Chapter 146: Alone

Javier had been having a good evening, all things considered.

Well—”good” was relative. Nothing about the current situation was actually good. The whole thing was fucked up from its core, if he was being honest.

But Javier was a simple man, wanting nothing more than a quiet life, and he’d learned to take his victories where he could find them.

Fresh vegetables, for instance. That was a victory.

He had just picked up some from one of the farms in the Secondary Ring. Actual fresh produce that were grown in soil, not the synthetic crap they’d eaten on the floating islands.

Tomatoes. Lettuce and even some carrots that were only slightly misshapen.

Life had been treating him well these past few days, relatively speaking.

He used to live on one of the floating islands called Neo-Canberra, to be specific. Not too long ago, on earth and at home. His father was a minster in the government and he had a very good life.

His father spoiled him rotten after his mother left them for another man. well, that was not a good thing to remember certainly.

That life felt like a distant dream now. Sometimes he wondered if it had even been real, or if his memories were playing tricks on him.

But no. It had been real… the apartment and the countless movies he devoured while living his life of so called, normalcy.

Javier remembered that day with perfect clarity, even though he wished he didn’t.

He’d been watching a movie in his apartment—some action thriller with explosions and car chases, the AC cranked up high because it was hot outside.

June in Neo-Canberra meant summer, and summer meant sweltering heat that made the floating island feel like an oven.

Then it started getting too hot.

Not uncomfortable hot, if one wanted to explain it… that would be melting hot.

Flabbergasted, Javier had run to his window and yanked open the curtains to see what the hell was happening.

What he saw was the end of the world.

A bright orange light was falling from the sky. It was so massive that it covered everything.

The sun, he had thought at first that the sun was falling. But that didn’t make sense. The sun didn’t fall. The sun was…

Well… He didn’t know what the sun was anymore. He even didn’t know If he could reality he knew anymore.

Back then he was too much afraid and on pure instinct, Javier had jumped out the window. His apartment was only on the third floor. He could survive that… maybe.

He landed wrong and his leg slipped. It was actually his own fault for being so damn fat. At that moment he understood that he should have given some preference to his body… but it was too late. His head hit the ground hard.

Everything went black.

He was sure he had died… he was absolutely certain. No way could anyone survive that impact combined with whatever was happening to the sky.

But then he saw a window.

[Congratulations. You have been chosen as a Player…]

And then… well. Then came the nightmare.

Remembering it. Javier chuckled… ’There is no use thinking about it now.’

The Trial was over. He had survived… somehow, by sheer luck and cowardice.

And now he was here, in Aethelburg’s Secondary Ring, living in an abandoned house, eating vegetables from abandoned farms, waiting for someone else to complete the scenario objective so he could finally go home and finally be free of this constant fear of being eaten by Demons and Withering beasts.

That was a very… very gross way to die.

Not that there was any safe place on earth anymore. But it was more safe than this hell and he can live there hiding behind other stronger players.

It wasn’t a heroic existence… but it was existence. And for Javier, that was enough.

He walked through the empty street, humming his favorite song under his breath. The darkness didn’t bother him anymore he had gotten used to this—everything was dyed red by the crimson moon overhead, casting just enough light to see by.

Then he heard the blast.

It was deafening and the sound was so loud that it physically hurt, that made his ears ring, his teeth ache and his bones vibrate.

Javier’s eyes widened as his humming stopped mid-note.

’What the…’

The ground beneath his feet shuddered.

’Is the secondary wall breached?’ That was his first thought when another violent shake that threw him completely off balance. Javier fell to his knees, then to his hands, sprawling across the cobblestones as the entire Secondary Ring bucked and heaved beneath him.

’What the hell?!’ his mind screamed. _’What’s happening?!’

He looked up, trying to see the source of the blast.

But he was in a forgotten alley… surrounded by buildings from both sides. All he could see was the back of some ancient building.

Then he saw the sky fill with debris and chunks of rocks and many more things.

“Oh shit,” Javier whispered. “Oh shit oh shit oh—”

He tried to scramble to his legs and run away to a safe place, just then…

One of the rocks broke through the building directly in front of him.

It was huge and easily the size of a small car. It punched through the second floor, through the first floor, through the foundation, and slammed into the street with earth-shattering force.

Right where Javier was kneeling.

He tried to run or at least do anything in his power. In the time of panic… he forgot to use the skill bestowed upon him by the system.

Javier’s legs were crushed first… both femurs shattered simultaneously under the impossible weight. Then his pelvis and his lower spine.

The last thing he saw in the sky was a humanoid figure flying in the sky against the crimson moon… it was beautiful and terrifying.

He didn’t even have time to scream.

His mouth opened. His lungs were filled with air for that final cry of agony, fear and unfairness.

But no sound came out.

Because Javier was dead.

Right there in the middle of an empty street, humming a song that would never be finished, holding vegetables that would never be eaten.

Alone.

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