"Don't forget your lunch, Ren!" a middle-aged woman called after her son. She had shoulder-length dark hair and dark eyes.
"Yes, Mom!" answered a boy with dark blue, messy hair and brown eyes. He wasn't very tall either. Probably around 1.75 meters.
Ren quickly ran down the stairs and grabbed his lunch, which his mother had packed into a small red box. He shoved it into his school backpack and slipped into his red sneakers.
"Hurry up, Ren. Your girlfriend is already waiting outside for you," said a boy who looked a bit like him. He had the same dark blue hair, just slightly shorter with shaved sides, and green eyes. It was his older brother Rei, who was getting ready for work himself.
"Emma is not my girlfriend!" Ren shouted back at his brother, turning bright red.
"How many times do I have to tell you that? We've just been friends since we were little…"
With every word of his last sentence, his voice grew quieter. His brother, on the other hand, just laughed softly and opened the door to head out.
"You still shouldn't make her wait all the time, Ren."
A man with the same hair color came up behind him and ruffled his hair with his right hand.
"Yes, Dad… I know."
With a smile, Ren waved one last time at his parents and his brother, slung his backpack over his right shoulder, and quickly ran outside to Emma. A cute girl with straight brown hair and a cheeky grin on her lips.
"You know you shouldn't make a girl wait, right?" she complained with a grin and poked him in the side with her elbow.
"Yeah, yeah, come on, let's finally go," he grumbled and turned red again.
The two of them quickly set off, since they were already running late.
"You know, my mom brought me a new book yesterday, Ren."
"Another new one already?"
"Yes, exactly… In this new book, it talks about a world outside these walls."
"Outside the walls?"
Ren looked up questioningly into the air, where the sky would normally be waiting for him. Instead, he only stared at a white ceiling. Bright lamps were attached everywhere, shining down and providing light.
It felt as if the entire city they lived in had been built inside a huge white cube. No, it didn't just feel that way—because that was exactly the case.
No matter where you looked, there were the same white walls with the same glaring lamps attached to them. Aside from that, everything looked like a normal, relatively large city. Houses stood everywhere, some bigger than others. There were schools, as well as huge commercial buildings that rose about forty meters high, almost reaching the ceiling.
If you stood against one wall of the massive white space, you probably wouldn't even be able to see the opposite wall—it was that big.
"Your mother should stop buying you books about nonsense like that. Everyone knows there's nothing out there."
Emma looked at him annoyed and took a step forward so she wouldn't have to walk next to him anymore.
"Hey, come on, wait!"
After a few minutes, the two of them finally arrived at their school. Teenagers around their age were everywhere. They all wore the same blue school uniform.
Arriving just in time, the bell rang to signal the start of classes.
Emma and Ren went to the same classroom, sat down next to each other, and went through their usual lessons.
"Finally over!" Emma groaned loudly as she stretched. The clock finally showed 3:15 p.m., marking the end of the school day for them.
"Do you want to go get something to eat, Ren?" Emma asked.
"Sorry, Emma, but I need to borrow your husband for today."
A tall boy, easily around 1.90 meters, came up from behind and threw his right arm around Ren's shoulder. He had a basketball tucked under his left arm.
"Don't tell me you forgot we wanted to play in the park today, man."
"Sorry, Emma. I already have plans today," Ren explained, nodding.
Emma sighed softly.
"Then at least be on time tomorrow morning, okay? I'll be waiting for you…"
With a red face, she left the classroom. Ren watched her go while the boy who still had his arm around him grinned at him.
"When are you finally going to make the first move, man? It couldn't be more obvious."
"Shut up and come on."
Ren finally shoved the other boy's arm off his shoulders and grabbed his bag.
"The others are probably already waiting for us at the park, so let's go."
Just as expected, their friends were already waiting for them on the basketball court in the park. The two of them quickly changed and went onto the court to play with the others.
They played game after game until it gradually got late. The boys were completely out of breath and drenched in sweat.
"I think that's enough for today… The lights are going to turn off soon," one of the boys said.
"What, already?" another asked.
Ren also looked up again at the lights on the ceiling.
"Yeah, it's almost ten. Or did you forget that the lamps turn off exactly at ten?"
"As if anyone could forget that when it's always been like that, you idiot."
The boys slowly packed up their things and got ready to leave.
"Are you coming, Ren?"
"You go ahead. I'll sit on the bench for a bit and cool down."
"Alright, man. See you tomorrow at school!"
With a wave, the last one left, leaving Ren alone. Just as he said, Ren sat down on the nearest bench and drifted off into his thoughts.
His conversation with Emma from that morning came back to him.
"A world out there?"
He looked up at the white ceiling again, just like he did several times every day.
Suddenly, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. A message from his mother asking when he would be coming home.
"I should probably start heading back… The lights are going to turn off in ten minutes anyway."
Just as he was about to stand up, he heard a quiet cracking sound from above. It sounded like something heavy had fallen onto the ground over him.
Right after that, the same sound again.
Ren stood up from the bench and looked around the park, but saw nothing. Until suddenly, a small, crumbling stone no bigger than a ping-pong ball fell onto his head.
Ren looked up.
"What the hell?"
Shocked, he stared at the white ceiling again. But for the first time in sixteen years, something was different. It didn't look the way he knew it.
Small cracks were slowly forming above him, spreading across the entire ceiling. Dust and small chunks began falling everywhere.
Ren heard that loud crashing sound again.
And then it happened, out of nowhere.
The entire ceiling collapsed over the city. And with it, a massive, animal-like thing crashed down.
A gigantic monster on four legs with a long tail hit the ground. Everything around Ren shook and rumbled. It felt like a violent earthquake had struck right beneath him.
From a distance, the monster appeared to have dark gray, leathery skin, somewhat similar to that of a shark. It also had a long neck and a head without a mouth or nose. Instead, it had at least seven eyes.
From Ren's current position, it was hard to make out the details clearly. But one thing still caught his attention. Rather, someone.
On the right shoulder of the huge beast stood a large figure. Even so, it was still too far away to see clearly. The only thing he could make out was something like a white lab coat fluttering behind it.
Out of nowhere, a massive chunk of the ceiling—at least twice as big as Ren himself—crashed down next to him.
Only then did reality fully hit him, and he realized the situation he was in.
"Shit!" he shouted and jumped aside to avoid another falling piece of the ceiling.
"What is happening here?"
So many questions rushed through his head, but he knew there was no point in overthinking it.
He quickly got back up and ran as fast as he could toward his house, where his parents should be waiting for him. Only his brother wasn't home yet—he knew that Rei was out with friends today.
The closer he got to his house, the faster his heart beat. The more sweat ran down his body, sending chills through him. The more horrifying ideas came to his mind about what might have happened.
But no matter what he imagined, it could never have been as bad as the sight that awaited him when he finally reached his house. Or rather, what was left of it.
Ren's face turned pale. He fell to his knees, and tears immediately began streaming down his face.
"Mom…"
he whispered hoarsely in a trembling voice. The next moment, he couldn't hold it in anymore and threw up.
His entire house had been destroyed by massive debris from the ceiling. But the worst sight was his half-crushed mother. Her upper body was still somewhat intact, but from her stomach downward, a large piece of the house wall lay on her, completely crushing the rest of her body.
Beneath her was a huge pool of blood and small fragments of bone.
Anyone could tell immediately that his mother was beyond saving. His father was nowhere to be seen. He must have been buried somewhere under the rubble as well.
"R… Ren…?"
Suddenly, he heard his name spoken in a weak voice.
Ren slowly lifted his gaze from the ground and looked through his tear-filled eyes toward his mother.
What he saw was unbelievable.
She shouldn't have been able to move anymore. Yet there she was, pinned beneath the wall, still stretching her right arm out toward him.
"M-MOTHER!!"
he screamed and quickly forced himself to stand up—so quickly that he slipped and smashed his face against the hard concrete ground.
Warm liquid immediately ran down his head, but once again he jumped up as fast as he could and ran to his mother.
When he reached her, he dropped to his knees and pulled her upper body into his arms.
"You're alive, Mom! You're alive!"
Red-tinged tears streamed down his face onto his mother's clothes.
"Listen to me, Ren…" she whispered faintly.
Ren immediately realized that it wouldn't be long before she took her final breath.
"I love you so much, my boy…"
"Mom?"
He looked at her questioningly, into her already empty eyes, and pulled her cold body even closer.
"Promise me that you'll live, Ren… no matter… what happens…"
"What are you saying, Mom? We'll live together!"
He could barely get the words out himself. And of course, he knew exactly that his own words were nothing more than a fantasy. Still, he clung to them desperately and refused to accept the truth.
"P-please, Ren… promise me."
One last spark of life flickered through her eyes. She looked at her son with the caring gaze of a mother and waited for his answer.
Finally, Ren loosened his grip and looked at her pale face again.
"I… I promise you, Mom… I will live. No matter what happens. I will never throw away the life you gave me!"
His mother managed one final smile before the last light faded from her eyes and she took her final breath.
"Moooom!!"
Ren screamed so loudly that it would normally have echoed through the entire street.
For ten long minutes, he knelt there, crying and holding the lifeless body of his own mother.
Finally, he let her go and somehow managed to rise on his trembling legs. He wiped his face with his right hand to clear his vision.
"I… I have to find Emma and my brother."
he said to himself in a shaking voice.