A new story, always a challenge to know if it will be liked or not. So, we start with an Arknight OC story.
I'll make several clarifications before leaving you with the chapter.
-This story is secondary; I'm keeping The Hunt Beyond The Dream as my main fanfiction.
-The story will only be updated every three weeks or a month.
-The story starts several years before the "Canon".
-The first story arc will focus on the character Adrian (OC) and will last between 40 and 60K words. Rhodes Islands will not arrive until much later, although there will be encounters with earlier Operators.
-The pairings are already decided and will definitely happen after the first or second arc (I haven't fully decided).
I'm done with my notes, see you at the end if you want more information about the rest of the story.
Enjoy Reading.
Prologue :
"Why does he hate you and love me? "Asked life.
"Because you are an easy lie to live, and I am a hard truth to accept. " Replied death.
Screams and roars echoed, their sounds clashing between the trees. His lungs burned as he ran, his legs seemed to fail him, but he kept running, determined to get to safety.
He was in pain; he didn't know why or how he had woken up in that forest in the body of a fourteen-year-old child. He knew even less why he was being chased by a group of people. But what he was sure of was that he had to run.
Dementia: A frenzied state leading to a loss of neurological functions that can result in visions. It didn't make sense, there was only that explanation in his mind, a vacuum of muffled noise contrasting with the anguish.
He slid halfway to the ground, landing only with his reflexes, which seemed far too accurate for what he was used to. Adrian kept running. A Sarkaz was stalking him, quickly gaining on him. He didn't know how the humanoid creature's name had come to him, but he didn't care.
Glancing back, he saw the beast approaching him quickly. In one swift, automatic movement, he put his hand to his leg and drew a pistol that hung there. Heat slid through his limbs and reverberated through the pistol reaching the bullets. Some of the energy produced by his body ignited the powder inside the pods activating them.
He pulled the trigger three times, aiming for the head, seeking to shoot down his thing shifted just in time to avoid being hit directly. Blood poured from the beast's wounded shoulder as it stopped to scream in pain in an unknown language.
The humanoid slid a wand from his belt and pointed it at him. Adrian knew immediately what was happening.
He pushed his legs to the absolute limit, a primal fear had formed in his mind of running away. A red glow filled the air and ripped the sky, lighting it up with a thousand different bloody hues. Zigzagging through the forest in an attempt to escape the advancing flames, he felt the blood rush to his eyes. But he ignored it, too preoccupied with his assailant.
He could hear the sounds of fire roaring behind him, followed moments later by the creak and crash of trees being set on fire by the burning flamethrower. The heat licked his face as he sped up his run. The dark sky dropped a few raindrops, soothing the numb form of the runner slightly.
No police around, no towns, no chance of outside help, no time to rest, his only hope of survival was to hide and pray that their hunters could not find him.
He heard the cries of several men.
"Where is he?!
"I don't know! Frank was hurt! "
"Fuck! He was armed?! "
"It seems so! Be careful! "
Adrian's feet were now pounding the ground fiercely, no longer running, but sprinting, fresh adrenaline coursing through his blood as he shut out the pain.
He wanted to live!
The more he sprinted, the more his last memories came back to him, hiding the reality around him. He remembered a plane, a bright glow. Then... He heard a sort of infernal whistle followed by an explosion. He had been thrown to the ground before everything fell into darkness.
When he had opened his eyes again he was alone, in the forest, unable to tell where he was until he looked at his body and realised he was younger. After that, everything had gone very fast, men had tried to shoot him, creatures had come after him.
He had started to run by reflex without thinking further.
Approaching a cave, and seeing no more Sarkaz after him, he took refuge inside, hoping madly that the darkness of the underground would hide his presence and dissuade the beasts from entering.
The boy sat on the cold rocky ground, catching his breath and gasping for air. Feeling the dampness of the cave with each breath, he hoped they wouldn't find him.
Adrian couldn't understand what he was doing there.
He held back a cry of pain as he moved his arm and felt the hellish bite of a wound he had received. He remembered receiving it when he had come out of a building he didn't remember coming out of.
How did he get out? What was this place? The building he had only vague recollections of?
Adrian gritted his teeth and held back tears as the pain in his leg grew stronger and stronger. As he always did in difficult situations, he began to whistle a tune in his mind. It was a soft song with the typical Germanic tones of his native country. A little mental melody that always soothed him in times of trouble and doubt.
Suddenly a massive pillar of flame pierced the sky above and brought him out of his meditation. His heart rate jumped and an electric shock ran up his spine, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. It must have been the Sarkaz that had caught up with him and was hunting him. He grabbed the butt of his pistol, slid the half-full magazine into his pocket before reloading. He pulled the trigger, pointing the gun at the entrance to the cave.
He saw shadows pass between the trees of the forest. It bore some kind of strange symbol forming a stylized cross. They were running forward shouting orders that Adrian was unable to understand. Each of the people chasing him had some physical feature that distinguished him from the average human: bear ears, a fox tail, horns.
There was everything.
A figure passed in front of the cave. It was the form of a race he knew implicitly as Ursus and could barely make out outside. Memories came to him which he forced to the back of his mind.
He would think about them later. For now, he had to survive. The man stopped and tried to look into the cave before turning on a torch.
Adrian squeezed himself into one of the corners of his makeshift hiding place, trying to blend in with the wall. As the light came closer, a voice called out to the man at his back.
"Mr Drift! It looks like he's headed north! "
"What do you mean?! "the man asked in annoyance. "You are incapable of stopping a mere teenager?! "
"W-We're sorry! "replied the underling in panic.
"Start the hunt! He must not escape us! "
The light went away, leaving him alone in the empty cave.
The commotion outside grew louder. Had he found him? Was he leaving? His breathing became more difficult as the noise increased. He was convinced he must be hyperventilating.
Adrian found himself unable to stop so he lifted the T-shirt he was wearing and put it in his mouth, biting the fabric. The infernal sounds began to fade away. After a few minutes he heard no more noise. Even so, he dared not make a sound, terrified that one of the people chasing him might be left behind.
His breathing gradually calmed down.
"One, two, three, repeat after me. "He recited.
He stood there, barely moving, barely breathing now that he had calmed down. His mind was in a state of madness.
Why? How could it be? Where was he?
He had no answers and preferred to wait several more hours to make sure nothing happened to him. The adrenaline had subsided, and he felt the throbbing impact of his wound.
Remembering the first aid classes he'd taken at the fire brigade, he tore off one of the cleanest pieces of his outfit and wrapped it around the wound, making a pressure point blocking the entry point.
Adrian calmed down and took a long, silent breath. White flashes appeared in his mind, a laboratory, people in the same outfits as those who had chased him, a deafening alarm and then a mad dash into the forest with other children.
A man, beasts, blood as the bodies of the children fell to the ground beside him, another flash of light, then the feeling of steel in his hand as he stabbed a man's throat. A gun, a voice...
A voice... Endlessly repeating… Always the same voice telling him to run. The smell of flames and death before he was hit in the back by something and then... Again, the soft, soothing voice urging him to wake up before he got up and ran again.
He became fully aware of what was happening.
He was in an unfamiliar place, in a body much younger than the one he had with knowledge of what he had never experienced without knowing why or how. A normal person would have asked more questions but for now his priority was to get to safety.
He could ask himself questions later, one thing at a time would be good enough for now.
The boy realised that he had closed his eyes in concentration. He opened them again and felt a soft breeze caress his body.
He could not hear anything, so he ventured to walk forward on all fours.
Dripping with sweat, water, and dried blood, he walked towards the mouth of the cave and looked out. Without knowing why, he was afraid of the sun's rays warming his skin and disturbing his eyes from the sudden flash of light.
"There is nothing to fear. " he said to his deepest mind, which was screaming at him to return to the shelter of the cave.
There was no sign of commotion or disturbance, only the sound of wildlife scurrying about.
The boy stood up. He felt something fall on his back. He turned around and realised that a bushy tail was coming down his spine.
His breathing quickened.
"No. No. No. No..." he repeated over and over.
Adrian tried to put his hands over his ears, why was he still hearing?
Muscles that were foreign to him moved on the top of his head, and he felt the wetness of his hands against a strangely fluffy pair.
"I- I have ears on my head? H- How?! "
His mind was on the brink of collapse, nothing was going right as everything was about to break.
He raised his fist and gave himself a violent blow to the face feeling the stabbing pain of the Sarkaz burn, everything was real.
Then it hit Adrian hard. Those who had chased him, he was not human. He himself did not seem to be.
"I... This can't be... How? " he mumbled incoherently.
Comprehension hit him like a speeding truck, names sounded familiar.
"Terra, Ancients, Art, Originium. "
Foreign but familiar concepts.
"Lungmen, Victoria, Ursus..."
He closed his hand and collapsed against a tree; he had no strength left. This world was Terra's.
"Why? Why did this have to happen to me? "
Sadness overtook her, then fear, and finally... despair. Tears began to well up in his eyes as a scream ripped through his throat. He didn't care if he was heard or not, at this point all he needed was to get his feelings out. He was no longer on Earth, it couldn't be possible!
He knew this was not Earth, but he tried in vain to convince himself otherwise. What was he to do... Where was he to go... Could he ever hope to return?
He curled up against the tree. His mind was spinning, thinking of all those who had stayed behind, his mother, father, brothers and sister. He tried to stand up before falling heavily to the ground. He felt as if his feet were made of lead.
Fear, sadness, doubt, confusion, the four emotions had wrapped themselves around his being.
"I... I'm dead? A hell to punish me. "he muttered madly. "A divine judgment of pain and suffering? Hehehe! This is a punishment?! "
No... It certainly wasn't purgatory or any other form of mythological hell. It was more vicious than that. An unknown world in which he had nothing and nobody. A world where his memories were empty and blurred.
He was done... Why had he struggled so needlessly earlier? He should have let himself be caught. Why had he kept any hope at all? He looked down and saw the gun in his hand. A thought crossed his mind: It would only take one bullet to end it all.
One bullet and he would be reunited with his parents, his family, his friends
The simple push of the trigger of his gun would finish everything. He had already seen it done many times by others, it should be simple to reproduce it for him? It didn't look so bad, there was no fear. At least not anymore, he couldn't imagine living in an unknown world.
Solutions? He could only see one in his state of mad desperation.
He raised the gun slowly and held it to his temple.
"There is nothing left for you here. This is not your World! "he grumbled, his throat chafing with groans.
He tried to pull the trigger but failed. He couldn't get past his mind. If his mind wouldn't let him save himself, he would use the method he had used a few times before to override his survival instincts.
"Don't think about it. Just do it! " he ordered sternly. "You're a fucking failure so end it!"
But... nothing came. Lying there for a few seconds, his mind went completely blank. He let out his tears.
Why was he still there?
Why was he still here? What purpose was he supposed to serve? What was he supposed to do in a child's body without any knowledge? Where could he go? Hadn't he already done enough in his world? Why wasn't he allowed to rest?
He tried to pull the trigger again. Nothing came.
Then a wave of white hit him when he push the trigger.
The pain, the blood, the heat, he felt every part of his being screaming at him to stop.
Why did it hurt so much?
Loops of memories came flooding back into his mind.
The accident! Yes! The crash! The plane... He... He had lost height. The fear, the alarms throughout the plane, the screams of the other passengers begging and crying.
His mind was no longer clear. Why was he so light? He felt as if his lower body was gone.
His legs, they couldn't feel them. Had they been broken?
No, no, no!
This was not the time to think about that. Get help. Get help! Survival first!
The molten steel in his body was tearing at his being. At least... He hoped so. If not, what was that hellish sensation of fire radiating from his body?
His fingers burned by the explosion prevented him from moving properly. He was being pulled to the ground. It must have been another passenger pulling him. Or maybe the rescue workers. Now, he was cold.
Was it normal for him to smell blood? Something had grabbed his body and lifted him completely off the ground.
"A stretcher? "he hoped.
Cold. Where... where was the logic? Why? How?
His eyes were getting heavy.
A shock hit his cold body waking him up. A scream escaped from his throat.
Not the darkness, his instincts told him. Rest commanded his body. He tried to throw his hand further but felt it too heavy.
Cold... Hot... Intense voices shouted around him followed by thuds. The smell of blood...
He was wrapped in a surprisingly soft cloth. Yes! Help was here!
The cold... Why was he still freezing his muscles?
His arms and legs did not respond. He tried to scream only to feel his voice make a ridiculous hissing sound. His mind was heavy, the memories replayed in a loop. The flashing lights, the hostesses trying to calm people down and then...
No... Impossible!
It hit him like a speeding car. The plane had crashed into the middle of the ocean. So... why had he been able to crawl?
A beautiful woman surrounded by light was the last thing in his memory.
What was going on?
The only sense he had left was his ability to feel the temperature.
Was he in purgatory? Were angels waiting to judge his sins?
He had never been a great believer and did not go to church every Sunday, but he had on many occasions helped those in need. At the end of the year, he would go to the neighbourhood association to help with the New Year's distribution.
Confused, frightened and helpless, he did the only thing his body was capable of at the time - cry. It was ridiculous, but he tried to crawl further away. Tears were streaming down his face.
He was afraid, was fate cruel?
He knew he had never been a saint but he had done his best for others!
A bright light flashed in the air. This... This must be God or the angels coming to take him away from his terrible fate.
The tears redoubled in intensity. He was pulled with pain and felt his body tense. Then he was tossed back and forth repeatedly, it was strangely soothing.
He had to understand!
When he had opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a dazzling light. It had expanded to encompass his entire field of vision and forced him to squint to avoid embarrassment.
His voice escaped him. It was nothing but whining and confused moans. He tried to reposition himself to release the weight of his body, but he couldn't move his legs properly, let alone his body, which felt horribly unstable.
As he cried his eyes out once more, he felt a gentle warmth over him and calmed down. The mist that surrounded his mind dispersed.
His eyes became heavy again. Maybe if they closed them, this time he would actually find rest?
"No... No... Sleep was the end!" he repeated to himself like a prayer.
He felt too tired. Sleeping for a few minutes wouldn't hurt too much. His situation was too crazy, it was impossible, he remembered his life perfectly. His family, his studies, his work, his friends, all his memories were still there until his painful death in a plane crash.
Dead... Or maybe not. The more he tried to remember his last moments, the more he felt like he was reliving the crash.
Then this white figure, this woman-like form that had reached out to him as his body was engulfed by the waters of the ocean.
The softness of a mother in a friendly smile at odds with her situation, her touch that had soothed her bruised body. But, above all, the cold flame that shone in her eyes judging him like a divine juror.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that what he was experiencing was not a sick dream but a reality. That, without knowing how, he had woken up in a place that was not his home.
He was in a different place. He was now here, for better or for worse. Without his family, without his friends, without everyone he knew. Just... alone...
Abandoned and left behind without knowing why. A cold, hard knowledge of reality. This sight, in the few minutes of madness leaning against a tree, had left him with a rather bleak view of life.
Some self-reflection wouldn't hurt, especially when one had met death. One thing was certain, his premature end gave him the necessary perspective to put the problems of everyday life into perspective.
All the times he had worried about being late for work, only to arrive early, with deadlines closing in and finishing a few days early. He was finally realizing the futility of his life choices.
He had never really lived and enjoyed his youth... What word do you use for people like that?
Boring, exactly what his life was.
No real purpose, no meaning. All he had ever dreamed of was fading into a dull, repetitive daily routine. Work, again, again, and again until he died on a business trip.
All for what? Nothing...
Tears flowed endlessly down his cheeks. It had just hit him. He had never known the happiness of being with a woman because he was so focused on his work. His friends from as far back as he could remember were just work colleagues.
How long had it been since he had seen his family? His brother had gotten married, but he hadn't even been to the ceremony. The last time he had been to the family dinner was four years ago.
"Hahahaha! "he laughed madly to himself against his tree.
His current situation summed up his life perfectly! Alone! Abandoned and lost in an unknown forest!
Finally... Nobody was waiting for him.
Why wonder. He was not alone now! He had always been!
He closed his eyes smiling bitterly.
Had this place, Terra, if he remembered correctly, become his home? Whether he liked it or not, he had been plunged into another world.
What was the reason? A new chance? A duty to perform? Perhaps a goal of some kind?
He didn't know... He was stuck here now, for better or worse. He just wasn't sure how he felt about it.
Bitterness? Pain? Sadness? Hope?
No one could answer him... And he himself knew that all four feelings were far too happy for him. After all, he was just a mistake who had failed at everything, before dying ridiculously on a plane!
"HAHAHA!" he laughed psychotically as he broke down.
No more tears, no more pain, nothing but a broken smile to hide the mistake he was!
The future? He didn't care about that!
The present was simple, he had to understand and survive.
Chapter heavy in information and rather vague. This is deliberate in order to prepare the rest of the story. We discover our main character Adrian who finds himself caught up in an unknown world in a body that is also unknown to him.
How did he get there? Perhaps we will find out later. Who knows, sometimes things are hidden.
This chapter may seem pessimistic and pushy, but it is not in my opinion. Finding yourself in an unknown place, after being chased, discovering things as shocking as your change of race can lead someone to do inconsiderate actions. What I tried to emphasize in the gun scene.
The revelation about his previous situation is a discovery of who he really was and how he had always been detached from others. Everything was sped up so I didn't drag it out over ten chapters (which was the original goal but I quickly abandoned it to avoid getting into some messed up philosophy).
In the end, Adrian's self-esteem issues and changes in the way he sees himself and the world will come and go with his experiences.
The next chapter will be much longer and more detailed than this introduction. Well, so the next update is not planned, but I would say in three weeks minimum, one month maximum.
I'm back to writing The Hunt Beyond The Dream as a priority.
Until then, take care of yourself and your family.