They always said the journey matters more than the destination.
Lucid had seen that saying a thousand times. It was on posters in school, printed in survival manuals, even painted on the academy walls. Every time he saw it, he felt the same old, tired bitterness rise up in his chest. Right now, he was looking at a giant billboard with yet another motivational quote. He had only one thought.
'They just keep finding new ways to say nothing.'
His own destination had turned out to be this: lying under a pile of dead monsters, as if he were meant to die here. But against all odds, he was still breathing. He was just an ordinary human, and maybe a coward, but he was alive. He was in no shape to fight. The best he could do was hide. If he ran into another Fallen, it would be the end. He had to be careful. He could hear people screaming somewhere nearby. He bit his lip, a sharp feeling of guilt cutting through him. He could have saved them.
'I'm sorry...'
'But... I'm not like them. I can't... I'm not an Enlightened.'
'I'm tired. I'm hurt.'
Even after fighting so hard, even after being told he had to help save everyone, his path had led him here. It had been a long and difficult journey, but it did not lead anywhere good. So if you asked him whether the journey mattered more than the destination, Lucid would not even need to think about it. The answer was obvious. Why fight so hard for something that was never going to happen? He dragged himself out from under the pile of purple-blooded corpses, his body screaming in protest. This just proved what he had always thought.
'It was all too much trouble.'
But he did not have time to think about that now. He had to get ready for his after-life as things seemed rather grim now, or get ready to fight until his last breath. In his group, he always had to work the hardest just to be prepared for the next disaster. He reached for the radio under his long coat, surprised it was still in one piece after the violent fight with the horde. He lifted it to his face.
"Copy. I am retreating. There are too many Fallens and I am in bad shape. I can no longer fight."
There was only quiet. The empty static from the radio hung in the air as he waited for a reply. None came.
"Can anyone hear me? Over."
Then, a terrible noise sounded a block away from where he stood. A horde of Fallen creatures, moving closer, ready to tear apart anything in their path. Lucid happened to be that thing that was Infront of them. He limped away as fast as he could, feeling desperation and fear clawing at his insides.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
He used his bloody arm to shove a heavy door closed, his last hope for safety. On the other side, he could hear the monsters throwing themselves against it. The bangs were so loud he thought the door would break apart any second. He turned quickly, shoved open another door, and threw himself inside, slamming it shut behind him. He immediately started barricading it, pushing a table, a heavy dresser, and an overturned vending machine against the door to make it strong. His breathing was rough and uneven. The adrenaline that had been keeping him going was starting to fade, but the fight was not over.
'Not yet.' he thought.
Lucid ran down the hallway, his lungs burning, his legs aching with every step. The air smelled like smoke and blood. He could hear gunfire in the distance. The walls became a blur as he ran. He did not know if it was because he was moving so fast or because of the tears in his eyes.
They were just up ahead. He could hear them. The team. His so-called friends. Just a little further.
"There!"
A door at the end of the hall was slightly open, a faint light coming from behind it. It looked like a way out. Like safety. Like a second chance. Lucid reached for it, putting every last bit of his strength into getting to that light. Then, a sharp push hit his chest, hard and sudden, like a lightning strike. It threw him off balance completely. He stumbled and fell, his back slamming against the cold floor. A dull, spreading pain shot through his arms and legs.
"What... What?!" he gasped, looking up at the person standing over him.
It was Aika, someone he had trusted in his group, someone who had always helped him before. But that did not seem to be the case now. Her face was empty of any feeling. Her arms were crossed. She looked cold and distant.
"This is where it ends, Lucid."
Her voice was calm. Too calm, like she had practiced this.
"We can't afford to carry you anymore."
Lucid's breath caught in his throat. He tried to push himself up from the floor, but his arms felt weak.
"What are you doing? We are almost there, I can make it—"
"You have always hesitated," she said, cutting him off. "You freeze up when things get difficult. You look for a way to run instead of holding your ground."
Lucid's heart was pounding hard in his chest.
"That is not true," he said, his voice low. "I fight. I am here, aren't I!?"
"You fight when it is easy, and you run when it counts."
Something in her voice cracked, just a little. But she did not let it change her expression.
"This... this is a mercy."
Lucid opened his mouth to argue, but a deep, cold pain spread through his arms and legs. He could not move. He was paralyzed.
"What... what did you do to me?"
"I used Chronos Stasis on you," she answered, her words coming out fast and rehearsed. "Poor you. You could not have known we were ready for this."
Lucid's mind was spinning. Chronos Stasis was one of her abilities as an Enlightened. Aika was good with spells, not with physical fighting. If he had been faster, if he had seen it coming, he might have been able to get away. But as it was, just an ordinary human, Lucid could not keep track of all the powers his group had. He was also exhausted and had lost a lot of blood. He had never thought his own friends would turn on him. What did they have to gain? He was not rich. He had not done anything to hurt them. And yet, they had stabbed him in the back just like that. Everything had happened so fast, like all the pieces of a plan falling perfectly into place.
'The day of the Calamity, our retreat, the radios going quiet...'
'They planned this.'
'No... she planned this.'
"Aika... why?" he asked, his voice breaking. "I have known you since our first year of high school. You gave me medicine when I was hurt. You gave me advice. Why? Kaori... Renji and the others, they will come back for me. They would not allow this—"
"Kaori does not know," she said, looking away from him. "She would not have agreed. But the others... they thought it was time."
Lucid stared at her, feeling a hollow emptiness rip through his chest.
"Is this what I was to you? Just dead weight?"
"You were, to put it simply, a liability."
Her voice shook now.
"I hated watching you hold back. You always waited for someone else to make the first move. You were useful sometimes, but I grew tired of you. And now, with the world ending, I might as well move things along."
She stopped, and a single tear rolled down her face.
"You... you do not even—"
Her eyes dropped for a second. She took a deep breath and got control of herself again.
"This is kinder than letting you die screaming later on," she said, her tone cold once more.
She turned toward the door.
"No... wait, please—" Lucid's voice broke into a sob. "Do not leave me here—"
"I am sorry... okay? I am sorry!!!!" he begged, tears streaming down his cheeks.
The door clicked shut behind her.
Then there was only silence.
Lucid lay there, frozen, the last bit of warmth from her presence fading away.
'They left me.'
'She left me.'
Even after everything...
A new presence filled the room. It was not a thing he could see clearly at first, but a deep shadow that made the air feel thick and hard to breathe. It gathered in the corner, a patch of darkness that grew and moved against the walls. Then it began to change, twisting and pulling itself into a solid form. It had no real shape, just a mass of pure blackness, and he could feel its hunger. This was not just a monster. It was the feeling of despair given form. It surged forward. Lucid's breath locked in his throat. Every part of him screamed to get up, to run, to fight, but his body would not listen. It was still as heavy and still as stone. The darkness did not strike him. It simply flowed over him. It wrapped around his chest, squeezing the last bit of air from his lungs. Then came a cold, invasive pressure as it pushed right through his skin, as if his body were no more substantial than water. Every defense he had, every last hope, was ripped away as if it were nothing.
'So this is it.'
'This is what I was worth to them.'
As the black mass swallowed him whole, pulling him into nothing, Lucid's mind began to come apart. The last thing he felt before his thoughts were swept away.
Was regret.
[ You are dead. ]
'Huh...?'
A voice reached him, so faint and gentle it was almost not there.
[ Do you wish to try again? ]
'What is this?' he wondered, his mind struggling to form a question in the empty dark.
The voice returned, patient and unwavering.
[ Do you wish to try again? ]
"No," he managed to push the word out. "Just leave me alone. Let me die."
[ Are you sure? ]
His mind flashed back to it all. Aika's cold, empty stare. The paralyzing sting of her magic. The crushing knowledge that he was just an ordinary person, left behind by those with real power.
'It's not fair.'
But since when was the world fair? It was a brutal game where only the strong made it.
"Yes," he answered, the word heavy with defeat.
[ Beginning termination of one's soul. ]
He gave up then, surrendering completely to the black void that surrounded him. He floated in a strange state, not knowing if this was death or some terrible in-between. One thing was certain, it was agony. A sharp, burning pain erupted from his core, and he watched, horrified, as his legs began to dissolve into shimmering, geometric blocks of light.
'Perfect. I can't even die in peace.'
His memories began to blur and run together. He was losing his grip, forgetting who he was, losing all sense of his own body.
'Is this what dying feels like?'
But one thought, sharp and bitter, refused to fade.
'Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this?'
'They get to live after what they did?'
'I never wanted to hurt anyone.'
'And I'm the one who ends up like this?'
'Because I was too scared?'
'Because I wasn't strong enough?'
'Just because I didn't get some special power?'
'What makes them so great anyway?! Tch...What are Enlightened people?'
'No. This can't be how it ends.'
'Please... if anyone is listening... just one more chance.'
With every last shred of his will, he poured his entire being into a single, desperate cry.
"I want to live!"
[ Termination procedure on hold. ]
"Yes," he gasped, the word filled with a newfound resolve. "I want to try again!"
[ Error... ]
[ Request granted by higher authority... ]
[ Required Trial time: Infinity ]
[ Trial Rank: Divine ]
'What... what is happening to me?'
A strange sensation washed over him, a feeling of pieces being slotted back into place. He could feel his body reconstructing itself, part by part, as if he were a model being assembled.
[ Beginning transportation ]
His awareness flickered and died, and the comforting darkness swallowed him whole once more.
[ M̸a̷y̶ y̴o̷u̵r̸ j̴o̷u̶r̶n̸e̶y̷ l̴e̷a̶d̵ y̸o̴u̶ t̶o̸w̶a̴r̶d̶s̴ E̷n̵l̵i̵g̸h̴t̵e̶n̵m̷e̷n̶t̷ ███████▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒