"Hey, wake up," Daigo whispered, nudging Talen's shoulder.
Talen groaned softly, turning over on the thin mattress. His face was buried in the blanket.
"What is it...?" he mumbled, voice heavy with sleep.
"Just wake up," Daigo insisted, sharper this time. There was a tension in his voice that finally made Talen sit up, rubbing his eyes.
The room was dim, and most of the others were still asleep, their shallow breathing filling the air like a soft chorus. Selia stirred once but didn't wake.
Daigo leaned in closer."I've been thinking," he whispered.
Talen squinted at him. "Thinking about what?"
Daigo glanced around before speaking again."About... when all this really started."
Talen frowned, still sluggish. "It started yesterday. We were there—you saw it."
"No," Daigo shook his head firmly. "I mean... when the world started falling apart. Really falling apart."
He remembered now—half-forgotten news broadcasts flashing across the tiny TV in Ossyra's village hall. Reports of sudden blackouts. Eastern and Southern regions are cutting off first, as if they'd fallen off the face of the Nuvion.
No communication.
No survivors.
And no explanation.
"Remember?" Daigo said, voice low. "The news... Eastern region first. Then the Southern."
Talen's brows drew together."Yeah... I think I do. They said the Eastern Region lost all contact. Phones, internet, everything."
Daigo nodded. "And then they sent military rescue teams. But..."He trailed off, but Talen finished the thought.
"...those teams never came back."
Silence stretched between them for a moment.
Daigo leaned back against the cold wall, heart pounding.And now... we're here. In the Southern region.They had been driving for days, fleeing the chaos spreading like wildfire.Ossyra, their village near the Western border, had been spared at first. They were lucky... or so they thought.
If Ossyra was so close to the South, maybe... maybe they were already too late back then.
"It didn't start yesterday, Talen," Daigo said quietly. "It started a long time ago. Places falling one by one."
"But... why one by one?" Talen asked, voice hoarse.
Daigo didn't answer right away.It gnawed at his mind, too—the unnatural pattern of it all. Like someone, or something, was testing the world, cracking it little by little.
Talen ran a hand through his messy hair."You think... this was planned?"
Daigo stared into the darkness."I don't know. But it's not random."
Neither said anything for a long moment.The distant sounds of footsteps echoed faintly from the lower floors. A baby cried somewhere down the hall, then quieted.
"This place... it feels wrong," Talen muttered."Yeah," Daigo agreed. "And staying here... we'll rot before we find any real answers."
Talen looked at him, more awake now, more serious. "What do we do?"
Daigo's jaw tightened."We find a way out. Before it's our turn to become bait."
And somewhere deep inside, he made himself a promise.
Before the 13th... before the date the book warned about... I'll save Selia. No matter what.
Daigo caught movement out of the corner of his eye.
Near the cracked window, Verlain crouched, urgently tying together strips of cloth—shirts, torn sheets, anything he could find—into a rough rope.Daigo stepped closer, heart pounding with a bad feeling.
"I'm running," Verlain said simply, flashing a quick grin.In a blink, he swung his legs over the windowsill.
Daigo stared, a hollow feeling spreading in his chest.Why isn't anyone waking up?Even with the sounds of Verlain scraping the floor, tearing cloth, whispering curses—no one stirred.Selia, curled against Talen, slept so heavily that it scared him.
Something was wrong.
"What was in the food container?" Daigo demanded sharply.
Verlain just chuckled under his breath and, without answering, slipped out the window.Outside, a few armed men patrolled under the dying light of street lamps.
Verlain didn't care.With a cocky smirk, he lifted his middle finger high at the guards and sprinted into the shadows, daring them to chase him.
Shouts broke out. Someone fired a warning shot.
Daigo swore under his breath, spinning toward Talen.
"We have to take Selia to a doctor!" he said in a fierce whisper, his hands already gathering Selia into his arms.
Talen jolted awake. "What?! Why—?"
"There was something in the food!" Daigo snapped. "We didn't eat. She did."
Talen's face paled, understanding in an instant.
Without wasting another second, they both ran down the stairs.
They had just made it to the stairwell when a deep buzz rattled through the building—the mechanical groan of the second-floor security door unlocking.Talen, without thinking, yanked the door open.
A figure staggered into the hallway.
It was the old man—what was left of him.His body shook violently, smoke curling off his burned skin. His eyes were wide, crazed with terror and pain.He grabbed Talen's arm with fingers like iron.
"That man—Jorin—he's one of them!" he croaked, his voice broken.
"One of who?" Talen gasped, trying to steady him.
"The ones who want to kill us all," the old man hissed.
Daigo didn't wait. "Talen, let's GO!" he shouted.
Talen wrenched free, and together they bolted down the stairs.
At the bottom, a figure blocked their way.
It was Elic.
Daigo froze, clutching Selia tightly, bracing for a fight.
But Elic only shoved something into his chest—the rough handle of his lost blade, the one he'd abandoned days ago in the alley.
"Run," Elic said sharply, her eyes flashing with a rare urgency.
The ground shuddered again, stronger this time.The ceiling lights flickered.The floor beneath their feet trembled ominously.
BOOM.
Somewhere above them, a heavy crash echoed—concrete and metal twisting in protest.
"What the hell is happening?!" Daigo shouted.
"How the hell should I know?!" Elic barked back, already turning and running.
Daigo didn't hesitate.He turned to Talen, nodded once, and they sprinted for the entrance.
But Jorin was already there.
He stood at the center of the lobby, surrounded by men armed with rifles.His face was a picture of pure annoyance.
"Why are they awake?" Jorin said with a growl."Kill them."
The rifles rose in a single, well-practiced movement.
Daigo's palms sweated around the hilt of his weapon.There were too many of them.He could take down two, maybe three at most—but the bullets would tear him apart before he even crossed the lobby.
Not with Selia here, he thought. Not with her life in my hands.
The building rumbled again—this time the floor cracked, hairline fractures zigzagging like lightning.
A huge chunk of the ceiling groaned and broke loose, crashing down between Daigo and Jorin's men, cutting them off.
A sudden, electric panic ran through everyone.
"The building's coming down!" someone screamed.
Gunshots went wild into the air as people scrambled.
And just like that—Jorin's men abandoned their post, running for the emergency exits, pushing each other aside in a blind rush to escape being buried alive.
Daigo stood frozen for a half-second, stunned by the chaos.The entire world felt like it was ripping apart at the seams.
"Move!" Talen shouted, grabbing Daigo's shoulder.
Daigo gritted his teeth and ran.
The doors flew open under the pressure of fleeing bodies.Dust and broken glass filled the air.
Somewhere behind him, Daigo heard walls caving in with deep, shuddering roars.
He clutched Selia tighter as he ran through the darkened streets, his legs burning.Beside him, Talen gasped for breath but didn't stop.
Behind them, the building—their prison—collapsed inward, swallowing itself in a storm of concrete and dust.
When they finally slowed down, away from the chaos, Daigo paused, chest heaving.
He turned, looking back.
The sky was lit up with dust and smoke.The building that had housed over a hundred sleeping people was now a pile of rubble.
His stomach twisted painfully.
All those people... he thought.
Still asleep. Still drugged. They never even knew.
He clenched his fists so tightly they trembled.
Selia whimpered quietly in his arms, her small face pressed against his shoulder.
Talen put a hand on his back, steadying him. "Daigo... We have to keep moving."
"I know," Daigo muttered hoarsely.
But the guilt—and the questions—burrowed deep inside his chest.
Why had it started piece by piece?Why the southern and eastern regions first?Why the lies, the bait, the sacrifice of survivors?
And most of all—Who was pulling the strings from the dark?