One Minute Until Midnight

Walking the road of Catastrophe? I am Catastrophe.

“Would you wake up already?!?” Kali says as she shakes me to wake me up. I wake up to see Kali sitting on top of me in the backseat of the car I stole. I hear rain tapping the roof of the car. No wonder I slept so well.

“I’m awake..Wait. I can speak? D-does that mean- She’s dead?”

“Don’t think about it too much.” Kali says as she presses her body against mine. She’s wearing the same black, torn up cloak. I look into her green eyes. There’s no way she’s a death goddess. She’s too pretty to be one. Wait, I just got the news that my sister died. Yet, I’m not sad at all. Is that Kali's doing? Did Kali show some mercy on me? Did a death goddess try to make a human happy? It has to be that. Any normal person would be in tears.

“What’s wrong with me? Kali, Why don’t I feel emotion? I don’t feel sad. I should feel sad. What’s wrong with me?” I sit up, pushing Kali off of me. “ Can I feel pain?!?” I slam my fist against the window.

“Calm down.” Kali says, but I can’t understand. What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with me? Kaylyn is dead. The one person I had left is dead. Why can’t I feel sad? She’s dead! That means she’s gone FOREVER. It feels as if someone is taking over my body. I don’t feel like myself anymore. “Let him through, Kyle. Let your rage seep through. Only then my love will be yours.” Kali disappears before I could question her. What’s going on? My vision has become red and I can control myself anymore. I watch as I slam my fist against the window again, shattering this time. The rain from outside gets all over me. My hand is covered in a red and black fog. It looks similar to the purple fog that surrounds anything Kali uses telekinesis on.

“Kali, WhAT”S gOINg On WIth me? HeLp mE.” the words hardly come out. I look back over to the window that I just broke, and I see that Kali quickly repaired it.

“Fight him Kyle, Fight the god inside of you.” Kali appears in the front seat, looking back at me. What does that mean? That doesn’t help me. BUt i t burnsss. Tihs oggd is buenigb me. MY CHESTT. ITs’ burniyhn. Hjioke nme uijd. STOPPPPP. Kali Mka eitt stop. Ego sum qui sum, Kali. Get out of me! Leave me alone. “That’s all I needed.” Kali says as the pain stops, and my vision returns to normal.

“What the hell was that?” I ask Kali. That was the most pain I’ve ever felt. It felt as if someone was taking a knife and stabbing me constantly in the chest.

“It was an experiment.” Kali says, as she teleports beside me in the backseat.

“That was one hell of an experiment! Why the hell did it hurt so damn much?!? What was it for?” I scold Kali, as she turns away from me and stares out the window.

“There’s another being inside of you. That’s all I can tell you.” She says as she stares out at the downpour.

“What does that mean? You always leave me with more questions than answers.”

“That’s what a goddess does best. Like I said, I can’t tell you anymore. I’ll tell you later. Just don’t worry about it too much. The world isn’t going to save itself! We need to get started.” Kali turns to me and smiles as she speaks.

“About that.. Why do you want the world saved? Wouldn’t a death goddess want people to die?” I ask, remembering my concerning dream from earlier. I’ll also make sure that she tells me about the ‘being’ inside of me later.

“Does this have something to do with the dream you had? That dream was a direct message from Peitho, the goddess that manipulated your sister. She’s only trying to scare you away from me.” Kali inches closer to me as she speaks.

“ That doesn’t answer my question. Why do you want the world saved?” I inch away from her until my back hits the repaired window.

“If you question me anymore. I’ll experiment on you again.” She says as she moves closer to me, leaving only an inch between our faces. “I’ll give you what every man craves, if you stop questioning me. Just save the world, then I’ll tell you everything.” Her lips move closer to mine, but right before she kisses me I put my hand on her mouth.

“I don’t need your body. I’ll put my trust in you. I’ll put my trust in the goddess of death that gave me my power. But, if you deceive me then I’ll leave you.”

“A human demanding things from a goddess? I accept. I won’t deceive you. I just need to keep things secret for right now.” She backs up. “ We need to get to Washington D.C..”

“Why Washington?” I ask. I feel like I question a lot of things that come out of Kali’s mouth, but she’s a confusing person so it makes sense.

“That’s where the coup started of course.” She teleports to the front passenger seat. “Now climb up here and let’s get going.”

“A coup has already started?” I ask as I climb into the driver seat.

“It started 3 days ago. A large group of rioters, dressed in all black, stormed the capitol. First they were relatively peaceful, but not that much later they started acting violent towards the police. Shots were fired, starting the Second Civil War. That first incident at the Capitol had 36 dead and 100’s of people injured. Now, you may think that it was just a protest that turned violent. But, all across the country the same thing is happening. Every state capitol has had a large group of rioters, dressed in all black, storm it. On top of that, The union of states has completely dissolved. 38 states have seceded from the Union. The remaining 12 states, scattered randomly across the map, is the only remaining part of the United States of America. The 38 states that seceded are fighting for power of the entire Union, each state having their own governor as their figurehead. In conclusion, the situation isn’t the greatest.” Kali takes her time explaining the current situation.

“It doesn’t seem any different here in Pittsburgh.” I look around the surrounding area to see nothing that screams rebellion.

“The media has tried their best to censor any content about the rebellion in the states that are still in the Union. Pennsylvania hasn’t seceded from the Union, so no fighting is happening here.”

“What do foreign countries think about the collapse of the U.S.?” I ask, somewhat lost.

“Most countries are afraid to interfere, but NATO is already sending units to the Canadian-American border. They have been ordered to not let anyone over the border, and to execute anyone who seems like a threat. If the Civil War lasts too long, then NATO will invade the U.S. and establish order.”

“Can you tell me when the world is going to end? You can see in the future, right?” I get comfy in my seat, realizing that we are going to talk for a while.

“ I can only see the future when death is involved, so yes I can see the future as death is constantly going on. But, keep in mind that the future I’ll tell you about isn’t necessarily the future that will happen. There's an infinite amount of futures, so I’ll only tell you the most accurate one to our current situation. So, if we don’t do anything to stop this. In 4 days, the leader of the rioters that invaded every capitol will make his public reveal to the world. He will crown himself the one true emperor of the ‘Holy Kingdom of America’. In 5 days, due to some new technology that was hidden from the public, The Holy Kingdom of America will take control of all 50 states of the previous Union. Every state will no longer be called ‘states’, but ‘Holy Provinces’. Basic human rights will be stripped away from the citizens of the Holy Provinces. In 6 days, NATO will launch their attack on the Holy Kingdom of America. In only a day, NATO forces will be defeated and Canada will concede, breaking into multiple pieces to become Holy Provinces in the Holy Kingdom of America. In 8 days, NATO will have a meeting in Paris, France to discuss the situation with the Holy Kingdom of America. Due to the difference in technology between the Holy Kingdom of America and NATO, NATO will decide to nuke a few of the major cities in the Holy Kingdom of America. The Kingdom of America will answer with nukes of its own, causing the world to go into a nuclear holocaust. In 9 days, the world as you know it will be completely destroyed by the very same creatures that inhabit it. The surface of the earth will be uninhabitable, and the atmosphere will be completely destroyed. That’s all I can tell you about the future.” Kali looks exhausted after telling me all this.

“So, we only have 9 days. We should get going. But, how exactly do we stop the world from ending? We could wait 4 days for all the fighting to stop in the U.S., or we could try to take control of the U.S. ourselves. If we can manage to get some support and take control of the United States, then maybe we can bring peace to the land.” I say, even though I’m not really sure how a single boy can fix this shit situation.

“But, taking control of the U.S. will just delay the problem slightly. People will riot again and then we will have to deal with a third civil war.” Kali brings up a good point. “We also don’t have a following like the ‘Emperor’ guy does. So taking control of the U.S. by ourselves is off the table. If we can take out the rioters that have taken control of the capitol before the leader is crowned ‘Emperor’, then maybe the rest of the fighting will die off. If we wait a few days, then we can take out the ‘Emperor’. Maybe, just maybe, that will cause the Holy Kingdom to fall apart. But, yet again, that would just delay the problem.”

Before Kali can continue talking, I interrupt. “ I got it! You said that they took out the NATO forces with new technology in only a day. If we can stop this “new technology”, then the NATO forces will be able to invade the Holy Kingdom without any problems. We can also take out the Emperor to both seize control of any nuclear warheads and to make it easier for NATO. We just need to figure out what this new technology is. Seeing the future, can you see what that new technology is?”

“ I can’t see anything about the new technology, so it could be anything. Our best bet right now is to go to Washington D.C. and gather information. Once we figure out where this new technology is, we can stop it before it destroys the NATO forces. Does that sound like a good plan?” Kali’s face lights up as she gets excited about her plan.

“Yeah, we can do that.” I agree. “Can I actually ask you for a favor?”

“Yeah, what do you want?” Kali asks.

“Can you drive us to the Capitol? I failed my driving test multiple times and I know it’s wr-”

“I can drive. Just get out of the seat.” Kali cuts me off. I start to crawl back into the back seat, but before I can Kali stops me and says “I can crawl over you, just get into this seat.” I comply. I start to crawl over when a loud crack of thunder scares me. I slam my head against the roof of the car. In pain, I fell forward on top of Kali. I feel something squishy in my left hand. I look over and see that my hand is on Kali’s breast. “So you wanted my body after all?” Kali says. In embarrassment, I jumped off of her. I hit my head on the roof again, but this time I rolled back into the driver’s seat. I hear Kali start laughing.

After a while, we get our seats situated. Kali starts the car and starts driving. I look over to see the steering wheel covered in her purple telekinesis fog. What a lazy brat! She’s really so lazy that she can’t even use the steering wheel properly. Other than being lazy, she is very pretty. She is sitting there with her arms crossed, watching the road. Like I said before, she wears a black cloak that’s all cut up near the bottom. It also hides her breasts size. If I had to guess she is probably a C cup. She has a slim waist and long legs, an ideal girl. Her green hair is so long that if she were naked, it would cover her breasts. She also has a really pretty face, with all the proportions just right.

“Could you stop being so creepy? I thought I told you I could read your thoughts.” Oh shit I forgot about that.

“I’m so sorry!” I feel my face get red, so I revert my gaze back to the window. I watch as the city turns into country the farther we get from Pittsburgh. I know soon that I’ll have to do bad things. But, it’s all for the sake of humanity. Right? Well I hope.

I’m so lost. The last day has been so damn strange. Let’s recap. I went to school and immediately left due to rioting by the other students. I met Zyair, a demigod, and ended up killing him in a single day. I also ‘killed’ my sister. But, for some reason I don’t think she’s actually dead. If my ‘dream’ with Peitho was real, then Peitho has to have some kind of plan for stopping me. She’s probably been manipulating Kaylyn this entire time. What else can explain her sudden change of demeanor? Peitho is the goddess of lust and manipulation, so she could easily make someone lust for something. That’s exactly what she did to Kaylyn. There’s one major component in play here. It’s if Kali is manipulating me or not. I’ve lived a rather normal life up to this point. But, I’ve always felt this presence inside of me. It’s like there’s been another person, or another personality, that’s always been inside of me. Most of the time, I don’t let it bother me. But, the ‘experiment’ Kali performed on me and her saying that I have another being inside of me is making me question. Who is this other being inside of me? When Kali experimented on me, it was the first time I couldn’t control myself. Like that other being inside of me was taking over. If I want to save the world, I can’t let that other being control me. The only other time I really heard this other being was when I was 13. A year after my mother died. I remember that night. It was me and Kaylyn with my Aunt. My aunt had been drinking quite heavily that night and she was getting aggressive with Kaylyn. We were at the kitchen table at the old apartment my aunt had in Pittsburgh.

“I don’t think you should be doing that…” Kaylyn says as my Aunt chugs another beer bottle and throws it to the side.

“Who the fuck do you think you are? Telling me what not to do? You insignificant brat!” She slaps Kaylyn so hard that Kaylyn falls to the ground and starts crying. “You’re the reason why my life is a living hell! You’re the reason he left!” My aunt starts mumbling about her ex-husband, who left her at the same time my mother died. I always felt bad for Aunt Stacie. Not only did she have to lose her sister, her husband left her at the same time too. She should’ve gotten professional help, but she never had enough money for that. She disappeared as soon as Kaylyn was old enough to get a job. She could be dead by now, but honestly I don’t care enough to search for her.

“Kill her.” The demonic voice in my head said to me. “Kill her. She hurt Kaylyn. Kill her. If you truly treasure your sister, then kill your aunt. It isn’t hard. Take one of her beer bottles and break it. Take one of the shards of glass and slit her throat with it. Just kill her.” The voice just kept on telling me to kill my aunt. I’ve always had that voice in my head, but I could never hear it to this extent. It sounded so loud as if it was in the room with me. Of course, I couldn’t listen to it. My aunt, even with her abuse, was the only reason I didn’t starve.

Back to the current time, I look back over to Kali. Who’s inside of me?

“Like I said before, I can’t tell you. But if you really want to know, then he can tell you himself.” Kali says as she looks over to me. She puts her pointer finger on my forehead and says: “Go to sleep.” It takes me a second, but everything fades to black.

“Where am I?” I ask, as I look around to see nothing but dark clouds. Every few seconds a flash of lighting lights up the area. I look ahead to see a figure sitting at a throne. The figure is wearing a large black cloak. It’s a guy, but he has a pair of black wings protruding from his back. The throne he sits on is golden and red. Suddenly, a bright light illuminates the entire area including the man sitting on the throne.

“You’re in your soul.” The man raises his head to look at me. He has short black hair with evil red eyes. I notice that a silver chain is wrapped around the man’s arms and legs, tying him to the throne.

“Who are you?” I ask as I get closer to the man.

“It matters what you want to know. Do you want to know who I am now? Or do you want to know who I used to be?” The man’s eyes glow a brighter red as he talks. His face expressions make me extremely uncomfortable.

“Who are you now?”

“I’m a part of you.” He answers with a grin.

“Who did you used to be?” I ask, not content with his answer to the first question.

“That answer is more complicated than the first one. I am Thanatos, the personification of death. Or, more simply, a god of death. However, I’ve been imprisoned inside a human. Kyle Atonal, you don’t know how important you truly are.” The man disappears before saying anything else. In an instant, I woke up.

“What the hell was that?” I ask Kali.

“You wanted to know who was inside of you. You got your answer.”

“I got an answer that just leaves me with more questions.” I say, completely lost again.

“Just whatever you do. If you decide to go back to your soul, don’t free Thanatos. I can’t tell you anymore. You’ve already been told too much. If you learn anymore, then we might not be able to save the world.” Kali says as if she is unamused.

“I already told you that I put my trust in you. Even if I have a million questions, I’ll stay by your side. I’ll save the world for you.”

“Thank you.” Kali says. A death god being grateful. Makes total sense.

A few hours pass, as we make it to the outskirts of Washington D.C.. We take a break on a hill just outside of the city. From the hill, you get a full view of the entire city.

“The city of flames.” Kali says as she looks over to the city on fire. Washington looks like a city straight out of hell. Collapsed buildings, Buildings on fire, the city is completely destroyed by the revolution.

“How are we supposed to get in? It looks kinda dangerous.” I say as I lay down on the grassy hillside.

“Well we have 4 days before the Emperor makes his public debut. I say we make today a rest day for you. We have been in a car all day. Tomorrow, we will sneak in and find out about this new technology. Then, we have 2 days to locate and destroy the technology. I hope it isn’t already too late for that.” Kali says as she lays down beside me.

“It’s hard to believe that you are a real goddess. It’s also hard to believe that this situation can get stranger.” I say as I close my eyes.

“It only gets worse from here. You’ll be walking the road of sin to save the world. You may have to kill many, but it will all be worth it.” Kali says as she moves closer to me, her breasts pressed against my left arm.

“What if I let Thanatos free?” I ask, hoping to get more information out of Kali.

“It will achieve the exact opposite of what you want.”

“I’ll have to talk to him some more. I refuse to believe that he is actually real. There’s no way a god actually lives inside of me.”

“If you decide to talk to him again. Please be careful. Take everything he says with a grain of salt.” Kali curls up next to me with my arm in between her breasts. “I know everything has been rough for you. Just take the rest of today to rest.”

The sun is going to set in about an hour anyway, so I guess there’s no harm in relaxing. I look over at Kali to see her blush. A death goddess blushing? What the fuck?

“Umm.. I need to tell you something, Kyle.” Kali’s face becomes bright red.

“Yeah?”

“So, Thanatos.. He’s well umm… He’s my husband.” Kali says. It takes me a few seconds to register what she just said to me.

“WHAT THE FUCK!!!”