Larkin Festival

As the pedestrian light changes color, a group of citizens cross the street and head towards the grounds of the Larkin festival. Larkin festival was a tribute for the hero that saved the city of Albesque when it had first become a warp zone. The tale of the hero was full of trials and tribulations, truly worthy of recognition. Festival activities dedicated to him covered nearly the whole city, chattering and noises of everyday life filled the area. When the city first warped, Gun Larkin awakened along with a few companions and subjugated the monsters from the zone. It was around the time when warps were still a foreign phenomenon and the world had yet to concoct a way to deal with them.

The clouds leisurely casting down from above were back lit by the beautiful golden rays of the sun. The city was lively in leu of the celebrations to be had, passing time until the event underneath a golden sky. Leo often thought about the all knowing and immortal sky. He pondered over what it would feel like to the watch over the entire history of a whole planet. He was a dust particle among an ever vast and infinite scape of time and space. He liked the idea although it nearly brought him to an existential crisis many of times before. Maybe he liked being degraded to a small and insignificant blip to the universe, who knows? It gave him comfort to know that he could live however he wanted and the universe most likely wouldn't change much in the long run. He could argue that not even Larkin was powerful enough to matter to the unforgiving sky.

Among the group of pedestrians walked a 20 year old boy, baby faced and tanned. A fan of neu-tech street fashion, Leo was dressed in his favorite black chained cargo pants and matching chest bag. He served a passing glance at the strangers walking in the opposite direction. They were decked in armor from head to toe and carried sheathed weapons. It was a rather normal sight on a Tuesday afternoon. Awakened people were the strongest weapons in warp zones and were given many luxuries in society. The group of awakeners seemed to be having a tense discussion with each other, which worried Leo. There were many disagreements with factions of the awakeners but there was always a chance they were talking about something that involved the monsters. While infighting between factions did no harm to the citizens, information about monsters was vital to the whole population. The awakeners seemed to have higher clearance than regular citizens did, as several incidents have occurred where the warp was taken care of before being known to the public.

Tonight he would remain on edge, though he truly was useless in the face of the extraterrestrial beings in the warp zones. Never experiencing a warp zone himself, one would think he'd be afraid of the horrendous tales of awakeners and survivors. Warp zones were where people awakened, approximately one awakened to every one thousand deaths. Yet when he thought of such a scenario, he was strangely calm. He had dreamed so many times since the warps started. He dreamed of conquering zones. Every night he was plagued with vivid dreams of planets he had never seen before. The foreign lands encroached on the cities around them, fully replacing the area of land that had once been there. The people who had been living everyday life were warped into the terrain of a new world with absolutely no knowledge of the creatures that awaited them. There were several awakeners who used barriers, hired to keep citizens safe when warped. Instead of paying rent, they were paid to live in buildings to increase the safety of every district. They were called the strongholds. Though their combat power was basically non existent, it was theorized these powers were created to specifically save people in the warp. How nice that whatever being gave the planet warps also gave a shitty and dangerous way to protect the people. The few designated hunters gathered at the flare, where the stronghold awaited them. While the citizens climbed into the barrier, Leo awakened in nearly half of the dreams. His power was a mystery to him yet he always woke feeling victorious. It really irked him that the dream stopped at such a place. It was far too realistic yet forgotten as easily as every other dream.

Leo regained his composure as he was approaching his booth at the festival. He was the critically acclaimed chef of a temporary BBQ stand and he was resolved to whip up some tasty ass meat. Leo whipped out a tennis head band and pushed back his black hair. The waitstaff were all friends and he felt comfortable behind the grill, soon falling into a rhythm. Worrying about a situation he didn't have the knowledge to change was pointless and exhausting.

"Leo!"

Jada called from the other side of the counter. He met her gaze and smiled a bit.

"What's up? Another order?"

She pulled up a chair by the grill, crossing her legs and getting comfortable.

"I've got a minute off, I'm sure Garret will cover,"she laughed while looking over at the second waiter who was chatting with his friends at a table. Leo took the time to light a short cig.

"You've looked nervous since you got here,"

she continued, looking at him with concern.

Her long, curly black hair was tied back, she pushed a short lock of hair out of her eyes. He sighed in response, but felt like sharing.

"I saw Awakeners here earlier. No locals among them. "

She looks puzzled at his expression.

Why is he so emotional just from seeing them? Sure it wasn't all the time when you saw wakeners walking our streets, but the festival was in full swing. Who wouldn't believe they were here to join in on the fun.

She knew he had many opinions on awakened people, but couldn't get a read on what he was feeling right now. But she did know he had desired to awaken since the day the first awakener was born.

"What, do you think something is going down? How would you know just from seeing them!?" Jada asked Leo.

"I unfortunately don't know anything like that. I'm ready if it does though. Even if I have to accept death," Leo says with a false bravado. Dying seemed inevitable in this world anyway. Especially for three unawakened college students.

"Oh yeah, Leo. Lets see you take on the monsters with your barbecue tongs! You legit sounded so cringe just now. I'm dead."

Jada laughs as Leo snaps his tongs together.

"I just might do that," Leo adds, spinning the tongs like a nunchuck. He thought the joke was quite funny but he really had no other weapon. If he added the butcher knife to the tongs though?

He joins Jada in laughing.

"That'll really be the end of our world, huh? Me swinging tongs to protect you fools?"

He looks over at Jada who's eyes were glued to the fireworks exploding off in the distance. Her shoulder seemed to adamantly shrug off his gaze, refusing to turn around.

After some time Jada looks at the park behind Leo, her expression a bit forlorn. Sparks were flickering lightly in the sky behind her.

"Maybe if it's you…" she trailed off but had successfully changed the vibe of the conversation.

"Jada….?" Leo paused and tapped her shoulder. He then grabbed both shoulders and leaned above her head. She tilted her eyes up to look at him.

"What do you know?" He asked her inquisitively. Her grandfather was an awakened, a ranker at that. She turned around and bonked her skull against his chest. Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her.

~What did her grandfather tell her? If she reacted that way, she may know more than those strangers before.~

"Hey, Jada don't be all pensive like that. Come on! Come on! Cough it up!"

"He told me to bring you to meet him. Now I understand why… albeit vaguely," Jada responded. He was a man who completely secluded himself from the outside world.

~Why didn't she bring this up earlier?

Her grandfather would never call on her friends without reason. He was only a legend on the eyes of our city, one that no one could dream of touching. He only left his house when a warp opened, yet footage of him was scarce as he became better at concealing himself.~

Jada Larkin continued on while looking directly at Leo. It was dire, the look the in the eyes of a girl who was just about as level headed as Leo.

"I don't think this is a joke anymore," she says, breaking away from Leo solemnly and pointing towards the sparks above. Warp feedback.

A scream breaks through the sound of the firework finale and a patch of the sky turns dark grey in the middle of the blackened night. As the warp split the sky, a horrible vibration ran through the field like a shockwave. Leo's body and soul were forcefully ripped from each other. Just as every person who warps, his soul is transferred separate of his body as he finds his way into the terraformed land. It was excruciating yet so beautiful at the same time, a galaxy emblazoned in fire led him through to the warp zone. He fell to his knees when he appeared in his body in the warp zone, wheezing through coughs. It was hard to adjust for people who had no experience. While their bodies seemed to naturally adjust to the atmosphere of the warp, it was mentally draining and caused many people to lose their minds just from the transfer. The festival was now a large gathering of cannon fodder, and the hunt had already began.

There Leo stood, tongs in hand with a knife tightly secured to the left tong. An unfamiliar city of ruins tucked into a forest stretched on for at least five miles in every direction. The weight of the situation was heavy on his shoulders. His friends probably didn't share his extremely relaxed attitude towards death. Until the stronghold flare shot off or they found Larkin it was up to him to ensure their safety.

Leo scanned the terror unfolding in front of him. Jada was coming to from the warp beside him. Humans bodies stood erect with their heads to ground before they were transferred, he noted. Dissecting the crowd of hazy and distraught citizens, his glaze locks upon the scruffy ash blonde hair of a person slumped to the ground.

"Yo! Garrett!! Get the fuck over here man!" Leo screamed so hard that his vocal cords ached profusely.

Garrett snapped up from the waist, finding Leo from his voice. He opens his mouth but doesn't say anything. His eyes looked at Leo with a soft despair. Without responding, he walked over while shaking his head, fist clenched.

"I know your brother was at home. We will get to him," Leo assured Garrett. Just like that, he knew what was on Garrett's mind without a single word. Garretts parents were out of town and his 12 year old brother chose to stay home. He spent most of his time in virtual reality, going so far as to do VR school. Garrett looked as if his brother was already dead, like he was an instinctual beast with a connection to its family that suddenly died out.

Jada rubbed Garretts back a bit, comforting her friend even in such a situation.

"You live near grandpa you know? Grandpa is probably already subjugating the area. It's the safest place to be."

•••

I looked at my friends before me, the unfamiliar world around us was a beautiful an expansive forest. People were running in the direction of the strongholds house, though there was no guarantee they were even home at the time. Devil like bats stood on hind legs and carried people through the sky of flames. Others cried and screamed to the air, as no one alive was there who would listen to them. I nodded to Garrett and Jada and silently we walked in the opposite direction of the chaos behind us. No matter what happened here I knew our lives would never be the same. I hoped that despair was not our sole emotion left when our time in the warp ran out.