The protagonist is stuck in a time loop and he has no idea what his greater purpose is, if there even is one. What was supposed to be a routine trip to the largest library in the capital city takes a wrong turn when a giant death machine shows up.
This story is essentially a mishmash of sci-fi elements that sounded cool to 15 years old me.
The title is nonsense; think of it as a bastardized version of Leviathan. Believe it or not this was partially inspired by the scenes of Izabella vs TFR sentinels in Transformers: The Last Knight.
This is yet another school assignment! I believe it might've been my last major writing assignment in middle school. I saved the story to my personal Google Drive on 2022-06-17, but it was definitely written before that. The highlighted words are vocabulary words we were required to include in our story. I remember putting a lot of effort into the worldbuilding and feeling incredibly frustrated at the writing process, because I was basically making stuff up as I went. Although this reads like the first chapter to a shitty YA novel, the truth is, there is no deeper lore—what you read here is all I could come up with LMAO. I think I wanted the narrator to become friends with the unnamed Executor that killed him in the library, and the main storyline is these two trying to solve a big mystery that will help the narrator break out of the loop. Then again, I never got that far.
The opening line is inspired by the missile knows where it is, because it knows where it isn't.
Additional Context:
Missiles are fun, as long as they don't point at you. Even so, it still has a purpose and a destination.
Unlike me.
I looked outside the window, everything is just as I remembered. The utterly uncomfortable silence, the familiar smell of acid ash in the air that made me almost puke, Jasffee shining bright in the sky looking down at us peasants... nothing changed. Ignoring the fact that literally every fiber of my body screams "pain," I adeptly ran to the house (well, it was more of a ruin rather than a house) behind me and hid behind the gap between the closet and the broken wall. As the Executors approached, I quickly pulled over a table to cover my hiding spot. My mind drifted off as I blankly stared at my watch. It's 7:17 am, 7/17, 171 EC.
This is the 31st life of mine. For some reason, every time I died I respawn back to this exact time — the 17th day after the missile was dropped, also my first death. The excitement of being thrown back the first time and thinking I was the Chosen One who could save the world was long gone. During my 17th life I was so excited, I thought everything would come to an end. 17 really is a magic number. Come on, it has been occurring at an unreasonable and unexplained rate, surely there is something special about it? But no. Here I am, the 31st time, back at it again. It's pretty annoying that it resets everything everytime I die.
A loud explosion slapped my mind back to this abysmal reality. Just like before, using the Axil (A-035 laser gun) implanted to its hand, Executor No.042X fired a fireball at the "house" I was at 1 minute ago and turned it into nothing more than a pile of cement and ashes. It almost blasted my eardrums, but hey, it's not the first time. These robot people are not the ones you can mess with, I learned that the hard way. I waited patiently for the Executors to leave and as soon as they left I crawled out. They would be back in just 30 minutes if nothing went wrong with their routine. (Which, according to my past experience, never happened.) Wasting no time, I grabbed my backpack and began my journey to Sacre Araciae, the biggest library in the capital.
Along the way, I didn't spend too much time scavenging materials. It's not like there's much left here anyway. However, I did remember to grab the propaganda poster that has a code with the number "17" printed on the back. (By the way, the poster is about advocating a peaceful and harmonious society. Ironic.) After a quick sip of contaminated water and shoving a nasty-spoiled-tasteless-expired-protein bar down my throat, I left my "stay 100% alert mode." The trip ahead is going to be boring, I've done it so many times that I can do it blindfolded. So I'm back at my daily activity: having an existential crisis.
My record (the longest time I ever lasted after the missile was dropped) is 43 days, accomplished in my last "life". Shouldn't have underestimated the power of a semi-finished bomb. Death by radiation isn't fun at all; 0/10, would not recommend. Let's hope that this time I don't screw shit up.
The young man serenely walked through piles of dead bodies. Nothing in this barren wasteland interests him. He had seen it too many times. Out of boredom, he kicks a rock and tries to see how far he can bring it with him. Distracted by his "game", he didn't notice a flash of a figure in the distance. He still has a long journey ahead of him, as Jasffee continues to watch her beloved people in silence from above.
Things went as expected, it took me only three hours and twenty-one minutes to get there. I dodged the three patrols along the way pretty easily. The Sacre Araciae now stood firmly in front of me, its gorgeous spherical obsidian outer shell (made up of one of the most unbreakable material) reflects the disastrous surroundings. Jasffee sorrowfully gleams its light upon this sacred build. Unfortunately, I'm not in the mood to enjoy its beauty. Plus, the dead bodies all over the place kinda ruined the atmosphere. I headed in, straight to the -2 floor. Just like thousands of times before, I located the library manager's corpse near the counter and dragged it down floor into the storage room with me. Inside the storage room, there lies a safe deposit locker. I turned on the facial recognition feature of the locker, it automatically recognised the manager and unlocked the door. Pretty amazing how this thing can still work even after the shockwave. Inside the locker, lies nothing but a thick ancient book. It was no secret that the book was kept in here, it was an honor that Sacre Araciae gets to house this mysterious legacy. So far, no one was able to decode its content.
During my 9th or 10th life, out of curiosity I decided to check out this book. And the moment I saw it I knew I had some kind of bond with it. Something tells me I need it. So far it hasn't helped me with anything but who knows, maybe it's an inheritance book that I need to activate in order to pass this game. Like always, I decided to take a rest and chill in the storage room with my precious book until 11. I flipped through the pages, enjoying the mix of grass and vanilla scent unique to wood-based books.
On my way out, I packed some long-lasting food, snacks, and water. I miss the breakfast they used to serve in the cafeteria; it always evokes that nostalgic feeling. The library is like my second parent. It raised me up, it was my only getaway during my miserable childhood. The delicious hot cocoa with marshmallows and croissants will always have a special place in my heart.
I climbed up the stairs, still reminiscing about the past. Unexpectedly, through the glass stairwell door, I saw something that almost made me shit my pants.
There is an Executor.
Panicking, I immediately backed up as quietly as possible until I made sure I can't be seen through the glass door.
This had never happened before! In my past lives, there has never been an executor present when I was in the library. Could it be because I didn't notice? I quickly override this speculation. In the past few lives I've left the library around this time. There is just no way I could have missed the Executor, it is there right in front of the gate! This is some momentous occurrence that could change my fate! If this is something new this time, what does this mean? Why did the change occur? Is this a butterfly effect? If so, what did I do to cause this change? A bunch of postulations fly through my head. I forced myself to deal with the current situation first. The analysis can wait, that Executor can't. Before I could figure out what to do, the Executor made a move first. I heard it approaching the stairs, walking steadily as if it knew I was here. Every footstep seemed to tread on my heart. The rhythm of my heartbeat and the footsteps sounded like the bells you hear before death. I felt like my head is about to explode.
What should I do? If I run back to the storage room I'm trapped. If it walked in I'm fucked. I can run upstairs and take the escalator next to the cafeteria to detour back to the first floor, but I would be seen through the glass door when I ran upstairs . There is no way I can outrun an Executor.
What should I do? If I run back to the storage room I'm trapped. If it walked in I'm fucked. I can run upstairs and take the escalator next to the cafeteria to detour back to the first floor, but I would be seen through the glass door when I ran upstairs . There is no way I can outrun an Executor.
Knowing damn well that panicking would only exacerbate the situation, I tried to calm down but it was no use. The suffocating tension overwhelmed me.
I'm fucked.
My sixth sense tells me that the Executor is gonna blast open that door at any moment. And before I knew it, following my instinct, imprudently I ran up the stairs running for my life. The second after I ran past the door I heard the glass door shattered into pieces. The only thing I can think of now is run; there is no turning back. My heart stopped for a second when I heard shots fired. The stairs behind me shattered into pieces: I barely outran death. I ran as fast as I could down the passageway between the bookshelves, hoping it would make the Executor harder to target. The familiar desolate sense of death assailed me. If an Executor can pop out of nowhere, I cannot guarantee that I would respawn. For the first time in months, I'm actually scared of death. Having to do the same thing over and over again killed all my patience and will to live. There seems to be no way out. But now, I'm not sure.
As I burst through the bookshelves and into the open field of the cafeteria, the Executer predicted my route and fired an explosion ahead of me. The explosion sent me flying several feet away, almost knocking me out. Before I could get on my feet again, out of the corner of my eye I saw another fireball coming. Rolling over quickly, I barely dodged another blast. Couldn't care less of the wound on my forehead and the pain all over my body, I tried to shake the dizziness out of my head and get back up. It was then I noticed something strange. The explosion looks different and the fire appears to be blue, unlike the typical yellowish color. Also, it smells different. Before I could catch a glimpse of the Executor, a fireball came flying straight to my face.
My last thought before I lost consciousness was "not again."