I never imagined how the world would fall.
Let's say it crossed my mind before, but I was one of those people who thought, "Nah, I'd be dead before that happens."
I should rethink my beliefs and improve on what I already know.
Come to think of it. I'm already dead.
And the world fell.
My throat suddenly felt sore.
To be honest, I don't remember how it happened.
The last thing I could recall was reading the buzzing alert from the government. It warned all citizens to stay indoors and locked all doors and windows. If possible, bar them and remain in a safe place until further notice.
But that was all. The events that happened right after were removed from my memory. And for some reason, I couldn't understand why I was tasting some dust on my tongue right now.
With a groan, I forced my eyes open, gasping.
My head felt heavy, and sand was everywhere around me.
An awful bright light made me blink rapidly.
The next thought that flashed through my mind was Fifi.
"Fi—" I choked, heaving myself to get up while sand fell from my skin and clothes.
I coughed out a great deal of it.
Heat crept on my skin. It was that kind of heat that didn't burn but was enough to cause sweat to come out from the tiniest pores all over my body.
I could see some invisible energy from the sun. It made me feel suffocated.
"Dammit," squinting, I pushed the last strand of energy I could muster to get to my feet. "Where the hell am I?"
Looking toward the sky, a shrill voice rang from the horizon.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
A tiny twinkle slowly took shape, and before I could avoid it, a heavy load landed on me, sinking me back into the sand.
Trying to wriggle myself free, I came in contact with something soft. It made me panic, but it was too late to withdraw my hand.
To be honest, I wanted to squeeze it.
But letting a man's imagination run wild was a dangerous prospect.
"Eh?!"
Wham!
I sunk deeper into the sand, my headache doubling as stars floated above me.
But the voice sounded unfamiliar.
Before I could try anything again, the woman got off me. My horror came back a thousandfold when I realized what that soft object was.
Wham!
The sand went inside my mouth, and I coughed terribly.
"St-stop!" I exclaimed, putting my hands in an X to show her, whoever this woman who fell out of the sky was, that I surrender.
My chest heaved in and out.
I slowly made eye contact with the other person with me and tried not to ogle.
Damn.
She was pretty hot.
I looked away, the heat on my face making me look like a tomato perhaps. Or a red hot pepper.
The woman sitting across from me had long hair which cascaded from her shoulders down to her back. Her slender body was only slightly covered by the dress she had on.
Her large breast was a sight to behold. It was difficult for me to look at her face without the urge to look down.
Pervert.
Jerk.
I let my gaze wander above, pretending to search for something, so I had a reason not to focus on the woman before me.
Who the hell was she anyway?
Did we die together?
"Seriously, Exo?"
Exo?
Shifting back my gaze, I put a hand over my mouth.
"No way," my eyes were probably bulging out of their sockets. "Fifi?"
Fifi narrowed her gaze towards me.
"In the flesh."
I gulped nervously.
"What happened to you?"
Folding her arms over her chest, I kept my gaze level with hers.
Suddenly horrified about my actions earlier, I was at a loss. I sat there looking like an idiot and feeling like a total jerk.
"Of course," she scoffed. "As usual, you have no memory of it."
It was my turn to scoff.
"And that's my fault?"
Instead of giving me a response, Fifi, the adult version, rolled her golden eyes before getting to her feet. She patted at her thighs and behind to remove the sand that stuck on her apparel and skin.
I did the same, resisting the urge to keep staring at her new form.
Despite being too beautiful to look at now, I preferred her child-like version.
It wasn't difficult to look at her then.
She went back to folding her arms over her chest, pouting her lips as she looked away.
I blew out a sigh, helping myself to get on my feet.
"What did I do this time? And could you please tell me where the hell this place is? What happened?"
Fifi kept on ignoring me. I had no choice but to get a better view of the place, trying to draw on any possibility of the cause.
Logically, Bronn would have dealt with the portal himself. He did it once. Surely, he could do it again.
Like what I have with Fifi, he must have some superpower. Or did he evolve into some awesome warrior or something like that?
The story had gaps. And I wasn't someone close to the guy. Furthermore, he was in Harrith, revered closely like the Divine. I can't just come up to him and say, "Hi, Bronn, I'm a fan. So, could you tell me what you did back then to drive away the monsters who tried to conquer our Universe?"
I snorted.
Did he fail to close the portal? Was that it?
Did he fail, and so, the monster has successfully invaded, and bam!
I'm back to being dead.
Yet, why am I standing in the middle of nowhere with my humanoid system glowering at me?
I'm calling her humanoid because she's not human, and she's a system. Although, now I'm not even sure if she still served me with the same function.
Shaking my head, I mentally erased that thought. It sounded wrong.
Too wrong.
"You're a constant pain in the head," Fifi mumbled.
I was about snark back that she was my pain in the head. However, a familiar-looking translucent screen appeared before me.
But instead of the mechanical voice, it was Fifi's whom I heard reading out what was displayed on the screen.
[Current Location: Sandy Outskirts]
[Universe: Outer Universe]
[Nearby Cities: Harrith, Oryon, Tollista, and Kashjai]
"Wait," I was left confused. "I don't understand."
Fifi made a face, and she scoffed.
"The old Universe was no more, Exo. It was conquered by the monsters you were supposed to fight against."
I blinked.
"And then…?"
Fifi gestured at our surroundings.
"We've traveled to the past," she said matter-of-factly. "Hence, our task is to beat the monsters from finding that loophole. You know, before they could make a portal. Again."
I held a hand, my brain slowly analyzing what she said.
"How far back are we?"
Fifi took her time to respond, her fingers drumming on her temple. It forced me to look away again, ducking my head.
"Oh!" Fifi exclaimed, calling back my attention. "This was a few months before the first invasion! You will get to meet Bronn!"
"Eh?!"