Sebastian groaned, his mind slowly catching back up to his body. He vaguely felt something warm and sticky on his forehead, his hair matted with it. He had lost consciousness for a few minutes, the cacophony of screeching metal and people screaming being the last thing he remembered before he felt something shatter against his back, a blow that knocked him out cold. His body raged against his mind as he tried to command it, searing pain shooting throughout. He did his best to turn his head towards where he felt the bus was, a movement that let him feel more of the warm substance on the ground beneath him.

What the fuck.. He cursed inwardly. He felt like he’d vomit if his body could even do so, but luckily at the moment he couldn’t do much of anything.

The bus looked almost like a crushed tin can, the walls bent and broken in all directions, glass shattered. The metal was mixed in with what seemed like another vehicle. One that Sebastian hoped to God was red because of paint.

Why didn’t the driver avoid the car? She drove right into an intersection. He thought rolled his head back, staring at the sky as he remembered the moments briefly before the accident. The light. The driver disappeared. Did the light take her?

“Help..” Sebastian managed to choke out, feeling and control slowly returning to his body as he lay on the asphalt. Time had passed while he was unconscious and panic was starting to set in. Why had no one showed up yet? What was that light? Was he going to be okay? His mind had cleared up enough to realize the warm sticky substance on his head was blood, and he probably had a few broken bones, either from the crash or being thrown out of the bus.

He felt his mind start to fade again, but Sebastian forced his mind awake as he tried his best to move his body. The feeling of his arms returned, so he crawled his way off the road. It took him a minute even to move his body only slightly forward, but he pushed on. The middle of the road is the worst place to lay, another car bound to come barreling down any minute.

Sebastian did his best to ignore the burning, agonizing feeling of his battered and broken body against the road, his nails breaking and scraping against the asphalt, skin torn away from his fingertips. He was lucky no glass had entered his back during the crash. The head injury also not being that heavy, The worst was the damage to his muscle and bones. With some rest he’ll be able to get up, but he’d hardly be able to walk let alone do more than that.

It felt like hours before he finally managed to sit himself down against a lamp post. He’d regained more movement in his body, but the pain had by no means lessened. He had long been unaware of the time, and he realized the best he could do was sit there in the dark, waiting for help.

Sebastian shivered a little. Dark? He looked up at the lamp post, the bulb shattered inside the glass case. Then he looked all up and down the street, each and every lamp dark and most likely shattered. He hadn’t realized it when he was still in the street but now, Sebastian was painfully aware of just how.. wrong, everything seems. A woman disappeared in broad daylight! The car that hit the bus was empty too! Granted the driver could have ran from the hit and run, but he had the odd feeling that it definitely didn’t happen like that.

Get some help, find out what happened, and maybe go to work? He didn’t really know what to do. He was stranded on the side of the road, fucked up but alive and not a damn soul in sight.

Did more people disappear? Is that why no one has shown up? Sebastian remembered the other passengers didn’t evaporate into light, but considering he hadn’t seen them after the bus crash, he assumed the worst. His watch broke in the crash so he couldn’t even watch it tick, a habit that’s gotten him through many hours of waiting.

Sebastian didn’t have to wait long. After what could have been a few minutes, or even a few hours, he finally heard what sounded like footsteps, albeit a little odd. He pushed himself against the lamp post some more, trying his best to sit straight.

“Is someone there?! There was a crash.. the driver disappeared.I need..” His speech was interrupted by his own coughing, the pain just from speaking felt like it could paralyze him. He looked back up towards the sidewalk where the footsteps came from, before he froze.

Is that.. a squirrel?

He smiled best he could at the situation, though he doubted anyone could be that happy seeing the monstrosity in front of him. A squirrel the size of a dog, big teeth easily the length of a foot jutting from its mouth. Puffed up fur barely hiding what were very obvious muscles. Sebastian rather believe someone disguised a dog as a squirrel than believe what he was looking at right now.

The ‘squirrel’ stopped a few meters away from him, sniffing the air and pawing at the concrete, it’s gaze settled on Sebastian. It brought its body low, tensed it’s legs..

Fuck! Sebastian cursed inwardly yet again, forcing his body to move to the side as the squirrel ran at him fast. This squirrel is attacking me?! I’m being attacked by a fucking squirrel? He panicked, the squirrel monstrosity didn’t slow it’s steps as Sebastian narrowly tilted his body out of the way, letting the squirrel smash it’s head right against the metal lamp post, leaving the man in awe. The long buck teeth previously hanging from it’s mouth now snapped and on the floor.

It dented the fucking metal! His mind raced as he pushed his body forward. He wanted to run, his instincts telling him it would be the best idea, but he knew better. His body could run briefly if he disregarded the consequences, but once he collapsed, it would simply have an even easier meal. He needed to fight back.

Amidst his terror, Sebastian gained some clarity of mind. He lurched his body forward, his hands reaching down for the broken off teeth even whilst the ‘squirrel’ shook off it’s concussion and aimed for his neck. Sebastian managed to save his neck by pushing his shoulder into the squirrel’s mouth whilst he reached for its teeth on the ground. The pain was unbearable, the monster's broken teeth jagged as they cut into his muscle, almost down to the bone.

Sebastian grabbed the teeth, releasing both a war cry and a scream of pain at the same time as he forced his arms up and brought the tooth down hard into the creature’s neck. Hot red blood sprayed from the wound and onto his face, the squirrel’s bite tightening on his shoulder. Both combatants lost the strength to move as they lay there against the lamp post.

His vision blurred as he lay there, blood flowing from them both into a mixed pool on the ground. He felt his body, as if it was decaying and rotting from the inside out. He wasn’t sure if that’s what dying felt like, but he sure didn’t like it.

[You have slain a Lv 2. Corrupted Squirrel]

[Defeated higher level being]

[Awarded 10 xp]

[Congratulations for reaching Lv. 1]

[My name is Scorn.]