The dark night air was crisp, brittle, and cold. A washed-out glow was cast from the light of the streetlamp onto the sidewalk. The falling snowflakes glittered as they leisurely carpeted the world in white. Was it winter already?

"No matter what happens, Seojin, do not leave the house. Trust me, I want you alive."
Tobias hadn't said for nothing, but Seojin revolted. Leaving the comforter and that warm room wasn't entirely a smart move. And by now he was sure that not listening to Tobias wasn't going to end well.

But Seojin couldn't sleep. After hours of tossing and turning in bed, the stifling covers had finally driven him out into the night. It had been ages since he had experienced life. He wasn't looking for an explanation, however. That could be dealt with another time. But right now, he wanted to escape.

He didn't know who he was supposed to believe. While Cambridge, marriage to Ahyun, the memories, the family, the career, all felt just as real, his life in simulation was no lie either. He couldn't really put them altogether yet.

Who was lying? Cambridge or Seoul? His life had become a dizzying labyrinth of two realities, each as vivid as the other.

As his gaze moved up the street, his mind wandered back in time. The sight of an empty city street and apartment buildings was replaced by a quiet residential lane in the suburbs, one layered upon the other with quaint little woods and shrubberies adorning the landscape. He hurled his neck back and tilted his head towards the sky, recalling the clarity of the stars beyond without the city lights messing with their visibility. In retrospect, life wasn't half bad then.

Moreover, there were no flying cars, no humanoids, or any enchanted saucers to trade in the city.
Was it even 2076?

Tall mounds of trash jammed up against the deteriorating walls of the scrapers enclosing the street were overtaken by the stench of burning flesh. It had a smell that was easily overbearing compared to the smell of the constant trash burning and decomposing in the sun each day. The deceased creature's charred skin was being greedily devoured by the flames. The putrid smell of the street filled the air, overpowering the stench of sewage and industrial smog.

Nothing like the future Seojin had thought of. He had hoped for a prosperous future with new technology and modern comforts, but instead he was surrounded by the pungent scent of death and destruction. It was a bleak contrast to the idyllic life he had imagined. His hopes were dashed, and the reality of the cosmic society was far more daunting than he had expected.

Tiptoeing into the open didn't help him; instead, it left him with a lot of doubt and self-pity because he had missed the time he could have stopped it somewhere down the lane. It all felt too wrong to be real. He thought he had made a mistake and that the future could have been different if he had done something differently. He thought it was him who destroyed this world.

Seojin could understand how his love had been the root of his own trauma and now the world's. And it took a little time before someone felt compelled enough to not only see through this façade but also believe it hurt badly beyond repair.

Would things have been better if he could see through his own twin? Catch him at his lies? Understood his manipulations?

The hurt had just begun to thaw its claws stark against his ribcage, trying to crawl out, until some static inflection banged right against his eardrums, a callous litany. He winced and scratched his temples, trying to shake off the jarring sound, but it was too late.

"He is there!" The voice that followed the sound was scary.

In the face of danger, people either faced it head-on or fled from it. For Kim Seojin, the obvious choice was the latter. Without giving thought to anything else in the world, he broke through his reverie and ran for his life. Darkness and monotonous white walls formed the long roads of the hollow night.

Not far behind him were men armed with loaded pistols and intent on thwarting his escape. As the road came to a standstill and split into two, forcing him to make a decision, he wheeled idly to the left. His pursuers weren't far behind him, as shown by the hail of gunshots that pounded the wall behind him.

He took one last momentary look at what remained before trying again in vain for an opportunity to get away while making quick work out of these things. He knew he had to act fast, as his chances of survival were diminishing with each passing second. He took a deep breath and sprinted towards the nearest alley, hoping to lose his pursuers in the labyrinthine streets of the city.

The sound of footsteps reverberated behind him as he raced, his pulse beating in his chest. He could feel sweat dripping down his brow, but he didn't dare to slack down. He had to keep moving, running, and battling for his life. He spotted a glimmer of hope as he turned a corner: a thin opening between two buildings that he might be able to fit through. He threw himself towards the breach, his body scraping on the rough wall-being a specimen was no small deal.

"RED ALERT! SPECIMEN 2541 HAS BEEN MISSING. PEOPLE ARE ADVISED TO STAY INDOORS."

The abrupt satirical call felt foreign, and for a whole fifteen seconds, he stood still through his death.

...

The rough wall scraping against his skin felt numb as he tried to escape the breaching death that hid in his shadows. The pain was satirical, yet he could feel each inch of bare metal clawing and biting at him, trying their hardest not to see a faint flash of blood before fading away into darkness.
He could hear loud hoots behind him, caging his insecurities into their claws.

"The specimen is running away!"

"He is alive, he is alive!"

"He will kill people; he will end the world. Shoot him!"

His world narrowed to the narrow alleyway, the oppressive shadows threatening to swallow him whole. He risked a glance over his shoulder, teeth gritted as he watched armoured vehicles rumbling down the street, their occupants scanning the rooftops with scopes and rifles at the ready.

Desperation fuelled his sprint, leaping over debris and dodging low-hanging electrical wires with practiced ease. The adrenaline coursed through his veins like liquid fire, pushing him to his limits as he tore through the labyrinthine cityscape.

The hole had been a saviour, a seeming escape route from the chaos above. But as he plummeted down the spiral staircase, the reality of his situation sank in. He had traded the relative safety of the streets for a descent into the unknown depths of the city's underbelly.

The air grew thick and musty, heavy with the scent of damp earth and decay. Flickering overhead lights cast eerie shadows on the stone walls, making it seem as if the very rock itself was alive and watching his every move.

Marcus's breath came in short, harsh gasps as he emerged into a vast cavern, the ceiling lost in darkness. The space was a twisted mockery of a city, with crumbling ruins and rusted machinery strewn about like the detritus of a forgotten civilization.

And then, the sound of footsteps echoed through the cavern, growing louder with each passing second. Marcus's heart pounded in his ears as he turned to face the approaching threat, his mind racing with the desperate need to find some way out of this nightmarish labyrinth.

He took off at a dead sprint, weaving between the ruins and dodging any obstacle that dared to block his path. Behind him, the footsteps gained ground, the heavy boots echoing off the stone walls and sending reverberations through the air.

He knew he couldn't keep running forever, but the fear of what lay ahead kept him going. The only thing that kept him moving forward was the hope that he could make it out alive. As he stumbled and gasped for breath, he prayed that his strength would hold out long enough to see the light of day once more. His palpating heart toggled and trudged when his legs began to give in, and his eyes got shut.

The adrenaline seemed to dribble down his spine like sweat, edging him closer to the finish line until he felt an arm wrap around his wrist, pulling him into the drifting vehicle. The wind roared in his ears as he clung to the seat, heart pounding in his chest.

The scent of burning rubber filled the air, blending with the acrid stench of smoke and fear. They drove past shattered glass and twisted metal, the remnants of a once bustling city now reduced to ruins.

"You're okay."

All it took was Tobias's voice for him to breakdown, sobbing and wailing.
But as the devastation of the once-thriving metropolis blurred into the distance, Seojin could hardly bear to look out at the ruins. He had been living in his house all this time, unarmed and at peace, completely unaware that it was a house of fire waiting to engulf him.

He had come so close to losing everything, to becoming just another statistic in his brother's deadly game.

__________

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