~Ding~ ~Ding~
As the bell to a café door rang, a 22 year old man entered the café. He sat down on a table and ordered the cheapest coffee they sold.
He had jet-black hair with crystal blue eyes that were as cold as eyes can get.
~BREAKING NEWS:
THE SUSPECT TO A BREAK IN AT 7th AVENUE IN DISTRICT 13, HAS BEEN SPOTTED NEAR DISTRICT 17, BEWARE OF ANY STRANGERS...
The TV barked the breaking news, a waiter turned down the volume as he brought the man his coffee.
"Here you go sir, I hope you find it to your taste."
As he took a sip of coffee his eyes fell on the calendar on the table, 18th May, 2098.
"Well, would you look at that it's my birthday."
The man whispered under his breath with a self-mocking tone. He then paid for the bill and left the café.
~Ding~ ~Ding~
...
❖ The Man's POV ❖
My name is Adlet, Adlet Lidy.
I am an average white collar worker, who spends his time spending the meager wages he earns on booze and throws the rest away on bets and games. To be honest I have had nothing short of torture in this short 22 years I have lived.
Till high school I was another average student, but then one day I slept thinking I will probably get a good job after university and climb the career ladder.
Boy was I proven wrong, my grades hit rock-bottom in the next semester and the trend continued till I was expelled.
Not losing my optimism, I searched for part-time jobs. I found one at the local convenience and joined and started working there.
A couple months later, I had saved up a pretty fair sum of money. With that I rented an apartment and moved out of my parents' house.
There I searched for a more stable job, after I found a job I was so relieved. Then after returning home one day, I slept thinking, 'Maybe, just maybe things are looking up for me'.
The next day I was robbed, I mean what are the odds? When I returned from work I found the window smashed in with my apartment emptier than it was when I moved in.
That brings us to where we are now.
...
Adlet Lidy used to live in 7th Avenue in District 13 and after the robbery has been sleeping at his friend's apartment.
With no savings and nowhere to go he has been desperately working to save up enough money from work and his numerous part-time jobs.
Like all other days he returned at nearly half-past midnight to his friend's, and turned in thinking, "Am I the child chosen by hell or something, why does these things always happen to me?".
...
~Shing~
"Ahh... What the hell?"
Adlet woke up to a blinding light and searing heat. Regaining consciousness he looked around. What he saw made him think twice about living.
It was a leg, it was just a leg, no body, no nothing.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Adlet backpedaled into a wall, he was still in his friend's apartment, but everything around him was burning and the only evidence he had such a friend was that leg.
Frantically looking around he ran out of the apartment leaving behind everything except the shirt on his back, he ran down the stairs.
~WEE-oww~ ~WEE-oww~
He could hear sirens and as he turn turned the corner he froze horror-struck.
Everything was burning, the buildings, the streets, the corpses of animals and people alike.
~ROAAAAR~
On instinct Adler ducked,
~WOOOSH~
A shadow passed over him, as he looked forward he could see a wolf, no it was a tiger, no wait it was human?
It was freaking morphing into different creatures at every turn.
Adler without a second thought bolted, 'To where? He doesn't know', 'What he is going to do? Hell the world is literally burning, he can think about that later'.
He ran and ran till he reached the river flowing through the city, then he crossed the parking lot and went straight to the peer.
All he could see was, there was no one there, to be more precise there was no one alive there. Heads, legs, arms, organs have all become commonplace now.
Closing his eyes tight at that sight he jumped down onto a one person pedal boat, that they use during festivals as attractions.
He then pedaled upstream like his life depended on it, well to be honest his life really did depend on it.
~GRRRR~ ~HOWWWWL~
From above yonder Adlet could hear different animals or whatever the hell those things were.
...
After about an hour of pedaling to death, he landed on the banks of the river. Seeing the monsters were fewer here, he leaned on a tree to gasp for a well deserved breath of musty old city air that had been charred by all the burning.
~Pant~ ~Pant~ ~Pant~
Slowly, he inched toward a building that probably used to be a house. He found a motorcycle parked outside, he broke the door down and went in.
'Does anyone really care in this burning hellhole?', reasoning as such Adler found a bunch of keys on a desk and walked out of the house.
He tried a bunch of the keys before,
~CLICK~ ~VRR~ ~VRROOOOM~
"YES! Thank God, finally something right happened."
Elated by the spur of the moment, Adler pumped his fists in the air. He then mounted the motorcycle and rode it onto a motorway.
~SWOOOSH~
After he got on the motorway, he floored the gas as he left the burning hellhole. Then slowly the further he went the flames did die down.
But, as he rode for another hour the flames stopped decreasing, no, to be more accurate the flames have actually started increasing.
~BAM~ ~BAM~
Before Adler could register those sounds,
~SMACK~
...
~Shing~
"Ahh... What the hell?"
Either all that was a dream or it was Deja Vu. He sat straight like he had been zapped and scanned the surrounding.
~Sizzle~ ~Sizzle~
"Blond..."
"Huh? Oh, you're awake."
There, a blond babe with red eyes was sitting next to a fire with a spatula in her hands.
"Who... are you? More importantly, where am I?"
"I found you unconscious on the side of the motorway with a helmet on your head. By the way my name is Yua Madoka and what is your name?"
"Oh, Uh... My name is Adler Lidy, Uhh... thank you for looking after me when I was out cold."
While cracking his soar neck Adler got up.
~CRACK~
"Where are you going?"
"Uhh..."
Not knowing what to answer Adler sat back down, then Yua handed him a bowl of soup while giggling to herself.
"What is so funny?"
"No, it's just you got up so seriously and when I asked you where you were going you just froze. *Giggle*"
Adler put the spoon to his mouth and his eyes widened in surprise,
"Wow! This is so good."
~Slurp~ ~Slurp~ ~Slurp~
"Come on, flattery will get you nowhere."
"But, I'm serious though."
Finishing up his meal, he again thanked Yua.
"So where are you from?"
"Oh, I am from District 13, I came home late yesterday and today I woke up to this hellhole and what about you?"
"I am from District 3, I was awake when it happened, all it took though was the time I took to blink my eyes."
"It went from a normal city to a half-destroyed hell in a second?"
Adler asked with a disbelieving tone.
"That's what really happened, I'm serious."
...
After chatting for a while Adler and Yua left Yua's tent to get a look outside. The sky was ink black with twinkling stars and a bright crescent moon, while the ground as far as one could see was burning in patches here and there.
"How did this happen anyway?"
"Hey look!"
Yua yelped in a surprised tone as she pointed to Adler's right palm.
"It's glowing?"
Adler's right palm was blinking with an almost blackish color. Then Adler looked up to see Yua's hand having a similar phenomenon but with a pinkish color.
"Hey, look your hand is glowing too!"
~BEEP~ ~BEEP~
With an almost simultaneous mechanical beeping both their palms stopped blinking to show a hologram.
...
✶Adler's Hologram :
Name : Adler Lidy
Age : 22
Class : UNKNOWN
Level : UNKNOWN
STATS:
Strength : 10
Agility : 10
Endurance : 10
Perception : 10
Energeon : 10/10
SKILLS:
UNKNOWN(Level - ??)
...
✶ Yua's Hologram :
Name : Yua Madoka
Age : 20
Class : None
Level : 1
STATS:
Strength : 10
Agility : 10
Endurance : 10
Perception : 10
Energeon : 10/10
SKILLS:
None
...
"What the hell?"
"THIS ISN'T A FUCKIN' ANIME!!!"
Straight away Adler blew his top.
~ROAAAR~
"We need to find shelter! Quick, Adler this way."
Saying that Yua caught Adler by the wrist and yanked him to a nearby ledge, as the turned the corner there was a small crevice that could probably hold three people.
They both jumped in and held their breath.
~WOOSH~
With a whistle the weird monsters that were roaming around passed by.
~THUD~
Yua leaned on Adler's chest,
"Hey what happened?"
Yua shook her head left and right with watering eyes.
"Were you scared of those things?"
~Nod~ ~Nod~
"I mean who wouldn't be scared by those things, I almost fainted after seeing the first one."
"But still it doesn't change the fact that it's scary."
"Fine."
Heaving a sigh Adler patted Yua's shoulders, then they both made their way back to the tent.