Jyera World Apocalypse-Chapter 92: The First Apocalypse Part 1

First Apocalypse of Jyera, day 1227, Coastal City Gran Luz, 200 kilometers from the city of Kaelor.

Lucien woke up in a dimly lit room, illuminated only by stained-glass windows in the ceiling, since the only window was almost completely blocked by curtains. The cold seemed to pierce his skin and bones like fine needles; the air had a strong, moldy smell that made his eyes water, and all the furniture was very dusty.

His eyes wandered around the room, which resembled an abandoned appliance and furniture store that had been looted many times. Not far from him were traces of a fire burning in a metal drum, and he could vaguely see green vines invading the blocked window. The place seemed familiar to him, but Lucien couldn’t remember where he was.

Lucien then realized that, besides his eyes, he couldn’t move his own body. Before panic could take hold due to the strange situation, he saw his father enter the dimly lit room and slightly open the curtains of the vine-covered window. He peered through the cracks, making sure there was nothing outside, then turned to Lucien, smiling, and said:

"I came to wake you up, but it’s good that you’re already up."

"Yes, I had a nightmare and couldn’t sleep well..."

Lucien replied, but it wasn’t him who said those words. At that moment, he seemed like a spectator reliving some kind of memory, and this time, unlike the previous dream with the zombie invading his apartment, he knew he was dreaming. The reason was that he could even hear the thoughts that the other self was having at that moment...

"Go have your coffee. I found some expired waffles in the kitchen of that shop. We’ll leave as soon as you finish eating!"

His body moved on its own and walked to the old, dusty kitchen. Luckily, the kitchen wasn’t as moldy as the place where he had slept. He quickly devoured the dry waffles along with a glass of water.

To Lucien, who observed everything like a spectator, who could taste the stale, dried-out food, the taste was awful. But to his thin, hungry self, those dry waffles tasted divine! According to his thoughts, it had been a long time since he had eaten something so good...

Lucien didn’t have much time to savour it because he swallowed everything quickly. And then he grabbed his belongings, which were nothing more than a dagger, a map full of notes, a calendar, a metal water canteen that had been left by the campfire the night before and had melted snow inside, a somewhat dented metal baseball bat, and a worn black school backpack that looked more like an adult’s backpack.

Lucien looked inside the backpack, making sure he still had some basic emergency supplies and a spare set of clothes, before waving to his father, and the two began their long and dangerous daily walk.

The streets of Gran Luz, once a popular tourist destination on the continent due to its historical sites, unusual modern skyscraper architecture, and the beautiful river that meandered through the city before flowing into the sea, were now completely deserted and beginning to be overtaken by a new, mutant vegetation that had grown, enduring even the terrible winter that had barely ended.

Trying to get his bearings by observing the burned-out, destroyed buildings and the still partially frozen river, Lucien’s eyes shifted between the surrounding landscape and the map, still trying to understand it for himself, before finally sighing and asking his father:

"How much longer do we have to walk? It’s been almost 3 months since the terrible winter ended, but the cold at night is still very hard to bear; it hardly feels like the temperature is dropping..."

Lucien, the "observer", watching this skinny and malnourished version of himself through a shop window on the street, noticed that he seemed to be the same height as he was now, but understood from his sentence that they were in the period after winter ended; he must be 13 or 14 years old now... It seemed that the hardships he went through during the winter with his father had caused him not to grow as much as a mutant human child should, or perhaps he had only become a mutant after the winter. It seemed impossible, since it had taken several months before winter arrived in the first apocalypse...

His father, who had been walking ahead and keeping a watchful eye on any danger, paused, letting Lucien catch up. He quickly glanced at the map carefully and said:

"We are three days’ walk from the port of Gran Luz; the reason it still seems like the cold hasn’t ended is that we are walking north. Remember what your mother said when we spoke to her two days ago?"

"She said they are still hiding, avoiding the cold, and that she won’t be able to come and get us personally..."

"Exactly, near the capital Aethoria, even the sea remains frozen, but the ship that will take several survivors to the capital will leave the port of Gran Luz in seven days, so we have some time, don’t worry about it."

Lucien reflected for a moment with a look full of fear and asked again:

"But what if that monster that’s chasing us finds us again, or worse, finds the ship?"

His father, who wore a black cap over his long golden hair, frowned for a moment, but quickly disguised it and said,

"Didn’t you see how strong I am? We’ll manage to escape again without any problems!"

Lucien opened his palm, imagining he possessed an incredible and miraculous power similar to his father’s, and asked again in a depressed tone:

"When will I learn to use my Level 3 mutant powers? Mom said that talented people can use them in less than a month, but it’s been three months since I became a level 3 mutant, and I still haven’t managed it. Does that mean I’m not talented?"

"Didn’t she also say that this measure doesn’t work for some people? Some of the Universal Forces are much more complex than they appear; that was my case, too. It took me a long time to understand the basis of my power. If you’re taking so long, it can only mean that you also have a strong and complex power..."

While Lucien tried to convince himself of his father’s words, sounds of growls began to echo in the distance. As both were level 3 mutants, their senses quickly picked up a huge horde of zombies approaching in the distance. This horde was familiar to father and son, because the one leading the monsters was none other than the monster they had just spoken of...

A level 3 zombie so powerful and intelligent that it was a high-level threat, and it was obsessed with hunting the father and son. The monster had been pursuing them since they left the city of Kaelor after the end of winter.

The Zombie leader was soon spotted by Lucien and his father. It was in the middle of the zombie horde, taller than the others on the edge, which made it stand out. It appeared to be a normal human, but it was a little over two meters tall, with red eyes, a head that was much larger than normal, and its skin had a sickly yellowish tone.

The zombie smiled cruelly, extremely pleased to see Lorenzo and his son again...