In the year 2057, the world ended quietly at first.
There was no warning. No prophecy. No divine announcement in the sky. One day, the ground simply cracked open, and reality changed.
Dungeons appeared across the planet like wounds that refused to close. Black towers rose from cities, forests, oceans, even deserts. From inside them came monsters that no human mythology had ever fully imagined. Some looked like beasts. Others like nightmares given flesh. All of them existed for one purpose only: destruction.
Humanity did not adapt in time.
Weapons were useless. Governments collapsed within weeks. Communication died even faster. By the time people realized that the world itself had changed its rules, it was already too late.
In less than a year, ninety-five percent of the human population was dead.
Cities became graveyards. Countries became memories.
I survived.
My name is Aestra, and I am one of the last remnants of the old world.
After the apocalypse, a phenomenon appeared among the remaining humans. We called it awakening. No one knew why it happened, only that it happened to those who were pushed close enough to death without crossing the line.
To awaken meant that the world acknowledged you.
A translucent status window would appear before your eyes, visible only to you. It displayed your class, your rank, and your basic attributes. Strength, agility, endurance, mana. Skills would manifest naturally over time, shaped by both your class and your experiences.
All awakened humans were ranked from F to S.
F-rank were barely above normal humans. Enhanced senses, slightly stronger bodies.
E to C-rank formed the backbone of survivor groups. Soldiers, hunters, guards.
B-rank marked the beginning of true power. Enhanced bodies, refined mana control, and the ability to fight monsters head-on.
A-rank were monsters among humans.
S-rank were myths.
I awakened as an Assassin.
The moment it happened, my body felt lighter. My heartbeat slowed. Sounds sharpened. I could hear my own breath echo inside my skull. The status window confirmed it.
Class: Assassin
Rank: D
Assassins specialized in agility, perception, critical strikes, and silent movement. We were not frontline fighters. We survived by choosing when to engage and when to disappear.
It suited me.
With me was my childhood friend, Louis.
I had known Louis since before the world ended, back when survival meant passing exams and worrying about money. My parents died when I was five, long before the apocalypse. An accident. Sudden and permanent.
After that, I grew up alone.
For ten years, I survived on scraps of kindness. Neighbors who felt guilty. Strangers who gave me food. Nights spent hungry, days spent learning how to disappear. By the time the apocalypse came, I was already used to living like prey.
I was fifteen when the world collapsed.
That was when I met Louis again.
Unlike me, Louis had always been surrounded by people. Even after the apocalypse, that never changed. Where others lost hope, he somehow inspired it. Where others ran, he charged forward.
He didn't come alone.
He had three girls with him.
All of them beautiful. All of them strong. All of them completely devoted to him.
Louis was tall, handsome, and carried himself like someone destined for greatness. He believed deeply in justice, in protecting the weak, in doing what was right even if it cost everything.
The problem was that the world no longer rewarded that mindset.
Louis was kind.
And unbelievably stupid.
The kind of stupid that should have gotten him killed a dozen times already. The kind of stupid that only survived because fate seemed to bend around him.
Among the five of us, there was one person who never truly belonged.
Elena.
She was different.
Not just in appearance, though that alone would have been enough to set her apart. Golden-blonde hair that caught the light even in darkness. Ocean-blue eyes that felt distant no matter how close you stood. Her beauty didn't invite attention. It repelled it.
If Louis's three companions were perfect, Elena was something else entirely. Like the world itself had gone too far when creating her.
She was cold. Reserved. Always watching, always thinking.
She never looked at Louis the way the others did. No admiration. No affection. No blind trust.
And for reasons I never fully understood, I was glad.
Not that it mattered.
I never stood a chance with her.
I wasn't ugly, but I wasn't special either. One meter eighty tall, lean build, black hair that grew too fast, eyes as dark as night. I blended into shadows easily, both physically and socially.
Right now, Louis and I were arguing inside the house I lived in.
"Do you even realize what you're saying?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.
"I do," Louis replied, meeting my gaze without hesitation. "But we have no choice. The next monster wave will be worse. If we don't raise our ranks now, we won't survive later."
"That's suicide," I said immediately. "If the wave hits while we're inside a dungeon, there'll be no one left to defend the village. We're barely B-rank as a group. A B-rank dungeon will kill us."
Three years earlier, after the collapse of civilization, we had led about twenty survivors into the mountains near the ruined city. Deep in the forest, we found an abandoned village. Remote. Hidden. Safe.
It became our home.
To increase one's rank, a dungeon had to be cleared. The dungeon's rank dictated the minimum strength and number of people required.
A B-rank dungeon needed at least six or seven B-rank Awakened working together.
Louis wanted to enter one with four.
Madness.
"We can't do this," I said. "It's impossible. And it's immoral. Those people out there trust us."
Louis didn't respond.
He turned away, his jaw clenched, and walked out of the house.
I watched him go, a familiar unease settling in my chest.
I hated that look.
Later that day, after showering and trying to calm my thoughts, my door slammed open.
"AESTRA! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"
Elena stood there, breathing heavily. Her usual calm was gone.
"The monster wave has been detected," she said. "Louis and the others are gone."
For a moment, I couldn't breathe.
"They went to the dungeon," I said quietly.
She nodded.
"And the wave?" I asked.
Her hands trembled.
"It's… S-rank."
My mind went blank.
S-rank.
That wasn't a disaster.
That was extinction.
An S-rank wave meant something had gone terribly wrong with the world itself. No village could survive it. No group below A-rank even stood a chance.
I leaned against the wall, a bitter realization sinking in.
The world hadn't waited for us to catch up.
It never would.
And somewhere out there, Louis was chasing strength while the end was already on its way.