It was a sunny afternoon in a beautiful garden, and a group of kids were running around, playing hide and seek.
"Rama! You... you cheeety!" one of the boys barked, pointing a finger at her while stomping his foot.
Rama puffed out her chest, looking completely offended. "Me not cheety!"
"Yeeess... you cheeety!" the boy shouted back, "You peeeeked while you were counting! I saw your eye!"
Rama stuck her tongue out, her pigtails bouncing as she shook her head. "Nu-uh! My eye was just... itchy!"
While Rama and Momu were still bickering, another kid jumped in. It was Ram-Rama's older brother.
He walked over with a grin and patted Momu's head. "It's okay, you two. Don't cry like that, momu~~" Ram teased, reaching out to pat Momu's messy hair.
"Me not cryiiiing!" Momu huffed, swatting Ram's hand away and puffing out his cheeks.
Before the quarrel could go any further, another kid suddenly shouted, eyes sparkling. "Woahhh… guys, look at that!"
"What?!" the three of them turned their heads at once.
The kid pointed excitedly at the sky. "Look! A shooting star!"
"Chooting star!!!"
"Where… where…" Momu's mood flipped instantly. He wiped his tears away and craned his neck toward the sky.
"Woahhhh... brother, look! The chooting star!!! Look!!" Rama shouted, grabbing her brother's arm and jumping up and down.
Momu jumped with excitement, "Woahhh! My mama told me when you see a chooting star and make a wish, it'll come true!"
Without wasting a second, Momu clapped his hands together and squeezed his eyes shut.
"Pleeease, God! Pleeease! I don't have too many wisshu… just make me a Superman, a Spiderman, and an Ironman only!"
"Idiiiooto!! They are not real..." Rama started, rolling her eyes at Momu's list of superheroes.
But she was cut off by her brother. When she turned toward Ram, he just gave her a look, that said, 'Let him pray, don't ruin it.'
The kid who had first spotted the light shouted again, his voice cracking with excitement. "Woah, look! There are so many shooting stars! One, two... three... four..." He started counting on his fingers, but he ran out of hands before he could finish.
Ram squinted at the sky, his brow furrowing. He was only in fifth grade, but even he knew something was off. "It's my first time seeing this many. Mom said we usually only see one or two at most."
"Maybe it's a rare phenomenon!" Rama said, her voice filled with awe.
The garden, once full of playful sound, now felt hushed and magical as the sky lit up with streaks of light.
"But still?" Ram asked, his voice trailing off as the "stars" didn't fade. They were getting fatter, brighter, and louder.
"I don't know… I'm going to pray too," Rama said, clasping her hands.
"Wait!" Ram suddenly stopped her.
"What?" Rama blinked.
"Why does it look like..."
"Like?"
"Like it's coming right at us?" Ram whispered, eyes widening.
But it was at that exact moment that the realization hit him like a physical blow.
"HOLY SHIT GUYS! THAT'S NOT A SHOOTING STAR! IT'S A METEORITEEEEE!!!!" Ram screamed, his voice breaking into a panicked shriek. "GET OUT OF THERE! RUN!!"
But it was TOO LATE....
---------------------------------
Meanwhile, in a cozy 3BHK apartment in a well‑off building, a little girl pressed her nose and hands against the glass window. Her voice rang with excitement.
"Papa! Moma! Look at the sky! Shining fire balls!" She smiled brightly.
Her father and mother, busy with their usual chores, walked over to the window. But the moment their eyes lifted to the sky, their bodies froze. A chill ran through them.
She turned back to them, a massive, gap-toothed smile lighting up her face. To her, the sky was putting on a show just for them.
"Look how beautiful they are!" the girl whispered, turning back to the view, mesmerized by the glowing trails.
The father's hand shook as he reached for her shoulder.
"Yeah... ah... they're beautiful, sweetheart," he choked out, his voice thick with a grief she couldn't understand yet. "Now, come here. Come hug Dad and Mom. Real tight, okay?"
He didn't want her to look anymore. He didn't want her to see the truth.
Because what he saw through that glass wasn't a show. It wasn't one fireball.
It was tens… hundreds… a curtain of fire tearing across the heavens, screaming toward the city at thousands of miles per hour...
---------------------------------
On the street, a man staggered forward, clutching his throat. Sweat poured down his face.
"Damn… why is it so hot today? Ahhh… I think I'll die from this heat," he cursed.
He had nothing. No job, no family, and not a single soul on this earth who would give a damn if he dropped dead right there on the hot pavement. He was a ghost in a city.
He spat at the sky.
"Damn God… why don't you just kill me instead of making me suffer like this?"
"I swear… one day a meteorite will come and destroy everyone," he muttered bitterly.
But as he walked aimlessly, the heat grew worse. His skin burned, his shirt clung to him.
"Damnn… what the hell… why is the temperature rising even more?"
He squinted up at the sun, ready to shout one last curse at the sky. "Ahh, fuck this sun!!"
But then, he saw it. Right beside the blinding glare of the sun, something else was tearing through the blue. It was too bright to focus on at first, but as he shielded his eyes, the truth hit him.
His eyes widened. His cracked lips began to curl into a jagged, terrifying smile. A low, raspy chuckle bubbled up from his chest, growing into a full-blown, hysterical roar.
"Ha... ha... HAHAHAHA!" He threw his head back, laughing at the top of his lungs. "God... thank you! You finally heard me! You actually listened!"
He started dancing in the middle of the street like a total fucking maniac, spinning in circles while the world around him began to glow a hellish orange.
"Haha! Finally! Finally, the world is going down! Hahaha!"
He stood there, arms wide open, welcoming the fire while everyone else started to scream.
--------------------
Meanwhile, in the marvelous Ashford University, inside the bustling cafeteria, Rix sat alone at his table. His eyes weren't on the crowd, but on the glass of water in front of him.
Nobody else noticed. They were too busy watching the drama between Bryan and Seraphine.
But his eyes, sharp- hyper-observant, were locked onto the glass of water.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
"Hmmm??!!"
His face stayed neutral, but a shiver ran down his spine.
It was a gut feeling that tells you something is horribly wrong. Slowly, he turned his head to look out the big glass window.
He squinted.
And then he saw them.
Dots...
Black dots....
Tens… hundreds… thousands…
"Mm? Birds?" Rix muttered. "Why are there so many birds?
The birds... their flying speed was a little bit different.
A bit faster....
No!!
A bit too fast...
No.!!
Abnormally fast.....
They weren't flapping their wings.
They were falling.
The black specks started to glow at the edges, turning a sickly, bright orange.
Rix's calm gaze began to shift. His eyes widened, slowly at first, then more and more, until beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
The scene outside wasn't just terrifying.
NO!!
NOT Terrifying..
Terrifying was too small a word for what was unfolding before him.
The half-eaten burger in Rix's hand slipped from his fingers, hitting the floor with a dull thud. He didn't even notice. He couldn't feel his hands anymore.
His limbs simply gave out.
His knees hit the underside of the table, but he didn't feel the pain.
BUT..
BUT...
Humans- are..
fragile
soft
and breakable creatures.
Humans are fragile things...
Soft meat Wrapped in Skin, kept alive by pumping organs and electrical signals.
That's what the world believes...
But buried beneath their skin and bone...
Beneath fear, doubt, and hesitation..
There exists something ancient...
A Primal Force.
A force that awakens when you don't have a choice anymore…
when there's no way out...
when surviving is the only thing left...
only survival.....
That force is called:
The Adrenaline.
At that moment, a primal force surged through Rix's body. Adrenaline rushed through his veins, pushing him to his absolute limit.
His heart pounded harder than ever, his senses sharpening with every second. For a brief moment, it didn't even feel like his own body anymore.
Everything went silent.
It was as if something else had taken over…
Slowly, Rix began to feel his limbs again. But this time, something strange was coursing through his veins, an unknown force, raw and unstoppable.
Without hesitation…
In that situation…
At that moment…
At that instant…
he shot up from his seat.
The unknown force coursing through Rix's body was too much.
Because of the strange force rushing through his body, Rix's sudden jump sent the table crashing to the side with a loud--
THUD!
The sound echoed through the entire cafeteria, cutting through the chatter like a knife.
Everyone who had been cheering for the two girls and their confident victory stopped. The room went dead silent. One by one, heads turned away from the drama and toward the source of the noise.
Every eye shifted toward the sound.
Toward Rix...
Even Seraphine and Rina.
Rix didn't care about the eyes on him.
Actually, he didn't have the time to care.
Without slowing down, he shoved the chairs in his way aside, sending them scraping in every direction as he sprinted straight toward the hallway entrance.
"What's with him now?"
A few students started laughing, thinking he was just being weird or dramatic.
Seraphine turned her head, her eyes following him. She noticed the sweat forming on his forehead, but she couldn't understand what was happening.
Rix didn't wait.
He didn't care to explain.
He just dashed toward the entrance.
The door was right behind where Rina and Seraphine were standing.
He moved like a blur.
Before Seraphine could even blink, Rix was already past her.
That was the power of adrenaline at 100% output.
It felt like he wasn't even running; he was flying.
Seraphine blinked, her hair still fluttering from the wind he left behind. "Huh?"
As Rix dashed for the entrance, a student suddenly stepped directly into his path, arms wide as if he were trying to block a runaway truck.
"Hey! Stop! What are you doing? Why are you rushing like that?!" the boy shouted.
"MOVE!!! Fuckers!!!"
The curse echoed, bouncing off the walls, silencing laughter for a heartbeat.
Without even thinking, Rix's hand lashed out. Driven by that 100% adrenaline, he grabbed the boy by the head and slammed him into the side wall.
The student was thrown like a ragdoll, hitting the bricks with a sickening thud before sliding down, coughing blood as it slid down.
Rix didn't stop to look back. He couldn't believe what he was doing, but he wasn't in control anymore. His body had been completely hijacked by survival instinct.
He was sprinting, faster than any human should, tearing down the hallway like a beast unleashed.
"Mother fuckers... AHHH SHIIITTT! FUCK ALL! DAMNNN YOUUUU! DAMMITT!....."
He screamed every curse word he knew, his voice echoing through the classrooms and bouncing back into the cafeteria.
Back at the tables, the students just stared.
"Is he dumb??" one guy asked, poking at his lunch.
"What's wrong with him now?" Rina asked, frowning.
Seraphine kept her eyes on the empty doorway where Rix had disappeared. "I don't know," she whispered.
But deep down, her gut was twisting.
Something felt horribly wrong.
But the others laughed.
"Maybe he got scared of losing here, ahaha!"
"Maybe he just wants the washroom!"
"Then why scream like a little girl, lol!"
Their jokes spread like wildfire.
The students kept laughing, making jokes and mocking him,
They kept talking and Kept laughing.
Completely unaware....
Of the doom that was already descending upon them.