A Monster Was Born ✔️

The Twist of a Knife (Part I)

Luoji looked up at the rumbling clouds high above him, covering the sky like ravens ready to feast. He sighed, kicking a stone on the pavement, watching it tumble onto the road. Nothing was going right today. Soon, raindrops would be falling from the sky and he would be left with nowhere to go for shelter, nowhere to spend the night. All his fault.

He walked, passing stores as he continued down the busy streets of New York. He could hear whispers of people chatting about the new Netflix movie, or of the new tax bill about to be passed.

Luoji didn't care about any of that. There were more important things to focus on. Food, for example. He hadn't eaten for several hours. His last cherished meal had been a small can of cup noodles, and that wasn't enough calories to survive on. His stomach grumbled in a way that let him know his body had already switched from using stored sugar to burning lipids. He would kill for a plate of beef and potatoes, but that would get him in jail, which meant he could be expelled. Wouldn't want that to happen.

He felt the first sensation of a drop of rain, followed by another. He quickened his pace. He was running out of time.

His first stop was to the library. He tried to stay there overnight the last time his dad kicked him out of the house, but the librarian had refused him, telling him off with a disgusted expression on her face, as though his very presence was something that offended her. Still, he figured he could stay there until he figured out another solution to his dilemma.

Luoji looked up at the sky that was covered with clouds. His face was blank and emotionless, but his heart was like a heavy burden on his chest as he mouthed the words to the gods that were surely looking down on him. He could still feel the sting of his dad's hand slapped across his cheek, the torment of his words as he told him how worthless he was, that he couldn't do anything right, that he was doomed for failure and would be better off gone. That pain was part of him now, and he would have to live with it.

He continued down the streets, going faster with only his goals in mind. Even with the world against him, he would survive, live to make change. He wandered down the streets to the library, passing by assorted shops and apartment buildings. He didn't even recognize how long he was walking. All that mattered was moving forward and finding a shelter.

When he stopped, he couldn't understand the place that surrounded him. The buildings were strange and the sky was even darker, giving off a violet hue. The apartments were shorter, smaller, many of them made of red brick. Some were even on sale and had signs in their front yards. Restaurants sporting Korean and Vietnamnese cuisine replaced the Burger Kings and McDonalds that should've been there instead.

Luoji knew at once this wasn't the path to the library.There were no landmarks he could identify, either. Was he lost? But he felt certain this was the path he always went. After all, he had walked it so many times he already had it memorized to the point he could find his way without looking at any building, just by knowing the left and right turns he was supposed to make at the crossroads. On most days, he could read the map for his neighborhood like the veins and arteries in his palm. But this time, everything around him suddenly became foreign, as though deliberately trying to frustrate him.

Above him, thunder clashed and boomed as a flash of lightning struck across the purple sky, lighting it up like the spell of a witch. He bit back a curse. He was running out of time.

He fumbled for his phone that he took out from his pocket. He needed to find out where he was. As strange as his situation was currently, it wasn't completely impossible. Although rare, the sky does turn purple at times when the right conditions are met, either when the sun aligns with the earth at a particular angle, or due to dust and particles in the earth's atmosphere. Right now, the most important task for him should be finding nearby places to stay at, finding out what was going on, hopefully before he managed to catch a cold.

Luoji pressed a button on his phone, but the screen remained black. That's weird. He knew for sure he had charged it before he went out of the house. Could it be a system malfunction?

Suddenly, another bolt of lightning blasted through the area, but this time when it struck, it felt as though it had struck the ground immediately behind him, causing an earthquake like sensation to ripple through the earth as thunder roared in response, casting the sky in white flames; the rain pouring soon after, soaking everything it could touch. Luoji turned around on instinct, feeling like he had just escaped the wrath of something deadly.

A towering mansion a few streets away had just appeared behind him. It was shaped like a castle made up of black stone, its spirals twisting to touch the raging storm above it, the windows tinted with purple-grey film so no one knew what lay beyond them. Its appearance reminded Luoji of stories that only existed in fairy tales. And for some reason, its shadow beckoned to him.