As was with any gloomy evening, cold air blanketed the world.
Along with the waking night, I watched as the embers of the stars ignited, one by one.
Their ethereal glow bathed the dull meadow I stood upon with melancholic light, weaving into faint darkness. Each husky flower subtly danced in the serene wind, and steady waves of gentle rainwater signaled an oncoming drizzle.
And then, everything stopped.
Would that drizzle ever arrive?
As was with no evening, everything was unmoving.
Except one thing, at least.
Behind me, a lone sound boomed like thunder. With blaring of this magnitude, the ground should’ve been torn apart. But somehow, along with me, the earth stood, flawlessly inert.
Immediately, the fervor of primal fear had dawned upon me. The sensation of utter helplessness rushed through my veins, tapping into the core of my being
How was this happening? Why was this happening?
No, why was this happening to me?
Futile attempts to calm down only served to wax my dread, and I had to keep reminding myself that I couldn’t move.
And then, that sound arrived once more.
A deafening reverberation immediately snaked its way through me, ravaging my hearing in the process. Ringing then followed, pacing around in my ears for what felt like an eternity.
‘Agh!’
I was just standing there. Taking it all. Everything.All the while staring at the skies, unblinking.
Deep inside, I was frantic. My mind was in shambles, lingering in the thought of being lost, and never getting found.
I felt trapped. With no way to shake these supernatural shackles off of me, I could only wait.
With the visage of the endless expanse of stars before me, I had lashed out at… everything.
‘…This is what awaited me? This is what I des—’
This time even louder, this time even closer, the sound woke to life once more.
‘No! No more!’
As I screamed internally, unbeknownst to me at the time, something else had happened.
The sound of glass breaking suddenly tore through the air at blinding speeds, and a thin patch of grass that had once refused to move now started to gently sway back and forth.
Being able to count the amount of blades that were abruptly set free from this static hex on one hand, it seemed as though a minute crack had formed in… I don’t even know, really. Just that it was… sort of there.
The moment I caught sight of this, I was put out of my reverie. Immediately, thoughts of hope began to surface.
’!’
Would my ears be able to survive the ordeal, though?
With no reliable way to measure time, I opted to count instead. I didn’t care if they were off, I just wanted a connection to a world where I was still able to, at the very least, move.
‘One… two…’
Maybe I was counting too fast. No, I definitely was.
‘…ninety se-’
I probably should’ve braced myself instead of counting. Now that I look back at it, had I gone mad?
Something about it felt off though. After the unrestrained sound waked its way through the air, I felt a cold touch caress part of my left arm.
Rainwater started to pour endlessly, repeatedly pelting my arm like chilling stones.I felt no change above my head, though.
As the sense of actually being able to move— albeit only my left arm, returned, ecstasy overtook me. It was almost as if… as if I forgot what situation I was in.
After a while, the joy of regaining a limb of mine dissipated. After all, I still couldn’t really move.
And, after what felt like an eternity, the sound of glass breaking returned.
Too late to react, the pleasant surprise of my entire body finally being able to move sent me tumbling.
Pushing on the ground with both my arms, I stood— and I looked back.
A sight that would be welded into my mind forever crept into my vision, and I remained just as frozen as I had moments ago.
A colossus fabricated from a dissension of argent chains and black, tattered leather overtook my focus. As tall as a mountain, the pristine obsidian face of the giant donned a silver crown linked with beads tethered to thousands of rubies, which swayed as the giant slowly twisted its body. Before it did, it had stared down at me as if I was as small as an ant. Lifting one of its horrifyingly large legs— feet big enough to crush cities, I prepared with all my might for the moment it connected with the ground.
But the moment it did, no sound roared. Just the echoes of glass breaking.
As the obsidian giant trotted across the earth, little by little, slices of its body would vanish as if it were replaced by empty space taking the form of cracks.
Rain then started to pour harder, all the while the giant vanished from the face of the earth.