After dinner, Drax and Ayla took turns standing guard on the balcony. Soren lay back on the couch, eyes closed, resting, while Riona headed to the small study nearby.
She looked around, finding an old notebook and a pen that could still write.
Fearing she might forget her weird dream, Riona took this chance to jot down the details. At first, she thought the dream, a mysterious vision, might be the result of watching too many dramatic stories as a child. But upon closer analysis, the dream was too vivid and profound to be just a fantasy.
It seemed as if... in this adventure, she had glimpsed a divine secret, realizing she was just a minor character in a story, destined to play a small role.
Returning to the living room, Riona sat on the carpet beside the couch, pen in hand, and began to write down every detail she remembered.
Corin, in the future, would awaken a metallic superpower, possessing immense physical strength and the ability to control metal. No barrier was a challenge for him; even bullets could be manipulated at his will. He was the typical hero, invincible...
Elaira would awaken a floral superpower, not only controlling plant growth but also mastering healing magic. For a combat-oriented Awakened like Corin, she would be an incredible support.
Moreover, various animal and plant mutants, zombies, and natural disasters would ravage the earth in the next few years, continuously shrinking human habitats.
Eventually, the Western State was buried under sand and stone, the Southern State drowned by the sea. Out of hundreds of survivor zones, only a handful would remain...
...
The night was silent, and as Riona thought, pen in hand, she found herself sleepy.
Just as she put down her pen to rest, she suddenly noticed someone approaching. Startled, she gasped, dropping her pen as she exclaimed, "What are you doing?"
Soren's glance inadvertently swept over her notebook, catching sight of the name "Corin."
His eyes lowered, his voice booming and intimate as he asked, "What are you doing up so late, not sleeping?"
Riona closed her notebook, whispering, "Can't sleep, I... was writing in my journal."
Soren smiled, his eyes dark and profound, "Are you disappointed..."
"What?" Riona looked at him, puzzled. His face, half-lit by the moonlight, was hauntingly beautiful.
"Disappointed... that the person who saved you wasn't Sylas, but me." Soren lay back down, his voice deep and meaningful.
Riona looked away, feeling a sense of loss. "There's nothing to be disappointed about. I feel so lucky that I'm still alive."
Soren raised an eyebrow and said, "Is that so? Why do you look unhappy then?"
Riona gently placed her notebook down and replied, "Do I?"
After asking, she suddenly realized his question was odd. In this despair-filled apocalypse, people only cared about danger and safety, whether they could survive. No one really pondered over irrelevant emotions like happiness or pleasure.
No one used to care about this, not Corin, not even herself. Now, being asked so abruptly in the quiet of the night, Riona felt something odd, not unwelcoming though.
Soren silently looked away and closed his eyes again.
Outside, the rain had stopped. A full moon emerged from the heavy clouds, casting a cool, silvery light over the land, like a layer of frosty snow, adding an eerie beauty to this desolate hell.
Riona quietly observed the outside world, pondering over the recent events. 'Am I upset? If I have to name an emotion, then yes, I've been very upset...'
The person she had liked for so many years was protecting someone else in a moment of crisis. Her teammate, who had vowed to guard her with his life, decisively abandoned her when a disaster struck.
And if that weird dream was true, in the near future, she would be branded a traitor, cursed by the survivors of the Northern State, tortured, and eventually killed by Corin in a dark dungeon.
She even wanted to forgive those people, thinking that their actions as a desperate bid for self-preservation, and their motive could be justified, given their hardships of living in such times... However, it was also true that their indifference and self-preservation had crushed her seven-year-long belief, and her conviction of always being on the side of righteousness.
Riona suddenly felt confused. 'What's right, and what is wrong? Do we really have a standard for those?'
After the zombie crisis erupted, the order of the world rapidly collapsed. After a year or two of turmoil, humans quickly established new orders amid the chaos.
Based on survivor groups and armed forces, the only livable land was divided into four states: Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern. Each state had several to dozens of safe zones.
The most habitable Eastern and Northern States had the strongest forces, followed by the Western and Southern States with their harsh weather and geographical conditions.
In these chaotic times, human greed prevailed. Not only was there strife between states, but also between zones.
Due to the threat of zombies and various natural disasters, human conflicts were mostly not over territory or power, but mainly over resources.
In particular, the Northern State and the Eastern State had the fiercest rivalry, representing two of the most hostile survivor zones.
Throughout the years, the Northern State had a kinder overseer. This leader, unlike others, wouldn't easily hurt people unless it was a matter of life or death. They focused on managing the zones to save as many human survivors as possible.
The Eastern State was the complete opposite. Their overseer believed in "survival of the fittest." In his view, during the apocalypse with scarce resources, those who couldn't adapt didn't deserve sympathy. If they were eliminated, it was just saving resources.
One leader had a heart of mercy, the other, a heart that valued benefit above all else.
As a result, many survivors felt that even though the Northern State seemed weaker, it would eventually win. They viewed the Eastern State as ruthless, almost like bandits, bound to lose to righteousness in the end.
Riona used to think this way too.
She stuck to her beliefs, supporting her base's principles, thinking of herself as the righteous one, and the others as the wrong.
Soren had once joked, "In these chaotic times, there's no such thing as absolute right or wrong."
She had countered, "At least on this land, at this moment, I am doing the right thing, and you are doing it wrong."
The Northern State did the right thing – just, humane, a beacon of light... but the real outcome? Those who had served well were discarded, and the innocent suffered without anyone to defend them...
Even Corin, who had always claimed to be fair and just, ended up trying to take over the regime by war and murder. Lots of people during because of it, and finally, with brutal force, he took over those remaining safety zones one by one.