Requiem of the Forgotten

The world had already started to break.

I ran.

My breath came in short, ragged gasps, burning my lungs with every step. The pavement beneath my feet wasn't solid anymore. It glitched—one second rough asphalt, the next smooth tile, then nothing at all.

Every step landed on something different. Sometimes, my foot touched solid ground. Other times—just a void waiting to swallow me whole.

Ahead, figures darted through the darkened streets. Survivors.

Not many. A few dozen at most.

Some screamed, their voices lost in the chaos. Others ran in stunned silence, their minds too shattered to comprehend what was happening.

One of them—just a few feet in front of me—vanished mid-step.

Not killed.

Not destroyed.

Just… gone.

Like reality itself had forgotten he existed.

A shudder ran down my spine. We weren't being hunted.

We were being erased.

Something lashed out beside me. A black tendril of nothingness cut through the space where my arm had been a second ago.

I threw myself sideways, hitting the ground hard, barely dodging the attack.

I didn't think. I moved.

The void was closing in.

Then—

A shadow passed over me.

Not from the creatures.

From them.

The impact shook the street. The air itself rippled from the force of its landing.

Golden wings unfurled, and for the first time, the void creatures hesitated.

The angel stood in front of us.

It wasn't like the others—it didn't fight. It watched. Calculating.

Then, it raised a hand.

For a moment, I thought it was attacking.

Then the world vanished.

Not destroyed. Not torn apart.

Just… gone.

I was falling.

My stomach twisted, my body weightless in the abyss.

I couldn't see. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.

Then—

Light.

Blinding, searing light swallowed me whole.

And suddenly—

I woke up.

Not to fire. Not to screaming.

To silence.

Not the comforting kind.

The kind that comes after everything is gone.

I floated—suspended in nothingness. No air. No weight. No pain.

Just me.

Then—impact.

A rush of sensation slammed into me—breath, sound, gravity.

My lungs burned as I gasped, my fingers pressing against something solid.

Stone. Cold, real stone.

I wasn't alone.

Voices rose around me. A sea of them. Panicked. Confused. Lost.

Thousands.

I pushed myself up, blinking rapidly as my vision adjusted.

People stood in clusters, scattered across a massive courtyard. Men. Women. Children. Some wept. Some stood frozen, their minds struggling to process what had happened. Others sat with their heads in their hands, as if trying to wake up from a nightmare.

But it wasn't a nightmare.

This was real.

Then I saw them.

Not humans.

Elves.

Tall figures with sharp eyes and golden irises that reflected the strange light above us.

Dwarves.

Broad, heavyset beings, their muscular arms etched with glowing runes that pulsed faintly, as if whispering forgotten magic.

And other things.

Creatures I had no names for.

Beasts covered in obsidian scales. Shadows that moved without bodies. Winged figures cloaked in strange robes, eyes hidden behind golden masks.

We shouldn't be here.

And yet—we were.

I swallowed hard, my throat dry.

Then—the sky trembled.

Something descended.

Not like the angels before.

Something greater.

It was impossible to describe. My mind rejected its form.

Six golden wings shifting constantly, armor that wasn't metal but something far older. A presence so vast, so absolute, it felt like it was pressing against my very existence.

And its face—

It was not human.

Not anything.

Just pure authority.

When it spoke, it did not use words.

It spoke through reality itself.

"You were not chosen."

The voice wasn't loud. It didn't need to be.

The world listened.

"You were saved."

The words struck like a hammer to my chest.

Around me, people collapsed to their knees. Some sobbed, whispering prayers. Others shouted in confusion, demanding answers.

Even the non-humans looked shaken. Some exchanged quick words in languages I didn't recognize. Even they hadn't expected this.

The figure raised a hand.

The air stilled.

"Your world is gone."

Silence.

Then—shock. Disbelief. Denial.

A woman screamed. Someone next to me sank to the ground, shaking.

I felt my breath catch in my throat.

No. That couldn't be true.

The cities. The oceans. The forests. The people who didn't make it here—

My parents.

Gone.

Something inside me fractured.

But the being wasn't finished.

"This world will not survive."

The words carried weight. Not a warning. Not a prophecy.

A fact.

The crowd stirred. Whispers. Panic.

"Six months."

People turned toward the being, their faces pale.

"That is all the time you have."

Six months?

"In six months, the darkness will come here, just as it did to your world."

My body turned to ice.

"When it does—there will be no salvation."

The weight of those words crushed everything else.

It was coming.

The void. The creatures. The thing that erased Earth would erase this world, too.

Unless—

"You must fight."

The figure gazed across the crowd.

"All of you beings."

"Your fates are now the same."

"Unite—or be erased."

The world held its breath.

Then, with a final burst of golden radiance,

It vanished.

Leaving behind thousands of lost souls.

Leaving behind me.

I stood there, my hands clenched into fists. My mind blank.

This world was going to be erased.

Unless…

Unless we stopped it.

But how?

How do you fight something that shouldn't exist?

How do you stop the end?

I didn't have an answer.

All I knew was one thing.

The clock had already started ticking.