Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System

Chapter 34: What Exists At The Furthest

Through the back exit of the warehouse, he stepped back onto the street, though it was distinctly different from what it should've been. On both sides of the road itself, there was complete darkness; the buildings were veiled in shadows so dense it seemed that only the asphalt existed ahead.

As he walked onto the isolated street, he heard something peculiar, all around him in the near distance; waves crashing, as if amidst an unruly storm at sea. Yet, there was no such body of water around.

'Just keep moving. Don't focus on anything too much–it's just trying to play tricks on me,' he convinced himself while moving.

With each step forward, he could feel his own body resistant to moving further. The further he tracked the footprints through the lonely road, the louder the sounds of waves colliding became.

Each step he took became less stable, imbuing a slight wobble into his stride as he found his own body withholding the will to keep moving.

Any sense of time was completely lost as he felt as though he walked along the road for hours already, finding it never ending nor did the footprints fade.

"...Charlotte..." He quietly called out, finding his own voice instinctively muffled by his own fear.

Enough of the monotonous walking brought him to a pause for a moment as he stood there, questioning if he was truly on the right path. He looked around, though only seeing the faintest outlines of the surrounding buildings in the darkest of black.

There was something in the shadows above; it moved through the void as though it were a sea of water. As he looked up at the black sky, he saw it; a massive creature that belonged to the seas, drifting in the darkness with its call emitting–a colossal, ebon whale.

Listening to that great, harrowing sound that emitted from the ethereal creature, the crashing of waves that should not exist became more intense.

It was that sight that brought him to a realization at last. He believed previously that perhaps the world was being invaded, that some anomaly brought aspects of the game he played to reality.

However, he felt that it was something else; something even more hopeless.

["This world isn't ours anymore. We're in the palms of something greater–a higher power beyond whatever "God" we once theorized. Cosmic, divine…It's above all of that."]

The existential dread that took hold of his mind brought out a cold sweat. For some reason, even if he could convince himself he did not fear death, the thought of what watched from afar shook that.

As he watched the flying whale pass through the darkest of nights, the expulsion of a breath made him realize the sharp sensation pressed up against his Adam's apple.

"Huh?--"

He looked down to find he was holding the tip of his dagger up against his neck, again not realizing his body had moved on its own as he pulled it away.

"I didn't–I'm not–" He spoke to himself while shaking his head, looking at his own hand as if not being able to trust his own body.

The only way to keep his mind occupied was by walking forward. Even then, he didn't know if focusing on his own thoughts was beneficial or detrimental. He allowed his feet to move, almost disconnecting entirely from himself to shield his mind from the horrors that tried to eat away at his sanity.

'Did she really go down this road? It feels like I've been walking for hours now,' he thought.

In fact, he began to question if the tracks he followed were even real. All along, he used them as the sole concept he could trust as a sense of direction–though what made it any different from anything else?

What he started to question is if there was truly anybody even left. Perhaps he was the last survivor in the city, perhaps the world. The solitude within the deceitful darkness made him question such facts; the complete loneliness made everything else feel numb.

He came to a stop once questioning this possibility, though found the scenery around him seamlessly shifting as his footsteps paused.

The lonely road was now a beach of sand as white as snow; a shore with a pitch-black sea stretching endlessly ahead.

"What…?" Finn weakly uttered.

Gentle waves washed up, slowly encroaching further and further upon the shore. Finn stepped back as the black substance inched closer as a sinking feeling swirled in his gut. He stood there as the waves halted, instead witnessing the liquid whirl around one spot in the center of the abyssal sea.

The calls of whales echoed through the sinister wind like a siren beckoning the darkness.

A feeling of complete dread washed over the young man of sanity lost, inducing a feeling that brought one thought to his mind–

'Something terrible is coming,' he thought.

The once moving waves came to a still; a chilling silence befell the young man's ears.

In the center of the black mass, the water vibrated as something rose from its depths; a faceless human, devoid of any features with the physique of a man, yet flesh made of the black tar.

["The Furthest From God…A host of those that died amidst the dreadful night. An entity born purely of malevolence; an unnatural birth of sin."]

Its body twisted itself, configuring the many joints in its limbs as if not completely sure of what the proper form it should take was. Seeing that unholy figure rise from the void, Finn didn't know what to make of it.

'Is this another trick? Is it real?' He questioned.

What couldn't be mistaken was the dread that instilled itself within him at the sight of what rose from the dark depths. He stepped back, hoping that he could end up back on that lonely road, as long as it was away from whatever it was that had risen from the abyss.

Though it looked made of tar and grime, the faceless humanoid moved its arms as its shoulders popped in-and-out of its sockets, making a "click" of bones with its abnormal adjustments.

Even though he had backed away, the sensation of the cold water washing over his feet made his skin crawl. He found himself standing amidst that wave that crept on the shore, ensnared in the abyss with the enigmatic entity looking right towards him.

It was enough to make him want to simply drop to the ground in a fetal position and give up, having more than enough on his tormented mind.

'I don't know what's real or not anymore. At this point…I don't care. I just want it to end,' he thought, looking down as the abyssal water rushed by his boots.