A Path To Omniscience

"Huh?"

When Asher came to, he found himself walking down an unfamiliar street. It wasn't the usual streets of Atlas, and the people around him weren't dressed in the familiar attire he was used to seeing every time he left home. Unlike Atlas City, where grand buildings and impressive structures lined the streets, while Atlesian Airships constantly patrolled the skies, projecting the might of the Atlas Military, this place was different.

All he saw when he looked up was a bright blue sky, dotted with white clouds and a sun shining softly yet brilliantly.

"This... isn't Atlas," Asher muttered to himself, suddenly coming to a stop as if he'd been on autopilot. He was shorter than most of the people around him, and they pushed past him as he stood there, confused. The lively crowd, combined with the constant hum of vehicles driving by, created an atmosphere he wasn't used to at all.

Slowly, he turned his head toward the nearest building—a bakery. It had a large window showcasing an array of pastries and loaves of bread for anyone passing by. Asher squeezed through the crowd and walked over to the window, but he didn't look at the baked goods. Instead, he stared at his reflection in the glass.

The face looking back at him wasn't his usual self with brownish-gray hair or the suit he normally wore.

No, the reflection showed a blonde-haired little girl. Her eyes were so clear they almost seemed like mirrors as Asher stared into them through the glass. He reached out slowly, touching the window and then his own face, trying to determine if this was real. Everything felt real—the touch, the sounds, everything.

"What's going on? This... this has to be some sort of dream, some sort of..." His mind struggled to make sense of it. Why was he suddenly somewhere else? Where exactly was he, and who was he now? Questions flooded his mind, bringing with them a rising panic as his breathing quickened.

Too much had happened too suddenly; he didn't even know where to begin sorting through his thoughts.

"Okay... okay... calm down, calm down. You're fine, you're fine, you're fine." He repeated those seemingly empty words to himself as he stared at his reflection. But just then, he heard gasps and sounds of shock from the people around him.

"Hey, what's that?"

"Huh?"

"Honey, look, do you see that thing in the sky?"

Hearing their voices, Asher turned away from the window. More and more people were stopping, some pointing up at the sky or taking out their scrolls to record. Even those in their cars were leaning out or looking up through their windows. Asher followed their gaze and saw what had caught their attention.

It was hard to describe—a rift, a crack in the sky itself. It seemed close yet impossibly far at the same time. The crack was pitch black, and despite the clear sky and bright sun, what was on the other side appeared to be endless darkness. But what worried Asher more was that the crack was growing.

Just seconds ago, it was barely visible, and now it was getting large enough to block out the sun.

More fissures began to spread from the crack, and a deep, instinctual fear started to well up in Asher's heart. Just looking at it, he knew something was wrong. As he glanced around, he saw that everyone else felt it too. Their expressions of interest and curiosity were shifting to unease, and some had already started taking slow, unconscious steps back.

Then, as if the last fragile barriers holding back disaster had shattered, the cracks spread like a spiderweb across the sky, their jagged branches racing outward. It was as though the sky itself was ready to split apart, to swallow everything whole. The sun disappeared behind the encroaching darkness, its light snuffed out, plunging the city into a deep, all-encompassing shadow.

That was all it took for the thin veil of curiosity in everyone's minds to snap, unleashing the fear that had been creeping into their hearts. One by one, people began to turn and run, a mindless flight driven by terror. They didn't know where they were going or why; they just needed to get away from that looming, endless darkness.

Asher was one of them. He had started running before most, but when the entire street turned into a mass of panicked bodies, his small frame quickly became a disadvantage. Adults, towering two or three times his size, slammed into him from all sides, shoving and crushing him as the chaos erupted.

"Move!"

"Stop pushing!"

"Call the police!"

Amid the chaos, Asher was shoved to the ground, and all he could see were legs—a stampede of them, crashing down relentlessly. Feet trampled his hands, arms, and legs, slamming his body against the unyielding pavement. He felt his fingers snap, and something in his arm popped painfully out of place. A scream tore from his throat, tears welling in his eyes.

"Auegh!" But even his cries were swallowed by the relentless pounding of feet and the noise of the crowd. Instinctively, Asher curled into a ball, trying to protect his head as blow after blow rained down on him. He didn't know how long he lay there, battered and broken, but eventually, the sounds of people and honking vehicles faded into a distant hum.

Gritting his teeth, Asher lowered his only working arm, but even the slightest movement made his whole body seize with pain. Agony radiated from every inch, from his dislocated arm to the fractures spreading through his bones like the cracks in the sky above. Tears and snot streaked his face as he glanced around with bloodshot eyes.

He lay there, silent, not even a whimper escaping him. At some point, the energy, the instinct to cry, had been crushed out of him, just like his battered body.

Wh- what… what happened…?

As Asher looked around, he realized that the once vibrant city he'd been strolling through not long ago had been utterly destroyed. Large cracks snaked along the streets and roads, climbing up the walls of nearby buildings, and tearing apart their foundations.

Smoke billowed into the sky from burning crashed, and overturned vehicles strewn across the street—some had collided with each other, while others had slammed into buildings and poles. The bakery where he'd just been using to look at his reflection had collapsed, reduced to a pile of rubble.

But the thing that caught Asher's eye the most was the bodies.

Human corpses littered the streets—some crushed or run over by cars, others buried under fallen debris from ruined buildings, and some torn apart and disfigured beyond recognition. The sight made Asher's stomach churn.

The sky was covered in those same cracks now, and even where it was intact, it had a strange, dark reddish tint that felt ominous and wrong.

This... this has to be a dream, right? That's the only explanation. All of this has to be a bad dream.

As he slowly sat up, wincing at the sharp pain radiating through his body, Asher's breath came in short, panicked gasps. His heart pounded in his chest, rising and falling so fast he wasn't breathing properly. It felt like he might pass out then and there, but a sudden noise cut through his panic.

A loud thump echoed around him, so forceful it couldn't be ignored even in his terrified state. Instinctively, Asher looked up at the rooftop of the building behind him and saw something dark moving. He barely caught a glimpse before it slipped out of sight, but he knew it was something big.

A surge of self-preservation jolted through him, interrupting his spiraling panic. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Asher struggled to his feet, groaning as he forced his body to move.

He needed to get somewhere safe—anywhere that wasn't out in the open like this.

But, he had barely taken a few steps when a deafening roar erupted behind him. Turning his head, Asher saw a massive dark figure leap down from the rooftops, landing on a broken-down car and crushing it effortlessly under its weight. It looked like a gorilla, but its skin was pitch black, absorbing every bit of light.

Standing on its hind legs, it towered three times taller than any adult, with fiery red eyes that glowed even in the dim light of the ruined city. Bony plates covered its body like armor, seamlessly embedded into its skin—if you could even call it that.

Asher froze as the creature scanned its surroundings, its mouth hanging open to reveal rows of sharp teeth, its insides glowing with the same red light as its eyes. He didn't need to think twice to know what it was.

A Creature of Grimm—monsters drawn to negative emotions and human souls, that wished for nothing more than the destruction of life and all it's built. Fear was enough to attract one, and the fear born from the presence of one would soon lure more, spiraling into an endless cycle of destruction.

Asher was practically radiating fear, every ounce of his being trembling as the gorilla-like Grimm locked its fiery gaze onto him. The terror that had held him in place shattered, and he broke into a desperate sprint, running with every ounce of strength he had left.

I'm going to die... I'm going to die... Someone help me!

The gorilla-like Grimm immediately began to chase after him, leaping off the car it had landed on and using the wrecked buildings around it to swing and vault closer to Asher as he ran.

What do I do!? Where do I go!?

Asher's eyes darted left and right, desperately searching for a way out. But every alleyway was blocked with debris, and he knew a partially destroyed building wouldn't stop that thing. He forced himself not to look back, but it didn't matter—because it was already catching up.

With a powerful launch from a building, the Grimm landed just a few meters behind him, the impact shaking the ground and sending Asher, already battered and exhausted, sprawling to the ground. He tried to scramble to his feet, but as he turned, the gorilla-like Grimm loomed over him.

Its massive form blocked out everything else, and Asher's pupils dilated as the realization hit him—death was only seconds away.

"M-Mom... Dad... help me..." Asher whispered, his voice trembling as he turned his head, desperately hoping, in some delusion, that he might see his parents nearby. But instead, the last thing he saw was an older man turning the corner down the street, likely fleeing from something.

Their eyes met for just a moment—both terrified, both helpless.

The Grimm raised its massive arms, and without hesitation, slammed them down. Asher braced for the pain, the darkness, the end. But as his body was crushed, his perspective shifted. Suddenly, he wasn't the blonde-haired little girl anymore; he was the older man.

From this new vantage point, Asher watched as 'she,' who had been 'him,' was pulverized under the Grimm's fists, her small body reduced to a gruesome smear on the pavement. The gorilla-like Grimm continued its frenzied assault on the already crushed corpse, roaring and beating its chest as it pounded the ground, sending bits of what had been Asher flying in all directions.

As he watched the grisly scene, Asher's mind finally snapped. He fell to his knees, laughter, and sobs mixing into an incoherent babble as tears streamed down his face.

"Well, that's no fun. Your mind snapped so quickly. But I guess you're just a child, after all." Asher heard a voice, faint and distant, but he barely registered it. He turned his head and saw a child floating in the air beside him, hovering above the shattered street. The child looked oddly out of place in the nightmarish cityscape, untouched by the devastation around them, like a piece of a different reality entirely.

Something stirred within the remnants of Asher's sanity, enough for him to croak out a single word, "W-Who…?"

The floating child's grin widened, eyes gleaming with amusement.

"Oh? So you're not completely broken. That's good. Fixing you would feel a bit like cheating."

"But where are my manners? You asked for my name, right? I am ᛗᚩᛞᛟᚱᛁᛟᛃᛚᚢᛗᚾᚨ." The last part of his sentence twisted and blurred itself out of Asher's mind, like a sound that defied understanding—a name that couldn't be spoken, a concept that didn't belong in this world.

Mori's face lit up with a look of realization.

"Ah, right. I forgot you humans can't comprehend True Names. No matter. It's probably for the best, anyway. For now, you can just call me Mori." As he spoke, Mori reached a hand toward Asher's head. From Asher's fractured perspective, the hand seemed vast and all-encompassing, like another rift ready to swallow him whole.

But Asher couldn't move. He didn't have the strength to run or resist anymore.

"Don't worry," Mori said, his tone dripping with a mocking gentleness as he brushed Asher's hair. 

"I won't let you die while your mind is trapped here. After all, you and I are destined to have so much fun together…"

The scene faded, and Asher jolted upright in his bed, his body drenched in sweat, breath coming in ragged gasps as if he'd just sprinted a marathon. The crackling of the fireplace in the corner of the room cut through the fog of panic, pulling him back to the present. He glanced around, taking in the familiar surroundings—he was in his bed.

Asher placed a hand on his chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat beneath his palm. He forced his breathing to slow, staring into the distance until the pounding in his chest eased. With a controlled exhale, he let himself fall back onto the bed, eyes fixed on the reflective ceiling above. In the soft glow of the night lights that stayed on as he slept, he could see his own reflection staring back at him—a boy who looked calm, almost serene.

I was in that place... trapped in a coma for four years. Yet even now, weeks after waking up, I'm still there. Still stuck, even in my dreams…

Slowly, he draped an arm over his eyes, as if trying to block out the reflection. A sound—soft and quiet—escaped his lips. A chuckle. It started deep in his chest, barely more than a whisper at first, but it grew, bubbling up as his lips twisted into a crooked grin.