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1.28% Scions of Gaea / Chapter 1: Cataclysm, Pt 1
Scions of Gaea Scions of Gaea original

Scions of Gaea

作者: CeritusOrbis

© WebNovel

章 1: Cataclysm, Pt 1

Your fingers dance and play with the coffee cup in your hands as you gaze out the coffee shop window. But your mind is a million miles away as your thoughts whip and thrash all over. It's almost as though you're at the center of a torrential storm.

"Sorry I'm late," someone says, just out of sight.

Your heart leaps at the words, as though incredibly elated to hear them. But then a heaviness presses down on it almost immediately afterwards.

Kaja settles herself into the seat across the small table from you, a mad flurry of low-level harriedness and baggy, flowing clothes. She sets down all of her things chaotically, ties back her frizzy ginger hair into a loose ponytail, then takes a sip of her coffee.

She gives it a somewhat approving nod before she turns most of her attention back to you.

"So, you wanted to talk?" she asks.

A pit forms deep within you as you muster up the courage to say what it is you need to say. You can practically feel yourself slipping deeper down into it, even as you pull yourself together.

"We've been together for how long now?" you ask her, your voice on the verge of cracking. "Three, four years now?"

Her face shifts as she senses your anxiety. At the same time, her own movements slow down, as though she's giving you more of her attention than normal.

"Five," she replies. "Why d'ja ask? What's up?"

She takes another sip of her coffee, but resolutely maintains eye contact with you. Her gaze seems to be querying you with every moment, as though she's attempting to figure out what you're thinking.

You think for a moment how much easier life would be if she could do just that - then you wouldn't have to go through all this in the first place. Just being out here, among all these people… It makes you feel exposed and vulnerable in all the ways you hate.

As the anxiety begins to climb deep inside, you realize that you simply need to rip the bandaid off.

"I think," you stammer, "I think we have a lot of fun together, but we aren't working out. Not really, not in the long run."

Kaja's face shifts and contorts as you speak, your words clearly causing her distress. Though it tears you up to do that to her, you know deep down that you have to. Letting things go any further will just make life worse for the both of you.

By the time you're done, her mouth is agape and she's left speechless.

After what seems to be an eternity, she gathers herself back up and apprehensively asks you, "Why?"

You exhale through your nose as your own anxiety threatens to spill over.

"We're just too different," you tell her. You want to keep pressing her about all the ways that make you two complete opposites. The fact that she's always running around and building up her life, her career. The fact that her calendar's practically always booked and busy. She's always into some new thing, a new hobby, a new interest. Crocheting, or boardgaming, or salsa dancing.

Her life is a swirling madhouse of activity, while yours… isn't.

You want to tell her that you're exhausted by her, that she's moving too fast for you. But the reality is that you're going nowhere. She's a whirlwind while you're just debris in the wind.

"I just don't want to drag you down," you tell her honestly.

A part of you wants to tell her that she's better off without you, and to find someone more her speed. But you just can't admit to yourself of just how much you don't measure up.

"If I thought you were dragging us down, I'd be the one breaking us up," she says. "What's the real reason, hm? Why are you doing this? And now, of all times…"

Your lips purse as the words fight to come out of your mouth. They practically push their way out, no matter how much you want to stop speaking.

"And also you're too much for me," you blurt out. "You're here, there, everywhere. All around. It's like… you're just too close, always. I can't handle that at all."

"What?!" Kaja snaps out defensively. "How can you even say that? I know what you're like, how reclusive you can get. I know how much you need your alone time…"

She stammers, seemingly unable to grasp why you're doing what you're doing.

But you know she's much smarter than you ever will be. It seems to you that she's acting out a bit, which you definitely understand. She was always the more anxious one in the relationship, while you were the more avoidant one.

"What's not to get?" you say. "There's just too much of you in my life! And you never seem to wanna step back when I need you to."

"I've always given you all the space you need whenever you ask," Kaja retorts.

Both your voices elevate as the tension between you two rises. You had hoped this would all end quickly and quietly, but of course that was never going to be possible with Kaja.

You press a couple fingers to the bridge of your nose as a headache starts to form.

This really wasn't something you needed, not right now. Especially out in public. So you end up snapping at her in frustration.

"Maybe whatever space you give isn't enough!" you blurt out. "Why can't you figure this out? It isn't brain surgery!"

Kaja is visibly taken aback for a moment before her countenance darkens slightly. She responds to you with an edge on her tongue, clearly feeling attacked by your insulting tone.

"Have you maybe considered that no matter how much space I give you, it never seems to be enough?" she spits out. "Whenever things go sideways in your life, you always blame me for being too close, or too overbearing, or whatever. And it's always the same. I'm the one that's doing something wrong, never you."

Your mind and body instantly react to her words, and you immediately become defensive.

"What the fuck's so hard about what I'm asking for?!" you say. "If I need something, I need something, and that's the end of it! Why do you always have to throw yourself into whatever problems I'm dealing with? It's not like I asked you to!"

"Don't you even know what a relationship is?" she replies with equal fervor. "We're supposed to be there for each other. What kind of partner would I be if I wasn't by your side?"

A scowl forms on your face. Every fiber in your being wants to simply run away from her, from this coffee shop, from everything. You jerk yourself up out of your chair and stand up suddenly.

"I honestly don't have to put up with you and your shit," you say. "I'm outta here."

Kaja throws her hands in the air and shakes her head at you. The disappointment in her face is clear to read.

"You know, everyone told me not to date you," she says in a huff. "Because it's always about you, isn't it? It's always what you need, never anyone else. Always acting like life's so unbearable unless it's going exactly how you want. Like right now. Can't handle this conversation, so you're just gonna up and run away."

The heat rises up from you as you feel your face redden out of anger and embarrassment. You open your mouth to say something, but are unable to find the words.

Seeing that you're too speechless to respond, she continues to berate you.

"So why do you expect to get everything you want, huh? Why does everything have to be about you and what you need, huh? Why the hell are you such a self-absorbed spoiled-fucking-brat!?!"

"Brat?!" you exclaim. "You've got some nerve saying that! You keep saying that you give me the space that I want, but on the other hand you're always pushing me to do this or do that. Always always always telling me what to do."

"Again, that's what you're supposed to do in a relationship - help each other become better people! Or did you honestly expect to do absolutely nothing your entire life?"

"My life is my own, and I'll live it how I want! So butt out of it already!"

Red flashes across your eyes as your heat level rises to your tipping point.

"You drive me insane!" you finish off with a yell.

The entire cafe pauses in a moment of silence, your dramatic outburst having captured the attention of everyone around you. Some even from outside the shop on the other side of the window. Right now, you're far too angry to care, but it'll definitely eat away at you later.

You feel the fire inside you dim as you look down at Kaja. She's clearly stunned by your eruption, having never seen this level of you before. This part of you that you had always kept hidden. This part of you that demands why you always need to be alone.

A hint of realization flashes across her eyes, just as a hint of remorse passes across your own.

Before either of you can say anything else, your head is suddenly wrapped in pain, as though your skull is being crushed from all directions. You fall back in your seat, hands wrapped around your head, eyes shut tight and on the verge of tears.

Your heart thumps wildly in your chest as the immense pressure drains your strength and suffocates your every thought. A burning pain spreads across your body, increasing in intensity with every passing moment.

It feels as though you're dying inside and out.

You open your mouth to scream, but you can't even hear it. The incessant ringing in your ears overwhelms every other sound echoing all around.

More than that, you feel your body flailing around as you're consumed by every sensation that exists. You attempt to pry your eyes open, but the pain keeps you from seeing straight and everything is a mad blur of passing moments.

But even through your own pain and suffering, you realize that Kaja is also clutching her head and writhing around in pain. She seems to be screaming, but you can't hear a thing. A moment later, your vision leaves you, and all you experience is flame. It envelops you inside and out, all at once.

You feel yourself slowly shattering. It's as though thousands of crystalline shards are slowly being drawn out of your core. You feel all of them piercing through your body with unbelievable pain.

The torment is beyond unbearable.

It occurs to you that this is death taking you, and all those shards are death's scythe ripping through your soul. You can feel it unraveling you slowly, but from the inside out.

There's a moment when the pain hits its absolute peak, and all your thoughts and emotions are swept away clean and clear. All that's left is the agony, which hits you acutely to the point where all you want is for all of it to end.

For death to take you and still your heart.


章 2: Cataclysm, Pt 2

You reach out to embrace that stillness, but something deep inside you stirs in protest. And so you rebel against finality.

You let out a primal scream that echoes throughout your psyche, binding your disparate shards together.

As it does so, you feel the strength of it build up inside you. But it's far more than you can handle, and it overwhelms you, almost suffocating you with its sheer rawness. You fear it will envelop you and swallow you whole, but instead it bursts like a dam.

Suddenly, you feel energy flowing out of you in endless waves, in every direction.

Then, for one eternal moment, you sense everyone and everything around you in a moment of pure stillness. They're all dead or dying. Anyone still alive is feeling excruciating pain, just like you did. Or still are, you can't tell any longer.

More than that, you can feel how everyone and everything around you is getting torn asunder into thousands of slivers and shards.

This isn't just your death, but the death of everything.

Your heart beats in protest.

You feel it become heavier as your disparate shards stop sliding outward. As something inside you pulls them back inward. Despite the overwhelming pain, you know deep down that it just can't end like this.

So with a deep breath inward, you harness the energies spilling out of you. You use it to compress your psyche, and slowly pull it all back into place. Each of the crystalline slivers slide back inward and put you back together piece by piece by piece.

Another eternal moment flashes by before you make yourself whole again, and the pain completely vanishes. But it's more than that. You aren't merely whole again - you feel remade. You feel more alive than you've ever been your entire life.

You can feel yourself vibrating, as though your whole body is standing still at a thousand kilometers a second.

It takes a third eternal moment for you to realize that you've overcome an excruciating death, and that something inside you has changed as a result. You find yourself unable to understand how or why, but you're certain that nothing will be the same ever again.

You try to open your eyes, but your subconscious holds you back. Instead, you feel your awareness slowly curl open, your Third Eye waking. And what you see through it is this primordial soup of energies that dance and weave all around you.

The thin golden threads ebb and flow around you, much like the undercurrent of a vast, invisible ocean.

Each one stops at the muted silhouettes of everyone around you, as though the thread belongs to them and them alone. But they pass through a few others around them as well, before they ultimately join up in the vast current.

The threads are airy, translucent, but they feel tangible at times. You reach out to grab one, but something tells you to do no such thing.

Instead you reach out gently, and let one pass through you.

In an instant, you're flooded with the feelings, thoughts, and memories of dozens of people, all of whom are connected to that same thread. You get flashes of their lives in between long periods of fear and agony.

The imprint of their psyches wash over and through you, overwhelming you.

As their experiences flow around your mind, you realize that these memories aren't just their past - it's their futures as well. And the only reason you can tell is because so many of their memories stop right at this exact moment.

But plenty enough pass beyond, and you see the lives they have beyond this moment. Some end not long after.

You jerk your hand away, suddenly afraid of the future.

You turn your Third Eye towards Kaja and see her muted glowing outline in front of you. And she too has a thread, like everyone else. You're tempted to reach for it when you realize that it's thicker than the others. More than that, tt almost feels as though it's exuding energy, while the others merely hang in the airy ocean.

You draw back, unable to touch her thread. You find yourself afraid of witnessing her memories and her heart.

And besides, it's intrusive.

Instead, you compare your own thread to hers, and find that yours seems to be exuding energy just like hers. Except, yours is far thinner than her thread. It's far thinner than everyone else around you.

Out of nowhere, a voice echoes throughout your psyche, shaking you to your core. It bounces around in every direction, and comes at you all at once.

A spark shoots through you when you realize that it's coming from the physical world, rather than… this one? What was this, anyway?

"Hey," says the voice, "Wake up! Please be alive! Please!"

Your Third Eye slides shut as your regular eyes widen. Light spills into them slowly, as does Kaja's face. The distress written on it melts away as she watches you wake.

"Thank fucking hell," she breathes out in relief. "Are you alright?"

You find yourself on the floor. It seems you had fallen down as you thrashed around in pain. Kaja sits at your side, looking expectantly at you.

A dull ache pulses at the side of your skull, like a migraine threatening your future. You can feel it drumming around the side of your head, as though it is marching towards some battle deep within.

You rub your temples as you sit back up in an attempt to hold back the tide.

It does nothing of the sort.

Of course, you have a million and one questions, but the only one you can think to say is, "What happened?"

"You mean, what's still happening?" she replies.

You instinctively look around, thanks to her insinuation, and find that the worst has only just begun. More than half of the people in the cafe are lying dead, their faces frozen with the absolute agony they had endured.

The rest writhe around as they clutch their heads. Their throats gurgle and wheeze as they attempt to scream in pain, but it's clear that they've since broken their own vocal cords.

You rub your own throat when you realize that it feels raw and rough, a result of your own desperate cries moments ago.

A thought shoots through you like lightning, which causes you to scramble madly for your phone. Your thumbs fumble as you unlock it, then scroll through your contacts.

"Dad!" you shout out as you tap on his icon to dial.

But nothing happens.

You tap it over and over again, only to see that the signal bars keep flickering from one to four to none every second or so. Your heart sinks when you realize that your cell service won't stop flapping. After a moment, the battery fizzles out completely. Great…

Kaja!

You glance over to ask if her phone's working, but find that she has since moved to the next closest person to help them out. You watch as she gives a frenzied teen CPR, or at least tries to.

But the boy writhes around too frantically for her to actually do any good. His body convulses violently for a few seconds as his body goes into shock, then lies still. His last breath escapes his mouth in a long gasp.

Kaja sits deep in silence for a moment.

"I'm worried about Dad," you quietly say. "I can't reach him over cell."

"Let's go check on him," she says.

"We… we just broke up. You don't have to."

"The hell I don't."

Kaja picks herself up off her knees then goes over to help you up.

And just as the two of you exit the cafe, the ground underneath you rumbles. The rumbling grows in intensity over the course of seconds, until it's a full-blown earthquake. Everything around you shakes with intensity, more than enough to knock everything off the shelves.

The large glass windows shatter into pieces as the both of you tumble down to the ground.

You stare in fearful wonder as massive shards of violet crystals erupt out of the ground outside. They shatter and crumble the asphalt and concrete as they continue to grow outwards at every angle. Not only that, but they tear into the buildings all around and tear them to pieces as they extend out further and further.

The ground beneath you begins to rumble, then bulge upwards - and for a moment, the world slows down for you.

You watch as a giant crystal erupts from beneath you, catching both of you at its tip. It extends upwards rapidly into the ceiling, where it pushes both you and Kaja into the roof, crushing you, killing you...

Time speeds back up to normal, and the floor is back down to a slow bloat. Despite the earth shaking madly all around you, you grab Kaja then roll away just as the crystal column breaks through.

The two of you scramble away from it on your hands and knees, even as it tears through the ceiling and out the top. You're out in the street by the time it breaks through countless more floors above the coffee shop, into the apartment building above it.

Kaja gasps as she puts a hand to her mouth at the sight of it. And of all the crystal columns tearing their way through the glass and concrete all around. Buildings are torn apart and shattered easily, causing huge chunks of them to rain down to the street.

"All those people…" she mutters.

You're also in absolute awe. Not just as the sheer death and destruction all these crystal columns are doing, but because of something else.

"I saw it happen before it happened," you say.

Kaja grabs you by the arm and squeezes, which takes your attention. Her eyes are wide and filled with a kind of clarity you have never seen before.

"Me too," she replies. "We need to get outta here."

The two of you break into a run down the street despite the rumbling around you. The both of you leap left and right as everything falls apart all around you.

At first, you head towards the subway station, but stop to a halt as terrified screams come from the street entrance. It isn't a second later when a group of people run out from below with sheer panic written on their faces.

They scatter in every direction, mindless of whatever else is going on around them.

Some are crushed flat by falling concrete or sliced apart by shattered glass, while others continue to run blindly out of sight.

"What the actual fuck!" shouts Kaja.

She reaches out to grab your arm blindly, as if to check that it's still there. She simply can't take her eyes off of the thing that climbs out of the subway entrance.

To be fair, neither can you.

A large, meter and a half long insectoid rips through a number of people as it claws its way out of the entrance. Its thick, bone-like chitinous exoskeleton appears incredibly thick and durable. More than enough to protect its ink-black soft interior.

Not only that, but all manner of spurs and spines and setae line its hard shell, all of which appear hard enough to tear through flesh easily. So easily that it tears the people around it to shreds with only a few slashes.

You shudder at the image.

Its razor-sharp legs stab into the concrete with such force that they embed themselves a quarter of a meter deep, causing cracks to spread in every direction. The insectoid chitters as it comes out to ground level, then vibrates its antennae to the point where it makes a sharp note.

More screams echo from down below, but this time they are joined by the sounds of wet slicing and heavy thuds. The screams do not seem to end, but they do ebb as the moments pass.

And it isn't a few moments later that two more insectoids emerge from beneath, their segmented legs covered in blood. They synchronize the vibrations of their antennae to the first, and cause their harmonized note to intensify sharply.


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