“Yusen! Wake Up!”

I felt my whole body shake from hands and forced my heartbeat to settle. Sitting up and rubbed the blur from my eyes I waved dismissingly at the person beside me. My nerves slowly calmed and I took in my surroundings, a bus station just outside the mall.

“Geez, we were about to miss the bus. I thought I told you to get better rest!”

My eyes wondered to the person throwing worried remarks at me and I could feel myself soften. A young girl in a messy ponytail no older than 17 scowled grumpily at me. I had to resist the urge to just hug her and breakdown. After all, there was work to do.

“Sorry, sorry. I know, I just couldn’t sleep because of how excited I was about walking around and shopping with you for several hours without rest.”

Sarcasm dripped from my voice as I took in my surroundings. I remember it all so clearly, the bus before us with its doors open. Of course, I wouldn’t be getting on. I knew what was going to happen. I looked back to the girl pestering me and poked her in between the eyebrows.

“How about you let your older brother buy you some Mandoo from that shop by the subway station.”

I watched as her eyes went from anger, to happiness, to suspicion. I felt pain swell in my chest, reminding me at how long its been since ive seen her expressions. Pushing it down, I covered it with a laugh.

“What? Don’t want it? I thought you love that place.”

“I do but…” Her eyes narrowed a bit. “Isnt that the opposite way, we’d have to walk 3 more blocks to get to the station. And you hate walking…”

That may have been true for the past Yusen, but after having walked across the country and back made me realize that in hindsight, three blocks isn’t that much.

“Well I recently got a good pay, meaning if you don’t want it…”

“No! No we can go, cmon lets go lets go hurry up!” Like a switch her face changed. Memories of me holding her limp and bloodied body filled my mind and I felt my attention return to reality.

It had been 12 years so the details were fuzzy, meaning that although I knew it was going to happen, I didn’t know the exact time. It could start in a matter of minutes, or a matter of hours. But the time didn’t matter, what matters is that we’re off the streets and near the subway tunnels.

“Do you know what time it is?.”

It was worth a shot to see if it jogged a memory. I watched as she looked at her phone for a bit before turning back to me.

“About half past one. Why? Do you have work? I told you that you didn’t need to come if you were in a time crunch we could do this another day.”

She said in a light tone, but from the way her eyes drooped I could tell that she was looking forward to today. I had always been so busy with work that I rarely spent time with her. If only I knew that the world was going to end, I would’ve quit college and spent all my time with her.

“No, I was just thinking that its going to be busy.”

At that she seemed a bit relieved, going back to talking about something involving her classmates. I felt a bit guilty, after all in a few moment everything was going to go to shit.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

‘Its been a while since ive felt so young. My joints don’t ache.’

I looked at my reflection in the passing windows. The same windows that by the start of the Divine Gallery would be broken and empty. What looked back at me was a young 21-year-old me. My hair was long again, tied back in a loose and messy tie. I use to be too lazy to cut it, but by the middle of the Gallery it was in the way and made fights harder so I simply chopped it all off in a messy mop. My face was younger as well, no more wrinkles from exhaustion or scars from fights almost lost.

“Yusen? Hello~ earth to Yusen.”

A hand waved in front of my eyes and snapped my attention back to Maya. She looked annoyed but more than that concerned.

“I swear, we can just go back if youre tired. I wont mind. I know you’ve been working hard.”

I quickly plastered a smile on my face to try and quell her worry. After all, we’d be having enough worry to fill the ocean soon.

“Im fine, really. Just have a lot on my mind.”

She seemed to be content with that, but occasionally snuck a few glances at me to make sure I was ok. We both continued in silence, and as much as I wanted to keep the conversation up now wasn’t the best time. Because just in that moment I felt a small shock at the back of my neck, and I froze in place.

“Ow, what was that? Did you just shock me?”

Maya rubbed the back of her neck in confusion but instead my senses sharpened. It was the Esther connection, meaning it was about to start. Scanning the roads around me I didn’t hear any screams yet. No panic, no destruction. Meaning we had time.

“Lets hurry, I don’t want to hit the subways at rush time.”

I gave a smile but my movement ushered Maya in panic. If she had any complaints, the look on my face made her quiet down. She was smart and could sense my slight frenzy. She didn’t question, even though I could see it on her tongue. Just a few more stores and we’d be at the subways.

“Kyaaah!”

I heard a shriek to my left and jerked my head to the sound by nature. What came into view was a bloody mess. The introduction to the Gallery. I knew that me and Maya would be safe but the sight wouldn’t be pretty once things started ramping up.

“Yusen what-“

I ignored Maya’s complaints and grabbed her arm. I thought about just picking her up but the body I had now wasn’t the same one as 12 years into the future. She’d be too heavy. So instead I pulled her arm quickly.

“Aaahh!”

I heard more and more screams from around me and I could tell that Maya was now seeing what was happening. I wanted to cover her eyes but things would only get worse from here, shielding her would be more harm than good. The subway tunnel entrance was coming up and I pulled Maya closer to make sure she didn’t fall down the steps and we quickly went into the cold dark.

“Brother whats…. Whats happening….”

She was scared, and rightfully so. Now that we were underground, we could take a breather, but only for a minute.

“I don’t know, but we need to get away from the streets.”

It was a lie, I did know. And Maya could tell. When the Esther first appeared, it linked with every living being on the planet. Of course, not everyone is compatible with this new energy source. And those who were completely incompatible would get overloaded with the energy and… well….

“Yusen I- I don’t think I can….”

She had tears in her eyes. It broke my heart but the first wave was the hardest. I couldn’t use the Esther quite yet because it was a brand-new connection. As much as I tried to bring up the index, nothing appeared. Meaning that for the very first wave it was going to be just their own strengths.

“Maya, I know youre scared. But we have to keep moving ok?”

I wiped her tears away with my thumb, a fond smile on my face.

“I promise ill protect you.”

It wasn’t just a promise, it was more than that but she would never know. She would never know that I failed once before. She wouldn’t know how I broke after losing her. How weak I was. She would never know because I wouldn’t fail this time. I would become stronger, better and protect her along with everyone else I held close.

“Ill protect you so, lets keep moving.”

It seemed to calm her, even if it was miniscule, and she nodded. Her arm coming up to her face to wipe away the tears and a resolve seemingly plastered to her face. She was scared but strong. A trait she had in the past, and a trait she has now.

“Alright, lets follow the underground walkway to the next station.”

After the first connection would be the first purge. Meaning that there would be monsters spawning from the dead bodies with excess Esther. That was the one thing I didn’t want to deal with so early on. Before, they were on a bus with two people having a mis-connection. This left them in the streets which was, needless to say, not ideal.

Almost as if timed a sound screeched from the subway tracks. A loud rumble shaking the tiles and forcing me to grab onto Maya for balance. No more than a few seconds passed before a train sped at deafening speed, a glimpse revealing a disaster on board. Yowls from up the stairs followed soon after, signaling that it was time to move faster.

I held Maya’s hand as we walked quickly down the tunnel leading to the next station over. No one was in here, seeing as it was for workers only. But the nagging feeling of danger never left. What waited at the end was no doubt a fight, I just hoped that I was ready.

[Ding!]

A noise like a notification made me pause, Maya pausing with me. A dark purple window popping up before me with a cheery female voice reading out the text.

{[Hello wonderful users of earth! I am proud to announce that the Divine Gallery has officially been started!]}

It was an annoyingly familiar voice. Her username popping up in my head, Songbird Blue.

{[I am proud to announce that you lovelies have been chosen to be the next Divine Gallery users! If you have any questions, please console your guide located in the news tab of your Esther! Now that you have all been successfully connected, I will now go over the basics of the-]}

I stopped listening, she annoyed me too much and I already knew all of the basic information. But more than that, this meant that the Esther was successfully connected to our world. Meaning…..

[Welcome User: 9038467263][Please set a username when you have the time.]

I ignored the welcoming message and went to my status page. My eyes widening and sticking to the attributes.

[Attribute Points Available: 100]