The sound of heavy footfalls hitting small puddles of water was buried beneath the torrent of heavy rain.
Yet Grey walked under the immense pressure of the weather, not because he enjoyed being soaked—which had occurred despite holding up an umbrella that trembled violently from the force of the rain—but because he wanted to go out for some proper food.
His gaze trailed down to the white nylon bag he had around his wrist, pressed closely to his body.
"Shit! I didn’t know I would get this wet walking to a convenience store just down the street." He whispered to himself, his teeth chattering under the pressure of the cold as it finally caught up to him.
A low hiss escaped his lips as he imagined getting soaked under this immense rain once again when he had to return to classes tomorrow.
"It has been raining non-stop for three days now. How annoying." He grumbled as the large, familiar building of his hostel came into view up ahead.
It was hard to see through the thick curtain of rain, and only thanks to how many times he had walked these streets was he able to avoid missing his way, which was somewhat strange for Grey.
He neared the building until he reached the small black gate of the hostel, which had been left open, swinging loosely on its hinges with a low screeching sound as it swayed from the force of the rain.
Grey simply walked past the open gate, paying it no attention.
He took only a few steps before he came to a halt.
At the sight before him, his breath hitched, the reason for his hostel almost looking invisible in the distance now coming clearly into view.
The power was out. Still, that was something that could be considered normal with the relentless rain they had been having.
However, it was quiet... Too quiet.
And for a boys’ hostel at nine p.m., that was certainly strange.
’It’s probably being downed by the rain,’ Grey said to himself, suppressing the well of unease rising within him as he continued to approach the building, taking out his phone and switching on its torch for light.
He reached the main door to the building and stretched his pale hand towards the knob...
Grey stopped, noticing the door was slightly open.
’What a prick, leaving the door open. Does the fool that went out last want to drown the passageway?’ he grumbled to himself, pushing the door open before stepping inside and shutting it behind him.
The noise had reduced at this moment, the rain feeling distant, and yet, the hostel was still dead silent.
This made Grey... linger for a moment.
"What’s happening here?" He whispered to himself, refusing to take a single step forward.
His eyes glanced around as questions flooded his mind.
Was this some sort of sick prank? Or maybe the toll of watching too many horror films was finally upon him.
Grey rubbed his eyes as the second thought crossed his mind, already regretting it.
And then...
Ding!
His eyes sprang open in a rather shaken expression than one of stunned surprise, as this was the first sound he had heard aside from the rain for a while.
He stared forward, eyes fixated on the blue holographic screen before him...
It had a few strange symbols on it, ones that Grey could barely understand, aside from the fact that they looked hand-drawn.
He raised a finger toward it and—
It moved.
The symbols spun erratically, changing shape with each passing millisecond, until finally transforming into a number of letters Grey could finally understand.
He jerked his head back slightly, taking a few steps backward, his boots causing the wooden boards to creak beneath his movements.
"What is this?"
[ Mana overload has collapsed into your world ]
"Mana evolution?" Grey repeated the words on the status screen, and immediately, it flickered again, words across it changing.
[What has happened: Everything in the world will now undergo a Great Evolution that will change the entirety of your planet.]
[Your world will fall into an endless apocalypse.]
[Goal: Survive the first one hour of the apocalypse.]
[Reward: Undetermined.]
Grey was simply dumbfounded by the information this strange status screen brought him.
An Evolution! Apocalypse! Survive an hour!
If this was a prank, it was a really expensive one.
"Okay, really funny—"
Before Grey could finish, a devastating tremor struck.
The ground quaked beneath him with such force that it caused him to stagger backward until he crashed against the door behind him with a loud groan.
The entire building shook violently, practically every part of its floorboards and walls threatening to fall apart as multiple cracks spread across them simultaneously.
Screams echoed throughout the entire building, male and female, so loud they overshadowed the rain for a moment.
Under the pressure of the immense quake, loud bangs could be heard one after another, each one carrying a turbulent force like thunder exploding inside the building.
Parts of the building caved in on themselves, crushing and killing multiple inhabitants of the hostel.
This continued for a few terrifying moments until finally...
It stopped.
As suddenly as it had begun.
The ground quieted.
The quakes stopped almost immediately, like a candle flame being snuffed out.
Grey, at this point, was already on the floor, curled up into a ball as his only defence against the building falling apart around him. Luckily, it hadn’t.
He sat up immediately, his face pale with fear and his chest rising in heavy heaves, so much so that it would have been impossible for Grey to speak between breaths.
’What the hell was all that?’ he asked himself, his eyes searching for the blue notifications that had long since disappeared when the quake started.
As the pump of adrenaline slowly died down within him, Grey slowly rose to his feet, his gaze refocusing.
He swallowed hard, his mind reeling as he struggled to process what had just happened.
When—
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
It was slow and heavy.
A few loud strikes came from the door of the hostel building...
The same door Grey had been resting his back against.
Normally, the sound and absurdity of the knocking would have jolted Grey, but with him still reeling from the earthquake, he barely shifted from where he stood.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
This time, a ferocious growl followed the knocking.
Clearly, the person outside was not getting any happier about being left in the harsh rain.
"Shit!"
Grey finally reacted, hurriedly turning around and grabbing the knob of the door.
He twisted it and pulled the door open, immediately seeing the figure of a drenched student.
From head to toe, the student was completely soaked. Water streamed from his clothes and dripped from his hair, pooling around his feet as he stood beneath the dim light of Grey’s phone.
It was hard to see the man’s face, but from the way he growled, Grey could tell he was angry.
He rushed to apologize—
"I’m sorry, I got startled by the..."
Grrraaaah!
The drenched man suddenly pounced on Grey, his hands digging mercilessly into his shoulders as he pulled him closer with frightening strength.
"Ahhhh!"
Grey screamed, throwing both hands against the man to push him off.
However, as soon as his hands met the man’s body, he felt as though he had struck a wall.
"What the hell—?"
"GRAAAAH!"
The drenched man let out another heinous snarl, bringing his face closer to Grey’s and snapping his teeth violently at him.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Each snap came closer and closer to Grey’s face, the man’s teeth clacking together with enough force to make Grey’s skin crawl.
"Get off me, you bastard!"
Grey screamed in panic, driving his knee into the man’s body.
But that did nothing except stir up trouble for him.
Thanks to the brief loss of leverage from his leg, the drenched man tackled him to the ground with devastating weight.
CRACK!
Grey’s back slammed into the floorboards, the impact sending a sharp bolt of pain erupting through his spine.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Grey screamed, his shoulders already bleeding from the man’s fingers digging desperately into his skin.
’What the hell is this fucker? How is he so fucking strong...?’
Grey panicked as the man’s head continued drawing closer, each violent snap of his teeth bringing him nearer to Grey’s face.
Then Grey’s eyes met the ferocious whites of the drenched man’s eyes.
The light from his phone cast an eerie glow across the man’s face, revealing something that made Grey’s blood run cold.
His eyes were milky white.
There was no black.
No pupils.
Nothing human staring back at him.
For some reason, the memories of the strange screen played in Grey’s mind once again...
An Evolution!
Apocalypse!
Survive an hour!
’Could it be... this man... evolved into this?’