Hurt, Confused, Delirious
OoOoOoooh man... How did I get here?!?
Everything hurts—F***!
I'm blanking out...
Focus. Focus! Focus!!
Ah—that's right. This is the end of my path... but the question is—
WHERE IN ALL HELLS AM I?!
Is... is this... my apartment?
No way. It was wrecked 20 years ago. But... it seems familiar, like I've been here before.
Oh... wait... I'm... bleeding out.
Drowsy, Near Fainting, Delirious, Remembering
Ahh... The Artifact. Yes! That's right... the Artifact—where is it? Where did it go?
Glint
Yes! That's it...
Crawling
Sounds of exertion
Breathing heavily
Aww, sht. Everything is fading. Tunnel vision can SUCK MY $#%(% #$%&^( and #%$^&7&*...
Same goes for bleeding out.
Three seconds later
Got it!
The whole world went to sht just for this—something the size of a f***** thumb drive.
Now that I mention that... I think I'll be joining them soon. Soon...
I... I...
I hope... this works...
Exposition, Description, Reflection
Thinking...
Thankfully, my early years of being an absolute encyclopedic nerd paid off. And social isolation... f***. Well, at least let me give you some exposition.
This artifact is known as The Shard of Origin. As its name implies, it supposedly holds the power to return to one's origin. Some myths say it grants ultimate power. Others claim that whoever wields it can rule over all of existence... and maybe even beyond.
The Shard looks like a piece of broken glass, glowing like a damn glow stick. Oddly enough, despite its appearance, it's not sharp. But unlike its size... this thing is so f****** heavy—like, WHAT THE F***?!
If you want specifics, it weighs approximately 10 kg.
Oh, that's right. I haven't told you my name, have I?
Uh... Mister? Miss? Floating eyeballs?
Yeah, whatever.
Name: Victor Julius Edwards
Male
Age: 64
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 200 pounds of pure muscle
Born: December 8, 2031, at 9:35:17 PM
I've been stuck in a war for 19 years, racing against the world powers for this stupid Shard.
The war began at 5:48:27 AM on February 10, 2076. I was 45 years old.
I had a kid. She was 20—not that young, I know. My wife was just over a year older than me. We met during one of my frequent walks in the park.
We got married when I was 22. Had our daughter at 25.
Then... they died.
I was out of town when my daughter came to visit. We had heard rumors of war, but we thought it was just a scare tactic from the Second Greatest World Power.
Most of the details were classified—kept from the public.
We shouldn't have been so trusting. So complacent.
All I can say in our defense is that we had been hearing about rising tensions for years—since the days of my great-grandparents.
Maybe if we were better people... maybe if we had listened... maybe, just maybe, we could have lived longer.
Maybe the world wouldn't have had to end.
...
I blame the morons who thought it was a good idea to sacrifice the working class for this stupid Shard. It wasn't even worth it.
After everything I went through, not a single piece of real information was found. And now, as I lay here on the verge of death... I have just one thing to say.
F*** YOU ALL.
For the misery you caused.
Not just to me, but to everyone you sacrificed.
And just to spite the power-hungry bastards, I'm going to destroy what they sought so desperately.
How?
Easy.
I'm gonna eat it.
Yeah, you heard me.
Wait, no—you watched me, didn't you, floating eyeballs?
Disgust, Extreme Pain, Delusion, Hallucination, Fever, Suffocating
AAAAAaaaaHHHHH!!!?!?
FkFkFkFkFkFkF**k—
It's like acid reflux, Tylenol, and NyQuil mixed together—with the equivalent of 307 bullet ants biting my balls.
That's... quite the comparison...
INTENSE SCREAMING
Yes... that's right... what's my wish?
I want to stop those bastards.
The ones who took my family.
The ones who ruined the world.
The ones who—more than anything—are nothing but a waste of cosmic life.
A poison to existence itself.
They think of themselves as superior?
No. Not a chance.
I know what I want.
I want the power to be truly better.
To show them what superiority really means.
But most of all...
I want my family back.
I want to hold my daughter again.
To remember my wife with love, not just pain and sorrow.
To erase this deep, endless yearning—this void that's been carved into me.
My wish is to—
-END-