Boy's POV

  It was dark.

  It was empty.

  Those were my feelings as I stared into the darkness. A pce full of nothingness. It didn't have a beginning or an end. It was just... empty.

  Beep! Beep! Beep!

  I heard a car arm ringing in my ear.

  Ah, I see.

  I wasn't in a dark pce—I was just closing my eyes tightly. No, it was more like... I had been put out of commission. Meaning I got knocked out somehow.

  My head was splitting, and the pain wouldn't stop. Every time I tried to think about moving, my body ached. The weight of the pain pinned me down on the dirt ground, pressing hard against my belly. It seemed like I was lying in the middle of the road, I guessed. Then again, I wasn't completely sure.

  Screams...

  Terror...

  Madness...

  It was like those scary storybooks my older sister always told me about before snuggling with me in bed.

  A... sister...

  Where was my sister—

  Static!

  My mind sent a tiny lightning-like jolt of pain as I caught a hint of a memory. A fsh of light appeared in the darkness and then vanished, as if it never existed.

  "Ngh..." I groaned in pain and slowly opened my eyes.

  My vision was blurry—I could barely see anything. As if that wasn't bad enough, my ears were ringing. And as if on cue, my vision fshed with bright light. Like a switch, it flickered on and off, as if my brain was struggling to figure out what was up and what was down.

  Moments ter, my vision cleared a little, though the pain and headache never faded.

  Just then—

  "Ah..." I gasped as I saw something unbelievable.

  First, the city y in ruins. Buildings were broken down. Cars were flipped over, on fire, in pieces, or some combination of the three.

  The pnts and trees that once made this pce beautiful had withered and died. All the ughter, the joy of this city, had been repced by piles of corpses—some my age, some younger, some adults. The city was painted red, as if mocking those who didn't survive, using them as stepping stones to this new, horrific ndscape.

  The sight was beyond anything I could have imagined.

  I felt my st meal rising in my throat, but I swallowed hard, refusing to pass out again. Worst of all, I saw these weird-looking animals roaming the city. Some were even eating the corpses. Tears welled in my eyes as my brain shut down, trying to block out this reality.

  Why?

  Who would do such a thing? I looked to my left and right, spotting two more bodies.

  "Mom... Dad..." I whispered in disbelief.

  Ba-bump!

  My heart raced like crazy. Now that I thought about it, I had been looking for my older sister with my parents, worried she might have been lost.

  But reality delivered a harsh check—my sister was most likely dead. I didn't see her body anywhere, but she was probably buried under the rubble somewhere in this city. I couldn't even remember what she looked like.

  But at least I got my photo of my family inside my pants pocket.

  "Huh...?" My eyes widened as I spotted a girl with orange hair. She seemed to be around my age, lying on the ground. She was wearing rags, too.

  Why did she look so familiar?

  Ba-bump!

  My heart started racing again.

  A fsh of memory—an image of the girl in a small box. She was crying, living her life in that tiny space, bruises on her skin, her right cheek slightly red. Had someone spped her?

  Ba-bump!

  As if responding to my heartbeat, another image appeared—this time, of me handing her some of my food.

  Yeah...

  That was right.

  I used to sneak away from my family to give food to the crying girl. The first time I saw her, my heart raced like this. Instinctively, I memorized the path to her on my way home from school every day. From then on, it became a routine.

  "...T...a...o..." I whispered instinctively.

  'Tao'—wasn't that it? No, it was Taoreta, but I called her Tao for short.

  "Yeah, that's right. She... told me her name..." I murmured.

  But it didn't matter then. I was sure that—

  Ba-bump!

  My heart beat in a strange pattern. When I looked at the girl again, my vision darkened, yet her figure remained. And if that wasn't enough, I saw a small fme-like thing on her chest. Wait a minute... I gnced around and realized no one else had one. Just cold, dark, rock-shaped things on every corpse.

  Ba-bump!

  I slowly stood up, wobbling. I looked at my own chest and saw a fme-like thing there too. Which meant...

  "She's alive..." I whispered.

  Static!

  That was all the motivation I needed. I limped toward her. If I could... if I could at least... save her!

  My body screamed at me to stop. The pain worsened with every step. But despite that... despite that...!

  "I... I had... another chance to...!"

  I got a chance to protect someone.

  I lost my parents. I lost my sister. I lost my city—the pce where I was born, where I ughed, where I cried. Everything was gone. My memories were scrambled, mixed, and jumbled like rocks sinking in the ocean. But the memory that kept me going, the one thing that made me want to get up and at least protect her...

  It was the image of her crying, bruised, with a red cheek.

  Her clothes weren't clean either, so she must have lived outside for some time.

  A few days? Months? I wasn't sure. But I did know one thing—I wanted to protect at least one person in my life.

  Stomp... stomp... stomp...

  I heard heavy footsteps. The ground shook. When I looked away from Tao's body, I saw a giant thing heading straight for her. Did it know she was alive?! How?!

  The creature was a grotesque mix—an elephant's body and trunk, four human-like eyes, bat wings, six spider legs, and human teeth. That spelled trouble.

  Ba-bump!

  That thing.

  Ba-bump!

  That horrible, disgusting thing.

  Ba-bump!

  Step... step... step...

  I walked in sync with my heartbeat. I saw dark fmes oozing from the creature. It filled me with dread. If it touched her...!

  "Ah!" The fmes vanished, and I saw drool dripping onto her face. My eyes widened—

  Dash!

  I didn't know how or why, but before I could process what I was doing, my legs moved on their own. It might have been too te. The distance wasn't far, but that thing was right next to her! It opened its mouth, leaning toward the girl's body. She slowly opened her eyes, drowsy. It didn't take long for her to realize the situation.

  "Ah... ah..." Tears welled in her eyes as the foul breath hit her.

  My footsteps grew louder. Nothing else mattered then! If I could just make it—if I could save one person! Just like... Just like...!

  Just like how I always wanted in life!

  Hug!

  I grabbed her and held her tightly, turning my back to the creature—

  Bite!

  It bit into my back, and I colpsed on top of her.

  Thump!

  "Huh...?" The girl's voice trembled in shock.

  Blood from my back dripped onto her clothes. I tried to pull myself up, but lost bance from the injury. Now that I thought about it, my chest hurt too.

  Ba-bump!

  Ah.

  Just looking at her face warmed me inside. I smiled brightly, then hugged her head as my body grew heavy.

  "Thank goodness..." I whispered.

  "Huh...?" Her body trembled.

  "Don't worry. You're safe now. I won't let you die, at least. I'll be the one... who dies in this world..."

  "W-what are you...?" Fear and shock ced her voice.

  "Why...?" she whispered.

  "..." My eyelids grew heavy as my vision blurred.

  "H-hey... are you...?"

  Ssh!

  Spt!

  "Roarrr!!!"

  A noise erupted behind me—that thing must have still been there. Fresh blood poured down my back as I shielded the girl.

  Thump!

  I heard a body fall, as if pying dead. No, it was actually dead. But who killed it? How?

  "A pity. That's another thing that wasn't in the pn..." A man's voice sighed deeply.

  Step. Step.

  Footsteps approached. A shadow loomed over me as I clung to the girl.

  "Oh? You're still alive? In the state you're in? Well, it makes sense, given your history. Oh well, nothing I can do about that."

  He raised his hands and ughed.

  "But at any rate, congrats on your survival, young ones. I was surprised kids like you made it through such a massacre. It was like reading a novel—a young man striving to protect those he cared about. Such beauty, such nobility! Truly, you both are worthy of the title 'humans'! You two were worth sparing, wouldn't you agree?" He sounded amused.

  The girl clung to me for comfort—maybe instinct, maybe because we knew each other before. Her heart raced wildly.

  "Don't worry. I don't pn to kill you. That was the original pn, but now that I've seen something special, keeping you all alive might be worth my time. Rejoice, young man—you single-handedly saved your race from destruction." His tone turned serious.

  What was he talking about?

  "The beings I gathered from the birth of underground finished the purge. I wanted the 'Forbiddens'—the creatures that attacked your city and the rest of the world—to gather the remaining humans. You see, I wanted a change. And killing your race was the start of it all. Those survivors who were within that window space got the honor of becoming sves in the underground and will be rebuilt anew. Consider yourselves lucky." He sounded sinister.

  Snap!

  Thump!

  With a snap of his fingers, another monster descended from the sky. My vision was too blurry to make out details—just a dark figure.

  "Tony. Take these two to the infirmary. Patch them up and assign them a prison cell. We have a lot to discuss, and that boy needs blood if he's going to live."

  The monster growled and gently picked me up, then wrapped chains around my neck. I struggled weakly as the girl screamed.

  "Waahh!!! Let me go! Let me go!" She thrashed, crying.

  Fwoosshh!!!

  My body burned suddenly, scorching the monster's trunk.

  Thump!

  The man caught us, giving me a serious look.

  "Impossible. I haven't even started yet. Why does he have 'those' powers?"

  I ignored him, reaching weakly for the girl, who had passed out from screaming.

  "Hmph. A minor setback. I'll have to keep a close eye on you, boy. You may be the answer to my questions. Come, Tony. Let us depart underground alongside the rest of the human race."

  Step. Step. Step.

  My eyes grew heavier. I was surprised I stayed awake this long. Maybe it was because I knew the girl wouldn't be harmed—for now.

  Once I rested, I would strike back—for her sake.

  No, not just "the girl."

  For Tao's sake.

  I couldn't do anything then, so... I'd... just... sle—