Tokyo, Japan
Evening // January 24
Evening // January 24
The precipitous and splitting agony ensnared every inch of Five’s skin, of which he had plenty. All rational thought blocked by the persistent and withering pain. The only other thing that he could think of; the screams of the populace. He was vaguely aware that the national police were beginning to arrive on the scene, their vehicles making slow progress through the crowd - but they were always nearby. He didn’t know what to do about it and he certainly couldn’t focus on anything long enough to try to think of a solution. Instinctually, Five’s long dark legs dragged his misshapen form to the water. Japan was a small island country and water was always close-by, especially after the sea levels rose.
Countless people had been torn apart in the seconds since the monster had appeared. Human lives, snuffed out in an instant. Children were in the majority; the day session of school had just got out. Their corpses littered the path which had been haphazardly carved out. Many were inexplicably in half or were missing arms or legs, the severed segments were nowhere to be found. Not that anyone was trying very hard.
The dead continued to pile as Five’s destructive path remained unfettered. But then… there was a voice. It sliced through the tumultuous uproar. It soothed Five’s nerves. The splitting pain remained but his mind was his for the moment and plenty of thoughts rushed in all at once. He was ashamed that father would be upset with him, perhaps even furious. He also considered what must have happened to him. With the pain… but he wasn’t able to decide what it must’ve been. He knew that he probably didn't have time to bother with it.
Before Five's next step touched the ground he shifted almost all of his mass to the shape of one of the people he'd just crushed. Five still loomed over the crowd, but they couldn't tell that most of the shadowy amorphous creature had nearly no mass. Then abruptly, the creature vanished. Five had moved the remaining mass to himself and the rest of the form didn't have enough matter to maintain opacity.
Afterward, he remained on the ground screaming. His voice couldn't be heard over the crowd and they wouldn't have heard him anyway, the corpse his face was nestled in absorbed the sound waves sufficiently. Those around him and first responders would probably think the woman he'd turned into had just lost a loved one. Not an uncommon sight just then.