I stared at Iyi and began to wonder if he deserved better than me—maybe I am a virus to everyone, and all I do is self-destruct and hurt. As I was lost in thought, I felt pain, a sharp shock I hadn't felt in a long time as Iyi's fist landed squarely on my face. But this time, why should I dodge? He was right. All I do is make her suffer. I think I'm saving her, but all I ever did was drag her into my life, and anyone pulled into my orbit suffers. My life is the devil's chamber, harboring nothing but pain and suffering, because all I feel within myself is an empty, echoing void. All I want is death; my dream is death. But why should I impose my dream of death on the innocent who only show me love?
As Michael sat on the floor without saying a word, Iyi spat on him. Lere, Michael's roommate, started to stand up to defend him. Surprisingly, after their initial rough encounter, Lere had been treated well by Michael—who saw no reason to hate him. But when Lere tried to step in, Michael held up a hand.
"Stay down. We are not friends, and we shouldn't be. I deserve whatever he wants to say or do."
Iyi stared in astonishment, but I wasn't astonished. I was dead inside. All I saw was an empty hole that craved death while desperately longing to be filled with love, knowing fully well I could have neither.
"Michael, there's no point in anything I was going to say," Iyi said, his voice hard. "Just leave her alone, if you can't make her life worth living beside you."
Michael couldn't imagine a life without Elizabeth. But for the only anchor to humanity he had left, he respected her enough to let her go. He stood up in silence, walking straight toward the girls' dorm. This time, instead of seeking solace, he was about to break the heart of a girl he barely understood, knowing only that she loved him. With every step he took, memories of her smiles, their intimate moments, the shared pain, and the scattered pieces of his humanity rushed through his head, carrying his mind far away.
Before he realized it, he was standing in front of her door. As he raised his hand to knock—the hand of a boy who couldn't feel a shred of physical pain—it began to shake. When he looked into her eyes, taking in her hair, her soul, his beloved, he began to crack from within as the infinite hole in his chest expanded. For the very first time, Michael Ozor Okechukwu smiled while actual tears fell down his face.
He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the shocked Elizabeth.
"My beloved—the girl who offered me beans as a gift on my birthday because it was my favorite food, the girl who cherished even my madness—I must let you go. You are far better than a self-destructive, indecisive human like me. I shall embrace my nihilism completely, for you were the only anchor I had to humanity."
He murmured the words into the quiet air as he pulled away. "I love you, Elizabeth, but this is the end. You will always be my beloved."
Enforcing his legs with raw energy, he bolted. He moved so fast that even Iyi, watching from a distance, could only catch a blur as Michael vanished.
Michael didn't return to his room. Instead, he climbed onto the roof, sitting down right next to a towering seven-foot figure.
"Bola, I want to erase the unknown and end it all," Michael said quietly, staring out at the horizon. "I want to end the pain we endure, living in a world we don't own—where half of it is a wasteland, some possess powers that only activate when their pain is remembered, and the rest are treated as useless tools to preserve a powerless past. I believe peace is death, and I will grant the world peace."
Bola looked down at his grandson, his expression unreadable. "Michael, you are just like your father, but with one difference: I believe you will actually achieve it. You will finally be able to save us from this pain. Be ready, for tomorrow is the day the test begins. I know you will go solo into the wastelands, but Michael, my boy... don't let heartbreak cloud your decisions. Your emotions have been winning lately, and your greatest strength will always be your hatred, Michael."
With that, Bola vanished into thin air. Michael lay back on the cold roof, staring blankly up at the sky.
Across the academy, the fallout echoed through the night. Elizabeth wept, buried in absolute grief. Iyi sat alone in his room in stunned silence. Precious strategized in the dark, plotting how to pull Michael back into her web. Nome, lingering as a haunting phantom, absorbed every word, ready to whisper them to her master. Zion drifted off, imagining a world where everyone was alive and happy. On the opposite side of the roof, Vincent sat in the shadows, staring across the gap at Michael.
They all looked forward to tomorrow.
THE WASTELAND ARC.