Begining of our end

Monsters in a Blinding light

The light was so beautiful; the voice was a marvel. It kept moving, calling me.

Stop… resist, your world would be better if you run away.

Over and over a melody of silky honey swirled in my mind mixed with the warning whisper, but it was no good, I had to answer, to reach out, to touch.

It grabbed hold of me. Hands, fingers grabbing me, ripping me apart, every limb, every muscle; yet I didn’t feel pain. Was this what it feels like being dead? The light was still beautiful though, so beautiful, so calm, it burned into my mind, a swirling slow chant. I could feel myself, or what was left of me, drifting slowly, then it all ended, slowly the curtains were dropped and all I could feel…

Was darkness.

** ** **

It had been two days since I had that horrible dream, yet it wouldn’t go away. The town was empty, the fires had stopped, all that was left was black swollen bodies.

It was a lie, it was a lie, it was a lie. Yet why was i crying?

Father hasn’t returned, nobody was here, I was alone. I tried to sleep, maybe that was the only way I could wake up to my real life, to my quiet existence, yet I cannot sleep, I can’t lie down.

I have to wait.

It all started as a whisper, the only noise in a dead city, beautiful, yet surprisingly sad. I followed it to the basement, then the lab, deeper till I stood in front of the backroom, Father’s room. Nobody was allowed inside, so who was singing?

The tightness of my chest hasn’t changed, a constant visitor throughout my years of living, the motivator I have to constantly remind myself that I am not weak, I am not afraid. I pushed aside the door and walked into a cleaner’s nightmare. books scattered, beakers and oozing liquids multi colored papers most stained by the spilling items, the floor was cracked partway to reveal other layers below the surface, maybe storage units, secret stashes, two towering structures that were malformed with a base straight as a ruler up to the celling as though it was a pillar holding the roof upright, the horrid smells that hit worse than the dead bodies outside, picking up one paper after the other looking through diagrams upon diagrams all about the tall structure in the middle of the room.

What was so special about this thing? Why was so much work put into finding out what it was and what it could do?

Two cupboards along the wall, and a massive curtain, two table and chairs, yet nothing else. none of father’s document just scattered papers and sketches, he always had so many documents here, nothing but a recorder, an old classic of the audio power player model.

“the artifact at first glance seemed to be completely lacking of any form of power source, not the conventional cables that’s for sure, so the Acheocultural society wrote it off as a damaged relic from what was possibly the Atlantic civilization, useless junk beyond any use, plus clearly we didn’t have the expertise required to fix the item. I would have to prove them wrong. How I would enjoy the look on their face”

That’s father’s voice… this was why we barely saw him?? Cause of this towering certified junk??

***

Tentatively she opened the door, the cupboard was the only place she thought to hide, she ran outside, everywhere was destroyed, the explosions had stopped a long time ago, everywhere was so quiet, it was so scary. Someone else might have survived, if she could find someone else,

she didn’t want to be alone.

Then she heard a sound, something had fallen, maybe it was a loose board or a weak wall given the situation. The sound came again and this time it didn’t sound like anything falling, more as if someone had hit something, maybe there was someone else alive, she wasn’t alone.

The entrance was blown to splinters, all that remained was a singular frame supported by rubble, she made her way in, carefully navigating the destruction into a hallway that had not taken as much damage, it was relatively untouched by the ruin which ravaged the rest of the city, then she heard it again, like a door being pushed.

She has been here before.

The next sound was a voice, a scream that forced goosebumps evoking all the monsters that she was yet to find. She grabbed a stick and ran, searching for the voice, the person that needed her help.

The scream came again, down the stairs through some rooms, the basement, another door, another scream weaker than the others. She was running out of time, through the door,

then she froze

***

“It works, it showed some sign. I was right, Ha!, it was never broken. We just didn’t know the type of power source required. Those stuffed old lab coats would have to eat their words. Though the power source needed for it is of a .... troubling form, but we would need to worry about those ethical implications later”

“Experiment no 9, the artifact is showing signs of life, shape shifting slightly before powering back down, but still I have made progress, having figured out that this little lever is basically the power button, we would need to find a larger power source though am yet to deter mine if the size of the power source is what’s important or if it needs surge from multiple sources.”

“‘Experiment no 12, its evident that the artifact is capable of wireless charging and the radius is comfortably 9 to 10 square miles, roughly the radius of this city.’

‘Wait, this city.’

‘what about it?’

‘Imagine if we could use the city to power the artifact,’

‘are you insane? the point of this is to use this to power the city, not the other way around. What’s wrong with you?’

‘I think you are forgetting your place Bayo,’

‘regardless of that.’

‘it was just a suggestion, don’t think too much into it’”

Somehow this new guy’s laugh, was familiar like a memory trying to break the surface, childhood stuff that seemed too fleeting to make sense, to get context, but somehow it seemed so important, like a distant uncle that I was trying to rememb…… an uncle, father’s older brother from many years ago.

“‘Experiment no 24, this can’t be, it doesn’t make sense, why would anybody create anything like this? If I can find another power source, they would be forced to reconsider.’

‘still working hard at it I see,’

‘I made it very clear, you are not allowed in this house ever again’

‘well that’s not going to be a problem, seeing as we need it here, u know, in the city that might well be capable of powering it up..’

‘are you insane? What the... who is we?’

‘the family has decided that this piece of marvel is too good to be left in your hands, and since you have not been cooperating recently, it was necessary to do something about it, we can’t continue indulging in your selfishness. This should be used for the greater good of the family.’