"Mr. Caelum? good , you're finally awake."
A soft voice echoed in my ears.
I blinked.
In front of me was someone—graceful, beautiful—clinging to me tightly. She was crying. Why?
Her clothes were soaked in blood. Wait... blood?
Where am I?
I tried to move, but my body wouldn't respond. My arms were numb, my legs frozen. My mouth couldn't form words.
All I could do was stare at her tearful face, distorted by sorrow and fear, as a strange, surrounded by blood—place where corpse is anywhere, a metallic scent hanging in the air.
And then—
Ring ring ring...
I shot up in bed, drenched in sweat.
"A dream…?" I muttered, trying to catch my breath. "What a strange, terrifying dream."
I grabbed my phone.
7:43 AM.
"Crap! I'm gonna be late for my first class!"
Hey, I'm Liam Carter. Just a regular college student.
My daily life? A never-ending cycle of studying subjects I couldn't care less about.
The world is full of people. Too full.
Sometimes I half-joke that a meteor should crash into Earth and thin the population by 10%.
But of course, like that would ever happen—
Ping.
A notification?
"Where you at? Class is about to start."
A message from my friend.
I replied, "Something came up. I'm skipping today."
I stepped outside, staring up at the sky.
"It's blue as always… but—wait—why are there two suns? And one of them... it's getting bigger?"
My heart stopped.
"E-Eh? What the hell?! No way. I was joking! I didn't actually want a meteor!"
The blazing sphere drew closer. The ground trembled.
All I could do was watch frozen as my flippant wish came true.
"Guess I'm one of the 10% I wanted gone," I whispered with a bitter laugh.
I pulled out my phone one last time.
"Time to delete my browser history."
A pause.
"…Damn. I didn't even get to tell her how I really felt."