Sky was coloured dark like the black of the night, in the midst of the daylight. Winds were howling like a bad omen, indicating the upcoming chaotic sight. Streaks of lightning occasionally illuminated the entire world, like a deserted road by a damaged streetlight. And then…
The world was veiled in a stormy night.
The bad luck of someone, that he was caught in this crazy time!
'Shit! How can my luck be this bad?'
A few minutes more, free from this pelting rain, and he would have been comfortable in his bed!
'I will not be able to make it to the dormitory without drenching from head to toe.'
Running in the heavy downpour under the shade of trees, Neer searched for cover.
Seeing a familiar convenience store standing like a lighthouse in a storm, Neer ran as if a bulldog was giving chase for his life.
The bell jingled as he stepped in. Harsh white light poured over narrow aisles. Outside, the world was soaked in rain, but inside, it smelled of stale popcorn and tired hours. Finally, reaching under the roof, he took a moment to even his breath.
'The weather forecast is becoming more and more unreliable than before.'
'Ahh, it seems the weather is going through crazy mood swings. Did it go through post-breakup depression? Or one-sided heartbreak, again?'
For the past year, the world's weather has become absurd from one day to the next. Deserts were flooded with all kinds of storms. Frozen poles began to unfreeze, and then, the next day, back to their frozen snowstorms. However, this was not all.
Due to the randomness of the weather, the daily life of each and every person around the world was affected in one way or another.
Developed countries pressured and criticized the small and underdeveloped nations for their environmental policies. This led to huge protests from small nations and various sections of society, plunging every nation—in fact, the entire world—into an era of tension.
Scientists were unable to find the exact cause of this weather anomaly, but suspected that the damage to the protective layer of Earth was responsible for this irregularity.
"Here, use this, Neer."
An old lady with a motherly smile passed a towel to Neer. Giving a heartfelt gratitude to her, he took it. Neer knew this kind grandma; in fact, she was the owner of this small establishment.
A calm, kind, and caring person who was liked by every guy in the dormitory. And being near to the boys' dormitory, it was inevitable that he would become a regular customer of hers too.
While drying himself, he lazily assessed the environment around the store.
There didn't seem to be many people. Including him and Grandma, there was only one more person—
A middle-aged obese person.
Sitting on a chair, chewing his food while appreciating the stormy beauty unfolding outside. His tummy was the size of a big balloon, which seemed to be trying to free itself from the confines of his clothes.
Giving him a pitying look—most probably because of his tummy—Neer returned the towel back to Grandma with a smile.
"Thank you, Grandma."
"It's okay, child. Do you want anything to eat?"
"I will take it. Please, don't force yourself and rest there. It doesn't seem like part-timers are on time?"
"Yes. They called me a few minutes ago telling me that they will not be able to make it on time due to rain."
After giving him another motherly smile, Grandma went back to the counter.
Neer stood there.
Rain had a special effect on Neer. Maybe it was because Neer was born during rain, or his name—given by his parents—means water.
He didn't know.
But he knew that seeing rain, listening to the tick-tick of rain on glass, brought calmness to his heart.
Looking outside the glass, appreciating the lightning forking into branches like broken glass, illuminating the sky in a flash of light in the backdrop of a dark sky—like a big bang in the utter darkness.
Raindrops traced silver scars down the glass, their paths melting into each other like tears that refused to fall alone. Beyond them, the world blurred into a cacophony of sounds.
'Something tasty with this scene will be wonderful. I should eat somethi—'
Boom!
Crackle!
Rumble!
The sky tore open with a crack that split the night-like sky in two. Lightning forked like glowing claws, lighting the trees in stark white shadows. Then came the thunder, roaring and rumbling like a thousand drums, shaking the ground beneath his feet. The wind howled, the rain followed, and the world became a wild, living thing.
Neer was amazed by this scene! Not knowing this was the start of his nightmare.
A sharp pain shot through his head!
'Ouch!'
It didn't stop there! It spread like vibrations all throughout his body. He collapsed on his knees, clutching his head.
'Wh-what is… this!?'
Vibrating his whole body for a few moments and then, it disappeared like nothing happened!
'What was that!?'
Rubbing his forehead, he tried to figure out the cause of his sudden agony.
'Am I ill? No! It can't be! Before, there were no symptoms. Maybe I should check with a doct—'
[Kriya Scribe has arrived on the planet Earth.]
"... What is this?" he muttered to himself while sitting on the wet floor. Violet letters appeared in front of his retina.
"Kriya Scribe? What the heck is this!?" He couldn't believe what he was seeing but decided to take it as it was for now. He started thinking of different possibilities.
Engrossed in his own thoughts, he couldn't pay attention to what was happening outside. What he didn't know was that the world he once knew was no longer the same.
A shriek crossed across his inner world, flinching him, bringing him back to the present world.
In the world beyond the glass…
People were running everywhere, screaming and begging for help as they tried with all their might to distance themselves from other people. But the scariest thing was that people were eating each other as if they were no longer human beings, but beasts filling their bestial urges.
Cold sweat formed on Neer's forehead. His back clutched in an icy grasp. He was not at all recovered from the harrowing sight in front of him when he heard it—
A low guttural sound. A sound made by a beast. A starved beast.
A bad, very bad sensation spread throughout his body, as if a predator was looking at its prey—that was him.
And in the next second, all hell broke out!
Grrr!!!
A guttural roar filled the store! The source? Coming from his right side, where a middle-aged man was eating his food.
Without checking the source, Neer turned back and lunged toward the shelves. A wave of air passed over his back. He landed with a thud on the floor between the shelves, a range of pain blooming from various parts of his body.
Without looking back, he rushed forward, searching for something among the various shelves.
'It should be somewhere here!'
He was getting tense and scared! A literal unknown monster was after him! Rushing across shelves, he finally reached his destination!
"This will do!" He grabbed a kitchen knife and rushed to his next location. The sound of slow footsteps and bone-chilling guttural noise followed him.
Neer took a turn and froze in his place.
'What the hell!?'