1 Humanity's Downfall

Humans.

They are such weak and fragile creatures.

This species has displayed the most intelligence on this planet, but that doesn't mean you can actually describe them as intelligent.

They are slaves to their emotions and desires. They deceive, sabotage and kill one another. They squabble over the most trivial issues.

Yet, somehow, they've managed to stay on top of the food chain. However, there is an end to everything. Nature will soon take its course.

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Note: I used single quotes (') to indicate internal dialogue.

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Manila. Most people are aware that this city has one of the worst traffic problems in the world. Yet its streets have never been as crowded as this before.

That's because today, September 9, 2022, is the first day in three years that people have been allowed to travel. A global epidemic forced nearly all countries to implement quarantine restrictions.

This country's president made an announcement last night, saying "Tomorrow, finally, things are back to normal."

After being stuck at home for three years, people are itching for some socialization and entertainment. They were dying to meet their friends, families and loved ones.

Most people don't care how abnormally hot today is, they just want to go out. But there's at least one guy that would rather stay at home.

His name is Sin. I know what you're thinking. That's a pretty weird name, right? His father gave him that name. His mother, Cindy, died giving birth to him. His father, who went crazy a few years after her death, wanted to honor her by giving the child a name similar to hers.

Sin is extremely introverted. He's 27, and he has a job, so he is able to talk to people when he needs to. He doesn't lack social skills and he doesn't have a problem with confidence. He's just someone who values solitude. But he does have someone precious to him.

Despite his extreme dislike for crowds and his intolerance to heavy traffic, he is pretty excited to meet his girlfriend for the first time since the pandemic started. He and his girlfriend decided to meet at a place known as UltiMall.

Sin's house is 50 miles away so he had to ride a bus to Manila and then walk from the bus station to the mall. He had to endure walking through the city's crowded streets. He felt irritated because people kept accidentally stepping on his black and white sneakers. He was forced to rub shoulders with sweaty people, leaving his plain white long-sleeved shirt with dirt and the scent of sweat.

UltiMall's main entrance was elevated, so as soon as Sin finished climbing the stairs, a gust of wind messed up his hair. He let out a 𝘵𝘴𝘬 sound.

Most of the mall's entrances had glass walls, so Sin caught a glimpse of himself as he entered. He took out his smartphone and informed his girlfriend of his arrival via text. He then used it as a mirror.

UltiMall is HUGE. You'd probably have to walk for 6 hours without breaks to see everything it has to offer. Every floor had pathways, each of which had several establishments on both sides. The paths, when examined individually, have really weird, snake-like patterns.

Technically, each floor of UltiMall had only two main paths, but the design looked so complex that it'd be easier to compare it to a spider web rather than two intertwined snakes. There are also several parts of the mall where the paths meet, in other words, intersections.

Sin was waiting for his girlfriend, Lilith, at an intersection near the main entrance.

The mall's paths were very wide, but not wide enough to be comfortable for this amount of people.

"Now I know how Sardines feel when they're canned." Sin muttered to himself.

Sin has been waiting for 15 minutes and is starting to wonder why Lilith hasn't responded yet. More often than not, she replies almost instantly to his messages.

'What's going on?'

After another 15 minutes, he heard gasps of shock coming from the far end of the path east of the intersection.

"Run! Everybody, run for your lives!" a boy shouted.

He was probably around 12 years old. He was wearing a blue shirt, basketball shorts, and sneakers. He was sweating like a pig. He looked like he'd been running for hours.

Everybody ignored him. But Sin had nothing better to do, so he watched as the boy desperately continued to run, pushing away any stranger in his way.

Everybody else probably thought "Even if there were troublemakers, it doesn't matter. Let's just keep our distance and let security handle it." or "There are no gunshots or anything. There's probably nothing to worry about."

'What the hell is happening?'

Before Sin could set aside his worries, he heard the sound of several things falling. He turned towards the boy who was shouting earlier, and saw that most of the people behind him had collapsed to the ground.

People started screaming and running. Sin walked to one side of the path and stood his ground. There was no hint of any emotional change in his eyes. He calmly assessed the situation.

'Is this some sort of invisible shockwave? It seems to be advancing in one direction.'

He looked around himself to check if there are other shockwaves.

South of the intersection was the mall entrance, to the north was a supermarket, while east and west of it were two of the mall's pathways.

'There's nothing north, nothing south.'

"Shit!" a woman near him exclaimed.

Sin looked towards her. She was Caucasian, a foreigner. She was slightly taller than him. He's 5"8, so she's probably 5"10 or taller. She had wavy blonde hair running down to her shoulders. She was wearing a royal blue collared blouse and blue slim-fit jeans. In the corner of his eye, he saw a young child clinging to the woman's leg.

"Is the same thing happening west?"

She started trembling as soon as she opened her mouth to answer the question. "Ye- yes..."

Sin faced west and saw that some of the people who had started running earlier had fallen to the ground. Even people who decided to hide behind walls and under tables seem to have lost consciousness.

The people stopped moving. They seem to have lost hope.

Sin was about to turn to the woman again, but he noticed that the boy who was shouting earlier has passed out as well. A bald, middle-aged man was crying as he held the boy's body. He looked like he was carrying a puppet whose strings had been cut.

'Interesting. The boy passed out, but the bald guy is fine.'

'Whatever this is, it moves at a slow and steady pace. It's coming from two directions. It seems hiding behind objects won't help. The sensible thing to do is move north or south.'

He faced the woman and said "You have to start moving. Sticking around won't help."

Sin started running north, towards the supermarket. The woman and her child decided to go there as well.

'There's no guarantee that running will do anything to save any of us, but there's no guarantee that it won't either. We might as well try.'

The other people were having trouble recovering from shock. They probably don't know what to do. But once they saw Sin run towards the supermarket, they also started running again. Some ran towards the supermarket, but most of them ran south to exit the mall.

'These shockwaves are slow. But I don't know how wide or tall they are. They ignore inanimate objects like walls and tables. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the shockwaves were as wide as a city or if it's actually capable of changing directions and chasing people. Trying to outrun it is futile.'

'From what I've seen, a small number of people are unaffected by it. All I can do is hope that I don't collapse. Instead of wasting energy trying to run away, I'll just gather supplies.'

Sin checked his phone one last time before gathering supplies. Sadly, Lilith still hasn't responded.

The mall staff panicked and abandoned their posts, leaving all sorts of products unguarded. The first thing Sin took was a huge backpack made for hiking. He then filled it with lots and lots of water bottles, crackers and a few cans of tuna.

He noticed a few people fighting over junk food, alcohol, and even cigarettes. He decided to leave before getting caught up in the chaos.

After exiting the Supermarket area, Sin saw a shop selling all sorts of Western and Asian blades for collectors. He entered and saw that the owner was still there.

"It looks like the world is ending, huh?" The owner said. "Feel free to grab a blade or two. No one else seems to be interested in taking them anyway."

Sin grabbed a Scottish dirk and what looks like an Asian-style gladius. He strapped the short sword to his waist and used an accessory to fasten a knife to the back side of his jeans.

"Interesting choices. There are books there that can teach you about fighting forms and techniques. Feel free to take them as well."

Sin grabbed a few books and shoved them into his backpack. He faced the shop owner and said "Thank you."

"Just remember to pay for it if the world doesn't actually end."

Sin nodded and left the shop.

The supermarket was still in his view. He saw the bald, middle-aged man from earlier. His very athletic build made him look a bit clumsy in the gray suit he was wearing. He survived the shockwave, and is athletic enough to carry his unconscious son to the supermarket in a short amount of time.

'He survived one shockwave. I wonder what will happen if he comes into contact with the other one. Interesting.'

Sin noticed that some of the people in the supermarket are collapsing already.

The bald man shouted. "It's here! Everyone, brace yourselves!"

Everyone ran towards the center of the supermarket. Sin walked slowly towards the center, but chose to hide between the shelves. He wanted to move somewhere farther from the shockwaves without getting anyone's attention. He didn't want to be in the middle of all of those emotionally unstable people.

He saw a woman nearby. She was crying as she left a boy's unconscious body in a corner so that she could run.

Sin approached the boy's body. He attempted to become a doctor in the past, so he does have some medical knowledge.

'Did people just pass out? Or did they die?'

He checked the boy's vital signs.

'Slow and shallow breaths, slow heartbeat, weak pulse, continuously increasing body temperature. What the hell is happening?'

Then, he heard the sound of several things falling to the ground. He was behind a shelf, so he tried peeking at the place where everybody else was gathered and saw that they were collapsing like dominoes.

Sin was only a few meters away, so he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

But then, nothing happened.

Sin decided to open his eyes. However, time seemed to have stopped as soon as he opened his eyes.

'What is this?'

He couldn't talk, he couldn't move, but for some reason, he could still see and think.

Then, he suddenly noticed something before him. The two shockwaves. One seemed to be a gradient of white while the other was dark purple. They were nearly invisible, but he was smack in the middle of the them. The shockwaves seem to have hit him at the exact same time.

As soon as he noticed what was going on, the flow of time resumed. He looked around himself and saw that every person he could see had fallen to the ground.

'What the fuck just happened?!'

*End of Chapter*