Brandon sat in his noisy class drawing in his notebook with a smile on his face. Everyone in town to the whole country was talking about him and his actions. He even saw that he has been nicknamed online as "Brightburn" after the town by those that seen the footage of him in the sky. He did loved all the indirect attention. Behind him, Brandon could hear pieces of a conversation between two classmates talking about the wildfire he caused.
Soldiers were present at the school. To be frank, soldiers were at many places, guarding them from Brandon if he was to appear. He hadn't battled them since the ship advised him not to do that.
Ms. Espenschied called for her students' attention which made everyone in the room silent and look toward the front of the class where she stood. Brandon paused from drawing and looked up. All she did was welcome the class and introduce a new subject relating to biology. Brandon already knew a lot and resumed drawing. Brandon was depicting himself fighting the military.
After a while, he turned the page to draw something new. He stared at the page with a blank expression as he tried to think of what to draw. Then suddenly he had an idea. Brandon decided to draw Caitlyn. He wondered why he hadn't done so already but he chalked it up to him being busy with other matters. As he started to draw Caitlyn, he pondered on where she was. He had heard from eavesdropping on her friends that she may be returning to class that day.
Meanwhile, agent Winters drover her car with Caitlyn in the passenger seat up to the front of the school, and they were late. Caitlyn was quiet the whole ride despite the effort of Winters to have her open up. Little did she know, Caitlyn largely didn't want to speak due to her fear of seeing Brandon in class. She had purposely stalled that morning for ass long as possible. Fortunately, Caitlyn's counselor did change her class out of consideration since she had her arm broken by Brandon, and wanted to prevent further incidents. Of course, that wouldn't do much if Brandon wanted to actually do something to her. Nobody could stop him.
"Have a great day!" Winters said to Caitlyn with a forced smile. Caitlyn ignored Winters and kept her sight on the school while she got out of the car. Winters sighed as she observed Caitlyn slowly head into the building, passing a couple of soldiers that were at the entrance. Winters then finally drove away, not worrying much about Caitlyn due to the soldiers being informed by Carter and Hendrick that she is "essential." Carter and Hendrick couldn't think of any other way to state her significance to the organization they worked for without revealing too much information. Nonetheless, Caitlyn was surrounded by good people.
Next, Winters returned to the house where she found Carter, Hendrick, Freeman, and a few soldiers standing in the front lawn. She pulled up in the driveway and got out of the car to approach them.
"Good morning, Cassandra." Carter said to Winters.
"Good Morning to you too." Winters replied. She then glared at Hendrick who was drinking a can of soda. Hendrick just shrugged at her and rudely mimicked her usual angry face.
"Cut it out, Hendrick. We got work to do." Carter ordered.
"Just having fun, man." Responded Hendrick before finishing up the soda and placing the can gently on the steps that lead to the front door of the house.
Once Hendrick returned, they all go inside the house except for the soldiers who waited outside.
Back at the school, Caitlyn navigated the halls toward her new class. She was trembling in fear in regard to Brandon being in the same building as her in Ms. Espenschied's class. She then found her class and took a deep breath before she entered to calm herself.
When she entered, Caitlyn was greeted by the teacher and a loud classroom. She then was assigned a seat which she went to without making a sound. She looked around and so no one she was familiar with. Later she would see her friends.
Soon it was lunch time and Brandon happily packed up his stuff into his backpack. He had proudly finished sketching out Caitlyn's likeness and thought he should color it after he finished eating.
While the halls were being filled with hungry students leaving class, Caitlyn was reluctant to leave the classroom but she managed to convince herself to leave for lunch. She navigated through the crowd of students and quickly glanced at the passing faces of her peers. She moved to turn at a corner toward the cafeteria but as she did she saw Brandon walk by. She saw him looking at the direction of the cafeteria around the corner and saw the smile on his face. A wave of fear filled Caitlyn and she froze, observing Brandon walking to lunch. Time slowed down for her but as soon as Brandon disappeared behind the corn, time returned to normal for her. She then started taking deep breaths for she realized she didn't breathe the whole time she saw him.
Brandon stopped when he was out of Caitlyn's sight. Deep down, he knew she was nearby. He felt her presence. It had been a while since he saw her actual face. He will approach her when the moment was right.
Later, Caitlyn got her lunch which was a sandwich. She trembled while she searched for a place to sit, glancing side to side. She jumped when she would hear her peers shout out to each other while she traversed the crowds. Finally, she found an empty table against a wall and took a seat where would have no one sneak up on her.
She remained cautious as she unpacked her meal. Once again she scanned the crowd and as she did she heard someone call her name to the right of her. She slowly turned her head in fear but saw that it was just two of her friends, which caused her to sigh in relief.
They came to where Caitlyn sat and spoke to her briefly. One of them asked about her arm.
"How's the arm? Feeling better?"
"Yeah, it's been fine. Thanks for asking, Lori." Caitlyn responded with worry in the back of her mind. She was still alert for Brandon.
"I'd really like to kick the kid's ass that did that." Another said to Caitlyn regarding her injury.
"Uh, it's not a big deal. It was an accident." Dismissed Caitlyn mostly out of concern for her friends from facing whatever power Brandon wielded.
After a couple of minutes, Caitlyn's friends ask to sign Caitlyn's cast to which she allowed. As they signed, Caitlyn looked up and her heart skipped a beat, her eyes widen. Behind rows of moving students, Caitlyn caught a glimpse of Brandon staring at her from a distance. He then suddenly disappeared when another student passed in front of him. She was speechless for a few seconds and she quickly rose from the table.
"I'll see you all later. Bye." Caitlyn said to her friends before running off on them, leaving no time for them to react. They did call out for Caitlyn but they were ignored.
Caitlyn moved through the empty halls of the school while filled with anxiety. Her heart was beating like it was going to come out of her chest.
Caitlyn then turned a corner but stopped in her tracks for Brandon stood a few feet in front of her. He had a smile on his face.
Next, Caitlyn thought of turning around and perhaps hide in the restroom. Deep down she knew all that was pointless but there was nothing more she could think of. She then tried to execute her plan but found herself frozen. She was too scared to move. All she could hear was the distant sounds of students elsewhere in the school and her own heartbeat. The two briefly stared at each other before Caitlyn finally managed to muster the courage to run from Brandon.
Caitlyn went down the halls, sometimes almost slipping before she entered the restroom. She swung open the door and to her surprise she found Brandon was already waiting inside the restroom. He was only a couple of feet away and Caitlyn stiffened in terror. Brandon then quickly moved pass the frighten girl to close the door to the restroom, and stand guard in front of it so Caitlyn wouldn't run off again. She turned to see him at the door but avoided eye contact.
"Hello." Brandon said to Caitlyn in a deadpan expression. He wasn't showing it but he was actually feeling somewhat nervous.
Caitlyn still avoided eye contact and didn't reply back to Brandon.
"Don't be scared." Brandon continued. Of course, Brandon's words didn't make her feel any better and just reminded her of the night her mother disappeared.
Brandon then reached into his pocket and took out a small sunflower which was unfortunately crushed. He then handed it out to Caitlyn awkwardly. Caitlyn saw the flower and again got reminded of that night. Her eyes were getting filled with tears. She tried to breathe to calm herself but it didn't do much.
After a while of Caitlyn not responding to his gesture, Brandon gently placed the flower at the sink. Meanwhile, Caitlyn finally spoke to Brandon.
"W-what do you want?" Caitlyn managed to say to Brandon. One can easily hear the fear in her voice and tell she was fighting back tears. This deeply sadden a small part of Brandon which he hadn't felt since his mother's betrayal. It was something human inside him which he didn't need since he was something so much more. Something better, in his opinion.
"Please... Don't cry. I just wanted to see you up close. I've been busy." Brandon said calmly.
A tear trickled down Caitlyn's face. She knew deep down what Brandon meant by being "busy".
Making the world know how "special" you are? Caitlyn thought. She opened her mouth to speak but she said something completely different.
"What happened to my mom?" Caitlyn nervously asked Brandon.
"I took care of her. For us... For you." Brandon replied vaguely. Not only did he killed Caitlyn's mother, he had actually opened up Erica's corpse and displayed her organs for his ship to examine back at the barn where it used to be. He had obtained a lot of insight into the female anatomy that night. It was one thing to read about how the human body worked but another to actually see the inner workings up close. Of course, he will never tell Caitlyn what happened to her mother. No doubt the details would upset her heavily, despite it being for scientific purposes.
"Y-y-you k-killed h-her?" Caitlyn asked as she began to cry.
Brandon said nothing and wanted to comfort her. He then thought that perhaps he could teach her to care nothing about parents, instead see them as burdens like he did.
He took a step toward Caitlyn and hugged her. It frightened Caitlyn and didn't make her feel better. It just made her more depressed and also a bit angry. She wanted to push him away but he might hurt her if she tried.
Brandon then stopped hugging Caitlyn and stepped back away from her. His heart was raising.
"I'll see you later. Class will be starting soon. Also, welcome back." Continued Brandon before he turned to grab the handle of the restroom door to leave, but he briefly stopped to look at Caitlyn one more time. Then, Brandon left which is when the bell rang for students to return to class. Caitlyn remained still for several seconds with tears still in her eyes before she went toward the sink. She washed her face with the cool water that poured out from the faucet. She then took some paper towels and wiped her face with them.
Just as Caitlyn was about to leave, she looked at the sink that had the crushed sunflower. It was curled up next to the drain. At first, Caitlyn felt pity for it but it quickly reminded her of the drawing she mysteriously made. She quickly looked away and exited the restroom.
The tower at the ocean floor was brighter than before. Every major system was now online and operating sufficiently.
In the throne room, the humanoid being sat, looking at holographic projections of available assets. A tall, lumbering creature then entered the room. It was humanoid and had a pinkish body. Its face resembled a blobfish but lacked a nose or lips. Its eyes were large and green with slit pupils. It had a mouth filled with needle-like teeth along with a thick, forked tongue.
The creature approached in front of the throne and fell to one of it knees with its head bowed out of respect. It then spoke with its deep voice.
"My lord..." Began the creature with its head still bowed.
"Yes, Ourok? What brings you here?" The being replied as it still looked at the holograms and tapped on them.
"We have successfully contacted others outside of this world within this solar system. One inhabits the ninth planet while the other are on one of the moons of the sixth planet. They have been well and patiently await His return. They are pleased to know we are here."
"Excellent... Most excellent news, Ourok." The humanoid said as he waved the holographic projections away. Ourok raised his head and looked up to his master.
"There is more, sire. Our soldiers are ready and await your command." Ourok said with a hint of excitement in his voice.
The being got up from its throne and walked up to the still kneeling Ourok.
"Yes, it is time we strike. Rise, Ourok. I have our first plan of attack in mind." The humanoid said. Ourok happily complied with his master's order. Once standing, he towered over his master who then walked passed him. Ourok turned around and observed as his master move toward the exit.
"Come, Ourok. To the command center." The being ordered.
The two creatures traversed the many halls and corridors of the tower until arriving at their destination. Other creatures were present in the command center, hunched over screens and pressing buttons. They too bowed before their master as soon as it entered. At the center of the room was a panel that projected a hologram of the planet Earth above it. Furthermore, monitors hung over the display that showed specific locations.
On the projection of Earth, a large red triangular blip indicated where they were on the planet. There were several other, more smaller blips which represented their other forces around the world's oceans.
"You see the land where we are close to, Ourok?" The being said as it pointed its scaly finger at East Asia.
"Yes, my lord. I see it."
"We will send a small force to the coastline. I want to test the might of those above."
"They'll be no match for us." Replied Ourok arrogantly.
One of the creatures present in the room, a being whose face consisted of tentacles, then spoke.
"Sire, our systems detected earlier of an industrial platform of sorts that is not far, and vessels unlike we seen before." They said. The monitors then displayed the image of an oil rig and a fleet of Chinese warships.
"Should we also attack those?" The creature asked.
"Yes but only our larger, bestial brethren. Perhaps the Xerca and Ark'Sh Dominus."
"Ah, those two have been eager for you to unleash them." Said Ourok.
Two holograms then appeared that displayed the massive Xerca and Ark'Sh within somewhere deep in the city. The Xerca resembled a killer whale but with various armored plated tentacles at the end of its body instead of a tail. On the sides near its belly, it had two crustacean-like limbs that ended in three fingers. It also had four eyes.
The Ark'Sh resembled a shark but with a set of mandibles and many tongues that had mouths at the end of them. It also had arms and legs that ended in webbed hands. Its skin was fleshy and sometime pulsated like it was a separate living thing.
"Now send them onward." The humanoid being said as it took a seat that was brought in by another creature.
"It will be done." Ourok replied with a large smile.
Caitlyn tapped at her desk and closely observed the clock present in the classroom. Her right leg shook in anticipation as the hands of the clock move closer and closer toward the bell to ring for everyone to go home.
Come on... Caitlyn thought impatiently. She wanted to leave to avoid Brandon, and be as far as possible from him.
Eventually school ended and she quickly exited the school. Agent Winters was already waiting outside, and was surprised by Caitlyn's quick arrival to the car.
"What's the rush?" Agent Winters politely asked Caitlyn as she entered the car and put on her seat belt.
Caitlyn briefly pondered on Winters' question and obviously doubt she would believe the truth, so she decided upon a lie.
"I have lots of assignments to do for catching up my grade." Caitlyn said.
Winters gave little thought for Caitlyn's lie since it sounded logical. She had been absent from school and she missed on lots of work for her grade. No doubt she was a bit behind from the other students.
Anyway, the car started to move and Caitlyn looked out the window, looking at the group of students for Brandon among them. Fortunately for her, she didn't see him but there was a sense of foreboding still present.
Not like I'm going that far. He'll find me. It's all futile. Is it? Who can I tell about Brandon? Will I be kept safe?
Caitlyn shook her head and stopped thinking. Surely an answer would present itself to her. She just had to wait and see.
Meanwhile, Brandon followed behind the car, watching from far in the sky. He didn't have his mask on and he could feel the cold winds at that height touch his face and neck. He didn't react to it and just watched the car as it travelled on the road, but before he did anything he heard the ship call for him in his mind. He'll have to see Caitlyn later instead.
Ed looked at more reports in his office. He was just looking at an update of the South China Sea incident. It overall stated that warships in the area were going to deal with the threat.
Ed then looked at other reports and files. He stopped at one discussing the wildfire that started near the town of Brightburn. There was no specific cause found for it. In addition, there was a report about the growing online suspicion surrounding the town, and that the being seen in leaked footage had been simply called Brightburn, after the town.
"That's not creative." Ed muttered to himself. He heard better names such as the Dover Demon or even the Rope Witch of Massachusetts. Although, the latter had been completely forgotten about by the public but some may still claim to witness witchcraft. Still, it had been ages since their organization encountered any practitioners in the United States. It is almost an extinct art that remains confine to only to the deepest facilities they own.
Nonetheless, Ed continued to browse the archive. As he did, a notification popped up on screen that stated a new file was submitted to the database. Ed looked at the new file and read it. It stated that the military of China were mobilizing immediately to the southern coastline in response to an emerging threat from the South China Sea.
Ed slumped back in his seat and placed a finger on his chin. He wondered how things were going to play out.
The oil rig shook violently and slowly sank. The Xerca's tentacles emerged from the waters and grabbed at the facility and pulled on it so it sank faster. The workers aboard screamed as their mysterious attacker brought upon their end.
Elsewhere, the Ark'Sh intercepted the warships. It had its mouth opened wide and exited from the water to deliver a bite to a large ship, which completely broke it in half. The other warships immediately attempted to fight back but some of them were capsized by the raging beast as it flapped its body, producing large waves.
Approaching the southern coast of China, a few rows of crustacean soldiers travelled to battle. They were obscured by the dirt they kicked up in their march but one could see the glow of their small eyes and weapons. Other type of beings were also present.
Back at the city, at the command center, the humanoid figure made an expression that could be interpreted as a smile while it sat, watching the holographic globe.
Ourok stood by his master's side and made a cheerful declaration.
"All hail to our glorious rising!"
The other beasts present in the room loudly cheered. Finally, they will seize the earth after years of patience. Their Eternal Majesty that slumbered away beyond their reach would be greatly pleased.