I Hate Systems

"Nightmare? What the heck are you talking about…" The Invader retorted when suddenly, it observed that it was in a different world, present amid a massive metropolitan city.

"Huff..puff…" It was alarmed at the panting sounds, looking around to notice that it was coming from itself. A tiny, weak frame as compared to before, a mortal weakness that it hadn't experienced before.

It looked around, noticing a large glass forming the wall of a shopping mall, staring at it to see its reflection. A man in his late thirties, a bit fit but sporting excess fat in the stomach region, a sign that he was a desk worker.

'I'm a…human?' This thought just popped in its mind, and the glass shattered.

Bang!

An aberrant rushed out of it, blood dripping out of its elongated jaw as its bloodthirsty eyes stared at him.

"Argh!" Unaware, he unleashed a humane shriek before tumbling to the side, sighing in relief when the aberrant missed him and crashed into a lamppost nearby.

Grrr!

Growls resounded from around him as one after another, the aberrants continued to appear from various locations, targeting the humans nearby. "Shit! What is happening?"

The man ran away from the place, heading into an alley to hide beside a garbage bin. He wasn't a human, so his understanding of such situations was lacking. As he panted beside the bin, a figure gradually stood up from within and stared at him from above.

Its jaws opened like a flower, revealing grotesque shark-like teeth all over that clamped upon the man's head, shattering it into pulp, killing him. The last he was was its image reflected on a tinted shard of glass nearby.

"Gah!" The Invader came to its senses, noticing that it was in the same place as before. But for some reason, it was sweating like a human now. It was startling because the physique of the Invaders didn't have a concept of sweat.

Hehe!

Suddenly, Compass Carburettor let out a grin as his jaws parted open like a flower, revealing rows upon rows of shark-like teeth as he approached the Invader.

Fear!

Even though Invaders were ignorant of the concept of fear, it now felt that, fear that overwhelmed its senses. It didn't understand, but during that experience, it became slightly more humane.

And hence, it became subject to human weaknesses, trembling in fear as Compass Carburettor approached it.

"Now, let's see." The flowery mouth trembled as a raspy voice resounded, "To what extent will you change?"

…

"Argh!" The man screamed in shock, noticing that he was moving at a rapid pace on a zipline, traversing above a steep valley, one where the ground was at least two kilometres below him.

Cold air brushed past his body, causing him to tremble as the heat from the zipline was all that warmed his fingers. But the heat continued to reduce, alarming him as his body slowed down.

It was unknown how it happened, but the zipline had sagged a little, causing a fault in the decline, resulting in a small flat portion due to which his speed slowed down before eventually, he came to a stop.

Swoosh!

The sound of the air was all he could hear, scrapping past his ears, ruffling his hair and clothes. He was stuck in the middle of the zipline, at a spot right above the deepest point of the valley.

Creak!

Suddenly, an ominous sound resounded from the zipline. "Wh…wha…what the heck?"

Before he realised, he was cursing aloud as a human would. After all, he wasn't sure if it was his senses or a hallucination, but he felt that the zipline sagged a bit more. Its tautness was gradually coming off.

And that was an alarming situation, for it might snap soon. "Someone, help! Help me! Somebody!"

His screams echoed throughout the valley, but none responded.

Thump! Thump! Tha-Thump!

His heart lurched when suddenly, his altitude fell by a metre. The zipline had loosened without any indication, making him feel like his heart was about to jump out.

"No, I'm not a weak human!" The man muttered before gritting his teeth, intending to use his Invader power to fly away, which was something he was capable of. But, despite his best efforts, nothing happened.

Five minutes, ten minutes, thirty minutes, one hour, three hours…the man was stuck there, hungry and at the end of his mental sanity. And every few minutes, the rope became looser and looser. At first, he thought he would fall, but after some time passed and the same thing continued, he wasn't sure if the rope was actually coming loose or if it was just his paranoia acting up.

Invaders didn't have paranoia. But here he was, fully experiencing it like a paranoid human.

Time continued to pass in such a fashion as the man became more and more delirious. Eventually, he lost his mind, "He…ehe…ehehe…of fuck!"

At that time, followed by a subtle pop sound, the zipline snapped, causing his figure to free fall from the height.

A clear view of the surroundings, a lush green valley filled with life, a time of sunset, with misty clouds covering the place. It was great scenery to have some relaxing tea. But in such great scenery, here he was, screaming his lungs out, falling to his death, and soon…

Splat!

…

"Aargh! Was it fun torturing me like that?" The Invader roared in vexation, feeling it hard to endure as it grunted in pain, not even noticing that it was speaking in complete sentences like a human.

"That's surprising," Compass Carburettor muttered, noticing that the Invader now sported traces of a human in its appearance. Its character too was changing as such.

Moreover, it hadn't even realised but it had grown considerably weaker as compared to the start. It was regressing to the strength of a normal human, gradually but definitely.

The Invader ought to have attacked him as its instincts dictated. But ever since Compass Carburettor's jaws parted open like a flower, fear had enveloped it, preventing it from attacking, which was why it fell victim a second time. Now, it turned tail, intending to run away when suddenly, it despaired, noticing that it was on a beach this time.

The shore, for some reason, had become long, spanning 3-4 kilometres for the sealine had receded by that much. He was the only person on the shore, standing with a pair of boxers covering him.

He stared at the sea when gradually, his heart thumped in anxiety, for he was able to spot a small wall at the horizon, one that slowly increased in height until eventually, a wall of water came crashing down.

A Tsunami!