(POV – Dominic Virel)
Dominic had experienced a wide range of emotions throughout his life, or at least, that’s how it had always seed. In truth, most of them were nothing more than carefully rehearsed responses, subtle masks crafted to conceal what he truly felt.
In a society rigidly structured by pre-established norms, where any deviation was t with suspicion, Dominic learned from an early age to play the role expected of him.
Smiles appeared at just the right mont, responses ca in the proper tone. Everything about him fit seamlessly into the machinery of society. Yet beneath that flawless surface, there was an abyss, a buildup of desires, impulses, and thoughts that never found room to exist.
History had always made clear the fate of those who dared to break the rules. There was no shortage of examples: individuals who, upon challenging norms, were isolated, silenced, or simply erased from mory. These cases lingered in Dominic’s subconscious like constant warnings, almost like shadows trailing him in every decision he made.
So, he chose to survive in the only way that seed possible: by adapting. Dominic began to act strictly within the acceptable boundaries of what was called “Society,” while deep inside, he buried everything that could have made him truly unique.
And over ti, that repression ceased to be just a choice, it beca a habit, then a necessity... until it was no longer possible to tell where the mask ended and where Dominic himself truly began.
That said, Dominic’s worldview was irreversibly shaken when an event occurred that would later beco globally known as “The Mist” The na, simple as it was, failed to capture the magnitude of the phenonon.
It all began quietly. A dense, gray layer erged on the outskirts of the city, and within hours, it began expanding exponentially, swallowing streets, buildings, and landmarks as if erasing them from reality itself.
Curiously, the Mist never crossed the region’s boundaries. No neighboring state was affected, let alone other countries. Still, it remained perfectly visible from a distance, an opaque wall on the horizon, completely still.
As far as Dominic knew, the military was quickly mobilized, forming a strict periter around the affected areas. Armored vehicles, helicopters, and heavily ard troops surrounded the phenonon, maintaining a cautious distance.
Right behind the containnt lines, a crowd of reporters gathered, caras rolling, voices tense, all chasing a breaking story, though none of them were prepared for what was coming. That was when “those things” were seen for the first ti.
Beings that defied any human logic or definition began to erge from the Mist. So were so small and seemingly harmless they could easily be mistaken for toys left behind on the ground, strange, caricature-like creatures moving in erratic patterns.
Others, however, were the complete opposite: colossal entities whose re presence distorted the perception of space around them, as if they didn’t belong anywhere known. At first glance, even the most experienced soldiers felt the crushing weight of the unknown, a raw, primitive sense of helplessness, as though logic, training, and courage all lost their aning in the face of such beings.
The world had discovered anomalies... and it fell into despair. This wasn’t ordinary panic, it was sothing deeper, instinctive, as if reality itself could no longer be trusted. Dominic didn’t bla them. What were humans in the face of anomalies? Just clusters of fragile flesh, limited and insignificant, orbiting an abyss of diocrity that now seed even more evident.
Cities changed. Once-busy streets fell silent, abandoned storefronts gathered dust, and screens everywhere displayed ever-rising numbers, not of the dead, but of those who gave up. People abandoned families, dreams... so simply stopped. As if continuing no longer made sense. Dominic wasn’t much different.
From his perspective, it was as if hell had opened its gates, not a mythical hell, but sothing worse. Sothing experintal. As though so malevolent entity was testing limits, creating horrors without logic, without pattern, without any comprehensible purpose. Things that shouldn’t exist... yet did.
And then, as abruptly as the chaos had begun, the problem was... contained. Reports started to surface. At first, dismissed as collective delusion. Then ca consistent sightings... and still, always the sa detail. A figure. Small. Humanoid. No taller than a ten-year-old child.
The figure was always at the center of everything, like an invisible axis around which the world revolved, confronting horrors humans didn’t even dare to understand, aberrations before which all one could do was pray they would disappear. It was a true god: not just in strength, but in the overwhelming presence it exuded, in the almost unreal beauty of its form, and in its apparent benevolence toward humanity.
Its appearance was never fixed. It changed, evolved, as if it existed beyond the limits of matter and ti, gradually transforming into sothing so subli that Dominic found himself with no reaction other than love. It was a deep, overwhelming love, the kind that erges without explanation, a devotion before an intense light. That light burned, shined, filled everything until it began to falter.
Almost imperceptibly, the glow beca corrupted. What was once radiant turned dull. Warmth beca discomfort. The light, once pure, grew dense and dark, like mud slowly spreading. And at the height of that transformation, soone appeared. A man.
There was nothing extraordinary about him at first glance. Yet it was this human who forever changed the way Dominic saw the world. With simple words and truths, he opened doors that should never have been touched. Dominic learned about everything, about the nature of things, about the secrets hidden between the lines of reality... and, most importantly, about the gods.
The more he learned, the deeper he delved into that forbidden knowledge, the more that dark, muddy feeling inside him grew. It was subtle at first. But it soon beca sothing alive.
Sothing that spread through his mind like a shadow, seeping into his thoughts, poisoning his emotions. Dominic tried to hide it, suppress it, deny it, at any cost. But it was already too late. Because this... was already a part of him.
***
(POV – Protagonist)
Personally, I had imagined all kinds of reactions from the priest, many of them, to be honest, quite unpleasant. That said, his complete lack of reaction to all of this, reduced to simply staring at the ground with a blank, disbelieving expression, definitely wasn’t one of the possibilities I had considered.
For a mont, I used Althea as a reference, trying to predict how he might act in a similar situation. Still, nothing quite fit. Maybe the shock had been so overwhelming that his brain simply shut down, unable to process what was happening, a plausible explanation, at the very least. Either way, it wasn’t sothing that sparked enough interest in to analyze any further.
Still caught up in my own thoughts, my attention was abruptly pulled back when the priest, still kneeling at my feet, let out a laugh. The sound was light, almost innocent, carrying a misplaced sense of joy, like that of a child finally receiving the toy they had been waiting for: “Ha!”
My imdiate reaction was to look at him again. I kept my gaze fixed on him for a few monts, carefully studying his expression, which was so cheerful it felt grotesquely out of place given the situation.
“Aha! Hahaha... hehehe!” He laughed again, this ti with more intensity. His hands slowly rose to his face, his fingers trembling slightly as they touched it, while his eyes took on a strange, feverish, delirious look, as if he were on the verge of so incomprehensible ecstasy.
“Uh...? Why is he suddenly laughing?” Laura asked, stepping back in short, cautious steps. Her brows furrowed, and her expression couldn’t hide, even for a mont, the deep disgust she felt as she looked at the priest.
His laughter, low and uneven, echoed in a disturbing way, as if sothing were wrong beyond simple insanity: “Did he... lose his mind or sothing?” she added, her voice tinged with hesitation.
Emily, who had remained beside Laura the entire ti, finally spoke. Her voice ca out more cautious than usual: “Normally I’d agree with you, Laura, but...” She took a few steps forward, almost without realizing it.
Her body shifted into a slightly defensive posture, shoulders tense and her arm subtly extended toward Laura, like an instinctive protective gesture, even though she didn’t seem aware of it herself: “He doesn’t seem insane to ...” she continued, frowning slightly: “At least, not completely”
From my perspective, that priest looked plenty insane to . Still, I had no intention of arguing with the experts. I took a deep breath and cast a brief glance around.
My sisters were already in their natural forms, displaying them without the slightest hint of hesitation. None of them cared to hide what they were, and for a mont, that seed... liberating. I followed the sa path.
My “transformation” if it could even be called that, was almost disappointingly simple compared to theirs. There were no bursts of power, no grand changes. My clothes began to burn away silently, consud not by ordinary flas, but by a soft, faintly incandescent blue glow.
The fabric didn’t turn to ash; instead, it dissolved little by little, as if undone by the light itself, shimring particles breaking off and vanishing into the air before they could even touch the ground. Within monts, all that remained was , stripped of artifice, wrapped only in that faint blue radiance.
The first thing to erge were my wings, vast and imposing, similar to Althea’s, which extended from my tailbone as if desperately seeking the freedom they were owed.
Then my body revealed itself completely, wrapped in a pale translucence that resembled mist lit by moonlight. The light passed gently through my form. My eyes ca next: a deep, hypnotic gold, with geotric irises slowly rotating like celestial gears in perfect sync.
Soon after, my goat-like horns erged, curving elegantly along my head, bringing with them a primal, imposing presence. At the center of my forehead, the mark appeared. Finally, my hair fell softly across my face, whitish, translucent strands, light as silk in the wind, contrasted by a few darker locks weaving through them.
A sigh of relief escaped my lips before I could stop it. It was involuntary, instinctive. Still, there was sothing I realized in all of this. Hiding... didn’t suit . It never had. Deep down, I would much rather wander freely, in plain sight, exactly as I am.
Of course, I wasn’t naive. I was fully aware that my re presence could trigger widespread panic, screams, chaos. Though, to be honest, I wasn’t so sure about that anymore. In a way, that priest... he influenced people more than I expected. At least in this particular city.
Finally, when I turned my gaze back to him, I realized he had already been watching for so ti. His eyes were fixed on intensely. A genuine emotion burned within them, raw, sothing beyond simple curiosity or devotion. Under the priest’s gaze, I felt a subtle discomfort spread through my body.
The way he looked at ... it wasn’t normal. It was euphoric. Feverish. Sickening. And buried deep within that disturbing expression, there was sothing even more unsettling, a dense, unmistakable envy, as if he desperately wanted to take for himself what he saw in .
User Comments
0 comments from readers