[V1/C1] EXTINCTION

The year 2024, July 7th, 7:45 am, at the tallest mountain in the Philippines, located between Davao City and Davao del Sur in the Davao Region, and Cotabato in Soccsksargen called Mount Apo. A man in a grey jacket, carrying a load of items on his back continues to breathe heavily as he climbs the top of said mountain. "Huff... Huff..." He continued to pant as if he were on his last legs.

As the man continued to climb to the top, a strong gust of wind followed which made him lose his balance momentarily almost falling to his death, but immediately after the strong gust of wind passed through, he regained his balance once more, with a sigh of relief he said, "Phew... Close call" although Mount Apo is said to be the tallest mountain in the Philippines, it is also a hotspot of an active volcano and tourist were forbidden to pass through due to it being too unstable and might cause a huge tremor at any given time.

Surely, the man wearing a grey jacket knew of this as he continued his mountain climbing, ignoring the possible dangers that might befall him.

The man just kept panting and panting as he grabbed hold of the rocks, stepping forth a little higher and closing in on the top.

While climbing, he looked below as he grabbed hold tightly of his ice axe. "Damn... I'm getting nauseous just by looking down below..." He said as he continued to kick off again, climbing the tallest mountain in the country.

Without any harness, the man only has his three pairs of climbing equipment, a climbing helmet, mountaineering shoes and his trustee ice axe, and don't forget his heavy luggage behind him.

One might think he's crazy for climbing such a steep mountain with only this few simple gears with him, alone and with no harness attached to himself, but he came with a purpose; though still unclear, he continued to go up, aiming to reach the peak.

***

The man wearing a grey jacket with an average stature is called, Rey Everlin, 26 years old, a tourist who came from <The Bahamas>, an Island Country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean.

The man came from a long way just to climb a mountain from the Southeast Asia, or does he have a different agenda besides climbing the tallest mountain and, at the same time, an active volcano in the Philippines?

***

An hour later, atop the Mountain called Mount Apo, at its side, an ice axe took hold of the rocky terrain atop the edge of the crater just a few meters away from the mouth of the volcano."Finally!" The man proudly proclaimed to have successfully reached the top of the mountain.

Before celebrating, he held the ice axe ever so tightly with his right hand to remove the hands of the bag he was carrying on his left shoulder; as he removed it, he switched hands with the ice axe and did the same thing.

Upon removing himself from the handles of his bag, he then grabbed its small ring from the top and quickly threw it over to the other side using his right hand.

After he successfully threw the bag, Rey then grabbed a rock bulging at the corner and took a step higher so that his hands could fully reach the end. "Almost there! Just one more step!" He said while clinging to the edge of the mountain.

A minute later, after a long struggle, Rey finally managed to reach the top. Reaching the top proved to himself that he had now become a man worthy of climbing the next tallest mountain he could find.

Rey then looked back and enjoyed the nice scenery while shouting his words of aspirations "MOM! I FINALLY MADE IT! I CLIMBED MY FIRST MOUNTAIN!".

***

Rey's mother is a Filipino woman which makes him a half-blooded Filipino, while he was a small and naive kid, his mom told him many stories of how she and his Father met, climbing together at dangerous mountains and the first mountain they climbed was also the very same mountain Rey is currently on top of.

Rey was also a Mama's boy through and through, so he thought, why not climb the mountain that my mom is proud of? Which resulted from the epic stories his mother left of him before she passed away at the prime age of 38. Long ago his mother told him to go wherever he wanted to go and do whatever he wanted.

He and his family are just a family of three with him being the only son, he takes charge of the businesses which his family owns along with his Father while his Mother being the one who manages everything in the house, as a housewife she's proud that the pair of Father and Son were helping each other in growing their businesses, so while the Father taught him how to manage their business affairs, his Mother taught him to be the person he is now.

***

While Rey was sightseeing, the temperature on top of the mountain volcano suddenly rose, but to his surprise, after turning his back and looking down at the huge crater below, there weren't any signs of it erupting. "Why's it so hot?" He asked to himself while rummaging through his jacket's pockets.

A second later, after going through every pocket, he found the item he was looking for; he then smiled and said, "Here it is..." while holding onto something in his right hand. At a closer look, the item Rey seems to be holding looks like a golden pendant with its outer appearance well taken care of; the golden hue didn't fade over time; yes, it's a pendant his late mother gave him on his 13th birthday.

Rey opened the pendant, and as he opened it, there was only the picture of his Mother inside. "Mom... Look... Your son is a big man now..." He said as he silently tears up, holding the pendant.

Upon reminiscing for a few minutes, the man then hid his pendant back in his jacket's pocket, looking up at the blue horizon with a smile on his face; he said, "What nice weather". Before he started setting up camp, he first took off his jacket and opened his bag weighing almost 30 kilograms.

As Rey opened up his bag, he first put his jacket inside and went on rummaging again, trying to find an instrument. After a few minutes had passed, Rey found a tiltmeter in his bag; he then quickly grabbed it and placed it on a well-balanced rock. With him observing the bubbles inside the tiltmeter to check for any sort of changes due to the rising temperature, he was curious about what caused such a thing to happen.

After a minute of observation, there wasn't anything strange in particular that arose from the tiltmeter, since the bubbles inside didn't change directions; Rey was now taken aback at the mysterious phenomenon which is currently taking place.

"What's this?" He asked to himself, after taking a short glimpse around his surroundings; a few seconds later, his head started aching, his mind in distraught, he was struggling to maintain his focus. "Ugh... My head... It hurts..." Rey then frantically held on to the ground as he kept panting heavy breaths.

"Huff... Huff...!" While Rey was catching his breath, his whole body's systems suddenly shut down, making him fall head first as he collapsed on the cold, stoned floor.