Chapter 1 : The End
Ren Alistair was a boy barely stepping into adolescence, yet his eyes carried the weight of years he had never lived. He lived with his older sister, Elaine, in a world torn apart by successive catastrophes. These were not isolated incidents, but rather the very fabric of a distorted daily life. Nations collapsed like sandcastles before a raging tide, and once-great cities crumbled into towering ruins that whispered stories of a long-lost glory. In this power vacuum, corruption spread like a starving beast, devouring the last remnants of humanity. All that remained for mankind was a thin thread of hope—barely visible—binding them to a fragile existence amidst overwhelming chaos.
On a day much like the others—bleak and silent—Ren Alistair made his way home from "school." It wasn't a school in the traditional sense, but rather a crumbling building miraculously spared from destruction, where a few survivors gathered to exchange the remnants of knowledge and survival skills. Its walls were cracked, its windows shattered, yet it stood as a symbol of a desperate attempt to preserve a shred of civilization. The air was thick with dust and the faint scent of mold, and sunlight filtered weakly through holes in the collapsing ceiling.
When he finally reached their "home"—a tattered tent held up by wobbly poles and frayed ropes, standing in defiant resistance against the wind and dust—he found his older sister, Elaine, waiting for him. She stood at the entrance of the tent, her shadow stretching long in the dim afternoon light. Her face bore a tired smile, yet it radiated a warmth like a small flame in bitter cold. Her eyes, despite the obvious exhaustion, overflowed with tenderness.
"Welcome back, little brother," she said softly, her voice full of affection. "Was your day at school okay?"
Ren replied with a small smile, trying to hide the constant worry gnawing at him.
"Yes, sister. I'm back. It wasn't too bad."
He knew well the sacrifices Elaine made. After death snatched their parents in one of the devastating disasters—a horrific memory of a building collapsing on them, ripping them forever from his life—Elaine took on the full burden of responsibility. She worked with every ounce of strength she had, doing backbreaking, dangerous tasks just to secure food and a simple shelter to protect them from the merciless outside world. Their situation was dire—hunger was a frequent and unwelcome guest, and the cold at night was biting. And yet, in each other's presence, they found a reason to endure—just a flicker of joy in a sea of despair. They were content, or so they made themselves believe.
Until that day came… the day everything shattered.
It started as a faint sound, then quickly escalated into an ear-splitting roar. Sirens. That ominous harbinger of death and destruction. Ren froze in place, his body betraying him, his mind racing back in an instant to that dreadful day. The last time he heard that sound was right before the building collapsed—the moment that stole his parents. Terror paralyzed him, his eyes wide in horror, his breaths shallow and rapid.
But Elaine, forged in hardship, reacted first. She had no time for fear. She grabbed her brother's cold hand with a force born of desperation and love.
"Ren! Come on! We have to run!" she shouted, her voice barely louder than the blaring sirens.
She began running, dragging her numb brother along—a body moving through an external force, his mind trapped in the past. Memories of their parents' death surged through his head like shards of broken glass: their screams, the rising dust, the helplessness of watching them perish from a relatively safe—yet cursed—distance.
He snapped back to the present with the rhythm of their pounding feet against the cracked ground. They ran with all their strength toward the emergency shelter—a massive structure of concrete and steel, one of the last bastions of relative safety. The air was filled with dust and the distant cries of others fleeing for their lives.
When they finally reached the massive gates of the shelter, gasping for breath, they were met with a horrifying sight. Guards—hard-faced men in tattered uniforms, yet armed—were already closing the heavy steel door. The grinding of metal against metal sounded like the very gates of hell.
"Please! Wait!" Elaine screamed, her voice hoarse with desperation and exhaustion. "Let us in! Please!"
A cold, blunt reply came from one of the burly guards, his face devoid of emotion.
"We can't wait. Orders are clear."
Before the echo of his words faded, another voice rang out—this one oozing with sickening malice. It came from behind the first guard, a man with a lecherous gaze as he eyed Elaine from head to toe.
"You fools! Let the pretty one in. As for the boy... leave him. There's no room for the weak here."
Elaine froze, paralyzed by shock more than fear. These weren't just cruel words—they were an insult, a choice between her life and her brother's. She could tell by his tone and look that he wasn't joking. This was their new reality: survival for the strongest—or for those who held something desirable in the eyes of those with temporary power.
In that charged moment of silence, Elaine pulled her brother into a tight embrace, trying to shield him with her frail body from the cruelty of the world. She whispered in his ear, her hands trembling slightly:
"It's okay, Ren. Nothing bad will happen."
Her words were a desperate attempt to soothe him—or perhaps to soothe herself.
"Fool!" the guard leader barked, losing his patience. "If you don't want in, we're closing the gate now!"
The armored door began to groan shut, threatening to seal off the only path to safety.
Ren looked up at his sister, tears welling in his eyes—a mix of fear, confusion, and repressed rage.
"Sis... why didn't you go in? You'll die because of me! Go! Leave me!"
Elaine knelt before him to meet his gaze. Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears, but the faint, warm smile he knew so well remained unchanged. It was a smile of love and sacrifice, even in the face of certain death.
"Don't worry, little brother," she whispered, her voice nearly drowned by the chaos.
"We're not going to die here. Let's go to—"
She never finished her sentence.
It happened in an instant. A muted, wet explosion—and something warm and sticky splattered on Ren's face. He slowly raised his hand to wipe it and found blood. He turned to look at his sister... her head was gone. Just gone.
In its place, a horrifying creature appeared—an enormous ant, the size of a large dog, its powerful mandibles dripping red as it began to devour her lifeless body with sickening ferocity.
Before Ren could even process what was happening, before he could scream, he felt a searing, piercing pain in his back. He turned, agonizingly slowly, to see a bee nearly the size of a human, its massive stinger thrust straight into his chest—striking his heart with deadly precision.
The pain was unbearable—a dual agony: the physical torment of a fatal wound tearing through his body, and the psychological torment of watching his sister die in such a grotesque way. Grief, rage, despair, helplessness—all surged in a crushing wave. All he could do was scream with what little strength he had left, a cry soaked in tears and blood:
"Why?! Why is this happening to us?! Why must we carry the weight of this filthy world on our shoulders?! Power! If only I had power! My parents wouldn't have died! We wouldn't be dying now! Why… why was I born weak!!!!!"
Those were his last words. His strength gave out, and he collapsed to his knees, then fell forward, his cheek pressing against the cold earth.
The last thing his eyes saw before darkness claimed him was the giant ants feasting on what was left of his beloved sister.
One final tear slipped down his cheek—hot and salty—leaving a clean trail through the dirt and blood.
Then... nothing. No sorrow. No pain. No fear. No world.
Only darkness. Cold, complete, and absolute.
But then, from the depths of that void, a light began to emerge. At first dim, then growing in brightness and intensity. Ren instinctively shut his eyes, unsure if he even had eyelids anymore.
When he opened them again, the darkness was gone.
He found himself standing at the edge of a towering cliff.
Before him stretched vast, lush greenery—more vibrant than anything he had ever seen in his short, miserable life. The sky was a deep, clear blue, with strange, winged creatures flying overhead—some like birds, others like nothing he had ever known.
He looked down over the edge of the cliff and saw bizarre creatures of various shapes and sizes roaming beneath giant trees—some massive with shimmering scales, others small and agile.
The air was clean, fresh, and filled with unfamiliar, exotic scents.
His mind couldn't comprehend it.
Where was he? Was this death? A dream? Or something beyond imagination?
He had died—he was sure of that.
But now… he was here, in this impossible place.
A strange, living world… pulsing with color and mystery.