Supreme Blades
Chapter 4. Lost Paradise
Cassian drew the curtains over the windows. He took one of the cans from his backpack and heated it in the microwave.
While eating the warm food, he sank into thought.
I wonder how much longer the electricity in this hotel will last?
Will I never again be able to sit on the toilet in peace and scroll through memes?
Today Manchester United was supposed to play… but that's not happening anymore. Maybe it's for the best.
I wonder how Charles Leclerc is doing right now. Is he happy about the apocalypse or not?
I really should have read the novel "The Apothecary Diaries" while I still had the chance. Looks like that opportunity's gone for good.
I never got around to watching "Breaking Bad" or "Game of Thrones." I wonder how much I actually missed.
Should I go back to the orphanage and grab my stuff? But is there anything there I really need?
Right… in my closet there's still that printed photo of Mai Sakurajima. I definitely need to take that.
There was this one girl from school I liked. If I'd known this was going to happen, I would've confessed to her right away…
But the most pathetic thing is that my year-long Duolingo streak is about to break.
I need to stock up on toilet paper.
I should've saved every episode of "Legend of the Galactic Heroes." I really want to rewatch it…
This world never got to see the release of GTA 6. I hope at least in some parallel universe people get to play it.
The more Cassian thought about things like this, the more he realized the true scale of the catastrophe.
I never got to see the world. Never made it to Switzerland. Theoretically I could go there now… but the old infrastructure is gone, and traveling would turn into some kind of ruin expedition.
I never saw cherry blossoms in Japan. Never went to a summer festival with fireworks together with my Japanese girlfriend. Never ate real Uzbek plov.
Never visited Los Angeles or Miami. For a GTA fan like me, that's practically a separate tragedy.
I didn't finish Red Dead Redemption 2 and never even tried the Trails in the Sky trilogy. And some Russian YouTuber kept recommending that series his entire career…
I wonder — if I could save just one girl, any girl at all, who would it be? Probably Sadie Sink.
Were the military able to put up any kind of fight against the aliens at all? Knowing humanity, half the planet has probably already been nuked.
So all those famous places I dreamed of seeing are most likely uninhabitable now.
Well… in the worst case, I could go to New Zealand. They filmed "The Lord of the Rings" there. I doubt world leaders would even remember New Zealand at a time like this. Maybe they didn't bomb it.
I never got to see Half-Life 3.
Never waited for The Elder Scrolls 6.
Never got married in Stardew Valley.
Never finished Silksong.
I spent so much time planning to watch the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe in chronological order… but never did.
Never found out how "One Piece" ends.
At least I rewatched "Attack on Titan" five times.
And still never watched "Your Lie in April" in April.
I took some really great photos yesterday. Planned to post them on Instagram today to show my ex how much I've changed.
Never started going to the gym on Monday like I promised myself.
Never replied to the friends I was going to reply to.
Never found the love of my life.
Never became a father.
Never abandoned my family and disappeared for twenty years.
I hope that in some parallel universe — if one exists — people still have enough time to do all of that.
Strange…
I knew Manchester United's match schedule, release dates for games and movies, but I never even considered that tomorrow might simply never come.
Tomorrow I absolutely have to go to the orphanage and take that photo of Mai Sakurajima.
That night Cassian couldn't fall asleep until four in the morning. He woke up at ten and immediately headed to the orphanage where he had lived until yesterday.
Outside, the unbearable stench of decomposing bodies hung in the air. On the way he stopped by a pharmacy and took a pack of medical masks and gloves.
The orphanage wasn't far — a twenty-minute walk.
Surprisingly, Cassian didn't encounter a single monster along the way.
He entered the orphanage building. Inside lay several bodies with familiar faces. He didn't look at them — right now he had a different goal.
Cassian went into his room, hurriedly opened the closet… and let out a relieved breath.
On the inside of the door, still taped in place, was the photo of his favorite character — Mai Sakurajima.
At least one piece of his lost world had remained intact.
He carefully peeled it off, put it in his backpack, and quickly left the building.
As Cassian was already on his way back to the hotel, he heard the sounds of battle.