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Chapter 1: The End of the World
🕑 Added 2019-04-30 13:23:20 +0000 UTCEverything was wrong. There was raining falling, but it was falling up. The whole pier was rattling away as gravity warred with the energy trying to pull everything up. At the end of the pier a young woman was floating a few metres in the air as a menacing red glow of crackling energy surrounded her. The nearer anything got, the stronger the upward pull became. The vortex of inverted gravity Was pulling her hair up dramatically, as if being blown by a fierce wind.
“Another planet shall perish. I wonder where shall be next,” the girl spoke in a voice that covered too large a range of pitches to be human, though devoid of any discernible emotion.
With unblinking eyes, the unnatural being looked skyward, as if planning the next move. After a moment of contemplation, they then looked across the bay, the hills filled with the lights of homes and shops. The being raised an arm, and, with a flick of their wrist, generated a beam of energy that shot across the water, cutting a swath of destruction into those homes. The being paused, listening as shockwaves of the explosion reached them.
They then turned back to the pier as the sound of a struggling car engine reached their ears. Emotionlessly, the figure waited for the vehicle to appear. It wasn’t long before an outdated jeep emerged from between the various warehouses. Just as the jeep reached the edge of the pier the engine died, unable to cope with the fuel running against normal gravity.
“Garcelle!” the young and short haired woman in the jeep cried as she hopped out of the vehicle. “Please fight it! I know you’re still in there!”
“We don’t have much time, Tessa,” a second person shouted, this one a man approaching the later end of middle aged. He was holding a radiation detecting device of some kind in his hands, pointing it at the unnatural woman. “The energy profile signatures are 96% unified!”
“It’s not 100% yet! That means she’s still there. prof,” Tessa shouted back, before running out towards the figure. “Garcelle!”
“T-Tess? I’m dangerous. You should stay back,” the figure, Garcelle, said, now in a human voice with a softly French accent.
“And leave you to face this alone?” Tessa replied, softer now as the two approached each other. “I know I’m not the best at being romantic, but d**n it! I promised you we’d be together until the end!”
“98%!” the man shouted.
Garcelle leapt across the distance between the two of them (an odd gesture as her feet had never actually touched the ground) and pulled Tessa into a hug. “Tess! I’m so sorry. I-I guess that promise is pretty prophetic. For the end is now. Did you want to watch, human?”
“Garcelle! Fight it!” Tessa cried, taking the smaller girl’s cheeks in her hands and staring into her eyes (trying to ignore the way her tears seemed replaced with red electric crackles).
“There’s no use. A lone human is no match for my will.”
“I believe in her! Garcelle, I know you can win. I know, because I love you.”
“Tess, I... I... Love her? That term is connected to mating rituals, the selfish desire to propagate. You and her cannot?” the unnatural voice seemed to waver with something resembling confusion.
“Love is about a million other things, and that’s why her and I will triumph. Garcelle, I love you more than anything,” Tessa replied, before diving in for a kiss. Her worry drained as she felt the kiss returned and a hug that could only be Garcelle’s.
When the kiss broke however, Tessa didn’t know what to say. The eyes staring back at her were the same possessed, pupil-less red glow that this alien weapon that possessed Garcelle had brought. Unnoticed to her was the way the water had frozen in mid-air and the rattling of the surroundings stopped.
“T-Tessa, we’ve hit 100% synchronisation,” the professor’s voice called out. “Garcelle’s energy readings are gone! We have to run!”
“Love. I... I do. I do love you. Kiss me again!” the impossible voice declared, pulling a highly confused Tessa into a kiss as both lifted up several metres from the ground.
When the kiss broke the rain around them began to fall. The being stared at Tessa with unblinking eyes, evidently waiting for a response. Tessa stared back, her mind reeling from shock.
“You do still love me, yes?”
Now, the part of Tessa’s brain still capable of logical thought knew that the answer to this question had to be very diplomatic. The fate of the entire world was at stake. Under no circumstances should she be aggressive and confrontational.
Unfortunately, that part of Tessa’s brain was roughly 5 brain cells in a sea of panicked screaming neurons that had no clue how to process any of this. On the other hand, her auditory processing centre was relatively unaffected by emotional panic, and quietly reported the sounds of sirens and other hints of disaster from across the bay. The sound of suffering, caused by the being that had just kissed her.
“How can I love someone who just killed hundreds of innocent people?” Tessa replied, starting to wave an arm towards the fires on the other side of the water, only to realise the only reason she wasn’t falling was due to her grip on what was once Garcelle and having to tighten her hold.
“Oh... I will fix that,” the being replied flatly.
Before Tessa could ask ‘how’ the pair suddenly accelerated to a degree that caused Tessa to nearly faint. Less than a minute later, they’d crossed the bay and landed beside a particularly large scar in the hill. Up close the devastation was terrifying. Homes were blasted in half, and large tears ran up and down the landscape, many several metres deep and just as wide.
The being stepped back from Tessa, walking to the edge of the gash, and closed their eyes. A moment later their hair whipped up once more, and Tessa watched in shock as bits of debris that had littered the area began sliding back towards the sight of destruction. Then things began to materialise out of the air. Things that must have been vaporized in the blast. Tessa watched in disgusted horror as some of those things forming proved to be organs and other bits of people or animals. Yet they re-assembled just as easily as the houses and cars.
Tessa let out a gasp as the reformed people began to move. They were alive again, and apparently just as confused as she was.
“It will take a couple minutes to get the rest. Come,” the being said, it’s voice still as unfeeling as before, yet somehow less menacing to Tessa’s ears.
Tessa nodded and followed the entity, confused as to what was happening, and maybe a little scared. The being hovered near the ground, moving to the next gash at the pace of a light jog. Again it began to reassemble the destroyed homes and people, this time not taking quite as long due to the smaller size of the gash. With the repair done the alien being then zipped along towards the smallest gash, moving much faster now. Tessa almost had the impression the alien was fill with manic energy, but it was surely her imagination... right?
The final gash repaired, and all the victims alive once more, the being turned to Tessa. “All the dead are repaired. This means you love me again, yes?”
“What do you mean ‘again’?” Tessa asked.
“You said you loved me. Just before synchronization completed,” the being replied, swooping in unsettlingly close to Tessa’s face.
“I said I loved Garcelle.”
“Yes. And when synchronization occurred that was what filled her mind. The emotion was so strong... there was no counter. Usual logic paths could not dismiss it. And so I love you with Garcelle’s love,” the being replied.
Tessa felt her jaw hanging open. How was she supposed to process this? Love was not something one inherited. And she certainly had no idea how to love this alien being before her. It felt like she was insulting Garcelle’s memory. Yet... this being was incredibly powerful and she feared upsetting it.
“I don’t know if I love you, but... I suppose I can try to learn to,” Tessa offered, hoping against hope that that would be enough.
“Not what I had hoped to hear,” the being said.
Tessa braced for her destruction, unsure how to prepare for the risk of vaporization. Nothing came though, as the entity turned towards something that Tessa couldn’t identify, its hair flaring up as it lifted up several metres. Stumbling back onto a muddy yard, Tessa wondered what the being was doing when the military personnel carriers rounded the corner. Soldiers began to emerge from the rears, while others pointed the vehicles’ machine guns at the being.
“Wait!” Tessa shouted towards the soldiers, “It’s dange—“
Her voice caught in her throat as the entity unleashed a destructive burst of red lightning-like tendrils. The tendrils of... whatever energy type it was ripped into the vehicles, tearing them apart. The energy also hopped along the metal, reaching the soldiers and causing each to vanish in a flash of smoke before Tessa could process what had happened. Watching in horror, she collapsed to her knees, mentally frozen. She barely noticed the entity land beside her.
“Shall we leave now?” The alien being asked, it’s voiced as impossible and emotionless as ever.
“Why?” Tessa asked, before hopping to her feet and glaring at the being wearing Garcelle’s form. “Why is killing so easy for you!?”
“They were threatening us. We can not rebuild your love of me if you die,” came the flat reply.
“I told you I can’t love a murderer!” Tessa shouted, trying to hold down the contents of her stomach as the mind numbing impossible horror of the day began to truly sink in.
“You had said innocents. They were armed. But fine, I shall undo this,” the being replied.
Tessa swore she heard a sigh from the entity before it lifted its arm and flicked its wrist. Again she watched the impossibility of human beings reforming from thin air. This time, however, it was rendered a bit awkward by the soldiers reforming nude. Tessa blushed turning away, which apparently drew the entity’s attention.
“I was not about to let them have their weapons. Unfortunately telling clothing from weapons is difficult in reconstruction,” the being explained. “May we go home now? It is quite noisy here.”
Tessa did have to admit the cacophony of sirens in the surrounding neighbourhoods was getting to her too. She didn’t exactly like the idea of going home with this strange being that was once Garcelle, but she lacked the capacity to properly process anything else at this point and going to bed sounded nice.
So, there’s a tentative first chapter of a novel idea I have. Something of a dark romantic comedy.
Comments
prettydragoon
Sounds absolutely intriguing!
I like it!!! Would definitely read more! The premise is fun and seems like it would have a good combo of comedy and feels if you want to that way. Looking forward to more of your writing as always!
