Chapter Text
In the United States there are many states and within those states are many cities. However there is one boring town that is grey and bland. It’s home to cookie cutter people that life in identical houses and working in identical buildings. Nothing is different in this town and everyone is okay with this. Everyone except for one little boy named Rythian Enderborn.
He grew up like every child in this town. He was taught the same, treated the same, cared for the same but he himself wasn’t the same. As he turned eight he began to change and everyone noticed it. No longer would he go out and play with his friends. He would instead stay in his room reading all day. The contents of the books he stuffed his brain with were unknown to everyone but the children of the town. Soon he came home with bruises and bloody noses but no one asked why. He was just given a rag and told to clean up before diner.
No parent cared that the very people he used to call friends were hurting him. This boy grew up like this for many years and soon accepted this as his life. After all no one seemed to care why he read those books. They didn’t seem to notice the odd scorch marks in his room, stains on the ceilings that should be impossible to achieve, or the gradual discoloring of his blue eyes. No one seemed notice the odd person out. The mage was just another person that didn’t fit in but still didn’t warrant extra attention. After all, in this cookie cutter town, one could only imagine what they would do to him if they found out.
Rythian’s eyes shot open and he let out a shuddering gasp. The mage was used to having many different types of dreams but there was only one he couldn’t stand. It was a nightmare about his past and he truly hated it. The dream itself wasn’t too horrible it was what always happened after he had it. That dream was a warning and he only got it when something truly horrifying was soon to happen. Just as everything was going right in his life, the universe couldn’t resist throwing a curveball at him.
As he begrudgingly got up to get dressed Rythian speculated what events would soon come into existence. He racked his brain for plausible solutions to every possible problem as he made his way to the kitchen. Zoey was absent from the house unsurprisingly since she always spent Sunday morning with her family before he stopped by and joined them for lunch. Reaching the kitchen, he made his way to the fridge only to be blinded by an obnoxiously pink sticky note innocently placed on the handle. Swiftly pulling it off Rythian was met with curly handwriting that belonged to a certain redhead.
‘Rythian, you’re out of milk. I used the last of it to make that omelette yesterday. Remember to pick some up or you won’t have any for breakfast Sunday. With Love ~ Zoeya!’ Sighing Rythian wondered how he ever survived living in this apartment before he met the kind red head that he cared so much for.
It was nothing short of a miracle if you asked him though he had no time to think on it much more. He glanced at the clock as his eyebrows raised. It was 10:40 AM and if he didn’t leave now he would be getting an earful from Zoey for being late to lunch with her family. Swiping his keys from the nearby counter he pulled his favorite scare further up his face before leaving the apartment rather quickly. He gave a long glance at the apartment he had called home from the moment he could leave his parent’s place. Looking back to the road ahead he couldn’t seem to shake the unidentifiable feeling that was forming in his chest.
Somewhere is in this small town a blonde teen could be found pacing his home as he tried not to have a mental break down. So far he had succeeded in this but he knew if he didn’t find something to occupy his mind that he wouldn’t stay sane for much longer. No one would blame him either, if they had seen what he had the previous night.
After fleeing Enigma Corp. after his horrifying find, the goggle wearing teen had holed himself in his room to think over what he had seen. What ever happened that day started on the medical floor and that meant nothing good at all. Theories raced around Duncan’s head as he tinkered with his inventions. His parents hadn’t arrived home from their jobs at the local hospital, which normally didn’t bother Duncan, but he couldn’t stop himself from being worried. Though in some ways this was a good thing as the teen now had free reign in his home to figure out a plan and make the machines he would need.
The blonde stopped pacing soon enough so that he could go back to finishing the last gadget he would need. It was a portable scanner that looked for any anomalies of any person. In theory it was supposed to find the anomaly he found in some of the blood that he had gotten on his cloths. One of the stains had some rather disturbing mutation so Duncan thought it would be a good guess to check every person for it. Soon the last screw was in place and Duncan took a moment to lean back in his chair and slide his goggles back up to his forehead.
He slowly reached for the radio and switched it on hoping to hear some nice relaxing music before he left to solve the problem at hand. However his normal station was not playing music. Instead he heard several people talking and he didn’t like what they were saying. He quickly wished he hadn’t turned on his radio at all.
“For those of you who have just tuned in, there has been an accident in our station. A couple of hours ago some disturbing things were heard on-air. Patrick Jones who normally runs or music channel was attacked in his sound booth while giving this morning’s traffic report. The animal was gone when people finally got the booth’s door open and Patrick was taken to the hospital with severe injuries. He is currently having surgery in Mincraftia’s prominent hospital and it is unknown if he will recover. The only comments we could get from the hospital staff is that his injuries were rather severe and were cause by an unidentifiable animal. We were told to warn everyone to lock their windows and doors tightly tonight and call the local police tip line if you get anymore information on this animal…”
Duncan switched the radio off so he could process what he had just heard. The one thing he prayed wouldn’t be the cause for these horrifying events was turning out to be true. It was as if these turn of events were coming right out of a horror movie and there was nothing the blonde could do about it. Though he at least had try… After all he was the only one who had the slightest idea of how this started and how to possibly stop it.
Swiftly settling down in front of his workbench, Duncan quickly gathered all the machinery that could be even the slightest bit useful. Like always he was the only one willing to fix a machines problem and this was no different. All he had to do was find the source of the malfunction and fix it. It was as simple as putting in a single equation in a computer and having it do the rest. He stuffed his trusty backpack with supplies of all sorts and grabbed his coat as he left the room.
Opening the front door and taking one last glance to the place he spent most of his time, Duncan shut the front door behind himself. He had the slightest feeling he wouldn’t be coming back here but he pushed those thoughts to the side in determination that the solution to this problem was simple. However it wasn’t at all simple and even a genius can’t look into the future.
The drive to Zoey’s wasn’t too long but to Rythian it always felt like an eternity. In these fifteen minutes he had no idea if she was okay and couldn’t check as he drove down the familiar streets of Mincraftia. She had made him promise that while he was driving he would only focus on that. Tracking their connection did require focus and ever the loving girl Zoey didn’t want him to crash and get hurt. He always held to his promises with her even though he didn’t like some of them.
Finally the silence in the car got too much for the mage. He was already on edge after waking up from his concerning dream. In an attempt to calm his nerves the purple-eyed teen clicked on his radio in the hope to hear some calming music. However the station Zoey had always seemed to turn to was not playing music as it normally did twenty-four hours a day. Much to his discontent, people were talking and by the sound of their voices, it wasn’t anything good.
“For those of you still tuned in for information on Patrick Jones, we have gotten some new developments on his condition. We are told that whatever mauled him in our station has an unidentifiable infectious disease. We have been advice to warn everyone in the surrounding area to lock his or her doors and stay inside. Any buildings surrounding or station are to be evacuated and quarantined. The animal has not been found yet so please spread the word to your neighbors, friends, and family. This is MZPL signing off. Stay inside and stay safe listeners…”
As the last broadcaster signed off the channel turned to unsettling static. The only thing that raced through his mind was that Zoey’s house was less than a block away from her favorite station, MZPL. The mage just pulled his scarf further up his nose and pressed down on the gas. He had to make sure she was safe.
She was the only one like him and the only person that ever took the time to get to know him. She wasn’t scared of him and didn’t bully him. She was everything he wasn’t as he was the dark and she was the light. He couldn’t let anything happen to her. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself. He wouldn’t because he loved her…
He almost broke one of his promises when out of nowhere someone stepped into the street. With only seconds to react, the mage slammed his foot on the brake and yelled a slowing spell as quickly as he could. The person was only able to turn towards the on-coming vehicle with wide eyes and a silent prayer that was impossible to allow. Lucky for the idiot that stepped in front of his car, magic could easily perform what was considered miracles. The car came to a quick stop and gently nudged the frozen persons knee as it halted.
Throwing his door open, the furious Mage got out to access the damage that was almost caused. His eyes seemed to glow a slightly with the anger that bubbled up inside him. This idiot was about to get a piece of his mind for delaying him so inconsiderately.
“What the hell were you thinking you idiot. If I hadn’t stopped in time you would be bleeding on the road right now. What the hell is wrong with you,” Rythian furiously demanded. At the mage’s yelling, the shorter blonde teen seemed to shrink with fright. Though this reaction didn’t last long since it soon morphed into an emotion that could only be described as nervous shock.
"Rythian?"
"Yeah, that's my name. How did you know tha- oh, you have got to be kidding me." Rythian shook his head as he let out an annoyed sigh.
"I should have just kept driving," was all he could manage to say under his breath. Either Duncan didn't hear the comment or he ignored it since he just continued nervously shifting in place.
Whenever they crossed paths in the past the self-proclaimed genius, because tests can’t decide how smart you are, always had a hidden agenda. Ever since Duncan had almost convinced him to use some magic only for the mage to feel betrayed when he would report his findings to the Sjin and Sips duo. They had convinced the science obsessed teen that Rythian was apart of a cult and they wanted to expose the lies he believed. In truth they just wanted to start more rumors to ruin the teens life even further.
This didn’t cease Rythian’s anger as he thought about when didn’t used to be scared of him. The day Rythian had finally gotten up the courage to show his best friend what he could do, he was met with abandonment as he was beaten by his companion’s, “new friends.”
Slowly the blonde seemed to realize that Rythian wasn’t going to hurt him. All he was doing was waiting for an answer which Duncan had no choice but to give. However he could never say the real reason, as Rythian was always suspicious of him. If Rythian had heard the news report about the station then there was no way on earth he would get there if he told Rythian about it.
“I’m… Uh… Checking to see if Zoey’s okay,” Duncan lied. The goggle wearing teen held his breath as if he expected the purple eyed teen to call him out on his twist of words. However the mage never did as he simply asked another question.
“Why on earth would you be visiting Zoey,” the tall teen asked the shorter one in a more calmly drawn out tone. Anyone listening could have also picked up a hint of curiosity if they were close enough to hear it.
“Uhm… Well, I knew her home was so close to that radio station that was broken into this morning. Zoey is the only person I know who lives around there and I wanted to make sure she was okay,” the young genius said with much more confidence, as Rythian had believed his first twist of the truth.
“Well, you’re in luck as I’m headed to the same place as you. I’ll give you a ride so just get in,” the mage said gesturing to his car. Duncan began to shrink away as he realized what he had just gotten himself into. When Rythian offered someone a ride it was more of a demand. Duncan had no chance of getting out of this one and with a sigh of defeat he opened the back door and sat down. His streak of good luck had come to a halt as Karma quickly caught up with the blonde liar.
As soon as Duncan had sat down and buckled in Rythian quickly climbed in and started the car. Buckling himself in and turning up the music so the other teen in the car would decide against starting any conversations.
The car ride was graciously short in Duncan’s opinion, which he thanked karma dearly for. No more than five minutes after nearly being run over the blonde saw the house that Rythian had been heading to. Duncan however had no intention of staying as he had more important things to be doing such as saving Mincraftia from whatever Enigma Corp. had released on it.
So the young genius was a little surprised when he was dragged out of the taller teen’s car and towards the front door a of a familiar girl’s home. The moment the taller teen grabbed his wrist; Duncan knew that he was going to be delayed for quite awhile. Rythian had always been adept at figuring out peoples intentions so it wasn't hard to realize that the purple-eyed teen had never bought is lie at all.
He silently watched as Rythian rung the doorbell and waited. No one moved and for a couple second both teens thought that no one was home. That was, until a loud thud could be heard from an upstairs window. Duncan caught what had to have been a small smile under Rythian’s scarf before more thuds where heard and the door quickly swung open. A bright red haired girl slouched, panting in the doorway before jumping on the scarf covered teen and burying her head in his chest.
“Why didn’t you call me before you left? You’re here early so you must have heard the what they said on MZPL,” she said with a wobbly voice that was an obvious sign of the recent shedding of tears. The blonde watched with wonder as Rythian slowly took his free hand and wrapped it around the girl in a shy hug. It was obvious that he still wasn’t used to close contact that for a moment made the blonde genius feel a tad bit guilty.
“Don’t cry Zoey, I’m here aren’t I? You’re fine and so am I so why don’t we step inside?” Wit that question, Duncan watched Zoey pull away and wipe away her tears before stepping into the house. Rythian quickly followed, Duncan in tow from the firm grip that was trapping his arm. Duncan found himself frozen in place as he quickly took in every detail of the room he had found himself in. During these couple seconds the door behind him was shut and his wrist released.
As soon as every detail was taken in Duncan found himself standing alone in the home’s foyer. He could hear a muffled conversation somewhere to his left and making a split decision, Duncan started down the hallway on his right. Eventually he found his way to the kitchen and sat himself down at its kitchen table.
He opened his backpack that he had dumped on the floor and let out a disgruntled sigh as he saw that the most important object in it had been broken slightly when Rythian had yanked him out of his car. He grabbed it and placed it delicately on the table in order for him assess the damage. Grabbing a screwdriver and some other small tools, the young genius quickly got to work at repairing his much-needed scanner. If what was loose in Minecraftia was what the teen thought it was then he needed as much help as he could invent.
Rythian had let go of Duncan’s wrist as soon as the door shut behind them. It didn’t matter if the blonde left now, since Rythian had succeeded in delaying him. It was a commonly known quirk of Duncan’s to completely forget about what he was doing if he was delayed long enough by something.
However Rythian highly doubted that it had worked in his favor this time since whatever the blonde was doing had been important enough to lie for. Even when it was well known that the young “genius” couldn’t lie to save his life. Rythian especially new this as he had been the blunt receiver of most of the lies Duncan had said in his lifetime.
Now, he was following Zoey to her room as she insisted that they should turn on her radio and attempt to get more information. He had tried telling her that they had gone off-air, but in true Zoey fashion she wanted you hear none of it before she confirmed it for herself. She was strange like that but as always, Rythian never minded.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when Zoey tapped his shoulder with an obvious pout on her face. He found himself sitting on a bed next to the fiery girl as she poked him gently in the side. A radio was in her other hand giving off a gentle stream of static as he became more alert.
“I told you they went off air,” was the only thing he managed to say before his scarf was suddenly over his eyes. Pulling it back down, the mage smiled as he already saw the girl was across the room and staring out the window. His smile dropped however when he saw a frown on Zoey’s face. It was odd seeing it there on her face. She rarely ever frowned…
“Zoey? What’s wrong?” Just as quickly as he had asked the question he was next to her by the window. All she did in reply was shakily raise a finger to point at the lawn of the house across the street. Following this direction he instantly understood why she had begun shaking like a leaf.
“R-Ryth…. What is that thing,” were the only quivering words she could utter before her voice gave out.
Finally Duncan’s recent actions clicked in his mind. Rage began to bubble up inside him until he felt like he could almost explode. He needed answers now and the only person able to give them better hope they were still downstairs.
“DUNCAN!!!”
Somewhere downstairs a certain blonde haired boy almost jumped out of his skin as he tightened the last screw only to hear his name being yelled. He could only imagine that’s what someone’s name would sound like if yelled by a person about to murder them. Realizing what he had just though, Duncan jumped out of the seat he was in and backed into the corner just as a furious Rythian exploded into the room.
It was obvious he was trying to calm down but with no progress. Finally it seemed he was cooling off just enough to take a couple breaths. After the last deep exhale, Rythian began speaking in what was an attempted at a calm voice that sounded more like quite anger. Anyone could hear the anger bubbling just underneath the surface of the words.
“Duncan take a look out the window and tell me what you see,” Rythian said with a finger pointed at the window just beside the cowering blonde. Slowly, Duncan did as he was told and slowly understood why the mage was so angry. Standing outside in the view of all three teens looking out the window was something straight out of a horror film.
“What is it,” Zoey asked softly. They were all afraid of what answer could be yet now one wanted to utter it.
"A zombie," Duncan at the same time as Rythian. At the mention of the abomination's name, Zoey's slightly nervous expression became more panicked.
"Ryth... My parents are on their way home and that thing is outside," she admitted as the color drained from her face. As if life was mocking her, a car could be heard pulling up to the house. The engine smoothly cut off and in that next second of silence all hell broke loose. Zoey ran for the door knowing that if she didn’t get there soon her only family would die. Just as she was lunging for it however she was caught and dragged away.
"Rythian! Please! I can save them! Please let me save them," she screamed while trying to break from the tall teen's grip. She knew it was him. She knew he would stop her because she couldn’t save them. She didn’t have control of her magic and going out there would only likely get her killed. She didn’t care though. She couldn't love without her parents. Rythian may not like his but she loved hers and she couldn’t leave them outside to die.
She opened her mouth to plead with him more but the words caught in her throat from what was heard outside. First it was screaming that was soon followed by snapping and gurgling. The most heartbreaking moment though was the silence before the uttering of two distinct groans.
"No you couldn't," was the only thing Rythian said as he let go of the distraught Zoey. She fell limply to her knees and continued to cry. All Duncan could do was stare at the door and hope that it could hold up long enough for them to figure out a plan.