"Auhorities have issued an urgent warning regarding a kindled Drowned wreaking havoc in the city, immediate assistance is required from any Hallows of the same rank or above" flashes across the screen in red text, catching the reflection on the windows.
"Must be great" Zylas muttered with slight envy.
"It's all luck anyways. These Apostles just showcase their spoon-fed powers while people like me still have to go through the normal hard life. The so-called "Hallows" enjoy life while I have to prepare another 5000 word college essay."
Zylas tried to look at the screen, barely seeing the text as it was covered by the crowd of people standing in the subway who were also living lives like or worse than his, adults working a 9-5 being corporate slaves while students studying continuously due to peer pressure.
"I guess it's not just me that has such a boring life huh… Doesn't mean I can't complain though."
Suddenly, he feels a flutter in his stomach. Unpleasant but just bearable. He was filled with a sense of slight joy at first but then the pain quickly faded away making it sure that it was just the result of his unbalanced diet.
"Seriously, a false alarm!? I guess I just have too much hope, more than necessary that is. I just wish I could get TheGrandeur"
As he moved his head up, Zylas noticed the worried and somewhat scared faces of the people near him. The people around him shifted and pushed back forming a bubble of isolation around him. It would be abnormal to see such a thing happening in a crowded place but not in this world.
"It's not what it seems like! Trust me when I say it's just hunger, as you can see I'm completely conscious right now."
The crowd became slightly more at ease when they heard his statement but there was still a presence of discomfort in the area although it all ceased to matter as the subway came to a stop, Zylas stood up and rushed out through the door as soon as it opened.
"Suffer the consequences without the benefits, won't you Zylas?" Zylas said mockingly to himself.
"Of course it just has to be me. Whatever, I guess I'll just go to my house and read something on WebNovel."
As he was going through the path to his home, Zylas noticed a person inside a fancy car wearing an official Silver badge. A sudden feeling of awe hit him. Seeing one in person was rare for a person like him.
'It's… a real HallowApostle, an Unbent one meaning Second rank at that.' Zylas thought in his mind.
It was completely different than on a screen, he had a completely different aura around him. Zylas stood there, stuck in his place due to sheer awe. As the car drove away, Zylas finally catched a breath and moved along his way but he kept thinking about the person and how different they were.
'Huh, should I buy a lottery ticket? My luck has been pretty rare lately, both good and bad that is.'
While thinking, Zylas noticed the poster of one of the two Paragons, the 5th and highest rank that a Hallow can achieve. Compared to the Paragon, the Unbent (2nd Rank) was like a dying ant and yet Zylas was way weaker than even a Kindled (1st Rank). He felt a sense of inferiority as well as envy… again
"Why not me? I know I could lose my mind and stay in that space forever while my body causes chaos as a Drowned but I'm willing to take that risk. I want Power, overwhelming enough to completely erase this kind of pathetic life I have."
In the midst of his crisis, Zylas couldn't hear the faint screams from a distance not too close but not too far. He was so zoned out thinking about his poor life, he didn't care to notice anything in his peripheral vision.
Zylas only realised that something was wrong after his feet touched something wet, he has just stepped on a pool of blood, with pieces of torn flesh scattered everywhere around the floor.
"What…..No, no this can't be, this can't happen, I just visited them yesterday and they were just fine. Oh I know, I'm just hallucinating. Thank God, did I finally get the disease? Hallucinations weren't in the told symptoms though." Zylas told himself as an attempt to calm himself down but it was all in vain.
Zylas' face turned pale when he turned his head so as to not see the disgusting sight in front of him only to notice a bloodied humanoid figure rise from the pile of corpses as if it was just feasting on them until he came. The thing slowly started walking towards Zylas, increasing its pace as it came closer. Zylas froze in place, not in fear.. but in... excitement.
He had heard that people gained the disease in near death experiences from newly awakened Drowneds as well. For Zylas, this was his only chance to escape from this hellish life of his, anyone would call him crazy and he would too.
"Is this it? Holy shit, I didn't think it would feel this… uneasy but I don't even have the strength to run, I'd just have to risk it" Or so Zylas said but seeing the figure come towards him instilled an instinctive fear in his mind and yet he could not do anything about it.
Zylas could only stare as the Drowned rushed toward him, it took a leap at Zylas and accelerated its arm in an attempt to pierce through his head using its outgrown claws extruding from inside its fingers, but just before contact, it felt as time stopped for a moment. Zylas' heart started beating extremely fast as he saw the Drowned's sharp claws an inch away from his eyes.
"What the hell just happened? I-I don't understand, this was not how it was supposed to-"
In the midst of finishing his sentence, Zylas was sucked through the pavement as though it had become liquid. He found himself in a pitch black space, it felt familiar based on what he had heard about. He tried to move his body but felt a lot of pressure and imbalance making it extremely hard to do anything, it felt as if… he was deep inside a water body.
"This…this is it! Finally I got the disease, everything happened so quickly and I didn't even feel any of the symptoms, I finally got TheGrandeur! That means that this water body that I'm in is The Divine Lake."
Contradictory to the last part of its name, The Divine Lake is supposedly endless. According to what Zylas had studied, one is supposed to meet their God at The Divine Lake and become the God's Apostle by being granted abilities by said God after getting The Grandeur but he couldn't see anyone.
Zylas was riddled in confusion, feeling as if he was sinking deeper into the depths of the lake. Then as he was thinking, he saw a giant figure appear in front of him in the distance, Zylas was an insect compared to its size.
It had a humanoid shape and yet it did not possess skin.It was wearing… or perhaps was the embodiment of the Cosmos, showcasing the vast amount of galaxies in the universe on its body, it had two blue-white quasars for eyes, consisting of huge black holes for its sclera giving an incredible sight that Zylas had never thought to ever witness in his life.
It was a source of infinite light but it also encompassed terrifying, absolute darkness within it.
As Zylas could even process what had shown up before him, he saw a way tinier humanoid figure manifest behind him. This time it was red, it kind of resembled the Drowned that Zylas just encountered before, it had the same claws extruding yet it felt more complete and superior than the Drowned, still way lesser than the Cosmic Entity of course.
"Two creatures...? Zylas said in a confused manner
"I've never heard of any cases of two beings…or I guess Gods in one person's Purification."
"How pathetic. A mere Phantomdares to stand before me? I've never seen such a weak fragment, and you call yourself a God?" TheCosmicEntity exclaimed in a deep, superior voice.
The Cosmic Entity raised one of its fingers, then dark tentacles came out and started covering the body of the Phantom (Rank 2 God), a shriek could be heard as the tentacles completely absorbed the Red Phantom and disappeared into the depths of the water.
Immediately after the Phantom got covered, some kind of vortex started forming around Zylas in The Divine Lake, as it began to completely engulf Zylas, he heard a dominating voice say "You owe me your life." Before he could understand what was happening, he was sucked back into the real world.