Everything shook.
A thunderous roar erupted from the very heart of the floating island, and in the blink of an eye… the entire amusement park was swallowed in light.
The ground beneath my feet shattered.
Gravity betrayed me.
My vision blurred as I tumbled through blinding blue and white, my body surrounded by a thin, glowing shield.
I was falling. No—free falling.
"What… just happened?" I muttered.
The warmth around me, this faint blue aura… it felt so familiar. Nostalgic, even. But I couldn't place it.
Buildings. Stone. Trees. All crumbled beside me, spiraling through the air like weightless memories. Everything was falling.
Boom.
Another tremor shook the air around me, and finally, I crashed.
Dust. Rubble. Echoes of screams fading into nothing.
I groaned, pushing off a boulder as the shimmering coat of mana around me flickered and died like a candlelight on its last breath.
"Damn…" I whispered.
My knees buckled, but I didn't fall. My hands were scraped, shaking.
I looked around.
Ash hung in the air.
"Where is everyone…?"
Panic didn't hit me. Not yet. First came silence—then the heavy weight of reality starting to press against my chest.
I stumbled forward.
Cracks split the ground around me. The once-brilliant roads were shattered like glass.
That was supposed to be a fun day. What even was this?
"Was that an attack…? Or… a collapse?"
I remembered Mei's words—ley line distortion.
So this wasn't a coincidence.
My breath hitched.
"Takashi… Kaito… Yumi… Mei… Where are they?"
A gust of wind blew past me, carrying with it soot and distant sparks.
Smoke twisted like snakes around the ruin, the air thick with the scent of scorched steel and burnt soil. Chunks of the arena had collapsed. The magical residue crackled in the air, and where Mei once stood—nothing but broken ground and floating embers remained.
I stumbled forward, coughing through the dust. My legs moved on their own, ignoring the sting on my skin, the blood dripping from my arms. "Mei?" I called, my voice hollow, drowned under the low rumble of the destruction.
"Mei...!?"
I dropped to my knees and began tearing through the debris. Stone. Shattered glass. More stone. My fingers bled. I didn't care.
"She could've used her spell to defend herself…" I muttered, breathless. "She could've saved herself… so why—why me!?"
My hands kept digging, faster, messier. "This can't be happening, it can't—!" I shouted, tossing aside a twisted metal beam, then another. Still nothing. Still no sign of her.
"MEI!!" I roared, my voice cracking.
Nothing answered. Only silence. Silence and the hiss of burning rubble.
My breath grew shallow. My heart was racing so fast it felt like it was trying to burst out of my chest. The more I searched, the more I felt the weight pushing on my back, pulling me down.
Then it hit me like a hammer.
She was gone.
No… no. No, no, no, no—this isn't real.
"This is a dream," I whispered, laughing under my breath. "It's just a dream... just a stupid dream… she'll come back, she always does... right?"
I stood, shaking. My eyes were wide open, but the world blurred around me. "Mei… come on, the joke's over, right? You're just trying to scare me. You love that. You love teasing me, right?" I spun around, arms out. "Come on! Say something! Jump out from behind and call me 'idiot' or something!"
The wind answered. Quiet. Cruel.
The laughter stopped.
My hands dropped to my sides. The blood on them was dry now. I couldn't feel anything.
"I let her die…"
I clutched my head, nails digging into my scalp. "She… she chose me... She really did… why… why would you do that… Mei…"
I backed away from the debris, stumbling over my own feet. My breathing grew erratic.
"This world... it's broken," I muttered, eyes twitching. "Everything's broken. Even I'm broken. Why did it have to be her…?"
The storm of grief spiraled with rage, confusion, and
disbelief, until finally—
It laughed.
A weak, cracked laugh at first. Then louder. And louder.
A voiced echoed "This is just the beginning of your sufferings.".
To be continued...