The heavens were crumbling. Giant, vast cracks could be seen on the azure sky above. Dozens of shards rained onto the earth below, causing immense destruction. Absolute darkness could be seen oozing from the shattered sky, into the dying world below.
The world itself was in chaos. Deafening sounds of cataclysmic battles filled the air, loud enough to completely shatter eardrums of mundane humans. No humans were in sight though, only true darkness spread across the desolate lands, consuming them.
And with it - came these appalling creatures. Grotesque abominations born from the Whisper of Chaos, wrecking havoc in the five realms. The ancient Gods battled the beings of the Void, while the surviving humans would be left to defend themselves against the Chaos Creatures.
Against the Noise.
The Noise was born from the Whisper of Chaos, an insidious whisper left behind by the Void Creatures before the ancient Gods put an end to their tyranny.
Any human exposed to the Noise - to the Whisper of Chaos - would succumb to the Will of the Void Beings, becoming Corrupted. These Corrupted monsters not the same as Chaos Creatures, but not that much different either.
Hope was dead. Along with the other Gods, so the surviving humans had to build a sanctuary from scratch. The old world was lost, dead, never to be revived from the ashes again. A new world was born from the death of the Gods.
The incorruptable world. A world free from the influence of the Void. The dead Gods graced humans and looked after them even beyond death.
But the Void was insidious and everlasting. Even though the Void Beings were dead, their breath, echoes and Names still remain in existence. And that is enough for them to enforce their Will even from beyong death.
The Chaos Creatures devastated and destroyed all the realms, leaving only crumbling ruins behing. This Sacred Santuary, left behind by the dead Gods is the only one that remains. And so the Caos Creatures infiltrate the Sacred Sanctuary next.
The Age of Heroes had commenced. New heroes must arise to fufil the will of the Gods, and battle Chaos Creatures in a deadly war for survival and control.
This is the truth.
This is the Nightmare.
#
Luke suddenly jerked his body upwards, almost hitting the roof. He was breathing heavily, panting like a madman. His auburn hair was disheveled and out of place. His eyes were wide open and crimson red. Rivers of sweat rolled down his pale skin. He was already pale before, but now, he simply looked dead.
He probably was considered dead, as he just awakened from the Nightmare, his consciousness scarred for life.
Becoming one of the Commonality was not of his 2174 bingo card. It was not something he had expected to happen, especially on his 16th birthday. It was pretty common for teenagers to experience the Nightmare, but he did not expected to survive it.
His consciousness was not as nearly as nourished enough. He should have died. Even Luke had already come to terms with his death, and made sure to mentally prepare for it, whatever that meant...
It was a pretty well-known thing that no teenager of his social status survived the Nightmare, so Luke was probably the first. That was not a good accomplishment though, for another reason Luke would rather not think about.
"Argh that was so intense. My head!"
He gritted his teeth and rubbed his temples. His voice came out hoarse and broken, his throat as dry as the ancient Sahara. There were no deserts anymore - or ony other natural landscape for that matter - so Luke had no idea what a desert looked like.
He got up, or at least tried to, but then realized he was way too far away from his bed. He was currently sitting in top left corner of his room, where his table was supposed to be. He looked under his naked body and cursed out loud.
He was currently sitting on top of his table, which had been broken a few moments, by God knows who. Dozens of books were scattered around him, as well his essentials he placed on the table.
He grabbed the digital watch on his left and looked at the time. 01:37 am. The cool night breeze caressed his face, he momentarily forgot about his problems. The curtains danced in the wind slightly, letting the pale silver radiance of the moon illuminate his pale, naked figure.
He got up and headed to the kitchen. His apartment was not exactly large but it was still cosy. Because he was a student, his apartment was considered luxurious in the rundown building he lived in. He had no parents or relatives, but that is a story for another day...
His apartment was separated into two rooms, a kitchen-living room combination, and a bedroom-bathroom combination as well. His limbs were still numb from the traumatic experience of the Nightmare, and so walking to the kitchen had been... a new experience to say the least.
Which made sense considering that his consciousness had been severely malnourished, and awakening from the Nightmare must have used up all the energy stored in his body. And that is exactly why he had to get to the kitchen. He was in desperate need of food.
His legs wobbled all the way, but he used the walls as support and so he was able to make it. He tried opening the fridge, but something else happened instead.
Snap!
The whole door snapped and fell on the floor with a loud bang. He did not even give himself a moment to think about what he had done, just took out all the synthetic foods he had in his doorless fridge, and started consuming everything like a madman.
Slowly, his strength returned, until he was strong enough to stand up and wobble around the room. He still paid zero attention to the fridge door laying on the floor, and greedily drank a whole bottle of watter.
He refilled the bottle and finished it again. After a few minutes of recklessly consuming his monthly reserves of food, a sigh of relief escaped his lips. His somber mood returned again. He had a lot to think about, and he was not really a fan of thinking.
But before making all those major decisions, he had to know and weigh all his options first. And he knew exactly the organization that would help him in that regard, he just had to be careful with who he approached with this information.
He got up and headed to his bedroom. He took his oversized clothes he wore for comfort, and basically hung them on his frail thin body. His legs were much better now, but he was still a walking uncertainty.
Because he was on the very top floor, he could not risk falling to the ground far below, so he had to seek help. He headed to the door and hesitated for a few moments, before pressing a small button on the wall. After a few minutes, he heard a rough knock on the door.
"Don't be so rough, those doors could break anytime. I'm coming okay?"
He opened the door and saw a familiar guant man looking down at him with a complicated expression. This man was the security of this rundown apartment. He had short black hair, and smooth brown skin. He had beautiful brown eyes that reflected the pale moonlight and sharp facial features.
He was tall, taller that the doorframe to be exact, his lean muscular figure giving both men and women a run for their money. Luke felt his body involuntarily shiver in the sight of Donny. It did everytime. His presence emitted a sense of profound strength and dread, one would argue that he was a mere Commonality, just like Luke.
Luke remained frozen for a few moments, so it was Donny who spoke.
"Is there an emergency here boy? Or you just felt like wasting my time."
Luke looked at him somberly and cleared his throat.
"Uhm no. I mean yes, there is an emergency. I need your help getting to the reception, I don't think my legs can do the job for now. I just woke up from the Nightmare you see."
Donny just scoffed and gave him a deadpan stare, clearly not believing a word Luke said. It made sense really, kids like him were not supposed to survive the Nightmare. That was probably the first time Don had ever heard of it.
He was only used to carrying out The Hollowed - the ones who did not survive the Nightmare - out of the building complex to one of the government facilities that dealt with those people.
But after seeing Luke's unchanging expression, and the mess inside his apartment, he realised that maybe the young man was telling the truth. He stared him up and down, and judged by his messy state that Luke indeed was.
He mumbled a curse under his breath, and whisked Luke's frail figure from the ground and dashed towards the stairs. Luke let out a startled yelp, he was definitely not expecting to the carried. He just called Don over for support that's all!
His face was now bright red from embarrassment, but he did not retort.
#
A young woman sat behing a reception desk, her expression definitely bothered and unapproachable. Her hair was tied in a messy bun, that gave certain contrast to her reading glasses. She was young, probably in her early twenties, but her expression have off middle-aged woman with an unemployed husband, three kids and a minimum wage.
She heard footsteps approach her desk, and spoke without lifting her head.
"What do you want?"
Don must have put Luke down at some point, so he was currently alone.
"Uhm, I need help. I just woke up from the Nightmare and I do not know what to do."
She did not even flinch, her head continued facing down on the giant pile of paperwork she was filling out, her expression not even cracking a little bit. After a few moments of silence, she said:
"You are lying."
Luke sighed. He did not really have the strength to deal with this woman today, literally...
"But Miss Brissett, you did not even look at me."
She raised her head, stared him down and continued with her work like she saw nothing abnormal.
"I did look once. It's slow productivity. Incompetence always is. Take a sit, or not, I don't really care. I am calling Don to deal with you."
Luke tilted his head slightly.
"You mean this Don?"
She raised her head, slightly confused. Before she could retort, a familiar guant figure appeared behind Luke, looked at both of them and frowned.
"Is there a problem here Miss Brissett? Ahh you know what do not answer me, I am not in the mood for your nonsense today. This young man here just awakened from the Nightmare, and so he needs to be properly educated on the logistics of the Eplialtic Weave. Sign him up for the academy, you know what to do."
The young woman just looked at them both with a complicated expression. She quickly typed in a few words, and then gave Luke the laptop with trembling hands.
"Uhm sir, please fill in your information on this sheet, and report back here tomorrow morning, will then proceed to the academy after that."
Luke suppressed a triumphant smile as he snatched the laptop from her hands, almost breaking it. He was feeling awfully good about himself. He knew this was going to be hard but getting one of the awakened involved was the best idea he had thought of.
'Huh, who's the incompetent one now bitch?'