What happened to the ones left behind

Chimsy and Dae-su Han moved forward with a sense of inevitability, as they ventured through the strange door concealing nothing but suffering on the other side.

The ash and smoke served as undeniable evidence of the ominous reality lurking beyond the door's threshold.

Immediately every one of us stepped through the door, it disappeared leaving us inside a flaming hot place.

This was a strange place. I had never known any place like this one on Earth.

I didn't need to explore the other places the other doors led to, as I learned about them through the experiences shared by the humans who had ventured there before me.

But then there was something that was expected but entirely shocking.

A surprisingly large number of people opted to remain behind, abstaining from choosing any door at all.

Among them were approximately a million individuals who either embraced the prospect of death or were paralyzed by fear, hesitant to partake in the unfolding spectacle.

Moments ticked by as the remaining humans surveyed their surroundings, their faces reflecting a myriad of emotions: fear, confusion, and more.

The events had unfolded so rapidly that there was no time for anyone to even process their thoughts.

Within mere hours, the world had been divided into two distinct factions: those who appeared normal and those whose appearance defied conventional expectations.

And most of the ones that decided not to go belonged to the normal-looking ones.

To some of them, they thought that the whole situation was ridiculous.

"Why should I be forced to leave my home?"

"What the hell is going on?"

They exclaimed, frustrated and perplexed by the situation.

Meanwhile, others who acknowledged the gravity of the situation, but were unwilling or unable to cope with its consequences, had already resigned themselves to their fate.

They had given up hope, recognizing that the reality was too harsh to confront or endure.

As they struggled to comprehend the magnitude of their predicament, many couldn't help but wonder

'If the world we once knew was already a living hell, what do we call this unfathomable nightmare we're now facing?'

Unfortunately, they didn't have enough time to ponder this.

Since the onset of the whole event, the sky had been perpetually shrouded in a sickly, unchanging haze, devoid of clouds or the warmth of the sun.

The very absence of light and shadow seemed to suffocate them, leaving no room for contemplation.

The sky, once a vast and radiant expanse, had become a desolate and foreboding canvas, devoid of light and life.

And yet, with each passing moment, it seemed to grow even darker, as if night itself was deepening its grasp on the world.

This ominous escalation sent a chill down the spines of the already terror-stricken humans, who cried out in anguish and despair from every corner of the globe.

"What is happening?"

"Look at the sky?"

Questions like this rose into the air, at various places in the world, spoken in different languages.

The government, normally a bastion of authority and control, was similarly incapacitated, its officials reeling from the first ordeal.

Many had perished in the first wave of devastation, while others had joined the scenarios.

Only a small remnant of leaders remained, shell-shocked and helpless, awaiting the inevitable demise foretold by the enigmatic projection.

Paralyzed by the unfolding events, they were unable to mount an effective response, leaving the population to fend for themselves in the face of the unrelenting horror.

Even the ones who sought to offer hope and reassurance to their people were instead confronted with a huge hindrance.

Communication networks had collapsed, leaving them unable to broadcast messages or connect with others.

TV screens flickered with static, and phone calls went unanswered, plunging families into a desperate uncertainty.

With no way to reach loved ones, many were left wondering if their relatives were safe on Earth, trapped in the mysterious scenarios, or even still alive.

From the moment everyone woke up from the first ordeal, all attempts at technological communication had been met with silence.

The once-reliable networks and devices that had connected humanity had fallen eerily quiet, plunging the globe into a perpetual state of panic.

As the hours passed, this anxiety had gradually escalated into a pervasive chaos, yet remarkably, it was a chaos that had not descended into mindless violence or anarchy.

Instead, it was a chaos of confusion, fear, and desperation, as people struggled to comprehend the magnitude of their predicament and find a way to survive in a world that seemed determined to thwart their every effort.

And that wasn't even the worst of it all...

The darkness that had consumed the sky seemed to be intensifying, its depths growing more profound and foreboding with each passing moment.

As the shadows deepened, people's reactions varied.

Some sought shelter in their homes, wishing earnestly for the darkness to pass, while others fled, seeking more secure refuge.

Still, others stood transfixed, watching as the world was shrouded in an impenetrable veil of darkness that seemed to thicken by the minute.

And then there were those for whom this eerie gloom was nothing new, who had long been trapped in their own personal darkness and saw this strange phenomenon as a twisted form of liberation.

For them, the encroaching shadows were a familiar embrace, a reminder that they were not alone in their suffering.

Regardless of individual circumstances, a shared fate loomed over humanity.

The dark sky, once a distant menace, now seemed to be closing in, its oppressive presence suffocating the planet.

The very atmosphere of Earth was being devoured, layer by layer, as the darkness encroached.

The once-distinct boundaries of the Exosphere, Thermosphere, Mesosphere, and Stratosphere grew increasingly indistinct, like a fading memory.

The sky's descent was a relentless, unstoppable force, threatening to consume all in its path.

As the darkness closed in, the horrifying truth became clear: the Earth itself was about to consume humanity.

Only those who stood frozen in terror, transfixed by the spectacle, beheld the full extent of the impending catastrophe.

The others, cowering in various hiding places, clung to desperate hopes and futile wishes, hoping for a reprieve from the abyss.

But even the collective longing of a million souls was no match for the Earth's fury, as the planet prepared to engulf its tormentors in a final, merciless embrace.

However, a small band of nomads begged to differ.

These wanderers, embarked on a spiritual pilgrimage across India on foot, believed themselves to be in harmony with the Earth and its rhythms.

And from their vantage point, they witnessed something just moments before their stories turned gray and lifeless.

In the depths of the all-encompassing darkness, two voids stood out, their presence seeming to draw the eye like a macabre fascination.

For a fleeting instant, the nomads beheld these dark shapes, and in that moment, their minds recoiled in terror.

The horror was so profound that it threatened to shatter their very souls, as if the weight of an ancient, eldritch gaze bore down upon them.

Gazing into the abyssal darkness, they felt as though they stared into the eyes of a creature so vast and primordial that its existence defied human comprehension.

This was no ordinary natural disaster, nor a simple case of the Earth rebelling against humanity's recklessness.

I had stumbled upon ancient tomes in the library, whispering tales of entities beyond human comprehension, but had never bothered to delve into their secrets.

Yet, I sensed that it was not the Earth itself that sought to devour humanity, but rather an entity of unfathomable power and timelessness, akin to the great library itself, or perhaps even as powerful as the being who had brought the great library into existence.

This malevolent force had come to consume not just the Earth, but the very souls that inhabited it.

That would make the humans that chose to live through the ten scenarios lucky...

But could one truly consider it lucky to be trapped in a world fragmented into unstable bits, surrounded by scorching hot molten lava that threatened to engulf and incinerate anyone who dared to fall?

A world where the very ground beneath their feet was a constant reminder of the agony and torture that awaited them, should they slip and fall into the abyss?

The term 'lucky' seems woefully inadequate to describe such a dire and nightmarish existence.

The remaining humans on Earth met a swift and merciless demise...

Except for the group of nomads who dared to gaze upon the darkest depths of the darkened sky.

Of the five, only one maintained a steadfast gaze, his eyes locked onto the sprawling darkness.

In that tiny fraction of a second, his mind was shattered from within, imploding under the weight of the abyssal horror he beheld.

In the deep recesses of his soul darkness sprouted devouring the rest of his soul and consumed him whole, leaving behind only a pile of grey dust.

But for the rest of the humans who had no eye contact with the darkest part of this darkened sky, they just had their lives sucked out from them...

And that was the end of their stories; a sad pitiful end that might even be better than those who chose to live and went ahead to witness the scenarios.