“Ukh…!”
I awoke with a throbbing mind. Upon opening my eyes, I found myself in the familiar
alleyway.
‘I’ve been sent back.’
Thinking about the events prior, my body shuddered involuntarily. While the Governor didn’t
seem nearly as powerful as the few people that I knew, his powers made him scarier than anyone that I knew.
All it took was a single thought of his to send me into a slumber.
What sort of absurd range did his powers have? In fact, thinking about everything that he had displayed to me in the ‘dream’, he felt like the entire mind of the city.
He could hear, see, and influence anyone within the confines of the Citadel.
The mere thought made my skin crawl.
“Hoo.”
I took a deep breath to calm my nerves.
‘….I guess this aspect is also not much different from my past life.’
The government monitored and tracked all its citizens. In a way, the Governor wasn’t much different from them.
I just had to be more cautious with my movements.
Furthermore, since I wasn’t planning on causing any trouble, I didn’t have to fear too much.
‘Well…’
Thinking about it, I never really caused trouble. It was usually trouble that would find its way to me.
‘Whatever, I should probably take a quick peek at the museum and leave this place.’
I still had a bit of time before the competition. Since that was the case, I planned on spending my time here trying to better understand how this entire place worked and its goal.
While risky, I believed the risk was well worth the possible information that I could gain. In particular regarding the overall goal of the organizations and what they were trying to achieve.
I already had an idea, but this would help clear a lot of my doubts.
“Anyways…”
I retrieved my phone and looked at the navigation app.
Following its instructions, I made my way out of the alley and onto the streets. The path ahead was clear, devoid of any humans, and the road was open, with a few cars passing on occasion.
The breeze felt fresh, and while the sun felt warm, something about it felt a little off.
In some sense, it felt like the real sun but lacking in other aspects. The more I walked, the more noticeable the difference became, and while I didn’t understand the reasoning until I arrived at the museum, it felt like it didn’t matter as much as I’d be able to find my answer inside.
“Hello, are you looking to purchase a ticket?”
The museum was a tall and large white building that towered over the nearby building, its structure surrounded by greenery with a large garden ahead of it. By its side was a small booth where the tickets were sold.
“Yes, one.”
There weren’t too many people near me but just enough to make the place look busy.
“Which Empire do you hail from?”
“…Er?”
Smiling, the assistant explained.
“We accept all currencies.”
“Ah.”
In that case…
“Nurs Ancifa.”
“That would be five Rend, please.”
That cheap?
Though I was surprised, I still handed her the money and she returned the ticket to me. Shortly after that, I entered the building and what greeted me was a large hall with a ceiling that seemed to stretch for several dozen meters.
The place was massive, and looking around, I could see all sorts of sculptures, paintings, books, and even armor on display.
With each display was a small tablet that detailed all the information that one might need.
I quickly scanned the information and memorized all the possible details. A lot of the information felt useless, but I still made sure to learn it.
I continued like this until I stopped at a certain room.
“It’s empty?”
Besides a red button by the side of the wall, the room was completely empty. My brows involuntarily knitted, and stepping out of the room, I read the sign that said, [Recreation
Room]
“Recreation Room?”
I wondered for a moment and paused before the red button.
Thinking about it for a good second, I decided to press the button.
Wrrrr-
Suddenly, everything changed. The lights overhead flickered off, plunging the room into darkness. All noise vanished as if the world itself had been muted, leaving behind an eerie silence that pressed heavily on my surroundings.
I remained calm throughout as I calmly took in the changes.
And then…
Swoosh!
My surroundings changed.
As if I had suddenly been teleported out of the room, I found myself standing in the middle of
a busy street.
The noise returned, loud and bustling, as people moved through me, heading toward the buildings. Car horns blared, and my eyes widened as a kaleidoscope of lights burst into view. Colorful and vibrant billboards lit up the scene ahead, their brilliance feeling almost chaotic.
“This place…’
My heart quickened as I looked around me.
I could tell all of this was merely a projection, but it felt so real.
[October 7, 2027]
A voice suddenly filled the room. It was deep and cold.
Shortly after it appeared everything seemed to carry on as if nothing had happened. That was
until the sky above abruptly transformed.
It suddenly grew gray.
[There were no warnings. Nobody saw it coming in spite of all the technology we possessed.]
What?
As if everyone’s mind was in synch, all eyes turned to face the sky which had suddenly changed color. I looked around me to notice everyone transfixed by something, and when I similarly looked up, my heart almost leaped out of my chest.
[We could do nothing about it.]
The gray was quickly replaced by an endless red.
One that drew closer rapidly, and before anyone could even react, the red engulfed the
surroundings.
[…On that day, Earth changed.]
-Kill me.
-…Kill me please.
-It hurts, help me.
Voices echoed in the background.
…Voices that I had once heard before.
-It… burns.
This…
I swallowed hard, remembering the voices that often echoed within the mirror dimension- voices I had learned to ignore thanks to my strong mental resilience.
But yes, without a doubt these words…
‘Mirror Tones.’
I suddenly pursed my lips tightly.
[Even now, the voices of those who suffered on that day linger within the Mirror Dimension.
In the spaces where great cities once thrived, the tones remain-constant and almost never- ending. They stand as an enduring reminder of the pain and devastation that day left behind.] The red faded from my sight, revealing a completely scorched land.
The scene from before was long gone, and what replaced it was desolation and destruction. Fires raged on, and when I looked up towards the sky, all I saw were endless cracks that seemed to stretch throughout.
[…That day also marked the beginning of our transformation. We discovered a mysterious
new substance, later named mana-a force that bestowed upon us powers capable of rivaling
the gods.] Once again the scene shifted, displaying people wielding flames and breaking rocks.
[Of all the remaining population, seven stood out from the rest.]
Seven silhouettes appeared and my heart started to race then.’
[We deemed them as the Seven Unrecorded. The ones to really hold the power to Rival Gods.]
I bit my lip.
[…But even Gods fall.]
Suddenly, one of the seven silhouettes faded, leaving behind six.
I stared at the faded silhouette, feeling my heart racing out of my chest. I knew with just one
look at who it referred to.
[With six unrecorded remaining, we were unable to resist the changes. We were eventually all
swallowed by the Mirror Dimension.]
Cra Crack-
The cracks in the sky widened with each passing second, slow but relentless, until, at last,
everything shattered like a pane of broken glass.
Crash!
The sky changed color, turning pale gray while the sun became white. [There was no escape. Nothing could survive in this unforgiving environment. No matter what
we tried, nothing worked. Those who had managed to survive the first apocalypse quickly
found themselves facing an even darker fate.]
People started to fall one after another.
And looking around, I noticed everything beginning to decay and rot, gradually sinking and
becoming swallowed by the earth. What once used to be bustling cities started to fall, until eventually, they became completely swallowed by the earth.
[To those few that could survive, they only did so through special means, and even then, life
was hell.] The scene displayed next was similar to one I had seen in the past, with people walking around the Mirror Dimension, aimlessly scavenging through the broken cities and places in order to find some food or water.
Through such means, they were able to survive, but one could clearly see in their expressions
and eyes that they had lost their will to live.
They just felt like walking corpses. [Some gave up, while others didn’t.]
While people fell and never once again stood up, a few stood up again, and again, and again.
From time to time, they’d look up towards the sky and reach out for it, almost as if trying to express their longing.
…As if trying to invert the sky back to how it once was.
[And with time, we did it.]
The scene came to a halt, focusing on a single silhouette as they punched the space in front of
them.
Crash-
With a single punch, the space shattered, and a familiar crack appeared.
[We managed to find hope.]
From within the crack, animals and humans began to emerge, revealing an entirely different
world-one that contrasted sharply with the cold, barren landscape of this place. […But the only thing we found was hope.]
The voice grew grim, and shortly after that, as several ‘survivors’ entered the crack, they
quickly returned back with their entire bodies on fire.
-Ahhh!
-It burns! It hurts!
[The world outside our place of banishment rejected us. It didn’t want us.]
White tears streamed down the dark silhouettes of the projection.
In particular, my gaze never left one person-the same figure who had punched the space, the
one who seemed to hold power over everyone.
‘Sithrus…’
His gaze seemed to bear the hate of the world as he looked towards the crack.
Such hate almost made my own hands tremble, and as he turned his head, our gazes met. I
shuddered involuntarily, until…
At last, the voice echoed again.
[But just because it doesn’t want us doesn’t mean we won’t take what once belonged to us.]
Click!
Everything faded and the projection came to an end.
Stupefied, I looked around, and I realized that everything returned to how it was before; a
plain white room with a single red button.
Taking a deep breath, I leaned my hand against the wall and massaged my head.
I thought about everything that I had seen and took a deep breath.
‘….It makes sense. It all makes sense.’