The Nightmare

???

Study, play, study again, go to the doctor, then keep studying for a degree I don’t even like. Sometimes I wish I could just disappear… for there to be no classes, no annoying classmates. For everything to vanish.

— For everything to vanish? Is that truly what you want? Very well… so it shall be.
A sinister voice echoed in my head. What did it mean by everything? Suddenly, the desk in front of me and everything around it disappeared, leaving only the chair I was sitting on. The sounds of the city—the firetruck sirens, people talking on the street, cars passing by—vanished into absolute silence.

"What just happened?" I thought as I looked around. Everything was black. There was nothing. Absolute emptiness.
— For everything to vanish—that’s what you wished for, isn’t it?

Tap, tap, tap.

The sound of high heels echoed in the distance, drawing closer and closer.
A girl appeared before my eyes. Purple hair, golden eyes. I had the impression I’d seen her before. "Sypthia"...that was the name that surfaced in my mind.

— You didn’t save anyone, just as I told you…

Save? … Save who?

— You deserve to disappear… just like everything else.

Her smile wasn’t the kind one I had seen before. It was malicious.

Fear ran through me. A shiver down my spine. I wanted to run, to get away from there but I couldn’t move. I looked down at my feet to see why…

My legs...translucent were blending into the black void around me.

— You thought your life was worthless. The one before… and the one now. She came closer and closer until she was right in front of me. I’m doing you a favor.

She turned and slowly disappeared into the darkness of that place.

Wait! Sypthia! Don’t go! But my voice wouldn’t come out. I couldn’t speak at all. My hands were turning translucent, and soon the rest of my body followed. Like a ghost, I was fading, little by little, until there was nothing left.

— SYPTHIA!!!

I screamed, but now I wasn’t in that void anymore.

I was… in a familiar place.

The clinic...

I looked at my body in a panic. No translucency. I was dressed in the clothes that are usually wore at the clinic, and nothing seemed out of place.
But it all felt so real as if I had truly been about to…

And then I remembered the goddess’s words:

"When no one believes in me anymore, all of my miracles will vanish from this world… including you"

That "including you" kept echoing in my mind. I had forgotten it until now. It had been days since I last checked the Friendly Tab. I opened it and saw three updates to my friendship level: two had dropped by -1, while another had risen by +1. The ones that decreased were Claudine and Enphi, while the only one that increased was with the man named Klaus.

And at the top there it was. The countdown.
I preferred not to look at it, but… it had already dropped to 356 days. I hadn’t even noticed. I’ve already been in this town for a week.

According to the goddess, when it reaches zero, a catastrophe will strike, one I must prevent by becoming friends with the townsfolk. But… could a place this peaceful really be hiding something so merciless that it could wipe out the entire town?