It was two o'clock in the afternoon. The heavens above were immersed in the darkness of the pitch-black. No starry or lustrous stars twinkled in their brilliant starlight, nor was there a pale moon gleaming with its radiant moonlight. Nothing was left behind other than the eternal night.

Such was the Dark Cataclysmic Era.

The ominous dark sky was damped with a motionless silence. Only the cold breeze of wind whispered amidst the calm and soundless skies. Sometimes, pockets of stormy clouds occupy a portion of the heavens, bringing about an occasional crimson thunderstrike. 

*BANG!*

Below the blackened and stormy heavens was a devastated small settlement radiating in crimson flames that barely resisted the oppression of the endless and dark night. The ruined encampment burned under a raging and dazzling blaze that signified decimation and chaos. 

Nonetheless, only an eerie silence could be heard. 

The settlement was known as New Torrington, a small encampment with a population of 200 people. It was located south of Torrington Town of Goshen County within the Dominion of Wyoming. However, the brimming survivor settlement was nowhere to be found. 

New Torrington was decimated into rubble as its walls became more than nothing but a pile of stone debris. But unfortunately, it didn't end with destruction. After all, a gruesome massacre took place in the small settlement. 

In the fallen survivor settlement that kept burning into sunders were dozens of corpses strewn throughout the encampment. The dead bodies had fresh expressions of horror plastered on their faces before their untimely death. They were victims of the Aberrant Flood. 

Many of the frozen corpses lying on the ground had their limbs and heads ripped apart from their bodies. Some corpses also resembled abominations with bald heads and ulcerated skin, denoting a mutation. 

It was quite a horrifying sight to perceive in the eyes of whoever was left. Especially when the supposed remnant and bastion of human civilization burning and collapsing into mere rubbles. Though... This was the reality of the Dark Cataclysmic Era, where death seemed closer than ever.

In hindsight, despite the devastation brought by the raging and blazing flames, it was not feared but loved by the humans forever imprisoned in the eternal night. It represented the light humanity lost and the warmth that could never be forgotten. 

In the rubbles of a collapsed building were pebbles and dust shifting from one another. Soon, a young man emerged from the wreckage after pushing a broken wooden plank from his body. He seemed terribly injured and looked exhausted. 

"W-What happened?"

The young man aloofly uttered with no emotions in his eyes. After going through so much, he couldn't even feel despair anymore. Such horrifying circumstances were becoming the new normal in his eyes. 

He glances around the devastated settlement of New Torrington. Despite becoming used to the destruction of the Dark Cataclysmic Era, he still lost a place he considered home. He then gritted his teeth before shaking his head in defeat. 

"I need to remain sane. Otherwise, I might die here." The young man remarked while moving away from the ruined building. He was heading towards the house of the settlement leader. That fat pig must have something he needed to heal his injuries. 

The young man's name was Duke Shepherd, and before the end, he was nothing more than an ordinary college student. When the unnatural solar eclipse emerged out of nowhere and reached its totality. The sun disappeared for no reason, bringing about the eternal night.

He wanted to leave his dormitory in Denver and return to his family in the countryside. Sadly, he couldn't. The Imperium Military was setting up roadblocks throughout the major highways of the Imperium. No one could leave their dominion without being quarantined by the military.

The airports also were quarantined, with the military setting up encampments in major population transportation depots. The first day of the Dark Cataclysmic Era was chaotic, and the emergence of a dangerous virus of unknown origin intensified the chaos. 

It was called the Stygian Virus. It appeared when the sun disappeared from the heavens and infected almost a percentage of humanity in a minute. The Stygian Virus was considered a level five pandemic, not of the deaths it would bring to the population.

But through the horrors and abominations, it could conjure with it. 

The people infected by the virus would mutate in a horrifying manner. They would become mindless monsters that had nothing more than the desire to infect others to become one of them. The infected were named the Aberrants. The abnormalities of humanity. 

The first hour of the apocalypse was a terror-inducing nightmare that kept making him suffer even when he was sleeping. At that time, he barely survived with his friends, but he saw many people being eaten while screaming for help. It was something that was hard to forget. 

Duke sighed to himself and continued walking through the path of destruction. When the Aberrant Flood was trying to break through the walls. He wanted to fight to death and took a machete from the shed. It was beyond his expectations for the shed to collapse at that time.

As that shed collapsed on him, he thought he would finally die after months of surviving. The suffering, the apocalyptic age, etched into his mind, and the scars that kept throbbing in his heart. He wanted all of them to disappear with his death. 

However, it appeared that the deadly situation became a fortune that helped him survive the disaster. Duke didn't know if this was fortunate or a punishment for him to continue suffering. But reality stood before his eyes. Since he was alive, he must survive no matter what. 

He kept walking through the decimated settlement of New Torrington. His legs started limping because of his injuries, but he didn't mind the pain. Perhaps it was the only thing that reminded him of his humanity.

While Duke navigated through the ruins of the encampment, he noticed familiar faces amongst the corpses. They were his companions who took care of him when he first arrived at the settlement. Before that, he went through a long journey brimming with tragedies. 

He looked at his dead companions with no reaction and continued onward. Duke already accepted that he was a weak man who could only watch his companion die before his eyes. A loser that shouldn't have been able to live through tragedies. Nevertheless, here he was, alive.

"The warehouse..." Arriving at the front of the small warehouse where the supplies were kept, he gazed upon a blazing hot inferno with dark figures haphazardly wandering while burning. Many of them were blackened like coal, with their flesh melted from their bones. 

It was something that should only be seen in hell.

Duke swiftly backed away after feeling the hot blaze, trying to devour everything nearby. As he retreated a couple of steps, he noticed a lone revolver lying on the ground. Beside it was an arm that had already begun rotting. 

He covered his nose in instinct and quietly crouched. He picked up the revolver and kept backing away from the small warehouse that got decimated. When he reached some distance from the devastation, he sighed in relief and stared at the revolver under his fingers. 

Without hesitation, Duke checked the revolver and opened its cylinder, only to find three bullets inside it. The discovery was a bit disappointing. But in his eyes, it was better than nothing. After placing the cylinder back, he settled the revolver in his holster. 

He glances at the blazing fire before turning his back on it. It was within his expectations for the warehouse to be in ruins. But the inferno before him was too much. Such a hell-like scene didn't belong here. 

'That pig's house should be good.' He calmly thought and continued trudging towards the leader's house. The more steps he took, the more painful his injuries became. He understood that his injury was worsening, but if he couldn't move away from this place. He'll die one way or another.

Duke stopped himself from uttering a single cry from the sharp pain of his injuries. Even with the velvet blood dripping from his wounds, he didn't let the pain affect his mind. Such a skill was something he learned after being injured numerous times in the apocalypse.

After all, a cry of pain could call upon a horde of aberrants. No one wanted to be eaten alive, so most would force their cries or screams into their stomach. Obviously, not everyone could do it. It was an uncommon skill that Duke fortunately learned. 

When Duke arrived at the leader's house, he noticed the front door wide open. He furrowed his eyebrows and recognized tire marks on the lawn. It gave him a bad feeling as his heart started rapidly beating. He quickly entered the house and saw that it was mostly empty.

That fat pig managed to survive and took everything with him. Maybe he was the one who ran away first and abandoned everyone in the settlement. The thought of it made the usually emotionless Duke angry. 

"F*ck!" 

He angrily cursed before a wry smile emerged on his face. His anger dissipated as he realized that he had no chance of surviving. The more he struggled, the faster the bleeding could take his life. But if he doesn't do anything, he'll slowly but surely bleed to death. 

"W... W- What do I do?" Duke quietly uttered as he leaned on some concrete wall with despair steadily forming on his face. He was exhausted. He could feel his body becoming an unmoving brick. Duke wanted to close his eyes and wake up from this damn nightmare.

"Mom... Dad... Old Sis... Where are you?" The emotions held within his heart started welling up. They were beginning to surge, wanting to get out. He wanted to see his father and mother. He wanted to meet his older sister. He wanted his ordinary life back.

Why was he alone? Why did everyone around him die? Why can't he save anyone? Why can he only watch as he loses everything he loves? What did he do to deserve this? 

Duke glanced at the holster beside his waist and gradually took out the revolver. He couldn't take it anymore. If he was about to die from painful bleeding, wouldn't it be better to end himself instead of getting trapped in suffering? He cocked the revolver and pointed the barrel to his temple. 

He closed his eyelids and took a deep breath. It was time to finally end the suffering. The only thing he needed to do was pull the trigger, and everything will end. But when several seconds passed by, the barrel was still pointed at his head. 

Duke couldn't pull the trigger. He didn't want to die. After surviving for so long, it felt like an obligation to remain alive. How many companions of his wanted to live? No one wanted to die, even if they suffered in the apocalypse. 

And yet here he was. Alive, even though he almost gave up his life. He couldn't help but feel stupid, especially when he realized why he couldn't pull the trigger. 

Despite the unending and endless cycle of tragedies and suffering...

He wanted to live. 

| Initializing... | 

"Huh?" He raised an eyebrow and noticed a notification window at the side of his perception, which kept blinking in an interval of two seconds. He rubbed his eyes, wondering what it was. Was his mind losing its sanity? Before he could answer the question, another one emerged.

| Connecting to the Bio-Apparatus... Bio-Apparatus connected! |

Duke's body began glowing in a radiant silver light. He could feel his injuries warming up, making him look at his wounds, which were healing under his gaze. He was surprised by the circumstances, though it didn't end there. The digital notifications continued. 

| Activating Doomsday Base Building Protocol... Protocol activated! |

| Enlisting Unit #01 Codename: Director... Unit Enlisted! | 

| Congratulations on the Protocol Activation, Director Duke Shepherd! |

| Let us start building, shall we? |