Rian never believed the world could end in a single night.
Not like this.
He stood in the middle of the street, frozen, staring at the sky that wasn't blue anymore. A jagged crack stretched across the clouds—violet light pulsing through it like a wound tearing open the heavens. The ground rumbled beneath his feet, and every car alarm in the city wailed at once.
People screamed. Some pointed their phones up, recording like idiots. Others ran without knowing where. Rian didn't move. His brain refused to process what he was seeing.
Then something fell.
A chunk of light—no, something inside the light—broke through the crack and crashed into a building across the street. Glass exploded outward. The shockwave threw Rian backward, scraping his palms on the asphalt.
"Rian!"
He turned. Nara was standing by the bus stop, her school uniform covered in ash and dust. His little sister. Fourteen, fragile, the only person he cared about in this rotten world.
"Don't just stand there!" she yelled. "We have to go!"
Another boom shook the air. The building that got hit started collapsing floor by floor. Screams vanished under the sound of concrete breaking. Rian grabbed Nara's hand and pulled her down an alley.
The sky was still tearing open. Lightning—but not the normal kind—spread from the crack, striking towers, cars, everything. When the light touched something living, it… melted. Flesh peeled off bones in seconds, leaving behind shapes that still twitched long after they should've been dead.
"What the hell is happening?!" Nara cried.
Rian didn't answer. He didn't know. No one could.
They ran past a burning car, past people clawing at their own faces, screaming. Something inside the flames moved—something crawling out of the wreckage, skin gray and eyes hollow. Rian pulled Nara harder.
"Don't look!"
But she did. And she froze.
The thing stepped into the light. It looked like a man, but its mouth was open too wide, the jaw hanging loose, no sound coming out except a dry hiss. When it moved, its joints cracked backward. It tilted its head at them like a puppet missing strings.
"Run!" Rian yelled.
They sprinted through the alley, kicking over trash bins. The thing followed—its footsteps wet, uneven, dragging. More shapes appeared from the smoke behind it.
Bodies. Dozens of them.
All walking.
Rian and Nara burst out onto the main street. It was chaos. Cars smashed into each other, buildings burned, people screamed for help. Overhead, the sky split wider, the purple glow bleeding across the horizon. Something massive moved inside the crack—too big to comprehend.
They darted into a convenience store. Rian slammed the glass door shut and locked it. The store lights flickered, and for a moment, it felt like they'd escaped.
Then they saw the clerk.
He was standing behind the counter, staring at nothing. His eyes were pale—milky white. His body twitched like he was trying to move but couldn't.
"Sir?" Rian said carefully. "Are you okay?"
No response.
The man's mouth opened. Blood poured out, thick and black.
Nara gasped.
"Rian—"
The clerk lunged over the counter.
Rian reacted on instinct. He shoved a metal shelf between them, sending cans flying. The thing slammed into it, snarling, its face smashing through broken glass. Rian grabbed Nara and ran for the back door.
They burst out into another alley. Smoke burned their throats. The city was no longer recognizable—sirens, fire, screams, all blending into one nightmare symphony.
Rian stopped for a second to catch his breath. His chest heaved. "We… we need to get home," he said.
"Our home's gone," Nara whispered, staring at the burning skyline. "Everything's gone."
He wanted to tell her it'd be fine. That they'd survive. But the words wouldn't come out.
Something deep inside him knew the world as they knew it had already ended.
They made their way toward the old apartment block near the river. It was the only place Rian could think of that might still stand. Along the way, they passed bodies—some torn apart, some still twitching. One of them, a woman, suddenly gasped and reached for Nara's ankle.
Rian stomped on her arm and pulled Nara away. "Don't look back," he said, voice shaking.
By the time they reached the building, night had fallen. The purple light in the sky didn't fade; it just hung there, throbbing like a heartbeat.
Inside, the air was thick with smoke and dust.
They climbed the stairs carefully, trying not to make noise. Every door they passed was open. Every room was empty—or worse. Shadows moved in the corners.
"Second floor," Rian whispered. "We'll stay in 204. Windows face the river."
Nara nodded silently. She hadn't spoken much since the store. Her eyes were red, but no tears left.
They barricaded the door with a broken table and sat in the dark.
For a long while, neither said anything.
Then Nara whispered, voice trembling, "They weren't human, were they?"
Rian didn't answer. He was staring out the cracked window at the city below. Fires burned in every direction. Helicopters fell from the sky like shooting stars.
He whispered, almost to himself, "No. Not anymore."
A loud thud echoed from the hallway outside.
Rian froze.
Another. Then another. Slow, dragging footsteps, coming closer.
He signaled Nara to stay quiet and picked up a broken pipe lying near the wall. His palms were sweaty, his heartbeat loud in his ears.
The footsteps stopped right outside their door.
Silence.
Then a whisper. Not human. Like air hissing through teeth.
The door creaked.
Rian tightened his grip on the pipe. "Stay behind me."
The door burst open.
A body stumbled through—the same clerk from the store. His chest was caved in, bones sticking out. He shouldn't have been able to move. But he was.
Rian swung the pipe with everything he had.
The blow cracked the man's skull. He fell, but his fingers clawed at the ground, dragging himself closer. Nara screamed. Rian hit again and again until the body stopped moving.
Then, for a brief second, everything went still.
Something glowed.
A faint light—white, almost pure—rose from the man's body, floating like smoke. It drifted toward Rian before he could even step back.
"What the hell—"
The light sank into his chest.
He gasped. His vision flashed white. Every nerve in his body burned. It wasn't pain, not exactly—more like his soul was being rewritten.
He collapsed to his knees, panting.
"Rian! What's happening?!" Nara's voice was distant, muffled, like underwater.
He looked at his hands. His cuts were gone. The bruises vanished. His heartbeat slowed… then steadied.
But something else came with it. A whisper. Faint, echoing inside his skull.
Hungry.
Rian jerked his head up, eyes wide.
"Did you… hear that?" he asked.
Nara shook her head, terrified. "Hear what?"
He didn't answer. He could still feel it inside him. That voice. Cold, hollow, endless.
Outside, the city burned. Inside, Rian sat in silence, his body trembling, his thoughts spiraling.
He should've been terrified of the monsters out there.
But now he was terrified of himself.
At some point, Nara fell asleep against his shoulder. He watched her breathe, the only reminder of something human left.
The whisper came again, softer this time.
More… souls…
Rian clenched his fists. "Shut up."
No response. Only the sound of distant screams, the flicker of purple light through the broken window, and the slow realization that the world had changed forever.
He didn't know what the light was. Or what he had become.
But he knew one thing—whatever came through that crack in the sky… hadn't come alone.
And something deep inside him had answered back.