Volume 2 – Chapter 15: The Tipping Point

The gravity of the figure’s words sank into my chest like a stone, and my mind rushed, wrestling to comprehend the full ramifications of what it was saying. The world had already ended? Flood just the start of the rest? Rika’s breathing next to me had become shallow but regular, and her grip tightened around my wrist as though she could stop the flood in its tracks. 

The figure was still watching us, waiting. My throat dry, I licked my lips. “You keep telling us we have to make a decision. Decide what?” The figure’s finger trailed along the edge of the map. “You have to choose whether you are going to fight what is coming … or join it.” Rika scoffed. “Embrace what? The end of everything? Do we just have to accept the way the world is — what? Gone?” 

The figure’s emotion didn’t waver. “Acceptance doesn’t mean submission. You can try to fight the tide, but you can also learn how to go with it.” The certainty of its words sent a chill through me and I could barely speak. “Rika… what — ” She turned to me, her voice clipped. “Kaito. We can’t — ” She stopped, inhaled and then continued. “There must be something we can do. “We can’t just allow this to happen.” I wanted to agree with her. I wanted to think that a solution existed. But the figure, the certainty in its voice as cold as the floor, rendered that hope fantasy.

But I was still clenching my fists. “We’re not going to sit and watch the world go to hell.”

They examined me for what felt like forever. Then they smiled. Slow and knowing. “Good.”

My frown deepened. “What?”

Their head tilted slightly. “Then you’ve already made your choice.”

Ice crept down my spine. I didn’t understand what they meant, but before I could ask, the ground shook beneath us. Moments later, the distant rumble of the low growl of the earth reverberated through the city’s shattered terrain. The air was heavy and quivering with something I couldn’t see. Rika turned her head toward the shattered windows. “What is that?”

They breathed out gently. “The next.”

Dread curdled in my stomach. “What do you mean?”

Instead of responding, they waved toward the entrance to the chamber. “You can make up your own mind.”

Rika and I gave each other a look and walked the few paces to the door. The night air was cool against my skin, but the moment we passed the threshold, I could feel it. It was charged. Thick. The sense in the air before a storm, but heightened. Heavier. And then I saw it. 

The remains at our backs yielded to the open expanse of this city I once knew. Miles far into the distance, across the horizon, a light. Not fire. Not artificial. But light. A gentle pulsing blue like the frozen-in-time visage of lightning. And it was spreading. I stepped forward, my heart pounding so loudly, I could barely hear myself. “What is that?” Their voice was soft but firm. “The real.” The light pulsed once more, and for a brief moment, I could have sworn that I heard it. A hum, low, unremarkable, that shook the air itself.

“Kaito, come on!” Rika yanked my arm. We couldn’t stay there. I didn’t argue. My body was screaming at me to get as far away as I could. But the figure spoke one final time just as we began to turn. “You cannot outracer this.” It rang in my ears, trailing me into the night. As we ran, the streets of the city grew narrower and darkness surrounded us. The buildings’ ruins are long and terrifying, casting shadows. With each step I took, I sensed something out of the corner of my eye was moving. “

I said, floundering, unable to formulate properly, “What… what was that light?” I felt Rika's reflection of my expression as she clutched my wrist tighter. “I don’t know,” she said, looking back, looking around. “and I don’t want to learn the hard way.” The light got closer. It didn’t seem very fast, and yet it wasn’t slow. It was coming for us, as surely as the tides had swallowed the shoreline. It wasn't the honking… the honking was worse. I attempted to block it out, to push my mind to other places, nearly tripping in my run. But the streets were not the same. 

What were once alleys and quarters became twisted paths half-covered in debris. I lurched to a stop, Rika cursing before it dawned on me, too — not a dead end. What should have been a straight line was obstructed by what must have been the building that fell in front of us “Back!” Rika started turning around. But then she froze. Following her gaze … the light extended to the street. It was no longer just glowing; it wasn’t even pulsing — moving.

Shapes flickered inside it — dark silhouettes writhing against the false blue. At first, I thought it was some oddity of how the light distorted the ruins, a trick of the fallen rays … But then one of the people stepped forward. It had no features — no eyes, no mouth, no discernible shape. Just a… vaguely human shape, its edges ragged like static on an old TV. Then it took another step. And another. I took Rikas hand and tugged her back. “Run.” She didn’t hesitate. We shot down the closest side street. It was just littered with rubble, and I was inches away from getting whacked. I didn’t dare look back. But I could hear it. No longer just a drone, the hum was a physical vibration, rattling through the concrete beneath our feet.

 We turned corner after corner, street after street. I was desperately searching for an exit, but… every road, every lane, it all looked identical. We weren’t going in circles, the angles were wrong. But still, it felt like the city was corralling us, we were being fenced in, played with. And just when I thought we were done for … I spotted it, up ahead — a small open building, its door ajar. A place to hide. I pulled Rika in, closed the door. Darkness. Darkness. And the sound of our labored breathing. For one thing, I thought we had lost it. But then— A sound. Not the hum. Something softer. Something hoarser. A whisper. It was coming from the far side of the room. And we were not alone.