Chapter 3: I Think This Is the End
A few meters away, I spotted a transparent ring floating among the rubble of the buildings. It wasn't very large—just the height of a grown man. I recognized exactly what this circular ring was: one of those strange portals. But what truly caught my attention was that it didn't resemble the other swirling vortexes. You might wonder—how?
It had a distinct color in my eyes. The hue was nearly invisible; I could only perceive it after focusing in its direction and noticing some rippling in the air.
I glanced at it once, then looked at the other portals. I couldn't spot any that matched it. At first, I doubted myself—I had seen hundreds of portals open by now, and dozens shared the same color palette. Even if their shades were slightly different, they were still part of the same base tone.
I couldn't believe it, and my curiosity drove me to search every corner of the city. Perhaps similar portals bore an even more transparent color, only visible from a certain distance.
I set off, circling the ruined city back and forth, but I found nothing—only blood and what appeared to be the ash of the dead. It was a scene beyond imagination: these people running for survival, trying to protect their children and families from death, only to end up turned into dust that could scatter with a mere gust of wind.
I stepped over them without sympathy. I had no connection to these people, so I didn't care whether they lived or died. The only ones I cared about were my family—but do I even have a family?
I shook my head, rejecting the thought, remembering the land where my house once stood. I was certain everything was real and that my home and my family had been taken somewhere. I was sure they would be okay.
I kept roaming the city and examining every corner, but found nothing. That's when my doubts were confirmed.
I turned back toward the place where I had found the unique transparent portal.
When I was just a meter away from it, I felt a strange familiarity. I didn't know where that feeling came from—it felt like I was returning home. I surrendered to that feeling, took a step forward, raised my hand, and inserted it into the portal. I felt nothing—as if I was just passing my hand through air. It was completely normal.
After confirming there was no danger, I took my first step into it, full of caution.
As I entered, I felt slight dizziness and a blur in my vision. When my sight finally cleared, I was met with a shocking scene.
...
There was nothing—just a bright, white void.
At first, I couldn't see anything due to the intense brightness. But as my eyes adjusted, I realized the entire space around me was glowing in pure white. It felt like I was inside a cloud.
I didn't stay stunned for long—I began walking in any direction, since all directions seemed identical.
I moved forward, contemplating the radiant scene, lost in thought.
"Am I really still alive?"
I asked myself that strange question. This scene was unlike anything from normal life. It felt like a dream—or more accurately, like some form of paradise. It resembled many mythical tales of heaven and bliss, but true paradise could only be reached after a person passed many trials and was judged for every deed in their life.
I brushed aside that thought and began considering other possibilities, continuing to walk in a straight path.
I walked for a long time—so long I couldn't even guess how far. When I tried to check the time on my watch, I found it broken. And even when I tried to return to the spot where I entered, I couldn't tell where that was. Everything looked the same.
I didn't care. I kept moving forward. It didn't matter whether I found a way out or died of hunger or exhaustion or even went insane in this bizarre place. Either way, I was going to die—either here or from what was coming outside. So I kept walking forward without hesitation.
I kept walking in a straight line for a long time—how long, I didn't know. But walking grew harder as fatigue set in. I had to sit and rest on the ground now and then before continuing again.
I didn't know how far I'd gone, but I was sure it measured in hundreds of kilometers. Yes, hundreds. I couldn't go on anymore. I had been walking for an uncountable amount of time, without food or a drop of water, until it felt like even the blood in my veins had evaporated.
I collapsed to the ground from exhaustion, staring up at the sky with a hopeless face. My face was so pale it was terrifying, as if life had slowly drained from it, drop by drop. My skin clung to my bones, revealing every detail of my sunken, dried-up face like parched earth. My cheeks were hollow, my jawbones sharply defined, and the bridge of my nose looked like it had been chiseled from stone. My wide eyes held a faint glimmer—not of hope, but the remnants of a man staring at the sky with one unanswered question. Beneath my eyes were dark shadows, as if stained by sleepless nights or the weight of hunger and loneliness. My lips were cracked and dry—no sound came from them, only a broken sigh within me. I looked up at the sky in silence, not asking for help, but as if I were saying goodbye...
In that moment, I wasn't thinking about survival—I was searching for meaning, for a reason, for a thread to tie me to whatever remained of myself.
"I think this is the end."
I sighed those words inside myself as I thought them. Then something happened—something I had expected at the start, but it had taken its time to arrive.