The Third Convergence Day

Beijing

Beijing, China

January 2nd, 2054

1:40 AM

Rain pelted the windows as lightning flashed in the distance, illuminating the city below. Kun stood, hands crossed behind his back as he looked out into the blackness, waiting. Another flash illuminated the quiet city below, not a single light to be seen for miles. Not exactly surprising, the business man thought to himself, you'd have to be a fool to be out and about on a night like this, even excluding the extraordinary circumstances. He looked down at the watch on his wrist. It read 1:41 am in big green numbers, he let out a grumble as he put his hands back behind his back. They were running late, the thought was a bit humorous, even these titanic creatures, beings of myth and legends, couldn't keep to a tight schedule. He let out a sigh and reached down into his pocket.

He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, and without a word he pulled one out and took a long drag. As he exhaled, releasing the cloud of addictive smoke into the air, the city was illuminated once more. Kun caught a glimpse of it, its massive form distant and undetailed, but unrecognizable. It was an ultra-fauna, the first he had seen in over two decades. He casually flicked the cigarette onto the floor in a pile of at least a dozen other buds. Kun sighed deeply and turned on his heels. He walked forward, stopping at his desk.

On the desk's top were an assortment of files on coding, spreadsheets and nicknacks he used to keep himself occupied on most days. At this very moment however, the aging man only cared about one thing. He reached out and picked up a picture frame.

He hesitated for a moment, his eyes lingering on the figures in the frame, a pair of faces he barely recognized on most days. The picture was of a young man resting his head upon the shoulder of a young woman. Kun stared solemnly at the man, whose smile seemed to stretch from ear to ear, arms wrapped around the women he loved. The woman, she was something else, Kun couldn't think of a word that truly captured her beauty. All-encompassing, heavenly, they simply weren't strong enough to truly capture her nature. Even now, twenty years after the fact, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and despite everything, he couldn't help but smile when he looked at her.

He had gotten busy since that day in Shanghai. He had made his way through the party, and earned himself a comfortable position within the economics branch of the government. He had overseen the commercial success of his nation in the years following the first convergence. He had helped guide China through the depression that struck during the second. In the last few years, he had established himself as one of the most reliable men within the nation when it came to commercial affairs, and to think, it had all been for nothing. He turned back and made his way towards the floor to ceiling windows, picture frame in hand. All that work, all the success, all that effort, and for what?

He looked out into the city, just as another bolt of bluish lightning streaked through the black clouds above. The creature was closer now, well within city limits. He watched, unamused, as the creature's massive limbs smashed through buildings and crushed roads with each movement it made. All that effort just to die to one of them. His frown grew deeper as the flashes became more frequent and abundant. He saw more of the approaching creature's features. Its dog-like head, a mess of barbed tentacles ran down its back like wild braids of hair. It was an ugly thing, that was for certain. The creature lifted its head and let out a rattling howl as its clawed paws crushed a collection of factories beneath it, sending plums of fire into the already pitch black sky. Kun watched it move, and couldn't help but hate it on a personal level. They had taken her from him, they had snatched the one good thing in this miserable world from him, and now after all these years, they had come for him.

He felt his free hand tighten into a fist before he reached into his pocket. He pulled out his phone and swiped it open. Scrolling through, he reached what he needed, an audio file. He looked at the creature in the distance, and with a frown, he clicked play. The speakers throughout the building, usually reserved for blaring ultra fauna alert sirens, began to emit a different noise. The low rumbling of the beast that had taken his love away began to play, and Kun witnessed in real time as the mammalian monster's head tilted towards the noise.

He watched as the beast approached cautiously, head turning from side to side as it approached the financial building, seemingly confused by the unusual appearance of its apparent foe. Kun stayed stoic, his eyes never leaving the monster, as his thumb flicked to another application on his phone.

The creature grew closer until it was mere yards away from the building proper. Its eyes scanned the building, as its massive nostrils sniffed the office's concrete exterior, trying to make sense of its hearing. As the creature's eye passed in front of the window Kun was standing upon, it suddenly stopped. Its pupil dilated as it seemed to focus on the figure, who stared back at it just as intensely. A low growl left the creature's throat as it watched Kun lifted his phone screen up. Being a higher up in one of the most influential branches in the Chinese government had its perks, it meant you could get things done swiftly, and without much question from underlings, such as demolition teams.

Right on que a different noise cut through the air, a low bellowing roar off in the distance. The canine-like beast reared its head back, turning to see what it had truly come here to fight. Kun looked at it, and for the first time in a very long time, he smiled. He didn't know if this would kill whatever this thing was, he had doubts it would even hurt it too badly, but there was one he was certain of.

He'd scare the shit out of it. He pressed the button on his phone.

A series of eruptions came from below him as the massive amounts of explosives he had ordered the building to be filled with exploded one after the other. He watched as the creature's head whipped around, a shocked expression stretched across its fearsome face, its body illuminated by an orange glow. His gaze shifted, falling upon the picture in his other hand, and for the last time, he looked at the woman he loved, the woman he lost, as he spoke his final words.

"I will see you soon, Bo." He closed his eyes as the explosion engulfed him.