A Glimpse of Annihilation
Thankfully, the stunt I'd pulled hadn't spread far and wide.
But those in the know were well aware.
First up was Princess Banasi, ever the imperial with her network of informants. She showed up with a lollipop in her mouth, grinning at me like a cat that got the cream.
"See? Why'd you join a club like that? Come to mine instead? Oh, right. You can't."
She seemed to think I'd lost my mind over some taunt from a lowlife.
Well, if that's how she saw it, all the better.
But that smug attitude of hers? Infuriating.
"Um, Your Highness?"
"What? Why the sudden formality...?"
"You think I wouldn't pull something like that outside the club too?"
"......"
"Watch yourself."
Princess cut!
"Hey. You okay?"
"I'm fine."
"You sure?"
The other princess, Adria, had somehow sniffed it out and come looking for me too.
Wait, no—hadn't I come to her?
She was lounging on the bed like it was her own room, trailing after me as I tried to change.
"You're really okay, right? Like, you didn't get swept up in some divine frenzy just because you believe in a god or whatever?"
"......"
I shot her a serious look, and Adria flinched, her eyes darting nervously.
"N-No! I mean, one of the guest professors during my imperial lessons mentioned something like that..."
"Who was it? Drag 'em here right now. What, you think I'm some barbarian?"
Why was everyone treating me like this?
I shooed Adria out—even as she tried to follow me into the bathroom—and finally got to wash up.
My reflection stared back from the mirror. A jagged scar ran across one arm where the flesh had torn open.
Sigh...
Humiliating mark.
Should I erase it?
Nah. Better to leave it. I could always heal it later anyway.
If that impulse ever surged again... I'd need this scar to snap me out of it.
"Eodukshini. You done washing now...?"
-Munch munch?
Eodukshini looked up, mouth stuffed full of cake.
Next to it sat a girl with purple hair. Our eyes met, and Jenella—eyes gleaming like a witch's—shot to her feet and marched right up to me.
"Uh, whoa?"
"Strip."
"Pardon?"
"I said strip."
"I'm not hurt anywhere."
"I need to see for myself with my own two eyes. Strip! Now!"
"Kyahaaah! Help! Somebody save me!! Hey! Eodukshini! I told you to guard the door!"
-Munch... Even guard dogs get fed...
"You little shit!"
"Hurry up and strip!"
"I just put these on!!"
Somebody save me!!
* * *
"You're resting today. Don't move a muscle."
Hey, hold on.
"You're a patient today."
This was unfair. I'd healed up fine already!
I let out a deep sigh.
In the end, Jenella had caught me. No eating or stripping involved, but I'd been sealed to the bed.
"Thirsty? Just say the word. I'll get you water. So relax and sleep."
"I have homework."
"I'll do it for you. History, right? That's just copying stuff down—I can handle it."
How'd you know that? Our eyes met with Ashy, who'd slipped into the room unnoticed. She winked playfully.
You sneaky culprit!
No wonder she always knew my schedule and assignments.
"Now sleep. Or I'll make you."
"How're you gonna—ow, fine. I'll behave and sleep."
Not sleepy, though. Still, she was going this far for me, so I closed my eyes obediently. Eventually, sleep would...
"Snore..."
Out like a light.
I could see myself sleeping.
Wait.
Why could I see myself?
Like my soul had detached, I was floating above my body. Jenella? Ashy? No one noticed me.
I glanced around. This was the dorm, right?
It wasn't just my view that had changed. The background around me had shifted too. Surrounding me was...
The vast cosmos.
A universe swirling with dozens of colors, so blended it looked pitch black. Amid the void, countless stars, distant suns, and dozens of planets drifted by.
A shattered star fragment floated past me lazily. Without thinking, I reached out. It brushed my hand.
ZZZT!
A burst of static noise.
My vision shifted again.
......Dust swirled in the wind. Every living thing on the blackened ground lay dead.
Where the hell was this?
"......"
Speechless, I stared at the scene before me.
A ruined world. If the Calamity Arcana warned about descended, would it look like this? A horrific, empty wasteland.
No. Not entirely empty.
Two figures remained in this apocalypse. Or maybe just one.
"......Hic, guh-huhk. Huhk..."
Left arm covered in wounds and scars, right arm a tattered rag that barely resembled one anymore. Face scarred beyond recognition. Height about my size now.
Worn robes. A man I'd never seen knelt with eyes closed, cradled in a woman's arms.
And he was already dead.
A stranger's face. But... why so familiar? I stared blankly.
Scarred but intact hands gripped a sword, propped up like a crutch.
As if he'd fought to the very end.
...The land isn't dead.
It wasn't stained black. It was covered in black.
Corpses.
What kind of monster corpses were these? Even in death, their mere presence tainted the world and air. And there were enough to blacken the entire planet.
Soot clung to the man's sword.
No way... Had he taken them all down alone? Enough to blanket this whole land?
The woman sobbed, clutching his crumbling body tighter. She held the collapsing corpse and wailed.
-Huhk, hic, guh-huhk... Eugene... wake up... please? Come on, please wake up... Hea, healing won't work... Healing... Res, resurrection... You said you wouldn't die... You promised... We were gonna get married...! After it all ended, you'd confess to me in person...!
What? Eugene? She cried my name desperately, fumbling over his body. Red Divine Power—unique to War God's priests—burst from her, but it did nothing.
He was already dead.
No god, no sole priest could revive the dead.
Her despair-filled eyes stared into the void. Met mine. A woman I'd never seen.
But... familiar somehow.
-...You're the culprit.
Blue hair, shed of all youthfulness—a mature woman. And... red eyes like mine.
My waist burned hot.
I turned instinctively. Someone stood behind me.
-So that's why my pawn moved on its own. An uninvited guest.
Dust. Dust. A humanoid made of it—or was it even human? Just something shaped like one—looking down at them.
That was... the Calamity. Harbinger of the world-ending Calamity.
Dust's face twisted.
Laughing? Angry? Indecipherable emotion as it roared.
-■■ ■■ ■■!!
With the roar, my body was flung back.
"!!!!!!!!"
"Wh-What?!"
"Eugene!!"
No, not flung—ejected. That felt right? Or not. I didn't know.
Like waking from a nightmare, I was drenched in sweat, gasping for air.
My heart pounded like it would burst. My whole body burned.
Jenella, Adria, and Ashy rushed over.
"Calm down!"
"Hah, hah..."
"Eugene!!"
Ashy hugged me tight, pressing my head to her chest like checking my heartbeat, patting my back.
Why? Why so familiar?
From today? No. Deeper, like from ages ago.
"What happened? Nightmare? You?"
"Priests don't usually have nightmares... Was it a divine revelation?"
"Eugene. Check your blessing."
At her words, I hurriedly checked my War God's Blessing.
The blessing that always buzzed energetically around me, protecting my body... was weakened.
"It's... weaker..."
"......Probably from what happened earlier."
Ashy stroked my back reassuringly.
"Strengthening it now just pulls from future reserves. It has to weaken for a bit."
Like limbs bound. And this was just a little dip?
What if it vanished entirely?
Helplessness crushed my shoulders. Ashy sensed it, relaxing her posture and cradling my head so I could lean comfortably.
"There. Calm down a bit. I'll hold you."
"......Me too."
"I got here first."
"Then I'll take the back..."
Something pressed against my back.
Normally I'd freak, but I had no energy left.
I just closed my eyes, leaning into them.
"......Ugh, damn near-couple vibes."
"Wanna join, Adria?"
"You nuts?!"
Familiar. Warm. But a nagging disconnect. The 'me' now and some other 'me'—their versions of her overlapping.
Her scent, aura, mana, feel, touch... all of it.
I opened my eyes and looked up at Ashy.
"Better now?"
Ashy's face overlapped with that beautiful woman's.
Blue hair and deep blue eyes... no, red eyes like mine.
Unthinkingly, I reached up and caressed Ashy's nearby cheek. Far more familiar than usual.
"What? Something on my face?"
Ashy tilted her head but didn't pull away.
......Disconnect. Identical yet subtly off.
But one thing unchanged...
The way she looked at me.
"......What're you two doing? Dating right in front of us? Jenella?"
"Not feeling well. Thanks, Jenella."
"Uh, y-yeah?"
I patted Jenella's cheek too, then burrowed back under the covers.
"Patient's sleeping."
"Hey!"
What the hell was that?
How did past-me die before regressing? What was I to Ashy? Why her red eyes like mine? Who was that Dust?
Head spinning. Body burning. I wanted to bolt back to the temple now.
There—in my home—I could relax more than ever.
A hug.
Something cool on my forehead. A damp cloth. Eodukshini placed it gently, adding its weight to keep it steady.
I closed my eyes.
Nothing but darkness. No more of that landscape.