Honkai: The Seed of Abundance

It all started from an egg.

What is an egg? From the outside, eggs appear stone cold, yet inside they nurture young life Some say it's a symbol for eternity, resurrection, and the beginning of new life.

Others might say instead of an egg, it is more like a seed. A seed that contains boundless, unimaginable power.

Long ago, from the sky, a cry wailed across the cosmos, and something fell from the sky. Piercing through the illusive imaginary barrier, where not even light can penetrate, it fell onto the earth. 

Landing on the ground it sat there, waiting, for the world had been barren at the time.

Was it waiting for the world to change? For it to become habitable, filled with organic life? No, not organic life in particular, but perhaps carbon-based sentient lifeforms?

Or perhaps...a story?

Time passed, as the seasons came and went. Life grew, wilted, and grew again, continuing the cycle of life. With each passing year, this "egg" gradually began to be buried deeper and deeper into the earth, long forgotten by all.

Then, one particular day, the world began to change, and something slipped inside it.

With that, the "egg" cracked, and so did the story begin.

...

The static and crackling of radio noise abruptly filled the air as a boy's eyes slowly opened.

The light of the time that seems to be moments before daybreak, where the window let in a sliver of diluted, soft light, making it easier on his eyes to adjust.

As he wearily blinked away the drowsiness, his eyes gradually showed him the room where he woke up in.

A rectangular dim room laid before his sight, with its length being nearly twice as long as its width, and the shadows were barely noticeable due to the muted light. Wooden floorboards, cream-painted walls that has seen better days due to the many marks littered across it, and a ceiling that was thrice his height above him.

The boy's eyes slowly made its way to the other side of the room.

To his left, was a copy of the same bed he's currently sitting upon. Around six feet in length with black railing headboards on both ends lengthwise, it looked quite small.

At the center of said bed, with a hidden white pillow and a white bedsheet, was a "lump" covered in a somewhat thick white blanket.

Through the dim light that filtered in this room, he barely managed to see the blanket slowly rising, and then falling in a sort of rhythmic movement.

The boy was able to confirm that the "being" underneath the blanket was alive...and seems to be in a state of slumber.

No, he already knew the "being" was in a state of slumber. Maybe it was the passage of time that allowed him to be familiar with said "being," creating a telepathic bond of sorts.

Breathing in the deep, cold, fresh air, he tossed aside the blanket, making the bed creaked as he swung his feet it, placing it gently on the ground. The attempt was made to gently apply pressure on the floor in order to soften the noise, but the wooden floorboards didn't seem to care about the attempt as it creaked rather loudly.

The boy couldn't help but give a glance at the other bed. No sudden movement, rustling, or shuffling was made, at least according to what his senses told him.

Perhaps the radio noises that felt as though they were in another room, filled with mutterings and buzzing, helped to "soften" the sound. Although it's difficult to discern what the noises are saying, it was enough to wake up anyone who can hear it.

Unconsciously using it as a way to muffle whatever noises he made, he shortly made his way past a wheelchair towards the end of the room, walking on the ball of his feet.

As he approached the end of the door, he felt as though it began to shift into something that loomed before him in a height of a little over six feet. Casted in shadows by the light barely filtering in behind him, it exuded quite the uncanny presence. If anyone were to suddenly wake up on this room, they would feel sweat on their skin as their shaking hands reach towards the door. Who knows what unimaginable horrors and secrets lies in wait beyond it?

Without hesitation, he slowly grabbed the doorknob, its metallic coldness piercing deep into his skin as he opened the familiar door-

[-it's just in...the up and coming songstress, Eden, has been gaining increasing popularity recently! Videos of her singing for a small charity has blown its way across the entire world, making it known the classical music is still popular in this day and age! Sponsors have been coming in left and right, and there were plenty of praises, as well as many criticisms from other known artists... It is said her next venue is...]" 

As the static and radio noise became a bit louder and clearer, the boy felt a sudden gust of cold air slamming into his face. Holding a shuddering breath, he stepped into the hallway, quickly and silently closing the creaking door behind him.

With that, the breath he held in quietly released, and he looked to his left and right.

A cold and dark hallway laid before him, extending towards both the left and right. Wooden doors just like his laid dotted the walls of the hallway, silent and cold. There were few decor, with only a few old tables here and there along with paintings, empty flower vases, and fragile rusty chandeliers hanging from the ceiling every so often.

Although the hallway to his left ended at a wall after half a minute or so of walking, the hallway to his wipe continued until there was a gaping maw of darkness.

The boy gave another cursory look around before heading towards the right. Even with his footsteps being muffled by an old, maroon carpet beneath him, it still felt deathly silent and still, as though the world had frozen in time.

Taking another breath of that refreshing, cold air, he silently sighed.

He really did enjoy these moments in his life, he really did. With what will come to be, the simple moments of taking in the seemingly mundane, yet peaceful times is an undeniable treasure that will not be realized until its too late. If only...if only...

"Todays a new day. A day closer to..."

The boy trailed off before shaking his head. 

Letting himself be once again engulfed in the distant radio static and voices, he headed down the hallway with his footsteps muffled - deeper within the gaping maw of darkness - darkness that was familiar to him for at least twelve years.

As he made his way further down the hall, the radio became louder and louder, and the voices speaking from it, clearer.

At least, that's what it should be, as words began trickling into his ears.

[Lately, reports indicate there had been several serial cases of murder within... No suspects were found, and the murderer is still at large. Those living in the listed neighborhood... Please, if possible, do not go outside at night. Parents with children over the age...𝘣𝘻𝘻𝘻𝘻𝘻]

Increasing erratic sounds, buzzing, and static continued along with incomprehensible mutterings despite the boy walking closer to where the radio should be.

The boy halted for a moment. Slightly narrowing his eyes, he took in another deep breath, closing his eyes and 'thought' of something before opening them and resuming the beginning of his itinerary.

Reaching the end of the hallway, he looked around the corner to his right...and saw the first part of his itinerary.

The most dangerous part.

Against a wall, a few meters away, was where 𝘪𝘵 is housed in 𝘪𝘵 calls his home.

Shadowed in the darkness, away from the windows that can even give the slightest glimmer of light from the dawn, the creature continues to haunt this very building to this very day ever since this building's purpose of establishment was established.

𝘐𝘵𝘴 empty, large, black eyes gazed into the void, seeing only nothing but nothingness and terrible, incomprehensible, and unthinkable horrors.

Truly, 𝘪𝘵 is a frightening thing. It being born into this world is a disaster for all of mankind.

Under 𝘪𝘵𝘴 watchful eye, the boy approached it unwaveringly, for he know it must be done. Mostly because it was for necessity, some part of it was out of apology, and he will deny to anyone except for himself that a small part of it was out of jest.

As he stood in front of 𝘪𝘵, with their eyes matching the same height, he slowly reached out his hand towards it...and then a little to the left of its abode, grabbing something next to it before opening the cap and sprinkled fish food into the small tank filled with water.

While doing so, he never once looked away from the small goldfish, for it too stared back at him with its beady, black eyes. It looked at him as though it was judging him for its own creation and why it continues to exist to this very day.

Even as the food slowly fall towards to bottom of the tank, the fish didn't give the given meal a single glance whatsoever. It was as though it disdains the very act of being fed despite being the fed was its only source of sustenance it could possibly obtain in this cold, large building.

Well, that wasn't entirely correct.

The boy looked to his left. From this small part of the hallway to a rectangular doorway with an archway above, which then leads to a somewhat cozy, spacious room.

It was dubbed, by others, the "lazing room."

This "lazing room" was somewhat both rectangular and circular in shape, with the circular part facing outwards, and the rectangular part aligning the part of the doorway the boy was currently in, and the other doorway on the other side of the room.

At the center of the room were a few worn out sofas, couches, and chairs facing against a dead fireplace. Alongside the walls were decors such as old paintings and bookshelves filled with thick, dust-covered discolored books. On the circular side of the room was a few chairs, a table, and a semicircular window panes that stretched from the between the middle and floor of the room to nearly the top, quite close to the ceiling where an old, unused chandelier hanged above.

If the fireplace was lit at this time, casting flickering shadows, it would truly create a comfortable space where people can feel at home, relaxing on the chairs and looking out the window, where snow fell at a consistent, plentiful rate without the slightest worries.

Such a scene would be perfect for a nostalgic person to fall into a state of melancholy if not for the cold stare directed at his back, as well as a strange, still humanoid body lying across the wooden floorboard.

However, the boy didn't eye the body, and instead eyed the erratically buzzing radio on the table besides it.

As he eyed it, the radio suddenly went silent with a 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬, casting he room into a state of total, frigid silence. After seconds of looking at it did the boy turn his eyes towards the next conspicuous thing in sight.

At a glance, the "body" looked to be a pale-white "girl."

That was what it could be described like anyways to human eyes. Who know if such a thing could be defined as a "girl."

Whatever the case may be, this "girl" with a short white hair seemed to wear a black dress of unknown material with few thick, orange lines here and there. The most obvious thing that stood out was the long, large black scythe lined with a metallic orange held that was taller than the "girl" herself held tightly in her grasp.

It looked more like a puppet - nay, a corpse -than that of an abomination; an alien truly not of this world.

If others would called it such, they would prove to be correct, for it was quite the apt description.

"Zombies...scythe versions?" the boy muttered. 

Then, before his very eyes, it unnaturally dissolved into a liquid, blackish sort of liquid puddle.

The boy didn't look to be bemused or curious. He neither backed away in fear, nor did he question how did such a thing appear - no, 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦 into this sacred place.

Instead, he knelt by it, merely continuing to stare intently at it with intensity.

A few seconds later, as he watched, the puddle then somehow dissolved into air. Standing up, he felt a strange "breeze" of sorts floating passed him. It wasn't exactly the feeling of the wind against his skin, but something of an immaterial, transient nature.

This "feeling" made its way towards a destination where he suspects - no, where he had always known it would go.

Even though such a phenomenon that he had noticed years ago would, and did, prove helpful...the many times this has occurred has began to make him more and more wary.

A warning against being complacent. A warning that danger would soon fall upon him and those he care for.

"𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗸𝗮𝗶..."

Twelve years worth of memories appeared in his mind, memorable and mostly forgotten. 

Twelve years in this life, and in the past...