The Game Of Fate

Felix was mid-argument with a vending machine when the world ended.

“This is robbery,” he muttered, smacking the glass lightly. “I paid. You saw me pay. Give me my chips.”

The packet hung there. Tilted. Mocking him.

He crouched slightly to shake the machine—

The lights flickered.

He paused.

“Don’t you dare,” he warned the universe.

The convenience store went silent.

No fridge hum.

No traffic outside.

No cashier flipping magazine pages.

Felix straightened slowly.

“Okay… that’s new.”

The fluorescent lights above him blinked once.

Twice.

Then froze.

Not off.

Frozen.

Like someone had paused a video.

The cashier behind the counter was mid-blink. Completely still.

A coin he had just placed on the counter hovered in the air — not falling, not moving.

Felix stared at it.

“…What.”

He waved a hand in front of the cashier’s face.

No reaction.

He snapped his fingers.

Nothing.

He stepped outside.

The street was locked in place.

Cars frozen mid-motion. A pigeon suspended in the air. A man laughing with his mouth open and soundless.

Felix slowly turned in a circle.

“Okay. Either I finally broke reality… or this is above my pay grade.”

The sky darkened.

Not gradually.

Like someone lowered the brightness setting.

He looked up.

A crack split across the sky.

Thin at first.

Then widening.

Light leaked through it — not sunlight. Something deeper. Colder.

Felix blinked.

“Yeah, no. That’s illegal.”

The crack shattered.

Water poured through it.

Not rain.

Not a wave from the horizon.

From the sky.

An ocean falling downward.

He didn’t even get time to run.

The first impact knocked him flat against the asphalt. The force drove the air from his lungs instantly.

Water swallowed the city whole.

He tried to push upward, but there was no direction anymore. Just violent spinning and debris.

Something hit his shoulder.

His ears rang.

His chest burned.

“Okay— not ideal—” he tried to say, but water filled his mouth.

He thrashed once. Twice.

Then instinct faded.

The world dimmed.

The last thing he saw was the vending machine from across the street ripping free and tumbling past him underwater, chips still trapped inside.

Unfair.

Darkness consumed everything.

He inhaled sharply.

And breathed.

There was no water.

No body.

No up.

No down.

Just black.

Felix blinked.

“…I knew it,” he said to absolutely nothing. “I’m too cool to die normally.”

Silence.

Then—

Two lights appeared in the void.

Red.

Blue.

They hovered at equal distance from him, glowing softly.

Felix squinted.

“…Oh. This is that kind of situation.”

He drifted slightly closer, hands in his hoodie pockets out of habit — even though he wasn’t sure he had a body.

“Red feels dramatic. Villain arc. Fire. Destruction. Very aesthetic.”

He leaned toward the blue glow.

“Blue feels… cold. Strategic. Quiet. Suspiciously calm.”

The void didn’t respond.

He grinned.

“So. Is this a personality test? A moral alignment thing? Or did the universe just finally give me a character selection screen?”

The lights pulsed faintly.

Felix tilted his head.

“Alright. Fine. Surprise me.”

He reached out.

115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfvlkk1iTyW

ns216.73.216.133da2

Reading Theme:

Font Size:

Line Spacing:

Paragraph Spacing:

Load the next issue automatically