"So sarcastic… quite shitty in my position. But you could always prepare for the worst moments—just like this..." Daniel muttered, staring fearfully at the dashboard, his trembling hand covering part of his face as if he were going insane.
He was, actually.
His mother could only sigh.
There was no way to cradle him, no words to ease his spiralling mind — because she felt the same fear twisting inside her gut.
How could the world fall apart so quickly?
And how could creatures that had never existed — not even in the forgotten myths of a million years — suddenly emerge from nowhere?
Well… not quite nowhere.
From the darkness that bled through the cracked sky.
That much, at least, was common knowledge — though no one could explain it.
She pressed harder on the accelerator, skilfully weaving through rubble, destroyed and abandoned cars, and the general chaos choking the road.
One could've mistaken her for a former racecar driver.
She wasn't, though.
Daniel glanced into the side mirror — and froze.
The bleeding darkness was right behind them, swallowing everything in its path and charging straight towards their car.
Monsters crawled out of every patch it consumed — like it bred them from raw chaos.
His eyes widened in horror.
The only instinct that flickered in his mind was a simple one:
Go faster.
His mother saw it too, and without a word, slammed her foot down harder.
The engine screamed as the car sped up again.
'Why the hell is everything… black?
Even the sky… even the ground...
I thought this kind of darkness only lived inside me…' he thought, watching the darkness gain ground.
"Mum!!!" he screamed — as the wave of darkness caught up with them in an instant, engulfing the car.
The only word that left his lips was hers.
But by then, it was already too late.
The car was flung aside like a paper toy in a storm.
The impact threw Daniel through the windscreen.
His mother fought through the chaos, twisting and turning, doing everything she could to shield him from the black tide.
"Survive! Go!"
Those were the last words he heard from her — like a dream echoing in a nightmare — before he hit the ground hard.
His body tumbled until it crashed beneath an overturned, abandoned truck.
The darkness roared on.
It tore through everything in its way, birthing monsters as it moved — a black ripple of destruction.
Then, just like that, it passed.
Gone as quickly as it came.
And Daniel… was left alone under the truck. Alive.
But it hadn't even been the true darkness.
Only a fragment of it that escaped.
And it had already caused this much devastation.
***
Daniel slowly stood up but collapsed instantly.
He looked down and realised his leg was broken, the bone sticking out.
Strangely, he didn't feel much pain — perhaps due to the shock.
His eyes were bloodshot, and the world around him appeared dull and distant.
"Mum... Mum... where are you...?" he muttered, trying to stand again.
He dragged himself across the floor using his arms, his broken leg trailing behind and bleeding steadily.
Eventually, he could no longer move.
He leaned against a toppled car and stared at his injured leg.
Tears began to fall. Anger built up inside him like a storm.
A heavy mix of self-hatred, madness and helplessness pressed down on him.
But the only thing that kept repeating in his mind—and slipping from his mouth—was his mother's name.
The smoke ahead began to clear.
A loud cry followed.
It was monstrous, but with a human edge disturbingly close to his mother's voice.
Even if he was losing his grip, he knew this was not an illusion.
Daniel turned his gaze towards the clearing smoke and saw a towering silhouette.
It was the height of a fully grown gorilla, but its body was nothing like one.
The figure stepped out of the smoke, and Daniel's whole body froze.
Its arms were far too long. The hands dragged across the ground, fingers bent at unnatural angles.
Its skin was pale grey, torn in places, revealing deep red veins beneath.
Its eyes—blood-filled and sunken—locked onto him. For a moment, Daniel forgot how to breathe.
He stared straight at it.
The figure was strangely familiar.
The shape of its face resembled his mother's—twisted and rotten, but unmistakable.
It tilted its head at him. That small gesture was exactly how his mother used to look at him while he "slept."
Humans can also turn into monsters...?
Daniel finally understood. The first example was his own mother. His body trembled in confusion. His heart sank. There was no drive to run.
"Mum...?" he whispered.
The monster paused. It blinked slowly, as if the word reached something buried deep inside.
Then a low growl escaped its throat—broken, but painfully human.
"Wow... so you became a monster, Mum? What a plot twist. I always thought you'd be an angel... protecting me from the final doom," he muttered, voice flat.
The creature suddenly lunged at him, hesitating for a split second. But its monstrous instinct took control.
Its limbs jerked like a puppet's. It let out a shriek that rattled the air.
Daniel didn't move.
He didn't cry. He didn't scream.
He just lay there, staring at the thing that once called him her son.
"It's funny now... this beauty once called me her baby. Guess she wants to eat that baby now," he chuckled.
There was no will to fight. No instinct to run.
But just as she was about to reach him, the creature veered off course—and threw herself onto a jagged piece of iron protruding from a broken structure.
It pierced her chest and tore out through her back.
She dropped instantly, lifeless.
Daniel's eyes widened. Tears burst down his cheeks.
He screamed, voice hoarse and broken. "What the fuck did you just do!?"
Then, everything blurred.
His vision darkened—until a screen appeared before him.
---
[Ding!]
ERROR: Host vitals critical. Sanity threshold breached.
Reconstructing cognition…
Searching for compatible Sin…
Sin Identified: Wrath [Grade IV]
Do you wish to survive?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
Warning: Acceptance will permanently alter mental and physical state. This process is irreversible.
'Ha... a reward for watching my mother die...?'
'...Yes, though.'