Oculama

Michael Everett, "Everyman"

Michael Everett was once a respected investigative reporter and the voice behind The Everyman, a science and discovery weekly. His writing was so passionate that it didn't just inform readers about the latest breakthroughs, it made them listen. He trusted the facts above all else.

Over time his stories began to drift. Seismic readings went unexplained, officials gave convenient excuses, and something vast seemed to stir beneath the sea. The more he dug, the more he was convinced the people in charge were hiding the truth. His editors called it paranoia, his readers drifted away, and only his wife and child still believed in him.

Then Kudra rose, and Michael was right. It cost him everything.

His memory of that day is faint now, like a half-remembered dream. He remembers the the jaws, and his family beside him as they were swallowed whole. He remembers dying. But in the darkness he heard their voices, warm and unafraid, along with countless other "victims" of Kudra, all speaking as one, at peace and together within the beast.

When he woke, his grief and his fear were gone. He came to see his old fear as a weakness, a leash that the liars in charge had fastened on him, and he decided humanity's real sin wasn't only theirs but everyone's. Kudra, he believes, isn't a destroyer. It's a god that gathers, unites, and delivers judgment.

Now he walks the city with a manic grin and eyes hidden behind black shades, sharing his ravings to anyone who will listen. The old reporter's gift for making people listen is still there, but now it's turned to one message: every man shall become one with Kudra.