Once every five hundred or so years, the dimensions collapse and warp.
This isn't usually problematic, but occasionally, entire planets from different parts of the cosmos will collide and this can often have cataclysmic results.
- The Draconic Codex
Chapter one
My name is Riley Van Pittsburgh. My life, in a nutshell, was rather boring and unfulfilling. I was a reclusive man with little to no ambition.
Not that I had a problem with not having a sense of purpose.
My last days on earth started like any other: I awoke, bathed, brushed my teeth and dressed up for work.
I was a waiter at a local restaurant and I spent most of my time either working for barely enough money, playing games or reading.
A squeaky noise caught my attention as I downed a scorching cup of coffee.
I looked up to find a large ceiling fan wobbling around.
The landlord said that he was going to send a handyman over to fix it, but it had been three months since we had that conversation.
I didn't really care.
It's not like I used it all that much and if it fell, I'd just toss it aside.
Anyway, I slipped into some shoes and left for work after locking the door to my little apartment.
Life in Unity, the man-made continent was relatively uneventful, but some would say that's a good thing.
I lived in a district called Acan and this was where lower-income citizens, like myself, lived.
Not that I'm complaining.
I took the morning train and made my way to work and as usual, the day passed by without anything particularly interesting happening.
After my shift ended, I made my way back home and proceeded to spend the rest of my time playing a new game I'd gotten.
It was a rather peculiar RPG where you could not only play as the typical fantasy races, but you could also play as various animals.
It was a pretty nice gimmick, but it ultimately meant nothing as skills and spells weren't limited to races or species and so, after allocating the right points in the right places, I was pretty much capable of doing what anyone else was.
My gaming session eventually ended and I fell asleep on the couch.
.
..
The next day arrived and a slight tremor made my heart beat a little faster, but it quickly faded and not even the news reported on it.
I bathed, got dressed and made my way to work, but as I worked away serving mass-produced food to faceless people, another tremor shook the area.
A smile almost formed on my face, but I took a deep breath and calmed any panicking customers.
The tremor quickly subsided and just like that, everything went back to normal.
I'm not a maniac or anything, but I kinda wish something broke or something like that.
Anyway, the workday ended and as I rode the train back home, another tremor shook the area.
I was beginning to get excited.
I wanted to go home and check the news for the destruction reports.
Unity sat atop a gigantic foundation that mankind placed into the earth's crust in the Pacific ocean and I could only imagine how much destruction would be unleashed if any one of its supporting structures were to break.
I eventually arrived home and all of a sudden, the ground shook. This time, the intensity was at its highest.
I then heard a strange metallic squeaking noise from above.
I looked up, but just as my eyes focused on the large ceiling fan, it fell from the roof and hit me in the face, breaking my neck.
My body fell to the floor as an intense amount of pain assaulted my… everything!
My heart continued to beat in its dear attempts to keep me alive, but its valiant efforts were useless.
I felt a strange coldness crawl over me.
It was… comforting.
I felt as though I was being taken to a cold, dark, but gentle place.
The world continued to shake and for a moment I could've sworn I saw another planet above the earth-
That's because there really was another planet above the earth.
My ascension continued and the higher I got, above the skyscrapers and clouds, the more anomalies I saw.
Behind the gigantic planet beyond the moon was another planet.
Well, calling it a planet would be a stretch.
It looked more like the obliterated leftovers of one.
My body soared further upwards and the closer I got to the huge planet, the dimmer my vision got.
I then saw a strange sight and heard a strange noise.
A pale ghostlike being whizzed by me and for a second I thought it was the shape of a goat, but I paid it no mind.
All I wanted was rest.
My life had been pretty pointless, to begin with.
I almost wish I made an effort to make friends, find a partner, buy a house, have kids, grow old…
Crap!
I really messed up.
If I had another chance, I'd try a little harder.
.
..
[Terminal: Logic of the cosmos]
[Error!]
[Space-Time fabric sustaining continuous damage]
[Attempting large scale repair]
[Error: widespread space-time distortion identified]
[Attempting wide-scale repair!]
[Attempt no. ????]
[Attempt failed!]
[Attempting wide-scale repair!]
[Attempt failed!]
.
..
Mmm?
Why am I so uncomfortable? I wondered.
I opened my eyes to find that I was hanging from a stick and being carried by two tall men towards what looked like a giant fire.
What? This must be one crazy dream! I cried internally.
I looked around to see several people doing various things like washing dirty clothes and throwing away the dirty water on the streets, I saw men bantering while chugging large cups of what could only be alcohol while wielding large axes and swords.
The people all looked fairly normal. Well.. as normal as a medieval town could get-
Wait a minute!
I should be thinking of a plan of escape.
The men carried me towards a place where some people were seasoning various cuts of meat.
One of the men carrying me said something I couldn't understand.
A woman asked them something as she seasoned what looked like chicken. She was dressed in simple, but old clothing and her messy hair covered a beautiful, but aged face.
The man carrying me then said something with a hearty laugh.
The other man carrying replied to what the other said with a pout.
Part of me really wanted to know what they were talking and laughing about, but another, much larger part didn't care and wanted to run away.
I was then dropped onto the ground and that's why my eyes finally landed on my body.
I had four legs, as usual-
"Ah!" I screamed, startling not only myself but everyone within earshot.
Everyone stared at me as I frantically breathed.
"What's happening?" I asked as I tried kicking my legs, but they were bound tightly.
Countless people approached me as they muttered various things.
"Remove these ropes, please," I asked, but no one moved to help me.
They all simply stared at me with assorted expressions ranging from fear, bewilderment, shock, curiosity, amazement and even anger for some reason.
Everyone then gasped as an arrow shot through one of my captor's heads. It entered from the other side of his head and emerged from his right eye.
A scream filled the air as countless more arrows fell.
Everyone ran for cover, leaving me in the dirt.
I tried breaking free from my bonds, but there's only so much little goat legs could do!
The screams of the injured and terrified filled the air and that's when I saw a strange armoured figure emerging from the other side of the town.
His amour was strange in the fact that it looked like it was made from some kind of black shell and within his hand, was a dark curved sword.
From behind the dark figure came more, similarly armoured figures.
My little heart began beating like crazy and I frantically shook my legs in an attempt to break free, but the ropes were just too well made and well tied.
This meant I was forced to watch as the dark shelled people slaughtered all of the people who were planning to eat me.
I closed my eyes, hoping that it was a bad dream and I kept them closed.
I wouldn't open them until the screaming stopped.
.
..
I slowly opened my eyes as the sounds of footsteps wandered in the newfound silence of the town.
I then watched as one of the dark murderous people walked up to me.
He knelt to face me, revealing his ash white skin and pitch-black eyes.
The man said something I couldn't understand, most of his face hidden behind a strange dark shell.
He removed a dagger from a sheath on his thigh before cutting my binds.
The man then said something with a chuckle before gesturing towards what I assumed was the town's exit.
I could tell he was smiling, but I didn't care.
I hopped onto my hooves and ran away.
It felt a bit weird at first, but I got the hang of it rather quickly as I ran over to where I assumed the town's exit was.
I eventually found a gate and I stormed out of the town and ran straight into the forest in front of me.
I ran for what seemed like hours before coming to a stop.
I then rested against a tree as I caught my breath.
The night had long since erased all light from my surroundings, but that said, my vision wasn't that bad.
I looked around before letting out a deep sigh.
I tightly closed my eyes to wake myself up from this crazy dream, but no matter how long I waited, nothing changed.
I then felt extreme hunger, one that eclipsed all the hunger I'd ever felt in my life.
My eyes slowly fell to the ground where a nice patch of fresh green grass was.
My saliva glands kicked into overdrive as I inched toward the grass.
I couldn't help it.
I was just so hungry and so I lowered my head and began munching on the grass and if I can be completely honest… it wasn't that bad.
I mean, it's grass, but grass is just a plant and plants are nutritious, right?
Yeah. Right.
Anyway, I ate away for a few minutes until I heard a strange noise coming from behind me.
I turned around to look but found nothing.
Ah well, might as well continue eating. I thought.
Then, in the next moment, my body was thrown to the side by something and I felt a large amount of pain in my rear.
I looked to find a gigantic pale white beast biting my hind leg.
I let out a scream before kicking it in the face and to my luck, my hoof dug deep into the beast's eye.
The beast let out a pained screech before letting me go.
I then ran deeper into the forest even as pain assaulted my leg.
A roar pierced the air and although I couldn't hear it coming, I knew that it was closer than I'd like.
Just as I saw my life flash before my eyes, I slipped and fell into a crevice hidden by vines and moss.
I fell several meters to the ground and with each impact, I felt my little bones splinter and shatter.
Just as my bones broke, thoughts of the end crossed my mind.
Even if it was just a dream, I was doomed to die without doing anything significant again.
I eventually reached what must have been the bottom of a deep hole.
I opened my eyes to find nothing but darkness.
Darkness of the purest kind.
It was… calling to me.
Like a parent to a child.
I slowly got up and walked deeper into the darkness and although every step of took hurt like crazy, I didn't stop.
The darkness assured me comfort, but only if I sank deeper.
I spent the next few hours carefully descending what looked like a deep-running system of caves.
I slipped in and out of consciousness, but regardless, I pushed forward.
I eventually arrived at an unreasonably large wooden door that was open, but ever so slightly.
At this point, my vision was next to gone, but I could feel where the opening was and so, without a second thought, I walked towards the door and entered a gigantic chamber and at its end, sat what couldn't only be described as a titan and he sat on a pitch-black throne.
His black eyes peered into mine and I quickly noticed that a gigantic golden sword was lodged in his chest.
My thoughts got even fuzzier and my vision rapidly faded, but instead of falling onto the cold ground, I felt myself gently float towards the titan in the dark.
[Hello, little one. What brought you to the dark and injured you so?]
A voice from within my head asked.
"I… fell…" I struggled to say.
[Really? Such random misfortune is a part of life, I guess.]
The titan said as I got closer to his ash white body, which was covered in what looked like a luxurious grey silky gown. Although dust and ash-covered its fine surface.
I stopped floating just in front of the titan's face.
[Stop calling me a titan. My name is Kenos.]
Kenos said with a weak smile.
"I… don't care." I spat.
I was in too much pain to care about whatever Kenos felt.
[Aww, but you and I are kindred spirits, no?]
"I'm tired. I want to sleep-"
[No! Don't die! We haven't even gotten to know each other!]
Kenos said without moving his dry mouth, although his dark eyes looked sincere.
"I'm not going to die, I just want a bit of rest!" I cried as my heart slowly weakened.
[Says the one who's on death's door!]
Kenos said with a gentle frown.
"Look who's talking, ya big idiot!" I yelled.
The two of us looked at each other for a bit before simultaneously sighing.
[Alone, we cannot survive. Hey! How about you and I fuse?]
Kenos suggested, but at this point, I really didn't care-
Wait a minute!
That's the exact same attitude that ended up filling me with regret as I died!
Wait.
Had I died?
Crap.
"What will happen when we fuse?" I asked.
[Simple. We'll just be glueing our pathetic little life forces together.]
The titan- I mean, Kenos said.
"Sure. I guess we'll both die if we don't, right?" I asked.
[Pretty much.]
Kenos said as he moved his head closer to mine.
[Join me, my little Katsíki.]
I then felt an overwhelming amount of pain and suffering and flashes of a Great War flooded my mind.
Dragons set the skies ablaze with their world-ending flames.
Knights charged heroically into said flames as they battled alongside the very gods themselves.
My visions ended with Kenos, except he was clad in glorious dark armour.
He knelt above a mountain of corpses and with his chest was a golden sword.
He looked up and saw a being as bright and as beautiful as the sun.
The world brightened by several folds and my vision eventually ended.
.
..
[Title acquired: Host of Darkness]