I look around as I make my walk home. People all around smile and play outside, as if it was a normal day. But today is a lot more important than they know.
It’s the last day of school! Freshman year thought it could kick me in my ass, and now I’m kicking it back!
I look at my friend as I walk home. He does live two houses down from me, and we have been friends for the better part of a decade. Ever since middle school, I would say. I smile, “So, what’re you doing this summer?”
He shrugs, “No idea, haven’t put much thought into it. You?”
I nod, “My family was planning on going to China, but seeing the current political climate, it’s not the best idea. We decided to go to Scandinavia instead. Hey, if the world ends up on fire, at least we’ll have snow to put it out.”
He smiles, “China does a lot of posturing, but I doubt they will actually do anything. It’s just like in the Sixties.”
I smile, “Who knows. The whole world could go New Vegas at any moment these days.”
He shakes his head, “Eh, not anything we can do about it.”
I nod, “You got that right. I’ll just worry myself about who is the next DLC character for Smash. E3 is right around the corner. I still say that Courier could make an excellent character.”
We stop on my driveway, and he looks around, “Look around at the modern life suburbia. You ask anyone around here about what China is doing and they probably won’t care. They don’t even care that a political civil war is happening.”
I shrug, “They can’t do anything to change it, so why should they care? It’s better to put effort into things that you can change.”
He smiles, “Maybe you’re right. If the world goes in flames, what could two kids in the middle of Florida do about it? Nothing. We aren’t superhumans who can shoot without missing and take almost any hit.” He sighs, “We aren’t all Kendrick.”
I shake my head, “No, he saved many lives at the cost of his own. I don’t know if I could do the same.”
He pats me on the shoulder, having to stretch to reach it, “I’m sure you would. See you later.”
I smile and nod, “Make sure to message me on Discord if you’re available for Smash.”
I march into my house, and place my backpack in the chair it always sits in. I take my tablet out from the inside, and go on to my bedroom upstairs, careful not to walk too loudly lest I wake my mom from her sleep.
As I enter my bedroom, I see the closed door at the end of the hallway, and shake my head sadly. Kendrick would be in university around now.
I walk into my room, collapse on my bed, and reflect upon the stuff within. My Airsoft MP40, honestly a bit trash as far as Airsoft goes. I got it after a friend wanted me to come to a field with him, and it did not go good. Some ammo still is within the clip, and unused pellet containers lay next to it on a desk. Within my closet is my previous Halloween costume, dark mail with a black overcoat, that reaches down most my legs, and symbol of a gold lion on the front. The sword that we bought to go with it is almost four feet tall, but sadly made of wood. I remember sitting out in the muggy Florida weather next to Kendrick, and at how we had sword fights with our friends. His calvary saber from a Civil War reenactment was sharp, but he dared not unsheathe it. I won, surprisingly, against Kendrick, his senior friend with a sword of his own, and my friend with a crusader costume and a flail. Even when all three went up against me at once, I won.
Managing not to get hit by them was a challenge, I must admit. My six foot and bulky frame makes me a large target. However, JROTC made it so that my frame has muscle, and not just fat. I’ve also always been unnaturally strong, even before I started exercising and weighed over two hundred pounds. But strength is not all. My legs make up most of my height, so I am able to run faster than most, and I am the most flexible person in class. I have managed to learn how to be graceful through one of my friends, who is a neckbeard, that decided to teach me how to use a sword.
My hair falls into my eyes, and I have to knock it back up. It’s wild and uncontrolled most of the time, but still good enough to be acceptable. Black and long enough to tickle my nose if I want it to. It needs to be that long so that I don’t feel my glasses sitting on my ears. My vision is trash, as I have an astigmatism in my left eye that causes it to not be able to focus without glasses. Not to mention my right eye just sorta giving up and going along with the bandwagon of being trash. I can still see without them, but good luck trying to get me to read anything more than ten feet away.
Sitting on a desk next to my bed are two items. A wooden knife and a metal noisemaker revolver. The knife has a sheathe I made at summer camp, and the revolver has a black ‘U.S Marshals’ holster from when I bought it. Both were from a Civil War Reenactment, the same one which Kendrick bought his sword at.
I am interrupted from my memories by a echoing voice, “Hello.”
I look up, and see a strange figure standing within the light. He is a average sized man, who wears purple robes that cover all but the barest impression of his face. His robe blows in a nonexistent wind, and his eyes are emotionless. I quickly pick up the noisemaker revolver and point it at him, hoping it would look real enough, “Who are you?”
He smiles, a meaningless gesture with no emotion, “I think that within your limited language and brain, you would say I am Edis, God of Endings. Please, put down your fake gun. I have come to explain something very simple to you.”
I sigh, and lower the revolver, “What?”
He nods, “I simply come to say good luck. Trump really enjoyed my visit to him, and the big red button I presented him. Xi also loved it. Now, with the ending secured, you have been granted my blessing until you meet the one under the name of Discord.” He starts to fade away, “I would check your friend’s message.”
A message pops up, and I quickly click on it. It simply says, “Check the news.”
I rush downstairs, and quickly flip on the television. It automatically opens to the BBC. A news reporter sits on there, head in her hands, “America and China have launched nuclear missiles. Now, every country is launching at every country. Welcome to World War Three. Welcome to the end of the world.”
I sigh, and look at the wall behind the television. I could wake up my mom and tell her, but what is the point?
I walk into the kitchen, grab a coke, and go back to the couch. I open up my tablet, and start playing whatever song comes on first.
I crack open the coke as it starts.
“I was walking down the street...”
I take a sip, and look out a nearby window. I see the missile approaching ground, and it is clear that even my speed can’t get me out of here.
Then it goes off in the distance.
Mom is dead. The wall broke itself open, and I can see her bed is empty, and on fire. All that is left is a skeleton laying on top, with sheets that don’t exist anymore.
Dad is dead as well. He works in town, so he was definitely hit straight on.
Everyone is dead.
Everyone except for me.
I sit there, taking a sip from my drink, when I see him. He wears a brown cloak, and his smile is crooked and twisted. I shake my head, “World ends, yet you still smile? Heh, weak, you should be laughing.”
He stops in front of me, and he smiles genuinely, “I would never laugh at this absolute destruction of Chaos. But I can smile about finding a survivor to carry on the Chaos of humanity. I could only save one, and I chose you.” He pulls out two items. A plague doctor mask with it’s back open, and a silenced repeater rife, “Put this mask on, and you shall have a second chance.”
I put on the mask, “Who are you anyway?”
He starts to open a portal beneath me, “I have many names. Spirit of Disharmony, God of Chaos, King of Equestria, Brother of Ordirus, and the Father of Mischief are among many of them. But there is one name that I will always say I am...”
I then start to fall down the portal. I feel myself be transported far away, and I don’t hear his last word.
He doesn’t care. He looks around at the destruction, and smiles, “Discord.”