Unchosen Champion

Raj kept running, doing everything he could to ignore the burning in his lungs, in his muscles, and on his skin. He only managed quick shallow breaths, like he was on the verge of hyperventilating, half because he was exhausted and half because he was terrified. His breath was all he could hear aside from his pounding bare footsteps on the scorched dirt roads.

If not for the adrenaline rushing through his veins, he would have buckled long before. He had watched his companions yield to the pressure, one after the other, until he was the last person left. He had to keep going. If he stopped he would be confronted by the memory of their agonized screams until they were drowned in conflagration. It had been horrific, and he wanted anything but that end for himself.

His tattered shirt was wrapped around his face, covering both his nose and mouth, in a fruitless attempt to ward off the smoke in the air. The red pollution was made worse by the raging fires that burned in every other building, consuming materials that should never have been flammable in unending blazes. He knew the corruption was already affecting him, but he prayed it wouldn’t take him.

His eyes stung, his lungs ached, and something else that he couldn’t diagnose was going wrong deeper within. It forced him to repeatedly recall the people that had been with him throughout the assimilation, and how they had spontaneously combusted after the world was bathed in crimson. He fled from their new forms, fleeing even as others in the barracks underwent the transformations. He had been running from the screams and slaughter ever since.

The handful that had clung to their physical existence along his side had suffered the same fate as the days went on, unable to keep it together as they sought safety and answers. One after the other, they erupted in flames.

Raj alone had kept going for days afterwards. He squeezed the pamphlet held in his right hand, crumpling the paper as he protected it from the fires that licked his skin when he leapt through a pile of burning debris. His sweat had already soaked the sheet, but it didn’t matter.

The damage he endured was nothing, though he wasn’t healing the way he had when injured before. Burns had blistered and burned again, leaving him scarred, especially along his arms and legs, but the internal pain that blossomed was far worse, and even that paled compared to the fear of what would come when the corruption finally caught him.

Raj focused on the flier in his hand, unfolding it for a moment like it was a precious treasure. Originally, he had only kept the contraband as a souvenir, smuggling it on his person when he knew the taskmasters demanded all foreign propaganda be destroyed. He thought it would make an amusing poster when he finally earned his promotion to the faction, but now it was the only purpose he had left.

The first place he and the others had gone was the nearest civilization shard held by the Abundant Grasp, but it was even worse off than the perimeter base he had lived in. The city had been protected by a series of walls, separating groups of people in order of importance, but even the hardy fortifications had been consumed in the flames.

The shard was already gone and all of its structures turned to ash by the time he arrived. In their place were countless demons, straight from hell. A few had even evolved, becoming leaders of the lesser beings as they metamorphosed into an army and more and more manifested, endlessly adding to their numbers. The largest of them all sat in the middle, patiently waiting while the others raged. For what, Raj had no idea. As they let their curiosity take hold, peering at the mass of enemies from a perch beyond the previous limit of the city, the primary beast turned to stare back at them.

None of the others held it together after making eye contact, leaving Raj alone as he ran again, this time from the massive King of Demons. That was when he finally took the flier more seriously, clinging to the last vestige of hope it represented.

He stopped for a moment next to the scorched skeleton of an abandoned building in order to look at the printed pictures, more for comfort than his ability to glean additional information. The pamphlet had a message boldly written across the top half. When he snatched the paper months prior, it had been clearly legible to him, but for some reason, after the supreme voice that shook the world and took the system away, he couldn’t understand it any longer. The little circles and linear lines clued him in that the flier was designed in Korean, but Raj only understood Hindi.

He remembered it said something along the lines of a warning, describing the exact scenario they found themselves in, but promising hope and teamwork. He remembered thinking it was cool, imagining a fully united humanity resisting alien invasion, but he hadn’t bothered to take the next step in seeking out the so-called Lighthouse.

The bottom half was an artist's depiction of all of Earth, with stars at the bastions that promised to stand united against destruction, where everyone was invited to seek shelter and stand against their common enemies before the apocalypse began. The largest one also had a cartoon Lighthouse smiling at the reader from a place called Ghost Reef, but it was much too distant for Raj to even think about.

His only chance now was to reach Can Gio in Vietnam. He prayed that it still existed and he wasn’t too late. As the thought entered his mind, a tear escaped, landing on the dirtied paper. It seemed his subconscious understood it was impossible for him to succeed before his conscious mind did.

“Don’t stop.” He choked out before a cough hijacked his lungs.

Raj had been stationed within one of the Abundant Grasp’s forward mountain fortresses. He had helped build it with his own hands and felt pride toward the epic structure. He was probably a thousand miles away already, and he wasn’t particularly fast without easy access to the skills that had been stolen from him. He was basically just a regular human again, and he had already traversed an amazing distance through hellish conditions. Turning back was obviously not an option, but he wasn’t sure how much more he could go on. He couldn’t be more than a third of the way to Vietnam, and he was already past his limit.

He fought back another tear, knowing he would die, and started moving again, hoping to at least escape the chaotic environment of Kolkata and find some unburned wilderness to find peace. Maybe he would even be able to recover a bit in a place he could just rest.

As he forced his feet forward a building on the opposite side of the street exploded outwards and an earthen monster with a face of bloody fire crashed through.

Raj reflexively formed a fist and swiped at the creature, easily five times his size, and one of the four mana blades he had relied upon for more than 500 days partially manifested, sliding across the chest of the golem. The attack drew flame from the shallow wound before Raj’s mana failed him. The magical blade broke and disintegrated, turning into fine red dust that joined the pollution, but the monster temporarily lost its momentum, staggered by the blow. A dozen smaller imps hovered through the gap, but were stopped by the golem blocking the path for a split second.

Raj ran again, legs bolstered by fear, unable to put up a fight even against one of the enemies, let alone a whole group. He scrambled onto a derelict vehicle, losing the shirt that had been wrapped around his face as he leapt from the hood to its roof, then jumped onto a low awning and skipped to the next block on an elevated path. Thankfully, the buildings were only one story.

He was temporarily provided a clear view beyond the city limits. The sky was red, the horizon was red, even the air was red as he scanned for his next destination. Though the distance he could see was limited, millions of tiny fires burned, and many of them moved, carried by the creatures that had already conquered the region. His chest heaved as he struggled to avoid full blown panic.

The veiled hellish skyline was nothing compared to the incredible mountain vistas he had witnessed during the assimilation. Sadly, those were the best times of his life, when the taskmaster sent his squad across the Himalayas to fight their sworn enemies in the Grand Horde. Not only was it better than whatever this was, but it was also better than the pre-mana times, when he was trapped in a cycle of poverty that he would never have escaped on his own.

He never once had to fight the Grand Horde, though he encountered their cavalry armies on three different occasions and spotted them from a distance on a dozen others. Each time, they invited him and his squadmates to have a place in their sweeping legions, but each time he declined. He was unsure whether it was due to the silent pressure of his companions, the pride he felt in building and representing what would become a legendary fortress, or the promise of his own rise in the ranks of the Abundant Grasp, but switching sides had never seemed like the right option, just as a different life had never seemed possible before mana activated.

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Every other time he and his squadmates were sent into the wilderness, they spent their days hiking through pristine snowy meadows and rocky gorges, swimming in frigid streams, and exploring impossible terrain. They defeated Primal Constructs and wandered around, before reporting back after a few days of recess, always rejuvenated by the experience and ready for the forced labor that would occupy their days and nights.

Raj hadn’t realized he should have treasured those days, but now that he knew he was approaching his last, he couldn’t help but wish he had. It had been a short life with nothing much to remember. Now, the demons hunted him like a dog, constantly attempting to snatch him just as the air poisoned him. He didn’t think he deserved this. He didn’t think anyone did.

He continued leaping from rooftop to rooftop until he crashed through a shack, falling into the interior where furniture disintegrated at the slightest provocation. He rushed through the broken front door and back onto another street just as the backdoor melted beneath the breath of another golem, eager to burn him into ash. He coughed before weaving past burning piles and continuing forward, still trying to get away.

The density of the buildings was visibly decreasing, and he knew he was almost free of the urban center, but that didn’t mean the danger would end. Still, the change had him digging deep for motivation, one hand clutching the pamphlet against his chest while the other warded away flames, as if either action would save his life. Hopefully, without so many buildings, he would be less likely to run into an ambush.

Unfortunately, Raj was slowing down in spite of his effort, but he took solace in the fact that he hadn’t stopped. Instead of running, he was stumbling as he finally broke past the final shack. The last of a long series still demarcating the ruined road. Soon it would all be nothing but burned out kindling.

His reward for finally reaching his personal finish line was coming face to face with a behemoth. The dark stone monster was hidden in the haze, but as he drew closer, its outline became more and more clear. Red horns curved from its stone head, rising as it noticed his presence. It stood up, revealing its massive size, and shifting so that the army of burning minions that had gathered at its side were revealed.

Raj could feel the heat intensifying, the air itself blurring as he stopped and stumbled backwards way too late to preserve his life. His shallow breaths continued, but he dropped the flier, distracted as he stared at his palms. The internal pain increased beyond any thresholds he could tolerate.

Fire sparked from his hands as his eyes widened and he looked back at the expressionless hellbeast. He made to scream, but fire escaped as the mana that, unbeknownst to him, he had maintained even after the system expelled him, was being reclaimed. He was finally losing control, allowing the forces of mana to hijack what he had accumulated.

He spread his arms, more flames turning him into an effigy of human struggle, and embraced the end. The flames caught the flier, sending it into the abyss before him.

As he let go, the behemoth suddenly jerked its head to the side, something else abruptly drawing its attention and causing it to face away. Another soul for it to claim, probably.

Then, the gigantic monster of stone had a hole bored straight through its chest, as a beam of silver, blue, and purple energy blasted through the red haze, leaving an afterimage in the air that sparkled and glittered.

The monster stumbled, crashing onto its back before demonstrating incredible agility for its size by swiftly rolling, attempting to quickly regain its balance and charge. It pressed its fists into the ground, forming two impressions as it sought leverage like a sprinter, despite the massive magma-filled hole where a heart should have been, but its head exploded before it could launch itself forward. A shower of blood red stone erupted like a gruesome firework as the second beam blasted through its forehead and continued deeper into the crimson smoke that swallowed the horizon, spreading its shining sparkles across the hell that had formed.

The horde of minions screamed and howled in unison at the death of their leader, rallying themselves with sounds that vibrated in his bones, some leaping forward on hinged legs while others flapped wings to propel themselves forward and still more gripped the dirt with spiked claws. They were cut down by more merciless attacks of several different elements before they could make much progress. A glacial cascade swallowed a section in spikes of ice while lightning riddled another. Laser beams precisely annihilated heads and even gouts of flames shot forward as if fueled by enormous flamethrowers, swallowing the demons in their own supercharged element.

He could swear he heard a classic rock and roll riff being played as the demons were relentlessly destroyed by smaller more precise blasts, the twang of punchy notes making the action appear almost routine. They were just missing an escort of helicopters to transform the battle into a classic movie scene.

Raj had fallen to his knees, suffering as his mana was dragged from his being. If he turned into one of those demons, the fact that he wouldn’t last long was his final sliver of satisfaction. He watched with a crazed smile on his face as black leather-clad troopers moved into melee and systematically annihilated the surviving demons with a ruthless efficiency that should have been terrifying. He preemptively considered it a proxy of his vengeance as he let himself collapse into the scorched dirt.

Then, someone was shouting at him, flipping him onto his back and grabbing his face with their bare hand. They were shaking him, despite the flames that had captured him in an agonizing cocoon. They tapped something on their neck with their opposite, gloved, hand and their helmet disappeared, revealing a blonde woman looking down at him, hair stuck to her forehead with sweat. She kept shouting, seeming to be angry at Raj, making expressions that revealed the wrinkles that came with a bit of age, then she looked over her shoulder and waved someone down.

Before he knew it, there were several of the troopers surrounding him, shouting words in foreign languages. He was pretty sure they were Americans, though he couldn’t imagine what they were doing in India. If he had any voice left, he would have recited one of the songs or brand names that they might be familiar with, just to calm them a bit, their agitation was so much. He didn’t know what he had done to anger them.

Then, a system prompt appeared before his eyes, clear as day. A contract. He accepted it without thinking, mostly surprised to see such a thing again, and received another message indicating he had become a Probationary Member of the Lighthouse faction. As soon as the contract went through, the garbled words the people surrounding him were speaking became clear, the universal language taken by the system returned by the faction.

“We got another live one! Linda! Get over here!”

“Stay awake kid!”

“Hey! Pay Attention! Don’t let go!”

“Does anyone speak any Hindi?”

“They speak Bengali here, Carly!”

“He might not be from here, Anne! A lot of people speak Hindi in freakin’ India!”

“Don’t shake him so hard just cause you’re mad!”

“Someone hit him with some water or something!”

“He might die if I blast him!”

They ranted and argued, talking over themselves, but the flames died down and Raj was sure that he wasn’t dying any more. Or maybe he was surrounded by angels because he was dead. Either way, the pain that had caused so much suffering was practically gone, reduced to an ache that he could easily endure compared to before.

“Holy crap, Laurie, I can’t believe that worked even after the corruption overtook him!” The first woman exclaimed as things calmed down, laughing as she shifted backwards onto feet instead of her knees.

“Me neither.” The one called Laurie agreed.

“We need to get him into safe territory to stabilize.” One of the others pointed out. “He’s practically a husk right now.”

“Kid, are you okay?” Laurie asked.

Raj did his best to smile and confirm that he was much better. He coughed a few times before succeeding in telling them he was okay. “Wha- Who?” He ultimately asked.

“We’re from the Lighthouse.” Laurie responded on the group’s behalf before she turned away and called for someone else. “Hey, Super! Take this kid back to the ships with the others, the beacon oughta do him good.”

“You got it!” The one summoned by Laurie responded while the others stood and got out of the way. A pair of shadowy shapes that looked exactly like the responder revealed a stretcher. “Let’s make this quick.” He spoke after getting Raj on, whether to the clones or him wasn’t obvious, but the clones both made faces and silently mocked the suggestion with hand gestures.

“Hey! wait!” Raj started, having recovered a bit more. “Where are you going?” He directed at the squad of troopers before being taken away.

They turned to face him, their faces still revealed, all with different expressions. “Gathering intel on the enemy.” Laurie responded.

“It’s dangerous that way.” He warned, wanting to discourage them from journeying any further. He was sure his saviors would die if they didn’t listen. “The King of Demons is out there.”

He immediately knew that he had said the wrong thing if he wanted to discourage them. The amount of bloodthirst that erupted from the troopers actually made him even more terrified than coming face to face with the hellbeast from before. They were excited by his warning. These people were hunters and he had revealed that there was worthy prey for them to pursue. All their expressions flipped at once.

“Whatcha think, Laurie?” One asked with a big smile forming on her face.

“Sounds like an Icon to me.” Laurie concluded, smirking back.

“We should check it out.” Another suggested with a twinkle in her eye, lifting her weapon onto her shoulder.

Laurie was nodding as their new plans formed in real time. “Alright. Super, let Greg know where we’re going and have a ship take the ones we’ve recovered back to our territory.” She ordered. “He’ll know where to meet us.”

“I’m on it!” Super responded, this time clearly not stopping even if Raj protested.