Chapter 5:
And when all hope seems lost...
The Void: The Collapse of Reality
The light from Korrin's pendant flickered, wavering. For a moment, the air, already fetid from the chaos, grew even heavier as a gigantic shadow covered the city. From above, a monster descended, its figure unfurled in the air as if it were a sack of black flesh taking on the grotesque form of a giant human. Its body, muscular and disproportionate, looked like a mixture of flesh and shadow, with no defined skin, exposed sinews writhing beneath its frame. His eyes, or what looked like eyes, were two empty spots of pure darkness, without light or bottom, like abysses into which no one wished to fall. His height, easily three or four meters, made the buildings around him look like toys.
The creature landed with such force that the ground cracked. The crack opened like a black gash that snaked across the asphalt, and the jolt reverberated throughout the neighborhood, causing the streets to crumble under its weight. The shock waves from its impact were so powerful that the glass of nearby buildings exploded as if a giant hand had crushed them, and the air was saturated with dust and the dull sound of destruction, a rumble that heralded not an end, but the beginning of a methodical annihilation.
Korrin, still wearing the extinguished pendant, barely had time to react. The shockwave of the impact sent her flying through the air. Her body spun in the void, uncontrollably, until it crashed violently to the ground. The thud of her body on impact echoed amidst the chaos, and a brutal pain shot through her back and side. He landed on a small collapsed structure, and his left arm impacted against a black, vibrating stain on the ground, a residue of the distorted energy that had liquefied others.
The contact was immediate, and Korrin felt as if his skin itself was being devoured. The arm began to disintegrate, cells disappearing under invisible pressure, dissolving into an agonizing tingle. But then, something stopped the process. The arm was not completely destroyed. Instead, it began to rebuild itself, but not as before. Its skin tone faded, transforming into a dull black furrowed by lines of electric green that snaked beneath its surface like poisonous circuits. The texture was rough, alien, like polished stone and living flesh fused together. It was no longer his arm; it was a tool, a reminder that whatever touched that chaos was marked forever.
Kaito, paralyzed for a second by the sheer magnitude of the monster, couldn't help but look back to where Korrin lay, struggling to sit up. He saw her writhing, clutching her transformed arm with his other hand, and a surge of terror and guilt swept through him. But the priority was clear, heartbreakingly simple. He had to protect Yuki. The creature didn't seem interested in them right away, its empty attention seemed to settle on other things, on other, more distant screams, but danger was a slab in the air. He wasn't going to risk the one person he could still physically protect.
The air thickened, heavy as molasses. Korrin tried to get to her feet, but the force of the fall had left her disoriented, the world spinning around her. She watched the monster advance, its footsteps leaving deep footprints in the concrete, each one a smoking crater. Not seeing Kaito or Yuki, in a fit of desperation, she tried to crawl towards where she thought they were, but her body did not respond as it should. Her left arm emitted intermittent flashes of that greenish darkness, as if an unknown voltage was flowing through her veins, a painful tingling that intertwined with panic. Horror enveloped her even more as she looked around her: the buildings were crumbling like accordions, the ground was cracking under the monster's footsteps, and the creatures emerging from the portals all around were beginning to saturate the space with their hideous presences, their twisted silhouettes silhouetted against the sick sky.
Korrin tried to stay conscious. He breathed with difficulty, fighting against fear, against vertigo. Every beat of his heart echoed like thunder in his skull. He turned, trying to keep crawling forward. But the sight he encountered made his body tense even more. A collapsed building blocked the view, but the promontory rising in front of her chilled her blood.
A body. Or what was left of it. The lower half of the figure was crushed, completely undone by the weight of the concrete. The face was unrecognizable, but something in his hands caught her attention. Crumpled sheets of paper, with pentagrams and incomplete musical notes, were tangled between the dead man's fingers. Korrin, without thinking, moved by an impulse she did not understand, tore them out with her transformed hand, the one that now seemed more like a shadow of herself, and put them in her pocket. It was an absurd act, a useless rescue in the middle of the end of the world, but it was something, a fragment of normality that she clung to carry with her.
With each movement, Korrin felt as if the air itself was being crushed by the creature, as if everything she had ever known was about to be crushed under its power. Desperate, Korrin screamed, her voice wracked with terror.
"Kaito! Yuki! NO!!!!" His scream pierced the chaos, echoing in the voids of the collapse, but there was no response. Only the sound of the monster's footsteps, each one closer.
The monster turned towards them then, and Kaito, knowing he could not afford to be defeated now, leapt forward, digging up a piece of sharpened rubble to use as a makeshift weapon. The creature, sensing his movement, let out a guttural roar that echoed throughout the city, its vacant eyes watching Kaito with an intensity that could almost crush him.
But Korrin could not move. Fear, despair and the pain of her transformed arm kept her pinned to the ground. A low cry burst from her lips as she watched helplessly as the monster drew closer and closer. Her body was unresponsive, as if she were trapped in a nightmare from which she could not awaken. She tried to scream, to move, but all seemed in vain.
"I can't!" she sobbed, watching Kaito try to divert the monster's attention, fighting only to protect her and Yuki.
It was then that, in the distance, a blast of sound broke the tension. A high-pitched hum cut through the air, followed by an explosion of energy waves that expanded in a bluish halo. The nearby creatures became disoriented for a moment, spinning on themselves like confused whirlpools, and for at least a second, the air stopped vibrating with such ferocity.
Kaito and the others turned toward the source of the sound, and there, a figure emerged through the smoke and ruins. It was a woman, with dark hair pulled back and protective glasses. It was Veyra, the family's scientist friend. Her face was partially covered by a filter mask, and her lab coat, stained with soot and something that looked like dried blood, fluttered in the debris-laden wind.
The creature landed with such force that the ground cracked. The crack opened like a black gash that snaked across the asphalt, and the jolt reverberated throughout the neighborhood, causing the streets to crumble under its weight. The shock waves from its impact were so powerful that the glass of nearby buildings exploded as if a giant hand had crushed them, and the air was saturated with dust and the dull sound of destruction, a rumble that heralded not an end, but the beginning of a methodical annihilation.
Korrin, still wearing the extinguished pendant, barely had time to react. The shockwave of the impact sent her flying through the air. Her body spun in the void, uncontrollably, until it crashed violently to the ground. The thud of her body on impact echoed amidst the chaos, and a brutal pain shot through her back and side. He landed on a small collapsed structure, and his left arm impacted against a black, vibrating stain on the ground, a residue of the distorted energy that had liquefied others.
The contact was immediate, and Korrin felt as if his skin itself was being devoured. The arm began to disintegrate, cells disappearing under invisible pressure, dissolving into an agonizing tingle. But then, something stopped the process. The arm was not completely destroyed. Instead, it began to rebuild itself, but not as before. Its skin tone faded, transforming into a dull black furrowed by lines of electric green that snaked beneath its surface like poisonous circuits. The texture was rough, alien, like polished stone and living flesh fused together. It was no longer his arm; it was a tool, a reminder that whatever touched that chaos was marked forever.
Kaito, paralyzed for a second by the sheer magnitude of the monster, couldn't help but look back to where Korrin lay, struggling to sit up. He saw her writhing, clutching her transformed arm with his other hand, and a surge of terror and guilt swept through him. But the priority was clear, heartbreakingly simple. He had to protect Yuki. The creature didn't seem interested in them right away, its empty attention seemed to settle on other things, on other, more distant screams, but danger was a slab in the air. He wasn't going to risk the one person he could still physically protect.
The air thickened, heavy as molasses. Korrin tried to get to her feet, but the force of the fall had left her disoriented, the world spinning around her. She watched the monster advance, its footsteps leaving deep footprints in the concrete, each one a smoking crater. Not seeing Kaito or Yuki, in a fit of desperation, she tried to crawl towards where she thought they were, but her body did not respond as it should. Her left arm emitted intermittent flashes of that greenish darkness, as if an unknown voltage was flowing through her veins, a painful tingling that intertwined with panic. Horror enveloped her even more as she looked around her: the buildings were crumbling like accordions, the ground was cracking under the monster's footsteps, and the creatures emerging from the portals all around were beginning to saturate the space with their hideous presences, their twisted silhouettes silhouetted against the sick sky.
Korrin tried to stay conscious. He breathed with difficulty, fighting against fear, against vertigo. Every beat of his heart echoed like thunder in his skull. He turned, trying to keep crawling forward. But the sight he encountered made his body tense even more. A collapsed building blocked the view, but the promontory rising in front of her chilled her blood.
A body. Or what was left of it. The lower half of the figure was crushed, completely undone by the weight of the concrete. The face was unrecognizable, but something in his hands caught her attention. Crumpled sheets of paper, with pentagrams and incomplete musical notes, were tangled between the dead man's fingers. Korrin, without thinking, moved by an impulse she did not understand, tore them out with her transformed hand, the one that now seemed more like a shadow of herself, and put them in her pocket. It was an absurd act, a useless rescue in the middle of the end of the world, but it was something, a fragment of normality that she clung to carry with her.
With each movement, Korrin felt as if the air itself was being crushed by the creature, as if everything she had ever known was about to be crushed under its power. Desperate, Korrin screamed, her voice wracked with terror.
"Kaito! Yuki! NO!!!!" His scream pierced the chaos, echoing in the voids of the collapse, but there was no response. Only the sound of the monster's footsteps, each one closer.
The monster turned towards them then, and Kaito, knowing he could not afford to be defeated now, leapt forward, digging up a piece of sharpened rubble to use as a makeshift weapon. The creature, sensing his movement, let out a guttural roar that echoed throughout the city, its vacant eyes watching Kaito with an intensity that could almost crush him.
But Korrin could not move. Fear, despair and the pain of her transformed arm kept her pinned to the ground. A low cry burst from her lips as she watched helplessly as the monster drew closer and closer. Her body was unresponsive, as if she were trapped in a nightmare from which she could not awaken. She tried to scream, to move, but all seemed in vain.
"I can't!" she sobbed, watching Kaito try to divert the monster's attention, fighting only to protect her and Yuki.
It was then that, in the distance, a blast of sound broke the tension. A high-pitched hum cut through the air, followed by an explosion of energy waves that expanded in a bluish halo. The nearby creatures became disoriented for a moment, spinning on themselves like confused whirlpools, and for at least a second, the air stopped vibrating with such ferocity.
Kaito and the others turned toward the source of the sound, and there, a figure emerged through the smoke and ruins. It was a woman, with dark hair pulled back and protective glasses. It was Veyra, the family's scientist friend. Her face was partially covered by a filter mask, and her lab coat, stained with soot and something that looked like dried blood, fluttered in the debris-laden wind.
She held a frequency device, an artifact she had been secretly perfecting, which now glowed with an intense light in her hands. Without thinking, Veyra activated a high-frequency hologram, which materialized as a luminous, pulsating sphere floating around her. It was not lethal, but it was powerful enough to disorient the creatures and draw them toward her, leaving the way clear for the children. Nearby creatures began to spin in circles, drawn by the emitted energy like moths to a deadly flame.
"Come on! Quick!" shouted Veyra, and her eyes, behind her glasses, glowed with fierce determination. Her device was working. The lead creature began to lose its focus on the children and moved toward the source of the waves, giving the children a chance, a minuscule respite in the midst of the carnage.
Without hesitation, Kaito, grabbing the arm of a paralyzed Yuki, and then dragging a staggering Korrin, followed Veyra. Terror had hit them full on, leaving them empty and trembling, but the survival instinct, that tenuous thread that bound them to life, was stronger. They ran, leaving behind the monster and its transformed arm that burned with a familiar yet completely new pain.
Without hesitation, Kaito, grabbing the arm of a paralyzed Yuki, and then dragging a staggering Korrin, followed Veyra. Terror had hit them full on, leaving them empty and trembling, but the survival instinct, that tenuous thread that bound them to life, was stronger. They ran, leaving behind the monster and its transformed arm that burned with a familiar yet completely new pain.
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