The sky was a dull, bruised gray — not the kind that warned of rain, but the kind that whispered of endings.
Shattered concrete blanketed the rooftop like snow. Rusted steel rods jutted out from broken walls, reaching toward the sky like bony fingers pleading for mercy. Blood — dry, dark, and long forgotten — stained the ground near the ledge. Windows in the surrounding buildings were nothing but gaping holes. No birds. No sirens. No life. Just silence. The kind that crushes your ears the longer you listen.
I stood there.
At the edge.
Alone.
Below me, the city had collapsed into a graveyard of steel and ash. Roads split open like scars. Buildings leaned against each other, some half-swallowed by the earth. Fire had long devoured the homes; only blackened skeletons of houses remained, twisted and unrecognizable.
A lone swing set swayed back and forth in a ruined park across the street, chains creaking with the wind.
The world was dead, but it hadn't stopped breathing yet. It wheezed like a dying animal refusing to let go.
I didn't scream. I didn't cry.
I just asked the question that had been burning inside me all this time.
> "How the hell did it end up like this?"
The wind answered with a hollow gust, almost mocking me.
My hands were scraped and bloodied. My school uniform was torn at the sleeves. My shoes were mismatched — I had lost one in the chaos below, somewhere near the crater that used to be my classroom.
But that didn't matter anymore.
None of it did.
I took a deep breath, the air thick with dust and decay, and took a single step forward.
Then I jumped.
And as I fell through the void — through what was once my home, my school, my city — I turned my head.
And looked at you.
> "You're wondering what's happening, aren't you?"
A faint smile tugged at the corners of my lips.
Not quite joy.
Not quite madness.
Just… acceptance.
> "You're confused. You're scared. Good. That makes two of us."
> "You want answers? Fine. I'll give you everything."
"Let's start over."
> "Let's go back to the very beginning. To the day I still believed in love. In people. In fate."
> "Back when I was still called Akhil."
> "Are you ready?"
> "Then open your eyes. And don't you dare blink."