Fantastic Apocalypse
Chapter:0
"Another try"
"Why couldn't I be more descriptive?" said a man wearing a brown suit and vest atop a grayish shirt, floating in complete nothingness.
"At least I'm dying with style." he said to himself; half-joking, as he took a small mirror out of his inner pocket and examined his reflection.
He seemed paranoid. Like an old man grasping at fading memories, he touched and checked everything. As if his brown eyes could suddenly disappear, or his skin might change color, or his long, unruly stubble might somehow turn into a clean-shaven face.
"I can remember it like it was yesterday...it's the only thing I remember clearly now. Maybe it's because I've been here all by myself ever since, just going over what happened that night for the hundredth time…Three months have already passed."
He paused. A bitter expression finding its way onto his face.
"Sometimes I wonder... when will I forget their faces?"
The first time he came here, he couldn't get his life outside this place out of his head for weeks—at least, what felt like weeks.
The man let out a soft sigh. The silence of the void hummed faintly, like static.
"How's my son doing? Is he eating well? Are my parents okay? Where are they now? Do they have shelter? Are they comfortable? " He smiled faintly. "They were all I thought about... now, all I can think of is how to get out. How to reach them. To hug that little angel at least one more time...To not forget them like everything else."
He chuckled bitterly. "I tried to wish, but it didn't work. Go figure—I already used mine."
As he thought about this, out of habit, he stopped for a moment and glanced around. Only nothingness surrounded him.
The void felt like a bottomless ocean, and he was drifting aimlessly in it. Submerged in an ocean of his own regret and pity,all in silence.Though it wasn't drowning him, it certainly felt like it.
"I almost forgot there's nothing to look at…" He muttered.
Around him stretched pure white. seamless, infinite. Perhaps that was just his mind playing tricks on him, after all, the human mind wasn't made to perceive nothing.
He sank back into his thoughts, floating atop invisible waves and letting them carry him away." I don't know why I chose to wish for such a stupid thing... I knew it wasn't worth it. But there was no other way. I had to become a dreamer."
"If it were just me, I wouldn't have minded becoming a beggar for a while. Wait out the initial wave of monsters, and live in a hut in the forest—foraging and hunting small creatures to survive. But I couldn't let my son and parents go through that."
"So, after giving most of my stuff to the librarians for a bit of info about dreamers and how wishing stars work, I came up with... drum roll please..."
He straightened his back with mock grandeur.
"Elyas's Guide to Becoming Successful!"
Elyas chuckled,then, dropped his hand holding the small yellow calendar, letting it sway back and forth.
"... I'm sure Michael would've loved that. He always liked physical comedy... Dad's beloved little angel." He glanced at the makeshift notebook, frowning slightly.
"It's useless anyway. I already memorized everything in it—not that there was much to begin with. It's just four pages, really. Which can be summarized to:
you only have one chance. Use it well. Everyone that was alive when the whisperer first spoke got a wish. One wish. with no exceptions.
As above, so below: Unique wishes are strong and the stronger the wish, heavier the the cost.
Elyas sighed again. "I knew all that, and yet... I didn't expect "wishing to be nowhere" would make me unable to escape said nowhere."
"..."
"they really do give you the worst downside they can"
After reminiscing about the past, his expression grew grim as a surge of anger rose, creating a ugly grimace.
"ShOrTEr wIshEs aRe strOnGer." Elyas said in a mocking tone. mimicking the librarian he bought the information from.
"Those info hungry bastards! I get information collecting is your whole thing, but why would you sell rummers as fact! "
He shrugged, a dry smile crossing his face. "But I shouldn't complain too much. At least I didn't become a nightmare... not yet."
"Only if I had said something like: "I wish to have power over a realm belonging to me with full control over every aspect of it." That would have been so nice."
As Elyas muttered those words, a familiar ethereal voice, tinged with quiet amusement, whispered to him:
[ Granted ]
Elyas froze. He had already used his wish.
He felt all his senses becoming keener, his heart becoming warmer as if its rapid thumping was exercise. As soon as he heard the voice speak, he hurriedly looked around him, alert of any possible danger.
As if acknowledging his weird behaviour the voice had a short pause, then, it continued:
[When the time comes, be thankful to your fathers and kin.]
A sudden sense of unease crept up his spine as he realised something he didn't think of before.
"He can hear me here too? Now that I think about it... why the hell am I even talking to myself? did I finally lose it?"
Elyas exhaled sharply, and continued "There's one way to find out whether I've gone insane... or if I really got a second wish."
Testing my new powers.
"If I really got another wish, I would have the ability to change something about this place… but what?" Elyas thought of it for a bit, and as he was thinking, out of habit, he looked around.
That gave him an idea.
Elyas focused, trying to change the color of the void. Over the span of several minutes he tried different things. Willpower, strange gestures, even muttering nonsense chants, until he simply said:
"Black."
In an instant, the world around him shifted. In a flood of darkness the void swallowed itself whole, now, it had turned pitch black.
His surroundings somehow felt emptier than before. The kind of darkness you'd find in deep space, except, there were no stars. No light. And no sense of direction.
As he looked at the darkness, he suddenly felt like prey in a trap.
Even though nothing changed, he was sure of it, it felt cramped. He felt like a mouse standing in the cat's den. He felt that behind the curtain of darkness, thousands of eyes were watching his every move.
The fact that there was no surface to stand on, rapidly turned into the realisation that there was no way to run. Elyas's face turned pale in an instant,trying to calm himself he muttered with a shaky voice "Let's change it back—this is scaring me."
"white"
As he watched the same flood take over the darkness, Elyas let out a sigh of relief. But the thought of whatever that was still looking at him didn't allow the cold sweat to stop.
"...Guess I haven't lost my mind yet, haha" He said to himself and let out a nervous laugh, trying to change the subject and calm himself… He failed miserably. But at this moment, a question that he had been asking ever since the whisperer came resurfaced.
It kept coming back to gnaw at his mind. but the fear hadn't allowed Elyas to fully think about it. Now that Elyas was looking for distractions, this thought became the best candidate.
"Why? Why did I get a second wish?"
He completely forgot the eyes watching him as he tried answering that question but no answer made sense. In the midst of finding an explanation, he remembered something.
"Does that mean I can go outside now? But who knows what's out there...and more importantly—what's my cost?"
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The second thing the whisperer says is always a hint... Am I supposed to go around thanking people for the rest of my life?"
As if reminded by Elyas, the voice returned.
[You have been granted great power but it comes at a greater cost.]
"Oh, there it is," Elyas said dryly.
[ you are granted great power, it's a world, a throne made for the likes of you, but there's no escaping its grasp. You are bound to its eternal wait, just like your fathers and kin. The wait, it made you invincible—so act like it.]
"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Elyas stopped to review his thoughts.
"I really should work on not talking to myself."
He shook his head. "I can fully investigate my wish when I'm out. For now, I should focus on whatever this power is."He said. The thought of a second chance gave him hope. Hope to be with his family again.
…Do I deserve it after I left them?
He hesitated, glancing into the pale sunless horizon. "It's funny... I was dying to get out just a moment ago, and now I'm getting cold feet."
Regardless of how he felt, he knew what had to be done. "I need to prepare before heading out. Dying the moment I step outside won't help anyone."
He paused to consider something.
"And as for my cost, I can always get a free checkup from the protocol since I'm a dreamer now."
A memory resurfaced
"...But that could be dangerous," He added: "I'd have to register myself in the protocol, and then everyone, including the Heartbreakers would know everything about me. I don't want to be turned into someone's artifact! Not to mention the Protocol's reputation for being... too restrictive."
"I'll figure it out myself. At least I've got my void to train in. I need to understand what I can do. I'll prepare to go out in a few days."
he whispered. "Who knows what's changed while I've been here?
"Gray"
And as those thoughts weighed on him, Elyas changed the void's color to a soft, dark gray. Then, quietly, he closed his eyes—and drifted into sleep.