Chapter 44: Welcome Home [2]

(A/N: please do bring any typos or grammatical errors to my attention, either by chapter or paragraph comments so I can immediately fix and attend to it. As I am only human too, there's only so much I can do without making mistakes. Thank you, and enjoy!)

***

Surpassing the great divide that was the vast expanse of the black river was but a cake walk to Huey.

The eerily still lightless surface of the river showed not a single ripple or prescence of life, but Huey's Red vision and senses could very well feel the vast prescence of numerous abominations laying in hiding or in wait at the very depths of the massive river, either slumbering in hibernation, or simply awaiting a foolish prey that would ripple the lake.

His arrival at the shattered mainland on the other side of the unmoving river was event less. His feet touched the broken concrete of an abandoned road and Huey's consciousness spread outward, completely swallowing up one third of the mainland in his perception.

It was empty, devoid of life.

Human life, at least.

Huey's expression was incomparably solemn and devoid of any traces of his inner thoughts. Quite frankly, he had no thoughts but cold chilling void that was his mind.

The neighborhood...was strange.

It was barley as Huey could last remember it. Counting the ten years he spent away from home on the Rite of Passage ritual, it had been approximately a little over eighty years since he was back home, in human time at least. The unreliability in his memories may be justified by that vast amount of time.

But it was more than that.

It wasn't just Huey remembered the neighborhood looking much different from the past, but the neighborhood really did look vastly more different than before. Immensely so.

There were tall mountain cliffs and high hills rising up into the air from the distance and surrounding the outer periphery of the mainland, unnatural slopes that descended sharply towards awkward angles.

There were highrise and skyscrapers, what was left of them, towards the east, and a desolate wilderness towards the north.

The entire mainland was like a mismatch of locations, a crude mosaic of land. And the existence of the black unmoving river and the statue partially drowned inside of it outside, surrounding the mainland that wasn't supposed to originally be there.

The mass landmass displacement during the first invasion had caused much more influence than Huey had imagined at the beginning. It was at such a scale that continents collided and fused to each other, rendering the concept of boundaries and borders invalid.

It was a time on earth where it was nothing uncommon or special to find a vast ocean, an entire sea of water, in a boiling desert in the middle of rainforest.

It was that surreal.

Huey's thoughts didn't linger too long on the bizzare terrain. His solitary steps echoed slowly against the empty streets and roads of the ruined neighborhood. Throughout the entire time, his solemn and still mask never shook or rippled.

This time around it wasn't a facade like the others. Huey wasn't pretending to impress or intimidate; his facial expression expressed the vast solemnity and void that accompanied his current inability to experience emotion.

For the first time in a while, Huey wasn't thinking how to look good.

For the first time in a while, Huey wasn't making obnoxious and sassy quips internally.

For the first time in years, Huey had not a single thought as he walked aimlessly down the windings streets, following the crooked parts where they led him.

Yet, not a single abomination dared to approach him.

Elder God's were creatures of instincts. Huey's passive presence alone was more than enough to stir their latent instincts to give way to something stronger.

You don't raise your bow when a king is before you.

It was because of this Huey's travel up until now had been smooth sailing since he departed the Ntuli settlement. An Elder God kilometers away can tell to turn away before crossing paths with him.

And this time around, either consciously or unconsciously, Huey actively emanated more prominent pressure from his presence.

It wasn't the type that would instantly weigh and suffocate its victim. But the slow and chilling cold that would sweep up the spines of those within it's influence, like the cold of a desert night.

Only the truly mindless, foolish and desperate abominations would dare to show themselves.

The longer Huey spent slowly walking down the streets and ancient roads, the more clearer the grey fug and hazy blur in his memories became.

Huey's old neighborhood was initialy a small and comfy one found in the residential area of a big city. It was the kind where each resident knew one another like roommates.

But even then Huey barely had friends.

Huey's steps stopped before a certain part of the neighborhood. A children's playground presented itself in all of its ruinous glory. His gaze traced towards a particular playing structure in the middle; it was a constructed frame of metal and bars which had long list their luster. The jungle gym that once felt so tall and mighty...now looked so small and fragile.

Suddenly, images began to flash through Huey's mind accompanied alongside a few sounds.

...

There was the sound of children's laughter, cheery and bright.

It was an unusually hot afternoon in spring...spring break actually. Yes. The kids were off from school on holiday.

The sun hung high and bright above and Huey remembered feeling particularly hot that day.

'It's hot.' he thought to himself but couldn't let it show on his face.

Then there were the high voice's of children coming from below.

-'hey, look. Someone's up there!'

-'is that true? Where?'

-' right there. At the very top!'

-'woah! Your right, that's amazing! '

It was a long and distant memory.

Huey observing the small gathering of kids below him with an aloof mask from his position up at the very top of the jungle gym.

'It's hot, ' he thought again silently to himself, his detached expression was still and moving. But he couldn't show any weakness, he had to make it seem all easy.

His red eyes gleamed under the sun as they peered down with seemingly indifferent intensity to the praises and attentions the kids showered him with. It felt fuzzy knowing they all looked up at him — knowing they all looked at him. The edges of his lips curled slightly into a hidden smile.

-'Huh? Hey, isn't it that kid with the red eyes? '

-'oh, your right, it is him. '

-'but how did he get so high up? '

-'how would we know, everyone knows he's a freak after all.'

Huey's smile froze in place.

...

Then the scene dissolved and the gloomy playground presented itself once more.

The fuming black clouds rumbled as if in great defiance, dying the neighborhood in pale dim purple light from the flash of lightning.

Huey lingered only a second longer before moving on.

He passed by various other similar structures that played a string cord in his memories.

His gaze swept over and lingered on his old neighborhood middle school. The walls were bleak and made a mosaic of grooves and scars. The school walls were crumbled and a part of the ceiling collapsed inwardly.

A familiar scene presented itself in his memories.

...

-'No shit, that's it? '

Huey exclaimed in disbelief and his expression crestfallen. In his hands was a leather wallet as he perused its content dejectedly.

A disappointed sigh left his lips as he hung his head backwards.

-'C'mon now, seniors. Aren't you guys meant to be, like, highschoolers? How come a second year middle schooler like myself got more of a better financial future than you three?' he swung his leg backwards and struck the heel of his shoe into the midsection of the 'chair' he sat against in a dark alley.

The 'chair' groaned and whimpered .

-'Please, ' it said in a small voice, 'forgive us..'

Before him were two bruised up bodies prostrating deeply with their heads directly against the ground.

That evening in Fall, Huey was ambushed by a few high schoolers under the excuse of bullying.

But the tables were turned. Just so happened, a new skin on COD was released and Huey was in a financially tight spot, so he humored them.

His 'chair' of course was the senior who threw the first punch. Then after that,

-'it was all self defense. ' Huey nodded to himself.

-'wh...what? ' one of the prostrating seniors looked up and stuttered. But before he could fully raise his head, Huey stumped him back to the ground and his low voice resounded hauntingly.

-'You don't raise your bow when you king is speaking.' Huey lingered then continued with renewed fervour.

-I'm saying it was all self defense. You three ganged up on me, a junior. I wonder how that'll sound like when I report this the the authorities? Yes, yes, after all, it was a truly traumatizing experience. Now I can't even sleep at night. ' he dramatically sighed and shivered, and so did the three.

Huey smiled seeing that and his red eyes beamed in the darkness.

-'Tell you what. I'll let y'all walk away like this never happened, but I'm afraid it'll still be tough to hide all of the scars inflicted on me today and I might be in need of a treatment. But then the hospital bills...' he dramatically sighed again and the three shook also.

-'we... we'll give you all we have, so please let us go! ' they begged.

-'well...if you really insist about making things right, then who am i to say no, right, Seniors? ' Huey's lips curled and twisted in the dark.

...

The scene once more dissolved and Huey was brought back to reality. His expression was still motionless and solemn, his gaze as deep a the darkness that surged inside the ruinous building structure of the old middle school.

He continued on his way in the gloom of it all. The abominations steered clear of him, leaving his path unimpeded.

Huey walked around his abandoned neighborhood before finally arriving at his family's old dojo.

He pushed the rickety door open, and his hollow voice resounded solely in the empty passage.

"I'm home."

***

AUTHOR'S NOTE: seems like there's a lot of unnecessary scenes in today's chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it. Honestly, this wasn't the mood I at all imagined when I thought of RED, I wanted a light hearted and free book with a mindlessly overpowered sociopath. So we'll get back on track soon