Apocalypse Awakening

Chapter 2: The First Precept

“Fake? Evil spirits?” A chill went through Sean, as if he had plunged into an icy lake. The mysterious and aloof Layla simply looked into his eyes and said softly, “Do you feel like everyone around you has developed an inexplicable and intense hatred towards you?”

“Do you feel as if they all wish to kill you, to devour you?”

A sense of horror and gratitude surged through Sean as Layla precisely articulated his feelings. She then sighed lightly, “I can tell you, all that hatred is real.”

“The animosity they showed in the room was real. If you had stayed any longer, they would have killed you.” These words made Sean's scalp tingle, feeling as if the world behind him was silently collapsing.

“Why?” he asked softly.

“The reason is simple,” Layla said calmly, her voice cutting through the mint-scented smoke. “Everything around us, the people and things, they are just facades. They have been replaced by false monsters.”

“You no longer fit into this world, like a nail stuck in a clock. The world loathes you, wants to kill you…”

Overwhelmed by these revelations, Sean could only stare blankly at Layla, her composure and beauty instilling a profound sense of madness in him.

“I…” He had so many questions, but Layla quickly stood up, placing her hand on his shoulder, whispering, “Don’t speak, they are coming.”

Sean's heart was filled with confusion and alarm. John approached with a smile, his expression turning displeased, “What are you two whispering about? Can I join?”

Sean felt vigilant, but Layla easily replied, “Just some interesting stuff.”

John glanced at Layla, then at Sean, his smile fading. He told Layla to go back first, as he had something to discuss with Sean. Sean noticed a sinister flash in John's eyes as Layla obediently nodded and left. As she turned away, she whispered to Sean, “The first precept of the outsiders: Don’t appear weak. If you don’t want to be killed by him, you'll have to kill him.”

Shocked by her words, Sean watched Layla leave. John, seeing Layla whisper to Sean, seemed extremely displeased. He dragged Sean into the restroom, pinning him against the wall, shattering the glass. “You think you’re worthy?” John spat out with resentment.

“You… what’s wrong?” Sean panicked, instinctively asking.

John angrily declared, “This gathering was because of Layla. I like her. She’s mine. How dare you compete with me? How dare you have designs on her?”

Sean witnessed John's anger erupt with a sense of profound dread. The fury contorted John's face, his forehead veins bulging like worms, and his eyes almost obscured by blood-red lines. His rage was like an unleashed beast.

His mouth split open due to the intensity of his anger, his cheeks torn apart by the force of his twisted muscles. His chest seemed to split open, revealing writhing tentacles with round suckers and barbs, dripping with mucus.

“You lazy trash, you deserve to die in your bedroom…” John's voice was filled with hatred and venom, his slimy arm, or rather tentacle, viciously stabbing towards Sean’s heart.

At that moment, Sean’s eyes widened in horror, his heart racing to an unbearable extent. A wave of panic, more intense than anything he had ever experienced, washed over him.

“Is this real or an illusion?” “Has he... turned into a monster?”

With the intense headache and dizziness, Sean felt as if time around him had slowed down. Only John's angry and contorted face, the tentacles writhing out of his body, and that unnaturally powerful arm were clear.

What was happening? Why was he experiencing such absurd, nightmarish events? Confused, Sean could hear his heart beating loudly, each beat stretching longer and longer.

Since he began adapting to his panic attacks, he often experienced this sensation. The more anxious he became, the slower everything around him seemed to move, almost to a stop. In the same second, he could think through more, perceive more, as if the world had paused and only his mind was racing.

Previously, this sensation brought only pain and torment, but now it seemed to have an unexpected effect. His mind worked overtime, quickly comprehending in less than a second what others might take much longer to understand.

Sean, confronted with John transformed into a monster, felt a profound threat and hatred. "He wants to kill me," he thought. "Should I run? No, I can't escape; he's too close. The only way is..." He remembered Layla's words: "To survive, you must kill him."

Murder was unthinkable for Sean, who had never even killed an animal, let alone a person. But what he faced was a monster attacking him. He had no other choice.

How to kill it, then? Sean's mind raced, capturing every detail around him. He saw John's torn skin, grotesque flesh and tentacles, and the slowly bulging dark red heart. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the shiny fragments of the broken mirror on the floor, formulating a plan.

"Bang!" The furious John lashed out with his tentacle towards Sean's chest. Sean, with astonishing precision, dodged and grabbed a sharp mirror fragment from the floor.

As John's tentacle struck again, Sean was ready. He grasped the mirror shard and stabbed towards John's chest.

"Shh!" Sean's wrist passed through the sticky tentacle, piercing directly into John's wildly beating heart. The heart was tough, but Sean exerted all his strength, plunging the shard deep into the organ.

John's tentacles suddenly went limp as he staggered backward, his eyes filled with surprise and fear. Clutching the bloodied mirror shard, Sean stared intently at him. Taking a deep breath, he crouched down and fiercely stabbed John's heart again.