Shattered

“Dude, what is that thing?”

Craig shrugged and opened his palm, revealing a cosmos in the center of his hand. Stars twinkle and glitter before flickering away. An ever-swirling collection of yellows, blues, and purples explodes before taking many various shapes and forms. It resembled the night sky above them, peeking through the treetops. The cosmos in his hand begins to morph, as if commanded by an unspoken force, into the shape of a teardrop. Jagged edges and a sharp, pointed tip almost resemble one half of those BFF necklaces found within the nearby town mall.

“I’m pretty sure it’s some sort of key. Some dude came and gave it to me in the middle of the night. He had this weird robe on and was going on about ‘The fate of the universe is in your hands’, but I zoned him out. I mean, who just appears in some guy's room for no reason like that?”

Joseph nodded his head, “Weird dude. Reeeeal weird. But check this out.” He reached into his back pocket and produced another shard of the cosmos, blues, purples, and yellows swirling, before taking an identical teardrop shape, jagged edges, and a sharp protruding point. “You won’t believe it, Craig, but the same thing LITERALLY just happened to me last night.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Craig rolled his eyes. “Man, you’re a total copycat. Lemme have your piece. I have the future or whatever to fix or something.” Craig extended his hand, palm upward, awaiting the 2nd piece of cosmos to be handed over.

Joseph hesitates, “Nah, dude, you’re like, not even taking this thing seriously. I mean, if the fate of the universe was on your shoulders, wouldn’t you like, I don’t know, care a little bit more?”

Craig stood a bit straighter. His shoulders are now tense. He tucks his shard into his back pocket before tilting his head to the side, his neck letting out a satisfying crack. This was supposed to be easy, he thought. Craig steps in front of Joseph, now face-to-face. “Dude, like, I AM taking this seriously. That’s why I’m asking for your piece. Now give it.” Craig’s hand shoots forward, an attempt to snatch Joseph’s piece, but is thwarted by the quick reflexes of the young man; Joseph closes his hand and holds it away from them both. “ Woooooahhhh. You Need to Chill. Out. What’s gotten into you, dude?”

Craig clicked his tongue in disapproval and wagged his finger back and forth, “You’re like, totally being a party pooper, dude. Just give me the piece, like, right now, dude, or, like, we’re gonna have a serious problem.”

Joseph narrows his eyes, they dart across his friend's face and body, absorbing as much information as possible. What was up with his friend? What had gotten into him? He isn’t normally like this. Did something happen? If something had happened, there would have to be a sign. I need to look for a sign. Is this even Craig? He seems like Craig. He sounds….kind of like Craig. Holy shit. This might not be Craig. Oh fuck oh fuck. If that isn’t Craig, then who is he? Why does he want my piece? I cannot let him have mine.

In one quick motion, Joseph puts the shard into his back pocket, then shoves Craig back with both hands. Craig skids backward, dirt kicking up into the air as he is moved farther from his prize. He knows. Craig, across from Joseph, composes himself and clears his throat. “Like, come on, dude, there’s no need to ge-”

“SHUT UP!” Joseph shouts, now slowly retreating deeper into the forest behind him. “You fucked it up, dude, me and Craig don’t ever talk like that when things get serious. You blew it.”

A deep sigh rolls out of the figure's mouth. It frowns and clicks its tongue once again. A deep, gravelly, and unfamiliar voice emerges from the lips of his friend, “Hard to believe that even this idiot was able to have a normal conversation. A miscalculation on my part. Next time, I will study my prey a bit more thoroughly before wearing their skin. No matter.”

Craig's body begins to twist and crack; his neck snaps into an unnatural angle. The joints in his elbows make a sickening snapping sound as bones elongate out of the joints within his elbows. His clothes rip and shred, pants turning to tatters, and a shirt becoming nothing more than a piece of fabric held around the creature's neck. The body begins to fold and crack, snip, and snap as if a child were attempting to break the same stick as many times as possible. An obsidian creature, covered in the blood that had remained within its disguise, stood before Joseph, blood dripping from its appendages. 4 long legs, comprised of what can only be seen as bone, hold the ‘body’. A mass of red and yellow, 12 feet from the dirt below, was pulsating and oozing fluids from every orifice. Resembling an infected wound, the creature's exterior seemed almost malleable like clay. A pair of red dots on one of the sides facing Joseph fixates on the trembling and panicked man before him. “I will allow one chance for you, Joseph. Hand the piece over now, you will be rewarded with a peaceful death.” The eyes fixate on Joseph, awaiting an answer.

Joseph was now frozen. Sweat covered every inch of his body, and he began to breathe rapidly. His plan to retreat to the forest now was laughable; this creature would take two strides and be able to catch him. He needed another plan. A comforting heat began to emanate from his back pocket. Joseph quickly reaches for the warmth and pulls out his cosmos shard. The shard is outlined in a crimson pulsating force. As Joseph looked up, he could see a similar object to the one he had in his hands pulsating on the ground. The piece that Craig once owned now sat underneath the creature that had stolen it from him. It was Unaware that its coveted prize now rested on the cool forest floor.

Joseph paused for a moment, then opened his mouth to speak, “Okay…okay…sure. Whatever dude. You can have it.” Joseph lowered his head and fixed his gaze on the floor. He began to sulk towards the monstrosity before him, each step requiring great effort to not high-tail it out of here. The beast stood about 10 feet away. Each second he stood moving closer, it felt like minutes, hours, time does strange things when you begin to walk yourself to your own death. Joseph’s mind was racing. A million thoughts all battling for the spotlight. ‘Will I even get close enough?’ thought Joseph. ‘What will happen if I put them together? Will I die? Better than just giving up. Ohhhhhh shit dude. It is so over.’

10 feet turned to 9.

9 to 7.

7 to 5.

Each step tests his courage. His heart was racing. Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to run.

4.

Joseph could smell this thing. It reeked of Iron and sulfur. The combination was so pungent that it made his stomach churn.

3.

The shard in his hand was heating up. From a comfortable warmth, to what now felt like a hot piece of glass.

2.

Looking up at this thing seems nearly impossible. Imagining the scent becoming more overwhelming was almost as daunting as closing the distance.

1.

Bones creak and shift, moving the red and yellow mass downward to come face-to-face with Joseph. Joseph gagged and held back the contents within his stomach.

The creature spoke once more, “A quick death is the correct choice, human. I will be merciful. I hear you humans make peace with an ethereal creator before passing. I will allow you the courtesy of doing so as a way to show thanks for saving me some trouble.”

Joseph couldn’t find any words. He fell to his knees and clapped his hands together as if to pray, shard, hidden between his palms. There was silence. It was almost like the world had frozen in place. The shard is now burning between his hands, pulsing and thumping like a beating heart. Joseph was worried that his own heart was beating so hard that it would give him away. ‘Calm down,’ He thought to himself, ‘be Calm. I can be Calm, I am Calm, I need to be calm.’ He forced his lungs to inhale deeply and began to pray. He began to pray for a chance. ‘Give me an opening. Please,’ he thought to himself, ‘anything will do. Just something, I would give anything for something else to happen right now. Just ple-’

His thoughts were interrupted by a low growl. A brown bear had been drawn to the creature, attracted by the scent of fresh blood; the bear had imagined an easy dinner. The otherworldly horror takes its eyes off of Joseph to turn them towards the new threat. It lifts its front right appendage. It cocks backwards before shooting forward and piercing the bear from end to end, similar to the way a speargun would hunt a fish.

GO.

The creature holds its limb high before flicking the bear off of its bony structure, as if tossing aside a piece of trash. Its eyes trace up and down the limb, examining the remains left upon its body from such a repulsive creature. The monstrosity began to think to itself. Trash. No matter. Soon, all will be dust. To behold such a perfect universe. To eradicate any of those with no purpose. No reason to be. It will be magnificent. It will be ideal. It will be perf-

CLICK. VRMMMMMMMMM. FWOOM

A brief flash of orange fills the forest. Bright. It illuminates the carcass of the brown bear, now laid in a brush, that had gifted this opportunity, and the lifeless body of Craig, shredded and strewn about the forest floor. The forest explodes with color, and it would be easy for just a moment to think that autumn had come early, that leaves would soon descend to the forest floor, coloring the earth with red, brown, and gold. A beacon of orange emits from the pointed edges of the combined teardrops. Joseph grips the cosmos swirling within his hands, his knuckles white, his hands burning.

The red eyes that had once been following Joseph disappeared. A geyser of orange and red swirls together in a vibrant, beautiful dance within this pillar of light. The beam dissipates abruptly. A hole the size of a tire had torn through the creature. The night sky is visible once more throught the wound. Stars decorating the purple landscape so high above. Dots of white and orange flicker and blink across the skyscape. A cool blue hue was visible, its shape as if the ink from a pen had shot into water and frozen in time, mid-bloom, across the sky. Joseph breaks himself free from the view and quickly scampers out from underneath the monster, its legs swaying like a tree ready to come crashing down, before the body hits the ground with a thunderous crash.

Joseph catches his breath. His chest rising and falling erratically, he soon begins to take rhythm. Up and down. Up and down. Up, and down. He scoots back and rests his spine against a nearby oak tree. His head falls back and thunks against its trunk. Laughter escapes from his lips. The wave of relief was so overwhelming that he couldn’t help but feel so much joy. Joy for the air filling his lungs. Joy in looking at the night sky. Joy for feeling the warm summer air against his skin. He laughed and laughed until drops of water began to paint his shirt, now covered with dirt and leaves. The sky had been clear all night, not a cloud in sight. Suddenly, Joseph no longer found himself laughing. Tears fell from his eyes and rolled down his cheeks before falling onto his stained t-shirt. To be alive is a gift. A present. One that was stolen from his friend. A friend he now mourns.

Joseph wails out into the empty forest. Over and over again, as if awaiting a response. The woods were silent. The only things resembling life were the man leaning up against an oak tree, grieving the loss of his friend, and a piece of the cosmos whole once more. It rests on a bed of grass, still warm to the touch. A warm orange hue now outlines this spectral object. An ever-swirling collection of yellows, blues, and purples, once exploding and shifting, now remains stationary. It’s a perfect image of a summer night. A night that will end two pieces whole once more, and one whole piece, now, left shattered.