It was 7 p.m. when I got home from my part-time job. The sun was sinking into a red sky, handing its duties over to the moon as night began to drape itself across the world.
As I walked through the dimming streets, a chill breeze swept past me — sharp, sudden, and unfamiliar. I puled my coat tighter and reached the apartment block. My key clicked in the door and I stepped inside.
The first thing I noticed were the small white sneakers by the entrance — definitely not mine. And not Jake's either. A light glowed from the kitchen, accompanied by a familiar humming.
I didn't even need to guess.
She stepped out with her usual flair. Shoulder-length black hair, thick and straight, held back by a pink flowered clip. A white sweater, blue jeans and that warm, colourful face smiling like the sun had returned indoors.
"Heeey, surprise!" Aunt Shiori beamed, waving both her hands above her head. "I flew back earlier today and thought I'd drop in on you! How are you? What have you been up to?"
She practically launched into my arms, and I caught her in a hug.
"I'm good. Same as always," I said. "You? Did the trip back go okay?"
"It was fine. A little tense in France, naturally — Europe's not exactly a calm place right now. They moved my flight up a day just to be safe."
She leaned back and reached behind my coat collar. "Kazu, again with the fluff! You've got half a sweater's worth back here. Take better care of this coat, will you?"
I raised an eyebrow. "I was at that café with Professor Albers today. The chairs were basically lint traps."
"Oh, Mathias had time to meet?" she mused, brushing invisible dust off my shoulder. "Well, come on, come on — into the kitchen! I cooked something for us. Oh, and Jake let me in earlier. He smelled like a distillery, as usual…"
I laughed and followed her. The table was already set. She placed a pot in the center.
"Spaghetti carbonara. Your favorite. Eat."
"Thanks," I said with a soft smile, sitting down.
We began eating in a comfortable rhythm, the kind that only exists between people who've shared enough silence together.
"Kazu," she said, twirling her fork, "I'll have to head out again around 9:30 p.m. Work stuff. Gotta drop off some documents. Can't say I'm thrilled."
She smiled gently, then leaned in a little. "So? How was your chat with Mathias? Good conversation?"
"It was. He talked about your time at university. And… about Sergei Volkov."
Her smile froze — then faltered. Color drained slightly from her cheeks.
I nodded, swallowing my bite. "That Sergei joined you after his military service. About Iraq. About what happened there. His.. end."
She forced a thin smile, barely holding it together. "A-Ah… I didn't expect him to tell you about all that. Especially not the Zero Zones…"
She stood up abruptly, too fast, too tense. "I'll clean up, okay? You go relax in the living room. I'll be right there, Wait — why am I bossing you around in your apartment? You're 28 now…" she added, laughing nervously.
Her reaction unsettled me, but I helped her clear the table anyway. Afterward, we sat together on the couch.
"Auntie…" I began hesitantly. "I don't want to push you, but… may I ask what Sergei meant to you? What really happened back then?"
She looked down. Her fingers fidgeted with the hem of her sleeve. Her voice, when it came, sounded distant — hollow.
"It was… hard," she said slowly. "I hadn't seen him since we graduated. I didn't go on that expedition. But one day, Mathias called — completely panicked. Something had gone horribly wrong in Iraq."
She paused, trembling slightly.
"A year later, Sergei… he sent his research findings. To all of us. The universities. Science journals. Everything. But within minutes, access vanished. Files wiped. Communications cut off. Then… silence. Days later, they found him. Alone. Dead in his apartment."
Her voice cracked. She looked like she was falling through some invisible memory. I placed a hand gently on her shoulder.
"That's… horrifying. And unfair," I whispered. "I don't know what he discovered, but no one deserves to die for it. And his daughter — why did she have to lose her father? I don't get this world. We preach peace and freedom, but where are they, really? Something has to change. But it won't. And I can't do anything."
Aunt Shiori turned to me, eyes wet with tears.
„No, Kazu. Don't say that. You can make a difference. You already see the world clearly. Thats the first step most people never take. And you're capable of so much more than you think. Once you dream something, it becomes possible. You just have to act on it."
Tears ran freely down her cheeks as she pulled me into a tight embrace.
"I love you," she whispered. "Never forget that. You're special."
"I love you too," I said softly, not fully understanding the weight in her words.
We sat there in silence until it was time for her to leave. At the door, she hugged me again.
"Love you, Kazu. And… your apartment's surprisingly clean."
"You haven't seen Jake's room."
She laughed. "Good. I'll avoid that trauma. Take care, alright?"
She tousled my hair — something she knew annoyed me — and disappeared into the hallway.
Later, I got ready for bed. Jake hadn't come home again. No surprise. Out partying, probably. The odds were… yeah.
In my room, I sat at my desk and wrote in my diary, like always. Then I lay down, eyes fixed on the ceiling.
My mind spun. Too many thoughts. Too many truths, half-formed and unwelcome.
But eventually, I surrendered to sleep.
…
I just wanted to sleep peacefully that night.
Like every other night in my small, monotonous life.
But that was the night the cycle broke.
A perfect loop unraveled.
A straight path opened.
And its end — still invisible — lay somewhere deep in the distance.
For a long time, I couldn't tell whether that rupture was a blessing or a curse. Even now, at the end of that path, I still can't define it.
The last hing I head was a high-pitched beeping… just after the bang.
I shot out of bed, ran to the window.
The sky had ignited — flashing white and violet, pulsing unnaturally. The beeping intensified.
Then, without a warning, my window exploded inward. Far on the horizon, a dome of light began to rise, swelling. Radiant. Unnatural. Terrifying.
I lost my balance — my body felt warped, stretched, like gravity itself had changed.
And then —
A black hand, ice-cold, clamped over my face.
A needle pierced my neck.
Darkness.
…
It all seems absurd now, dear reader.
But I assure you — it was very real.
That night changed everything.
So completely, so irreversibly, that humanity no longer even measured time in years "After Christ."
How did we get here?
You'll see soon enough.
That night was the collapse of the old world order.
The rise of something new.
Something monstrous.
Something divine.
And so, the angels sang their dirges.
The devils raised their glasses.
And the skies split open.
That… was the Dreadfall.