The Day the World Ended

Cordelia remembered it all clearly, the day when everything as she knew it ended. Her father, his team, and her were at a dig site in the Arizona Desert; a normal thing considering her father was a highly esteemed scientist for the government. It was like any other dig day, laughter, jokes, until they found it. That damned device.

It was beautiful, that's what she remembers. Unlike anything she had ever seen. The design was so sleek, slim, a chrome type color of black with blue swirling within, almost as if it had been made with stardust. So, so, beautiful even the Ouroboros symbol on it was elegant, other-worldly. They were all so enchanted by it, that they didn't think to wonder why it had been so well buried. Hidden.

They took it back to the lab, to study it, run tests. But it was so hard for anyone to take their eyes off it. But soon we learned about its power. We still aren't sure how it has that power, but what I do know is that the wind started first. Light at first, slowly progressing into something horrible. The speeds kept rising, then the rain started. Soon it became a downpour. Something very unlike typical Arizonian weather. But we still didn't think anything of it. It wasn't until the building started shaking that we realized. This thing, this beautiful, beautiful object was angry.

I felt in my gut that something was wrong. So, I told my father to stop and end the testing. But he didn't listen, just spouted something about how it could be the next biggest thing! But it already was. Everyone who saw it fell into some trance about it. Wanting to learn every last thing they could. Except me. I loved it for its beauty, elegance. I could feel it calling me, reaching out as if it was in pain. Wanting to be saved, rescued.

They came next, the Aliens. They also were quite enchanting but not enough for us to give them the artifact. For my father to give it up. This made them very angry. That's when the attacks started. They would pick a random area and slaughter innocents. I felt I needed to do something. Rescue the artifact and make a deal with them.

I don't know how they understood me, but they did. We met in the desert near where the dig site was. All I asked was if they had the machine to stop killing innocents. They agreed. I thought it was all going well, I was wrong. So, so naive. I knew how, how to steal it from the lab unnoticed. So, I did. And I felt like I was doing something so, right. But I was wrong. Oh, so wrong.

I felt like I was dreaming when I was holding the oh so beautiful device. Like everything was right, okay. There were still a few days until the second meeting with the aliens. So, I took it home. The first night everything seemed a bit normal, but the second? That's when the dreams started.

She was so beautiful, the woman who came to me. She was thanking me for returning her home, for understanding her. But I was lost by her beauty. She was like a goddess, and I felt so blessed to be honored with her presence. I would've done anything for her if she had asked in that moment. But she didn't. Just continued to thank me, for understanding her storm. That's when I realized. That she was the device. I was so proud of myself. But I ruined everything.

When I went for the second meeting the aliens were different this time, then the wind started again. Something was screaming for me to turn around and run. But I wanted to honor the deal. When I went to hand them the device the wind pushed me away from them. I was confused, I thought she wanted to go home?

They charged at me, to get her, and they did. And then they revealed themselves, and I knew. These aliens were different, more malicious. I could feel her pain, anger, disappointment. I tried to fight back, to save her. But I failed, I failed to get her back.

I tried to explain this, to the first group of aliens, but they didn't care. They were angry, furious. I begged, pleaded even, for their forgiveness, mercy. But I was ignored. I'm not sure what they had said, just something about revenge, that's all I understood.

Soon cities were being taken down faster than we had a chance to react. My father figured it out, that I took the device, he was so disappointed in me. He said he would have to turn me in, that this was my only chance to run, escape. I became a fugitive, the enemy of the world. The one who caused the end of everything and everyone. The one who caused the end of humanity.