A young man could be seen staring at the ceiling above his head, his expression deadpan, eyes vacant. His skin was brown, but one could still see the unhealthy state of it, judging by the greyish tint that was his complexion. A few seconds of staring later, the man's eyes regained their light as they roamed around the ceiling before settling on the thin duvet covering his prone form. A quick sniff confimed the smell - the deep sickly sweet scent of dried sweat.
"Beep...Beep...Beep...BEEP!"
Eyes swivelled swiftly to the source of the sound. As the sound reached its crescendo, an arm lethargically left the sheets before dropping down on the alarm clock like a hammer.
"Time for work," the man sighed, his outstretched arm lying on the bedside table, his hand still frozen in a fist. Normally he would be asleep at this time, probably dreaming about girls from his class or something, before being rudely awakened by the alarm.
Sighing again, the man got himself out of bed.
Standing at 5' 11 at twenty-one, he looked...average. His physique was also average, skinny fat, but he looked good with the right set of clothes on. However, like many university students his age, he didn't really have the money to afford said right set of clothes due to rent and other bills. He still had some muscle definition on his arms from playing sports and working out a few years ago, and he could still get back all his gains if he tried, but not today.
Today, his motivation was had ran out.
With clammy skin and dark circles under his eyes, he had been bothered by a paranoid sense of impending doom. Chalking it up to stress from playing too many video games and the daily workload form both his job and studies at first, but it kept on getting worse and worse to the point that it had started to affect his health. His black hair had grown into a wild afro, and a full grown beard covered the lower half of his face. A few pimples here and there marred his features but fortunately, it wasn't over - he still had some potential.
The man's name was Adamas. He had been orphaned since 2, his parents having died on a buisness trip from an unexpected nuclear strike back in 2025.
World War 3.
Russia had won their war against Ukraine, their victory assured once Ukraine stopped recieving military aid. After conquering the country, Russia then set out to reclaim its other "lost territories", like Kazakhstan, Georgia and Estonia. Their expansionist movement sent alarm bells in the minds of the EU leaders. Warnings and sactions were given, but Russia seemed to be drunk on victory.
Even the threat of US military intervention was not enough to deter them. That was when it happened. A lone nuclear explosion occured right in the heart of London, and a few major cities accross Europe. Millions dead in a matter of seconds and even more as the days passed, his parents being one of them. War ensued after, and now Russia is no more.
His grandparents too care of him, and as a result he had a relatively peaceful childhood compared to other orphans. However, due to his sheltered upbringing he was quite introverted, he made only one or two friends throughout his twenty-one years of life.
Of course he had some people he reguarly talked to, he didn't really consider them friends, but more acquaintances. And it didn't help that he was generally smarter than the average guy. He never struggled with learning anything.
And with great power came great responsibility, of which he had no idea what to use his smarts for. he found solace in reading, binge-watching movies and shows and playing video games. It kept his mind occupied and away from the inevitable. He always thought that he had lots of time to chose what he wanted to do with his life.
However, it was more than five years ago when he was still introverted but hopeful. The paranoia had taken a huge toll on him, especially for the past couple of days. It had been so bad to the point he couldn't even sleep anymore.
Anyways, after brushing his teeth, showering and eating some leftovers from the previous night, he came out his apartment in a hurry. He lived in New York, and thankfully, despite his appearance, he had a decent amount of assets and money inherited from both of his parents.
The apartment and his car being one of them. He jumped in the car and quickly set off, the familiar scenery passing by as he drove helped calm his nerves quite a bit as his thoughts came into a comfortable lull. His workplace was only a 30 minute drive away.
But he never arrived.
As he was waited for the traffic light to turn green, a purple light engulfed the world. Sounds of screams, tires screeching, and car crashes followed soon after, hammering into his skull. But strangely he felt...free.
The constant paranoia that had plagued him all those months just disappeared leaving his mind light. The flash had almost blinded him, and he would've thought himself blind if he couldn't see the stars whirling around him, new dazzling colours dancing in the purple space.
The sounds then abruptly disappeared, leaving him a bit confused. A scary thought popped up in his head.
'Am I...dead?'
Fear and panic began to set soon after, but before it could fully take hold on him, white technological lines started appearing in his vision, all converging towards the location that he deemed to be his right arm.
After a while, his sight came back to him and with it, a scene of disaster. The was a person curled up on the sidewalk to his right and a car crashed into a building on his left. A pile-up had happened right in the middle of the road, the cars smoking and the fate of their passengers unknown.
Bringing his arm to his face he saw no discernable difference, but he could feel something...alien flowing through his viens. Glancing around, he saw many people that had a vacant look at their arms, no doubt having seen the same vision as him.
The situation quickly settled down. People were snapping out of their panicked state one by one. There were still blood and corpses all around them, but that was something the government had to deal with that. Afterall, it was their first official encounter with the supernatural.
But now it was time to go back to reality. Noise filled the air yet again as people that had to write accident reports, and those that had to call their insurance companies or needed ambulance, called them. Adamas himself had to make a few calls to his grandparents and work to let them know he was safe and sound.
*Iphone Ringtone Sounds*
A short melody rang out his pant's pocket. Speaking of the devil, his grandma had called. It had been quite a while since he spoke to her, but without the pressure weighing on his mind, he felt a little guilty for ignoring her for so long.
"Addy my baby are you okey? Are you hurt? Tell me you're ok?" she said with a tremoring voice full of worry.
"I'm fine grandma, thanks. I'll call in sick for today, that weird purple light thingy kinda messed up my eyes. I'm seeing double! I don't think I will be able to go work like this and from the look of others outside, I doubt I'm the only one."
"Oh dear, i'm glad you're alright. I need to hang up and call your grandad. Call me if you need me!"
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