That is because this story was possibly posted on the wrong place. It is based on two other stories, even though one of them wasn't even born, but both the plot and the characters are original. If this tale truly belongs to Fan Fiction, feel free to move it. Be careful, however, the package is heavy.
All regrets aside, I hereby present you the alpha version of this recently resurrected story project...
This World
Part One
Darkness.
Little could I see around me, as an impenetrable void prevented any resemblance of landscape.
A fortnight earlier, it had been agreed that no street lighting would be functional during the firework show, yet it was well beyond that. The entire horizon was pitch-black, all the way to the city beyond the river. Gone was even the imposing silhouette of its titanic skyline.
To top it up, the silence was impossibly ubiquitous. No-one roamed the streets, perhaps the world itself. I caught myself running desperately, unable to believe that I could possibly be on my very own. All what I could feel, apart from sheer fear, was the wind brushing my hair. It grew ever stronger, as though it willed to hold me afloat.
For a split second, the indistinguishable shape of lightning pierced through both hollow night sky and deserted cityscape. Then, answering to the booming sound of Heaven’s drums, the solid void receded slowly, giving way to a thin layer of fog. Finally, the city, ever so carefully, began to regain a familiar form - even though the friendly atmosphere of the crowded festival was a blurry, long lost memory.
As the borderline absence of light diminished, my eyes had grown accustomed to the scenic setting before me. Actually, I was rather surprised at my not running into anything up until now. Having had no idea how much time was left to or possibly past the hypothetical celebration, I glanced hurriedly at my wristwatch. I still had five minutes left. Whatever was in the other end of the countdown besides a seemingly meaningless moment to build the world anew, I would rather not know.
What was also intriguing was that this specific avenue seemed increasingly familiar. It was a path I walked down every day... indeed, by my right side, a school gate stood out from the scene, enlightened by a failing emergency light. It was wide open. I should have been there hours earlier. Usually, there would be someone watching over the entrance, then again...
Having crept through it, the first drops of water crashed against concrete and asphalt, and I looked upward to meet the massive clouds towering above. For once a familiar sound, albeit not being really reassuring, accompanied me. Four minutes remained now. The clock was everything except merciful.
Once inside, my quest was nowhere near complete, though. The place was borderline gigantic. Three main buildings kept classrooms, two others were halls of residence. All of it should be seen from the front gate. Still, there was no apparent reason for anyone to be there right now. That was because the back gate, where I had just passed by, allowed shorter paths to a group of smaller constructions, scattered around a spacious garden, which southern edge led to the riverside. From there, it was even possible to watch the firework shows hosted on the opposite riverbank city.
It was on this memorable setting where our school's celebration happened every year... but no longer. Every stand was readied, but I was yet to find a single person. Many a hundred students gathered to organize and assemble the event, and it had been likewise this time. What, however, prevented them from being here?
The drizzle swiftly gave way to a torrential downpour, so I had no other choice but to shelter in the closest hall of residence. Usually, I wouldn't even be allowed in, as this was the girls' building, but nobody seemed bothered with that. I felt compelled to search for whatever signs of other people's being close by, yet naught but a single corridor was enough to convince me my search there would eventually be in vain. Every damn room was untouched, as though no-one had ever even cared to live in there. Having stepped out of the seventh deserted chamber, it finally happened. Three minutes.
On the distance, another sound tried to prevail against Jupiter's wrath - yet I couldn't know what it was. I forced myself to sprint a little longer, since it might have meant the answer I yearned for. Often did halls meet or part ways, and I hesitated not a second before choosing my way: left, right, left, a dead end. Left and right again. The noise grew ever louder. The maze had come to an end quickly - I had reached the building's back public room. It wasn't big at all - ten feet wide, fifteen long. There were a couple of sofas and a coffee table on one side, and three vending machines on the other, and beyond them, a double door leading back to the open and a public phone. Someone was calling.
I stood still for a moment, hesitating. There was no logical reason for a payphone to receive a call - except if someone, somehow, knew I was there. Yet I still answered the call, as my desire of ending this drama was bigger than any other caution. On the other side, silence - a handful of seconds stretched to an eternity before the other person's voice came through the speaker.
“Hello?” - a woman had said.
“Nina, is that you?”
"Leon, hurry! I haven't time to explain - I need you at the Throne right now!"
"What’s going on?" I demanded.
"It's the Sentinel! She is after me!"
"What about the others?"
"I don’t know! They --" The emptiness again. "Just hurry! I don't have all night!”
And the call went silent for the last time.
I stormed out of the double doors, despite of the rain - it was the shortest path to the main building of the complex, commonly known as the Castle: the oldest of them all, which once hosted all school activities, when there were fewer people too. That was, however, the greatest one, a complex on itself, built to resemble the classic university cities of Europe on its own scale, so it lacked the plain appearance that was given to most buildings nowadays, triumphant with walls raised by stone, brick and wood alike, and mostly and a combination of wooden floor and generic white walls inside. The Throne was how the dinner hall was known, along with the adjoining leisure corridors. Enormous was an understatement for that single disproportionate location - envisaged for the following decades in which the school would be as huge as it was now - in fact, it’s still not enough.
Having reached one out of the seven main entrances to the Castle, I was thoroughly surprised by a locked door. Never did this happen before. The Gates were never closed, it was always said, this day above all others. Then, I tried one of the service doors - unable to open as well. Every second beneath storm and wind was simply frustrating. Two minutes.
Not until I had tried the fifth door was I able to find a way through. By then, I was completely soaked, but it was the most insignificant of my concerns. Unlike the hall of residence, the lights were out here, and the Throne was nowhere else but on the fourth floor. I was foolish enough to run too fast in the corridors, and my right foot slipped away on the first careless turn. Hitting the hard, cold wooden floor is anything but nice. While trying to be back on my feet, I glanced behind me, and spotted a strange red door that was completely out of place.
An emergency exit! Normally, this sort of passage also had an open door to the outside, but even that one was locked somehow. The only way was up, its stairs would lead me as far as the third floor. Nothing else was on the fourth but my destination, so all exits that weren’t the regular ones there would lead to the outside. Dozens of steps followed each other, but this was still the shortcut. Maybe if I had seventy stars with me...
When I had come as close to Heaven as I could be, the red door was finally reached. I ran toward it, only to collide helplessly against the immobile emergency escape. That’s not possible. It wouldn’t open at all, and there was no way back. From here, I could only move forward. I took two steps back, three ahead and tried to kick it open, taking the brunt of the impact on my left foot. Nothing. Again. Nada. I could feel the blood rushing swiftly through me, on every single attempt to get past, every time as successful as the previous one - not at all. On a state of absolute desperation and sheer rage combined, I felt myself losing control over my body, along with some sort of energy surging quickly. I brought my left fist backward, as though I was about to punch a steel door, then threw it forward with as much momentum as I could gather. Hardly had I noticed that my arm was enveloped with some sort of crimson aura when it hit the cold metal.
A blinding flash emerged from the spot where my hand touched the door, and I also felt the temperature rising mercilessly. What’s more - there was an explosion. When I was finally brave enough to open my eyes again, the path was clear - not only had I opened the way through but the door was unattached to its hinges - it flew to the other side of the corridor, deformed. Still, I had lost way too much time. Less than one minute was left - and the flash made my seeing difficult for a while.
Even so, I tried to look at my wristwatch again - it was half burnt, but somehow still functional. Forty seconds. Not good. I ran as fast as I could through a bridge - I had worked my way up on the wrong part of the Castle. Most of its surface was glass, despite the classic architecture, and thanks to that I could gaze at the landscape outside. The entire garden was flooding fast. This was another predicament that never ought to have happened. Thirty seconds. Actually, the stands were likely gone right now. I felt vastly diminished that moment, a grain of sand beneath a massive storm, a whisper next to the thunder’s roar. I had no idea how I could help Nina, neither how much she was endangered right now. Still, that weird aura was the only demon driving me forward, to face whatever adversity was up there. I must be out of my mind.
The final flight of stairs was before me - it seemed the longest I ever had to endure, but nothing less than someone that already knew the Throne could expect. I ran upwards again, two steps at a time. Twenty. Halfway through, the glass dome of the central section of the cross-shaped main halls could already be seen. Fifteen. When I had finally reached the top, I barely managed to spot two shadows on the very center of the room, both standing on the main table, amidst a chunk of turned, scattered and broken tables and chairs. I couldn’t find out which was which, even with the constant lightning. Eleven. Neither of them seemed to notice me - both were fighting, in fact, and quite fiercely.
Nine. I made my way through the first rows of tables silently. Eight. I pushed a chair out of the way and climbed on a longer table. Seven. The person on the left was aware of something closing on by, yet the other still ignored me. Six. As I ran to the right side, atop the table, I noticed that both of them were also enveloped by a shimmering light, the former by a deep sea blue, the latter by a dark shade of violet. Five. I jumped from this table top to the next, and barely managed to land on my feet. Four. Now I had to trespass the obstacles all over the place. Three. The two shadows were aware of my quick approach. Two. The one on the far side drew a misshaped, shiny object from the belt. “Enough”, it said. One. I had finally reached the central table, and pushed the closest figure aside as I went on the opposite direction.
Bang.
As soon as I hit the ground, I dragged myself toward the other fallen one, while the third stood motionless. She looked disoriented, weakened. “It’s all over, it’s too late”, the other one stated. The girl close to me seemed familiar, her smooth hair, those deep sea blue eyes... hey, it was Nina! As she gazed back at me, she also held her left hand tightly on her right shoulder... no... no... she didn’t...
“I’m sorry...”
Her weakened voice was a stab to my chest, no less than her bleeding shoulder was. Still, she was strong enough to hold on to me, leaned forward, ever so gracefully, closed her eyes...
...and kissed me.
“I love you, Leon... am I too late to say that?” I could do nothing else but stay motionless.
“It’s not too late... please, come back!”
“You should worry about yourself now... get back to somewhere safe... or she... she will...” And just like that, she was gone. Carefully enough, I gently brought her down, her head resting on the old oak table top, not the sort of ending this or any other person deserved.
As I raised again, the Third pointed the gun at my face.
“You...”, it was all I could speak.
“It’s not like you had any chance at all, isn’t it?”
I replied nothing.
“Well, looks like I have no other choice.”
That’s it. Am I going to die here, after all of that?
Click.
“Huh? I made sure I had enough--”
I didn’t give her time to finish that one sentence. It was perfectly clear. As quick as that, I was out of my mind again, just like it had been on the emergency exit. I pushed the other one forward with either hands, while out of them came a blast of energy throwing her back five, ten, twenty feet away. As she collapsed on the wooden surface again, a memory that seemed lost suddenly rushed back to me. A personal saying, three lines long, which I had learned with Nina long ago. She said that every time I needed help, I could say it out loud for all the seven heavens to listen. Never had I needed it, and never again would it have such a meaning..
“Redemption of the static sentient...”
As the Third got back on her knees, she blurted out: “How? How did you know?”, yet I stood still, trying to gather as much energy as I could, even though I actually didn’t even know how. It was the only way out I could see, and it was a game of high-stakes.
“Spirit of the late vengeance...”
The shadow finally rose back to its feet, summoned a stream of fire on its right hand and ran back to meet me, maybe trying to burn the entire room along with me to the darkest ashes, yet I stopped her swift strike with my forearms, trying to keep the flames as far as possible from myself... and, most importantly, from Nina.
“Banishment... this... World!”
Both of us retreated again, ran toward each other, and collided, each one with his energy armour, beneath a sorrowful, deadly storm. As the one fierce fight to the end began, the scene seemed to gradually slip back to what I was trying to prevent at first.
Is this what she would want? Is that what I really need? A kill for a kill?
Is this my real purpose here? Am I to carry this crimson curse until my demise?
And, at last, the world went back to its original state.
Sheer.
Invincible.
Darkness.
Inspired on George R.R. Martin's uncommon plot construction style, Chuunibyou demo Koi ga ♥♥♥♥! and with a borrowed and adapted concepts from both of my impossible story series, Royster and Antithesis.
