Introduction of Hosen 1: The End of the World

"There are two exits at the front of the aircraft, four over the wings, and two at the rear. Please take a moment to find the exit closest to you, remembering that the nearest usable one may be behind you. During a loss of electrical power, emergency lighting at floor level will…" The airplane captain spoke up about the safety announcements on the radio as the engines started up.

Young John Smith was ready to fly to his girlfriend for her birthday, seated by the window with his belt already fastened after a soft click. With a box of chocolates in his backpack lying underneath the front row, he anticipated their meeting eagerly. They hadn't been able to see each other for one and a half years, so he wondered how much she must've changed.

The plane set in motion, speeding up on the starting line until it ascended gracefully into the air. This flight was going to be smooth, it seemed.

John took in the amazing view, completely tuning out children's laughter and married couple's banters in the background, as well as the captain's long monologue during the plane's departure.

"On behalf of our entire crew, it is our pleasure to have you aboard. Enjoy your flight."

The view through the window of his hometown's borough was stunning from above. All the buildings gathered on a small island made it look even better. Too high to be able to see people walking on the crossroads, but John still noticed cars moving on the streets if he squinted his eyes. The skyscrapers of Manhattan erected high, as if they were gigantic arms reaching for the heavens. Astonishing work. Sunlight reflecting over the buildings' surfaces made them glimmer like gold and silver, or perhaps like ice that refused to melt under the warm lights of November.

He chuckled at the silly idea.

It was something his girlfriend would think about, not him, who was solely focused on work and studies. She was the dreamer of the two. Dream big and aim bigger; was her catchphrase.

Suddenly, lights flickered. The young man was too focused on the scenery to notice in time a huge hand descending to earth. His jaw loosened in disbelief once he couldn't grasp what his shaken vision perceived.

It seemed human at first, but it wasn't. After a long look, it became harder to describe what it was exactly made of. It wasn't coated with skin anymore, but… with tar. John couldn't fully fathom it. His ears were ringing in disbelief, and his mind felt out of place, as though he was teleported to a fantasy movie.

"Attention to all passengers on board. We are encountering slight turbulence. Please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts–"

A flight attendant made a futile attempt to divert the passengers' attention elsewhere, but they stood up for a better view instead, gawking through the windows on one side. The plane tilted under uneven weight distribution, and concerned for their safety, the passengers gasped in terror.

And the thing outside...? Now it looked like an enormous arm coated in tentacles writhing on its skin—a huge pillar made from amalgamations, with a palm and five fingers growing out of the bottom. It descended onto Manhattan as if in slow motion. A cloud of smoke rose in the air after the giant hand touched the earth's surface.

Their plane was flying far, so the view seemed slowed in the distance, but when the sheer strength of this thing piercing through the atmosphere and scattering clouds did not die down, John knew people out there were done for.

The hand's arm stretched over the stratosphere. Once John traced it to see the silhouette hiding behind it, he lost all reason. Have gods played tricks on them? It seemed like something bigger than the whole planet played with its surface, just because. The being's hand was proof. Even when looking from afar, he couldn't pinpoint the scale of it all. How could something this big even exist?

Was he wrong for feeling relief when the hand didn't crush the plane, but the city below instead? The passengers were such insignificant objects in comparison to the grandeur of that thing, they couldn't have been possibly noticed. They could fly from there untouched because a big city was a better target than a plane of little importance. At least it wasn't him.

…right?

As if reading his mind, the hand rose back up, leaving Manhattan, no, half of New York, completely flattened.

John sighed in relief, seeing the arm was retreating to wherever it came from after it brought the god's punishment upon humans. They were saved and safely flying in the air to their marked destination.

But his false hopes were crushed when the hand directed itself after the plane, swatting it like an annoying fly.

***

"November 27th, year 2025. Death of all passengers confirmed."

Hosen watched the scene unfold from a safe spot by a tree, far away from the incoming catastrophe.

Parts of the airplane fell, crushing tall buildings with their immense speed and claiming the lives of many more people beneath.

"What happens next is…" Multiple other hands descended onto the earth, squashing lands and seas into smooth surfaces resembling handprints. "Humanoid-shaped pillars from outer space appeared across New York, moving further to the west. Made a trace of imprints, then flattened a wide range of surfaces across many major cities such as New York, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. The destruction's diameter appears to be around five kilometers in depth and thirty in length—"

With a notebook in his hand, a sharp eye that observed the incident attentively, and a pen, he scribbled down numbers deemed meaningless to any other person but not to him. As a scientist, he couldn't pass on the opportunity to write every detail down.

He observed the happening further, with no emotions showing. Millions of people were dying, and yet he felt nothing.

Maybe because for him, it already happened in the past, and whether those people were dead or not didn't matter in his timeline. He treated this experience very matter-of-factly, living in the outcome of the Apocalypse.

He noted every minor detail, fully knowing he needed every information from here for the grim future.

"The wind blows 50 km/h south–"

He paused for a moment and glanced back up.

"So that's how the sky looked in the past…"

Vast, blue, and beautiful, full of white, fluffy clouds, where a bright sun-and-moon pair were the only foreign objects visible.

Back in his timeline, the sky was gone. Replaced by a void instead, it enabled them to see planets with the naked eye, looming very close to Earth.

There was no blue when they (the survivors) looked up. Only stars, planets, and galaxies crashing and mixing with each other. His time was much more integrated with outer horrors than this one.

In the past (or rather the future), Hosen himself fell victim to the influence of a cosmic being. Perhaps that was why he was more likely to survive in these conditions and remain less affected than the humans of this time, as humanity's last hope.

He was alerted at once when he heard the chirping of the birds.

"Shit."

He closed the notebook and hid the pen, ready to evacuate from this spot.

"Ny'ghan Grii are here already."

They invaded this dimension fast; he noted in his mind.

Looking down from the hill, he saw the alien floating globes with vine appendages covering their whole bodies, each moving by its own will, and a big, bulging, faceted eyeball in the middle that possessed a 360-degree vision. There was no way to escape them once they spotted a victim.

Those things killed every human on the spot. He was a human, too; no matter whether he was from this timeline or the future, he would be killed. Thus, Hosen was startled by the bird chirping noises. It was their way of communication.

It was up to the army to take care of this issue, not him.

I'm counting on you guys.

Even though he knew these things were hardly killable by guns.

Hosen jumped down, swiftly hiding around the corners so he wouldn't be spotted by anything or anyone. A cold shiver on his body indicated that a Ny'ghan Grii was close by, so he waited hidden, until it passed.

With little time left to document everything, he rushed to another location without hesitation. If the events of the apocalypse occurred just the way it was written in the Facility's archives, then he would be able to witness much of it and bring back home some better results.

His legs took him into the most wrecked part of the city.

Passing by a group of survivors while still in hiding, for the protocol forbade him from interacting with humans from this era (it was too early into the past to hide his existence), he spotted a pregnant woman who was about to go into labor. She had brown hair and golden eyes, the features he recognized very well. A man beside her, her husband, very much concerned for her well-being, guided them both into a safe place where she could give birth to a healthy boy.

Hosen's gaze followed the couple for a few more seconds before he redirected his mind to the highest-priority disaster.

"Better give birth without any disturbances," He whispered before he darted to another of his destinations. "You carry the future of humanity in your belly," A moment of hesitation passed before he added in a whisper, "My future."

That is how the beginning of the apocalypse unfolded,

24 years ago, the day he was born.