Logan stared wide-eyed at the knife pointing towards his neck.
The small man in front of him wore ragged clothes and old shoes. He gripped the long pocket knife so hard that the white of his knuckles was visible in the light from the street lamp above. The figure of the man was slightly familiar, but the look in his eyes was entirely new.
The bloodshot gaze trained on him was filled with a strange greed.
"Give me your wallet! Right now! Don't make this hard for me, man."
The man jerked his knife as he spoke, and the light allowed Logan to catch a glimpse of the man's arm.
It was almost entirely black, and each vein was full of holes that looked like little bite marks.
He may have seemed like a zombie from the outside, but the man was fully human. The only similarity between him and the grotesque creatures was a constant hunger. One he shared with thousands of others across the world. They lusted only for Trance — a drug that had recently taken over the underworld of almost every modern nation.
Logan spoke cautiously and backed away.
"I dont have anything on me, p-please just let me go."
He barely had any more money than the man in front of him. He could scarecely put food on the table most days, hell, he should be the one mugging people.
The man covered the distance between them with frantic strides, not allowing him to escape.
"You're lying! You have to have your wallet, and now you won't give it to me. You're making me do this!"
The man slashed his knife and cut Logan's arm. A flash went through his body as he saw blood slowly well out from the wound and begin soaking his sweatshirt. He took hesitant steps back, not believing what he was seeing.
Logan grew strangely calm and watched the man's knife as it reached toward him again. He heard the man's rabid speaking grow furious as the blade seemingly approached in slow motion. Logan reached his arms out and stepped back, but it was already too late for him to stop the blade in time.
A thought struck him, then.
'I'm about to die.'
The thought, no, the fact, washed over him. His life would end in this alley. His friends would worry about him in a couple days, and would be distraught when they heard of his death in the news. He would never be able to keep his promise to his parents and make a good life for himself. His fate would be completely cut short in an alley merely blocks from his home. How truly unfortunate he was.
He could almost laugh at it all. The unfairness was too cruel.
As these thoughts struck him, a solemn sense of peace bloomed in his heart.
'Ah, I suppose that's just how these things go. The circle of life and everything. I had a good run."
His life had been peaceful, though hard. He wasn't able to attend college because his parents left him with a crushing debt when they pass d. He got a job at the steel factory near his hometown soon after, and managed to save a pittance every month to hopefully make life better for himself. Only would a couple more years at the factory and he could have got a manager position. He always looked forwards to the idea of never have to feel the heat of furnaces burning his skin ever again. But it was too late for that now.
Well, I guess I won't get to feel it again anyways. Because I'll be dead. Hah…
The knife gradually approached his stomach, and the slow movement of time allowed him to witness a strange occurrence with complete clarity.
The ground under his feet shook, and the man fell forwards as his balance was lost to the movement. Logan's outstretched arms actually managed to push the man's knife to the side as he, too, began to fall back.
While Logan simply fell back onto his butt, the man in front of him had no ability to evade as his own knife pierced deeply into his chest. A hollow thud rang out in the empty street.
As Logan stared silently at the body in front of him, he heard a woman's voice whisper in his ear.
…
All across the world, a voice could be heard speaking softly into the ears of the human race.
Even the deaf could hear the femenine voice as it spoke.
[Welcome, aspirant.]
[You have been invited to join the Alpha Terra group of contestants in the Trial of Awakening.]
[Please prepare yourself to be summoned.]