《Dual Soul Vol.1》Ch.1 The Invisible Threat
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“My, my, the world is quite a strange one isn’t it?” An old man covered in rags stands on the edge of a roof looking down at the city below. “This entire city is overrun, but no one can see it. Oh well, it’s kind of obvious this would happen.”
He steps away from the ledge and walks towards a nearby door. “A force that no one can touch, normally we’d never even interact with each other, but humans being as they are have bridged it bringing the threat to our own door.”
He smiles as he looks back to the lights of the tall buildings around him. “Now if only we had a hero that could save us, wouldn’t that be something?”
As he walks through the door a see-through figure stands on the edge of the roof looking out into the distance. “A hero, huh? What does that even mean in this world?”
They step off the edge of the roof and float in the air, walking ahead slowly and turning back. “What does that mean on any world?”
As the wind blows the figure fades away into thin air leaving no trace it was ever there.
An alarm rings loudly echoing across a small room. A young man with brown hair shakes around in bed forcing himself up and slamming his hand on the alarm clock to silence it as he settles back into bed. When his eyes crack open, he stares at the clock and looks at the time.
“What?” He asks lifting himself up. “Oh, crap it’s already this late!?”
He jumps out of bed and rushes into the bathroom turning on the facet and grabbing his toothbrush. “I’ve gotta hurry.”
After a quick moment, he stands in the living room with a piece of toast covered in jam in his hand as he stares at his phone. “Alright, I’ll still make it in time.”
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“In other news, another random attack occurred last night.” A reporter on TV says as the boy glances at it. “The victim’s name has not been reported to protect the victim’s privacy. This makes the tenth mysterious incident this month, speaking with us in a minute is the chief of police with his statement on the cause of the growing number of incidents.”
He grabs the nearby remote and turns off the TV as he finishes his toast. “I knew watching the news in the morning was a bad idea.”
He grabs a bag by the door and leaves exiting the apartment as he walks into the corridor towards the elevator.
“Let’s see it should take me twenty minutes to get to school if the bus is on time, then I won’t be late.” He says to himself as he stares at his phone. “Well, even if I am late, as long as I don’t run into a certain teacher I should be able to sneak in easily.”
The elevator dings and the door opens up with the boy stepping inside. “Alright, it’s a full sprint to the bus and then to the school gates!” He yells as the door closes.
My name is Triston Butler, more commonly known as Tri. I live in Conmer City a large place filled with tall buildings and tiny apartments. It’s not a bad place to live, it’s the same as any other honestly. The only thing different about this town right now are the random attacks that seem to happen every night, it’s odd, but it doesn’t affect me so I don’t think about it much. When I was younger, I had delusions of becoming a hero, but now I know heroes aren’t things that exist in this world so I’ll do what I can for myself and not cause trouble for others. That’s my motto in life doing what I can to get by while not getting involved with too many other people.
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Tri sits on the bus staring out the window while occasionally taking peeks at his phone. “Almost there.” He whispers to himself.
“The gates will close within five minutes.” A voice says over a loudspeaker. “Any and all students not in class when the alarm rings will be given one reprimand.”
“Crap!” He yells as he signals the bus to stop.
The bus stops and Tri rushes to the door but runs back to grab his bag. Reaching the door, he leaps onto the sidewalk and rushes ahead towards the school’s gates.
“Crap, Crap, Crap.” He says to himself repeatedly.
He rushes ahead and watches as a figure moves towards the gate and presses a button as the gates begin to close. “Not yet damn it!”
Tri rushes leaping into the air as the gates close shut with a loud metallic clang. He falls to the ground within the gates as he breathes heavily.
“SAFE!!” He yells to the heavens.
“Wow Tri, if you had been a second off, you would’ve gone head first into the gate again.” A young woman with long black hair, says standing over Tri in her school uniform. “Last time the teacher yelled at you for almost an hour to.”
Tri forces himself to stand as he muscles begin to ache. “You could’ve waited a minute before pressing the switch.”
“But the teachers told me to push it exactly five minutes before eight.” She chides.
Tri stretches his body as he walks along. “Well, we better be getting along, if we wait any longer then the bell will ring and then we’ll…”
As he moves ahead a loud alarm rings across the courtyard and his body tenses up. “Wait no…”
“Remember it’s after eight so…” The girl says shyly.
“But what about you? Why are you so calm?”
“Oh, I was given a hall pass already so I’m okay to be out here.” She says with a smile.
Tri lowers his head as a figure appears behind him reaching out to grab his arm. “Mr. Butler, late again I see.”
“Mr. Murphy, wait listen there’s…”
“No buts, this is the third time this month so now we’re going to have a conversation with the principal about the tardiness policy.” The large muscular man says dragging Tri along.
The girl waves at Tri as he’s being dragged away. “I’ll be seeing you in class, try your best not to be suspended.”
“Saffy! You’ve gotta help me!” Tri yells out.
The girl looks up into the sky and smiles taking a deep breath of air. “Today’s going to be a great day, I just know it.”
She walks ahead towards the building as a faded figure appears simply staring ahead and then quickly disappearing.
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