A strange electronic beeping noise shattered my peaceful sleep. Strangely, it didn't sound like my usual alarm or phone notifications did. But in the end, I didn't think much about it. My brain was still a bit addled after having woken up.

I turned over and tried to roll out of bed, only to find that there is no bed to roll out of. At some point in the night, I must have fallen out of bed and ended up sleeping where I currently am, on the floor.

"Ugh... Why do I feel like such shit? am I hungover? But I didn't even have anything to drink last night... so what is with this headache?" I moaned.

I'm pretty that last night, I spent an action-packed evening in my room, avoiding my flatmates like the plague.

Getting up off the floor, I reached for my phone to check what that beeping noise was. But, my phone isn't where it should be on my desk. In fact, nothing on my desk is where it should be.

My notebook that I never actually write notes in, is lying in a heap of stationary on the floor, beside where I slept.

"Oh no, My laptop!" I cried, This time, disaster had truly struck. On the floor near my school supplies, lay my laptop... my life's companion. The screen is shattered and a drink that was sitting open on my desk has fallen all over the keys, ruining them.

After a moment of contemplation, where I fight down the tears of frustration, I threw on some shorts, an old t-shirt and some slippers.

I went to the mirror that had thankfully managed to stay on the wall, by virtue of the screws keeping it there, to check my bedhead and brushed my teeth.

Thankfully, because I keep my hair short, It doesn't look embarrassingly bad, still, it has definitely seen better days.

While I brushed my teeth, I stared into the mirror and an identical face stared back at me. Dark red hair, so dark that's almost brown and an innocent face with heavy bags under a pair of bright green eyes. These bags under my eyes are medals of honour earned from my many nights spent last-minute cramming and gaming... mostly gaming.

Right after I finished brushing my teeth, I deeply regretted this decision, because now my breakfast was going to taste like shite.

Moving past that, I began hunting around in the heaps of rubble on my floor. Pushing aside blankets, cups, plates with pizza crusts on them and empty notebooks, eventually, I found what I was looking for amidst the debris.

Fishing my phone from the pile of rubbish, I opened it, trying to check what the notification that got me up was. Yet, when I do open the phone, the screen is blank. There are no notifications whatsoever, which is strange. Usually, I would at least get a text from my sister begging for help, or an update on one of the many comics I read.

The usual way I would respond to these notifications is like this.

A. Read the new chapter of whatever comic is out.

B. Ignore my sister because... fuck her.

Okay, well that is a bit harsh. My sister hasn't actually done anything wrong to me... it's just. She is a package deal that comes with my parents. And... let's just say there's a reason why I went to university abroad.

University has been a real mixed bag so far. On the one hand, I don't do much work which is a nice change from back home. On the other hand, because I applied for school abroad, in secret, I ended up doing it last minute and got put in a shared apartment with a bunch of strangers.

Look, I'm not saying that my flatmates are horrible, they are just... strange.

Turning my attention back to the present, I checked the time on my phone.

"Good, seeing as it's before 8:00 I won't have to talk to August if I make breakfast and head out early enough." I sighed in relief.

August is one of the aforementioned flatmates. I don't know a huge amount about him, all I know is this: His parents named him August, after emperor Augustus and I learned the hard way that you shouldn't ask him about his political opinions.

Although 8:00 is quite early to get up, I have always made it a habit of waking up early. Or, my father made it a habit of getting me up that early for training. I didn't have much of a choice.

Still... even though it is early, it shouldn't be this dark. I've only been in university for half a month so it should still be early autumn. Usually, the sun would be up by now, and the everpresent city lights would be streaming into my room.

But, my cramped little room is especially gloomy this morning. Very little light seems to be coming from the sole window on its far side. As well as the lack of light, there is also a distinct lack of sound. My flat is near the university, in the city centre so it shouldn't be this quiet, even in the morning.

Stumbling through the rubbish, I arrived at the light switch and press it. Nothing happened. I switched it off and on again a few more times before I finally believed that it is actually broken. You can never be too careful.

Using my phone as a torch, I cautiously left my room, careful not to make too much noise and wake August. I wouldn't want to hear another lecture on the benefits of Roman democracy.

There's no danger that I will wake up Kyle, I know this because he usually wakes me up when he comes home at 3 in the morning, after a night of heavy drinking. He usually sleeps till noon so there's no chance I will wake him up now.

Besides Kyle and August, my final flatmate is... well I don't know how to pronounce his name, but I think he was from India. I usually just refer to him as Ghost because I never see him. He is a lot older than the rest of us and works part-time as well as going to school.

Tiptoeing my way to the kitchen, I carefully opened the fridge, only to find that everything inside has gone off. The milk was full of clumps and smelled sour and, more importantly, my energy drink was no longer cold.

A quiet voice came from behind me, "The power is out. Sorry, but everything in that fridge has gone off."

I turned around and saw a middle-aged Indian man lit by the eery glow of a torch. "Ghost!" I shouted in panic.

"Hahaha, Don't worry, I'm not a ghost," He said while grinning. His teeth weren't perfect, actually, they were crooked and yet, his smile was warm and comforting.

"Oh right, kas..." Eventually, I just trailed off, leaving my sentence unfinished, I couldn't remember his name.

"Kashyap, my name is Kashyap." He says with another warm smile.

Behind Kashyap came another voice, nasally and pretentious sounding, "What's all the noise about?" Says a short young man as he walks out of the corridor leading to the kitchen. His hair and eyes are a dark brown and his build is stocky. He seems to still be in his pyjamas, which are somehow more formal than what I usually wear to class.

After hearing about what happened to the fridge, August proclaimed how he will definitely sue whoever is responsible for this over the loss of his steaks. For a moment, the thought crosses my mind to just kill him here and shut him up.

The one to finally bring me respite from that hell was Kashyap, "Anyways... did any of you see that weird light this morning?" he asked.

August rubbed his chin with thick fingers thoughtfully, somewhat like a gorilla might if it was trying to do maths, "Now that you mention it. I do remember being woken up by something like that," He said.

Thinking back, I remembered that electronic noise that wasn't my alarm waking me up, Had there been a flash of light as well? I wasn't sure, "There has been some strange stuff going on this morning." I said after remembering how all of my stuff was on the floor.

Kashyap sighed in relief after hearing our replies, "I'm just glad I didn't imagine it then. I thought I might have been going crazy."

"What do you mean?" Asks August.

"Ok, this might sound crazy, but try saying status out loud," Kashyap said excitedly.

"Huh? Are you trying to make me look stupid?" August asked suspiciously.

"Of course not, just try it, " Kashyap said, sounding exasperated. August had only said a few sentences today and we were already sick of him.

In the end, I decided to take the plunge. What's the worst that could happen?

"Status."

Right after this word left my mouth, a glowing holographic screen appeared in front of me. It hung motionless in the air, shimmering in a mix of blues and reds.

"Holy shit! Can either of you see this?" I cried.

August squints at me in confusion. "What are you talking about? Is this some kind of trick you two are playing on me because I stole your phones and made you vote for me as student council president?" He asked.

"You did what!? Wait never mind, just say status and everything will make sense." Kashyap cried out in exasperation.

I spared no attention to reply. I was too busy staring blankly at the screen in front of me. It looked similar to those of the games that I recently started playing after leaving home.

[Name: Robert Melior

Race: Human

Level: 0

Experience: 0/100

Strength: 12

Agility: 13

Intelligence: 8

Mana: 1

Skills: (Martial arts LVL 40) (Basic Survival LVL 15) (Gaming LVL 1)

Distance from the Edge of the world: 30000 miles

Messages: (1)]

Reaching out my hand, I tapped the glowing number beside messages and a new tab opened up in front of me.

[The collision of worlds has begun. After every world has been merged into one, there will only be a limited amount of space for all of the remaining inhabitants. Only those that make it to the centre of the colliding worlds will be able to survive the ensuing apocalypse. Best of luck, in the greatest race ever devised, yours sincerely, the gods.]

While still trying to process all of that, I heard August's voice from beside me. "Why does it say that we are 29999 miles from the edge of the world?" He asked in confusion.

Kashyap looked confused when he heard this, "That's strange, when I checked earlier, it was 30001 miles.

Putting two and two together, It isn't hard to figure out what is going on. If the distance to the edge of the world is decreasing, and we haven't moved, then it is coming towards us.

"That must mean that the edge of the world is getting closer," I mumble.

"But what will happen when it gets here?" Asks Kashyap.

I thought about it, but there was only one real answer, "The end of the world."