Death isn't something that you can easily recover from. It's like waking up from a terrifying nightmare and trying to convince yourself that it wasn't real. Except for Kaid's case it was the exact opposite.
He was trying to wrap his mind around what had happened in the past 3 hours. He could still remember everything very clearly but it was all so absurd that he'd have likened it to a bad dream if it wasn't for the floor stained with his blood and the broken window where the creature had left through.
What Kaid found even more astonishing was that he couldn't ignore all of it like he usual did. For some reason he felt like he needed to address the problems in front of him for once. Something had changed inside him and he wasn't sure what it was. For one thing his apartment looked different to him.
Disregarding the torn floor and broken window as well as smashed wall, Kaid couldn't look at the trash filled apartment, unwashed dishes, and piles of dirty clothes without feeling a tinge of disgust.
While looking around, for the first time in his life he was disgusted at himself. He felt like going on a cleaning spree.
His standard of living wasn't the only thing that was bothering him, no there was more. He felt disgusted by how he let himself get continuously pushed around by the landlord, never having any of his requests or complaints acknowledged. He felt angry at his neighbors for always screaming at godawful times of the night never allowing him to sleep. He felt mortified at the thought of going back to work at that stupid job where he's asked to work 16 hours a day for less than 10 credits an hour.
Memories started flooding Kaid's head and with-it years of repressed emotions and trauma. Kaid was becoming intoxicated with decades worth of torment, isolation, and abuse. Very quickly he started to have a panic attack. His heart started racing and he was finding it harder and harder to breathe. He felt like he was about to drown in his own pitiful misery. He fell to the floor, clutching his chest, trying everything he possibly could to calm himself down.
[Abnormal state detected.]
[Analyzing data...]
[Results mental breakdown. Beginning memory block.]
Kaid could barely even register the voice in his head before he passed out.
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Kaid woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. He barely even looked at it before answering the call. "Hello," said Kaid.
"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU SON OF A BITCH!!! You were supposed to be here 3 hours ago!"
Kaid instinctively recognize his boss's voice. How nice, he was even using the normal tone he'd use when talking to him. Kaid didn't say anything but instead flashed back to all those months of verbal abuse he'd undertaken at his hands. Without even thinking about it kaid replied, "I quit."
Momentarily stunned by the response he received Kaid's boss was quite momentarily before responding with, "You ungrateful little shit! Do you know how nice I've been to you? Do you know how much I've done for you and now you want spit in my face? You think I'm just going to--"
Kaid hung up the phone without a second thought. He had made up his mind. Honestly, he should've quit a long time ago. Kaid took a moment to breath before assessing the situation.
'Okay, what the hell is going on,' thought Kaid. After taking a few more deep breaths he went into the bathroom, momentarily stopping at the door making sure nothing else was still inside. Once he inside he was momentarily shocked by what he saw.
His face looked different. It was still recognizably him, but it was a bit different, more symmetrical, a little better looking than normal. The same could also be said for his body. He seemed to have grown by a couple inches and looked like he gained a good amount of weight as well. Even though he felt very lethargic he could unboundedly feel that his body was currently in peak condition.
'What happened to me,' though Kaid.
[Body reconstruction was initiated. Additional body configurations were made to help support soul structure and energy utilization.]
Kaid stood there blinking for a few seconds. 'I think I've finally lost it', he though.
[Mental state currently stable. Memory blocks currently stable. It's recommended that the God candidate initiate memory block deconstruction at a later time in order to promote mental state growth.]
'Alright so I'm not crazy and from what I just heard I guess you're the reason why I'm still alive,' though Kaid.
[Correct. You have been selected as a God candidate. My purpose is to help you successfully attain Godhood]
'What are you?' asked Kaid.
[Unable to answer. Request God candidate to access the forgotten library before question can be answered.]
'The forgotten what? Okay okay how about we just take one thing at a time then. So, what is it that I'm supposed to do then? Why was I selected as a God candidate?' asked Kaid.
[Answer unknown. Origin of power unknow. Directive unknown. Purpose of the system is to allow for successful ascension]
Although he didn't get a clear response from the voice in his head Kaid already knew the answer to his questions as soon as he asked them. His purpose was to slay the Gods. The moment he woke up he felt this need, a slight force pulling at him, telling him that there were enemies that needed to be eliminated.
But Kaid was not going to let some gut feeling lead him to commit mass genocide no matter how enticing it sounded.
'Enticing, why did I think it was enticing to go on a mass genocide,' though Kaid.
[Answer. Your successors will have been merged within you mind and soul. Unfortunately, due to soul burning the effects of your successors will is week. However, it still has an influence.]
Kaids head started to spin, 'this is too much to think about. I need to get some sleep.'
Bang Bang Bang
Someone was furiously knocking on the front door.
"Kaid are you in there! Can you hear me? Open up if you can!"
It was the landlord. Looking around at the broken window, scratched floor, and broken wall Kaid knew he wouldn't be happy. But for some reason that though brought a smile to his face. Serves you right you greedy son of a bitch.
When Kaid open the door, he was greeted to a profusely sweating face that looked like it'd just seen the face of death.
Noticeably shaking the landlord asked, "Do you know what happened last night? Why is everyone dead? When I came in this morning I found this hell hole smelling worse than usual and dead bodies inside each apartment. What the hell happened?"
Kaid was slightly taken back from this revelation. He knew that the creature had likely killed a few people on this floor but it hadn't crossed his mind that it could have killed all the residents within the complex that were home at the time, "I'm not sure what you're talking about. I just got home a few minutes ago and I'm still trying to wrap my head around what happened to my apartment."
The landlord made their way into the apartment and gasped at the level of destruction the apartment had undergone. Kaid wasn't sure why he lied but he knew that it wouldn't do him any good to be implicated in anything that happened earlier today especially considering how he miraculously survived the onslaught that happened within the complex.
Luckily for him there wasn't much evidence to go against his statements except for his entry records to the building and the apartment. But luckily people using resident's fake information to break into the building was a common occurrence so it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for that to have been the case. Additionally, it would further help his story in regard to explaining all the blood on the floor since it'd be likely assumed that the burglar was the one that was killed in his apartment.
The landlord turned to Kaid and was about to speak when he was interrupted by a series of sirens coming from outside.
'Well shit, here comes the ORO', though Kaid.
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It was 6 hours later that before the ORO finished questioning all the surviving tenants. The apartment complex was filled with ORO officers and a few members of the Leviathan corps. Outside multiple news organizations were swarming the building trying to get as much information as possible on the recent attack by the beast rank [RS-01] Seval.
Kaid was doing his best to avoid attracting any attention while at the same time answering everyone's question without seeming to suspicious. For some reason though today, he was attracting more attention than usual. Even though he was one of the surviving tenants and his apartment was the only one missing a body, Kaid still felt that he was drawing more attention than usual. Especially from the females in the room.
All the surviving tenets, ORO officers, and members of Leviathan were gathered in the lobby of the building, so it was easy for Kaid to tell that the majority of them were staring at him for some reason. Kaid wondered if there was something on his face.
One of the Leviathan members stepped up and started talking to the crowd.
"Hello everyone, for those of you who don't know I am Colonel Roy Victor. I am the executive commander of the Leviathan corps. I'm sure that you all know that we've been tasked with tracking and capturing the beast Sovel but I'm mortified to say that we were unfortunately to late to stop it from committing such a tragedy.
"Although I know this likely doesn't mean anything to those of you who lost loved ones but on behalf of Leviathan I sincerely apologize for not locating the beast earlier. This tragedy should of not occurred."
A few tenets started crying. One of them was a woman on the 3rd floor that I had met previously once. She was a very kindhearted woman who was always working to give her kids a better life. She lost both of them. When she walked into her apartment earlier this morning all she found blood spattered walls and the hand of a small girl.
'Looking at her it's probably not going to be long before she has a complete meltdown. She's been holding it in pretty good for the past few hours but she's about to go over the edge,' though Kaid.
"Although this will not bring back those that died or even help alleviate the pain you're all feeling right now, I'd like let all you know that we will be compensating everyone here with 100,000 credits in order to help everyone deal with the financial issues they'll be facing and potentially help you relocate if you choose to do so."
There were a few gasps in the crowd. 100,000 credits weren't something to scoff at. For most of the people here they would have to work for 7-9 years to earn that much. It was quite impressive that Leviathan could afford to compensate so many people with that much.
"Again, I know that there is nothing that we can do to truly compensate all of you for those that were lost, but hopefully this is a start. As a member of Leviathan, I take it as my responsibility to..."
Kaid stopped focusing on Colonel Victor's speech and started focusing on his next course of action.
He knew he couldn't stay here anymore. This place was now hallow ground. He had to leave, it didn't matter where but he had to leave this god forsaken place.
As the colonel continued to talk Kaid let his mind drift as he listened to the sirens of the ORO vehicle outside, the reporters voices as they shouted their questions, the colonels somber voice, and the wails of the residents.
All those sounds drifting together, merging, to create a symphony of sorrow and pain.
A requiem for the dead.