Darius lazily opened his eyes as light shone through a gap in the curtains. He reached over for his phone and squinted at the screen. It was 7:30am, meaning that he should have gotten up 30 minutes ago. He grumbled while slowly getting up out of the bed and began slinking towards the shower. He stood in the shower, looking as if he was staring out into an abyss. He was at what many would call a crossroads in his life. Having finished university with several pieces of fancy paper to his name he imagined himself with a good job and his own home right now, or at least an apartment. Instead he was still living at home, relying on his mother, and working in a job that he had absolutely no interest in.
"Such is life" he said to himself, turning the shower off
Darius dried himself and looked in the mirror at his naked body. He sighed at his unfit and slight pudgy figure before putting on his suit for work. He went downstairs, taking out the fridge the first thing which was deemed to be edible and filling enough to last him until lunch. After hastily eating his small breakfast he left the home, giving a half-hearted 'See you later' to his mother, who barely had time acknowledge his presence before he left. Darius stared at the pavement as he walked towards the train that would bring him to work. Various thoughts flickered in his mind, his current job, his age, his living situation. All of these things resolved to make him feel even more sullen than he usually was. One of his few respites was the music he listened to while walking. It allowed him to leave the dreariness of his own reality and enter the world of his imagination. A world populated not just by humans, but also by far more interesting creatures. One where he had friends and a family that noticed him more. This fantasy was cut short when the train grinded to a halt, signalling that he had arrived at work. Sighing he took his headphones off and walked into the large department store where he would begin his day as a selling assistant.
The day had been long and tedious. Very little people had come into the store to look around, even fewer wanted to buy things. Not that Darius particularly cared how well the department was doing in terms of sales. He was wiping down various equipment in an attempt to pass the time and leave. Just as he was wiping down a large fridge freezer he felt the presence of someone behind him. He turned his head was taken aback a little to find a somewhat short messily dressed man standing behind him. His messy coat, loose fitting shirt and slip on shoes indicated someone who was very lazy and usually short on money. He had a sort of mocking grin, it gave him a somewhat unsettling appearance.
"Oh sorry sir, I didn't see you there, how can I help you" Darius said, putting on his best 'look like you give a crap' face.
"Darius that's a nice name, I preferred Zylos though?" The man answered in a powerful yet monotonous voice.
"Err, excuse me"
"Oh that's right, you don't know do you, silly me"
The man creeped Darius out. He had no idea what he was talking about nor had he ever seen him before, yet the man acted as if he knew who he was.
"Do you need anything?" Darius asked incredulously
"Hmm, no, just thinking about the future, cheerio"
The man walked away without saying another word. Darius watched as he walked out.
"Well that wasn't strange at all" He thought before continuing with his cleaning.
The end of work came and Darius made his way home. As he was walking to the train he noticed the short man from earlier. The man smiled and waved at him as he boarded the train. Darius tried his best to ignore him, looking in the other direction. The train ride back was uneasy, it felt as if he was being watched by someone for the whole trip despite the carriage being mostly empty, it sent a slight shiver up his spine. As he travelled home he couldn't get the man out of his mind. Even on the walk back he kept turning his head. Despite having never seen him before he felt the feeling of familiarity every time he thought about him, as he had seen or known him in the past. Arriving home he took one more backwards glance behind him, seeing nothing there he closed the door. Deciding to forgo dinner he hung his clothes up and got straight into bed. He stared at the ceiling as he tried to drift off to sleep. The man was on his mind again not just his appearance but what he said as well. Darius drifted off into an uneasy sleep still pondering.
The creature opened his eyes and groaned. He gasped in pain and looked down at his side to see a red patch of blood emerging through the armour. The entire area was shrouded in darkness, the only things he could make out were parts of his own body. He got up and slowly moved in a direction, not sure of where he was going. As he walked a figure appeared in the distance and got closer. The figure was a short man in a lab coat, he didn't turn around.
"What happened" He weakly asked.
"This is what happens when you take away every souls in the universe" the man said, turning around. "I could have saved everyone you know, but you had to come and mess things up".
"I'm sorry I...I couldn't let sacrifice all those lives" the creature said.
"Fat lot of good it did, you ended up sacrificing way more than I intended"
The man walked up to the creature and put his hand on one of its shoulders.
"I understand why you did it, but I can let you meddle with my plans again" The man stabbed the creature with a concealed weapon "I'm sorry".
The creature collapsed to the floor, panting heavily. He took one more look at the man before falling over. His body disintegrated into dust and left a small glowing object behind. The object shattered to pieces before the man could pick it up.
"Crap, it's gonna take a while to find you again."
Darius suddenly woke up from his sleep. Rubbing his eyes he glanced at the clock beside his bed. It bleeped 2:30am in red text. Groaning, he got out of bed. He was now fully awake and wouldn't be able to get back to sleep easily.
"Guess a walk couldn't hurt" He thought to himself.
Darius got his clothes on and walked outside. The night was calm and a cool breeze was blowing down the street. Lost in his thoughts he pondered about the previous day and his current life. He still wondered about the man he met the previous day and what he was talking about. Lost in thought he didn't notice the figure standing in front of him and promptly bumped into it.
"Oh uh sorry"
Darius hastily apologised to the person standing in front of him. However, he jumped back when he realised that the man he had seen the previous two days was standing before him. Despite bumping into him, the man seemed unmoving and stared out into the night sky.
"It's interesting you know, who would have thought the prince of monsters would pop up here, funny how the universe mixes things"
"Eh?"
Darius took a few steps back, now thinking the guy was definitely insane.
"Humans have done pretty well for themselves haven't they, since the monsters are out of the picture"
"What"
"It's a shame really, but you know greater good and all that"
"Okay who the hell are you and what are you talking about"
"Who am I, just some crazy stranger to you I suppose, but to me"
The man suddenly appeared right in front of Darius. He pointed at him and Darius was lifted into the air by some invisible force. Despite trying to thrash about, Darius could barely move a muscle.
"How could I forget the one that screwed things up so badly, this place wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you?"
The man dropped Darius on the floor and looked at the sky.
"But now we can get things back on track"
There was bright flash of white light and the man had disappeared from sight. Darius frantically looked around to find himself being the only person standing in the street. As he got up he felt a rumbling in the distance. Looking back he noticed a faint light shining above some buildings; the light looked white in colour. As he approached he could make out the white light coming from something floating in the sky. He could just about make out the image of a person in the centre of the light. The light quickly grew, consuming himself and his surroundings. When the light cleared Darius found himself laying in a grassy field. The sky was blue with only a few visible clouds. He sat up, still feeling the stinging pain from his head. As he looked around the city landscape was gone and replaced a country field and road. Only one thought came to Darius' mind.
"What just happened?"