A white mist swirled around, taking in its surroundings.
The mist panicked. Nothing but desolation remained around him. An endless space, consumed by nothing but rot.
It wasn’t just the land, even the air was infected. Everything was shrouded in dense black smoke.
Strange structures could be seen on the horizon, protected by thousands, if not millions, of zombies and never-before-seen creatures.
The strange towers rose above the smoke, taking in the energy provided by the red sun above. These towers were like trees, rapidly consuming the life that couldn’t be infected by usual means.
Some structures pulsated, sending out more of the black smoke into the air. Others acted as organs of an organism, furthering the rot.
In the middle of it all, the mist noticed a glint and rushed towards it, hoping to find something.
It was a rusted board with some letters written on it.
Welcome to San Diego.
No way... this can’t be Earth!
The mist thought to itself. It had been on Earth before, as it had been a human. Even after the breakout, humans were holding tight. There was no way they would perish.
"And yet, they did," an electronic voice appeared next to the mist. "All because you failed to kill someone."
"Blaze Darwin. Does it ring a bell?"
The condensed mist turned erratic at the mention of that name. How could it forget the one who killed him? He had been humiliated and toyed with by Blaze. Such a reaction was obvious.
"He fooled me!" the mist yelled.
"He merely showed you the truth," the voice replied. "Much like I am now."
Just then, the scenario changed. The vast blight-world disappeared, replaced by something that enraged the mist.
Blaze was sitting on a throne, surrounded by undead who once had been beautiful humans. They all were serving him, feeding him what looked like grapes made of flesh, among other things.
It was a life... even a human would envy.
"You failed to kill him, Wick," the voice continued. "I left you alone for a while, thinking you could stand on your own. Yet, you failed. That failure turned your world to ruin."
Scenes from everywhere around the planet flashed before the mist. North America was the first to collapse under Blaze’s plan of global ruination.
South America followed suit. Other continents should’ve been safe, given the massive oceans in between. At first, that was the case, but as years passed by, Blaze even infected the oceanic creatures.
The very water that protected humans turned deadly. Europe, Asia, and Africa, all of them were infected.
Australia and Antarctica remained the only places where life still existed. However, there were no humans among them, only mutants. After decades of trying to convert them, Blaze devised a different plan to take them out of the equation.
"Even they will perish soon," the voice said. "That polar continent would melt as the black smoke continued raising the planet’s temperature. The world would be ruined beyond repair."
I... can’t believe this.
"You should. Your death caused all this damage. The great Blightlord died, handing his power over to the last person who should have had it."
I didn’t die intentionally! He fooled your system. He pronounced himself dead, only to come back to life... no, back to un-life—ugh! You know what I mean!
"...he came back to life?"
Yes! Then he killed my body, and now I’m stuck as whatever this is!
"Interesting... very interesting. The Collective doesn’t know about this strange development. Perhaps you weren’t completely useless."
Despite having been turned into a soul-like entity, Wick hadn’t forgotten about the Collective’s promise.
"You don’t even have a reproductive organ. What will you do with a mate? Watch her indulge capable males? Besides, you failed in your task."
But I’m still here! I can take over another human and continue the mission.
The electronic voice couldn’t help but laugh at Wick’s delusion.
Wick was now what the humans knew as a soul. It was pure energy of creation and hence lacked a physical form. While these souls could reattain a physical form, it was a grueling process.
While Wick could use a part of his abilities to take over other creatures, taking over a human, especially in such trying times, was next to impossible.
Every human possessed a soul of their own. A foreign soul could only take over someone either when they are on the deathbed or have just been born, because that’s when the original soul is at its weakest.
Taking over an almost dead human was of no use. It was the same in the case of a newborn. For by the time the baby would grow up, the world would already be doomed.
If Wick tried taking over someone else, he might get consumed by the other soul, losing his only chance of what the humans called reincarnation.
The only way to reincarnate without issues was to take over an animal. They had weak souls, incapable of defending themselves. However, that came with issues of its own.
A soul could transcend as long as it didn’t forget its existence as a soul. However, animals didn’t possess enough intelligence to perceive what a soul was.
In simple terms, possessing an animal could lead to the soul being trapped in that body. By the time the beast died, the soul would perceive itself as the soul of a beast, and not that of a human, stopping the circle of reincarnation then and there.
Still, it would be hilarious to see Wick struggle on his home planet. That’s why, instead of popping the bubble of reality, the voice let the mist delude itself.
"Fine. As long as you can get rid of Blaze, we can renegotiate the terms."
Thank you! Thank you! ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel(ꜰ)ire.net
The voice didn’t indulge Wick. The next second, the scene around the mist changed. He was back on Earth, but he had no idea where.
I need a body... any kind of body would work!