Chapter Text
It was late. The stars were high in the sky, moon gone, already destroyed. Lillia glared at the dark sky, her surroundings made of dark mist. Very late. But there was almost nothing in the world that could hurt her. Either she could kill it, or it was already dead. A sound echoed throughout the building she was taking rest in. Lillia flinched and turned around.
“Good evening.”
Lillia looked toward the offender, glaring through the dark hazy air, their silhouette giving away nothing about the intruder. Lillia narrowed her eyes slightly as she sighed, exhaling for a long time before lifting her head up again to attempt meeting the gaze of the offender. Due to the dark mist, she was still unable to.
“What do you need from me?” Lillia replied, an undertone of a threat in her voice.
“Don’t worry,” the other said, “I only wish to talk, nothing more, nothing less.”
A strange thing to say in times like these. Everyone wanted to survive, no matter what they had to do. Plus, by now, Lillia knew everyone left over in her universe. This voice was someone else. But how? No-one else should have survived the Cataclysm, and the ones who were still alive were either attempting to destroy themselves or do something else just as ugly. By now the world was a free for all. There was no place that would trust a stranger. They’d learnt better, or at least they thought they had. After all, the whole fucking world is dead, so who knows if a new person could just be another enemy in human skin. Wouldn’t be surprised; it’s happened before.
“If you’re another one of the shitty Cataclysm things, leave. I have no purpose in talking to nor befriending you demons.” Lillia spat back at the strange figure in front of her. “And if you try anything funny, I’ll carve your fucking heart out and destroy the remains. I ain’t up to deal with this shit now. Our world is finished with you motherfuckers.”
“I am not what destroyed your world. I am from another and I wish to send yo-”
“What? So freaks from other places wish to annoy us too? Well listen here, ‘otherworldly being’, I, and everyone else in this godforsaken world don’t want you here. And I certainly don’t want to deal with another world's shit. Ain’t my job, I didn’t live in this world to become a hero, I survived so I could exist and exist alone.” Lillia replied, twirling a dagger in her hands, glaring at the intruder.
“I am not trying to live here. I am here because the gods of-”
“Gods? Tch. The gods have already abandoned us and as shall they in your world," Lillia shot back, rolling her eyes.
“I am here to send you to our world!”
“No thank you.”
“Well bad luck because you don’t have a fucking choice," the stranger replied, their voice an octave higher than it was before. The thing laughed softly before it turned into maniacal laughing. Its eyes glowed slightly, and the dark mist began to fade away. In front of Lillia was a being she had never seen before. It looked human, yes, but was it? Obviously not. The way the face stretched as if the skin wasn’t used to the body, the whites non-existent, only tiny pinpricks of light in the inky blackness. Slowly it turned before Lillia, all noise stopping. Footsteps could be heard from out in the hallway.
“Ah? Has Makoto finally arrived?” Lillia muttered after noticing the footsteps. The creature turned towards her, eyes blown wide with some sort of emotion, whether it was fear or ecstasy, Lillia didn’t know, nor wanted to.
“Makoto is a… friend of mine. I asked for her to return a few days ago,” Lillia answered to the creature’s gaze.
“Ehehehe… shall you two go together? Ehehe.” The creature cackled grossly, its repulsive smile fixed back on its face.
Makoto burst through the broken doors, her boots clacking against the cold concrete, loose rubble crushed under her fast pace. Her face casted an expression of distaste. She stopped just before Lillia, glaring at everything before she bowed down.
“Makoto, second survivor of the Cataclysm, reporting to Lillia, first survivor.” Makoto said, head bowed down, the creature thing watching expectedly.
“Makoto, stand.” Lillia smiled. “Our relationship is not like that. This thing in the room does not hold an importance to try and hide this fact.” Makoto smirked before standing up and taking her seat next to Lillia.
“So… as I was saying, I have come here to bring you two t-” the creature started, seemingly able to get its facial expressions back in order.
“No.” Lillia simply turned to face the stars once again.
“And why the fuck would we listen to you? Know your place in this world, lowly creature,” Makoto quipped back. Her eyes focused on Lillia before she turned towards the creature. “I do not fucking care if your shitty gods say that they’re going to strike us down, tell them to fucking try. I’m done with this shit, alright?” Makoto continued, eyes sharping at the thing, before she turned back to Lillia, who was smirking at Makoto’s response.
“Oh my. You two seem awfully happy to ignore my warnings. I already informed you; you do not have a choice. You must come with me.” The creature stared at them, its face completely still.
Lillia and Makoto stared at it one more time before turning away. Whatever the thing was talking about, they didn’t see the need to care. They’ve already survived the fucking Cataclysm, what could this deformed creature do? Sure, it may have the power of the gods, but really? Lillia and Makoto had killed gods before. Easy revenge, for how they abandoned them in their only time of need. And if some random-ass gods decided to annoy them, they were perfectly fine with fucking up some more of them. Just to show how they really aren’t almighty, and they need to get their heads out of their asses and if they wish to survive and not have karma beat their asses, they had to help out. Celestine, Divine Beings, Gods? That’s all bullshit. Why ever the fuck they’d want Lillia and Makoto roaming around them must be a real shitty answer because it sure as hell ain’t going to be pretty if they annoy them.
“Are you even listening?” The creature asked, eyes narrowing.
Makoto sent the thing a deadpanned look for a few seconds before she started up a small conversation about a book they’d both been reading and how they’d finally finished. The thing was understandably pissed at this action, as anyone else would be, but still kept a calm façade. All for the sake of the gods. Well, more the constellations, but in this world, you speak the same way others do or you’re an anomaly. The creature breathed in deeply before a smirk started to settle on it’s face.
“I see. You are. Very nice. Now I don’t have to feel guilty about sending you to where you are must go to!” The thing laughed, slightly deranged. “That’s nice, shall we begin then?”
There was a bright flash of light, and everything went dark. Lillia floated in the dark backdrop, the stillness unnerving. Makoto slowly floated next to her.
“Lillia… what in the seven hells is this?”
“I don’t know Makoto, I don’t know.”
“Well fuck.”
A fast light enveloped the space that Lillia and Makoto were in. A small flash and they had arrived.
Lillia slowly opened her eyes. Her clothes had changed from her battle armour to casual clothes that she may have worn before the Cataclysm. She looked around. She was in a train - despite the fact that most trains were already destroyed. There were several people in the compartment. ‘3907’. Somehow, Lillia had her phone - despite the fact that it had also been destroyed years ago. Looking at the time, it was 6:47.
“Hmm… I wonder if it’s still there…”
Quickly, Lillia went to her downloaded files to check if it was.
“Ah. There it is.”
The file was named orv.download. Lillia clicked on it. The pages only took a minute to load. The 551 chaptered web novel was there. Looking beside her, Lillia could confirm that Makoto had found the same.
“It’s been a long time, life like this. Wonder why they wanted us here.” Makoto commented, looking up from her phone.
“Something's going to go wrong. It always does. Be on the lookout for abnormal things," Lillia told to Makoto, skimming through the downloaded file before she put it down and looked out the window. “First things first, we need to find out where to go.”
6:55
6:56
6:57
6:58
6:59
…
‘A bright light flashed from the front on the subway train. There was a loud drumming sound followed by a pop. Something was heading this way in the darkness. It was just a coincidence…’
“Lillia. Something's happening.”
Lillia looked up. A loud pop sounded from the front of the compartment. Lillia checked the time.
7:00.
“… Ah fuck. Here we go again.” Lillia sighed deeply before turning her head to the front.