The morning had dawned clear and cold, except the smell of decay spread in every corner. The Andaman Nicobar Islands, the last place on Earth not yet invaded by otherworldly monsters.
Thousands of makeshift tents adorned the shore, with soldiers moving in and out to check the sea and forest. A solemn atmosphere of suppressed panic could be felt for miles.
If the data collected by military scavengers was correct, a terror the size of a city was moving in their direction.
"No one can fight against it, not even the gods."
"Rudra, what are you saying? Quickly, apologize to the lord!"
Rudra turned to look at his old grandma, now kowtowing before an idol of Lord Krishna. Preserver, they called him, but when people needed him, he seemed to be in a deep sleep. Perhaps he didn't find it worth saving anyone.
"Or more like this Earth has no one worth saving."
Ah, Grandma had a weird ability to read all his thoughts. Rudra donned his last wearable uniform and exited the tent.
"Oh my, who is this? Major Rudra Singh, isn't it?" A female voice called out as Diya, another major, walked out of her tent. Rudra glanced at her briefly before turning to look at the turbulent sea.
The arrival of the terror was evident in the high tides; now, the question was how much time it would take to reach them.
"General assumptions suggest it will take at least a day to reach us. But the tides now show it will take a maximum of four hours to reach the land."
Rudra could see a huge dark cloud miles away. It was not an unfamiliar phenomenon to him. Every terror was accompanied by tides of terror kin and a dark cloud of lightning.
Divya had a nonchalant look on her face, which didn't surprise Rudra. Every soldier he met had the same expression.
Was it because they had no fear?
No, of course not! They had fear, but above all, they had accepted that fear. Slowly, this made them indifferent to what was happening around them.
It was not easy for them to watch what they swore to protect being destroyed as mere bystanders.
"It was the best of times, Rudra… and it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness too... but that time had life. Now we don't have it."
Divya looked at his tent before continuing, "Not everyone is like you, Rudra, thinking your dearest is still in the tent, nagging you to do what you hated in the past. So please don't look at me with those eyes screaming pity."
Rudra stared at the receding back of Divya for a few moments. Her words hammered in his ears with a deep sense of loss that he tried to forget by allowing the curse to manipulate his wishes.
The luckiest people in this world were those who died at the start of the doom. For them, life ended before they could decipher what was happening. Rudra pitied them before, but not now.
One lesson he learned in the three years of doom was that 'pity' is something humans invented to make themselves happy by believing there were people with lives more horrible than theirs.
If there were no such people to pity, then the next in need of pity would be ourselves. That's why he always tried to find it from others, so he could move forward thinking perhaps he himself had better times even in this doom.
"Divya is a major. But she is also a woman. It's not easy for her to fight against these doom monsters." Rudra shook his head while moving toward the front line to prepare for the last battle before death.
*
*
The end began ten years ago. Nature's wrath tore the world apart, stripping the earth of its resources and pushing nations into brutal wars. Half of humanity perished, not in a blaze of glory, but in a slow, agonizing decline.
Just as the last survivors resigned themselves to a nuclear winter, the first doom monster appeared—a pair of legs that stomped New York City into a puddle of ruins.
Nothing mankind had created could stop this abomination. North America vanished by the year 3000, leaving the world in a state of panic.
Governments scrambled, their fear driving them to forge even deadlier weapons. After three grueling years, a coalition army from six continents finally managed to obliterate the monster—at the cost of millions of lives.
But the victory was short-lived as the abomination reappeared in Australia, this time with a torso.
The horrifying truth dawned on everyone—each time they killed this monster, it revived in a new place, with more body parts. If left unchecked, it would seek out human cities, trampling them in its path.
Optimists clung to the hope that humanity would find a way to fight these creatures, but as more abominations emerged, that hope withered away.
Humans, once the earth's masters, were now cornered into this tiny island, waiting to be feasted upon by these monsters.
'Ironic, isn't it?'
"How the hell do we fight that?" someone shouted near Rudra, their voice trembling as a colossal giant approached.
Humanity had killed it four times, only to give it a complete body, perfect for crushing them. Now, the first abomination had returned, ready to annihilate the last remnants of humanity.
'Is this what they meant by 'fate'?'
Rudra felt an unexpected pity for the creature. What would it do after devouring every living being? Wouldn't it starve? Perhaps it would turn on its own kind.
His gaze shifted to smaller versions of the giant, swimming through the ocean waves. He pitied them too.
'Poor things… destined to be eaten by their own father…'
'At least we humans never sank to cannibalism.'
Rudra smiled, arms outstretched, as a massive shadow loomed over him. A heavy foot came down, crushing him along with the last of humanity.
Earth ended in 3014, no more like humans disappeared in 3014.