A trickle of golden light passed through the curtains as it brightened David's room. It was early but with vigor, David swung himself off the couch. A half-hearted attempt at sit-ups, push-ups, and crunches was followed by a quick grab of water.

  As the cold water hit his throat, David fully embraced the waking side of his consciousness. His eyes darted to his palm. The encroaching gray had not covered the previous night's mark. With a relaxed sigh, David went to his bedroom. Quickly he changed into a fresh set of sweats and a basic black T. He barely wet his toothbrush with some water and brushed his teeth. Thoughts drifted to rationing water, so he swished out the toothpaste with mouthwash. Similar reasoning followed him relieving himself off the balcony.

  The early spring air was chilly but pleasant as he scanned behind his building. Something black seemed to tease him just beyond the trees. Filled with curiosity David's mind wondered about its nature but curiosity landed cats in boxes filled with poison.

  Gracefully, David navigated his apartment dodging stacks of books and other curios. ' Finally, it is time' David mused. With deft steps, he approached another room filled with nothing but black mats and iron. His personal fortress of Solitude he had called it on numerous occasions.

  With practiced movements, he set up to engage in some tranquility. His favorite of exercises. The dead-lift. At first the bar with 45 lbs weights on each side. 12 repetitions followed him defying gravity. With ever-increasing stacks of 45 lbs of iron, he increased the strain close to his usual workload.

  Another 45 lbs weight followed as the bar came off the floor with ease. With perfect form, he defied gravity another 12 times. Concern grew on his face as another plate of iron followed. Another 12 repetitions, more concern.

  In trance, David loaded another 45lbs as he effortlessly lifted his previous week's 'personal records' off the floor. Two more 45lbs plates on each side followed and finally, he felt the strain on his back. Robotically he added 25, now there was enough tension to cause his lower back and thighs to be on fire. Another 10 and defying gravity was only overcome once.

  While he wiped his sweat, he looked at the bar. David was stupefied. But soon unease settled into him once more. He had ignored it yesterday, but today was another day in relative safety.

  Wrongness began to settle back into his core, as fear soon followed. There was the tangible result he had hoped wouldn't appear. He overshot his previous PR by more than 200 lbs. Something significant had changed. What, David couldn't be certain of.

  After a quick cleanup of weights and bars, David was back in the kitchen. He grabbed a box of cereal atop his fridge as well as his wooden cutting board.

  " There is no way this will work right?" A questioning tone filled the kitchen. With a quick jerk of his arm, David's fingers formed into a straight line. His nails clipped the edge of the board and the wood parted before him as easily as slicing through butter with a hot knife.

  Dread filled David at the newly acquired data. He placed the chopped piece on the table and the remaining board in the trash. Tension filled his body as he absent-mindedly sat in a chair. His fingers played with the piece of wood, as his mind turned.

  Scenes of yesterday's flight filled him, but with adrenaline coursing through him at the time his memory was hazy at best. What he focused on were all the people around him. Starting from the gym, to the wreck, as well as all the others he had briefly encountered. No abnormalities struck him while replaying the memories.

  More data was needed to make any reasonable hypothesis. Was it only him that was changing or was it everyone but the changes were more internal? External factors, such as color and shape, had to be considered but had he such large gaps that colors and even form changes had escaped his mind?

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  But the question of where to safely encounter more people was the thing David's mind was stuck on. As he was reclusive, his neighbors barely knew him. But it would be awkward, David already knew. What was he supposed to do? Knock on doors, hoping someone was home, and ask ' Hey noticed any weird markings show up on your body?

  Like a bolt of thunder, an epiphany hit him. A few disposable bottles of water and cans of food joined a bag as his mind settled with firm determination. He barged out of his house and approached the next door.

  After a firm knock and a long period of waiting David strode towards the next door, and another one after. There were 21 apartments in his complex, each floor filled with 7. No luck on any of them. More complexes lined the private road surrounded by a thick line of trees. Even though all the buildings were run down, David enjoyed the privacy this setup guaranteed him away from the city's main roads.

  Another complex left him wondering if people were away or refused to answer. This question had an answer quickly as he heard shuffling behind a closed door.

  " Hello there, I'm from the complex, apartment 314, P over and have some food and water with me," David said with warmth flowing from his every word. " I'll leave it right out here in the door, and walk down the stairs I just wanted to talk, this is really lonely you know?"

  As if practiced, David strode down the stairs with heavy steps praying the door would open. Just as he had arrived at the bottom he heard the familiar creak of rusty hinges. A smile bloomed on his face.

  " Hey..." An older gentleman said 2 stories above him.

  " Hello Sir," David began while scanning every inch of the older man's body. " I'm in 314 P and got some more so if you don't have enough come over and we can do the same exchange. I'm jumpy about this whole thing, and it's crazy let me tell you. Do you have any power, or tap water? "

  " Jumpy, huh? I don't know if that the right word for it, son." The older man replied with the southern tilt native to this area. " No power, no water, nothin on my end. Tried callin' it in from my landline but even that things dead with the power out. I gotta head back inside tho, nice chattin' with ya."

  With a bright smile and a firm nod, David watched as the man disappeared back behind the door. His face dropped back into a calculating stare as he mentally went over the brief interaction and his findings.

  After returning to his own home David fished out a notebook from between stacks of books and a pen from the cracks of his couch. He furiously began writing in it. A whole 8 pages were filled with script and rough drawings.

  One such drawing was of his hand and the line where the color change appeared. The next drawing was of a head. The skin around the backside of the head had scales comically drawn on it. With big letters the word brown was written over those scales.

  Something had happened to the people, but with a few questions answered more arose within David's mind eye. Especially concerning his course of action. Would he venture outside, and if so how far away from his base of operations? What is that black thing in the back of the trees? What other things had changed besides the ones he had already discovered? And many many more.

  David had his flaws, but cowardice was not one of them. He reached into his gun safe and pulled out a long knife he usually used for hunting. A plastic sheath was clipped on his belt as he set out his doors.

  With measured steps, he arrived at the trees behind his apartment. Practiced expertise was displayed as he pushed branches aside, and watched his step for errant twigs that would crack loudly.

  Uncertainty changed to certainty as a foreign object entered his vision. As he entered a clearing he heard the tinkling of water close by, but what horrified him was the big black Steele in the center of it.

  Polished marble was the only way David could describe its surface. As he drew closer to it, a new headache was added to his body's ailments. He shoved the feeling down and began to study the construct. While it appeared black, there were some hair-thin lines of solid gray rock between the black lines.

  At first, David thought of marble but something kept nagging at him about it. So he drew closer. He had found a particularly bigger splotch of gray than the fine lines so he honed in on it. Only a foot separated the object from David's face as he leaned down for closer inspection.

  David recoiled as if bitten by a spider. The black color wasn't color at all. Almost like scripture, the black color was words so densely packed along the surface it appeared as if it was a solid color. The gray was just the spaces between the script.

  ' What kind of prophecy will this be' David chuckled to himself. Once more he approached the Steele. With the words being so small, he had to step closer and closer. He began reading and was too absorbed in the story the structure told. Carelessly he touched its surface and a big blue screen popped into existence.