaming against the metal walls, static flooded his ears, along with everyone else within the boat they rode on.

Thankfully, it lasted only for a good two to three seconds, with the radio signals clearing up to be listenable to human ears.

“Static — I repeat! Clastgade is overrun! I repeat! Clastgade is overrun — static — what is that purple ugly bastard doing — static…”

The conductor’s face went pale. Everyone felt their breaths freeze inside their throats, as they listened to the haunting transmission from the metallic box.

Then came silence and dread, with even civilians and passengers on board had their mouths covered. Whispers traveling through the crowded boat, a couple of passengers near Luke whispered loudly within each other.

“If castglade is being hit the same as us, then does that mean…”

“Is Ticia being invaded?”

“Is this the end of the world?”

Gossiping turned to panic, leading everyone to feel restless the more the radio churned. The conductors and crew, turning the knobs on the radio, let their ears be molested by more ear piercing static screaming from the box.

As much as they wanted to chuck the box into the river, it was their last means of communication from the outside world. But luckily for them, the static halted.

“Please, whoever is out there, save us — static — my child is missing! Please help me save my child — static — I don’t want to die! I don’t want to —static…”

“Where was this transmission from?” Said the conductor.

“Visily Harbor sir…” Said one of the crew members.

Rubbing his chin with his coarse fingers, the conductor let them drop to his side. Glancing over at some of his members, his eyes narrowed to the radio box, letting his cheeks sink deep into it.

“Get me every radio channel linked to every city we could reach.”

“But sir, our radios only connect to a certain range, we wouldn’t be able to hear other—”

“Here you go sir.”

One of the crew members gave the conductor a pitch black radio, shining in dark chrome. Every crew member analyzed the alien-like box with their eyes, with the conductor nodding on the way it was crafted and structured, as if…

“You aren’t a crew member, are you?”

“No sir … I’m a rookie agent from the FUC … I got on board this boat to escape the chaos…”

“Not going to pry into details.”

In unison, every crew member except for the conductor and rookie agent plugged wires into the box, causing the radio to spazz and scream. Everyone’s eardrums on the verge of splitting open, they clapped their ears shut with the butt of their palms.

Once they finished the last of the wires, the screaming stopped, leading to the radio to be fully operational. Having the chance to check up on the state of Ticia, the conductor nudged his head to the direction of the radio.

“Let the radio scream away.”

“On it sir.”

Twisting the knobs, most of the crew huddled close, letting their ears widen to receive anything from the radio. Whether it be good or bad—no, there had to be good somewhere…

“Run! Run! Run before that blue son of a— static…”

Somewhere good…

“Where’s the military when you — static — we shouldn’t have completely defunded the Ticia military — static — get your ass— static —”

Somewhere…

“Save me — static —”

Nothing good came out of it. The more they twisted the knob, the more they heard death.

All other regions and cities reported the same exact screams and cut off static, leading the crew members to knelt their heads down. The conductor, whose hands were placed on the edge of the table, pressured the area into his skin.

Leading his palms to be scrapped by the rough edge, he swayed his head right and left. Knowing Clastine, the city they were barely leaving, was not the only one being dealt hard by this invasion, it still…

It still …

“Is that all of the cities?” Said the conductor.

“Only the cities on the border near Kepputha and Haxouburg were left intact, meaning not all of Ticia was attacked.” Said one of the crew members.

“But in the end, they’ll fall. This invasion of some sort … seemed planned out …”

The conductor glanced at the passengers who all huddled near the door, their eyes pushed down with tears in their eyes. Panicked whispers roaming the air, he ignored their fear as he cleared his throat and straightened his back.

“Can it be that we were invaded by the east then?” Said the agent, his hands clenched together along with them hovering over his crotch.

Turning his head to the shy agent, his eyes narrowed at him, pulling his hands away from the table. “You think we were invaded east of Clastine? The easternmost city of the world—”

Then came the message heard around the world…

“My fellow Tician neighbors. A dark page has been unveiled in our world’s history book…”

“Is that the Kepputhan President? What’s he doing in the Tician radio channels?” Said the conductor, who furrowed his right eyebrow.

Everyone on the boat; the passengers, crew members, and even Luke, all perk their ears to the voice from the radio. Hearing the president of another country, they let their whispers cease, while the boat exited out of the main city.

Entering into the countryside, they ignored the tall meadow grass and ranches, as they pinned their eyes on the box.

The agent, who widened his eyes, trailed out a silent statement. “Protocol TerraMessenger…”

“What is TerraMessenger?”

“It’s classified, but … it’s a device which links to every radio channel or station, and can transmit a message; to the entire world.”

Everyone took the agent's words for granted, continuing to listen to the radio. Letting their ears perched to the radio waves, it was their only solace and reconciliation amongst their dark page.

“I’ve received news that the country of Ticia was strategically and mercilessly attacked by forces we cannot comprehend. For it is a day that we, by the union of ordered governments—”

—A pulsating light came from the inferno city—

Ignoring the radio, they all turned toward the city that they called home. Their eyes widened, they watched as the orange-flamed monster stopped playing with its toys, and began staring into the cloudy sky.

On the outskirts of the city, they all took in the destroyed skyline and toppled buildings, leaving the monster to look lonely. Her light pulsating more, everyone took a step back.

So much so, even the crew members ignored the message, their eyes dawning on the beast which…

“What is that thing doing?”

“Our Tician brothers are going through hell on Terra just to survive, but my citizens, do not treat these your Tician brothers harshly, for they—”

Everyone marveled, but their faces grew pale.

As Luke depressingly put his hands into his pockets, he was surprised to find a raisin, or a seed resembling a banana seed. Pulling it out, he used his fingers to trace the wrinkles, while keeping his eyes pinned on the city plastered in dark reddish color.

—Was this the masked man wanted to give me?

If it wasn’t for Luke’s stomach growling, he would have thrown it out. He decided to just swallow it like a pill, letting it caress his throat like spaghetti noodles. As much as it smelled like blood, he couldn’t find a taste or sense to describe the flavor.

He felt like his intestines exploded.

—It hurts!

Dropping down to the floor, he held onto his stomach tightly as if a scalding hot knife stabbed his liver. Over and over again, the stabbing continued, making him twist and turn like a fish out of water.

—It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!

He shut his eyes, groaning to the world as he couldn’t hear the panicked voices from next to him. Everyone on the boat continued to shiver under the pulsating monster, her body radiating brighter and brighter…

“Wait a minute…”

—Someone! Mom! Please help me, the pain…

“Oh shit! Everyone get—”

“Have been through hell and back—”

—It hurts—

Through his closed eyelids, came a burning light that made him bury his head to his knees. Feeling his skin blister and sunburnt, his nails clawed on the ground of the boat. As a light shone brighter than any day in Clastine’s history.

Unfortunately for the passengers … they were all too drawn with the blinding light.

“Aah! Aah! My eyes! My eyes!”, “Mommy! Mommy! Where are you?!”, “Tracy?! Tracy?! Are you here?!”

Shouts such as these blared throughout the boat. Covering his ears from the deathly screams, the palms of his scarred hands stained his ears red, having his lower jawline ripple with blood. The children’s cries, the panicked voices; he just wanted it to stop.

Then came the shockwave…

The intensity of the blast slamming onto the boat, a huge wave uproared over them. With so much force, the boat itself soon tilted upward, making it…

Capsize the boat.

Sending everyone to the bottom of the river, Luke felt his back submerge into the water below. Extending out his hand, his eyes barely opened; he sank.

—Sinking with everyone else around him—