BANG!
The metallic sound of the trash can resonated in the alley. The crimson blood soaked the rough ground.
"Little demon."
A corpulent man walked towards the trash can. The cigar smoke in his mouth danced with the small breeze that entered the alley, and his abundant beard marked his presence. But, of course, his clothes were dirty and torn.
After all, this is the suburbs.
The man squatted, grabbing the young man by his dark and long hair. After a couple of seconds in silence, the imposing man talked, his voice was cold and menacing:
"Are you listening to me, right?"
The young man opened his eyes slowly. Suddenly, the blood oozing from his nose was no longer the reddest thing. With his crimson eyes, the young man looked him directly in the eyes.
A mocking smile appeared on his face.
"Sorry… I'm deaf."
The man stared at him. A few moments later, he chuckled.
"You must want to die, Telos."
Even when he pretended to be fine with the mock, his grip tightened on Telos' hair. With that, he brought the young man's face closer, his teeth tightly clenched.
"...I can kill you if you want."
The menacing words did not affect Telos, his gaze continued nailed on the man, without a single pinch of fear. Seconds passed by in silence.
And the loud, squeaky sound of a bell invaded the silence.
The man clicked his tongue with anger, pulling back, and he shoved Telos's head back into the metal cube behind him. The impact made a dull sound.
"You're lucky this time."
That was the last words the man said before he left the alley without being completely convinced.
The young man stared at nothingness when the sound of a metallic coin interrupted his thoughts. He looked to his left, visualizing the bronze coin on the ground.
This was his way to gain money, even if it's a little. Since he was born, his strange characteristics have made him suffer a lot of criticism and hateful looks.
So if he was never going to be appreciated, why didn't he do not make this his income?
There are a lot of people who suffer, so everyone wants to get rid of the feeling of sadness. Telos was going to die soon if he did not earn money; therefore, the suburban people requested him this job: Being beaten for ten minutes by people for a simple bronze coin.
He did not even think about it; there was nobody who cared about him, which meant that all the suburban people were going to beat him up.
Telos raised his head, looking at the beautiful colours of the twilight.
"I hate this."
Anger filtered in his words, and he clenched his fist around the bronze coin. After a couple of seconds, he let out a sigh. What was this anger going to change?
Standing up, he looked at the mess in the alley. The metallic smell of blood entered his nostrils, making him frown.
'All this blood came from me…'
The alley was practically completely covered in blood, and the stone bricks of the walls also had dried blood splattered along them. But Telos tried not to show any bad emotion, after all, today was his birthday.
Today he is twenty years old.
Thoughtful, he walked towards the alley exit. People celebrate his birthday, no matter what, their families reunite, maybe even their friends. Others even got luxury gifts like gold accessories or a golden carriage, or even a palace in some cases.
Even the people of the suburbs had their way to celebrate, inviting the neighbors or having a simple but happy day with their loved ones.
Telos had nothing.
His family left him. The people hate him. Money… of course, he did not have.
'I hate them… all.'
And as he stepped out of the alley, his chest felt hot. Extremely hot, as if the sun itself had been replaced for his heart.
'What is… happening!?'
Telos thought, confused by the sudden change. He grabbed the place where his heart was supposed to be and squeezed hard, but even the pain he was meant to feel did not. Slowly, his breath was fading, and his struggles to stop the pain gave way. He fell on his knees.
'Shit, shit… Why always me?'
His indomitable eyes turned glassy. Telos looked at his chest, the first tears slid over his worn shirt, browned by dried blood. But there was something strange…
His chest was shining, letting out a faint crimson light.
Telos looked at it for a few seconds, still shocked by his situation. Finally, he wiped his tears and clenched his teeth hard.
He gulped and, gaining resolution, looked under his shirt.
The strange crimson shine came from the mark in his chest. A tattoo-like engraving, depicting a tearing mouth with fangs that seemed to penetrate his skin.
The brightness began to dim, little by little, until the black color was once again etched on his chest. With the glow, the immense heat had also left.
He let out a shaky snort.
But it did not finish… As he snorted, the world began to shake, as if a major earthquake had suddenly struck it.
The sudden screams of the suburban people made Telos know that this was not him losing consciousness; the world is truly trembling. The young man, in an impulse of instinct, grabbed at the cracks in the ground, his bloody fingers sending a stabbing pain to his mind.
'Why is all this happening!?'
Telos wondered as he tried not to lose stability. Seconds passed by, and the earthquake still continued to shake everything in its path.
The houses in the suburbs barely hold themselves up on a normal day… How long will they last with an earthquake of such magnitude?
Telos knew how much… A small house from the alley started to lose balance, and finally, the rotten wood pillars that held it split. Falling right on him…
Telos opened his eyes wide.
"Come on…"
His words barely came out of his mouth.
Time stopped. The battered house falling on the young man seemed to have stopped in mid-air. Telos, on the other hand, stopped breathing.
'I can avoid it.'
He thought calmly. Yet he didn't move. Should he avoid it? Wasn't it better to end this stupid suffering of life? Avoid it so that... he would get beaten up again the next day?
'Move, idiot!'
Telos threw himself to the side, trying to avoid the collapsed house.
The dry wood hit the ground hard, shattering into hundreds of tiny splinters. However, the pillars were slightly more durable, so they didn't break when they fell.
Instead, it caught Telos's left leg. Pain spread throughout his body in a matter of moments, and yet, the young man couldn't bring himself to let out a cry of pain.
The worst was yet to come.
Beneath him, a crack that was widening due to the earthquake threatened to swallow him up every moment.
Telos groaned in pain, desperately trying to escape this situation.
At first, he could only faintly feel the small crack, but in just a few seconds, it covered almost his entire back.
"Come on!"
The young man cried out in despair, his voice dry and hoarse, and blood replaced his saliva with his words.
The wooden pillar wasn't too heavy; the reasons for this were obvious: it was completely worn and mostly hollow, eaten away by termites in the past.
Even so, the young man couldn't move it enough to free his leg; he was too weak and battered to have any strength left.
He felt his vision slowly blur, his muscles seemed to give in to fatigue, and his mind seemed to be growing more and more distant.
The crack beneath him was already close to devouring his right shoulder.
'Please...'
That was Telos's last thought before he completely abandoned his attempts to get out.
The crack stopped expanding, and debris fell into its infinite darkness, echoing between its walls.
Telos no longer cared about the pain pressing against his leg. He breathed a sigh of relief, even though he was still in a rather unfavorable situation.
"Just a moment."
The young man stammered, trying to regain his strength before continuing his attempts.
The silence was absolute, harmlessly invaded by the falling debris.
The seconds passed quickly, as if time didn't want Telos to rest.
The young man took a breath.
However, before he could regain his composure, hundreds of human screams invaded his mind.
These screams... they sounded filled with indescribable terror.
A tremor shook Telos's body again, and he frowned deeply.
This tremor wasn't from an earthquake; it was... footsteps, hundreds of them, and they all seemed to be running desperately.
The suburbs were quite small, and Telos was hit in the most accessible area, in the alley off the main street.
That said, that meant all those people probably passed through here.
Normally, that would be a good sign; people could help him get out. But unfortunately, that wasn't going to be the case.
The first person appeared in the distance, barely visible to the young man. It had already fallen dark after all, and the earthquake hadn't left the lights unscathed by its wrath.
Soon there were ten, then a hundred, and finally, Telos had lost count.
They were all desperately fleeing from something.
Telos silently observed the situation, swallowing and thinking:
'It's impossible for an earthquake to cause this... What's going on?'
However, his question was quickly answered.
'You don't need to answer that...'
He thought ironically as his blood ran cold.
There, chasing the people, dozens of strange creatures were running to devour them as quickly as possible. Their thirst for blood made the young man pale.
'Shit, shit, shit...'
While constantly cursing, Telos tried to push the pillar onto his leg.
It moved slightly, causing a hint of joy to appear on the young man's face.
He continued pushing with all his might, completely forgetting the crack beneath him.
He was close to freeing himself from the pillar.
Only one last push was needed. Telos gathered all his strength and took a breath.
Air rushed out of his mouth along with a mouthful of blood. The first person had arrived and, ignoring the young man, kicked him in the side of the head.
Seconds later, the second arrived, then the third, the fourth...
Telos covered his head with his left arm, leaving his right on the ground to avoid falling into the abyss beneath the crack.
Multiple footsteps fell on his arm. Finally, one dragged his arm forcefully, dislocating his shoulder.
Telos groaned in pain, unable to move a muscle.
This was much worse than dying.
Seconds ticked by, kicks and footsteps followed.
And finally, all the people desperately fleeing had passed.
Now, only the creatures remained, which stopped their desperate pursuit in front of the young man.
Was it because he was easy prey? He didn't know.
Telos turned his head toward the creature lying on top of him; due to his blurred vision, he couldn't make out its shape.
The creature, resembling an emaciated gorilla, moved its arm slowly.
Its ribs protruded from its skin, though no blood did. Its fur was greenish and stained with sticky blood.
The creature picked up Telos carefully. The young man fit perfectly in the giant creature's palm, seemingly cradled by it.
The gaunt gorilla brought his palm up to his face. Telos could faintly make out the sharp fangs on the creature's face.
But he didn't focus on it for long. Their eyes met, both a deep crimson. After a few moments of silence, Telos spoke:
"Kill them."