Earth. The world that was occupied by and acted as a home to humanity. Once a planet full of life and beauty, was now devastated following the advent of the Apocalypse.

It wasn’t long ago that the skies were filled with blue and acted as a canvas for clouds to become fleeting works of art. And above it, the tapestry that was the universe as any of the planet’s denizens could look up and be awestruck by the uncountable stars.

But for humanity, such sights were now relics of the past. Things that many would likely never see again as they lost their lives to the sheer violence of their changed world. Then even for those that did survive, the stagnant blanket of Hellish clouds was the only thing that greeted them as they looked up.

For most that did try to get past the orange-red clouds, the attempt would be filled with high levels of danger. But for the one currently soaring through these clouds, these dangers were of no consequence. Staring down at the world below, a girl sighed as she observed the swathes of destruction.

When Hell began their invasion, they had focused on one thing. To wipe out as many humans as possible within the initial attack. So to that end, their explosions had targeted the areas with the highest population density. This had resulted in an uneven distribution of destruction. Where parts of the world with less people or a more spread out population were relatively better off. At least, that was true when it just came to the numbers that died in the blasts.

The part of the world the girl was currently looking at was the nation known as Japan. Of the places that were hit the hardest from the start, Tokyo was especially high on that list. Even worse was the fact that it was a country made out of several islands.

It was bad enough for a highly dense city to be caught in the epicenter of a large blast. It was even worse when the survivors were trapped on an island with the many undead that rose shortly after. And with the Apocalypse, Hell also used its wicked sorcery to ruin the technology of man. Something which meant that all modern boats were rendered useless and unable to be used as vessels to escape with .

Shaking her head, the girl once more took to the skies and moved on. She went around and bore witness to the ruins of humanity’s greatest wonders. The Great Wall of China crawled with undead. Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza was naught but a pile of rubble after being blown away in the initial explosions.

This was the state of the world. Crumbling cities with the Gates of Hell within them. Humanity gradually being pushed further and further into the countryside. Trying to rely on the wilderness to survive, only to find that nature’s bounty was quickly wilting between their very fingers. Such was the change in the climate itself that came with the Apocalypse.

The girl crossed the oceans and came to a different section of the place. But as she flew, she stared at the sky. But what she tried to look at wasn’t the clouds, nor was it the cosmos above the top of the world. Instead, her gaze tried to search for something even further beyond.

“Oh Creator, the damage is even worse than we expected. As Heaven fell, the remaining Seraphim knew that humanity would suffer, yes. But there is just so much death, so much destruction, so much suffering. Even with the aid of the System, the loss of life has still surpassed even our most worried expectations,” the Angel spoke aloud as she continued.

“I can only wonder if Hell was already prepared for this invasion for some time. If their machinations were greater than we gave them credit for. I do not know for how long they expected victory and readied such resources for an incursion of this scale against Earth. But it seems that the widespread destruction speaks for itself in this regard.”

“Oh Creator, is it Heaven’s sin that the System has only been able to do so much? That it is inherently flawed and imperfect? Yet how could it have been anything but filled with flaws in its design? It was Heaven’s first, and last, act of creation without the grace of your perfect guidance? Is it truly our fault that it couldn’t have been better, even as it was desperately made while our home was actively razed?” she asked.

The Angel continued to stare far, far into the distance. But after a little while passed, she eventually sighed. As she flew through the sky, her wings felt heavy and tired. Yet ever since the fall of Heaven, that was simply how they now felt at all times.

“I… I fear for the fate of these children. Even in such dire circumstances, many still struggle to carve a potential future for themselves. Then there are those that go further beyond mere survival. Those few humans who, for better or worse, have found themselves thriving within the Apocalypse. Yet for even these individuals, I am afraid that they may still not yet be ready for what will come next,” the Angel said aloud. “Though some time has passed, the Apocalypse is not finished. If humanity believes that this is currently Hell on Earth, then they do not know what Hell is truly like.”

The Angel flapped her wings as the water of the oceans once again gave way to land. For several seconds, she was silent as his lips became pursed. For that time, she hesitated. The Angel wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to speak her next thoughts aloud, but then decided to do so anyway.

“I fear, however, that they may soon have the misfortune of experiencing this distinction for themselves. I already know within my very being that the worst of the Apocalypse has yet to come. That this is still just the advent of its true horrors. ”

As the Angel spoke, the winds of change had already begun to below. For an encampment of survivors near a certain city, they had already begun to experience this change. Because while the Angel continued to fly through the air, a storm had started to brew near the camp.

—--

Jaco felt it before he saw the cause. There was a sudden change in the air and its humidity. And while he was more sensitive to this shift thanks to his elementally attuned senses, they weren’t actually necessary. No, after about two months of the weather being dry and the area covered in the ashes from the explosion, everyone could easily feel what was happening now.

And so it was that the people of the camp quickly began to gather outside. They all looked up to see what was steadily rolling in from the distant horizon. While it still had a tinge of the orange-red coloring of the rest of the clouds, the stark difference was unmistakable. It was a blanket of dark storm clouds.

“Holy shit! It’s actually going to rain!” one man cried out.

“Buckets, or actually, barrels! Do we have any barrels to collect the rainwater?!” another loudly asked.

Hearing his familiar steps, Jaco turned to see Alex approaching him from behind. As the teen also stared at the approaching clouds, his expression twisted downward into a deep frown. Alex’s eyes were narrowed with clear distrust.

Stolen story; please report.

“What are the chances that these are actually just rain clouds? And that it’s not the Apocalypse sending us an extreme version of acid rain or something?” Alex asked as he stopped beside the Druid.

Jaco shook his head. “I don’t think that’s the case. I think my instincts would tell me if anything like that was the case. But my gut isn’t reacting to those clouds as anything dangerous.”

“Hmm. I see,” Alex simply replied. Though from how his gaze was still affixed to the coming stormfront, he wasn’t so easily able to let his guard down.

Jaco then watched as Sam rushed out and stood on a pedestal to raise herself above the crowd. She quickly began to gesture at different people and streamed out commands to snap them out of their dazes.

“We likely only have a few minutes before it gets here! You five, gather anything that can be used to collect rainwater! I don’t care if it’s a barrel or crate with stuff inside it! If it’s not food or anything important, then just dump it out! And then you, you, you, and you! Gather rolls of plastic or anything else we still have in storage that’s hydrophobic! Jaco!” Apparently having already noticed the Druid, she then pointed at him.

“I want you to go to the west side of the camp and dig as many holes as you can fit. These guys will be layering their insides with sheets! So I’ll ask that you keep that in mind when making them, please!” Sam asked.

Giving her an affirmative nod, Jaco turned and hurried over to the western perimeter. To be most efficient with the space provided, he assumed that it’d be better to make the holes deeper rather than wider. Luckily, it was a rather trivial task for his Ability to manipulate the earth. Compared to constructing the wall and a bunch of buildings, digging out several similarly sized holes was easy.

Jaco ended up making a few dozen of them in total. And by the time he was finished with the last one, the people meant to bring the lining material hadn’t even come over yet. But since his part was now done, he went ahead and made his way back to the crowd.

As he moved, there was a sudden flash of light. Blue lightning arced through the ever closer storm clouds.

One Mississippi, two Mississippi, Jaco began to mentally count. Thirteen Mississippi, fourteen Mississippi, fifth-

But then there was the boom of thunder. Assuming the old rule of thumb still applied in the Apocalypse, there was only a bit under three miles left until the storm arrived. And soon enough after Jaco rejoined the crowd of onlookers, the first drops of rain fell from the sky.

It was unknown what the weather had been like for the rest of the world. But for them, it marked the first rainstorm in the two months since the Apocalypse started. And as the storm was directly above them, it largely obscured the orange-red clouds they had gotten used to. For a few precious moments, it almost felt like a sense of the old normal had finally returned to their lives.

Removing his gloves, Jaco held up both of his hands and titled his head back. The young man just closed his eyes and basked in the rain. Yet even with his eyes closed, his magical senses were still in full drive. In a sphere around himself, he could feel each drop of rain as they came down. Even as they were mid-air, he could already tell which ones would hit the ground and which drops would hit his skin.

For those that hit the ground, he could still feel them as they were soaked into the earth. Of how the thirsty soil greedily drank in as much water as it could. In the back of his mind, Jaco felt delighted for more than just the rain itself. But of how it would open up a new possibility of getting to try out something with his Abilities.

He hoped that there would be enough rain to fully saturate the dirt, and create plenty of mud as a result. That way the Druid could actually see how proficient he’d be in manipulating both water and earth while they were mixed together.

With how scarce water had been, it would have been wasteful to spill some just on a whim. Especially if then separating the two elements and storing the water again proved unfeasible. But his hope was that now he would be able to play with that idea to his heart’s content.

Oh wait, shit! Suddenly remembering himself, Jaco hurriedly put his gloves back on.

In his excitement to feel the rain against his bare hands, he had completely forgotten about the current condition of his fingers. After reequipping them, the Druid quickly glanced around. After it seemed like nobody had noticed, he breathed a small sigh of relief.

Jaco wasn’t sure if his worries were warranted. But the change to his Species wasn’t a secret and anyone could check for themselves, he was still concerned. A part of him was worried that it was one thing to just read it as text on a screen, and another to actually see the physical change to his body.

So just out of an abundance of caution, he had decided to keep that particular detail to himself. Maybe he would soon tell Noah and the other people he actually trusted about it. But he was less keen to share such a thing with the common people, just in case.

Jaco stepped through the crowd and walked up to a pair of familiar faces he spotted. The two scavengers of Sam’s party, Burt and Adam. Though from what he had heard, between their separate responsibilities, it’d been a while since they last all went out together as a team. As Jaco approached, the older Warrior noticed and turned to him.

“I almost can’t believe it. Something good might actually be happening. A part of me is tempted to open my mouth and let it fall in. But we still don’t know if this water is actually safe to drink, right?” Burt asked.

“I think we’ll be finding that out in just a moment,” Adam replied as he nodded to their left. The two other men then turned to look toward where he had indicated.

Some of the rainwater had already been collected in a container. And under the direct supervision of Sam and now Noah as well, a few people seemed to be running tests on it. After a little time passed, one of the women doing so looked up at Noah. With a wide smile on her face, she gave him a nod.

“The water is safe!” Noah called out for everyone gathered to hear. “Both conventional testing and magical senses indicate that it’s perfectly clean and normal! It really is just regular old rainwater!”

With that announcement, the camp erupted into cheers and celebration. Some people were already crying and sobbing as the rain fell upon them. Even as it began to come down harder and soak everyone’s clothing through, nobody really minded.

Not much time had passed since they had buried their dead. And with the known threat of the Chosen’s eventual return, the camp had been a collective knot of tension. But the rain brought out the emotions and stress of everyone present. Even Jaco found himself blinking back the tears as the crying of some only further loosened up the emotions of others.

“Man, fuck,” Adam mumbled as he rubbed his forearm across his eyes. To his side, Burt had already started to do what he just remarked, and had his mouth wide open to catch the rain.

Jaco couldn’t help but smile to himself a little. There were plenty of dangers on the road ahead. Both known and likely even more that were still unknown. But maybe, just maybe, this was a sign that things would somehow turn out okay.

Yet it was then that fate once again proved that she was a fickle mistress.

Because as they celebrated, the young man’s gut instincts suddenly panged with warning. It wasn’t the piercing scream of an immediate threat that could mean death. But more like a creeping sense of many smaller dangers on their way.

Just as the Druid looked up, he and everyone else heard a cacophony of shrieks. Jaco’s eyes then widened at what he saw. Coming from the same direction as the storm had, what had to be over a thousand semi-translucent figures were flying high in the air.

As they very quickly approached, their shrieks only grew louder and louder. Those at the front of these beings were also moving the fastest, so it was in practically no time at all that Jaco was able to identify one with the System.

Spectre (Undead)

Level: 29

“Of course. Of fucking course this would happen,” he bitterly mumbled to himself.

And what’s more, Jaco had another gut feeling as he looked at the many beings flying to the camp. Of the more than a thousand Spectres that he could see, at least several hundred were heading straight for him.