The World after the Fall

Pierre looked down at his left hand as he looked at the world power approaching from outside the window of his throne room. His left hand was burnt to black soot by Jaehwan’s world power. It was the first wound he had ever gotten since he had become one of the 8 Gods of <Depth>. It had been so long since he met an opponent who could harm him in any way.

He looked up to the sky.

In the sky of the 7th site where hope had crouched away, a faint ‘moon’ hung up in the sky.

But that moon was not always a moon. It was a star to someone and a sun to another. And to someone else, it was an eye.

‘Big Brother.’

People called that a star, a sun, a moon, and an eye. Nobody knew what it was actually like, but the only thing that was known was that only a few awakened ones could see them.

‘It was a star to Myad and a sun to Budda.’

The shape in which Big Brother appeared was as the individual’s personal feelings toward it. When Pierre found out that Myad saw it as a ‘star’, he realized that Myad had no intention of fighting Big Brother at all. And did was Budda. A sun? It was worse than a star.

Those two didn’t consider Big Brother negatively at all. Pierre then asked himself, ‘What about him?’

‘I’m the same.’

He had to admit it bitterly. A star, a sun, and a moon. All the founders of Rupture called to fight Big Brother, but they understood the need more than anyone. With them as leadership, it was impossible for a true revolution to happen. What they wanted was not the destruction of the System, but a creation of another.

Pierre checked his left hand.

The pain came to him, bringing back his old memories. There was the feeling he had when he didn’t see Big Brother as a star, a sun, or a moon.

And it was the shape that Jaehwan saw Big Brother as. The disgusting shape was striking. To see that there was an Awakener who considered Big Brother in such a way even to this day…

It was weird.

Pierre wasn’t sure of the small fire that had started within his heart. Just to earn such feeling by peeking into someone else’s world… just by knowing that there was someone who had not given up on this world yet.

‘You have found a good hope, Surha.’

Pierre smiled as he laughed.

Dust was kicked up from the plains. Countless soldiers appeared through the large portals. Vicegerents from all kind of gods appeared, but they had fatigued expressions. It wasn’t certain if this advance was due to their own will or others.

No, they knew very well that this was no one’s will. This war was filled with void and emptiness to an unfathomable point.

Yet, they had no language to talk about their emptiness. They were just prisoners in this long war. They fought as prisoners and fought until they died.

And the march did not stop.

At the forefront of the war were the Awakeners of Rupture. They were the warriors who had fought against various sites, defeating any enemies that got in the way. Maybe it was because of them that many of the Vicegerents who surrendered were able to move on.

Rupture’s goal was so clear and determined that it even persuaded their enemies.

If believed by many, it became the truth.

And the truth gave power. Power formed the world.

And there it was, Rupture only had the last site of <Depth> left. The World of Cinabro was waiting.

“Is that the place?” Gerome asked. Imai answered, “Yeah.”

Eepoche appeared in front of them. Gerome looked around the quiet scenery of Eepoche and spoke disappointingly.

“So, it was true then. It’s a loser’s site.”

“…”

“I heard the God that rules this place is an old member of Rupture. You couldn’t get to him?”

“He is not Rupture anymore.”

Imai answered coldly and Gerome cackled.

“Really? So your proud, bloody unique world isn’t so perfect after all. You already have two leavers.”

Imai cursed to himself, but held back from speaking out loud. He couldn’t argue with the Lord right now to hinder the operation. Gerome glanced over at the soldiers moving into the city and asked, “Are we going in also?”

“No, we’ll wait.”

“Why?”

“Anonymous is a formidable foe. We wait until reinforcements arrive from the 2nd site…”

Lord Varkant interrupted them.

“Bah! How can a God be that strong?”

“…You don’t know about Anonymous.”

“We have two Lords! No Gods can fight us. Besides, we have…”

Varkant became silent as he looked at Gerome. Imai understood what he was trying to say. The Lord of Darkness Gerome was the most powerful Lord among all 12 lords.

‘Darkness the Strongest.’

It was him who put an end to the war on the <Great Lands> quickly and played a vital role in re-sealing Catastrophe. He was the best Vicegerent of Big Brother and the most powerful Lord of all.

Gerome agreed. “Hmph. No, he’s right. We better wait.”

“…Huh?”

Varkant became curious and Gerome cackled.

“I think we can have some fun here. It might be better to watch what’s about to happen before we go.”

Gerome was looking toward one of the areas at the outer region of the 7th site. Imai turned and grimaced. Gerome laughed.

“You guys at Rupture are so amusing.”

How many could a man kill without becoming insane? 10? 100? 1000? Yoonhwan thought he would never know as he could not find out himself. Nobody spilled blood, but he felt like he could smell the blood even now.

He could never forget the moment he was awakened.

<Great Disappearance Simulation>

In that simulation, Yoonhwan saw countless faces. They were those who climbed the tower with him. Some betrayed him while some died before they got to know Yoonhwan. But they all had one goal at some point. They were all walkers who tried to save humanity.

But in that simulation, they were no longer his friends. They tried killing each other and also attacked Yoonhwan. Yoonhwan watched these people trying to kill him and…

‘Ahhhhhh!’

Sometimes they cried in agony.

‘Please! Please!’

Sometimes they begged.

‘F*CK YOUUUUUU!’

Sometimes they were enraged.

He fought them time after time. He killed them again and again. He knew they were fake and that they were recreated by his memories, but he felt his mind changing as he killed them over and over. It was as if the world he knew was breaking down.

Ethics, justice, and all that within him had been crushed and thrown away.

And what was left in him was madness. That madness told him this:

-The ‘human’ you believe in is the remnant of the System.

-The humanity you were forced into is just a shell.

As he repeated all the unethical things he could imagine, he got out of the shell called human. He overcame the System that surrounded him. Repeating it 1954 times in the simulation allowed him to achieve that.

Killed, killed, and killed.

Yoonhwan then stopped at some point.

‘No. This is not right. It’s not right.’

It was when he saw one of his friends that he stopped killing, the friend he trusted the most. A human who was closest to being justice. That friend was charging at Yoonhwan with a sword in his hand.

‘If I need to go through this much to gain power…’

Yoonhwan gritted his teeth.

‘I will give up on becoming an Awakener…’

The sword struck his stomach.

That was the 1954th simulation. It was a terrible, and painful memory. He felt his sight being distorted and in next moment, he woke up with a sharp scream.

“UGH!”

His entire body ached. He got up and looked around. The lands were barren and there was the shape of a giant site that was faintly visible from afar.

‘I was knocked out.’

He looked down at himself. He could still walk and fight. He still felt that the people trying to hunt him down were still around.

‘I didn’t know they would come this fast.’

A week ago, he left Rupture after he spoke with Adel at the 5th site. He got away from the battleground as fast as he could and avoided doing any suspicious activity after he got out of the war zone. He didn’t even use large portals conceal where he was going.

But Rupture quickly came after him as if they knew where he was heading. It was different then what they did to Yoo Surha.

Originally, it was equally as hard to get out of Rupture as hard it was to get in. Rupture killed without mercy if there was a traitor. That allowed them to keep complete secrecy within Rupture.

‘If I can only meet up with Yoo Surha…’

If it wasn’t for Adel, he would not have taken the chance. He would have hidden somewhere to seek out another chance, but he couldn’t. Yoo Surha was at the 7th site. It meant that his destination was already set.

Yoo Surha and the Fallbringers. Those were the forces that opposed Rupture. That was the only hope Yoonhwan had in this world now. Yoonhwan wanted to know what the person who left Rupture before him was thinking.

He wanted to ask why she left Rupture. Was it because of the same reason? Was she thinking of justice? Do they still have hope to ask about what is right or wrong?

After walking for a while, Yoonhwan saw the 7th site coming into his view. But the excitement soon turned into despair.

‘I am too late.’

Walls were being destroyed, sending particles everywhere.

The Rupture army was already in the city.