"Signs of natural disasters are appearing across the globe."
Arun tossed a handful of popcorn into his mouth, chewing as the laptop's screen displayed images of chaos—cities submerged, snow blanketing deserts, and relentless storms battering coastlines.
"The once cold land of Antarctica has warmed up, releasing massive streams of water across all continents. Sea levels have risen, flooding various coastal cities..."
Arun's vision blurred as a sharp pain throbbed in his head.
"...Moreover, Africa Continent is experiencing constant snowfall, turning it into a cold region."
"Damn it, this headache," he muttered.
His peripheral vision darkened as the room began losing its colors. Groaning, he reached for the Shut down button.
"People are mysteriously disappearing—"
Before the anchor could say anything more, the laptop abruptly turned off. Arun slumped back onto the sofa, his legs draped over the edge. Fatigue overwhelmed him, draining every ounce of energy.
Is the world really ending?
Has the apocalypse arrived at humanity's doorstep to harvest lives?
These thoughts lingered as darkness engulfed him.
For a moment, he rejoiced at his successful attempt to embrace sleep. With the constant migraines plaguing him for the past week, rest had become elusive.
He thought he would finally have a soothing, uninterrupted slumber.
But...
[Ding!]
[Source of Apocalypse is blooming in your soul!]
[Apocalypse: 10836 - Hive Domination]
[Level: Hell]
[Chapter: 1]
Arun stared at the screen, dumbfounded.
"Wait—what? Hell Level? Apocalypse? What kind of dream is this?"
[Warning! This is a highest difficulty level apocalypse. Please exercise caution in every step. Good luck, Aspirant Apostle.]
A cold wind grazed his skin, accompanied by the stench of rotting flesh invading his nostrils. The taste of something nauseating burned his tongue.
Pain throbbed in his head as his eyes fluttered open.
A faint hum of mandibles clicking and legs chittering echoed around him. His surroundings felt strange and foreign.
A meaty choker encircled his neck, he was dragged forward, deeper into an eerie place.
The walls pulsated rhythmically, exhaling a glowing substance through pores. Their soft white surface seemed alive, almost organic.
"Where am I?" he murmured. His voice carried through the strange environment.
In front of him lay a cocoon, its top opening like flower petals, revealing a green, sticky substance pooled at its base.
"Prepare the human specimen," a melodic female voice echoed.
Before Arun could process what was happening, he was shoved from behind. He stumbled forward, his body precariously close to the cocoon.
"STOP!" he shouted. In a desperate attempt to evade it, he twisted his body mid-fall. It was then he realized how fragile the body he was inhabiting felt.
Barely avoiding the cocoon, he turned to face his assailant.
It was a humanoid insect—massive and bulky, its arms resembling mandibles and its legs curved like a scythe.
The creature lunged at him, its clawed hand reaching out. Instinctively, Arun threw a punch at its head.
Splash!
For a brief moment, he thought he had punctured its head. But He was wrong—terribly wrong. The only thing destroyed was his own fist, now mangled and twisted like a broken vase.
"What is this? What are you?" he stammered, taking a step back, only to collide with the cocoon's soft, pulsating wall.
The insectoid grabbed him, its mandibles snapping, breaking several of his bones in the process.
"You humans are weak, but useful," the melodic voice spoke again, seemingly from nowhere.
Arun was hoisted above the cocoon. He struggled, kicking and punching the creature, but his efforts were futile.
He was dropped into the green, eerie fluid. The cocoon's petal-like walls closed around him, sealing him inside. The liquid surged, filling the space entirely.
"Bio-energy optimal."
"Commencing operation."
Arun felt sharp pains as tubes sprouted from the cocoon's bottom, piercing his navel, chest, spine, and finally the back of his head. One tube snaked its way into his brain.
[Ding!]
[Forcefully stimulating potential...]
[Talent Awakening: 1%... 5%... 10%... 25%... 50%...]
[61% - Error!]
[Insufficient stimuli. Awakening failed.]
"Sigh. This batch of humans is truly fragile. Commence conversion of the mass into bio-energy for the next experiment," the voice commanded.
Suddenly, Arun felt the sensation of countless ants crawling inside him. His limbs disintegrated, turning into glowing particles that mingled with the green liquid.
His legs, abdomen, chest, neck, and finally his brain dissolved into mush.
"Ahhh!"
Arun jolted awake, falling to the floor. The popcorn spilled, scattering like raindrops.
A faint hum echoed in his ears, an unsettling sense of comfort amidst his panic.
His heart roared like a beast, his sweat-drenched clothes clinging to his skin. A palpable sense of death lingered in his mind.
He ran toward the bathroom Stumbling inside.
Arun splashed water on his face.
He stared at the mirror, trying to steady his trembling hands.
"Damn it."
"What kind of nightmare was that? It felt so real... like another world."
[Ding!]
[Shadows of Apocalypse detected.]
[Apocalypse is blooming in your soul]
[Time Remaining 2 days]
"Holy fuck!" Arun jumped back.
"What is this?"
***
Arun sat on the sofa again, and this time, he was surfing the internet.
"Antarctica Meltdown Accelerates!"
"Global Disasters in Recorded History!"
"Vanishing Populations – A New Mystery!"
Various topics were displayed on the user interface of the search engine. He ignored them and started typing:
[Nightmares...]
He quickly deleted it, finding only useless information about sleep paralysis demons and ghostly conspiracies.
[Shadow of Apocalypse.]
He searched again, scrolling down until he found a trending post on social media.
It was a post made by a user called Kronos.
Kronos01
Guys, I'm about to say something, and this is 100% true, so please listen carefully. Starting from last month, many of you should have experienced what you call a nightmare. You might have seen a game-like window informing you about the Record of Apocalypse and its levels. You would have gone through a short journey, and then, after either finishing it or dying there, you'd come back to the real world.
Here's the kicker—you would also have received a notification about how a shadow of the Apocalypse is lingering in the real world, along with a time limit. At that point, you might have thought, 'Holy fuck, what's happening? Should I go to a mental hospital?'
No, that would be your worst mistake. If you successfully awakened your talent, you'd receive an offer that exploits by government. If you denied it, you'd be threatened. For those who didn't awaken successfully, you'd be arrested in the name of safety.
Now you'll ask: What should I do? Here's what:
First and foremost—Clear the Apocalypse . Yes, that's very important. No matter how many times you try, that's the first thing you should do and very important remember if you fail only hell await you..
Second...
Arun read the post carefully, noting how the user Kronos explained the basic workings of the Apocalypse.
Whatever was happening to him was exactly as Kronos described. Everything felt eerily similar like this post was specially made for him.
He still had doubts about the post, so he scrolled down to the comments.
Little Brother:
"Oh great, another 'end of the world' prophecy. Let me grab my popcorn."
Mommy001:
"Did you get this info from your time machine or a crystal ball?"
There were thousands of comments like these on the post. For a moment, Arun, too, felt the irony of it all but remained passive.
Only a few people seemed to support the claim.
After that, Arun searched for methods of entering the Apocalypse again.
Slam!
He shut down the laptop and began thinking.
Lying on the bed, he reminisced about the feelings he had when he was first transported to the Apocalypse.
The sound of his breathing echoed in the silence as his mind churned.
He decided to trust the post—for now, at least—and try entering the other side again.
Although all of this felt childish and somewhat manipulative from his perspective, Arun chose to trust what he had personally experienced.
Closing his eyes, he felt a pulling force, tethering him to the darkness. The air around him cracked, accompanied by flickering lights.
The next moment.
His bare feet touched the soft, pulsating floor. The walls surrounding him were alive, breathing in sync with an unnatural rhythm. Green, glowing liquid seeped from small pores, pooling in familiar cocoon-like structure.
At this point, he understood.
He truly could access this insectoid world.