The sky above was no longer the familiar blue he had grown accustomed to. It had turned a deep shade of violet, streaked with swirling clouds that seemed unnatural. Avaera stood alone in the middle of the street, his gaze fixed upward, his eyes wide with a mix of fear and strange anticipation.
"It finally came..." he muttered to himself, the words barely more than a whisper, but his voice trembled with something like acceptance.
The rumble of the earth below him was faint at first, then grew steadily louder, until the ground seemed to shudder beneath his feet. As he watched, a massive shadow passed over the sky. A spaceship—no, it was more than that—something immense, larger than the moon itself, descended toward the Earth. It loomed ominously above him, blocking out the stars, its metallic surface reflecting the dimming sky.
Avaera had always known it would come, though he had never imagined it would be this close, this soon.
The world was about to change.
Flashback
Avaera had never known a home. He had been abandoned at the orphanage as a baby, left in a basket on the cold stone steps, a note pinned to his blanket with his name written on it. The nuns who ran the orphanage had taken him in, fed him, clothed him, but they never truly saw him. To them, he was just another child, one among many.
At the age of eight, Avaera was finally adopted. His new mother was kind at first, a woman with soft eyes and gentle hands. But after just a few months, she returned him to the orphanage without explanation. Avaera had sat in the corner of the orphanage, alone, as the other children pointed and whispered. They all saw him as a failure, the one who was unworthy of love.
The depression came soon after. At first, he didn't know what to call it, but the feeling of loneliness, of being discarded, slowly ate away at him.
For six years, Avaera remained at the orphanage, the echoes of rejection following him like a shadow. He was quiet, distant, never forming lasting bonds with anyone. But then, at fourteen, something unexpected happened. Another family came. They were kind, or so they seemed. His new parents promised him a fresh start, a place in their home, in their lives.
For a month, things went well. But then the argument started. His new father had wanted to adopt him only for the tax benefits, the money that would come from taking in a child. His mother had been too naĂŻve to see it. When the truth came to light, their marriage cracked, and within weeks, they were divorced. Avaera was returned to the orphanage once more, a casualty of greed and broken dreams.
The children in the orphanage laughed at him then. The adults pitied him. "The cursed one," they would say. "The one who never gets chosen."
Now, at seventeen, Avaera stood outside the orphanage once again. He had been adopted yet again, but this time, his new family had no interest in raising him. They were distant, neglectful, more interested in their own lives than in being parents. They taught him no manners, no values. He was just a burden, an afterthought.
Two weeks before the spaceship arrived, Avaera had wandered through the city, aimlessly walking through the streets. His mind was numb, his heart heavy with the weight of years spent in the shadows, overlooked and unloved. It was then that he had come across the church.
The old structure was in ruins, the stone cracked and crumbling. No one came here anymore, not since the last few people had left years ago. But Avaera, drawn by something he couldn't explain, stepped inside. The air was thick with dust, the silence oppressive.
He walked to the altar, where a statue of a long-forgotten saint stood. The eyes of the statue seemed to follow him as he approached, and something stirred deep inside of him.
Avaera knelt and clasped his hands together, his fingers trembling as he prayed. The words came out in a whisper, the only prayer he had ever known.
"I want the world to end..."
He didn't know why he said it, but in that moment, it felt like the only thing he could ask for. The world had always been so unkind to him. Maybe if it ended, he could finally escape the endless cycle of rejection. Maybe if everything fell apart, he would be free.
Back to Present
Avaera's breath hitched as the spaceship's belly opened. From the vast, gaping maw of the craft, creatures began to emerge. A monstrous, writhing octopus, its many tentacles slithering across the earth; a grotesque, zombie-like figure that lumbered toward him with an unsettling growl; and then, countless other creatures—some familiar, others completely alien.
The ground shook as a massive two-legged giraffe-like creature emerged, its glowing eyes fixed on Avaera. It moved with terrifying speed, its sharp claws scraping against the pavement as it took a step toward him. Avaera could barely move, frozen in fear, knowing that he was no match for any of these creatures.
But just as the creature raised its claw to strike, a figure lunged from the side. A man, tall and broad-shouldered, collided with the giraffe-like monster, tackling it to the ground with a force that sent the creature tumbling.
The man turned to Avaera, his eyes fierce and full of resolve. "Run!" he shouted, but Avaera couldn't move. He didn't want to run. He wanted to stay, to die here if it meant the suffering would finally end.
But the man didn't give up. He tackled the creature again, but this time, he was struck by a wolf-like monster, its teeth sinking into his side. The man grunted, pushing the wolf off of him, but it was too late. The wolf's fangs tore through his flesh, and within moments, the man's body went limp.
Avaera stood frozen, unable to process the scene in front of him. Why had this man, this stranger, thrown himself into harm's way to save him? He didn't understand. But before he could think any further, the two monsters turned their attention to him.
In that moment, when he thought his life was finally over, something changed. Soldiers, armed with tanks and guns, appeared from nowhere, charging toward the creatures. The monsters were quickly surrounded, and the soldiers fired with precision, taking them down one by one. Avaera, still in shock, collapsed to the ground as the chaos unfolded around him.
When he woke, it was to the dull throb of pain and the faint scent of antiseptic. He opened his eyes to find himself in a barracks, surrounded by injured soldiers and civilians. The air was thick with the sound of hushed whispers, the kind that only came after something catastrophic had happened.
Avaera sat up slowly, confusion clouding his thoughts. The last thing he remembered was the monsters, the man who had tried to save him, and then...
"You're awake," a voice said, soft and unsure.
Avaera turned his head to see a woman sitting at his side, her face pale but kind. "You're safe now," she said. "The battle's over."
He couldn't answer. The words stuck in his throat, the weight of what had just happened too much to comprehend.
The world had fallen.
And now, it seemed that everything was about to change.