As I stood with my arms wrapped around the dead Camilla, injury-ridden from the strenuous days of battle, I felt nothing, thought nothing. I was nothing in the eyes of such a chaotic world.

“Sprite Lightning,” I murmured my final contribution to the battle.

White lightning danced around my body and extended outwards at incredible speeds. Anything touched by the lightning was reduced to dust unless it had the foresight of drilling a deep hole into the ground in advance.

I was not worried about the outcome of the attack; I was worried about how much time it bought me. With a great bellow, I started my journey to The Tree of Beginnings.

“Arrrrghhhhh!!”

My first step created massive craters in the ground, but I was long gone before the ground seemed to spontaneously combust. The Tree of Beginnings was approximately 150 Kilometers away, and I had already reached ten kilometers in a single second.

Yet, I was not comforted because I knew that they were things much faster than me in The New Era. I required every nanosecond I could muster to make it to The Tree of Beginnings alive.

Earlier, The Final Battle was mild because we were not the targets of the Abominations, but now I was. By the 5 second mark, I was 100 kilometers from The Tree of Beginnings. Anyone could see the radiance of the enormous tree from thousands of miles away.

Rarely was anyone ever allowed inside the barrier that always covered the tree. At most, only one hundred people would be allowed at specific locations during specific times every five years. Other than that, The Tree of Beginnings was a complete mystery to us all.

7 Second Mark… 80 Kilometers away.

That’s when a massive snake opened its mouth in my direction. Running at this speed meant that turning was almost impossible, so I chose another option. I jumped into the wide throat of the Abomination and spun my body.

“Quantum Tunnelling,”

This was one of my most difficult techniques. I generated massive amounts of energy in an instant from spinning, then I focused all the energy at the tips of my fingers.

All I needed to do what hit any physical object at just the right angle and a temporary breach would open between two short-distanced spatial locations for an instant.

It was a technique meant to tear through space with the massive amounts of energy generated from whatever source. The moment the tips of my fingers contacted the gaseous insides of the enormous snake, I was immediately tunneled outside the tail of the snake.

I had no delusions about actually drilling through the Abomination. A snake that large would not have survived in The New Era if the skin wasn’t at least twenty times harder than diamonds.

The instant both feet touched the ground, I began running once more with twice the urgency. My consciousness was waning more and more every second that passed.

I felt a terrible pain on my shoulder and noticed green flames spreading across my exposed skin. No doubt a last nasty gift from The Snake.

I concentrated more lightning at the location to combat the venom; I could not risk losing one of the hands that currently held Camilla.

9 seconds mark…. 60 Kilometers away.

The white lightning coating my body began to slowly turn purple as my life force was being rapidly drained away. I had no more left to give at this point but my will still burned bright. In this instance, it was mind over matter.

11 seconds mark… 40 Kilometers away.

More tired and drowsy than ever, each step of mine grew slower and slower. From an outside perspective, I was still probably moving incredibly fast, but from my perspective, this could be considered light jogging at this point.

All at once, a Dumb-Beetle burst out of the ground behind me, almost managing to sever one of my legs. Dumb-Beetles were elephant-sized weapons of mass destruction. They were as relentless as hyenas, as determined as world-class snipers, and incredibly stupid when they smelt meat.

I wasted no time and severed my hand infected by The Snake. The Beetle gobbled it up and stopped chasing me, but two more emerged from the ground. I could not manage to lose the next arm, so I used one of Camilla’s.

You probably think it was insensitive of me to perform such an action, but this was the Apocalypse. I was by no means sane, especially after losing Camilla. I would have cut off my own feet had I not needed them to run.

After both Abominations were dealt with, I used everything in me to push my failing body forward. The Tree of Beginnings was so close and yet so far as well. The closer you are to achieving something, the more it hurts when it is taken away.

I had that similar sinking feeling assaulting me right now, but I still trudged forward. If there was anything ingrained deep into me during the Apocalypse, it was to always beat the odds.

14 Seconds Mark…. 10 Kilometers away.

I was barely holding on, dragging my tired feet along. The Abominations were a couple of kilometers behind me but I did not have the strength to worry about anything. My skin had begun to break from moving at inconceivable speeds.

15 Seconds Mark… The Tree of Beginnings.

I made it to the barrier. I rummaged through my storage ring using my mind as the crystal-tree materialized in my hands. Just as I was about to press the crystal-tree against the barrier, I dodged left on instinct.

*Puchi*

A tentacle was protruding from my chest. I found it stupid that I would die in the same way Kelly had. Still, I managed to react in time, the shot was not an instant kill, but infinitely close to it.

I held Camilla’s body tighter, as if to bury her into myself, then I pressed the crystal-tree onto the barrier. The light slowly enveloped our bodies as the Mutated Phantom squealed in pain, attempting to release its tentacle from my chest cavity.

I was someone to hold a grudge, so I bit into the tentacle, holding it in place using my teeth. It was the Apocalypse, I have bitten people to death before, this was not a fresh experience for me.

I watched as the light covered my body and roasted the malevolent Mutated Phantom. I closed my eyes for a moment in relief, but my ambition was not yet fulfilled.

The next moment, Camilla and I were completely enveloped. We were now within the barrier of The Tree of Beginnings. I currently had a one-tracked mind, so I was negligent to the beauty that laid behind the barrier.

I still subconsciously admired the picturesque scenes before me. Weird small, humanoid beings with wings lingered around the garden of flowers that laid below the massive tree. Each flower was ultra-rare outside the barrier; each grain of grass could be used to make a Genetic Elixir to enhance your abilities.

Yet, I just moved forward along an established path until I stood on an altar. Once there, I knelt and place the dead body of Camilla next to me. To me, Camilla was very much still alive, still smiling at me with tears streaming down her face.

She was obviously happy that we would be married in the end. I kept my promise, I had become a man of my word, and I knew that made her proud. I was mad, insane, hallucinating, and extremely delusional, but it all felt too real to give up now.

I removed two rings from my storage dimension and inserted one onto Camilla’s finger. I went through the vows like any other normal day; I even went as far as to say ‘I do’ for both of us.

Several scenes were playing in the depths of my mind. In my head, I had a bachelor’s party with friends, Camilla got mad because of something I did at the bachelor’s party.

We made up and we got married. After a year, we had kids, and would occasionally take them to see their grandparents. Marriage was hard, and we lashed out at each other a lot but we never cheated and always worked things out.

We had a third kid, and we loved her just as much as the first two. I got a promotion at work but turned it down for more family time. We moved to the suburbs, Camilla planted a beautiful garden and we lived a blissful life.

I don’t think insane could describe my current condition. Still, I was happy to slowly die embracing the woman I love in a legendary garden. Everything came secondary as my vision blanked but my senses still indulged in the cold feeling of Camilla’s skin.

“You really are crazy,” a voice whispered in my ears filled with curiosity.