February 23, 2022;
It was already night and past 8 pm.
A normal day like any other in a small town in Europe. It was a quiet place, but clearly lively. Several children played in the square surrounded by trees and pruned plants, running one after the other under the watchful eye of their mothers and nannies, who were alert due to the time. The teenagers exchanged discreet glances, shy smiles, and muffled giggles as they affectionately gestured with their hands;
As for the young people, they were falling in love on the wooden benches that were located in the most remote and poorly lit places, so that no one could interrupt their intimate moment and, last but not least, and the elderly - most of them elderly women, who looked around non-stop -, gossiped impetuously as they waited for the lecture in the square that would begin at 8:30 pm.
It was an environment very similar to that of the films in which the plot was set in a bucolic region, people were excited, many of them without worrying about any danger while living in that neighborhood far from the center of the small town they were in.
The place had just over 10,000 inhabitants and was located in a state of little relevance in their country. However, despite not having a sufficiently developed economy, no one seemed to care, leading their lives as they always had.
The smiles of the people there were contagious and it seemed like a wonderful place to live when compared to large urban centers, metropolises, and other forms of human agglomeration, which were considered 'modern civilization'.
Unfortunately, perhaps because of all the calm that spread over the small village, no one was prepared for the sudden change of situation that was about to occur.
''H-huh''
One of the children who was playing stopped running and stood still looking to the left side of the square, seeing that he had stopped running, his playmates went to see what had happened to the boy. They shook him, asking what had happened, but he didn't say anything, just pointed to a place where a distortion began to form in the light. It was similar to a change in temperature, the air seemed to be distorted and part of the water in the local fountain started to float.
''Whoa'', a little girl with her hair tied back said in amazement, ''This is too amazing!''
Gradually, that attracted the attention of the adults, who crowded around the children, engulfing them with their arms as a form of protection. Everyone was amazed by that phenomenon, but each one expressed different reactions, the elderly women began to pray, repudiating the event; the young people took pictures and started recording; the mothers looked for their respective children amid the crowd that was forming, and even some cars passing on the street stopped to see what was going on.
It was a unique event, and there was a huge mix of fear, curiosity, and other feelings expressed on the faces of everyone present. They didn't know what to do, nor did they know what the hell was going on, after all, they were used to being warned by the responsible authorities before any strange happenings took place.
Yet here they were, faced with a stunning event that went against every rule of physics and other principles known to humans.
''Come on man, aren't you brave?''
A boy with short black hair, wearing blue jeans and a yellow shirt accompanied by a white jacket, was challenged by his friends. He looked around and noticed that due to the silence that the place was, everyone there had heard.
He didn't see any other option, he had a reputation to uphold, and so he crouched down, grabbing a long, spiky branch from the ground as he walked toward the oddity.
''Fuuu'', he sighed, reaching out and giving little touches to the distortion, ''What the fuck is that?''
The young man had gathered all his courage and was beside the mass of distortion that was forming, gradually increasing as the seconds ticked by. He poked at it for a few seconds, but luckily nothing happened, leaving him relieved.
Everyone who watched the boy's action unfold was more relieved, letting out long sighs around the square, but some still said that it could be dangerous and maybe even fatal. A few more seconds have passed since the young man touched the dough with his stick, for some reason, he felt amazing and an invigorating sensation spread from his chest to the rest of the limbs of his body, after all, he was the first to have the courage to touch that thing, even if there were dozens or even hundreds of people there.
However, almost at the same time, despite not showing it outwardly, his thoughts were focused on the horrible things that could happen to him, based of course, on the movies he had already seen.
The young man was about to turn to the crowd and declare that everything was fine when a roar of electrical discharge echoed as if it was coming out of the strange floating phenomenon. At the same instant, a bluish color with a mixture that seemed to be orange and white, shone in a flash that filled the vision of everyone there. Some stumbled in terror at everything that was happening, while others started to move away from that unknown thing, taking big steps back.
The shrill sound was repeated, now the mothers were already putting their children on their laps and almost running desperately from there. As if to try to calm people's spirits, a man stood in front of them all, an oversized white coat that reached to his knees highlighted him, accompanied by a badge written: Deric J. Potter, which suggested he worked in the city scientific department.
Deric opened his mouth, everyone looked at him waiting for him to say something intelligent, but he was interrupted when the sound echoed for the third time, now accompanied by two lightning bolts that shot out from the center of that strange thing. The lightning shot towards the ground, it was extremely fast, but everyone could see it.
The ground shook and the air became thinner, making it difficult for those closest to the distortion to breathe. People started rescuing each other, moving away from that weird thing.
The sounds of electrical discharges became more and more frequent, always accompanied by lightning that went in the most diverse directions. Now all the spectators were at a relatively safe distance. The phenomenon was stirring, and as it moved, more noise and lightning came out of it.
The loud and unusual noises shook the village from top to bottom, gusts of dust entered through the cracks between the wooden houses and flew into people's eyes, making it difficult to see. As time passed, the situation seemed to get worse and a resounding spasm of sound went through their heads, making them feel nauseous.
Deric and the others covered their ears until the sound subsided enough to no longer shake the floor they were on. Despite being a scientist, he had never encountered such an event and the theories in the science books he loved so much didn't seem to match anything unfolding before him.
No one said a word; the sounds of their breathing could be heard and it caused discomfort as their eyes were glued to the phenomenon & more people crowded into the place, making the space even tighter than before.
A massive boom rumbled once more, white lines appeared in the sky along with the sound. People looked up and saw what appeared to be cracks in a glass platform, which left several people amazed, although they were terrified of it all.
''What the fuck is this?'' Deric announced needlessly, ''Honestly...is this the omen of the end of the world?''
It was the first time he, no, not just him, everyone there had seen such a massive event since the explosion in England's capital five years ago, and the sight was extraordinarily shocking. Even those who called themselves skeptics were impressed and awestruck.
Deric didn't seem to mind the murmurs around him, his mind formulating various theories in fractions of a second but he still couldn't think of any reason why an event similar to the day of ascent - one of the most important events in the history of the current modern era, when forty people emerged in various parts of the world, bringing with them salvation and incredible powers capable of facing the unknown beasts responsible for attacking and decimating populations -, take part there in the village of Harcourt.
It was as if something was struggling to get out of that place, a demon, a time traveler... the assumptions were the most diverse, there were even people who shouted that this was divine retribution due to their countless sins accumulated throughout history.
The buzz intensified as the noise coming from the phenomenon increased. As much as most people there thought it was dangerous, they didn't leave the spot at all. Human curiosity is greater than fear for their lives. After all, it was not for nothing that there was the saying: Curiosity killed the cat.
Suddenly the lightning stopped, but the noise continued. As the sounds became more spaced out, people looked at each other as if predicting it was finally coming to an end. There was another moment of awkward silence, before a young woman screamed and caught everyone's attention.
A blonde between 20 and 24 years old showed bewilderment in her eyes, pointing in the direction of the phenomenon, which left everyone, including Deric, confused by her action. They looked at the cracks once more, soon after, a strange, high-pitched noise reverberated in the place and gradually people started to see what the woman saw, and in a minute everything was clear.
The white lines split into several parts, which came together and formed a translucent circular shape the size of a 6'2" human. But what caught people's attention the most was not that splendid event, but that it looked like someone was trying to cross there, forcing the passage to break it.
Someone had called the police, who had already arrived, warding off the growing crowd, while some policemen were already pointing their guns at ''it''. It was visible that the representatives of the security forces were not prepared to deal with extranormal phenomena as they trembled.
CRACK
What seemed to contain whoever was trying to get through, broke, as parts of the cracks split in half like torn paper. A small crevice appeared in space, hovering three feet from the surface, and along with it came a guttural scream that chilled the spectators to their very souls.
The first hand appeared, it was a thin, bruised, bloody white human hand. The member was still for about two seconds, until the second hand came out of the hole, grabbing the other end of the 'gate'. It was identical, except it was a left hand, with a few calluses and scratches that distinguished it from the other. Gradually they moved away as if they were trying to make way for the rest of the body, and the more they pushed, the more a human figure became visible to the spectators.
The cops shivered, some already prepared to fire while the thing was busy trying to get through the gate, but they were stopped.
The police officer in charge of the operation made a signal for no one to shoot, everyone understood his order, cause apparently, it was a human, and if it wasn't, there were no guarantees that human weapons would be able to protect them from it. After all, it was like that in the movies, It was like that five years ago...
Before THEY appeared and protected the world from destruction.
When both hands pulled away at once, a human head appeared, covered in scars and bloody, dirty bandages. Gradually the body revealed itself, its expression was one of pain, agony, and helplessness as if it were making an absurd effort to get out of there.
And then, a Caucasian-skinned humanoid figure revealed itself in full, its black eyes moving nonstop as it struggled to its feet.
The first foot touched the ground, he was dressed in ragged clothes and bandages surrounded his feet, which were dirty, filthy to be exact.
Two seconds passed by, there was an interval and then the second foot came next, took four steps out, and now the figure covered in dirt and blood was completely out as the phenomenon closed quickly behind him. He wasn't too tall, not too short, his face looked young and he carried two brown bags covered in dust, making him look like a beggar, and if it weren't for the way he arrived, he could easily be mistaken for a true homeless person.
A policeman took the initiative and approached while trying to understand what or who that thin, slender figure, covered in dirt and bleeding constantly, was. When he got close enough he saw the man smiling deviously as tears trickled down his dirty cheeks, dripping onto the floor and forming a small pool.
As he pointed the gun, scared, the policeman heard the stranger say before simply disappearing:
"W-warn the bastards who call themselves heroes that Adrian Thomas is back"
The news quickly spread around the world: the last hero, the cursed child, had finally returned.