chapter 2 the void world

In the dream he saw a world unlike his own , full of shards of space that glittered like glass. shapes and shadows moved at the corners of his vision, like sludge and shadow. In the center of the room where his bed would be he saw a tear in reality like a void full of stars. Lucius took a step towards the tear, and then another and another. soon he stood before the tear, watching the star like patterns waver like pale flames in a cross wind. he tentatively stuck his hand out to as if to touch the edge of the rift. and as his fingers brushed the edge he felt a searing pain and felt a ripple in the space around him as if space had been drawn taut. he could feel a connection being born between him and the void rift. and then he blacked out.

when he awoke the next morning the pain was gone replaced by a dull headache that made him feel as if he had a damp towel wrapped around his brain. he groggily sat up and put a hand on the side of his head trying to stop the static like buzz from continuing to fog his mind. as his hand brushed past he suddenly paused. that isn't supposed to be that low. he thought. as he lowered his hand to touch his ear. his ears had seemed to be much longer than he remembered. almost as if he was an elf, but that cant be right .can it? he headed over to his mirror to stare in shock at the face that was all too familiar but the features that felt rather alien. in the mirror he saw a young tan boy with black hair and... blue eyes? that cant be right he thought and then his ears that seemed to have drooped down to a rather strange length. but the strangest part of all the ebony spots of scales that stretched across his hands. this is too much he thought, i must still be dreaming. " what was it they say? that if you want to wake yourself from a dream you need to pinch yourself. so he grabbed a large bit of skin and pinched as hard as he could. ' ow ! he exclaimed as he let go of the skin and danced over to the mirror to see if anything had changed. the boy with the scales and blue eyes still stood there now looking more shocked than anything, its really me! this is crazy, Lucius bounded over to his mothers room to have her see the crazy transformation. stopping to put his shoes on his feet and tripping over the laces he ran as fast as he could to his moms room and banged excitedly on the door. " mom ,mom you have to see this Ive grown scales! his mother soon burst out in a worn gown. " whats the problem lucky? she asked in a half awake sounding voice. she rubbed her eyes then slowly looked her son up and down and stopped when she saw his ears and ..scales? scales! why did he have scales?! hes a human not a demon why does he have scales ? she grabbed him by the shoulders and tried to pry at the scales trying to see if they were real or fake. they ,they're real! she exasperatedly puffed after trying to no avail to pull off what she assumed was a costume. how ? she questioned. Lucius earnestly spoke ,I'm not sure mom i was having a dream and woke up like this i don't know whats going on. the mother and son duo just sat there for a moment looking at each other unsure of what to do. then a loud sound of car alarms blaring shook them from their trance. what was that asked Lucius to his mother. I'm not sure she breathed back. they went to the window and peeked out trying to see who was honking only to immediately jump out of the way as a truck came barreling into their living room. the drivers head had been smashed into his steering wheel when he hit the house and as Lucius stood to see what had happened he caught a glimpse of something coming through the hole that the truck had made.

the creature had jet black fur and red eyes set into a skeletal face that had a perpetually cruel and yet joyful look to it. its eyes fixed upon the body of the driver that was now leaking blood from around his eye sockets. the beast raised a clawed paw and swiped at the glass of the windshield shattering away any that remained after the crash and snaked a long thin tongue out of its grotesque maw piercing the mans skull and drinking of his gore. Lucius's mother screamed as another beast , this one bright red with a scaly head tore its beak like snout into her shoulder pinning her to the ground and beginning to feast. Lucius tore his eyes away from the monster drinking the mans brain to stare at where his mother was being devoured. he screamed and grabbed a pipe that had come tumbling in with the truck and lunged at the beast. smacking and beating it with all the strength that he could muster. soon he heard a sickening crunch and his mothers sobs stopped. he glanced over to see his mother , his mom the woman who he had movie night with , who celebrated his every accomplishment and loved him with everything she had. she was dead her eyes glassed over and the top of her skull smashed in blood leaking everywhere. he saw here and yet she could not see him she was gone and then the beast slurped her up, taking away even a chance at burial it took her away the glanced cruelly at the now pitifully sobbing boy and leapt through the crack in the wall to torment and kill anyone that it saw on the street. mom ? he sobbed mom? the tears wouldn't stop. he had lost everything in a second. there was nothing he could do. he picked himself up and slowly walked over to the hole and peered out. he saw a scene of chaos. it was like the world had gone mad. there was panic in the streets and guns being shot at beasts of all shapes and sizes. from lumbering goliaths that blotted out the sun to small skittering demons that tore at the legs of any pedestrian running for their lives. he saw it all and yet he could do nothing. he could do nothing but watch as his home was tore asunder. he looked up as he saw a lumbering titan smashing its fist into a small skyscraper and pulling out people by the handful. he saw as a woman was disemboweled by a swarm of small raptor like creatures. and as he made it to the armed personnel that were trying to defend a small section of the town he saw as another large insectoid like being shredded a small family to ribbons and devoured their corpses. then it was all yelling , the army officers were yelling at the people trying to keep the peace and sort out how to evacuate the populace. some were complying some were trying to fight the officers and take the weapons that they had in an attempt to find a way back to their families. soon after a blanket was thrown at him he looked up to see a old man with a crooked grin. damn son you look rough here take something to eat. as he spoke he handed Lucius a bowl of some warm chili . and so the world came to know loss and defeat. as the first day of the apocalypse ended. in another part of the base luetinent freece the acting army commander of the area was trying to establish a line of communication with army main base.

dammit Karn! pick up the damn phone!, if any bastard is to survive this hell it would be you! she screamed into her long range satellite phone. freece looked a little tired as of late. she had been dealing with deaths in the area all week and now this the whole damn world had gone mad! she saluted the soldier on duty and headed to her bunk to try and catch some shut eye before she had to try and e vac an entire town into the emergency shelters deep under the mountain pass in Blake county. soon she passed through a set of stainless steel doors into a common area. she could see here the refugees down below and several of her solders were walking through and checking on some of the old and young. she could also see nurses tending to the injured, their faces contorted in agony as they tried to hold on as long as they could under the intense pain as there wasn't enough anesthetic and pain pills to go around.soon she reached her bunk and laid down and as soon as she fell asleep she had a dream. and in that dream she became cursed.