[January 22, 2022. Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.A.]
Life...sucked.
Yeah, that was probably the easiest way to put it.
Growing up, people are often told that life has meaning and value. That you should cherish every moment as if it were your last. And that one should be grateful for getting to experience the joys of living.
What a load of bullshit...
That's exactly what Cyrus Moore thought as the cool evening air breezed passed his freckled face.
In the grand scheme of things, no one's life had any meaning. Especially not his.
Did that sound a bit morbid? Absolutely. But as far as Cyrus was concerned, it was the god's honest truth. In his mind, there was no reason for him to be walking this Earth right now. He wasn't some gifted prodigy with a talent that could change the world. A professional athlete who could entertain millions on a weekly basis. Nor was he some business mogul who had the wealth of the entire world at his fingertips.
No, Cyrus Moore was just an average guy.
The eighteen-year-old's life was just as regular and mundane as the next guy's. He grew up in an average household with average parents. He attended an average high school and drove an average car. And he even had average grades in all of his average classes. Yes, Cyrus Moore's life was just plain average. Nothing spectacular whatsoever.
To his credit, Cyrus never wanted it to be like this, though. Sure, he wasn't necessarily bothered by the current state of his life. However, he certainly wasn't satisfied with it either. He wanted to spend his time doing something fun and noteworthy. Something that would finally get his motor running. Unfortunately, there just wasn't anything out there for him to do that.
No matter how hard he tried, Cyrus just couldn't find anything that piqued his interest. He tried playing sports, musical instruments, dabbling in art, cooking, anything that would ignite some sort of spark in the young man's soul. But nothing so far had given him that sort of feeling.
The closest that he had was gardening when he was younger. Which sort of made sense, considering his mother owned a flower shop. However, that all came to an end when the neighbor's dog got loose and completely destroyed all of the plants that he had worked so hard tending to for weeks. Which, at that point, caused him to give up on the little hobby altogether. Much to his mother's disappointment.
'Maybe I should try and pick it back up.' The young man thought to himself as he crossed the street.
At the moment, Cyrus was on his way back home from the gym. A decent little spot that was only a ten-minute walk from his apartment. The young man didn't necessarily enjoy working out almost every day. It was really more of a habit he just picked up after his many years of playing soccer. But it was a good way to occupy his time, stay in shape, and give himself something to do.
"I wonder what I should eat tonight...." The young man wondered out loud as he approached the nearby intersection. Contemplating whether or not he should eat some eggs and potatoes or rice and beans.
Cyrus was still weighing his options as he stopped only a couple of feet away from the nearby crosswalk. There were quite a few people out and about tonight, which wasn't all that surprising considering that it was a Saturday. And there seemed to be no shortage of excitement. Especially since there was supposed to be a concert going on not too far away from where he lived. If he remembered correctly, that famous popstar, Skye, was doing a show at a nearby venue.
As a small group of people slowly gathered around Cyrus, the young man was so lost in thought that he completely lost track of the world around him.
"Hey, watch out!" A distressed voice suddenly shouted from a bit further down the sidewalk.
Most of the crowd turned around to see what appeared to be a delivery guy flying down the concrete path on his bike at speeds that would definitely be considered unsafe.
"Get out of the way!" The guy shouted as he waved his arm. "I'm already late enough as it is!"
Like any normal person would've done, most of the crowd simply chose to move out of the delivery guy's way. Including those standing next to the crosswalk. However, one person was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he completely missed the warning.
'I'm really in the mood for breakfast food. But rice and beans won't take as long to cook. And I want to get to bed as soon as possible....' Cyrus thought as he rubbed his chin, blissfully unaware of the impending danger.
"Hey, move it, asshole!" The delivery guy shouted.
"Huh?" Cyrus finally snapped back to reality. Barely managing to turn around before the bicycle-bound driver collided with him.
At that moment, everything became a blur.
The last thing that Cyrus could clearly remember was feeling his back land on the asphalt and seeing a pair of bright lights. After that, the world went dark.
-(o)-
"What the hell?" Cyrus thought to himself as he slowly opened his eyes.
The world around him was nothing but red. A massive, misty void of crimson was all that he could see. One with no clear end in sight. And to make things even more bizarre, his body felt weightless, and his mind was foggy.
"So..." A voice suddenly said. A deep one, strong enough to make Cyrus' bones vibrate at the very sound of it. "You've finally come before me?"
Cyrus quickly looked up, only to be met with quite a jarring sight. It was a person, or more accurately, a figure. Tall, but shrouded in the darkness. The only distinctive feature that the freckle-faced teen could make out was the set of six massive horns on its head aimed upwards towards the sky.
"W-who- what are you?!" Was the first thing that the young man said. It didn't even take a second for Cyrus to realize the overwhelming sense of dread that currently encasing his entire body. It was like someone holding onto your lung while it was still inside your chest. Oppressive and absolutely terrifying.
"A being far greater than any you've ever laid eyes on, mortal." The figure spoke.
"I don't-"
"In any case." The shadowy figure interrupted. "It's too early for you to cross over into the Void. I've waited far too long for someone like you to appear. And I will not have my plans ruined over such trivial nonsense. That is why I've chosen to intervene on your behalf."
The unnamed being then raised its hand. Its palm facing Cyrus as a glowing ball of some sort of bizarre red substance began to form in front of it.
"For the sake of convenience, I will erase your memory of our meeting before sending you back to the world of men. Fortunately for me, you're only on death's door. Barely towing the line between worlds. There's still enough life in you to salvage. Be thankful for the miracle I'm about to bestow upon you, mortal. The time will come for you to finally be of use to me. Until the day that my subordinate retrieves you, try and stay alive."
"I don't understand. Who are you-"
Whatever reality Cyrus was currently in seemed to bend and break before he could get another word out.
-(o)-
[Three Days Later]
The first thing Cyrus noticed as he steadily regained consciousness was an unfamiliar beeping sound. One that was just as rhythmic as it was annoying. Followed by the sensation of a gentle breeze passing over his body. Along with the distinct odor of fresh linen entering his nostrils.
'What the hell?' The young man thought as the fogginess in his mind slowly began to dissipate. 'What's going on?'
His muscles were numb, his joints were stiff, and his throat felt as if he'd been breathing in nothing but desert air. He wasn't exactly in pain, but he certainly wasn't comfortable either. Actually, the only real source of discomfort for the young man was the headache that he currently had.
All tell-tale signs that he was indeed still in the world of the living.
'I'm...alive?' The young man wondered as the memories of what transpired a few nights ago suddenly began flooding his mind.
But how? It didn't make any sense. Unless he was mistaken, Cyrus could've sworn that he was hit by a car. And most people don't make it through something like that alive. Not unless they were extremely lucky.
Hoping to get a grip on what was happening, Cyrus willed himself to lift his body up from whatever he was lying on top of. His eyes taking a brief couple of seconds to adjust to the light after opening them.
The young man quickly took in his surroundings, which were obviously those of a standard hospital room. One with a large window facing north towards the main part of the city. Once he at least had some semblance of where he was, Cyrus immediately began rubbing his hands all over his body. Mainly as a way to assess whatever damage he might've taken after the accident.
"Nothing seems broken." He thought out loud. "I mean...aside from the headache, my right shoulder feels kind of funky. But other than that, I'm fine."
Before Cyrus could ponder over the situation any further, a clicking noise caught his attention. Followed by the door to his left opening to reveal who he assumed to be a nurse. Well, that's what he assumed on account of the outfit and hospital badge hanging out of her pocket.
"Oh, you're finally awake?" The woman spoke with a surprised expression upon seeing the young man. She was pretty average-looking with pale skin and platinum blonde hair.
"Oh uh...hello...." Cyrus said with an awkward tone. "Yeah, I actually just woke up a minute ago."
"Really?"
"Um...sorry if I sound rude, ma'am, but I'm not really sure what's going on right now. Or how I ended up here. Would you mind telling me how exactly I ended up in the hospital?"
Thankfully, the nurse seemed to understand Cyrus' plight and had no problem bringing him up to speed on what happened to him. "Well, from what your records say, you were involved in an accident three days ago. One where you got shoved into oncoming traffic and hit by a car."
"Alright." Cyrus simply said. That much he already knew. Although he was a bit thrown off by the fact that he was apparently out cold for three days.
"Luckily for you, the driver of the car noticed you in time and was able to slow down just enough to avoid running you over. You still got hit, but because of that, you didn't suffer any major physical injuries. The most you had was a dislocated shoulder that was dealt with as soon as you arrived. However, the doctors on staff here assumed that you suffered some sort of head injury since you were unconscious for so long. But nothing came up on your MRI."
"Really?" The freckle-faced man's eyes widened. He was by no means an expert on medicine, but something like that sounded a bit strange. Three days is a pretty long time to be out cold after all. "I have a bit of a headache. But it doesn't seem to be that bad."
"I see." The woman tapped a finger on her chin. "Well, since you're awake now, I'll go and get the doctor! We're going to need to do a few tests to make sure that you're really okay. After that, you can go ahead and call your family. Your mom and dad were here yesterday. I'm sure that they'll be happy to hear from you."
"Sounds good to me." Cyrus agreed. With any luck, maybe he'll get cleared to be released.
"Excellent!" The nurse simply smiled before turning around and making her way towards the door. However, right before the woman left his view, the young man noticed something on her right leg. A black object coiled around her ankle like some sort of accessory. Cyrus could've sworn he saw the thing move, but he failed to get a good look at it before the nurse was gone.
'What the hell was that?' The young man rubbed his eyes. He quickly assumed that he was just seeing things before dismissing it altogether. Maybe Cyrus wasn't as okay as he thought. Or he was still a bit out of it on account of just now waking up from a minor coma. Either way, all that mattered now was that he was alive and well.
-(o)-
[Two Days Later]
Forty-eight hours after he was released from the hospital, Cyrus was freely moving out and about. Going about his business as he normally would've before the accident had left him bedridden for almost half a week.
Almost everything was fine as far as the young man was concerned. Almost....
Physically, he was okay. The only issue was the slight discomfort in his shoulder and the occasional small headaches that occurred every now and then. But according to the doctor, those should go away in a couple of weeks. However, that's where the good stopped and the bad began.
In all honesty, Cyrus had no clue as to what was going on inside of his brain right now. From what he was told at the hospital, he hadn't suffered any sort of severe trauma to the head. The most he had was a minor concussion. The kind of thing that people usually get over in a couple of months at the most. However, the young man was seriously starting to have doubts about that diagnosis.
The green-eyed youth had no real way of explaining it. Actually, that was a lie. Cyrus could definitely explain what was going on. The problem was that if he did, people would look at him like he was insane.
Ever since he left the hospital, Cyrus would have moments where he would see these strange...creatures -yeah, that was the best way to put it- in random places. Creatures that looked like something right out of some weird fantasy movie. No matter where he went, he would occasionally spot one or two of them. Mostly just perched on top of something or running around like a squirrel. But there were a couple of times that he would catch one just sitting on a person's shoulder or head.
If that wasn't bizarre enough, Cyrus was also experiencing this weird buzzing in the back of his head. An occasional feeling that would go off every time one of those creatures was nearby. And what was even stranger was that this feeling seemed to let him instinctively know where exactly the damn little things were located. Almost like some kind of radar.
Naturally, Cyrus simply chose to brush all of this off. Assuming that he was just feeling the aftereffects of the accident. Or, the side effects of the medication that he was now taking to deal with his shoulder pain. Medications that barely even worked, if he was being perfectly honest. After all, what other explanation could there be? It wasn't like any of the stuff that he was seeing was real. They were just figments of his imagination. Albeit some rather vivid ones, but fake ones nonetheless. It was the only reasonable explanation there was.
In truth, Cyrus was just hoping that all of this weird stuff would go away quickly. The last thing he needed was to spend the rest of his mundane life suffering from random hallucinations. And the sooner they went away, the better.
-(o)-
Later that night, after the sun had already set, Cyrus was out on an early evening jog. The doctor recommended that he should avoid any strenuous physical activity for the next few days, but there was no way in hell that the young man was going to do that. Cyrus Moore may have been boring and unmotivated, but even he got stir-crazy just sitting around without having anything to do.
'How far have I run already?' Cyrus wondered as he zoomed over a small bridge. Swiftly moving across the pavement at a brisk pace as his feet padded the ground below him. The young man had been running for the better part of an hour and still felt as fresh when he started. There was barely even any sweat on him. Usually, he could barely go for thirty minutes before needing to take a break. But for some reason, he felt like he could go another hour at the same pace.
Something was definitely wrong here. This wasn't the first time Cyrus had noticed something weird about his body since leaving the hospital. Over the last couple of days, he felt way more agile and light on his feet than normal. He felt stronger, too. He couldn't really explain it, but things didn't feel as heavy as they normally should've.
'Maybe I should just go back to the hospital.' The young man thought to himself. Something was obviously wrong with him. And maybe it was time for him to stop avoiding the topic and just bite the bullet.
As Cyrus rounded the corner of the concrete trail that he was running on, that same buzzing feeling he had felt before suddenly came back. Except this was much more intense than it was the last few times it happened. And it was telling him that something was right in front of him.
And sure enough, right before his very eyes, something did appear directly in front of him. Something that forced itself through some kind of dark liquid portal from underneath the concrete.
The only way that Cyrus could describe it was monstrous. Some sort of large, four-legged beast with jet-black fur and piercing yellow eyes. Standing even taller than Cyrus was on all fours. It looked like some weird blend between a wolf and a rat.
'W-w-what the fuck is that?!' The young man's mind tried to rationalize what he was looking at. There was no way that this was happening. Absolutely no way in hell. This had to be an illusion, or a fever dream, or something.
The beast sniffed the air a couple of times before focusing its gaze on Cyrus. Locking eyes with the young man for only a second. The beast then crouched down, and all the hairs on its back stood straight up. Baring its oversized fangs directly at him. Cyrus was by no means an expert on animals, but even he knew what those warning signs meant.
"Shit!" The young man cursed before instinct took over his body and quickly turning around and sprinting down the concrete path as fast as he could.
Sure enough, the beast did exactly what Cyrus expected it to do, launching itself forward and chasing after him. Pursuing the young man with the kind of intensity that you would see in a nature documentary. Cyrus did everything he could to avoid being taken down by this creature. Bobbing and weaving through every tree and bush that he could find. All while narrowly dodging a few swipes of the creature's claws.
Cyrus didn't know what the hell was going on. However, there was one thing that he was able to piece together in this short amount of time. This was real. This creature was no figment of his imagination. It was as real as the tree branches it destroyed as it aimed to remove Cyrus' head from his body.
'I need to lose this thing!' The man thought as he desperately tried to come up with a way out of this situation.
Unfortunately for him, there really wasn't anything that he could do. Actually, that wasn't true at all. There was one thing that might possibly work.
With no time to determine whether or not this was a good idea, Cyrus desperately made a hard left turn and sprinted as fast as he could toward a large oak tree about a hundred feet away from him. Kicking up a slurry of dirt and dried leaves along the way. Once he was within a few feet of the tree, the young man leaped forward and grabbed onto the nearest branch that he could see.
Even with his sore shoulder, Cyrus used every bit of agility that he could muster to swing from one branch to another. Barely taking a few seconds before he was roughly two-thirds of the way to the top.
Once he felt that he was at a safe enough distance, the teen looked down to see the beast angrily clawing at the trunk of the tree. It made a few attempts to climb the thing itself, but the nearest branch that it could latch onto was at least fifteen feet off the ground. Way too high for any normal animal to-
'Wait...' Cyrus paused. 'Then how the hell did I make the jump?'
Now that he thought about it, he did just clear a fifteen-foot jump like it was nothing. On top of that, he somehow managed to completely outrun an animal that should've been way faster than him. After all, most four-legged animals could reach speeds of well over twenty-five miles an hour.
Okay, now that this whole situation was starting to get even more confusing than it already was. And that was without thinking about the monster currently trying to turn Cyrus into its next meal. Even worse, the man had no real plan for what should do now. Sure, the animal didn't look like it would be able to reach him any time soon. But on the flip side, Cyrus had basically trapped himself as well.
"What do I do now...?" The freckle-faced youth wondered as he tried to come up with a solution that didn't end with him potentially getting his face clawed off.
Suddenly, the buzzing in the back of his head appeared again. Alerting Cyrus to something nearby, roughly fifty feet directly to his left. Before the young man could look up to see what was there, a voice made its presence known.
"Die, you stupid mutt!" The voice shouted in an annoyed tone. Not even a second later, what looked to be a stream of highly pressurized water shot through the trees and collided with the beast. Easily taking its head off in the blink of an eye.
'What the fuck?' Cyrus's eyes widened in pure shock as the head of the beast hit the ground with a loud thud. He then watched as the strangest thing happened. The body of the beast suddenly began to disappear. Breaking apart and fading away into nothingness as if it wasn't even there in the first place.
"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be!" The voice spoke once again. A feminine one by the sound of it.
A couple of seconds later, the mystery person appeared in Cyrus' vision. Even from far away, and under the small amount of moonlight, the young man was able to get a good look at her appearance. She was a bit on the taller side, with tan skin, short black hair, a slim frame, and wearing a grey suit. For a second, Cyrus could've sworn that the woman had orange-colored eyes. But after blinking a couple of times, he saw that they were actually a normal shade of brown.
The woman looked up and locked eyes with Cyrus. Briefly sizing him up before giving the young man a smile and a wave. "Hey, how's it going?!"