Within minutes, the sky filled with floating objects—massive ships, each spanning the size of a small city.
"No... no, no, no!" Kyle stumbled backward as terror seized him. The memories of the past collided with the present: the bodies, the screams, the tears, blood everywhere.
"Nelia," he gasped, lunging for his phone on the ground.
BOOM!
An energy beam lanced down from one of the ships. The resulting explosion literally shook the planet, triggering an earthquake. His phone skittered toward the window, slipping from his grasp just before he could reach it.
The glass exploded inward from the shockwave as the building began to groan ominously.
"Oh no," he breathed, instantly understanding what was happening. The building was collapsing!
The structure groaned louder. In the next instant, the once-flat floor tilted into a steep incline. He looked ahead—there was a door, and beyond it, stairs leading to the lower floors. The elevator was out of the question; that would be suicide.
The building was actually a four-story mansion—far too many rooms for two people, but it was their home, which explained the elevator. The main problem was his current location: the very top floor.
He sprinted forward, running with everything he had toward the door. He knew that if he fell from this height, death was certain. There was no other outcome.
"Shit!" A table from the corner hurtled toward him with devastating force. He looked ahead—the steep incline severely limited his movement. He tried to dodge the table's path, but between his injury and the tilting floor, he couldn't move fast enough. The table was gaining momentum.
"I can do this, damn it!" Just as the table reached him, he dove forward.
He barely cleared the table, but the moment he hit the ground: "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" A red couch slammed into him, sliding toward the gaping opening that meant certain death. The floor was becoming vertical by the second. He had to escape NOW!
"Ugh." He braced his arms against the couch's soft padding as they rushed toward the table.
BAM! At the last second, he kicked off the table, causing the couch to tumble backward. He rolled free, successfully escaping, but as he got to his feet, he saw the coffee table careening toward him. He leaped over it.
"AHHHH!" He pushed through the pain and rushed for the door. At this point, gravity asserted its dominance—with the floor now completely vertical, he began sliding down like everything else in the room.
"No!" He gritted his teeth and jumped, reaching for the doorknob. "Ahhh!" He stretched himself to the limit. This was his final chance. If he couldn't grab the knob now, he was finished.
"YES!" He caught it with one hand, then forced his other hand to join the grip. He took a deep breath and smiled despite the circumstances.
But the moment he tried the knob, his smile vanished.
Locked.
"She fucking locked it," he said in disbelief, then let out a bitter laugh. She must have locked it, thinking he was really going to leave her.
Well, it seemed he'd shot himself in the foot.
"Haha," he laughed humorlessly. "Fuck."
The door, along with the entire wall, tore away, and everything descended into chaos.
BOOM!
.
.
.
.
"...Up!"
"El... Up!"
"WAKE... EL!"
"PLEASE..."
"WAKE UP!"
"Haah!" Kyle gasped, breathing heavily. "Gulp!" He swallowed hard, taking shuddering breaths as pain wracked his entire body. He tried to move but couldn't. He couldn't even see clearly—everything was blurry and tinted red. Damn, he was losing his grip on reality. Everything felt distorted, but he could make out a silhouette before him, someone cradling his face.
"Y-you're alive. I'm sorry... I am so sorry," he heard, instantly recognizing the voice.
"Crap... my spine." He tried to laugh, but it only brought more pain. It seemed his fake spine injury excuse from earlier would become reality after all. "Why does everything hurt?"
Something dripped onto his face—something salty. How did he know that? It had landed near his mouth and slipped in. Tears.
"Don't move. I'll get you out of here, I promise," he heard. The blurry figure stepped back, and he could see something glowing. Slowly, the pain began to ease slightly, as though a burden was being lifted from him.
"Wait... I fell, didn't I?" he muttered, recalling the collapsing building. If that was the case, then he was probably buried under rubble, and what Nelia was doing now was lifting chunks of concrete off him. "No wonder it hurts so much." He tried thinking of funny things to distract himself from the pain.
It wasn't working.
"Hey, Nelia," he said, trying other methods to quiet his mind.
"Y-yes." Her voice was broken, hoarse. She must have been crying. No—she still was.
"How many damn pieces... ugh..."
"S-sorry... just stop talking," she said.
"You locked the door... damn it, I could have died, you know." He forced himself to speak, and she bit her lip.
"I'm so stupid... I'm sorry. I AM SORRY!"
"Yeah... you are," he laughed weakly.
"Wait... don't sleep... alright? Keep talking. Just say something, anything. You can insult me all you want, just don't stop talking!" she pleaded.
BOOM!
Probably more debris she'd thrown off.
"Sure... you're a dickhead," he said—the first stupid thing that came to mind.
"Yes, I am...! Wait, why dickhead... tsk... fine, I am! I'm the biggest dickhead in the universe!"
"Fuck... that's weird," he laughed despite himself.
"So... did you manage to finish your mission?" he asked, coughing hard.
"Sorry... Yes, we did. But then spatial rifts started opening all over the world. Now everything has gone to hell."
"What?"
Then he remembered. Those monsters.
"Nelia."
"Yes."
"Go."
BOOM!
"What?"
"You have to go, now! Go find your family! Leave me!" he screamed.
"ARE YOU INSANE?! I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU!" she screamed back. He felt something lifting him. Her silhouette was still distant, her hands glowing—she was using her power to move him.
Eventually, he felt her arms around him.
"You're okay," she whispered.
"Please, Nelia... I need you to, for once—for once since we met—do what I say. GO TO YOUR FAMILY." He whispered in her ear.
"Why are you saying this?" He could hear her sobbing. "Yes, I was wrong. I should have listened to you. I shouldn't have left tonight. I shouldn't have locked the door... I was just afraid. I don't want to lose you." She held him tighter. "I can't do what you're asking now. People are being killed everywhere. It took me so much effort to get here, to reach you. If I leave you now... you won't survive."
"This is all happening because of me," he said simply.
"WHAT?!" She pulled back to look at him clearly. He could see her deep blue eyes now as his vision cleared.
"It's them, Nelia." Tears streamed down his face. "It's them."
"No... that can't be... it has to be a coincidence," she said, her voice trembling.
"No, it's not. That guy was right... and I think I know how." He smiled sadly.
"Please don't tell me to go," she said, clasping his hands together.
"Nelia—"
"Please, I'm begging you."
"They're coming from me," he said.
"I'll stay by your side," she replied.
"You will die!" he screamed, desperate for her to understand.
"I don't care," she said. "I love you, El."
"I'm sorry," he said simply. Before she could respond, he used everything he had to headbutt her.
She collapsed, unconscious.
If there was one thing he'd always possessed, it was a stupidly strong skull—probably the reason he'd survived the fall. The reason this worked was that her guard was completely down around him. She didn't have any mana enhancement active.
"I'm sorry," he said, cradling her limp body. "This time, it has to be my way. I can't let you die because of me. This is goodbye." He concealed her among the wreckage.
This was the only way to ensure that the past didn't repeat itself. From now on, he would face this alone.
It was him 'they' wanted.
It was him 'they' had been after from the beginning, even back then.
So he alone would face this.
He alone would end it.