The Cloaked: Part 1

Basically a story about what The Cloaked.

## Part 1

A youth gazed at a marvelous civilization, one that he had helped build. The buildings all had a sand-yellow taint, the houses were skyscrapers, though, the city's most dominating structure was its temple, with massive columns and detailed statues depicting figures of mythology that stood at every entrance of said temple.

The youth wore purple and gold clothes, as if he was of royalty. Though, what caught peoples' attentions weren't his clothes or his hair (which were jet black), it was his eyes, they were of two different colours; his right eye was sky blue, reflecting the calmness of the sea, while his left eye was dark brown with a fury that can only be rivaled by the raging disasters of the planet.

As the youth walked down a path in the middle of the city, he noticed something was off, the pulse of the magic which once flown invisibly around this city, was growing weaker. However, that wasn't the only thing that was wrong, hatred, madness, darkness, was present in the air.

The youth knew what was happening, what was the cause of this, who was to blame for this dark cloud of negative emotions. A circle appeared beneath him, filled with runic symbols and words of power. The next instant, he was already gone, leaving only a purple glow to the earth where he once stood.

The swamplands, a forbidden land that lies on the opposite side of the planet of the sand-yellow civilization. Filled with poisonous gas that burns any living beings' lungs, only certain plant life seem to thrive in this harsh environment. The youth appeared in a flash of purple, red and blue energy. He looked around, searching for the one he knew who was responsible for the madness.

He closed his eyes, sensing for 'his' presence. He abruptly shot his eyes open as he realized his mistake, he quickly teleported up into the sky as rows of razor sharp teeth closed around the spot where he was standing a moment ago. He frowned, not exactly content with seeing his old 'friend'.

"Odorf...", the youth said, as he landed next to the now half-emerged Odorf. Odorf was an Eldritch Horror that was in the shape of the sea creature of Earth known as the bobbit worm, however, some of its skin was as black as coal, as if those parts were burned.

Odorf hissed (despite not being a snake), "You...The Cloaked...what brings you, a Titan Prince to such a joyful place...?". The Cloaked responded by cutting Odorf's head off, though, in the blink of an eye, he regenerated. "Is that how you greet an old...acquaintance...?"

"You know why I'm here, and you know that I can never fully stop you, but I cannot let you continue devouring the mana source stored deep within this planet." , with that said, The Cloaked flew towards his long-time enemy and a portal opened up underneath Odorf.

Odorf hissed once more, "Tsk...you already planned these traps ahead of time, haven't you?", The Cloaked nodded, before forming an energy dome above the Eldritch to prevent its escape, "Just so you know...what is to come...has nothing to do with me..."

The Cloaked stopped the teleportation, "What do you mean? You were on this planet, and the only Eldritch brave, or stupid enough to come to a planet under my protection."

"Tsk tsk...so many eons of being in this vast Multiverse, and yet...you are still so oblivious to the horrors that lie beyond what is seen...", the Cloaked frowned and resumed the teleportation, "She is your natural predator...she devours mana and releases darkness..."

"Why are you telling me this? Is she not of your kin?"

Odorf was metres away from being swallowed by the portal, "Like you, I do not involve myself with the others' activities...and it is also because she is an obstacle to my...schedule...Now if you'll excuse me...I'll have to go...", the portal suddenly turned black, and crumbled away.

## Part 2

The Titan Prince snarled as Odorf escaped his trap, though, his eyes suddenly widened in realization that he was actually telling the truth, the shield surrounding the sand-yellow city has been broken. In an instant, he was back at the city, though, it was in a completely different state then he had left it in. The smell of blood and ash filled the air. The youth rushed to the temple, where the chaos seemed to be the least present, however, he was greeted with a sight that made his stomach churn.

Blood smeared the walls, body parts lay everywhere, the heads were the worst, they were smiling in such way that made it seem like they enjoyed the pain they were afflicted with before they were decapitated. Bones covered in bite and claw marks filled the corners of the rooms. In the place of paintings, organs hanged from the walls.

As The Cloaked opened the door to the main room, he saw them, the souls of those that were killed, swirling around a being. It was a little girl. She turned around, and a feeling of dread washed over him. She was laughing, laughing as she devoured the screaming souls one by one. "Do you want to play with me?", she asked, as she opened her eyes, they were black, jet black, darker than the emptiness that filled space.

He launched a volley of energy bolts in rage. From a distance, the city is covered in fire, before being destroyed in an explosion. Darkness.

The Cloaked awoke drenched in sweat. In pain, he clenched his right eye (the sky blue one). "*That memory...why had it suddenly resurfaced?*", he thought. Slowly, he steadied his breathing, and looked around the room he was in to calm himself with a familiar environment.

The room he found himself had a classy-style, the walls were made out of logs. Near the bed, was a wooden desk. He turned on the light next to his bed, the pain of his right eye subsided, slowly, he released the pressure of his hand on his eye.

He opened up his room's curtains, it was already morning. He sighed as he gazed at the streets outside of his house, he was currently on Earth, or rather, **a** Earth. He had been to too many of Earths and yet, they all seemed to be tainted by the Eldritch Horrors' darkness.

This one, however, was unique, it was devoid/oblivious to/of everything/anything 'alien'. After eons of traveling to different worlds, he has grown tired, tired of all the darkness, tired of dealing with Eldritch, tired of his art (magic) being used for wrong, he needed a break from being an 'all-seeing god-dude', he needed to discover what it actually meant to be 'alive'.

He sighed again, looking at kids running to school along side their friends, smiling, he wondered, "*What actually makes these human offspring so excited to go to a place that will decide your future depending on a few numbers on a sheet of paper?*"

He walked to his house's bathroom, he looked at the mirror, standing there, was the exact same disguise he had taken back when the 'Scary-girl-he-no-longer-wants-to-see-ever-again-because-she-scared-the-living-Necrobane's-dimension-out-of-him-back-at-the-sand-building-civilization' incident had occurred.

Besides the civilization study, he also had another goal in mind, to hide. These recent millions of years, Eldritch have been following him, and despite him constantly killing them, they still spawned, despite him removing magic from multiple Universes, their numbers only seemed to grow, and they all seemed to be targeting him.

In order to hide from the others and the Eldritch, he had to seal away most of his powers, or rather, the ones that defined him, made him unique among the other Titan Princes. He looked once again through the window, and saw students of a high school near his house.

He put his hand up to his chin, "*They are the future of a species, and yet, they go to such a depressing place?*"

A calendar appeared in the Cloaked's hands, it was that of the high school closest to him, though, the distance wouldn't have mattered that much as he is still able to teleport, despite his limitations.

He sighed once again, "*This is by far the worst idea I've ever had, but then again, I am no Sol.*"

## Part 3

A few moments later, the Cloaked was walking down the hallways of the Griffith High School (named after Jeremy Griffith, a magician also known as @lost\_angelus on Instagram). As he navigated through the school, he could feel the eyes of the students set upon him.

He checked his schedule and student card once again to confirm where he was going. As he arrived to his classroom, he noticed a student beating up another student. "Move.", The Cloaked said, as he stood in front of the two students, "You're in my way."

The bully looked his way with a face that could only be that of rage and disgust, "What did you say, small fry!?!?"

The Cloaked pushed him and the bullied kid aside, "Fight somewhere else, you're on my locker.", the bully gave him a look and threw a punch at him. The bell rang and all the students went to their respective classrooms.

The teacher walked into the classroom and began calling attendances, "Alice...[random characters that don't do anything]...Brandon", hearing his name, the bully stood up, "Got into a fight again? Though, I can see that you lost that one.", Brandon swore as he put his ice pack back to his eye.

The teacher continued calling out attendances, until he arrived to the Cloaked's human form's name, "Ryuga...Laito?", 'Ryuga' raised his hand, "Are you new here?", he nodded, "Well, then, why don't you introduce yourself to the class?"

Ryuga sighed, "My name is Ryuga Laito, I was born in Japan, my father was Japanese, while my mother was English. I am a practitioner of multiple martial arts, and I am what some people would call a 'card mechanic', a person who can control the outcome of a card game, or if you're an uncultured person, a 'magician'."

The teacher raised an eyebrow at that last comment, though, he let it slip. A few hours later, Ryuga was looking out the class window, "*Well...I just committed one of the worst errors in my existence. The so-called 'teacher' is teaching such bullsh\*t, and how does one keep their interests when the teacher talks so emotionlessly?*"

The bell finally rang for lunchtime, Ryuga happily left for the lunchroom, before he was grabbed by the shoulder by Brandon. "What do you want?", he asked nonchalantly, as a reply, Brandon attempted to punch him, though, he stepped aside, before jumping in the air, kneeing his face.

"You're pathetic. You bully other kids to make yourself feel better about your existence, ultimately, you're a condescending loser.", with that, Ryuga left. After settling down on an empty table, he took out a book, a book that writes the near-future. Flicking through the book, he noticed something, all the pages were blank, something is going to happening, something that could end this Earth's peaceful existence.

"Hey.", he suddenly heard, he turned around to find a brown-haired girl with blue eyes in a wheelchair, "Mind if I join this table?"

"Not really...", Ryuga said, as he put his book away, "Your name was...Alice, correct?"

"That's right! I'm actually surprised you remember it! People like you tend to be lone-wolves."

"*Ugh...is she going to bug me for the rest of the year, by Sol, I really wish I had his wisdom.*", he thought. "If you think that you know me, then why are you still attempting to talk to me?"

"I'm actually president of the students' association! It's my job to make sure that everybody feels at home!"

"Uh huh.", he replied with his eyes closed, he was sensing something, something that shouldn't have appeared in this world, the traces...of a being known as an Eldritch Horror.

## Part 4

He opened his eyes, before sprinting to where the Eldritch was sensed. He arrived at the schoolyard, where he spotted it, though, it was merely a person infected by an Eldritch. "A Ghoul, and an ugly one with that.", he said, as he noticed that the Ghoul was no longer even recognizable as a human.

It instead had claws, a dark green skin, no hair, and six glowing red eyes. "*This one is different, there's no detectable trace of Eldritch on this thing.*" He walked closer to it, this time, he could see that it was eating on something: a human head.

The Ghoul turned its head towards Ryuga, and suddenly, it vanished. Wind suddenly rose, his eyes widened in surprised as the claws of the Ghoul were almost at his throat, though, when it appeared behind him, its head was no longer attached to its body.

The wind died down, and the body of the decapitated Ghoul turned into dark particles before disappearing up into the sky. Ryuga walked up to the head that the Ghoul was chewing on, he waved his hand, and from the head, the entire body regenerated. He waved his hand once again, and the body disappeared.

As he walked back to the lunch room, Alice walked (rolled...?) up to him, "Hey! Why did you just ditch me?!", she screamed while pursuing him on her wheelchair.

"I forgot something.", he muttered, as he sped up his walking pace. Though, she also went faster.