In the dim night of the city, a team of special forces officers was relentlessly advancing toward a building.
"Report, Team 7 has reached the target. Over." The oldest man in the group spoke into the radio.
Kachou stood beside him, gripping his gun tightly, but his hands still trembled. No one said a word; they all held their breath, waiting for orders.
Sensing the tension, the team leader, though slightly anxious, reassured the group. "There's no need to panic. This is our only chance to end everything before the city falls into true chaos. It's also our chance to make a name for ourselves."
Kachou and the team nodded in agreement, but inside, he was still overwhelmed with anxiety. This cult had been causing havoc for months with their terrorist attacks, using strange magic. They had appeared suddenly all over the world, constantly inciting riots with unscientific powers and preaching doomsday prophecies that terrified people everywhere. Kachou had never believed in superstition, but what they had witnessed recently had shaken his beliefs to the core.
"Orders are to capture everyone alive for interrogation. Sergeant Han and Lieutenant John will stay here on guard; the rest, follow me inside."
With the signal to move, the team advanced swiftly and silently, step by step, toward the cult's secret underground lair. As they got closer, strange whispers echoed from within, like a hymn from another world. Kachou felt a growing unease, but he held onto his gun, ready for anything.
"Positions! Sergeant Kachou, breach the door on my signal," the team leader ordered, his voice low but firm. The team surrounded the entrance, ready to storm in. Kachou stood in front of the door, waiting for the command.
"Go!"
Kachou kicked the door open and led the charge, with the team quickly following behind. As they entered, the scene inside stunned everyone. In the flickering candlelight, the cultists gathered around a bizarre symbol drawn on the floor, mumbling incantations in a language no one understood. Their eyes were closed, oblivious to the police's presence.
"Everyone stop! Hands up!" the team leader shouted, but the cultists didn't react. Instead, they chanted faster, their voices growing more intense, as if approaching the climax of a horrific ritual.
Kachou's heart raced. Something was very wrong. The air vibrated with the rhythm of their chants. Suddenly, a cold wind swept through, and strange lights began flickering around the symbol on the floor.
"This isn't good!" The team leader suddenly commanded, "Open fire! Stop them!"
Kachou and his teammates immediately fired, but the bullets stopped mid-air, suspended as if held by an invisible force. The entire team felt a chill down their spines.
What... What the hell is this? Kachou's mind was flooded with terror. He stood there, paralyzed, his legs trembling uncontrollably.
"Fall back! Immediately retreat!" The team leader finally reacted and ordered a retreat.
But before they could escape, the cult leaders emerged from the crowd, their eyes glowing with madness. One of them extended a hand, muttering an ancient language, and immediately, a strange green light erupted from his hand. Kachou only had time to see a flash of green before everything went dark.
What… What's happening? I can't feel my body. Am I dead?
As his vision returned, he found himself floating in a space resembling the universe.
What the… Is this the afterlife? A universe?
"yeh'ma inkra bwaqo chubin cla'qua..."
"Arghh!!"
Suddenly, a horrifying voice pierced his mind. The mysterious language felt like hundreds of needles stabbing into his brain, causing unbearable pain.
"Ghri'ka yoma kta'fo wete rova..."
The voice grew louder, making his head feel like it was about to explode, then abruptly stopped.
Is it… Is it over? What's happening? Why do I suddenly feel… happy? My head feels like it's splitting, yet I find it amusing. What the hell is wrong with me?
Time passed indefinitely as he drifted between sanity and madness. Gradually, though he couldn't see it, he sensed a presence approaching him.
Am I dead? Is that a god? Jesus? Allah? Buddha?
"So, the day has finally come. Are you ready?" the mysterious presence spoke.
"Who are you?"
"I am everything, and everything is me."
"What?"
"Soon, the river of fate will boil, time will evaporate, the gods above will weep, and all will collapse... Only destiny will remain unchanged."
"Hey, what the hell are you talking about? I don't understand."
The mysterious being finally appeared before Kachou, resembling a five-year-old child, its body completely white with no other features.
"What is destined to happen will happen. But... if everything is predetermined, where's the fun in that? I wonder... can you surprise me?" The being's face twisted into a sinister smile. "Now, entertain me with your desperate struggle, Kachou. Hahahaha."
Kachou was jolted awake by a loud noise from above. The sound shook the entire space, pulling him out of his terrifying nightmare. His eyes opened in a daze, his heart pounding in his chest. The surroundings gradually came into focus – a dark, dirty, and damp underground chamber. A faint light shone through a crack in the ceiling, illuminating the cracked walls.
Kachou frantically tried to recall what had happened. He remembered his team breaching the cult's secret hideout, then... that strange green light.
He quickly sat up, checked his body – still intact, no injuries. "I'm... still alive?" Kachou wondered, confusion filling his mind. But then he realized something even more horrifying. His teammates... They had all turned into stone statues, and worse, many of the statues had shattered into pieces. The ground was littered with stone fragments, lifeless remains of what were once human bodies.
Pain and despair stabbed at his heart as he gazed at the familiar faces, now lifeless and beyond repair. Kachou felt his head spin, but he knew he couldn't stay here. He had to find a way out and figure out what had happened.
He carefully stood up, picked up the gun that had fallen to the ground, and warily scanned his surroundings. He moved toward the exit of the chamber, cautiously taking each step.
As he opened the door and stepped outside, the sight before him left him speechless. The city he once knew, once full of life, was now a wasteland. Buildings lay in ruins, roads were cracked, and not a single person was in sight. The sky was murky, covered by a thick fog, limiting his vision.
The scene looked like a nightmare, but the cold air and the stench of destruction told Kachou this was reality.
What the hell happened here? Kachou thought, his heart pounding. He tried to determine how much time had passed, but there was no way to know how long he had been in the chamber.
He walked slowly through the ruined streets, his gun held firmly in his hand, his eyes constantly scanning the surroundings. The sound of debris crunching under his feet echoed through the eerie silence, creating a haunting noise. The silence was so profound that every sound became more terrifying.
After walking a short distance, Kachou stopped in front of what used to be a bustling neighborhood, now reduced to rubble. Abandoned cars lay scattered, weeds sprouted from cracks in the road, and the buildings were nothing but broken skeletons, standing like ghosts of the past. "Is anyone alive?" Kachou shouted, but only his own echo answered him in the vast emptiness.
His throat felt dry, and fear and helplessness flooded his mind. But Kachou refused to panic. He knew that if he wanted to find the truth and survive, he had to stay strong and figure out what had caused this devastation.
He continued walking in silence, tension rising with each minute as there was no sign of life around him. He wondered if anyone else had survived in this city, or if everything had been destroyed by the cult's strange ritual.
"Arghhhh!!"
Suddenly, a scream tore through the silence, echoing from afar. It was the scream of a woman, filled with terror and pain.
He quickly ran toward the sound, his feet moving swiftly across the ruined road without hesitation. The scream continued to guide him through the thick fog. As he got closer, Kachou began to smell the stench of death coming from ahead, warning him of impending danger. But as a police officer, he couldn't ignore a civilian in distress.
When he arrived, he saw a horrifying scene unfold before him. A middle-aged woman, her hair disheveled, was being surrounded by a horde of giant spiders. The spiders, each the size of a grown man, with long, glossy legs and fierce red eyes, moved swiftly toward the woman like living nightmares.
The woman, though she fought bravely, swinging her weapon to cut down the spiders that came near, was quickly overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. For every spider she defeated, it seemed like two more appeared to take its place. Kachou saw her growing weaker, as the spiders began to swarm over her from all sides.
Kachou witnessed the entire incident, unable to hide his horror, but with the sense of duty of a police officer, he quickly raised his gun, aimed at the spiders clinging to the woman, and pulled the trigger. The gunshots rang out sharply, each bullet tearing through the air, shattering the black bodies of the spiders. A few spiders were hit, falling to the ground with a chilling hiss, but there were still too many.
Kachou charged into the fray, firing repeatedly, trying to drive the spiders away from the woman. But he had arrived too late. Despite his best efforts, he could only save her from the last few spiders when she was already gravely injured. Her body was covered in bites and blood, the lower half of her body had been severed. Her eyes were dimming, yet they still shone with extreme worry.
Kachou knelt beside her, holding her hand tightly in his. "Are you okay? Please, hold on!" he urged, hoping to keep her conscious.
The woman weakly shook her head, her breath becoming labored. "No... I won't make it... But... you must... listen to me..." she whispered, her voice frail but full of urgency.
"Don't say that! I'll get you to safety, we'll find someone to help you!" Kachou tried to reassure her, but he knew time was running out.
She gripped Kachou's hand tighter, as if using the last of her strength to convey the most important thing. "The Jade Hotel... 201st Street... my daughter... this medicine... the medicine..."
She gasped, her eyes slowly closing. "Please... save her... she... is everything... to me..."
Kachou leaned in, listening to her every last word. Before she could say anything more, her breathing abruptly stopped. Her body went still, her eyes remained open, reflecting an eternal pain and worry that could never be relieved.
A deep sense of despair filled Kachou's heart. He picked up the necklace she had dropped, which held a picture of her and her daughter on her graduation day. He gently closed her eyes, then carefully took the bag she had protected with her life and checked inside. The medicine was stored carefully, with some characters he couldn't understand.
"The Jade Hotel... 201st Street..." Kachou murmured, memorizing the address and resolving to deliver the medicine to the woman's daughter.
Before leaving, he took a moment to look back at the horrific scene. The bodies of the giant spiders he had killed were scattered everywhere, along with the corpses of many other strange creatures hanging from the webs. He couldn't help but feel a chill, realizing that if the spiders hadn't cleared out the other creatures, his journey might not have been so peaceful.
Kachou stood up, quickly deciding he had to leave as fast as possible before more strange creatures were drawn by his gunfire. With renewed determination, he gripped his weapon tightly and ventured back into the thick fog, ready to face any danger in search of answers.