Bj ran.
The cold air tore through his lungs as he sprinted through the docks, boots hammering the cracked pavement. Every few seconds the ground shook — another explosion, another roar. The sky was no longer sky; it churned with purple clouds and rivers of lightning, like the heavens themselves were bleeding.
He didn't look back.
There was nothing left to look back to.
As he ran, a new sound rose through the storm — not thunder this time, but screams. The kind that echo through bone. The kind that make a man's heart break before his body does.
He rounded a corner, stumbled over a fallen lamppost, and saw the first houses of the street — his street — burning. The roof of his home sagged under the smoke, but the front door still stood.
"Kerry!" he shouted, his voice raw.
The door burst open. Kerry appeared, hair wild, their two-year-old son, Lorenzo, clutched tight against her chest. Behind her, their dog Tyrion barked and snarled, tail low.
"Bj! What's happening?" she cried.
He pulled her close, trembling. "No time — something's coming. Monsters, portals, I don't know—just grab what you can and get to the attic!"
The house rattled under another distant boom. Kerry ran into the attic with Lorenzo and the dog, while Bj threw open a cabinet, searching for anything — a knife, a wrench, something with weight. His mind screamed to go get the older kids from school.
He turned back to her. "Stay hidden. I'll get them and come back. You lock that door behind me, understand?"
She nodded, eyes wide but steady. "Just come back."
"I will."
He kissed her forehead, then bolted into the chaos.
---
By the time Bj reached the school, the world had changed. Trees torn from their roots. Cars burning in the streets. The air stank of ozone and ash. He found the schoolyard gates twisted open, metal still hot to the touch.
He stepped inside, heart pounding. "Elena! Jensen! Octavia!"
No answer.
The corridors were silent — too silent. Chairs overturned, papers floating through the air like snow. And then, faintly, he heard it: a child's sob, somewhere deeper inside.
He followed the sound to the gym. The door was barricaded with desks. Bj shoved them aside and stepped in.
A dozen children huddled together in the corner. Teachers tried to calm them, their faces pale and wet with tears. And there — his kids. Elena, Jensen, and Octavia.
"Dad!"
He rushed to them, pulling all three into his arms. The relief nearly dropped him to his knees.
"Thank God," he breathed. "We're going home. Now."
But the teachers stopped him. "We can't leave," one said shakily. "They told us to wait for rescue. The army—"
Bj looked at the shattered windows, the unnatural storm boiling above. "Rescue isn't coming."
Then the ground trembled again.
The walls groaned.
A sound like a boulder scraping across concrete filled the air.
Everyone turned toward the double doors. Dust drifted from the ceiling. The doors bent inward once… twice… then exploded open.
The thing that stepped through was massive — too large for the frame. One bloodshot eye gleamed in the darkness above a mouth lined with cracked teeth. A club of splintered wood dragged behind it, screeching against the floor.
A Cyclops.
The teachers screamed. Children scattered, clutching one another.
Bj pushed his kids behind him. "Run. Out the back. Go!"
He grabbed a length of pipe from the floor — it wasn't much, but it was all he had.
The Cyclops bellowed, the sound shaking the entire gym. Its single eye locked on Bj.
"Come on then you one eyed helmet!" he roared, stepping forward. "You want me? Here I am!"
The creature swung its club. Bj dove aside, the impact shaking the floorboards and sending shockwaves through his legs. He rolled, slammed the pipe against its knee — metal struck flesh, and the beast hardly moved, not even a twitch.
"Dad!" Elena screamed from somewhere behind him.
"Go!" he shouted back, eyes fixed on the monster. "Run and don't look back!"
The Cyclops reared up again, shadows dancing across its towering form as lightning flared through the windows. Bj's chest heaved, muscles burning. He knew he couldn't win — not against this — but he'd die trying.
He lunged, swinging with everything he had left. The pipe cracked against the creature's leg, barely slowing it. The club came down again, this time so close the wind alone sent him sprawling.
Bj landed hard, vision swimming. The roar filled his ears again — but then, something else.
A voice.
Inside his mind.
I will eat your flesh… tasty humans…
The air around him shimmered faintly, like heat rising from asphalt. The Cyclops paused, sensing something.
For a heartbeat, the world went silent.
The children screamed — the sound faded into the storm outside. When Bj opened his eyes again, the Cyclops was gone. So was half the gym.
He stumbled to his feet, coughing, searching for his children. "Elena! Jensen! Octavia!"
Through the smoke, he saw movement — small figures huddled behind a bin. he stared at Elena and Jensen not needing to ask the question.
He fell to his knees, tears burning his eyes. Guilt, exhaustion — all of it hit at once he had failed at protecting his children.
He looked to the path way next to the bin seeing a mangled body's, limbs everywhere, Bj noticed some of the clothes instantly, A massive pain tightened his chest. A loss no parent should ever have to endure.
The storm was already dying. But deep within Bj's chest, something new had begun to stir — a faint hum, almost like a heartbeat that wasn't entirely his.
Whatever force whispered in his mind — it had only just begun to wake.
The storm quieted at last. Only the wind remained—soft, heavy, and filled with ash. Bj guided the children through the wreckage, his arm wrapped around Elena while Jensen clung to his sleeve. The gym behind them was nothing but twisted beams and smoke. Somewhere in that haze, the Cyclops had vanished. They walked through streets that no longer looked like home. Streetlights flickered, their glow drowned by the strange blue radiance leaking from cracks in the sky. Cars lay overturned like toys. Shattered glass glittered on the pavement like frozen rain. Jensen's small voice broke the silence. "Dad… where did it go?" Bj swallowed hard. "Far away, I hope." But in truth, he didn't believe it. He could still feel the pulse under his skin—the same power in the gym. It hadn't left him. It throbbed faintly, like a heartbeat out of sync with his own. When they finally reached home, Kerry was waiting at the doorway. The look in his eyes told her, she already knew too much. She pulled the children close, sobbing into their hair, while Bj stood in the ruined street, staring up at the unnatural sky. "Something's changed," he said quietly. Kerry nodded. "Everything." That night, they gathered in the attic with candles and blankets. The wind outside carried strange sounds—distant roars, echoes like metal scraping across stone. Bj sat awake long after everyone else slept, Tyrion lying at his feet, growling softly whenever the house trembled. He replayed the fight again and again in his mind—the Minotaur, the Cyclops, the voices. And the moment he'd seen his daughters clothes. He had felt something answer him. Something alive. By morning, the news crackled through every surviving radio frequency. > "Global emergency declared… unprecedented phenomena… non-human entities sighted across multiple continents… all civilians urged to remain indoors…" Then came the government broadcast. > "Martial law is in effect. All major cities are under quarantine. Conventional weapons have proven ineffective against the invaders. Citizens with unusual abilities are ordered to report for registration and training." Bj turned the dial off. The room was silent again, save for the steady drip of water from a cracked pipe. Kerry looked at him. "They'll come for you." He shook his head. "They'll come for us all." She reached for his hand. "Then we fight." He smiled faintly—tired, proud, Grieving. "Yeah,' he whispered.' We fight." Outside, dawn broke over a shattered world. The air shimmered with faint, silver motes drifting down like snow. Some called it dust. Others called it magic. Whatever it was, it marked the beginning of a new era— the day humanity stopped being alone. And deep within the attic, little Lorenzo stirred in his sleep. For the briefest moment, his eyes glowed faintly gold.