Chapter 18 - Unknown Future [1]
[Volume 1 - The Flagbearer]
—Drip… Drop. Drip… Drop.
"Urgh..."
How long have I been unconscious ever since I woke up in this pitch-black darkness?
After losing consciousness when Noah pushed me into the portal, I found myself trapped in a dark place.
—Rumble...!
'My head aches…' I tried to lift my arms, but something held them tightly bound.
I would've assumed I was still stuck in Aleph if not for the occasional earthquakes.
'I'm gonna suffocate if I don't escape soon.'
—Rumble! Rumble…!
'Things aren't looking good…!' The earthquake grew more intense. I'll get crushed to death if it keeps going like this.
"U-Ugh…!" I clenched my left hand to alleviate the pain I felt since waking up.
'Why does this keep happening to me?' I asked myself and kept fiddling with my arm to grasp something.
It's the only thing I've gained from that terrible place in exchange for everything,
The Ichor.
"Aaagh… dammit! I don't have a choice, do I?" I braced myself for what I was about to do.
—Crik… Crack…!
"Urk… Aaah… AAAAARGHHH!!" I gripped the Ichor tightly, using all the strength I could muster.
It was so painful I nearly blacked out, whereas the will to survive was greater than that.
—Vooom…!
'I got it!' The familiar yellow light shone dazzlingly, allowing me to see where I was ensnared.
"Am I trapped in debris? Is that why I hurt so much right now?" By some miracle, my head and torso remain unaffected. It won't take long for the rocks to cave in when the subsequent earthquake strikes.
"A-Argh…!" I poured as much mana as I could gather into the Ichor until I felt a numbness settle in.
—C…Crack!
"AAAAHH!!" The mounds of rocks crushed my left hand, and it was at the point where I felt my bones shatter.
'Think! What artifact should I conjure this time…!' I tried to ignore the pain and began brainstorming.
The Hoverboard? No, that's a horrible idea.
Should I grab my magic firearm? Also a bad Idea. My backpack is too far away for me to reach.
…Wait, there is something I can use!
'Hah, looks like I owe something to Noah again...'
—Vrrrr…!
A golden ray of light emerged around the Ichor and wrapped my heavily injured left arm.
—Nyooom…!
At this moment, I only had one shot at this.
I opened my eyes and took a deep breath, pausing for the perfect moment to evoke a single word—
"INSIGNIA!!!" I conjured the legendary hero's weapon and shouted as loud as I could.
—BOOM!!!
All the debris that trapped me was blown away and turned to ashes, freeing me.
Just swinging the sword granted me freedom in an instant at the cost of a ridiculous amount of mana.
"How the hell did he remain standing when he conjured this damn weapon?" I flopped to the ground, feeling like complete shit.
The amount of mana it sapped away from me was immense, but the Ichor must've absorbed Noah's mana when he shot me to allow me to escape.
"N-Not yet." I avoided fainting to the ground.
The sunlight I missed so much was blinding. I must've been deep under the rubble if light didn't seep through the ruins.
After 2 days in the Aleph Dimension, traversing towards all stratums, at last, I finally returned to Earth.
…
…
…
'Where the fuck am I?'
If I were to see myself from a third-person perspective, I could imagine several question marks hovering over my head.
Earth in the great Year 2107, a world that humans colonized and made their own.
This era was at its brightest, where nations set aside their differences and were at peace.
"What the hell happened?" I couldn't believe my eyes and had to rub them countless times.
—That world peace is no more.
Cities, highways, shops. Demolished.
Plants, vines, moulds and trees overgrown and lush, abundant with life.
Such an isolated place should not belong to Earth— no, this should've never existed.
"Was I transmigrated again?" I shook my head and laughed.
I couldn't make such a flimsy excuse that this was all a bad dream when my arm was nearly ripped off.
I have no choice but to take a step into an unknown world I wasn't familiar with, which I was supposed to call Earth.
'Wait a minute, this alleyway…' I saw a familiar structure. It's where Noah and I spoke to each other before we vanished.
"This has to be some sort of sick joke." I took a closer look when I stepped out of the alleyway.
Everything looked the same as it did back then.
The cafe Noah and I visited, where a clumsy waitress moved about.
The road that led to the cafe, with a performer playing solo.
The shops where female students riding broomsticks passed by, chatting among themselves.
"It's all the same…."
I have lived in this neighbourhood for months already, and I can at least recognize the local areas around town.
Now, all of them were in ruins.
—A scary thought came to my mind.
Is it because Noah died? The endless possibilities that ensued when the two of us weren't present on Earth—all of it must have stemmed from my intervention.
And because of that.
The world ended.
…
…
...
"I should just… stop thinking." I decided to abandon these thoughts. Delving deeper would lead me past the point of no return.
—Tweet! Tweet!
Despite the lack of humans, animals were roaming around; birds, rabbits, deer, and other animals that belonged in the wilds.
I walked forward to explore the ruined city and assess the damage. The empty ruins stretched as far as the eye could see; there was truly nothing left.
The greatest damage humanity has ever suffered from occurred during the 2nd Cardinal Sky, which was regarded as the most catastrophic global disaster in history.
—But... it wasn't as bad as whatever this is.
“Haha… hahaha….” I couldn't help but laugh.
At the end of everything, I didn't care about becoming special.
With Noah, I found someone I could talk to, someone I could reveal my true self to without overthinking it.
Was it because I wrote him as my ideal self? Or was it how I could feed my ego as the one who wrote him?
"Haha…" I lost my reason to think appropriately.
In the end, what I wanted was a place to belong to. Repeatedly omitting the line, 'I want to live a normal life,' was all an excuse.
Even in my previous life, I had no close friends. I was distant from my family, unable to form proper relationships.
They all lived their lives in the present while I lived in the past, unable to move on from nostalgia.
I wrote this novel in the first place because I wanted people to know who I am through a story, so I could leave a legacy behind before I die.
And to my surprise, it was a success.
I… I really thought I could live like that.
Yes, I want to go on adventures, enroll in Arcadia, and make a name for myself.
I wanted all of that.
But I was afraid.
—I'm a coward, scared of the consequences if I did what I wanted.
'Why do I even bother?' I lay down and looked at the sky.
I can't make excuses anymore.
'The moon…" I uttered out loud.
The moon was much closer than before—as if it were torn apart into two.
"…What a bizarre sight," I murmured to myself.
There is no longer a story, no protagonist, no stage, and no plot; they have ceased to exist. After a long time, I finally realized… that this world is no longer a world within a novel, but reality.
I took a deep breath and resolved myself, grinding the unshakable truth in my heart.
Noah Heavenfall is gone, that's an undeniable fact.
At this moment, I remembered Noah's final words;
—This world is cruel, dear friend… that's why grow stronger, strong enough so you don't have to fear anymore. You can do that for me… alright?
"Tch… you idiot, putting all of this under me…" I ridiculed him even if he wasn't here.
Thinking about it, this wasn't my fault in the first place. The one who brought me here is the culprit.
This world was fictional, confined to the pen I held, and before I knew it, it became the reality I live in.
I'll have to accept whatever comes my way after rejecting it deeply.
"Aaah… I'm tired." I flailed around on the floor. My life's work is now in ruins—literally. The leading cause of this is me, and now I'll have to fix it.
"How much time has passed anyway?" I tried to stand up.
My left arm was fractured, and my body was frail due to using considerable mana; I barely had enough to walk and search for a safe place.
Walking a few steps, I discovered more ravaged buildings, both new and old.
Other than that, the layout of this street was the same as it was back then.
With the familiarity I felt with each building, maybe... just maybe, I can find the apartment I lived in.
"Ah, over there." I turned to the right and resumed my march.
I memorized the light poles because I used to visit the convenience store here. Unfortunately, like the other structures, it has been destroyed.
"Ack, it hurts like hell…" I groaned in pain.
My left hand wouldn't be in such a sorry state if I didn't conjure Insignia out of all things.
Well… if anything, I guess I should be satisfied I lived another day.
"Wow, what a mess."
After walking for 15 minutes, I arrived at the apartment building where I live… or used to, that is.
Bad news, everything is destroyed.
The once-pure white exterior of the building turned brown from decay.
At least the good news was that it didn't collapse.
From my point of view, most of the buildings I saw on the way from here were either cut in half or destroyed.
This apartment could be considered a lucky case, in a way.
Grateful or not, the damage didn't appear to be the result of a natural disaster, and that fact alone terrifies me.
—Creak…!
I stepped inside the apartment and went upstairs.
Every step felt like it might break and crumble, so I carefully walked up the stairs, anxious about whether it was safe.
"…The door is still closed." I inspected my apartment door and found it the only one secured, while the others were wide open.
—Badump… Badump…
"Calm down..." I placed my hand on my chest and took a deep breath.
—Kachick!
In advance, I loaded my gun with a magic bullet in case someone was inside. The issue was that I could only fire once, then flop to the ground, my strings cut like a puppet's.
If the city were destroyed on such a scale, then it's obvious what did it.
This was the work of Eldias, the same creatures Noah and I fought with our lives on the line in Aleph.
'I just got out of that damned place, and now you're telling me they're back?' I sighed, discouraged by this unnecessary development.
"Alright… go!!!" I kicked the door forcefully, anticipating that it would be locked.
—Plonk!
"…What?"
But the door handle broke off so easily that it fell on the ground before my foot connected, implying that the gust of wind was enough.
"I guess I'll take that as an answer." I lowered the gun, and the tension in my shoulders eased.
The silence was deafening, but it was a welcome sound, signalling that I was alone.
Let's not dwell on what happened now and move forward.
"I've been out for 2 days, and my house is already like this." I instinctively flipped the light switch on by accident.
As expected, it didn't open.
"This is… rather depressing." My eyes lost light the moment I laid my eyes on the place I used to call 'home'.
"Sigh, my room is likely no better."
—Creak…!
I braced myself for the worst because this is where I'll stay for the night.
…
…
"Oh… it doesn't look that bad, just a little dusty, that's all." I was a little relieved to know that my room was half-decent.
I really need to get this off my chest: what's with the sudden shift in genre?
A magic-technology world has turned apocalyptic and filled with despair—
Do I even need to use the word "despair" when it seems like everyone is dead except for me? Ugh… I really don't want to think about it any longer.
"So what should I do now?" I straightened my back and placed my hands on my waist.
Yeah, I made it back home.
I could live juuust like I wanted.
Things were supposed to go smoothly after escaping Aleph.
But noooo, it all went down the drain. Poof— like that, everything went wrong.
My only advantage, my knowledge of the novel, can no longer assist me.
All I have is this Ichor and pure mana core.
"…" I stayed silent, stuck in the same position as I pondered in my thoughts.
...
...
...
…You know what? That's it.
Don't care anymore—I'm going to bed.
I'm tired, I'm injured, and I'm depressed. What else can I do?
I don't want to say, 'I'll hold it a bit longer,' so I can find something or someone that could help me recover.
I'd rather sleep than overthink myself to death.
Maybe I'll take therapy too—if that's possible.
Still, my room was unbearably dirty. It's gonna take me a long time to clean it, even with Cleanse.
I'll clean the bed today; I have no choice but to leave this house soon anyway.
"Cleanse."
—Vooom…!
I extended my fingers, and mana particles seeped through them, covering the entire bed.
I can remove the dirt that was hard to move by dousing it with water magic, but I couldn't forget that I don't have enough mana.
While I'm living my ideal life right now, I thought of the Historia family for some reason.
Hmm, either they're dead or alive,
They probably still hate me.
A few minutes later, after cleaning the bed.
Because this bed hasn't been tended for… who knows how long, it took much longer than expected.
"Ahh… at long last. A moment of rest."
—Plop!
I let my body relax and flopped on the bed, unable to budge an inch.
"Ouch! Ugh… I forgot about my injuries." I grunted.
I was so tired that I momentarily forgot about the fractured bone in my left hand, so now the wound reopened due to my clumsiness.
'I'll just look on the other side of the bed for now.' I sighed.
Right now, all I need is to rest. So much has happened in the past few days that the stress would overwhelm me if I kept going.
'I'm… tired.' My eyes felt drowsy, and my consciousness was about to fade away.
…
…
…I'm aware that I'm forcing myself to be upbeat to ease the pain of losing a friend—and the whole world in the process.
But what can I do?
When the world is like this, how can I remain sane when all of this happened in just 2 days?
The only thing I can do as someone who decided to step on the stage late is either succumb to despair,
Or struggle until the end.
...
...
...
The Ichor trembled in my backpack, hovering over my unconscious body.
What was supposed to be a nice, relaxing nap turned into a bigger surprise than I had anticipated—one that changed everything, both good and bad.
