Waking up from his short nap, dry blood could be seen trailing down from Cree's nose. He held his head as he sat up straight.
"How long was I out?", He spoke almost inaudibly.
The throbbing pain in his head made him feel terrible, however he soon forgot about this as he was drawn to something else. Standing up to his feet he realized that the sky now had crimson red color. Cries of terror could be heard erupting from every side of the city.
On a closer look though he noticed that the landscape of the city had changed drastically with rocks and mountains lunging out of the buildings and roads. From a distance, he could see a pillar of white light launching out from the ground to the clouds up above, taking it along for a ride. Looking at the sky he came across a number of things flying in the air. It didn't take him too long to realize that these were not birds or aeroplanes but incredibly ugly and grotesque creatures flying around.
No one had to tell him at that moment that this was no more the New York City he once knew.
"Hmm, I thought for certain that he was dead", a voice came from behind Cree.
He turned around in an instant executing a long jump back taking into view the person who had snuck up on him. In front of him was a rather tall lady with pale skin that lacked any form of blemishes. Her glowing white hair seemed to illuminate the surrounding area, however it also was in the process of blinding Cree's eyes. She wore a red dress that exposed her shoulders, hands and slender legs. He couldn't help but wonder if such a breath taking person could exist in the first place. The thing that stood out to Cree though was the fact that she was levitating in the air.
Cree did not have to be told that this person was not human as she gave off an intense aura unlike anything he had ever felt. To him it felt as if a higher being was floating right in front of him.
"Oh, you can see me? Well, that was unexpected", she said as she descended to his level.
The blinding light from her hair seemed to calm down as he could now see the full view of the beauty right in front of him. For some reason her hair moved as if it was submerged under water.
'What the hell is going on?', Cree thought to himself as he took a slight step backwards.
"No need to fear, human. Tell me, what is your name?"
"Cree... My name is Cree Jaylen", he answered after a second of hestitation.
"Cree, huh. My name is Claire, i am a calamity class being."
"What the heck is that!?", Cree rose his right eyebrow high.
"Calamity class beings are beings capable of causing massive changes in time and space. In order words, I am a god", a smirk escaped Claire's face.
Looking around the environment, Cree couldn't help but think that she was responsible for what had happened in New York.
"Who told you this was only happening in this city, Cree. It is happening all over the world my boy. Your planet has been chosen by the 'Grand Order' for the emergence of a new Calamity god."
Cree shuddered in response. This made it quite obvious that she was capable of reading minds. Starting to feel terrified about what was going on, a thought hit him causing him to panic all the more.
'Callum. Where is Callum?'
Just before the world had changed he had managed to convince his brother not to commit suicide. After that his only memory was that of a massive wave of colors engulfing the sky accompanied by a powerful earthquake.
Rushing to the edge Callum was previously standing on, Cree looked downwards only to confirm his worst fear. His brother was down below in a pile of his own blood. If he had to guess, he would say that the earthquake from before was the cause. Cree fell on his butt holding his head tight and giving off a loud shout filled with pain. He had just lost the only person he had left in this world.
"Hmm, humans and their emotions... You better stop that, Cree, or you will attract some unwanted attention."
Cree's shouting did not relent one bit and that attracted attention just as Claire had said earlier. The creatures he had seen flying above had noticed him and began to approach the building.
Shriek!
Multiple sounds from the air hurled Cree back to his senses. Getting up on his feet he wiped his eyes and ran back into the building with Claire closely behind.
"Why are you following me!?", Cree asked holding back a little bit of his rage inside.
"Just for fun."
Cree had hardly gone down the flight of stairs when he heard a sound that only meant bad news.
Bang!
'Damn it! They bursted through the building! I need to hide.'
Opening the door that had the tag room 51 on it, Cree hid right behind the bed in this apartment. Letting out heavy breaths, he did his best to control his breathing.
"Oh come on, don't run away now. Fight them to the death, that way it will be much more fun. If you die it would be for a great course....my entertainment", Claire said with an evil grin.
"Is this some kind of game to you!?"
"No it isn't of course", she responded in a tone that said otherwise. "But on a serious note you do have to fight at least one of those things."
"And why should I do that?"
"If you can kill one of those things you will receive a reward from the omnipotent Grand Order. One that could most likely help you in your journey."
"And why on Earth should I trust you?"
Claire giggled in a cute but annoying manner. "Because you don't have any other options. If you stay like this you will die."
Just then a light knock could be heard coming from a wardrobe close to him. An unreasonable amount of sweat poured down from Cree's face as he looked at it closely.
"What the hell are you doing!? You are going to get us killed!", A voice came from the wardrobe.
'Someone is hiding in there?', Cree thought as he relaxed a bit.
A chubby grown adult could be seen inside the wardrobe sweating as well. It was clear to Cree that this was not the best hiding spot. This man had a name tag on his shirt displaying the name, Fred. His gaze kept on moving to the door over and over again as he questioned him.
"By the way who are you talking to? I hope you haven't gone crazy, not that I wouldn't understand with monsters roaming the street and everything..."
"Wait, what!? Monsters?", Cree widened his eyes in shock.
"Hey, hey, keep it down. Why are you so surprised anyways? It was all over the news", Fred proceeded to narrate. "Few minutes after the place had turned into a freakish desolate plane, news reports started to come from all over the place. Each report said the same thing was happening all over the world. As if this was not bad enough, strange creatures began to emerge from over there."
Pointing with his finger to the window, Cree realized that he was pointing at the ray of light coming out of the ground a distance away.
"They came from the light...?"
"Yes they did Cree. Those creatures are called Abstracts, and their job is to make things a whole lot more interesting", Claire said with joy brimming from her face.
This told Cree everything he needed to know; Claire did not care for his well being in the slightest. Though he couldn't still understand why she followed him. Deep down he knew that she was not just following him for her entertainment. However, even though she was an unknown variable in the equation, he knew one thing. She would give out information if it would make things more interesting.
"Damn it. So how do I kill those things?", Cree asked not minding if the man beside him was watching.
"Ohh. Someone wants to have fun all of a sudden", Claire said as she began to levitate in the air. "Hmm, Hollow bats have very thick skin. Killing them with weapons from your world would be extremely difficult. Though I would say a well placed shot to their eyes should do the trick."
Turning his sights to Fred who was in the wardrobe, he could see the perplexed look in his eyes. For some reason unknown to Cree, he could not see the Calamity class being floating above him. This led him to wonder why he himself could see her.
Shaking his head he brought his focus back to his original thoughts of how he would get out of the building. Taking a deep breath, Cree soon uttered words that confused Fred even further.
"Hey Fred, where is your kitchen knife?"