"Nothing huh? Will I stay here trapped for Eternity?"
The moment the word "Eternity" left Zylas' mouth, a light shone in the distance. It wasn't a bright flash, it was a slight, pale brightness that cut through the blackness of the cave. It looked like moonlight. It was just enough to show Zylas where the light was coming from.
It was coming from below.
Zylas walked toward the glow until he reached the edge of a hole in the cavern floor. When he looked down, his jaw dropped.
He saw the night sky. It was filled with endless, shimmering stars. Zylas stepped back, rubbing his eyes. It didn't make any sense. He was looking down into a hole, yet he was seeing the sky.
That shouldn't be possible, and that's not even considering the fact that it had only been a few minutes since he entered the cave during the day, so it should still be afternoon.
He knelt at the edge, trying to get a better look. He leaned too far. His hand slipped on the smooth stone, and he fell face-first into the hole.
As he tumbled through the hole, gravity seemed to flip. He reached out frantically and caught the edge of the hole on the other side. He pulled himself up, gasping for air.
Now, the night sky was above him where it belonged. But when he looked down, it wasn't in a cave anymore.
It was a sewer.
The hole he had fallen through turned into a manhole in the ceiling of a concrete tunnel. He tried to look inside the sewer, but the cave was gone. There was just the dark opening of the manhole and the smell of stagnant water.
"What in the world just happened?" Zylas mumbled to himself.
He was shaking. He didn't know where he was or how gravity could just switch directions like a light transition. When he turned his head up, he froze.
He was looking at a graveyard of giants. Ruined skyscrapers lay fallen across the ground like broken toys. Destroyed buildings were completely swallowed by thick, dark green vines and massive roots. Nature had reclaimed everything. Greenery grew out of cracked windows and wrapped around rusted steel beams.
Zylas was about to lose his mind, He climbed into the sewer again, thinking there's a chance he could go back. It wasn't the best idea considering he wouldn't be able to do anything even if he got back to the cave but he couldn't think straight. For all he knew, maybe going outside into the wastland of a city even more dangerous so he searched and searched but it was all in vain, he couldn't find anything.
Zylas gave up and retraced his steps back from where he came down, he moved towards the ladder that led back to the surface and he climbed out of the man hole opening.
Zylas stood up and tried to look around for anyone else but there was no one. The city was silent. A thin crescent moon hung in the sky, providing the only light.
Zylas sat on the edge of the manhole and put his head in his hands. A day ago, he was an ordinary eighteen-year-old worrying about his future. He didn't have the mental strength for this.
"Why me?" he asked the empty street. "Out of all the ten billion people in the world, why me?"
He sat there for a long time, but eventually, the cold air bit through his clothes. He realized that sitting there and questioning reality wouldn't save him. He had to move.
Zylas mustered up the remaining hope left inside him and began to walk. He climbed over piles of debris and pushed through thick curtains of moss. He walked for at least an hour, passing vehicles that didn't look like anything he had seen on Earth, they didn't have wheels or windows. They looked like sleek metal pods, half-buried in the dirt.
He reached the edge of what looked like a massive bridge. He climbed up, only to find there wasn't a pathway at all. It was just an edge suspended in the air, held up by absolutely nothing. It was completely covered in giant plant life. Zylas stared at it, wondering how the structures stayed up at all.
He needed shelter. He found a small building that was still standing and rummaged through the roots covering the entrance. As he stepped inside, he saw that it was just a hollow shell. No walls, no furniture, nothing but dust.
Zylas realised that something was wrong, nothing that has happened from when he came here up until now has made sense.
He sat in the corner and thought about his life on Earth. Perhaps it hadn't been so bad. Maybe being average wasn't the disgrace he thought it was. At least on Earth, there were people he could talk to, things he enjoyed doing. But here, there was nothing.
After resting for a bit, Zylas stood up and walked back outside. He had only been walking for ten minutes when he saw it, a flicker of orange light in the distance.
He didn't think. He just ran. He tripped over outgrown roots and scraped his knees, but he didn't care. It was a sign of life.
As he got closer, he realized it was a campfire. He was only a few meters away when a sharp voice cut through the air.
"Stop! Don't come any closer!"
Zylas halted. Standing by the fire was a girl with white hair and piercing red eyes. She looked to be about his age, but she held herself with a cold authority.
"Who are you? I thought there wasn't anyone else besides me here!" she asked, her eyes darting around.
"Calm down," Zylas said, holding his hands up. "I'm just as confused as you are. I entered a cave and fell down here."
The girl narrowed her eyes. "Fell down here from a cave? What bullshit are you spouting?"
"Wait," Zylas asked, "is that not how you came here too?"
"No, of course not," the girl replied. "I was sleeping and when I woke up, I somehow teleported here. My abilities don't work here either. I can't even converse with my God."
Zylas blinked. "Wait, could you normally talk with your God?"
The girl looked at him like he was an idiot.
"Indeed. You might've heard of me. I'm Sylvia Vingólf, the Apostle of Creation and one of the Paragons."
Zylas had been shocked so many times today that he didn't even have the energy to react. He just accepted it. A Paragon was standing in front of him in a ruined world, and she was just as powerless as he was.
"I'm Zylas. I registered into The Meridian Academy for this semester just like you," Zylas said.
Sylvia took a breath of relief and lowered her guard slightly. "That's great and all, but it doesn't quite matter. Have you found any way out of this place?"
Zylas shook his head.
"Damn it," Sylvia muttered. "What do we do now? Any ideas?"
Zylas thought back to the cave. He remembered the exact moment the light appeared.
"Eternity," Zylas exclaimed. "It has something to do with The Ring of Eternity."
Sylvia stiffened. She backed away a few steps, her red eyes locking onto his. "You… how does someone like you know about The Ring of Eternity?"
"Wait, you know about it too?" Zylas asked.
"Yes," Sylvia said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I've heard of it from the Goddess of Creation, Altaria. She told me that it's a ring once made by using the complete life force of higher-level Gods. So why do you, a freshman, know about it?"
"You wouldn't get it even if I explained," Zylas said, trying to sound calm. "Just trust me for now. There's no need to be wary of me."
Sylvia stared at him for a long moment. Finally, she nodded. "I know its location. It acted like a compass. It was the only thing whose aura I could sense from far away. Follow me."
They walked together for five minutes until they reached a clearing. In the center was a stone structure that looked like a site for ancient rituals.
"You see that pedestal there?" Sylvia pointed to a stone pillar in the center of a carved floor. "The Ring of Eternity will appear on top of it once the blood of a Paragon is spilled on the Altar."
She didn't hesitate one bit. Sylvia walked upto the centre of the Altar, immediately picked up a sharp piece of stone lying on the ground and sliced her finger with it. She held it over the altar, letting the dark red drops of blood drip onto the stone.
Immediately, the carvings in the floor began to glow with a blinding yellow-white light. A roar of wind erupted from the pedestal, spinning outward with enough force to nearly knock Zylas and Sylvia off their feet. The air itself seemed to crack as the light intensified.