Chapter 1:Nightmare

Strange…

It was a strange place....

Rather than calling it a place, it was better to call it a graveyard as it looked like a land used for the disposal of bloody corpses.

Plains and meadows were drenched in blood. Ravens ploughed through the decaying lands gnawing their beaks upon the corpses covering the landmass.

Shipwrecks and dead bodies floated all across the oceans dying in red.

The white flakes of snow that one was familiar with had overlapped with the colour of blood forming a cemetery of frozen corpses with limbs that could be seen sticking out from the thick layer of ice.

After being engulfed by terrifying disasters, the weather remained the same regardless of the season.

There was no more warm sunshine for people to bask in leisurely nor was there any drizzle that made the parched earth regain its vitality.

The conditions of the entire world were terrible, it was a wintry hell where blizzards never stopped blowing, followed by showers of ashes instead of snowflakes.

A huge and endless crack extended throughout the sky around which fluctuations and ripples were spreading slowly.

If one looked at the world, he would have a feeling that the world was going to plunge into dust and debris at any moment.

Among the corpses, there were some battered bodies with dead and tired eyes staring towards a certain place with a hopeful gaze wishing for him to confirm whether they won or lost.

At the centre of the barren and desolate world, which was reminiscent of a scorched section of hell, stood a huge pillar that seemed to pierce through the sky.

Around the pillar, blood-stained ground corpses lay from which dark mist erupted.

The crows roared around it while feeding on the corpses and around the desolate barren place sat a man with bloodshot eyes leaning against the pillar.

The pillar on which he leaned seemed to be the symbol of strength and standing on something ominous that made one mind go numb in fear.

Cough...Cough...

The man heaved out a dry cough as he opened his eyes.

His vision was blurry and groggy. Witnessing the mass of destruction left behind, his expression crumpled and at the same time he felt pain oozing out from every part of his body.

His right earlobe was missing, a deep scar ran through his left eye over the face. Two toes on his left leg were missing and his body had been riddled with scars accumulated throughout the ages.

But, as if numb to the pain, he opened his tired eyes from which drops of water started to trickle down.

His throat was parched and it burned as if it was on fire. He could feel the expected gazes of dead bodies on him but he could only swallow his saliva while questioning himself with a hoarse voice.

"Am I the only one left alive?"

"Is this the end?"

"Is this the victory we sought?"

A quiet and sorrowful wind blew in response to his question.

He bit his lips and emotions welled in his chest wanting to tear his chest and burst out.

It was the emotion of emptiness that a person encounters when he spends his day and night achieving the desired goals but has never given a thought about what to do next.

The silence coupled with the inner emptiness started to hunt him in a vast desolate place filled with a putrid odour of rotten smell.

Unable to keep his eyes open, his eyelids close due to exhaustion.

Murmurs and hums echoed in his ears giving him a piercing headache that almost split his brain.

His mind which was clouded due to exhaustion was unable to discern whether this was real or an illusion.

[Just for how long can you trap me.]

[For a decade, for a century or for a millennium.No matter how long it takes, I will be freed one day after all your body is already on the verge of breaking down.]

A hoarse voice resounded in his ears.

[And once I am out, everything will be over.]

[Everything you have done to keep me caged will be for naught. All the sacrifices you have made are meaningless.]

[And you who are the only one to survive will be trapped in an endless cycle of worry and misery.]

[Cause I am the end.]

He was still sceptical and didn't know whether he heard the voice for real or if it was just a fleeting illusion but tears of blood started to burst from his eyes as all the memories of his suffering from his birth started to play in the loop before his eyes.

His heart seemed to be ignited with rage.

He clenched his fist to the point that his nails dug into his skin and blood oozed out from it.

Squeezing out his remaining strength, he opened his eyes.

His eyes became bloodshot and his breathing hastened as he tried to hold back his fading consciousness.

"If only we could have known about this."

"If only those bitches would have helped us instead of abandoning us."

"If only I have someone to rely on."

"Still it's not over."

"It's not over and will never be...."

"Not until I am alive. I will fix everything even if it takes aeons beyond aeons."

"As long as I am breathing nothing is over."

"I can't let their sacrifices be in vain."

"More than that I can't let that person down."

The man stood up with staggering steps and opened his parched lips.

"And for you who claims himself to be the end of this world, I will be your end."

"You who brought despair and misery to this beautiful world, I will be your despair."

"Your greatest fear and taboo that will haunt you until the end of your existence."

"You may be the embodiment of Evil but I am the King of all Evils."

"I am the Sovereign of Evils."

His voice reverberated throughout the world.

His screams and declaration were accompanied by showers of thunder and lightning, showing the wrath of the heavens, and the sky split apart to the mighty aura that burst from the body.

"I will set everything right."

That was the last thing he muttered before his image blurred accompanied by a blinding flash before everything in the world started to crumble apart.

....

As if being struck by a nightmare out of nowhere, the boy woke up gasping heavily.

His heart skipped a beat and his eyelids fluttered.

He felt suffocated and nauseated.

After he woke up, his mind became blank for a moment and panting heavily, he started to feel breathlessness.

Even the pillow and blanket were drenched in sweat.

His mouth stayed agape but no voice came out of it as he was deaf.

Sitting in a dazed state and looking around the room, his sight fell on the TV screen where the game Wrath Of Death was displayed.

The intro of the game was being played in loops as he forgot to switch off the TV connected to PlayStation.

Watching a landmass filled with blood and filth, like a burst of the dam, the contents of the nightmare flooded into his mind and he felt nauseated all of a sudden.

The scattered limbs and organs across the land along with the putrid smell seemed fresh in his mind. His hands seemed to be wet with blood and his vision was dyed with blood.

Everything seemed to become real which was too much for him to bear currently.

His stomach churned violently and unable to take in any more, he ran towards the bathroom and took out everything in his stomach.

Gastric juices accompanied by saliva and mucus came out in rapid succession.

Puking out, he opened the shower and let himself soak in the drops of water splattering over his body which calmed his tensed nerves.

He took a deep breath as the water trickled down from his face after soaking his hair and went further down wetting the whole dress he was wearing.

The dream was quite vivid which made it more unpleasant.

'Death...Looming Death..'

He muttered something as he slowly recalled the contents of the nightmare. His body shuddered in fear like a leaf swaying due to the cold wind.

After composing himself, he smiled bitterly and quickly brushed off the dream.

"Is it a side effect of playing the horror game till late at night?"

"It seems that I have been too engrossed in watching anime, manhwa, novels and playing games that my brain is subconsciously picking up useless things."

"I should listen to my mom's advice."

"I swear that from today, I will stop playing horror games….."

"I mean, I will not play games at night."

"By the way, who was that bastard screaming at the top of his lungs."

"And what the hell is Sovereign of Evil? What kind of cringe name is this."

"Even kids with chuunibyou syndrome can come up with better titles."

"Let's forget this bastard. Remembering about that disfigured face makes me sick."

Soaking himself, he picked up a towel and dried himself, changed into his bathrobe and walked out.

He looked at the watch and his expression hardened.

It was almost 5 AM.

There was a common superstition that the dreams which you see in the morning often come true.

Though he was not a hardcore superstitious person, thinking about the dream a suffocating feeling washed over him.

"Haaaaa...There is still some time, I should take a nap."The man changed his clothes and after gulping water from the bottle, he lay on the bed trying to dismiss the unpleasant nightmare while being unaware of the fact that his smooth-sailing life would soon change beyond his wildest dream.