It was pouring. It couldn't even see three feet in front of me. The sound of the rain smothering the earth assaulted my ears and deafened me. I couldn't see or hear anything, so it was as if I was the only person left in the entire city. And somewhere beneath that curtain that isolated from the world at large, I lay dying. I had been running through the streets of the city, trying to get home, so I could dry myself off and warm myself by the fireplace. I couldn't even see my own hand in front of my face, but I'd lived in this city all my life and knew it like the back of hand, so I wasn't worried about getting lost. Unfortunately, the rain obscured far more than simply the buildings.
That was where I had made my final, fatal mistake. Because I had complete confidence in my ability to navigate the city, I didn't even bother looking ahead, focusing instead on attempting futilely to ward off even the smallest bit of rain. Consequently, I failed to notice the man until he was he was within arm's reach. As it all happened far too quickly, I'm not sure what exactly occurred. All I know is that I felt a sharp pain in my gut, then another, and another, and another, and another, and another…
After an indeterminate amount of time, the man finally left me, and I fell to the ground. There was a vivid, crimson tint to the water that coated the earth I lied upon. Was it blood? I couldn't tell, and my thoughts were growing less and less coherent. I could feel what precious little heat the rain had allowed me to retain leave me. It felt as if I was fading away, like my consciousness was disappearing. If this went on… If everything I had within me left, what would happen to me? If I became empty, what would become of me? …Would I disappear?
Just as I feared, as my body's heat left me, it took everything I had with it. I could feel my myself fading away, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Even in my panicked state, I recognized that I was too far gone to be saved. But just as I accepted that, something changed. …There was something here. Even though I was corpse that would cease to function within just a few short minutes, I found that I was unable to ignore this new presence. My heart beat once, twice, three more times, and then everything changed. My eyes could not see this presence, so I had no idea what it looked like, my ears could no longer tell if it had spoken, and as I had long since lost all feeling in my body, I had no idea what it had done to me. But nonetheless, I still felt it. For a brief moment, what little life I still retained began to be siphoned away.
And then, just as abruptly as the feeling began, it left, and in its place, something far more vicious took hold. Where before, I felt my life being drained, I could now feel something indescribably foreign, something that most definitely did not belong, enter my body. I should have long since lost all feeling, but even so, the pain I felt then far surpassed anything I had ever felt before. My entire body, every last cell, from head to toe, without exception, was being ravaged, and unable to withstand the assault, my consciousness was swept away.
