Blood painted the ruined streets. Fires burned without purpose, consuming what little remained of a dying world. The distant screams had long since faded, swallowed by the ever-present silence of despair.
I was stuck in a dark, empty room, under the chaos of the world above.
I watched the news, though I already knew what it would say.
"The Russian Federation has collapsed. Madness Gas has spread beyond containment zones. Governments have fallen. Survivors are advised to seek underground shelter and avoid all human contact."
Static. Then black.
It left me in the silence of the humming vents and my constant distorted breathing.
I didn't move from my seat. I didn't cry. I didn't scream. There was no point. Everyone was dead, and soon, I would be too.
The air stank of decay. I couldn't remember the last time I'd eaten. My ribs pressed against my skin. My fingers trembled from exhaustion, yet I couldn't bring myself to care.
The darkness of the room seemed to wrap around me as I stared blankly at the steel ceiling of my prison through my gas mask.
What was the point?
My friends were gone. I had watched them turn, one by one, as the Madness Gas consumed their minds. I had held a blade to their throats and done what had to be done. And then I buried them, though I knew it was meaningless. We only had one gas mask. So why did it have to be me..?
The madness gas wasn't something that could be escaped. It was inspired by the VX nerve agents. An experimental weapon made for the fourth world war.
It was so potent that it killed its own creators in less than a month.
Once inhaled through the lungs, it crossed the blood-brain barrier in minutes.
It would disrupt neurotransmisions and rewrite them.
At first, the victim would be in a state of hyper awareness. After that, they would lose their memories. All logical thinking ceases, only leaving the primal emotions.
And it would amplify those by a hundred percent.
Eventually, the brain itself will deteriorate from all the stimulation.
I knew. Because I witnessed them myself. I can't stop thinking about it. I took a look at the makeshift graves sticking out from the living room. The smell was so foul that I could even smell it under the mask... But it didn't matter. The world was ending. Nothing mattered.
Everyday was suffering.
I couldn't eat. Couldn't sleep. I didn't even have the strength to unstrap my gas mask.
I was forced to live forever in this abyss.
I vaguely remembered the world before the gas.
The Statue of Freedom would stand proudly on her pedestal. Big Bob would overlook the rest of Lendon.
The smell of the spring flowers... The Laughter of children... The constant chattering on the streets, and the sound of car horns, and even the crying of the one child on my plane to South America... That was something I didn't know I would miss.
I was happy. I felt happy. I had a live. A dream. A crush...
Was this what they meant by your life flashing before your eyes before you died..?
But now... I was dead inside. I can't live. I can't sleep nor dream. And my crush lay dead in the living room.
I could only hope I would eventually die of hunger...
And as my eyes finally wavered, as they slowly shut close...
A blinding light suddenly appeared before me.
The light pierced my closed eyelids, forcing me to blink against its sudden intensity. It was too much, too bright. I could feel the warmth of it, like sunlight after years of darkness, but it felt wrong and unnatural like it didn't belong. I wanted to pull away, hide from it, but I couldn't move.
And then, as my eyes got used to it, I saw it.
It was a screen.
It just floated there. golden, yet somehow transparent. It just... existed. Resonating within me, around me, vibrating in the very air I breathed. Shakingly narrowing my eyes, I saw text.
[The [???] Gods have taken pity on your race.]
I blinked again, disoriented. What? My body trembled, struggling to process what I was hearing. Gods? Pity? It made no sense. What race?
The text suddenly changed, unfazed by my confusion.
[Your world is doomed. There is nothing left for you there.]
The words were like a slap to the face. I was already aware. I had already accepted that.
[But you... you have been chosen.]
Chosen? Me? I could barely even stand up, let alone be "chosen" for anything.
A series of windows flashed in front of me, so quick I could barely read them. Symbols, shapes, words I didn't understand, flickering in and out of view.
[Your journey has ended... or rather, it begins anew.]
I gasped, my breath catching in my throat as the words appeared in the glowing rectangle:
[Will you permit your transportation to a new world?]
[Yes/No]
I stared at the screen, reading the words...
Before the light in my eyes faded.
There wasn't a point in going to a new world.
I stared at the screen, my eyes refusing to focus properly. The words seemed to burn into my mind.
[Will you permit your transportation to a new world?]
My chest tightened, a hollow ache spreading through me. I couldn't even bring myself to read the question again.
No.
It was an automatic response. There was no way I was going anywhere. No world, no future, no reason. There was nothing left for me.
I leaned back in the chair, my head falling against the cold steel of the ceiling. My body felt as if it were made of lead. Too heavy, too tired, too broken to care about anything anymore. There was nothing left for me, and I was fine with that. Whatever happened next, whatever came for me in the dark, would be a relief.
...I'll be joining you... Luce.
The light dimmed for a moment, and I almost thought it had gone away. But then the words shifted.
[The majority of Humanity has voted for the transportation.]
My eyes snapped open, and a cold chill spread down my spine.
What did that mean? Majority? Humanity? There was no one left... The last broadcasts had barely made it out before the world had fallen silent. There was no one left to vote. There was supposed to be no one left alive...
I tried to swallow, but my throat was dry. I felt like I was suffocating under the weight of it all.
But the screen didn't care. It didn't pause. It didn't wait. It didn't stop. It just kept changing.
[Your decision is irrelevant.]
My heart stopped.
I didn't understand. The words rang in my head like a bell, deafening in its simplicity. How could my decision be irrelevant?
But before I could grasp any of it, the room around me began to shift. The darkness, the familiar isolation, started to ripple as though it were made of water. My pulse quickened.
No. No, I didn't want this. I didn't want to go anywhere. I didn't want to leave this place, this suffocating silence, this inevitable end.
I didn't want to leave Lucy.
I wanted to die. I wanted the world to end.
I couldn't move. I couldn't speak.
I was powerless.
A light appeared again, more intense now, more blinding. It filled my vision, drowning everything around me. My breath hitched, and I tried to pull away from the intensity, but I couldn't. My body refused to obey me, my legs shaking, my arms useless.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the light surrounded me, and my body was no longer in control.
It was like being caught in the middle of a storm-whirling, twisting, but unable to stop. I felt my body being pulled apart and reassembled, torn from this place and thrown into some other reality.
I gasped, but the air felt different, unfamiliar. My chest felt hollow, as if my lungs no longer worked the same...
And suddenly, I was laying on an open field. The blades of grass itched against my exposed skin.
And there was a sky.
The blue sky felt unnatural. The clouds were fluffy, white, and floating without a care in the world.
...How long had it been since I saw the sky? I've been stuck in the common anti-contamination bunker for so long that I had forgotten how it looked like.
I looked around me... The flowing grass and the beautiful yellow flowers on the ground...
This was… not Earth.
Others were here. Hundreds... No, thousands of people were in a vast, open field, eyes wide with disbelief. Some sobbed, others fell to their knees, whispering prayers of gratitude. Others were just like me, confused, eyes darting around to assess the situation.
Then, the sky cracked.
Golden figures descended from the heavens, their divine forms radiating an overwhelming presence.
I slowly stood up, staring into the sky in awe...
Wait...
I... stood up?
A wave of disbelief crashed over me. Just moments ago, I had been completely powerless, my body heavy and unresponsive... My fingers barely able to twitch. How was I now on my feet?
But I was interrupted as a voice suddenly echoed through my head.
"You have been granted the honor of serving the gods." one of them declared, their voice filled with unnatural warmth.
"Welcome, chosen ones, to Izalith."