Light
For the first time in what felt like ages, I felt light.
This was no fake light mind you. I could just... tell. There was something about it. It had a certain feel to it. Almost like you could reach out, and just touch it! The air felt like an ocean, with the light ebbing and flowing through it. It felt like I was in the middle of it all. Not like I was the center, mind you, but more like being in the middle of a busy street corner. There's motion everywhere, but you don't have anything to do with it. Whether or not you go with the flow of the crowd or you stand obstinate in it's way, you don't make any major change. Sure, there might be a few ripples, an odd glance or two, but the tide still ebbs and flows like you were never there.
I reach for the light, trying to get a sense of where I am. My eyes open, letting the light flow in. I gaze around, drinking in my surroundings. Green and gray and brown meet my eye, but it takes a little bit before I can make out what the colors are coming from. My vision sharpens, and objects start to take shape. Rows of gray streets covered in ancient rusted automobiles, coated with a fine green film of vegetation. Crumbling skyscrapers stood in defiance of the erosion of the city.
The initial grogginess of waking up having worn off, I stood up. The decrepit fountain and pathways told me that I found myself in some sort of park. In what was surely to be a recurring theme, vegetation had taken over the precisely chiseled stone. A small pool of water lay still in the fountain, algae growing in what was surely the remnants of the last major rainfall. I strode over, well, not quite strode. More stumbled my way across the slanted stones, tripping over every twig and only starting to catch myself once I was in arms reach of the fountain. Looks like I was still a bit shaky. In the pool a pair of deep brown eyes looked back at me, they were held in check by the mat of unkempt dirty blonde hair. To round off the defining features, a sharp jawline dominated the lower portion of my face. It wasn't quite chiseled marble, there was a bit of tissue softening the curve over.
Echoes pierced the silence of the city. Rock scraping against cement by the sound of it. I threw myself behind the fountain. Something rounded the corner just a street down. A lone figure prowled the street cautiously. It was hard to tell if it was hunting, or being hunted. The rifle in it's hand and the armor it bore were a dirty gray-green, almost perfect camouflage in the ruins of this city. Whatever it was, it was heading my way. With nowhere to run without exposing myself, I hid behind my stone deathtrap.
I could hear it's approach. Slowly, carefully, methodically, it made it's way towards my position. I searched for anything that I could defend myself with and came up empty-handed. Looks like I was only weapon. Against an unidentified opponent with a rifle, my chances were slim. I bided my time, waiting until it was just the right moment. When it was too close to use the rifle effectively, I charged. It saw me right away, but didn't have enough time to react. I smashed into it, knocking it backwards. I gripped the rifle, only to discover my opponent was too; only he gripped it with... four hands. I looked up into it's helmeted eyes... all four of them... and I knew, this thing wasn't human. It stood it's ground on it's, thankfully only, two legs. The camouflage patterning covered it's armor and the cape along it's back, and it boasted a strange symbol upon it's shoulder. It pushed back, trying to simultaneously wrestle back it's rifle and knock me to the ground. I pulled, swinging him around my side and knocking him into the fountain. The impact jostled him, but most notably, jostled his trigger finger. After a short second, a beam of blue light escaped from the muzzle of the rifle. The beam sped towards a one of the ruined automobiles. This automobile, oh so conveniently, just so happened to be a tanker. Again, oh so conveniently, it also just so happened to be the full of petroleum.
A fireball burst into the sky, the shock wave from the explosion sent me reeling. The light in the area felt dirty, as if the explosion tainted it. That was when it started. First, a single screech pierced the air. Followed by another, and another, and another, and another. Soon enough, it sounded like the city itself would collapse underneath the tremendous vocal pressure. Then, it stopped. I looked up at my inhuman adversary, and it looked back at me. In it's eyes I saw two things. Fear, and an offer. I can only imagine that when it looked back into mine it saw the same. The rifle nowhere to be found, we ran.
Time passed by in a blur as we sped past buildings, never stopping once. The screeching was no longer the shrill cacophony, but it was there, and it was more then enough motivation to keep going. Green orbs glowed in the darkness, so hostile that if looks could kill, we'd be dead ten times over.
Their hostile glare, however, apparently wasn't enough for them. Screeches sounded behind me, the same ones I heard earlier. I slid over a rusted car, shooting a look over my shoulder as I landed. All I saw was a horde of claws and teeth behind me. I don't know what they were attached to, but I sure as hell wasn't waiting around to find out. I leaped over a fallen lamppost, my ally ahead waving at me. It pointed towards a skyscraper, one with torn cloth banners stationed on either side of the door. The faded ornate symbols on them didn't look human, perfectly matching the symbol on my ally's shoulder.
A new screech pierced the air on my right. Something brown flew out of one of the buildings, heading straight towards my companion. The brown blur gripped my ally in one of it's clawed hands, it's cape flowing even though there was no wind. It didn't appear to have any legs either, merely floating above the ground almost magically. It brandished it's free claw arm, preparing to strike. Weighing the consequences in a split second, I acted. I leapt for my companion, wrapping my arm's around his captor's neck. It screeched, at an ear-splitting volume from this distance. The screech brought forth demons from the dark. Black spectres swirled around me, preparing to attack. I would have covered my ears and curled into a ball from sheer horror, except for the fact that my arms were a bit preoccupied clinging for dear life. The demons tore into my arms, fiercely fighting to get me to release their master. In a blind rush of pain, I conceded. I tumbled to the ground, content to just lay there for a while. My mind was nothing but pain, I could barely even stay conscious from all of it! I felt something grab me, it tried to move me, but I cried out in pain. It threw me onto it's shoulder, my arms feeling like they were dipped in molten lava. The pain flared up, and my consciousness faded out.
