Everywhere he looked, regardless of where he went, the annoying and heavy fog stood in his way. He could only make out about two meters in front of him with difficulty. A boy was panting for breath in the middle of it all.
He had been running for longer than he wanted to admit. He could be heading towards a cliff, and the only positive thing was that he wouldn't know until the moment of his fall.
The only thing that was distinguishable, barely recognizable by its outline like an unfinished drawing, were a series of tall buildings and ominous towers in the distance. Regardless of how much he advanced, did not seem to be getting any closer to the ruined structures.
However, he couldn't stop, no matter how pointless it seemed to continue or how much he lacked breath and felt that his chest was about to explode at any moment.
The moment he stopped; it would start all over again.
Unable to take it anymore, his body betrayed him; he stumbled. Somehow managing to keep his balance, he unconsciously stopped for a moment to catch his breath and the heavy steps that he thought he had lost time and time again, resumed their thudding; they went through every fiber of his being.
Again, he could hear someone taking their time to catch up to him, but suddenly without any sound or rhythm, they accelerated, whatever was hidden there in the foggy mist had picked up a full sprint. An instant later, he could hear it close by, too close for anyone's liking.
He wanted to scream, he wanted to ask for help, but it would be useless.
There was nothing or no one around to come to his aid. He could only run, but how long would he be able to resist? Would he be able to reach those distant structures, or would he be caught by that thing that seemed to enjoy tormenting him? And if he did, were there other people there, a place to hide or at least a way to contact help?
—I can't take it anymore… Maybe, just maybe, I should give up —Aiden thought.
The moment the words formed in his mind; a deafening screech made him jump. It was the loudest siren he had ever heard in his life. More than an alarm, it gave the impression of being the trumpet announcing the apocalypse. He couldn't tell if that thing was still approaching, the ridiculous siren devoured the white plain and every other notion of senses for a moment.
His heart was pounding a thousand miles an hour, but he was unable to feel it, he couldn't even feel the saliva sliding down his throat because of such a deafening noise that brought him to his knees. In vain, he tried to block the sound with his hands and screams.
At that moment when he was most vulnerable, a series of lethal blades made of a material similar to metal came out of the fog with violence, as if they were the product of a shotgun.
Most of them missed, but Aiden couldn't be so lucky, of course. A few ricocheted between themselves, and one of the longest blades, about 15–18 centimeters, hit his left thigh. It penetrated cleanly at a right angle and was so fast that it took him a second to process what had happened.
As suffocating as the situation was, the most asphyxiating thing was that even then, he couldn't hear his own screams of agony. And as if that weren't enough torment, the earth began to shake and shake with such violence that the world itself seemed to collapse on itself. Twisting still on the ground, Aiden noticed, it was impossible not to, how the buildings were falling like dominoes and the few that remained had definitely been shattered from the inside.
Finally, the creature that had caused him that terrible wound appeared from the shadows. A monster, that for some reason—beyond Aiden—someone had once called an "angel."
He had beautiful shining white wings and a white robe covering his long humanoid figure, and his face was hidden behind a cracked mask of a material that reminded him of porcelain. From the tip of the wings to the golden edges of the robe, a substance ran through it that looked like a milkshake of colors: blue/light blue, gold, and silver; in various places, or rather internal conduits, that gave the semblance of blood vessels.
The colorful veins like rainbows were illuminated at times every time the angel circulated his power, which was not a good sign for Aiden, he knew it would be his end if he didn't do something.
He bit his lips so hard that he probably swallowed a piece of his flesh without realizing it. He put his will to the test and gathered strength from where he didn't know he had it.
With effort and staggering, he regained his stance. Run or fight, he had no idea what his next action would be. He just refused to die here.
With commendable courage, he confronted the approaching angel: Oh, so slowly! But then, something that was beyond any possibility that the young man could have conceived happened.
Without warning, the same mist that surrounded everything was dyed a deep dark red. It enveloped the creature and, as if it were food for millions of tiny insects, quickly disappeared in front of Aiden's eyes, the creatures foamed as well, leaving him all alone in that place.
He didn't know what had just happened, much less understand it, but he gave a long and heavy sigh of relief. An obscene smile took hold of his face. To say that, he was delighted was an understatement.
—You will not be defeated… Not by something like this. We have a destiny to fulfill, Aiden.
Without understanding what it was, he believed he heard a distant voice, despite the monstrous siren still screeching.
He slightly turned his head to see where the voice that he thought he heard came from. That act was the last thing Aiden did.
A sharp sensation spread along his neck and nape. First warm for just a moment and then cold.
«What had happened?» Aiden thought.
He saw his own feet, the dirty and worn shoes as always; he hadn't noticed before, but one of the laces was untied and the edge of the pants was frayed.
A moment later he came to, he understood, as his body made a sudden thud against the floor, what had happened.
—AHHGHFFKJVHGGHHGGGG!!! —The sharp cry spread everywhere in the bedroom, but no one heard it, there was no one to hear it.
Aiden breathed heavily, or at least he tried to, he felt that the oxygen was not passing in any way. The moment he let out the cry, he jumped out of bed and was now sitting on it and leaning against the wall. He aggressively shook his arms in search of something until he finally found it.
Shaking, he brought the small bottle of pills on the makeshift dresser next to his bed and opened it with great effort. Giving involuntary kicks and holding, with a look of pain, his dry throat, he forced himself in some way not to spit out two of the small blue capsules.
When the substance dissolved by his saliva went down his trachea, he squeezed it with his hands so hard that he would probably leave marks the next day.
An irrational pain attacked his left leg as well as his neck. In addition, he felt that his head was splitting in two.
Several minutes passed like this, trying to complete a single set of breathing exercises to calm down, until the medicine that was fortunately fast acting took effect.
He inhaled deeply for what seemed like an eternity, felt the oxygen inflating his lungs properly, then came the exhalation and an intoxicating calm made him close his eyes and savor the moment.
—Again —said Aiden, his raspy voice and red eyes—. The same dream.
That was all the young man said, and continued with the exercises to recover his regular breathing.
With meditation exercises, he tried to empty his mind, but it was impossible for the young man. He couldn't get the confusion out of his head. He understood why his leg, after all, had fought against an "angel" and survived to talk about it; sequels were inevitable for someone like him, but it didn't explain the awful pain in his neck and head. However, he didn't give it much thought, he didn't have the disposition or the psychic strength to investigate it.
He picked up the pills that had jumped on the bed and put them back in their container. Ironically, he used to take them for his "hallucinations", to regain contact with reality, and now they were the only thing that helped him escape the tormenting pain.
—Curses… Have I become an addict?
Aiden slowly lowered one foot from the bed and then the other. He leaned his body towards the chair that he had previously positioned next to his bed, where his cell phone was.
—Agh, it's Sunday, and it's not even 5 a.m.
He placed the phone on his ear and dialed the number he knew by heart.
—Hey, it's me. I'm starting to run low; can we schedule the next batch? Thank you.
He knew there was nobody on the other side, a plain answering machine recorded his message as always.
He placed the cell phone back on the chair that served as a nightstand and was about to try to go back to sleep when a memory came to his mind.
—Right, I have to see Maika at seven. At least I'm already awake, I have enough time to calm down before I see her. Yes, that's what I'll do. The early bird catches the worm, as the saying goes! Right!?