Chapter 3: Six Months Until the End

I have to get out of here.

I turn, heart hammering. My legs move on instinct, but the world is breaking too fast. The pavement beneath me isn't stable anymore. Every step lands on something different—concrete, wood, glass, nothing at all.

Ahead, I see others running. Survivors.

Not many. Maybe a few dozen.

Some scream. Some don't even understand what's happening. One of them vanishes mid-step.

Not killed.

Just gone.

Like a part of the world forgot to exist.

The realization slams into me. We're not being hunted.

We're being erased.

A black tendril lashes out beside me, slicing through the air where my arm was a second ago. I don't think. I dodge, sprinting harder, lungs burning.

It's not enough.

The void is closing in.

And then—

A shadow passes over me.

Not from the creatures.

From one of them.

The impact shakes the air.

Golden wings unfurl, their presence alone forcing the void creatures to recoil.

The angel lands in front of us.

It doesn't move like the others—it's not fighting. It's watching. Calculating.

And then it raises a hand.

For a moment, I think it's attacking.

But then—the ground disappears.

Not destroyed. Not torn apart.

Just—gone.

I fall.

My stomach lurches as gravity twists, but I never hit the ground.

The light swallows me.

I wake up to silence.

Not the kind that soothes.

The kind that comes after everything is gone.

I float. Suspended in nothingness. No air. No weight. No sensation. Just me.

Then—impact.

A rush of sensation floods my body—breath, sound, gravity.

And then—

Voices.

A sea of them. Confused. Panicked. Desperate.

I gasp for air, my lungs burning as I push myself upright. My hands press against cold stone. The ground beneath me is real. Solid.

But I am not alone.

There are thousands of us.

Men. Women. Children.

Some stand, dazed, others sit, heads in their hands. Some still haven't woken up.

And beyond them—

Not humans.

I freeze, breath hitching.

Elves.

Tall, sharp-eyed figures, their golden irises catching the strange light above us.

Dwarves.

Broad, muscular beings, their bodies etched with glowing runes pulsing faintly, as if whispering forgotten magic.

Other things.

Creatures I have no name for. Beasts covered in obsidian scales, shadows that move without bodies. Winged, horned, cloaked in strange robes—things that don't belong.

We shouldn't be here.

And yet—we are.

The sky trembles.

Something descends.

Not like the angels before.

Something greater.

It's impossible to describe. The mind rejects its form.

It has six golden wings, shifting constantly, armor that isn't metal but something far older.

And its face—

It is not human.

Not anything.

Just absolute.

When it speaks, the air does not vibrate.

The world listens.

"You were not chosen."

The words shake me to my core.

"You were saved."

A murmur ripples through the survivors.

Some fall to their knees, praying, sobbing. Others shout in confusion, demanding answers.

But the non-humans are just as shaken. Some whisper in languages I don't understand. Even they didn't expect this.

The figure raises its hand.

The air stills.

Then it speaks again.

"Your world is gone."

A heavy silence falls.

Then—shock. Disbelief. Denial.

Some scream. Others just stare.

My chest tightens. No. That can't be true.

The cities. The oceans. The people who didn't make it here—

My parents.

All of it—gone.

Something fractures inside me.

But the figure isn't finished.

"This world will not survive."

The words feel final.

Not a warning. Not a prophecy.

A fact.

A weight crashes over me, heavier than anything I've ever felt.

"Six months."

The crowd stirs.

"That is all the time you have."

Six months?

"In six months, the darkness will come here, just as it did to your world."

My blood runs cold.

"When it does—there will be no salvation."

The weight of those words crushes everything else.

It's coming.

The void.The creatures.The thing that erased Earth will erase this world too.

Unless—

"You must fight."

The figure looks over us all.

"All of you beings."

"Your fates are now the same."

"Unite—or be erased."

The world holds its breath.

And then—

With a final burst of golden light,

It vanishes.

Leaving behind thousands of lost souls, stranded in a land they don't understand.

Leaving behind me.

I stand there, my hands clenched, my mind blank.

This world will be erased.

Unless…

Unless we stop it.

But how?

How do you fight something that shouldn't exist?

How do you stop the end?

I don't have an answer.

All I know is one thing.

The clock has already started ticking.