The world hadn't stopped for their grief. It never did.
Serena stood at the edge of what used to be home, but the word felt like a cruel joke now. Walls had crumbled, furniture lay in heaps of splinters and dust, and the roof barely clung to what remained. The place reeked of smoke and death, though the flames had long since died.
Teo was there—standing outside the wreckage, staring at the ground like he was trying to burn a hole through it with sheer will alone. His usual cocky smirk was nowhere to be found. His arms hung at his sides, fists clenched tight enough to turn his knuckles white.
Serena swallowed hard. She had expected destruction, but not this. Not the silence. Not the way Teo looked like a ghost of himself.
The corpses—if they could even be called that anymore—were still inside. Or what was left of them. The System didn't leave bodies intact when it erased someone. It left behind something worse: a grotesque, unrecognizable mess, as if flesh and bone had been violently unraveled from existence.
Her mother was in there. So was her latest husband.
Serena had seen death before—had even caused it herself now—but this was different. This was personal.
She took a step forward, careful, hesitant. "Teo."
His head snapped up at her voice. His eyes, usually sharp with mischief or irritation, were dull, empty. Like a man running on autopilot, still breathing but not really there.
"...You're alive," he said, voice hoarse.
Serena forced a smirk she didn't feel. "Yeah. You too."
Teo let out something between a chuckle and a scoff, shaking his head. "Barely."
She walked closer, surveying the damage. The front door was missing, blown apart by something—whether it was an attack, an explosion, or just time itself, she had no idea. She didn't want to know.
"Did you—" she hesitated, gesturing toward the ruins. "Did you see it happen?"
Teo let out a slow, shuddering breath. "No. I came back and… they were just gone."
Gone. A clean word for something so messy.
Serena bit the inside of her cheek, keeping her face blank. She couldn't afford to break down. Not here. Not now.
"Then we bury them," she said. "Whatever's left."
Teo flinched. "Serena—"
"You wanna leave them like this?" she snapped, harsher than she meant to.
His mouth pressed into a thin line, but he didn't argue.
They worked in silence. Or as close to silence as the world allowed. The wind howled through the broken remains of their home, carrying the distant sounds of a city that still hadn't figured out whether it was alive or dead.
Digging graves with nothing but their bare hands and whatever scraps of wood they could salvage was slow, miserable work. The dirt was unyielding, the process agonizing. But it had to be done.
When it was over, when the remains were covered and the air felt just a little heavier, Teo finally spoke. "What now?"
Serena wiped her dirt-streaked hands against her thighs, exhaling. "Now? We figure out how to survive."
Teo looked at her for a long moment, then sighed. "Guess you've got a plan."
Serena smirked, though it didn't reach her eyes. "I always do." She just didn't know if this one would get them killed.
The graves were shallow, the markers nothing more than hastily assembled wooden planks, but it was the best they could do. Dust and blood still clung to Serena's fingers, the scent of decay lodged in her throat like a bad omen.
Teo sat on the remains of what used to be their porch, arms resting on his knees, staring at the dirt-covered mounds. He looked lost, adrift in a sea of thoughts he didn't dare voice.
Serena wasn't one for comforting words, and even if she was, what could she say? That things would get better? That they'd be okay? That was a lie, and she hated lies that didn't serve a purpose.
So instead, she sat beside him, close enough to be solid, but not touching.
After a long, suffocating silence, Teo spoke.
"What class did you get?"
Serena stilled. The question wasn't unexpected, but it was dangerous.
Lying to Teo was easy—he was trusting, too quick to believe—but deceiving him while keeping him close? That was the real challenge.
She let out a breath, leaning back on her hands like she didn't have a care in the world. "Nothing special. Some rogue-type class, I guess. Stealth, speed, knives. The usual."
Not a lie, but not the truth either.
Teo nodded, rubbing a hand over his face. "Figures. You always were fast."
"And you?" Serena asked, tilting her head.
Teo sighed. "Brawler. Close combat. Not flashy, but solid."
That was good. A frontline fighter. He could take hits, throw punches, keep attention off her.
"Not bad," she said, offering an approving nod.
Teo snorted. "Yeah, sure. Real useful when I got no clue what the hell I'm supposed to do with it."
He was spiraling, his mind still stuck on everything they had lost, but Serena needed him grounded.
She nudged his shoulder with hers. "You'll figure it out."
"Yeah?" He raised an eyebrow. "And what, you've got it all figured out already?"
Serena smirked, lazy and confident. "Obviously."
Teo huffed, shaking his head with something close to amusement. The grief didn't vanish, but it loosened its grip, just a little.
A distraction. That's what he needed.
"Come on," she said, standing and dusting off her clothes. "Let's see if the world's still standing."
Teo hesitated, then pushed himself up with a sigh. "Yeah, alright."
The city was different now. Streets once filled with life were abandoned, buildings stood like hollowed-out corpses, and the few people they saw carried the same haunted look in their eyes.
Serena guided Teo toward the nearest public screen, the massive display flickering as the news played.
And that's when they saw it.
The System wasn't just in their city. Not just in their country.
It had swallowed the world whole.