The Chaos Series by Kulmanari

Truth Seeker - The Chaos Demons - Legend of the Black Knight - Reflections In Time

Chapter 1

"Remember me…"

The world as we know it has ended. On that fateful afternoon in September, hordes of demons poured out the deepest depths of hell to bring mankind to its knees. They succeeded…

Cody Martin has survived the slaughter that destroyed Boston, taking his entire family with it, and was present when America made its final stand for its very survival. The worlds' greatest superpower is one of the last nations to finally fall to the demons, battered and broken, with no organized resistance left to carry on.

Only one person has the power to keep on fighting against all odds, push back the demonic tide and restore order to the dark world. That person is Cody himself, but in order to return the light to the ravaged earth he will need the help of just one other person. He will need Zack's help, but he's been dead for two years now…

And the rain will kill us all

We'll throw ourselves against the wall

But no one else can see

The preservation of the martyr in me

Psychosocial - Slipknot

In the not so distant future...

Cody Martin awoke from his nightmarish dreams to intense pain. Something was pinning his body to the ground, something lying across his legs. He also had lost feeling in his left arm and found in difficult to breathe because of the rubble burying him from his shoulders down. What happened? He struggled to remember where he was and how he'd ended up in this predicament.

Shifting his body to the right, as that arm was still free, Cody yelped as agonizing pain lanced up his pinned legs. He tried pulling his legs forward, but they barely moved. He tried kicking the debris around his feet with the limited movement his legs possessed, and to his relief he felt the pressure of whatever was pinning him let up. Sitting up Cody managed to free his left arm and dig out the lower half of his body, painfully pulling his legs out from under a metal beam that had narrowly avoided crushing them.

"Ugh…what happened?" Cody whispered to himself, rubbing the side of his head. He had a terrible headache. Looking around he saw the ugly shapes of decrepit and half destroyed buildings around him. Shattered windows, burnt out cars and all manner of things with deep gouges in them, which looked frighteningly similar to claw marks, stared back at him on the empty street. He now knew this place…He hadn't seen it in almost two years, but he had once called it home.

The rubble that had buried him was all that was left of the once magnificent Tipton hotel in Boston. Cody could still remember those wonderful days living up on the twenty third floor with his mother and twin brother Zack. Those were the days when he had so much fun and lived an innocent life with a promising future ahead of him. Now he had nothing. He was an empty soul wandering a world that no longer belonged to the human race, without a home, without a family and without hope of surviving much longer. The demons knew he was powerful, and they would keep coming for him, as they had tonight, until he was finally dead. Denying them their prize was perhaps the only motivation that kept Cody going in these dark times.

He sat down with his back against a half collapsed wall where the Tipton's lobby had once been, too tired to try and find what he'd come to the hotel for. Cody sat there for many minutes, shivering slightly in the cold air, his heart skipping a beat at every strange noise heard in the distance, his eyelids getting heavier all the time. Slowly but surely, the young man fell into a deep sleep…and the nightmare continued…

Cody climbed out of bed early in the morning, he always was up before Zack who stayed up late watching TV or playing video games, and after a few steps stubbed his toe on Zack's skateboard which was lying in the middle of the room. Hissing in pain Cody sat down on the edge of his bed, nursing his big toe. A flash of anger boiled up inside of him, his brother never cleaned his side of the room and constantly left stuff lying on the floor like that. Reaching back behind him Cody grabbed his pillow and chucked it across the room, hitting Zack square in the face.

"Oww, what the…?" Zack said groggily, sitting up and looking around the room before settling his gaze on Cody.

"Next time don't leave your skateboard in the middle of the floor!" Cody said angrily, getting to his feet and hobbling over to the dresser to get a fresh change of clothes.

"Yeah, yeah," Zack said, deciding not to put up a fight, lying back on his bed and closing his eyes. Cody shook his head at Zack's laziness and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and change. When he came out he found Zack had been drawn out of their room by the smell of the breakfast their mom was cooking, one of the few meals that even she couldn't screw up. Carey Martin's cooking was the stuff of legend among their family, and usually they ate takeout or whatever Cody cooked when he felt up to it.

The sound of a sudden banging noise outside the suite made them all jump. All eyes turned on the door to the suite as something slammed into it on the other side, cracking the wood of the door frame. Carey moved around from behind the kitchen to stand in front of her sons, her hand grabbing Cody's cell phone off the counter as she went.

"Get in your room and lock the door!" She hissed, starting to dial 911 as the door suddenly crashed inward. Fear rooted the Martin's in place. It was hard to describe what they were seeing, ugly creatures that looked like they came straight out of a fantasy novel. There were several creatures, all snarling and drooling, moving into the suite. They were tall, easily taller than any of the Martins and much bigger.

"RUN!!" Carey screamed, throwing herself into the path of the advancing monsters. Everything from that point happened so fast, it was almost a blur to Cody. He and Zack obeyed their mother, the fear in her voice made them spring into action and race into their room. Zack slammed the door shut and locked it while Cody pulled the grate off the air duct in their room. The door to the boy's room bent inward and splintered the doorframe as the monsters crashed into it. Cody hesitated in horror…was mom already dead?

"GO!!" Zack exclaimed, pushing Cody into the vent. It was a tight squeeze, the twins had gotten bigger over the years and could now barely fit in the ducts. Zack climbed in behind him as the door to their room flew off its hinges and slammed into the wall narrowly missing Zack's feet which were not all the way in the duct yet. One of the monsters grabbed Zack by the ankle and started dragging him out.

"Cody help!" Zack cried. Cody squirmed and squeezed his body around to turn and go back after Zack. He crawled forward until his jeans suddenly snagged on something, a loose screw. He couldn't move forward anymore but he reached out, his fingertips managing to reach Zack's outstretched hand. They held onto each other, both straining to reach out even further.

The monster holding onto Zack bit down on the leg it was holding. His brother screamed and lost his grip. Cody watched helpless as the monster dragged Zack out of the duct and threw him to the floor. Zack rolled sideways, narrowly avoiding the pouncing action of the monster that had been holding him. Cody was screaming in the duct, pounding his fists on the metal, doing everything he could to free himself and help fight off the monsters trying to kill his brother. Zack managed to get to his feet and reached the duct, but rather than climb in, he slammed it shut and locked it.

"No!!" Cody screamed at his brother. He couldn't understand why Zack would not try to escape now. Zack stared at Cody through the duct cover, their tear streaked eyes staring back at one another, trying to make him understand. Zack loved his brother, and would die to protect him if necessary. That time had now come.

"Remember me…" Zack said sadly. The monster behind him had now recovered and dragged Zack down to the ground. Cody heard his brother's horrible screams of pain…and then all was silent.

Cody Martin awoke from his nightmare with a start. The cold wind blowing through the empty Boston streets had numbed his fingers and ears. He stood up, feeling the stiffness in his whole body. How long had he been asleep? It was considerably lighter outside now than it had been before and the first sliver of the golden sun was visible on the distant horizon.

"Remember me…" Cody heard Zack's final words in his mind, over and over again. His brother's words and final screams haunted his every waking moment and he had to relive that tragic morning every time he slept. He never had any peace, he could never escape that horrible memory, he could never forget.

Anger boiled through his body. It just wasn't fair, none of it was! The Chaos Demons had taken everything and everyone from him. He was alone in this world, there was no one left alive. No one else could stand against the Demons. No one.

Warmth surrounded Cody as he stood there, feeling rage pass through him. A soft golden light surrounded his body, the light came from within and gave him the strength to fight back. It was his greatest power, his only weapon against the Demons. He was different from everyone else, he had a power no other soul had. In Zack's final seconds Cody had seen the power inside of Zack too, but it was already too late by then.

Staring into the distance at the rising sun he now remembered his reason for coming to the Tipton after humanity's last stand had failed. It was a slim chance that what he needed still existed here, but if it did he could give the human race a second chance. He could save mom and dad. He could save Zack…

Author's Note: This is my first fanfic, feel free to leave constructive critiscm. I've been working on my own works of fiction on and off for a few years now. I've been distracted lately by this story idea and decided to try it out in TSL setting. Tell me if you like it so far. I know the first chapter doesn't give away much, and it's not supposed to. The goal here was to introduce the reader to the world as it exists in 2010 from Cody's POV and flashback the memory of that day just before the world came crashing down.

The Chaos Demons are creatures from our mythology btw (orcs, trolls, wraiths, etc), they're poorly described in Cody's flashback because it's a great shock to him and then he's running for his life and has no idea what the heck is going on. I may have to up the rating from T to M later on depending on how much violence I decide to add.

Coming Up: Chapter 2 "Reborn from the ashes"

Cody Martin knows he has the power to save the world, but he has been weakened by the constant struggle to survive on his own. He needs time to rest and figure out how exactly the demons came to our world in the first place before he can seal the entrances. A little help from Zack, who also has the mysterious powers Cody discovered he possessed right after the world ended, wouldn't hurt either. There's just a few snags...the world is completey overrun with demons all closing in on Cody and then there's the fact that Zack's been dead for two years...