Chapter 1: The City of the Damned
Another claw about ten centimeters close to rip an arm off was all it took for July to crack and scream, even when he knew it was going to make it worse. A growl behind him, the now-familiar screech of metallic bones warning them of its next move was enough for them to react in time and roll to the side, biting their tongue to avoid another shout when July felt the tips of their hair move under the beast behind them and thought: keep running. Just keep running.
It was a nightmare, he was sure of it. There was no way he could be in this horrifying situation, being chased after by this monster, under red skies and inconsistent landscapes… However, July counted at least a week since he'd been trapped inside this hell. Was he dead? Was this the eternal punishment he deserved? Was July in a comma after something he didn't remember happening? The dissonance between the days spent and the little time July had to think, running away from dangerous sounds and a thing like this, had begun to clog his mind with a thick layer of mud a while ago.
Another screech forcibly snatched July to the present, and before he knew it, he had to dodge another claw by turning to the right. Almost slipping in a puddle of water and clinging to the bars of a low window to not fall, propelling his body and resuming the aching sprint right on time for the jaws of the creature to entirely bend the iron until it cracked. It was a product of sheer luck and adrenaline, but, however, the days running, staying deadly still, barely eating and hiding were starting to catch up to him quickly, with barely a few hours of sleep every day, and the reddening, tingly gash on his thigh that was definitely starting to get infected. July was tired, his legs were giving up, he felt feverish and about to faint, but the threat just behind him didn't let July rest. Each gasp for breath burned in his chest.
With every turn, the alleys twisted and contorted like a nightmare brought to life, and July's grip on reality slipped as exhaustion threatened to pull him into the abyss of unconsciousness. The monster, however, showed no signs of fatigue, its malevolent determination propelling it forward with relentless fervor. The clattering of its claws against the broken pavement echoed less and less as the only thing July began to hear was blood pulsing in his ears, and his legs wobbled, threatening to buckle beneath him. Survival instinct pushed him forward. Just a little more, he thought, maybe I will lose it again. July sprinted into a narrow passageway, barely squeezing through the crumbling remnants of a collapsed building. The monster, momentarily hindered by the debris, roared in frustration.
July's vision blurred with sweat and exhaustion. The poor man stumbled over uneven ground, crashing against rusted trash cans and old whatevers. A broken, mangled mess of metal and wheels that used to be a bike standing still and resting against a wall momentarily brought him to a not-so-old life where July and the bike were everything against the world, and July took a deep, painful breath. Despite July's mind screaming to slip away into daydreaming, he knew the respite was temporary, and he needed to keep moving.
July attempted, useless as he felt, to find an opening through the other side of the alley, but there was an infinite wall of dirt that made absolutely no sense in the middle of the city. There was no escape, no place left to hide, and July realized, after the creature emerged from the narrow passageway after breaking through the garbage, its eyes locking onto its prey, that he was done for.
The realization hit July like a sledgehammer, and despair washed over him in suffocating waves. Ah... dying. Great. Amazing. July couldn't help but reflect on the mediocrity of their life—a mere delivery person, a wimpy kid with too many dreams and too little skill, a failure, a pushover... Dying here, in this unknown hell, no chance to see his mother and father again, his little sister, he was done for... he was really done for...
As July just wanted to return home, to the mundane routine he once complained about, the creature, now with those white, soulless eyes locked in theirs, didn't waste time, and July braced for the inevitable when it loomed at him, the pained shrieks of the creature closing in...
Hold on...
The monstrous entity convulsed and spasmed, before just falling as if it was made of stone, breaking into a million of solid pieces. The tension didn't lift, July was still going to get killed by it, it was going to reintegrate, he was going to die... to die and...
Silence. The creature's once-menacing eyes now stared lifelessly into the abyss as the piece of stone that used to be his face disintegrated into dust.
"You're lucky we arrived in time."
Someone wiped a blade clean with a practiced motion. July stumbled back, eyes wide, the world was spinning, his breathing felt like a pendulum clock giving the hour. The dirty-white trench coat swirled as a figure, tall and with a plastered smile, holstered his gun. Another person, shorter, was close by, a blade dripping black goo in hand. The alley's walls seemed to distort, the mismatched colors of the newcomers blurring into the backdrop. The man's words echoed, but the meaning slipped through July's ears without leaving information behind. The voice that followed was way too enthusiastic, high-pitched, uncaring for the situation they were just in.
"Wisp, he's too far gone to hear us" She said. He couldn't see her speaking due to the mask, but July assumed it was her, with the too-bright jumble of orange and cyan and too many shiny things in her persona.
"We got him just in time then, he's too banged up"
The girl twirled a strand of her curly hair and her mask became still in front of July as if assessing the damage. July was still shivering, every few seconds or so, he looked at the crumbled rocks so it wouldn't just come back to life.
"It's not coming back again" The man said, nonchalantly, and as if he read their mind. "You're safe now."
As the newcomers approached them, July attempted to stand up, but he stopped his movements entirely and hissed. Thankfully, the pain grounded him, a reminder of the reality he found himself in, and things became easier to process. The man, Wisp, observed him a little more, and then smiled, sitting beside him to calm him down.
"You really stumbled into a mess," he remarked, almost like a casual conversation, as if he'd seen these things his entire life.
July finally let a question slip through the chaos, "Where... where are we?"
"East to Hazelway." the girl replied.
Having no idea what that meant, July nodded, and then he sighed, and, finally, his mind slipped through the cracks of reality.
And the next thing he saw was the orange-blue mask way too close to his face.
July jumped back and screamed, the girl, however, burst into giggles, her laughter echoing in the small room he was in...
Wait. When did the place change? Last time he had been paying attention, he was under the red skies. Now he had a nice concrete ceiling above him. Where? How? When? And why was this girl so close to him? Help! He thought.
His racing gaze fell on the white coat draped over a chair about three meters away from the mattress he was laying over. It smelled like antiseptic and food, he felt faint, his throat wasn't dry anymore. Something happened.
Rummaging through some supplies in a corner, there was this wisp guy. He was leaning over a sink, but only a small thread of water fell down, using it to clean something metallic. In the plastic bag next to him, he saw reddish gauze, blood, he told himself. He closed his eyes.
"He seems a little bit more aware now," Lileep said.
"I told you that giving him time was enough, Lippy." he tied a knot on the bag and simply tossed it next to the door. "How do you feel? You drank some water I gave you so you wouldn't die, but tell me if you need more. Sorry about Lileep, she was concerned because you weren't reacting."
"I passed out?"
"Not really" he shrugged and opened a backpack that was also over the chair. He withdrew a fabric bag from inside. "You told us your name and age, but you didn't help us with anything else. I didn't realize you were in such a shock until I had to take out the claw you had encrusted in your thigh, and you didn't react."
"I tried to make you eat, and you threw up," the girl said.
"Against my better judgment" Wisp lamented. "Well, name's Wisp. And this is my little sister, Lileep".
"Heyo!" She chimed.
July's breathing slowed, the reality of the situation settling in. He took a moment to gather himself before tentatively asking, "Thank you... for saving me."
"No strings attached. We help others no matter who they are, that keeps us alive here."
Right. Here. July didn't realize he had no idea where he was since last week.
"Where... where are we?"
"Safe spot, three hours away from Hazelway if we walk." Lileep said. "But you don't know that. Don't you? You're not from around here."
Wisp laughed, shaking his head. He had his hands behind his back, supporting his body against a crumbling way.
"I took the liberty of rummaging through your things," Wisp admitted, his tone apologetic yet unapologetic. "We were hoping to find someone who knew you, someone who could give us a clue about your identity or anything. A name, at least." July's eyes widened, Wisp continued, "Your belongings told us a story – one that doesn't belong to the Rift, one that isn't from around here. That's how we figured out you're not from New Athens."
The name struck a dissonant chord within July. New Athens—the dreaded, sealed-off city that marked the before and after of his world. A city doomed to destruction and decay, where everyone died, and nobody could get close... where he would find his body mangled and modified beyond recognition. As the realization settled, July's breath caught in his throat. His mind spiraled, the weight of his situation pressing down on him like a suffocating fog. New Athens—the last place anyone wanted to be, the place he never imagined himself being.
It hit hard and fast. July's hands trembled, tears welled in his eyes, and a desperate hyperventilation clawed at his chest. The overwhelming urge to run, to escape the suffocating reality, seized him. Where? He didn't know. How? Fuck it, whatever, he didn't want to be here, anything but here. His desperate attempts to survive were a cruel joke and he was going to die and he was going to never see his family again and he was never going to rest and-
Wisp moved with a speed that belied his tall, lanky frame, reaching out to steady July, who didn't realize was falling to the side.
"Hey, hey. Easy there. Relax, don't pull at your wound like that. I just treated it-"
July's breaths came in ragged gasps, his vision blurred by tears. The weight of his predicament pressed down on him, threatening to fracture his fragile composure. He was going to succumb to contamination, and then die, and then his parents would never hear from him again and his sister would always wonder where he went and grow up alone with nobody to talk to and he couldn't take it.
"No... no, no, no," July muttered, his voice felt like a thick rope that had been pulled apart so much there was only one thread holding everything together. "I can't be here. This can't be happening. Can't be here. I need to get out. Please, please," July pleaded.
In a sudden surge of desperation and rage, July's trembling hands reached for anything within his grasp. He needed a weapon, anything to vent the overwhelming frustration that threatened to consume him. He lunged forward and his hands fumbled over the nearby sink, knocking over a few items in his frenzy. When his eyes found the discarded blade, Wisp and Lileep exchanged alarmed glances as July's eyes flared with a wild intensity.
Lileep snatched the blade away before anything could happen with one swift motion and Wisp, recognizing the severity of the situation, moved quickly. He grabbed July's shoulders, forcing him to meet Wisp's stern gaze.
"July, stop!"
But July was lost in the throes of a mental breakdown. Hyperventilating, tears streaming down his face, he continued to grasp at anything within reach. The room echoed with his cries.
Faced with the urgency of the situation and not knowing exactly what to do, Wisp took decisive action. His hand struck across July's face, sharp and unexpected.
The room fell into an uneasy silence as July recoiled, the sting of reality replacing the frenzy. they all looked at each other for an eternity that may have lasted only five seconds before July started to sob quietly.
"We spent so much effort to keep you alive" Wisp said, his tone unwavering. "You need to be in good enough shape so we can take you to Flower. I don't want you to break in half inside a crack."
Wisp, though stern moments ago, softened.
"The Rift is not as deadly as it seems, but it is merciless," the man said, his words cutting through the sadness. "You've survived, July. That means something."
"Yeah" Lileep's voice cut through the grim veil that clouded his mind. "You know, It's... kind of pretty, in its own way. And the people here are mostly nice, and they care about you."
Wisp continued, "We've been here for years, fully alive. There have been others like you—people who no-clip randomly from the rest of the world. But it's okay. You're not like them. You've passed the initial threshold of survival. We found you."
Lileep nodded in agreement. "The Rift is a bizarre place, but you'll learn to navigate it. And hey, there are some cool things about it too." She paused, contemplating how to lift July's spirits. "Did you know there are these floating islands made of crystal? They glow in the dark, and sometimes you can find the most beautiful flowers growing there"
July took a deep, shivery breath before speaking again after crying.
"That sounds cute".
He managed a faint smile at Lileep's attempt to calm him down.
"But the best part is our friends. Wisp and I have a team, you know? Like superheroes do."
"We have a hideout we share with other people" Wisp corrected. "Who happens to be nice. Well, at least most of them..."
"But they're still the coolest people!" Lileep giggled. "I have a friend who's super smart and loves machines. But maybe she won't talk to you because she's shy. And the guy we're gonna take you to is Flower, and is a doctor, and he's sooooo nice and always makes the best cookies, and you're gonna love him because he loves everyone too, not like Recco, because they hate everyone. They even hate Wisp, dunno why. He's the best brother ever, and he's-"
"Wisp, twenty-five, smart, handsome and reliable" Wisp interrupted with a singing voice, before Lileep said anything else. "If you noticed here, I'm a forager, I collect stuff from dangerous areas and then sell it or trade it for other things. Lileep here is my little sister, sixteen, smart, happy and the cutest girl ever"
"That is me," She giggled again. "I'll always be the cutest girl ever"
"That is true"
"And the best scout"
"That is not-so-true" Wisp shrugged, smiling and ignoring Lileep's frown. "Most of us are originally from New Athens, from the Disaster twenty-one years ago or born afterwards. And as you can see, most of us survived the pollution. Say, I'm thinking you've been here long enough to assume you won't die due to it either."
July took in the information, still feeling too overwhelmed by the sudden shift in his reality. Lileep's bubbly energy and Wisp's laid-back demeanor provided a strange comfort, but his mind felt fuzzy, still not processing everything in its entirety.
"Wisp... Lileep..." July started, his voice still shaky, "I don't understand most of what you're saying, but thank you for saving me. Where... Where are we now?"
"We're in a temporary resting place, a shelter just outside Hazelway, a nearby concentration of people." Wisp said, it will take us two hours to get there, but It's the way we head to our actual hideout. Don't worry; Flower will take good care of you once we get there."
"And you're taking me in? Just like that?"
"July" Wisp warned, raising his voice only a little. "We're in a hell on earth, with limited resources and monsters lurking almost everywhere. Individualism and selfishness won't take us anywhere, At least enough of us know this"
"I... guess that's reassuring. Survival is a good start."
Lileep shot him a toothy grin.
"Exactly, July. You're one of us now. We look out for each other in this crazy place. And you're lucky you have us! Not everyone gets a cool team like ours."
"After we eat, we're gonna get going. navigating this place is not easy, but Lippy knows the shortcuts like the back of her hand"
"And the front of it too," she added.
July found himself seated in the mattress eating canned tuna with two masked people, a stranger in a bizarre world that seemed to defy the laws of his previous reality, ravishing a can of tuna, in a mattress, in the most dangerous place in the world. Wow. Just, wow.
The events of the past hours lingered in his mind, and he remembered something.
"The thing that chased me, '' July weakly said.
"Humans that couldn't stand the pollution or that wander too close to dangerous areas end up as Unfortunates. They feed on fear and death."
July nodded slowly, struggling to take the info in. And Lileep distracted him with another question.
"How was it?" July tilted his head at the vague words. "When you fell here".
"Ah" July stumbled in his words. "I work in delivery. I was on my bike and someone tried to steal my package and made me fall. I thought I was gonna land on a wall, but I kept falling and then found myself here. And I lost my bike"
"Sounds reasonable," Wisp said, nodding.
"No, it doesn't," July countered. "It's insane"
"It isn't here, tho" Wisp mused. "The Rift influences the whole city and surrounding fields, it distorts reality, and you can find pretty cool stuff like fake walls, and doors that lead to fields, and sometimes you open your bathroom door and stumble upon someone else's house. You can find basements in attics, and parts of the city above you. From the very little memories of my childhood, I know that didn't use to be the case, so it must be pretty boring out there"
July sighed after that, and traced his fingers over the bandage on his thigh, a tangible reminder of the danger that lurked outside these temporary walls.
"I'm really here," he mumbled to himself, as if trying to anchor his existence in this surreal place. "Not a dream. Not a nightmare. Just... something else."
"Who knows. Maybe one day you will be able to go home, or maybe not, I really don't wanna give you fake expectations"
Despite the grim circumstances, a spark of hope flickered within July's chest. Maybe, just maybe, he could find a place in this bizarre tapestry and carve out a new story amid the chaos.
"I'll do anything to get back home," he said. "But I think I'll stay here for a while."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Leontokire
Leontokire I'm posting the first chapter to see if I can get going. this was mostly to take off some creative jumble I've been keeping for a while, and I may be inconsistent. I did this to blow off steam after uni fried my brain lmao. Best regards and I hope you like it: Leontokire
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