《An Undying Coward in the Apocalypse》 Prologue – Once Upon a Bleak Future It has been ten years since the beginning of the cataclysm known as the apocalypse. The whole planet was suddenly filled with mana causing countless species that failed to adapt, to perish. Humanity has dwindled and only a few communities led by elites have survived. Natural disasters have wrecked the planet. With the rapid mutation of diseases and viruses and coupled with the fast evolution of the flora and fauna, a great portion of modern human society collapsed. No one knows what really occurred, it all just happened too quickly. The blue screen and the entity known as administrator did explain and foretold humanity¡¯s doom but only on the limits of a human. Administrator only explained the what and not the why and how. And what use are explanations in the face of monstrosities and calamities. A humungous solar storm was detected on a nearby system, just before the apocalypse, that was suspected to be the cause of all these. It was also debated that evolution as we know it isn¡¯t constant but occurred in short bursts due to some unknown factors, like these solar storms. A great example of this is the Cambrian Period where Eukaryotes and different animals started appearing. But with the regression of interstellar technology, the question remained unanswered. Beginning from when humans took root in this world, we have been fighting with beasts. With our capability of sentient intelligence we have triumphed over the mindless beasts. But in the apocalypse, the gift of intelligence isn¡¯t enough anymore for survival. Our tools can only persist for so long. The new trend now is evolution. For the beasts lack intelligence they evolved to gain it and because the humans lack strength we evolved to gain it. But originally, even with our prided intelligence, humans are still such an insignificant and weak race. Even if we know the solution, not everyone is willing to act it out. Unlike beasts that are simple. If they are threatened, they retaliate with full force. To live as a human is to make a lot of foolish mistakes, this part of being human is inevitable. In the apocalypse many factions lead by evolved humans emerged. Even religious fanatics led by lunatics arose. Of course the government still existed but it is just one out of the hundred forces that was established. In any world the weak always submits to the strong so many survivors was taken advantage of the superior humans, which is the evolvers, and did many unspeakable things to them. The apocalypse is where the truest and purest of human nature was shown, the day where human became beasts and beasts surpassed humans. As we did our little games of war and conquest the beasts continued to strive for improvement and we soon got overtaken by them due to our infighting. If we united earlier and didn¡¯t fight with ourselves maybe we have the chance to survive and retake our world. But it is too late now. The hope of being the top of the food chain in the world has become a pipe dream. Many mythical beasts that evolved have rampaged and trampled over the weak humans. ¡°My fellow humans let us bravely show them the strength of our race! To protect our loved ones and preserve our legacy, let us defend till our last breath. The fire of survival may be a sputtering flame, but let''s show the Abberants, the beasts and the dammed system! that even with that sputtering flame we are still capable of making a blaze for the survival of our family, friends and fellow human beings. Survive and Live!!!¡± "Survive and Live!!!" Countless voices of the crowd shout out like thunder. A tall black haired man overflowing with charisma is giving a speech in front of thousands of elite survivors. He can be called a hero or a messiah. He is currently the strongest evolver from within this survivor base of the Philippines, no one is his match from charisma, leadership and strength, he is a one in a thousand years genius as you call it. In the apocalyptic world there are four giant factions or should I say the top four survivor-bases in the world. One is located in China, one in Norway, another is in Europe and the other is in the archipelago of the Philippines. The Philippines was an insignificant country before the apocalypse and it was wrecked by a lot of natural disasters and it was abused by a lot of countries. The situation here during the apocalypse was one of the worst. Besieged by beasts and disasters from all sides, the Philippines have been thought to be a hopeless country. But it was proved wrong, after the apocalypse many legendary figures appeared in this insignificant place. Though the population here was low, their fighting force rivals that or even surpasses the bases with millions of survivors. In front of me are brave souls fighting for their race. I thought to run away while they distract the enemy, but I quickly chase those thoughts away. I survived till now not because of my skill but by my heaven defying luck. With so many fortuitous encounters a coward like me became an elite. But I fear that my luck can only last for long. ¡°Kriss! Why are you staring there in a daze? Scared?¡± A gigantic man with a burly physique, about 2 feet tall, is talking in front of me. He is grinning from ear to ear and seems to be not scared of the upcoming battle. ¡°Why are you so relaxed Marivick? The whole human race depends on us. I¡¯m scared of course.¡± I replied. ¡°What are you saying? Of course the human race depends on us. But as a human, you should trust in the human race too.¡± Michel at the side with a white robe and glasses chimed in at our conversation and advised me with a serious face. ¡°I did trust on this race in ages past, but I have learned countless lessons the hard way. But don¡¯t worry because the people I love are the people I trust and the people I trust are the people I love.¡± I closed my eyes and then reminisced the numerous betrayals I have encountered.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll just leave my fate to the hand that controls us all just like what I always did. I¡¯m too tired fighting against fate.¡± Michel sat down and also closed his eyes, cherishing the memories while he still could. Michel and Marivick are my long time friends that have accompanied me through thick and thin, you could say we are brothers born from different parents. ¡°You should know that God is there and he is watching us and judging our fates. This is just a trial given by him, I¡¯m sure there is a reason for all of this.¡± A petite girl that can be mistaken for a dwarf chimed in. She wore a rugged chainmail pants and heavy looking plate armour and holding a hammer that is almost the same size as her, an example of a comical appearance that should never be laughed at. ¡°Katrina, why do you still believe in that stupid idea? If there is a god why would he bring humanity to the brink of extinction? How can he be so merciless and cruel? In addition to that I and only I alone decide my own fate.¡± Arnold irritably said. Katrina wanted to retort but a shout made them stop. Katrina is a very devout believer and the cruelness of the apocalypse didn¡¯t stop her from being one while Arnold is an atheist. The two of them are siblings but they are like fire and water always competing whether in their beliefs or skills. ¡°Would you two shut up?! This isn¡¯t the time to fight over your beliefs. And speaking of time, we don¡¯t have any surplus of it to waste on useless quarrel.¡± A woman in black tights scolded the two. The woman had wavy black hair and brown eyes. She wore black tights that accentuate her dashing curve and figure. At her back is an innocent looking girl that you would rarely find in the apocalypse. ¡°Cut us some slack Glenn, this battle has a high probability to be our last. Let us relax in our final moments¡± Kriss glanced at Glenn with an annoyed face. ¡°You can relax when you¡¯re dead Kriss.¡± Glenn replied with a cold and unperturbed face ¡°I guess we¡¯ll be relaxing in the yellow springs soon.¡± Michel immediately retorted The stakes in this battle is the survival of the human race. And most of the signs point to defeat. I have many thoughts of running away. One of the skills I¡¯m proud of is running. If I say I¡¯m second in running away, no one will dare to say they are first. But now the situation does not permit to run. If I run away now, I will surely fail the trust of my companions and even if I live, there will be no sense in it. Even if I¡¯m a coward, I will never betray my friends because of fear. It¡¯s better to die together than be left in this cruel world alone. But these are just minor reasons; the major reason is that it is useless to run away. The beasts and aberrants are now nearing our stronghold. Their army covered the horizon and blood thirst can be felt even with the long distance. Many humans started turning pale and shivered and my heart started beating fast. In the face of fear and death¡¯s entice Brave warriors set out and fight Hoping to witness tomorrow¡¯s light Hoping to stop thy race¡¯ demise A flame blaze on the battlefield With corpses of demons around Not stopping, in despair never yield Until the trumpets of victory has been sound With comrades defending my back As I sought to protect theirs When will this cease this countless attacks Will my life ends or the war Claire¡¯s voice sounded all throughout the battlefield, planting a burning passion in each battle hardened warrior¡¯s hearts. Many unique abilities cropped up after the apocalypse and Reyna happens to be a holder. Her ability has to do with the voice. Her voice can entice, kill, sooth, heal and many other. The only problem is that her body was just too weak due to some inborn disease. This scene was just like the war of the ancient times. Beauties singing for the brave warriors as they set off to fight. As the unnecessary nervousness was eased the soldiers continued their orderly march unto the battlefield. ¡°ROAAAAARRRRR!!!!!!¡± The battle started with the roar of a black dragon and a giant aberrant. The battle is a massacre. If we fought just one of them then we may have a chance of winning. But with the two of them, our stronghold soon crumbled. All hope was lost when we saw the strongest of humanity being torn to shreds by the razor claws of the black dragon. In the middle of battle I was swept away by a dragon¡¯s tail and got thrown away from my comrades. As I was flying through the air and seeing the nearing ground I thought ¡®Maybe this is the end for a hopeless case like me.¡¯ It¡¯s fortunate that aside from my ability of running away I have top notch defensive capabilities. Running away and defence, you can say I''m a cockroach. My abilities reflect my will to survive. Though I lost consciousness afterwards after I dived headfirst unto the ground. Losing consciousness in a battlefield should be lethal. But what can I say, I friggin possess this dammed luck. I woke after a few moments up and saw our forces dwindled and I know that even if I came back nothing will change. The most dreadful thing was I can¡¯t saw any vestige of my comrades with my very sharp eyesight I glance at my back and saw the life crystal, the thing we defended with our lives. The treasure and at the same time curse that the dammed SYSTEM gave us. It is the last lifeline of the race. Should it be destroyed then the race will go extinct and the destroyer will gain immense power. A desperate idea came into me as I saw the losing battle ¡®If we can¡¯t defend the jewel, then at least none shall gain it¡¯. With my fast running speed I quickly arrived at the life crystal. I found a club from a nearby fallen comrade. With my strength I kept banging the crystal with the club. Due to my injured body the progress seems slow. I saw a small crack in the crystal and I kept bashing with renowned vigour. I don¡¯t know how many swing I did but my hand have long turned numb. The crystal is now full of cracks and it seems to break any moment. I saw within the crystal¡¯s reflection a humongous figure rushing here, the black dragon. ¡®Human! Stop! That is mine and mine alone!¡¯ A headache inducing voice appeared in my head. The voice of the black dragon is filled with anger and a hint of fear. The dragon spat a black fireball towards the crystal. I smiled then whispered with my hoarse voice ¡°It¡¯s too late¡± A shattering sound was heard as the crystal was broken into pieces with my last swing. My life flashed before my eyes. Did I live a good life? Before the apocalypse my life can be considered a failure. Friends that can be counted with one hand, a broken family, financial problems, introverted personality, bullied and many other reasons to make me feel that my life is f*cked up. Did it change in the apocalypse? Yes, it did change; it became a lot crappier. Always running away, betrayed again and again, I watched the death of my friends, living day by day in fear of not seeing tomorrow and more importantly and lastly I made humanity extinct. My life is extremely filled with regrets. Had I sold a world in my past life for me to deserve this? I don¡¯t particularly fear the pain of death but I just can¡¯t bear to leave this ¡°wonderful¡± world. I don¡¯t know what will happen after I die. If I reincarnate then I will surely suffer the karma of eradicating my own race. Maybe I will go to hell. But to go to hell is still a relief, I''m sure the suffering there can¡¯t contend to this world. My last remaining consciousness is fading away and pure will power isn¡¯t enough anymore to prevent the inevitable. I slowly sink into oblivion and darkness engulfed me. Chapter 1 - The Calm Before a Bloody Storm The sky was covered with cumulonimbus clouds, an ominous sign that there will be a heavy downpour. The day was just starting and students normally go to school, employees systematically go to work and every other normal occurrence. What better way to term it than the calm before the storm. The storm in which changed the fate of this blue world. On the Archipelago of Philippines, Leyte Province, a young boy awoke. ¡°Kriss! Wake up or you¡¯ll be late!¡± I opened my eyes as I heard my mother¡¯s loud voice. I woke up feeling dread without any reason and my back was filled with cold sweat. I checked the clock the time is 7 am. Oh Crap! I¡¯m going to be late. The previous feeling of dread was totally forgotten as I rushed out of bed. ¡°Brother if you keep eating like that then sooner or later we¡¯ll be required to call an ambulance.¡± A little loli wearing a pink pajama sat in front of me munching on a Pandesal bread. This is my little sister Angela 8 years old and a smart mouth. With weird golden pupils and a pale complexion, I even wondered sometimes if we really are siblings. I guess mutations really do sometimes happen. ¡°Brat, who are you cursing there! Well, I don¡¯t have enough time to play with you so just finish eating your breakfast, I will be going.¡± ¡°Take care big brother. Remember to say hi to that beautiful big sister we met yesterday.¡± ¡°Augh!¡± My little sister really knows to hit where it hurts. That big sister she was referring to was my long time crush, Ava , the governor¡¯s daughter. The main point of this story is that I ¡°liked¡± her. Yeah liked, the day I learned the different castes of society was the day my feeling started to die. There will be never a good end to those kinds of relationships, history has proven it countless of times. Well, no time dwelling in the past, it¡¯s time to focus on the present. That¡¯s the essence of life, moving on. My school was one of the prestigious schools in the region. It was named as Ortahonga National Highschool. The school has harsh punishments to those who break the school rules which running late happened to be one. I was running through one of the corridors of the school building. I then noticed another set of footsteps at my back. I turned around and saw Marivick a long time friend which is also my neighbour. ¡°Hey Michel morning. I did not expect a straight A student to be running late from school.¡± I waved my hand and also slowed my pace to match his. ¡°Good morning Kriss. I just got lost track of time while studying yesterday.¡± Michel replied while panting due to his running. Michel can be described as a hardworking genius. Raised by a single mom and with his 2 younger siblings, he got a scholarship in this prestigious educational institution. He can be summarized as a good person but that is also his flaw. He is too naive to the real ways of the world and was often taken advantage by other people. I can only repeatedly advice him about it but his inherent goodness can¡¯t just be changed. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. We talked for a few moments and soon I found out we arrived at his class room. ¡°See ya later Kriss.¡± Michel did a little farewell ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be going.¡± I nod and ran to my respective room. I was already panting when I arrived at the classroom. The teacher is calling in the attendance. I hurried to my seat but I never expected that a foot will trip me, causing me to stumble. I was almost knocked down to the floor, but I luckily regained my balance. A tongue clicked behind me I glanced back and saw a sneering face of a student, Mark. Mark is your typical rich second generation, an arrogant and overbearing student which most in the class boot-licks and curries favour. I want to complain to the teacher but found out that he didn¡¯t even react and just turned a blind eye. I sat down in resignation and just waited for my name to be called. ¡°Good balance. I thought you¡¯d kiss the floor for a moment there.¡± This voice is of Marivick, a good long time friend. ¡°Heh! just my luck. And I don¡¯t really love the floor, why the heck would I kiss it.¡± I said with a grin while arranging the things in my desk. ¡°By the way you look like a zombie with that eye bag of yours.¡± He pointed to my panda eyes due to lack of sleep ¡°Look who¡¯s talking, the anime addict. I''m much fortunate that I sleep, It seems you do not even know how to.¡± We laughed but soon stopped when we saw the teacher glaring at us. Time passed quickly and the morning classes have finished. I am your typical loner and Marivick is my only friend in class and he is also antisocial. He is what you can call an otaku and a chuni . We just ate in silence at a corner of the room while reading books and watching anime. ¡°Another anime finished. Hmm... What should this king watch next?¡± Marivick stretched his flabby arms. ¡°You should take a break. With that fat body of yours, I''m afraid that you will soon meet the king of hell.¡± I retorted with my eyes still glued to my phone screen. ¡°I don¡¯t want to get advice from a stick man. And being fat isn¡¯t too bad; at least I got a huge energy reserve.¡± We continued bickering for a while and then attended back to our own phones. I was immersed in my reading and felt that the surrounding got noisier to the point where it is interrupting my reading. I was annoyed and glanced at my surroundings. I saw Mark and a bunch of his friends teasing or more like bullying a petite brown haired boy. The boy¡¯s face clearly expressed stubbornness. ¡°F*ck you. If I said get the f*ck out of here then you should just scram!¡± Mark grabbed the boy¡¯s collar and raised it causing the boy to have difficulties. ¡°What the hell is your problem?! You do not own the school what right do you have to make me scram.¡± The boy gripped the hand holding his collar hoping to release it. ¡°It looks being polite isn¡¯t effective with you. You need to taste my fist to learn your lesson.¡± The grip of Mark didn¡¯t even loosen clearly expressing his strong and fit body. ¡°Arghhh!!!¡± the boy ate a few punches on his stomach. The result was his lunch being discharged from his stomach through his mouth which in turn showered Mark. The boy lost consciousness afterwards as he was thrown to the floor. The whole class laughed at the funny site but soon turned quite with a glare from Mark¡¯s stained face. The scene concluded with the puking of Mark into the floor. He and his henchmen then left the room in shame to have a change of clothes. ¡°What a good play!¡±Remarked Marivick after the group left ¡°Yeah, it sure is.¡± After saying that, I stood up and went to the fainted boy on the floor. I crouched down and tapped the teen¡¯s face a few times. The boy soon regained consciousness and a confused expression appeared on his face. ¡°A bit of advice to you. The mango tree shall break in face of storms living its short-lived glory while a bamboo shall bend and endure to prosper in the nearby future. It is up to you what you will become. Now go change, you stink.¡± ¡°Why are you helping me. Aren¡¯t you afraid of offending Mark?¡± The haggard boy stared at my eyes with confusion. ¡°Help? I just woke you up and said a few words. Nothing more and nothing less.¡± I stood up and went back to my desk. ¡°Is wise man Kriss a busybody now? What a great news.¡± Marivick teased ¡°Busybody your ass! What will the world become without kindness and goodwill?¡± I glared at Michel ¡°That will be called hell, am I right?¡± And Michel continued his playful tone and smile ¡°Yeah, hell.¡± I murmured thinking about my forgotten dream this morning. Are dreams really meant to be forgotten. Let us not burden our remembrance with a heaviness that is gone. A Hamlet quote rose on my mind. The dream was once again tossed at the back of my mind. After that I returned back to my reading oblivious to the unforeseen, dreadful, and soon to come future. Chapter 2 - The Test of the Soul [Hello my fellow humans, just call me administrator. Don¡¯t be alarmed by this blue screen and this is definitely not a hallucination. Our world is going to undergo a great change, a Cataclysm and unfortunately it is unavoidable. I don¡¯t know why am I here? But I know it is my job to guide the human race to survival. You have many questions as I do, but put the questions later and focus on survival for now. In this change many will perish and the laws of nature will change. Electricity and all stable energy will be affected by the energy coined as mana in the atmosphere. I won¡¯t tell you not to worry because in fact you should. Persevere and unite so that you can survive. I made a little starter pack for a better chance but it will only be distributed after phase 1. The corresponding knowledge will be in your head so do not worry. Time is running out so it is better to prepare yourself from the pain that is soon to come. Beware of those that don¡¯t wake up after the test for some of them may become monsters. I can only guide you and only yourself will tell if you can live to see another day. Good Luck] 00:01:00 ¡®What the heck is this?¡¯ This thought resounded in my mind. A blue screen suddenly blocked my vision and interrupted my reading. I blinked, rubbed and closed my eyes but to no avail, the blue screen still remained blocking a huge portion of my vision. On a whim of my confusion, I tried to will the blue screen to disappear with my long time friend called imagination, and to my surprise, it did. It turned into a small blue dot that remained at the corner of my vision. I was too focused on this unnatural phenomenon and was suddenly shocked by a tap on my shoulder. ¡°Kriss! Are you seeing what I¡¯m seeing.¡± Marivick asked me with a dumbfounded face and he also took his mobile phone in the process ¡°That seems to be the case, and we aren¡¯t the only one who does.¡± I glanced at the entire room The classroom was now full of clamour and chatting about the mysterious blue screen. I tried to infer some things from the content of the message. First the one who wrote this is definitely human ¡°Oh my god! I think this just happened worldwide. This is all over the internet.¡± Said Marivick as he stared at his glowing phone screen and interrupted my contemplation. Second, the situation is either I am dreaming or there is some other supernatural power at work. Third, if hypothetically all of this is true then an excruciating pain will assault our senses in 30 seconds from now on.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Fourth, this said mana will interfere with any stable energy source. There will be no more electricity and society will revert back to the dark ages. Cars, firearms, phones and even nuclear weaponry will go haywire. Farewell internet. Well, all this inference just came from the basis that what the message said is true. And truthfully I am scared. My heart now is palpitating at an amazing speed. Cold sweat filled my back. Changes, especially great ones are what I usually fear adding to that there are many unknowns in this situation my fear rose into high levels. But thankfully this fear forced my brain cells to work harder. Excruciating pain in 25 seconds. I hurriedly took my towel and stuffed it into my mouth and gestured to Marivick to do the same. I then sat down, to avoid falling down, on the floor and made a resolve to endure no matter what comes next. People may think that I¡¯m a fool or think this is ridiculous, but what do I lose if I do this? Face[1]? I would willingly suffer shame just to live another day. There are only ten seconds left on the timer. And somewhere in my heart a hope that all of this is just a prank, rose. Please let it not be true! Please let it not be true! Please let it not be true! All my hopes have gone down the drain as the last second ticked and a blue screen appeared. [Phase 1 ¨C Test of the Soul and Body begin] It really is an excruciating pain. A pain that feels like your soul and your insides is burning. The sensation in your skin is like a thousand killer ants kept biting over and over again. ¡°Mhhhghaaaaaa!!!¡± A muffled scream arose from my mouth as I clenched my teeth and bit the towel so hard I thought my jaws will be dislocated. My fists were tightly clenched into a fist. It was fortunate that I trimmed down my finger nails yesterday or else it would have long dug into my skin. This is the day the world was filled with a symphony of shouts, screams, groans and shrieks and whether you are rich or poor, strong or weak, evil or good, young or old no one was spared from the pain. Give up Faint Stop Resisting Thoughts after thoughts of giving up arose as waves and waves of pain crashed on my consciousness. The fear in my heart now rose to unimaginable levels and I felt I might die of a heart attack anytime. But I never entertained that countless thoughts, the fear of dying fuelled my wavering resolve and further strengthened it by many times. I tapped into the resource called will and fear. I imagined the fear of never seeing and reaching my mother, my little sister, my dream job, my unread novels, my friends, God and this wonderful world, this wonderful life. Live!!!Endure!!!Survive!!! Live!!!Endure!!!Survive!!! Live!!!Endure!!!Survive!!! The previous negative thoughts were chased away by my fears. I never thought there would come a day where I would thank my inherent cowardliness which I kept suppressing for a lot of years now by maintaining a rational thinking to the world and a calm facade. There are never monsters in the dark only in the mind. Fear is one of the purest forms of our will to stay alive. The pain lasted for just about a few seconds but it felt like eternity. I lay there in the floor facing the ceiling, panting and my face was full of tears. My body was filled with a refreshing feeling as if a new energy got its way inside. Stress and relaxation, pain and relief. This sure is a way to enjoy life. The tears kept flowing as I never felt more alive than before. You will really know the importance of life after it was nearly taken away from you. I glanced sideways and saw Marivick¡¯s snot and tear filled face. I spoke with my hoarse voice ¡°You good?¡± Then he looked at me and grin with that snot filled face and replied. ¡°Never better, what about you?¡± That comical look made me chuckle and I raised my fist ¡°Still alive.¡± I replied then we bro-fisted So just like this I survived the first phase of what will be coined soon as the Apocalypse.