Sempiternity (COMPLETED)

XIII

Just as he had before the beginning of the Thousand Eternal Ritual, and just as he had been doing all his life, Arend found himself walking around an empty, ruined city, with no destination in mind and no reason to live.

Arend had always been empty inside and out; always alone; never truly connected with anyone except Klaytaza. But even in this degree of solitude, he was always surrounded by people; the city he lived in at any moment was always abuzz with the sound of distant industry, rumbling and murmuring with the footsteps of people and the tasks they went about doing; in the horizon, something was always being lit up or moved or falling apart due to human hands. 

But now, with the Thousand Eternal Ritual so close to its climax, there were only a handful of surviving Keys and Masters, including himself and Klaytaza. No other souls existed in the City at all… and somehow, deep in his heart, Arend felt that there were no other souls still living on the earth as a whole. 

The signs of the Ritual’s end were suddenly very clear when Arend reappeared in the City. Although before, the temperature had been dropping slowly but surely, now it was perceptibly much lower. If not for the drastic lack of water near the city, there would definitely be snow falling on the dead metropolis; as it was, Arend was actively shivering almost every moment. In the sky, the gigantic red moon – named the Ark by Klaytaza – took up an immense part of the sky, which was colored red as a result of the sun’s light reflecting from the object that was so close to the earth. In reaction to its dropping, clouds blanketed and flanked the Ark tirelessly.

And the closer the Ark became, the more Klaytaza opened up about the logistics of the end of the world.

Before, she had refused to speak of the Ark’s impact and what exactly it would entail. Arend couldn’t tell if she simply did not know the information or chose not to share it with him, but the fact was that she would not relinquish the details in order to quench his curiosity. Now, when the end was so very close, she seemed to have no qualms about telling him what he wanted to know.

The Ark would continue to fall right towards the City, drawn to the center of the Thousand Eternal Ritual. Before it would even get a chance to collide with the earth, it’s proximity would rip through the atmosphere and immediately induce massive levels of radiation that would eradicate all living organisms on the planet. Next, as the Ark inched closer, any remaining water on the planet would vaporize from the radiation and all the energy from the planets would emit nuclear energy – enough to completely rip apart the earth’s surface. Then, finally, as the Ark came within touching distance of the Earth, Klaytaza stated that “the Ark will open, and the floodgates of Paradise will follow, and fire will blanket all existence. As the flower of destruction blooms, the Creator will arise, and he will create all life anew.” 

The cradle would fall. And now that Arend had been side-tracked, trapped, and distracted, there was no stopping the rebirth of the life nursed within the immortal cradle.

Once the true implications of the situation became known to him, Arend could do nothing more than silently trudge through the dead city until he came upon an unoccupied building (not like any of the buildings anywhere had any occupants left) that had a tall roof. He entered and walked up all the stairs in the building, his hands in his pocket and his Key following him, until he arrived at the roof of the skyscraper in a few minutes time. He could only walk to the very edge of the building, with his back facing the direction in which the Ark fell and his gaze focused upon the empty ruins all around him.

The dead City stretched on for miles and miles, so immense that he could only barely see the area where the two of them had arrived via train. It was hard to believe and depressing to think that the City had less than a handful of occupants, and that its missing population would never return. At least, not until millions and millions of years had once again passed.