1 The end of the world
In an organisation, most people didn't know about, the eldest member of the Rothschild family spoke with someone over the phone. His expression was serious as he listened to the person on the other side.
"So they sent terrorists to find where the book was sent to be digitalised, and there was a civilian casualty" His face was cold as a deep hatred could be seen in the depths of his eyes.
"Settle the family of the deceased, we will talk more when we meet." he hung up the phone.
"Those people need to learn their place" He walked to a bookshelf and pulled on a red book, the secret compartment opened up as he walked in.
"Soon, the proverbial end will come. Let's hope we're prepared for it" The secret compartment closed.
...
"Miles, don't forget to place some flowers on our behalf." Miles's mom, Jenifer said with a smile.
Miles replied with an okay and made his way to the elevator, he dropped at the ground floor and walked out of the hotel.
"Taxi!" as cars zoomed past he finally caught sight of a taxi. He saw an elderly man in the driver's seat before he got in.
"Where to?" The man asked with a smile.
"Saints Peter Cemetery" Miles replied his voice not as cheerful as that of the taxi driver.
Without saying another word the tax driver proceeded en route to his destination.
"Was it a family member?" He asked softly, he had also lost someone before and knew the amount of pain it could cause. Miles looked to be eighteen, at such a young age the loss of a loved one was too much to bear.
"Yeah, it was my brother." Miles replied in a sombre voice.
"Wanna talk about it? We still got some distance to travel." The taxi driver was a nice person, "talking about our burdens reduce their weight on us."
"There's not much to talk about. My brother, Dave was very smart and perceptive. He was too intelligent for his age group and didn't take his education seriously. He failed to get into college and spent some time working, one day he called saying that he wouldn't come home for a while. He never did.." Miles voice quaked a little bit.
The taxi driver passed him a handkerchief, Miles wiped his eye a bit and took in a deep breath.
"Some guys came over to inform us of his passing, and how he finished some very crucial work so we would be compensated for our loss." Dave spoke with some sarcasm present in his voice.
"Trying to compensate for a human life with money, that's harsh." The taxi driver could understand his frustration.
"Anyway, after the funeral we had to move on. The money they sent was a huge help, my dad bought the Grandoise hotel and things continued flowing" Dave signalled to the taxi driver that his stop was near.
"Seems like you know these roads very well" To avoid some traffic the taxi driver took an unusual path, he was surprised that Dave knew when to get off.
"Nah, I know how long the drive is meant to be traffic or not. You just took some unnecessary turns" Dave paid the taxi fare and got off.
The cemetery was as gloomy as ever, weathered gravestones of various shapes and sizes were scattered across the grassy expanse. The stone walls stood strong but the iron gate had given way to rust.
In the middle of the cemetery was a church, a one-storey building made of wood. By the far end of the elementary was a cabin built for the grave keepers.
Brian went to a gravestone and placed some flowers in front of it. The name of his brother was inscribed on the gravestone.
Miles knelt and said a short prayer, he suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed on the soil.
Everyone walking on the streets suddenly fell as though they were puppets whose strings had been cut. Aeroplanes fell out of the sky, as everyone on planet Earth fell asleep at the same time.
"Awaken!" A voice said in a commanding tone.
Miles groggily woke up, he looked to his left and right, there was some sort of neon smoke surrounding his surroundings.
In front of him sat a figure on a chair, and ordinary chair he had seen multiple times in his home.
"There isn't much time, I will talk while you listen. The world as you know it had a certain protection over it, now that protection is gone.
And with it is the limitations on the human body,
"Embrace the extraordinary and let the universe unfold its secrets before you, for within the realm of the unique, endless possibilities await." The mysterious figure stretches an arm for Miles to take hold of.
Miles walks towards the figure.
'if I touch the hand, I'll finally be free from all this suffering. No more hardships and concerns.'
Miles reached the figure and lifted his hand slowly to meet theirs.
'Hmm, that's funny. Freedom from life and it's hardships, isn't that the same as death!'
He broke out of the trance and stepped away from the figure.
"Won't you take my hand? The world you knew before is no more, only monsters can thrive in this new world" The mysterious figure said in a comforting voice.
"I can't, when my brother died he left me behind. He made me sad, angry and miserable. If I go with you, some people will be sad because of my death." Miles said with sadness and determination in his voice.
"I hope you find these loved ones," The mysterious figure said.
"What do you mean" Miles could tell that they genuinely meant that statement.
"Everyone all over the world is experiencing something similar to this, even though the events they go through will be different, the result remains the same, death." The mysterious figure looked up at miles, they seemed to be in thought.
"All over the world? Wait weren't you saying something like monsters." All of a sudden Miles stumbled a little.
"Time is up, remember what I'm about to say carefully. When you wake up, before checking your powers, before looking for help." They looked Miles in the eyes.
He didn't see himself in the reflection of their pupil but rather he saw an endless void.
"Run! Run and find somewhere to hide" The world started breaking apart as Miles turned to specks of light and disappeared.
As the void consumes all, the illusions start to fade as the surroundings reveal their true nature. Emptiness, nothing but darkness and void.
"Looks like I failed," the mysterious figure said before it was consumed by the darkness.
...
Miles woke up on his brother's grave. He saw a screen in front of him but he ignored it. He ran towards the church in the cemetery.
He looked around him as he ran, smoke was rising from some parts of the city on the outside, and the stone wall obscured his vision of the city.
He ran to the front of the church and rushed towards the doorknob.
SCREECH!
He paused and listened carefully, he heard the sound of a scratching on a blackboard. It made his heart skip a beat.
He ran up the stairs and went to the upper floor of the church.
SQUEAK!
The wooden floorboards gave off a loud squeak. The environment had been eerily quiet since he woke up, he carefully tip-toed to a drawer and found some tools in there.
He picked up the hammer and left behind a couple of nails he saw. He sat at a corner and looked at the door and window, seeing as nothing occurred he brought up that interface from earlier.
It was as though he was using his smartphone, he had natural control over it.
[Time till 4th wall breaks down;
Low-difficulty dungeon: 6 days
Medium-difficulty dungeon: 4 months
High-difficulty dungeon: 1 year
After any dungeon break the environment of the dungeon will be incorporated into the earth thereby increasing its size.]
Like scrolling between slides Miles switched to the other prompt.
[You survived the illusion of death.
Those who did not survive the illusion of death will be encased in a tier 1 cocoon for three hours and replaced with their assigned shinigami.
Those who died due to causes other than the illusion of death in this period will become enhanced zombies.]
And finally, like pressing the home button, information about Miles popped up.
[Scale: Tier 0
Level: 1
Strength: 9
Speed: 9
Constitution: 8
Vitality: 9
Mana: 9
Unique skill: Telekinesis]
If Miles focused on an attribute more details would be given. When he focused on his telekinesis it showed.
[Attribute: Basic and infinite.
Summary: Weak]
'What do they mean weak?' He dropped the hammer on the floor and tried to use his telekinesis to pick it up.
The hammer shifted as though a magnet was put near it but it did not float off the ground.
"Hey, you can't be serious!" he rushed to the drawer and brought out a nail, then he placed it on the floor.
The nail vibrated for a bit before wobbling in the air, it slowly made its way up.
"Argh! I'm dead" Miles snatched the nail from the air, and he went to look out the window. The graveyard was empty, he looked to the side and was surprised to find a black cocoon on the ground.
As he ran to the church earlier, the building blocked that side of the cemetery. He gulped hard and looked around carefully.
"If I had to estimate, it has been 20 minutes at most. The prompt mentioned three hours so I should have plenty of time left."
He took the nail and hammer and left the upper floors, as he walked past the door of the main church, he paused. He put his hand on the doorknob, a prompt appeared in front of him.
[Low-difficulty dungeon]
He heard the same scratching sounds but at least now he knew. The monster in there wouldn't come out for at least five days.
He walked towards the cocoon. It was an all-black cocoon the size of a human being, he struck it with his hammer and felt a strong repulsion force.
CLANG!
It was like striking a stone, his hand hurt from the rebound. He put a nail above the part which looked like where the head would be.
'I've used a nail and hammer before but never with full force.' Miles thought for a bit and decided to use telekinesis instead.
His hand left the nail but it remained in place, he struck down using all his might. The hammer hit the nail, but it easily slipped and fell off the cocoon. It would seem as though the force holding the nail wasn't strong enough.
"Come on! Okay, I just need to make it more steady." He focused on the nail and it floated on top of the cocoon again, he tried hard to keep it in place.
"This might get a little bit tricky." Miles brought out his phone and set a timer for one hour and thirty minutes.
As Miles kept looking at the nail, he saw colourless currents that seemed like liquid and gas envelope the nail, more and more of the colourless currents covered the nail.
Miles tried to grab the nail but felt like he was pulling on a closed door. As soon as he lost focus on it, the nail became free and the colourless currents dissipated into the surroundings.
"That could work" Miles said, intrigued by his powers. He placed the nail above the cocoon and focused on it, colourless currents formed in the air and surrounded the nail. After Miles felt like enough of the energy had covered it he struck down with all his might.
CLANG!!
His hand trembled from the impact as he felt an even greater resistance than the first time, the nail trembled but did not move until Miles lost his focus and the currents around it disappeared.
