《Nebulosus Litore: Where the sky rest upon a mirror》 Chapter 1: Shore The shore is not just a beautiful place to collect shells, but also a peaceful place to walk in the morning, especially with someone by your side. I turned to my companion, someone whom I spent the better and bitter days of 4 years here with. Truth be told, she¡¯s the reason why I moved here. Long-distance relationships tend to make people yearn for something more physical and intimate, and so I decided to live closer to the love of my life. It was the best decision I ever made, and I¡¯m yet to regret it. I held her hand upon my own, a source of warmth on this cold morning. ¡°How were their studies?¡± I asked. Yen let out a sigh,¡°As usual.¡° I cheered her up,¡° They are still children, don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°I know, it¡¯s just...¡± ¡°Come on, they are still young.¡± ¡°Still.¡± ¡°No, we will not talk about that.¡° I dragged her towards a hut before she could utter additional words. We sat together, so close that our warmth radiated through our skin. I wrapped my arm around her waist and received a small smile from her. She looked towards the rising sun, ¡°It is colder today.¡± I pulled her closer, ¡°It is hard to notice.¡± ¡°You¡¯re so corny, stop it.¡± I let out a chuckle, extending my hand to feel the breeze through my skin. It is indeed slightly colder today. Tourists won¡¯t notice the difference, but for someone who has lived here for 4 years of my life, it is a naturally developed sense. After some complaints from her, I let her be ¡°Will the weather be okay?¡± I asked. ¡°It will probably rain¡± she replied. ¡°Will that be good?¡± ¡°Are rains good?¡± ¡°It depends, often yes and sometimes no.¡± I turned to her, curious ¡°For you, what is it?¡± ¡°It brings out new life¡± she replied. I laughed, ¡°We really are talking about random things now.¡± She laughed at that, ¡°I don¡¯t have any more topics to talk about." I sighed, ¡°Same.¡± I rubbed my chin, shooting her a wink. ¡°We can make one.¡± That got a laugh out of her. ¡°Oh, shut up!¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. We spent the hours of the morning that way, sitting there and watching the sun rise, shining the beach with soft heat. Eventually, Yen had to leave for her schedule with her friends. As much as I love having her with me, we both have our personal life and I am in no way privileged to control it. ¡°You¡¯re in for dinner!?¡± I shouted at her fleeting figure. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it!¡± She replied, though her voice was dampened by the distance. I can¡¯t help but envy her sometimes. She has some magic to instantly make friends with people, unlike me. That is good though. At least I don¡¯t have to worry about her being lonely. I stretched my arms, yawning as I walked away from the hut and onto the sandy beach. The waves rolled between my toes and brought sand with them, some of which found themselves stuck between my feet and slippers. Nothing that can¡¯t be removed by washing my feet on the same waves, but they are unpleasant to feel while walking. Something poked from the sand, brought out by the waves overturning the sands. Bumpy and riddled with holes, it was unearthed. Picking it up, its surface rubbed on my skin; bumpy and slippery. Upon closer inspection, it closely resembles oyster shells layered on top of each other. Maybe it is indeed an oyster shell, but I definitely will have to report it if it is. We don¡¯t have oysters growing here. I put the shell-thing in a plastic net bag I carry with me. Hours passed, and I filled half of my net bag with corals and shells, each hand-picked and carefully selected by me, not just any random shell or coral. The tide eventually rose higher than my comfort and I returned to the hut to rest from the intense rays of the sun. Looking outside, tourists are flocking the place, perhaps due to the online advertisements of fine white sand, but nevertheless, they feed the economy. I can¡¯t help but feel envious of their white skin, mine is already tanned from my daily exposure to the sun, but still I don¡¯t regret it. Swimming, they smile with joy on their faces, some even yelling for their friends and families to join them. Other than that, there are also those spending their time lying on the beach or even creating sand castles. It is a cheerful sight if only not for the trash they leave behind. In the end, we are all just tourist attractions to them, a zoo without cages. This scenery does remind me of something. What if you can only show the Earth through 100 pictures? What Earth will you create and what memories will you leave behind? That is the Golden Record, a record of humanity through a hundred pictures, now floating in space for a life to discover. I wonder what they will think of us through those pictures? How will they envision Earth to be? Huh, I guess I¡¯ll never know. I returned home and stashed my day¡¯s collection in a labeled box. I will sort it out later, but for now I will rest. Softly collapsing on the sofa, my skin shivered upon contact with the maintained coldness of my home. Air conditioner is a worthwhile investment, especially in tropical countries and in summer. Pictures are framed on my wall, hung peacefully on a background of white. One shows a village upon a cliff on shore, and a younger me waving towards the camera. That was my first visit to this place, when this quaint little place was not a tourist destination. Another shows a happy family and Yen laughing with them, a celebration that happened a year ago, perhaps the newest in my collection of pictures. I remember Yen getting drunk dead that night and I had to carry her to my room, which she proceeded to vomit on. How nightmarish it was to wash and clean that bed when morning came. I let out a chuckle, happy little memories they are. Now they hang on my wall to be forever remembered, after all they deserved to be remembered. In the future, they will hold stories that I¡¯ll be able to tell to our future children and, if we¡¯re lucky, grandchildren. I opened a hidden compartment below the pictures and within sat a small red box adorned with wooden roses. I did everything by hand, it helped to add additional sentiment to the piece, though the most important part was inside. Tomorrow will be a special day. Well, I wonder what I should cook for dinner. Chapter 2: Rain Sometimes it is not our body that shows who we are, nor does our eyes reflect our souls. It is the dream that showcases our truest being, dreams where our consciousness and subconscious are unrestrained. More often, this is where our secrets are held, secrets that should stay hidden. Here I stand in a dreamscape of wriggling white tendrils, inside a fog throbbing with unseen life. Shadows are cast from unknown sources with vague shapes blotting the sunless sky. The ground? There is nothing but thin roots carpeting the ground, forever burying the soil under grasping tendrils. The vision faded and I find myself staring at the ceiling, bare-naked and with delicate arms hugging my chest. Turning to the side, she was sleeping peacefully, her closed eyes fluttering ,and her soft lips lit by the soft morning sun. I lift her hair to the side, gently caressing her cheeks with gentle touch, afraid it might wake her up. I removed her arms from mine and stood up, tucking her under the blanket. After doing so, I washed myself and changed clothes before cleaning my teeth and by then she had already got up. Leaving the bathroom, she covered herself with a towel and her wet hair draped along her shoulder. I smirked ¡°Don¡¯t threaten me with a good time.¡± She winked ¡°Oh, look at the tiger.¡± ¡°You might find yourself eaten¡±. I returned ¡°Someone else might eat me up¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Hey! I was just joking!¡± After some ¡®troubles¡¯, we got ourselves washed again and enjoyed the morning sun on our balcony, savoring it before it got scorching hot. With sunbathing done, we prepared our breakfast. She cooked banana heart in coconut milk while I fried some fish in vegetable oil. Setting up the table, we helped each other as well, with me getting the table cloth and her wiping it clean of dust. I took a piece of fried fish with a fork and looked at her while she was enjoying her vegetables. ¡°You¡¯re beautiful.¡° She raised her head with a disapproving gaze. ¡°We¡¯re eating.¡° ¡°I know-¡° I stopped, hearing the soft tapping on our windows and roof. The sky loomed with dark clouds until the last rays of sunlight are swallowed up by a gloomy veil. The air dipped with coldness that sent shivers down my skin with each blow of the wind seeping down to my bones. I sighed ¡°That sucks.¡± ¡°Will we still be able to go out today?¡± She asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I hope so¡± I replied, dejected. All of my plans for today will be ruined if the rain doesn¡¯t stop, though, perhaps I can do something about it. ¡°I¡¯ll get the blanket.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± She stood from her chair and went to our room, coming back with a pair of blankets, one of which she gave to me. ¡°You like rain, right?¡± I raised a question. She tilted her head, curious ¡° Yeah? Why?¡± ¡°Nothing¡± I replied with my lips curling into a smile. Throughout our breakfast, the rain didn¡¯t yield, instead it grew stronger with winds whipping outside our windows. Yen is currently doing the dishes, but even so, I can see a visible fear in her body. Her body stopped for seconds when the sky crackled. As for me, I am on the couch, covered in a blanket while fidgeting with a small red box, careful not to damage its contents. I can already imagine how I will present it, and she¡¯ll probably say ¡®yes.'' If not, there is still next year. Lightnings are flashing bright among the clouds while thunders are booming like broken drums. Persistently this has been going on for a while now, and it is only getting stronger. I¡¯m afraid we may have a storm. ¡®Odd¡¯, I thought to myself. Through the lights I can almost make out a shape swimming through the torrential rain. Smaller shapes are following it, rough like floating stones. It almost felt familiar, then it dawned on me when my eyes sat on a distant rolling fog. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°You bastard¡± I almost shouted, but quickly covered my mouth. I rushed towards the kitchen, grabbing the surprised Yen from her dishes. ¡°What is going on? You look pale¡± She asked with worry on her face. I grabbed her hand. ¡°We need to get out of here.¡± She flinched, but didn¡¯t resist. ¡°What do you mean?¡± I want to give her an explanation, but the booming sounds on the sky are getting louder along with the crashing and snapping trees. Branches are cracking like bones breaking from their joints. The wind crashed through our windows and shattered them with enough force that some fragments found themselves stuck on the wooden walls. We ducked to dodge the stray sharps which fortunately didn¡¯t hit us. ¡°We need to get out of here now!¡± I immediately shouted. I dragged her behind me, and she followed despite the shock on her face. We skipped through broken shards on the floor, careful not to step on them. Our running felt like eternity, the door was just a few steps from us and yet it felt like miles away from us. We burst through the door just enough before a large powerful force knocked us down along with pieces of concrete and wood. I don¡¯t have to look back to know what it was, her terrified scream is enough to set my blood cold and for my heart to jump up my throat. Where our house should be is a giant insectoid leg stretching past through the rolling fog, and it squirmed with inky black tendrils squirming and crawling on top of each other. ¡°What is that!¡± She screamed, her eyes diluted and her hands clawing the mud. ¡°I...¡± I tried, but words couldn¡¯t escape my mouth, nor could I move my body. A deep and primal fear has overtaken our body and in our horror it moved, sensing the ground with its many tendrils before pulling away, becoming a vague shape in the fog where it joined a shape walking away. I collapsed to my knees, and she sobbed, holding her head in her hands, uncaring for the mud as tears after tears flowed down her eyes. ¡°We built that house...¡± She softly whimpered. ¡°Shh, it¡¯s going to be alright, we... we have to leave, more might come, we have to hide.¡± I crawled to her and hugged her close and brought her head to my chest. I swallowed the fear just enough for me to think and not scream, but for her, it was different. She has seen something terrifying and, beyond reason, she needs time and time is something we don¡¯t have. We need to leave and go somewhere warm lest we risk hypothermia. Our bodies are drenched, and our clothes are brown with mud. The air crawls all over my body with bone-chilling fingers. I helped her up before hugging her close, holding her hand in fear she might disappear from my sight. The wind is threatening to lift us, and it is a struggle to move through the mud. Yen is slowly recovering from fear, enough to walk on her own. She grabbed my hand in a grip that almost hurt, but I let her be. The fog has caught up with us, blurring our visions in white emptiness. Thankfully, we know the path by mind. We walked this path to town for years. Fallen trees marked our path, uprooted and with twisted branches exposing the white wood beneath. Seconds passed as if they are hours with each steps having us fight with the wind and freezing temperature. We held on to each other for what little warmth we can get, but even so our bodies continue to shake and shiver. ¡°Hey¡± I spoke, nudging her. ¡°...¡± She didn¡¯t give any reply, staring silently at our path. I sighed, and we continued until we saw the shape of buildings within the fog. Our steps quickened, then halted. There we stood, before destroyed houses and corpses littering the road within their own pool of blood. I quickly covered her head away from the sight. She didn¡¯t resist, but she was trembling within my arms. Perhaps it is the cold or the fact that our body is drenched, but I know enough to differentiate tears from rain. ¡°Shhhh, it¡¯s going to be alright, everything is going to be alright¡± I softly console her, rubbing her wet hair. ¡°They¡¯re dead... they are dead!¡± ¡°I know, but we need to keep moving, we can¡¯t be out here.¡± Letting her head free, she looked up at me with tearful eyes almost hallowed, empty, and completely terrified. She nodded. We moved along the debris, trying to ignore the blood all around us and their faces permanently frozen in fear. It was total bloodshed, everything was broken, cars were thrown on the road and trees speared through many of the houses. The air is thick in iron intermingled with the scent of soil, constantly reminding us of our suffering. Every house is a hope, until we saw just how broken they are. Staying in them won¡¯t be different from standing under the rain. So many familiar faces we have to walk through, people that were happy yesterday and now they are nothing but cold corpses. It tugged at my heart, I want to stop and give them farewells, but I can¡¯t, ¡®we¡¯ can¡¯t. A horrendous boom rang out, and the ground shook with dust. Off in the distance, we saw a giant shadow looming above broken skyscrapers, trampling them with its many legs. Easily they fell apart, burying everything below them in concrete. It howled as it topple more, smashing its many legs and tearing through them. No, not just one, behind it are similar shapes. All of them are doing the same, toying with us. It felt hopeless, that something like that existed out there. I want to deny it, but it is here, the nightmares haunting me at night. It is truly here. Will guns even work? This is not fantasy where they show swords that can magically cut armours. Swords can¡¯t cut armour nor can they cut stones, neither can they defend us from...those. ¡°Let¡¯s go¡± I pulled her along, breaking her away from the scene. She stared away from it, but even so, I can still see tangible fear within her eyes. The wind is stabbing us with thousands of sharp ice, each droplets of rain slashing our skin like sharp blades piercing through our bones. Eventually, we found a house that was not too damaged. Whether the occupants are still inside or not, we no longer care. We are cold and we need a shelter. Walking through the broken gate and opening the door, we found ourselves before a wary family of four, each with weapons ready to hit us. Seeing that we are humans, the eased up, but still they have knives pointed at us. I raised my hands. ¡° We just want shelter, we will leave after the rain¡± Hope is evident within my voice because I truly am. Still they held their knives against us. ¡°Look, just let her inside and I can stay out-¡° before I can finish, the lady lowered her knife ¡° Come in¡± I bowed deep ¡°Thank you¡± We went in and the door closed behind us. Chapter 3 : Red We were no longer under the cold and were also offered food and warm water. They said the water was going to get cold either way and the food would spoil without refrigeration, and I can see the sentiment. After all, the lines are probably broken at this point. At first, we were wary, but eventually we warmed up, if not a little cautious. I¡¯m currently watching over Yen, who¡¯s shivering in her sleep; her clothes were changed, and she¡¯s covered in a warm blanket. It was a short confrontation, but the trauma and shock are... worse than I would like it to be. I once saw men go mental upon encounters on my last job; those things harnessed fear and terror. To not feel fear before them is impossible. The more one thinks about them, the worse it gets, until eventually someone loses it. I gently touch her cheeks, making sure she¡¯s still with me. I hope it won¡¯t turn out that way. She¡¯s a strong lady; I knew it from the first time we met face-to-face and I know she¡¯s going to take it like a champ. Slowly drinking a hot cup of coffee, I turned to the man of the family. ¡°We moved here last month, but I wish we didn¡¯t,¡° he said. I nodded, and he continued. ¡°The beach was good, I occasionally enjoyed it every weekend with my family. Come to think of it, I do remember you. You are the one who often collects shells, right? ", he pointed out while guarding the door. I cringed at the mention of it. "Yeah, I used to have a collection...until now,¡± I replied. He was about to speak but stopped as a rumbling sound boomed in the distance, accompanied by gunshots and screaming. He flinched, and I nearly dropped the coffee. The twin girls on the side stopped their games as well, and silence consumed the room until the rumbling became a fading backdrop among the droplets and thunder. The rain never did stop, and I fear we might leave soon considering the risk of the tide rising in on us. There are dangers to living near a beach, and coastal flooding is one of them, caused by storm surges dumping excess water into the sea, as far as I heard. The disturbance was gone, and the man continued talking despite the visible fear in his eyes. Perhaps it is a coping mechanism; I can never know, but I¡¯m glad to have someone to talk to in this madness. ¡°I am Ben, by the way; those two are my daughters Grace and Gracia, and that is my wife,¡± he introduced. I nodded. ¡°Beautiful name; I¡¯m Fhon.¡± ¡°Nice name¡± ¡°Yours too¡± The chatter didn¡¯t end there, Ben is a chatterbox, and that is a nice part of him. I wonder how he can stay sane with all of these things happening. His wife joined our charting, and her name is Angel, a lady with wrinkles of old age. I don¡¯t wish for the conversation to stop; perhaps I just don¡¯t want to be reminded of our reality. I mean, who would? ¡°What is it like out there? ¡°Angel hesitated before asking, and Ben perked up too. I turned to look at their twin daughters, and let out a sigh. "It''s... yeah..." I can''t bear to compete my sentence. I fear that admitting it means admitting that they are...dead. Though, perhaps they can understand enough from my expression alone and I can''t say I''m not relieved... in a way that I don''t have to speak. ¡°Damn...¡± Ben, the chatty man, deflated, his eyes growing distant. ¡°Uh, sorry, I need to go.¡± She excuses herself before rushing up the stairs, and as she passed by, I saw some tears. ¡°Yeah, sorry...¡± I confirmed. ¡°How many? ¡± His eyes bore through mine. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡° The conversation stilled, and Ben grabbed my shoulder, whispering something the twins couldn¡¯t hear. He tried to smile and said, ¡°You survived.¡° I don¡¯t know if I share the same sentiment, but it is better if I do; after all, survival is the goal from now on. A life composed of running away, escaping, and scraping at the bottom of the food chain. I nodded. ¡°Thanks.¡± Launch came, but as we ate, there was no joy, just silence, even more dampened by the raging storm outside. Our feet splashed on the pool of water that had accumulated on the floor. It will flood, and we know that much, but do we really want to go outside? Will we even be safe out there? I don''t want to admit it, but even I don''t want to go out there, even of the risk we have here include the same dangers. Perhaps it is safer here and maybe not, but it is more comfortable than hiding in the cold, always wary of any shadows at any corners. Can we really be blamed? Yen has already woken up and is trying to smile, but she always finds her lips flattening into an emotionless expression. ¡°The meal is great,¡± Ben said with a laugh that quickly faded into awkward silence. We nodded, not in the mood, not with the things we heard and witnessed. Can you truly be happy, and can you truly laugh, when you know something can just pop out and crush you beneath its feet? or worse? Absolutely not. The meal went quickly, despite each of its seconds dragging on like minutes. Mrs. Angel got the children upstairs, where it was dry, while we guarded the first floor. I turned to Yen and said, ¡°You should go upstairs.¡± She shook her head and inched closer to me before sighing. I can feel her hesitation. Her nails are digging through my skin, though I''m not voicing my complaints. Eventually he eased up and let go of my arm. "Maybe.¡± A soft whisper escaped her lips, and she also went upstairs after giving me a kiss on the cheeks. Ben and I shared a gaze before nodding and positioning ourselves near any entrances. I, for one, burrowed the construction equipment he got and demolished some chairs before nailing them to the windows. Most of them are plastic chairs for parties, but they did help, and there are a lot of them. I broke one and used the part where the butt met the chair to turn it into a shield. Sure, it is weak, but it is better than nothing, and by purpose, it is weak and fragile. After all, it should be fine to deflect one direct blow. If it is thicker, all the force from the blow will instead transfer to the arm and break some bones. The shield can be made strong, but the human body is not strong enough for the vile things out there. I gave one to him, and he greatly appreciated it. The next shields I made were then delivered upstairs. Along with that, all the food was brought upstairs to save them from the water. In searching the kitchen, we found three knives, all of which were parts of a kitchen set, along with what Ben and his wife had. I was given one to use while guarding the first floor, though I have a much better plan for it. Knives on their own are good, but they have a major problem, and that is ''reach.¡¯ What point is there for a short blade if the potentially multi-limbed enemy is right in front of you? Humans arms are long, but our enemies can have longer limbs, and that is a disadvantage to us. That thing on the building has long legs; what can prevent the others from not having long legs? Splitting the tip of a broken wooden mop handle, I wedged the knife in-between and wrapped the split tightly in straw, ensuring that it didn¡¯t wiggle. Now, the handle can break, but that will give me potentially some time to distance myself, and the increased reach means I can do damage before they can. I can mitigate the fracturing of the wood by wrapping it in duct tape, but that is a resource we don¡¯t have. I practiced it in the room until it felt comfortable on my hands. Paired with the plastic shield, it is a wonderful combination. ¡°Do you want me to do yours? ¡±I offered it to Ben, who is watching from the side. He handed me his knife. ¡°You know a lot.¡± ¡°I had some... some experiences¡± More than I want to admit. ¡°It must be tough.¡± ¡°... It was¡± I finished his after a while, the time mostly consumed by trying to find a suitable stick to attach the knife to. It belongs to a broken cue, which is a long stick in billiards that they use to assist another long stick if the ball gets too complicated to strike. I also found the sticks, and they will serve well for the twins. Attaching the knife is done the same way, and it was relatively simple to do. Holding it in his hands, he swiped it around, and he smiled, satisfied. The water is rising. From barely reaching our ankles, it is now nearing our knees, and the first floor will be half submerged soon enough. We might need to leave soon, something I... don''t want to do. We both shared a look. ¡°Want to go up? ¡±He asked. I nodded. Even if we can defend this floor, we are at a major disadvantage because moving in water is hard and will significantly slow us down. Going upstairs, he stayed downstairs for a while to make sure nothing break in, and at that moment, my heart froze. From the corner, the twins stopped their playing and hugged their mother, visibly shaking. Something hit the broken gate, generating enough splashing for us to hear in addition to the groaning metal. From the window, it¡¯s there, a vague figure thrashing under the water with too many fins, each ending in sharp points. The destroyed gate groaned against its brute force, twisting and pulling at the wall it was attached to. It attacked with wild fury. It almost feels like it is. killing itself. Thick blood spread from beneath with shreds of flesh, spreading and staining the walls red with splatters. Then it stopped, laying still. That is when we noticed it, the thick smell of iron. Gasps escaped their lips, tumbling backward from where we were watching. Even Ben, who followed up, fell on his knees. ¡°Jesus...¡± ... The rain... is turning red.