The Foreigner

Prologue

The void, a place nobody has ever been or seen before, is filled with emptiness. No light, no gravity, no up, no down, just nothing, not even sound. As a single spirit floats through the infinite cold void, surrounded by nothing. He opens his eyes, regaining consciousness only to be met with darkness, unable to even see his own hands, as he is left with the feeling of cold dread. Before he could even ask any questions he is interrupted, screaming in agony as his body is met in an unyielding amount of pain. Feeling as if both body and spirit are being torn at a cellular level with his screams only being met with silence.

How long have I been here? He thinks to himself before being interrupted once more. The pain is more than he can handle. Any other ordinary human would have died within minutes inside the void, surviving only thanks to his ability to regenerate his body just to be torn repeatedly. He continues to shout to no avail, suffering in constant cold pain. He clamps his fist shut along with his eyes trying his best to endure the pain, feeling his skin freeze with his eyes now frozen shut from his tears as his body slowly starts to give. Unable to no longer bear the pain, he surrenders himself to the void, waiting for the relief of death as his mind recalls his memories.

He remembers the times as a child, before the war, as he remembers the events that led him to his final destination. The war, the largest war mankind has ever seen. With mankind being pushed to the edge of extinction, not by foreign countries, not by plague, or natural disasters. No, what humanity faced was much worse, as a great evil rose from the Earth, Devils. As their only goal was the death of all life. Their destructive path brought corruption and death, not only to the land, making it unable to grow or harvest food, sending humanity into a long hard famine. But also to the people, as everything they touch infects and corrupts the human body and soul, twisting them and transforming them into horrible abominations. 60% of the human population has been wiped out by the Devils within the first few months, and 30% have died due to food shortages or disease, leaving only 10% of humanity to fend and fight against a relentless enemy, holding behind a giant wall surrounding the last city stronghold for humanity.

But within every Pandora's box there always lies hope. Within the infected and the corrupted only a few managed to overcome its corruption with mostly being among the children. Blessing the very little few with the abilities of their predecessors they were infected by. He was one of them, infected at only age 7. He remembers how humanity immediately took advantage of this opportunity. Training them in the United World Academy to harness their newfound abilities. To become soldiers, a weapon that humanity can use against the enemy. They were known as Hybrids. He soon recalls how his first battle was at the age of 13, ending in an astonishing victory.

As the years went by, victory after victory, bloody battles after bloodier battles, humanity began to push back on the enemy. The war also improved human weaponry and technology far beyond our imagination, creating weapons normal humans wield and gateway portals to entrap the enemy inside. At the age of 21, after countless battles and sacrifices humanity came on top as the victor. Only to soon find out their victory wasn't welcomed with a loving embrace. Hoping to come back hailed as heroes of mankind, they were instead greeted by hate and fear, only seen as a byproduct of the Devil's creation. Fearing their abilities would threaten another war, an order from the higher-ups was given to the UW Forces, to exterminate or banish all hybrids, and so war broke out, between humans and hybrids, many chose to resist, others fled or went into hiding, some took comfort in taking their own life by their own hands. What did he do? He chose to side with humanity, not wanting to cause any more pain and destruction, tired of wars and violence he chose to surrender himself to humanity's forces he once fought alongside. Just like that, they banished him into the void, just as he did to the Devils.

In his final moments of consciousness, he feels something upon his face, something warm, a light. As the light shines through his closed eyelids, he feels his frozen tears melt off allowing him to open his eyes once more and see a beam of light pierce through the thick darkness of the void. His body now moves closer to the light embracing the warmth it gives, before finally losing conscience as the last thing he hears is a loud 'bang'.