u/Extension-Okra5822

It was hard. His voice was much more smother than mine I'd have to admit. Going from deep to lower makes it harder.

Training and just goofing off for a competition against my rival.

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Shapeshifter is an unfinished novel by RileyRavenHeart. He's deciding based on his mental health whether to let the story fade with history or give to someone else like a faithful community to pick up where he left off. His dream is turning this 100k worth of work with 80 pages of lore into a game, movie, and manga. What you've watching right now is a concept to see how people will respond.

You don’t know when you’re going to die. It just... happens.

That's the everyday life in Enguardia.

They told us it was a safe place, that following the rules was the only way to survive, that the walls that surrounded our entire civilization kept whatever that was out there from getting in.

But no one ever talks about the people who disappear inside them, or the missing posters that hang in the air for a little too long.

And the longer I live here, the more it feels like those walls weren’t keeping them out.

They were keeping us in.

I go out during the day sometimes. Not for anything important, but to remind myself that I still can. I never leave without a mask to cover my face either.

The sirens always went off before the dying star.

Just enough noise to raise hair on my skin, like a thousand burning needles.

Most days, I stay inside; doors air-lock tight, windows shut.

It was safer that way.

...At least, that's what everyone says.

My neighbor went missing last week, yet I saw the old geezer from time to time in his small house, smiling... almost alluring from the window. He waved, the same way, at the same speed, every day like it was routine.

He never smiled, let alone reveal his face. So, I was surprised when he finally did, like I just discovered a secret.

This was also the same guy who smacked me on the head if I didn’t wear a veil.

So yeah--

I knew something was wrong.

And I wasn’t alone.

They came just before the curfew, wearing gas helmets.

J.A.D.E.’s

You never hear them or really see them, but they are always there, watching. Even in my own house, I’m careful.

My whole complex is bugged with cameras, even my restroom.

As I continued to look from my window. I stood still, almost squeamish. I heard something unreal, as if a truck had legs.

I saw a Titan. A machine that knew no fear. It roared with its feet like thunder; a long black barrel that screamed death toward that very same residence.

They surrounded my neighbor's house like they already knew. From the roof to the ground, it was already over.

There will be no evacuation this time. Once they mark a structure, it's already considered lost.

I caught one last glimpse of the man I once knew before his skin split itself like wet paper. What crawled out had six legs and no soul.

Then the Titan fired, leaving a white ghostly trail of destruction.

I backed away from the glass; my ears covered. They didn't just kill it. They erased everything. And the cameras behind me didn't even blink.

Then, one of them stopped.

The agent didn't look at the crater. He turned his head slowly toward my building.

My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird.

Through the dark visor of his helmet, I felt a gaze that wasn't human.

It was the same predatory focus I’d seen in the neighbor’s eyes right before its skin had torn.

The agent didn't move to arrest me. It simply lifted a hand and adjusted his own veil, a gesture so eerily similar to the way the old man used to scold me.

The siren blared again, the final warning before the total curfew: “Compliance is Safety. Silence is Peace. Enguardia Endures.”

I've been wearing implant earrings ever since.

I haven't been outside much since then. It's been hard enough. Now I'm even more scared because I can't trust my own ears.

One morning, a girl approached me. She was gorgeous in all the right ways, and most of all, friendly. You don’t usually find that around these parts.

I didn’t know why, but my hands were shaking. Not excitement but fear.

Her lips were moving, but I could only grasp fragments. So, I adjusted my hearing aids, but still, the words felt like sound drowning in water.

She got closer.

I stayed far away. And her face switched from an awkward smile to a confused final goodbye.

I was so worried, thinking about how death that I realized I lost a potential friend.

It has never left me since.

The story that you’re currently reading is non-cannon and just a small scale to something much more terrifying. If you liked the story. I’d be more than welcome to share more.

Btw, I'm watching you Snook. Like and Subscribe to his channel. ;)

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