THE SURVIVOR IN BLACK

Asimil's first breath was a puff of ash.

He coughed violently, sitting up on a floor of cracked, black earth. The pain in his body was a dull echo, a muscle memory of wounds that no longer bled. He looked up and the world he remembered no longer existed.

The sky was not violet; it was a sickly purple-greenish color, furrowed by cracks from which a dark light dripped. The ruins of the citadel, once majestic, were now smoking stone skeletons on the horizon. The air, once vibrant with the energy of thousands of players, was now heavy, silent and smelled of burnt ozone and loss. — What... what happened? — he whispered, his voice hoarse.

There was no response. He was alone. The emerald light, his flight, the betrayal... it all felt like a distant fever. He stood up, his body protesting. His inventory was nearly empty, his clothes torn. He was a survivor, a castaway on the shore of a dead world.

For days, which felt like an eternity to him, he wandered. He hid from patrols of players in dark armor he didn't recognize and fought the local wildlife, now twisted and aggressive. Each battle left him weaker, more desperate.

It was near the remains of a collapsed aqueduct that his luck ran out. A wolf, or what was left of one, ambushed him. It was twice as large as normal, with sparse fur that revealed a pelt covered in corrupted crystals and eyes that burned with a violet light. A Corrupted Ash Wolf.

Asimil fought with what energy he had left, but his green flames were weak, flickering. The wolf brought him down with a paw that shattered the remnants of his leather breastplate and threw him against a stone pillar. The beast pounced, its jaws open, ready for the final blow. Asimil closed his eyes, the bitterness of defeat filling his mouth.

A dull, powerful sound, like restrained thunder, resounded. Asimil opened his eyes. A black-clad figure had landed between him and the wolf. It moved with blinding speed. It used no weapons. His fists and feet, enveloped in a faint golden energy, became a whirlwind of precise, lethal blows. A punch to the muzzle, a spinning kick to the ribs, and a final upward punch that connected under the wolf's jaw with devastating force. The creature went flying and disintegrated in midair before it hit the ground.

During the brief, brutal fight, the girl's face had been a mask of serious, lethal concentration. But the instant the monster vanished, her expression changed completely. The seriousness melted away, replaced by a radiant, energetic smile.

— Whew, that was close! — she said, turning to Asimil and offering a hand to help him up. His voice was cheerful and vibrant. — You look like a ghost about to kick the bucket! I'm Luce, by the way! —

Asimil, stunned, accepted the hand. — I... am Asimil. Thank you. —

— You're welcome, kicking Void bugs' asses is my favorite pastime! — She dusted off her hands and started hopping on the spot, full of an energy that seemed impossible in such a desolate world — Hey, you're not from around here, are you? Your gear's in bad shape, did you get lost or something? —

— Something like that — he replied, overwhelmed. The last thing I remember is a green light over the citadel.... —

—Ah... The Emerald Cataclysm - she said, his voice now a somber echo. — I'll give you a summary, but you're not going to like it. That light... that green gem... didn't just appear over your citadel. It exploded over every capital of every region, all at once. It was the declaration of war. —

— And it wasn't just an explosion. It changed the world. The structure of the Altverse was... shattered. The ground became unstable, whole areas became poisonous and uninhabitable. The creatures we knew mutated into those... things you saw. And out of the cracks, they appeared. The twelve Generals of the Void. — Her voice cracked for an instant.— They wiped out everything. They annihilated the clans as if they were nothing. Mine... mine was one of the first to fall... But we did not stand idly by. There was a war. Millions of warriors, of all races, united and we fought. And we achieved the impossible: we defeated the vast majority of the Generals. We hunted them down, one by one, in battles that cost thousands of lives. But the price... was devastating. Now there are not many warriors left, and supplies are running low. We survived, but barely. —

His explanation hit me with the force of a golem. Weeks. A war. Millions dead. And I... I hadn't been here. An icy panic gripped me.  

— My friends... My clan... the Harmonia Clan! — he said, his voice rising in desperation. — Ikel Ken, a fire fighter... Noelia, an ice mage... Sacres, a veteran warrior.... Have you seen them? Do you know if they are well? —

Luce's smile finally faded completely. The hyperactivity ceased, and for a moment, the lethal fighter's seriousness returned to her blue eyes. Her gaze was filled with a compassion that Asimil had not expected.

— Clan Harmonia... — he repeated, his voice now soft. — No, I'm sorry. I've never heard of them. —

He paused, choosing his next words carefully.

— In the early days of the Cataclysm... the purge was... swift. The Void Empire swept through the capitals. Dozens of small and medium-sized clans were wiped out before they could mount a defense. Most... simply disappeared. —

The hope that had driven Asimil, the only reason he had chosen to return, collapsed. He was left standing there, in the middle of a world in ruins, with the news that he was probably the last survivor of everything he had come to love.