Shattered World

Chapter One

I could hear their screams as I ran, smoke so thick it left me blind, caughing and trembling as I ran. I'd learned to be used to it, but I remembered the first time I heard those screams, the blaring sirens that hurt my ears.

I had run, and cried, and begged, but no one heard. The world felt like it had ended. The ground painted red with the blood of innocent people, the streets crowded with... Them. Creatures unlike us. With eyes that shined red, and hearts of black steel.

They might've looked simaler to humans, two eyes, one nose, two arms, two legs. That didn't make them like us.

They wore black cloaks which set them apart from the rest, shrouded in darkness their eyes glowed red as they slaughtered our kind. Those who weren't killed were chained and used as slaves.

The creatures had a presence surrounding them that made some freeze in horror, their cruelty and lack of humanity seemed to flood out of them like water bursting from a broken wall.

As I had watched people beg and scream, calling these invaders monsters, I couldn't help wonder, how they were worse then us. We'd killed our own people for centuries, inslaved our own kind, but I guess they crossed the line when it was done by other beings.

It had been years since they first arrived, and after a while, the only humans alive were slaves. Except for me. I hid. I wore the same black clothing those... Things wore, and kept my head down. Hiding in shadows, and hiding my fear when I was seen.

When they were nearby, I acted like one of them, but when they weren't, when I was finally alone, I scattered to help those who were slaves. I'd done things I wished I didn't have to. Hurting those... Things, to protect humanity. A sixteen year old girl, with the weight of the world on her shoulders.

It felt heaveir with each step, each breath, each moment was agony. Yet I suffered in silence, helping those who needed it, while dirtying my once clean and innocent hands on those who deserved it. From the age of just eight years old, to sixteen. That's how I spent my life.

"Thank you so much Faya, darling. I don't know what we would've done without you." A women with greying hair said to me, holding her young grandchild in her arms, tears threatening to escape the old women's eyes, her frail hands holding the young child close and protectively as the young child slept, as others I'd helped rested around us in the cavern I'd found.

The cavern smelt of mildew, it's rough rocky walls seemed to stretch for hours, The cavern big enough for at least a hundred people, yet in shame, I'd only managed to find about thirty people to stay here, it wasn't good enough. I had thought. I had to save everyone, I couldn't stop here.

Exhausted, but hiding my exhaustion well behind a practiced smile. "Of course, just doing what's needed." I said softly, before grabbing my black cloak again, which was made of a rough fabric which scraped against my skin as I put it on my shoulders, and flipped up the hood up to cover my flowing red hair.

My green eyes lowered so I was not discovered, as I exited the cavern to save more people, I stumbled slightly, my black boots made of animal skin scraped on the ground, kicking away a stray rock.

Still exhausted from the last mission, my vision blurry, barley awake as it was, but refusing to rest, knowing even a minute of rest, could cost others their lives. if only I knew, that would be the last time I'd see those people, the last time I set foot in that cavern.