The world ended not with a bang, but with a migraine.
One moment, Axel was hunched over a dusty tome on urban resilience theory in the Atheria University library's quietest alcove, the scent of old paper a familiar comfort.
The next, a screeching, mind-splitting pressure slammed into his skull, as if a thousand discordant sirens were battling for dominance inside his brain.
He gasped, hands flying to his temples, the book thudding unheeded to the floor.
The library, a sanctuary of hushed whispers moments before, erupted. Not just in sound – though screams were beginning to tear through the air – but in a visible, shimmering distortion that pulsed through the towering bookshelves. It was like watching reality itself glitch.
Then came the change.
A student nearby, who'd been diligently highlighting a textbook, suddenly spasmed. His eyes rolled back, a ghastly, wet gurgle ripped from his throat, and his skin seemed to…dim, taking on a grey, corpse-like pallor.
Before Axel could even process the horror, the student lunged with a guttural snarl at the girl opposite him, teeth snapping like an animal's.
Panic became a tidal wave, swamping everything. Axel scrambled back, his chair clattering, his heart hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs.
The scene repeated itself across the vast library floor. People convulsing, their bodies twisting, then rising with an unholy, vacant hunger in their eyes.
The Infected.
This isn't real. This can't be real.
But the screams, the sickening crunches, the spreading crimson – it was all too horrifyingly real.
Just as Axel thought his own mind would shatter from the sensory overload and the dawning terror, a new sensation pierced through the chaos:" a cool, almost clinical clarity settling over the panic, accompanied by a soft, internal chime".
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING...]
[SOVEREIGN SYSTEM ACTIVATED.]
[Designation: Acting Chancellor, Atheria University Domain.]
[Welcome, Axel. The Age of Awakening has begun.]
A translucent blue panel, like something out of a sci-fi game, materialized in his peripheral vision.
He blinked, shaking his head, convinced the stress had finally unhinged him. But the panel remained, stark and unwavering against the backdrop of carnage.
Chancellor? What the hell is it talking about? I'm a third-year planning student!
[CRITICAL ALERT: Lifeform Integrity Compromised within 5-meter radius.]
[NEW OBJECTIVE: Survive the Initial Purge.]
[SYSTEM RECOMMENDATION: Evacuate current position. Seek defensible shelter.]
[Sub-Objective: Identify nearest viable 'Sanctuary Node'. Calculating...]
The Blighted/Infected student who had attacked the girl was now shambling towards Axel, its jaw slack, eyes milky white.
The girl lay still. Too still.
Axel's academic brain, the one that devoured strategy games and urban planning schematics, kicked in, overriding the terror for a precious second.
The System, whatever it was, wasn't lying. Survival first.
"Sanctuary Node?" he muttered, his voice raspy.
[Sanctuary Node Identified: University Security Sub-Station B7 (Basement Level, Admin Block East Wing). Distance: 237 meters. Optimal Route Calculated. Displaying Path?]
A faint, glowing green line overlaid itself on Axel's vision, highlighting a path through the overturned tables and spreading chaos, leading towards the library's emergency exit.
No time to question it.
He scrambled to his feet, heart still threatening to beat out of his chest, but his movements were now driven by a desperate, cold logic.
The path weaved around a stumbling Blighted librarian, past a sobbing student frozen in fear.
Axel wanted to help, to scream warnings, but the primal urge to live, amplified by the System's stark directives, propelled him forward.
He burst out of the emergency exit into a scene of utter pandemonium. The usually serene university quad was a warzone. More Blighted were lurching across the manicured lawns, their moans a terrifying chorus.
Cars were crashed haphazardly, some on fire. The shimmering distortion he'd seen in the library pulsed faintly in the sky above, like a tear in the fabric of the world.
[WARNING: Multiple Blighted Entities detected on current trajectory. Evasive maneuvers recommended.]
[System Tip: Blighted auditory senses are acute. Visual acuity is diminished in initial transformation stages.]
"Move quietly. Don't draw attention."
Axel forced himself to breathe, to think. The Admin Block East Wing. He knew the campus like the back of his hand. The path the System suggested was good, using covered walkways and avoiding open spaces as much as possible.
He moved, a ghost in the unfolding nightmare. He saw things that would forever be seared into his memory: a beloved history professor, now a monster, feasting.
Students he'd shared classes with, their faces contorted in an unholy blend of pain and aggression.
The sheer scale of it was suffocating.
How could this happen? Why? The "Age of Awakening"? What did that even mean beyond this horror?
He reached the entrance to the Admin Block's East Wing. The main doors were shattered. Inside, emergency lights flickered, casting long, dancing shadows.
The air was thick with the coppery scent of blood and an unnerving silence that felt more threatening than the screams outside.
[OBJECTIVE UPDATE: Secure University Security Sub-Station B7.]
[Sub-Objective: Neutralize any immediate threats within the Sub-Station.]
[Sub-Objective: Activate Sub-Station's Emergency Lockdown Protocol (Requires Chancellor Override – System Assisted). ]
Chancellor Override? Axel's mind snagged on that again. How could he have override codes?
He pushed open the stairwell door leading to the basement, the System's green line guiding him down into the gloom.
Each step creaked ominously. The Sub-Station was at the end of a short corridor, its reinforced steel door slightly ajar.
Axel took a deep breath, his hand instinctively reaching for the heaviest thing he could find – a discarded fire extinguisher lying near the stairs. His knuckles were white. This was it. His first real test as... whatever the hell he now was.
He nudged the door open with his foot, extinguisher held high, and peered inside.
The station's main console was smashed. Papers were strewn everywhere. And then he saw it – a figure in a campus security uniform, slumped against a bank of monitors, its back to him.
"It wasn't moving."
Hope, fragile and desperate, flickered within him. Maybe it was an actual survivor.
"Hello?" Axel called out, his voice barely a whisper.
The figure twitched. Slowly, agonizingly, it began to turn, a low groan escaping its lips.
Its eyes, when they finally fixed on Axel, were not the eyes of the living. They were milky, predatory, and utterly devoid of recognition.
One of its arms was bent at an unnatural angle, but it was already reaching, a fresh trickle of blood dripping from its chin.
"The first Blighted he had to face, up close and personal, in an enclosed space". And behind it, on a flickering monitor that somehow still had power, Axel saw a campus-wide alert message slowly typing itself out:
"ALERT: UNIDENTIFIED PHENOMENON DESIGNATED 'THE AWAKENING'. ALL UNIVERSITY PROTOCOLS OFFLINE.
CHANCELLOR STATUS: [VACANT].
SYSTEM SEARCHING FOR ACTING AUTHORITY... CANDIDATE IDENTIFIED... AXEL... STUDENT ID 77490... DESIGNATING ACTING CHANCELLOR..."
The Blighted security guard lunged.