It was a day, quiet like any other. I say quiet, but the blaring sirens all over the city just outside the window I was in said otherwise. Maybe I was just accustomed to the noise.
Has it been a year already?
Heck, even the croaking of the frogs on a daily basis didn't bother me any longer. After all, there would most likely be more frogs than humans in this urban capital city.
Standing up from his bed, a young adult slowly walked through his dark room. Though, no matter how dark it was, it was still clean. Trash seems to be nonexistent, as his bin contained nothing but a few pieces of hair and some specks of dust, mainly from sweeping up the floor.
Yawning for a bit, the young man swept his blinds to the side, revealing a bright shine coming from the window.
"Michaela! Check the tomatoes on the rooftop. See if they're ready for plucking. " The young man shouts. He opens the window, revealing nothing but a side of a worn-down building, covered in moss and dirt, directly facing his window.
'Wow… what a view. 'He thought.
Regardless, sunlight still made its way inside the room. The young man then stretches both his arms before turning his waist to the side, hoping to get that popping noise.
Pop!
Satisfied with his stretch, he slowly pokes his head outside the window, revealing a sight that he was all too used to by now. Although he was five floors up, he could still see clearly.
The city roads were all flooded. He could see some fishes and all types of aquatic life just swimming through the streets he used to walk on a year ago.
Green moss was not only on the building in front of him, as it has pretty much covered everything in the city. Vegetation was everywhere.
Watching the life-filled streets had become a habit for Solomon, one of the few remaining people in this massive city.
Or in the world, to say the least.
Finished with his morning routine, he goes to his bed and grabs a radio placed atop his bedside cabinet. There were a total of three drawers composing the grey varnished object. Although it was a little worn out, it still did its job. Sure there are some creaks when Solomon opens it, but carrying another cabinet through that street was a bigger burden than having an old one. Of course, that is if he could even find a new one. Every single government- or corporate-owned company all ceased their production of goods after all.
Only you and yourself in this world.
Besides, he's checked most of the surrounding buildings already. Apart from the gruesome smell and sight of starved pets and people, there was nothing of note in them.
Squinting from the sudden imagery that enters his head, Solomon opens the battery lid of the radio and places it down on the same place he picked up the device.
He then opens up the topmost drawer before prying out the batteries in the radio. He placed the dead batteries together with the lid before grabbing two fresh ones from the numerous amount stored in his topmost drawer.
"G…h....at…. the…"
At first, only static escaped from the radio's speakers. But as Solomon adjusted its antennas, audible words could be heard.
Satisfied with the audio quality, Solomon closed his windows, aiming to block the noise from the sirens coming from outside.
"To the remaining survivors, The recent satellite readings have concluded that about forty-three thousand one hundred eighty-seven people have vanished from yesterday's blink. The last few remaining humans in America were all involved. Thus, we now claim America to be a Ghost Country."
The cause of the Earth's sudden apocalypse…
The Blink.
It started about a year ago, during new years. A massive amount of people, nearing a hundred thousand in total, all vanished in the span of a day. Although it was all over the news, some people thought it was a complete hoax, but as time went by and as their families fell victim to it, panic started to ensue.
And well, now we're here.
From that day until now, a range of a thousand to a hundred thousand starts to vanish day by day. No one knows where they are or what happens to them; many assume they just die. At least that way, they can mourn.
It was one of the better hypotheses actually, if you compare others. Some cults formed, and these cults started to add to the main issue at hand. It's not a shock that there's only about one percent of humanity left.
Though there is almost no chaos now, it did get lonely for the remaining people.
Thankfully for Solomon, he still had his younger sister sleeping in the other room of their apartment.
"Michaela! Wake up! Check the tomatoes!" He shouts.
'This girl…' Disappointed by the fact that Michaela wasn't replying, Solomon decides to put down the radio.
Michaela was always the type to sleep late. She liked how the moon looked, so she was always at the rooftop, gazing at the skies during the night.
Arriving at the door to her room, Solomon screams her name a few more times before finally knocking at the door.
Knock. Knock
"You girl, you're an adult now! You—" Annoyed by this habit of hers. Solomon started to nag even before finding out what actually had happened.
The pink bed that she purposely decided to carry back home despite being three streets away stood still in the middle of the room. The sheets were still messy, and despite trying its best to peep through, the light outside was still blocked by the cream-colored curtains.
"Michaela?…" Solomon's heart suddenly drops to his feet.
Without wasting a second, he entered the room, knocking at every door in the room, only to find nothing.
He then rushes out of their apartment and runs up the stairs, trying to dodge the littered boxes and trash in the unkempt hallway.
He arrives at the rooftop, screaming his sister's name once more, before he finds a piece of yellow cloth littered on the concrete floor of the rooftop.
The same yellow cloth that the siblings pinned on their bodies. And the same one they said they will unpin the moment they start to fall victim to the blink.
His entire body turned cold. He stares at the tomatoes that were just ripe enough for the plucking, planted on the crop beds all over the roof.
"Brother?"
Just when he was about to fall into the deepest parts of despair, he hears Michaela's voice, just behind him. His shoulders also turn warm, feeling the sensation of someone touching him.
Though as he turns his head backwards, all he can see is the rotting corpse of his sister.
…
…
Captain!
Feeling a sudden yank on his clothes, Solomon jolts up from his bed.
It was a dream… Or a nightmare, to be exact.
'That's right… Earth was twenty years ago. 'Solomon grabs his forehead, now filled with wrinkles, unlike him back then.
"Captain, Ryan Sho and the Black Flag wanted to meet you. They said it was a matter regarding the Floor Rush for the 60th Floor." A woman who had a slender physique held his shoulder.
She was wearing a long blue dress that went all the way to her knees. It was layered with a brown leather vest, which had a blue gem tightly encrypted to the chest area. To the left of it was a name tag that read a name.
'Kate / Mercenary Guild's Receptionist. '
Solomon, who seemed to have escaped his stupor, waved the receptionist away.
"Yes, yes, tell him I'll be out in a few minutes. Let me prepare."
With his orders, Kate walks outside Solomon's room, slowly closing the door with a bow to make sure she looks polite.
After a few seconds, Solomon stood up from his bed. This time, rather than his metal-braced bed, he woke up lying down on one supported by wood. His bedsheets were a simple white, and his pillows weren't as soft as they were.
Though he couldn't complain much, as the room he was in was as wide as two average-sized rooms. Despite not being as rich as those massive guilds, being the leader of a medium-sized one still had some money in it. Though it was mostly made out of wood, it felt incredibly homely. It wasn't much, but it was certainly spacious.
Solomon stands up from his bed and heads on to the bathroom.
He had lived ten years since the moment he just dreamed of, but despite being the leader of a well-renowned guild, he had built too much regret to feel happy.
Stopping at the mirror, Solomon washed his face, revealing his aged features. His hair grew long enough to reach his neck. His hair was still long and wavy, but it looked particularly messy due to bed hair.
Although he looked aged, he was still considerably good-looking. Finding that thought absurd, he thanks his parents in his heart. However, as he does so, regret surrounds his heart.
Sigh…
After washing his face clean. Solomon steps inside his bedroom once again, ready to go outside.
The blink wasn't the end of a person's life. It brought them to an entirely new world. A world where no modern artillery worked and a world that followed the rules of fantasy.
The world where humans had suddenly found themselves in, The Labyrinth of the Dead.
"The Black Flag? That rude bunch." Solomon didn't hide the annoyance from his face.
…