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Ranboo doesn’t know how it started. Nobody does. One day they were going to school like normal, the next the world started breaking apart, parts of it disappearing, replaced with what the survivors have taken to calling The Void. A simple lack, a nothingness so complete that anything that falls in disappears. Nothing can fill the holes, not air or water or sand. People have tried, but as more fell victim to the Void’s whispers the smarter ones ran.
The Void has been spreading for years now. Really, Ranboo doesn’t remember much about it. A close brush with a Void pool that came out of nowhere ripped their memories apart, leaving them with barely anything from before this began and only bits and pieces from before the incident. Their memories are still shaky at best, but keeping away from the Void makes the decay slow down.
For quite a while, Ranboo managed on their own, but it was hard. It got easier when they met a group of survivors that offered to let them join. The Anarchists, as Techno likes to jokingly call them, are odd. Odd even for people who have survived the apocalypse for over half a decade like all of them did.
Phil’s hands are void-stained, black and cracking in a way human flesh isn’t supposed to. Philza promises that it doesn’t hurt, but he also likes getting as close to the Void as possible, dipping his fingers in every now and then, so Ranboo isn’t sure if he isn’t lying.
Techno was part of a cult when the Void first started appearing, his fellow members trying to sacrifice him to it, which turned his hair permanently pink and gave him visions, a mixture of dream-like scenarios and real happenings. At first, Ranboo was intimidated by him, but slowly they warmed up to each other.
Niki, the final member of the group, is outwardly the most normal one of them. That is, if you ignore that she killed her last group by pushing them into the Void when they planned to leave her behind to save resources. She hears the whispers of the Void the loudest, always beckoning, calling to her, though she has told Ranboo that it mostly calls for more sacrifices.
So, the whole group of them is odd. Void-touched. Everyone is Void-touched, it’s impossible not to be with how much of the world is gone by now, but most that got in contact with it as early as any of them did didn’t survive.
Not that that matters now, not really. What are a few years in the face of eternity? Ranboo raises their head and looks up at the sky. Or at what’s left of the sky, more like. The moon is long gone, the stars barely visible between the blotches of Void hanging in the air. According to Techno, they’ll soon reach the point where no resources at all will be left. With how their farms keep falling apart, Ranboo believes him.
Despite Techno being the one to bring it up, Philza was the one to offer a solution. Join the Void voluntarily, take control over their lives one last time. Ranboo sighs. It’s almost time. They give the sky one last look, long since having grown used to the darkness, the cold. It almost feels pleasant against their skin.
Then they turn around and return to the camp. The camp is a new one, a Void pool directly in the middle of it. They have been staying here for a few days now, discussing what they’re going to do, watching the Void pool slowly spread. It has taken over half of their camp by now, but they haven’t readied themselves to move, not like they normally do. All of them know that this is the end.
Phil smiles when he catches sight of Ranboo returning, waving from his place by the fire. Ranboo waves back, but doesn’t stop. Techno is still gone as well, scouting the area one last time. He will be back soon. They keep walking until they reach the tent, quietly moving the flap away.
Despite trying their best to be silent, Niki looks up as soon as Ranboo enters. She’s kneeling next to her backpack, sorting through her items. She smiles and Ranboo does their best to smile back. They feel cold. Niki turns back to her things, but starts talking nonetheless.
“I know it doesn’t really matter what we do with our things, but I can’t bring myself to leave everything behind.”
She’s holding a notebook, now. Ranboo recognizes it. It’s filled with recipes, all in Niki’s tiny handwriting. She started the book years before the Void first started. Ranboo thinks about their own books, carefully stacked in a box and buried not to far from the camp. They know, logically, that nobody will find them, but leaving them in the open feels just as wrong as taking them with into the Void.
Ranboo sits down and watches Niki sort through the things that she has managed to keep, no matter of often they had to move. After a few minutes of silence, they speak up again.
“Are we sure about this? I mean, I trust Phil, but this seems. A bit extreme, maybe?”
That makes Niki pause. She raises her head and faces Ranboo, but her eyes seem far away, staring into the distance, into a past that no longer exists. Ranboo stays quiet and lets her gather her thoughts.
“I mean, do we really have a choice? No matter what we do, we’ll die soon anyway. At least like this we have a say in the matter.”
She looks at Ranboo and her eyes are sad, sad in the way all three of them look when they remember that Ranboo is barely an adult, that they were a teen when all of this started. They’re now as old as Niki was when the Void first appeared. It hurts to think about, sometimes. Then Niki’s eyes harden, the fire Ranboo has grown so used to burning still. Before either can say anything else, Philza appears in the entrance, smiling softly.
“Techno just came back. We’re ready when you are.”
Niki and Ranboo share another look, then follow him out. Out of the tent and towards the middle of the camp. Towards the Void pool. Techno is already waiting for them. It’s weird, seeing him without the tools he always carries, without his backpack and self-made armour. No, his clothes are light, soft. Comfortable. Philza is much the same. Techno’s eyes are warm as he looks them over.
“Everything taken care of?”
Ranboo looks at Niki. She nods, determined, a single book clutched in her hands. They feel cold, without the comforting presence of their backpack, but nod anyway. It’s time.
Philza goes first, giving them one last smile before dropping down, down into the Void. His cloak flutters behind him as he falls, then he vanishes. No scream, no noise at all. Just there one second and gone the next. Techno nods to Niki. She goes second, taking a shuddering breath before letting herself fall. No noise for her either. The world seems incredibly quiet with half of their group gone. Ranboo looks towards Techno again.
“I’ll be right behind you.”
Ranboo nods and closes their eyes, taking another breath. Without looking they step forwards. Their breath catches in their throat when they stumble and fall, but they don’t scream, don’t let out a single sound.
The Void is cold.