The soft beeping of machines, the sterile smell of antiseptic, and the quiet hum of fluorescent lights were all that surrounded them. One by one, they began to wake up, each of them groggy, disoriented, and unsure of where they were.
Serena blinked against the harsh light of the hospital room, her heart racing in her chest. The familiar feeling of cold sheets beneath her and the smell of antiseptic flooded her senses. Her breath quickened. Was this it? Had everything that happened, the dark clouds, the endless silence, the empty city, been a dream?
She was desperate for something, anything, that would tell her where she was. That's when she saw the news.
On the screen, the headlines screamed in bold letters: "MILLIONS MISSING. NO EXPLANATION. A GLOBAL DISASTER."
Her stomach churned. Serena's eyes widened in disbelief. The screen flashed with pictures of empty cities, long stretches of abandoned highways, and tear-streaked faces of families left behind. She stumbled to the TV, her breath caught in her throat.
"MILLIONS?" she whispered in disbelief. The realization hit her like a freight train. The Lost Civilization wasn't some twisted dream or hallucination. It was real. They hadn't just woken up from a nightmare. They had somehow escaped from it.
One by one, the others slowly emerged from their own confusion, each of them waking up in separate hospital rooms. Liam was the next to notice the news, sitting up in his bed, his mind still clouded with the fragmented memories of the Lost Civilization. He rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his thoughts, but the sight of the missing person's report sent a chill down his spine.
"Wait... this can't be real," Liam muttered. He flicked the TV remote, changing channels, but every station was showing the same thing.
Dorian appeared in the doorway of his room, his face pale, his body stiff with tension. He'd been pacing back and forth, struggling to make sense of it all. But when he saw the news, his expression twisted with shock.
"This... this is impossible," he said under his breath, his voice shaking. "How did this happen?"
Serena, still groggy from sleep, walked into the room. Her eyes immediately landed on the screen, and the colour drained from her face.
"They, those people... they're gone," she said, barely able to breathe. "How... How could we have missed it? All those people... they're gone."
She meant that they did not see the people on the lost Civilization, she didn't understand why.
Everyone got out of their room one by one, they found each other, they felt when they saw each other happiness and relief after talking for a bit,
Liam, who had been quietly sitting by the window, turned toward the group with a furrowed brow.
"So... it wasn't just us?" he asked. He swallowed hard, his chest tight with a growing sense of horror. "Millions... of people? Gone?"
Kade stood in the corner, his arms crossed, his mind racing. He looked at the others, his eyes haunted by the implications of what they had just seen.
"So," he said, his voice low and steady. "This wasn't a dream. It was real. And somehow, we maybe are the only ones who managed to get out."
The weight of his words sank into the room like a stone. The room was silent for a long moment as each of them processed the magnitude of what they were hearing. They had been in that Lost Civilization, that forsaken place where time had twisted, and monsters roamed freely. But they weren't dreaming. They hadn't imagined it. The world they had escaped from had been real. And somehow, they had made it back.
But how?
Serena ran her hands through her hair, her thoughts a whirlwind. She thought about the dark clouds, the fear, the people she had seen, now reduced to nothing but empty memories. How did this happen? How had they crossed over from that place into this one? Were they the only ones? Was the rest of the world still trapped there?
"It doesn't make sense," Dorian said, breaking the silence. "How did we come back and not everyone else?"
"I don't know," Liam replied, his voice distant. "But we need to find out. There's no way we're the only ones who escaped. If this is happening... if millions of people are gone... then we're connected to this somehow. And we might get caught again."
Kade looked at each of them, his expression dark. "We need to figure out why. Why us. And why are we in the same hospital?"
Serena nodded slowly. "We can't just sit here. We need to do something. We need to know what happened. How we got out, how the world got like this. If we don't do something, it's probably going to happen again. We can't just wait for the worst."
Liam's gaze hardened. "Then it's settled. We're getting to the bottom of this. We can't keep living in fear. Not anymore."
The weight of their decision hung heavy in the air. Despite the confusion, the fear, and the disbelief, they knew one thing for sure: they were back, and they had a purpose. The world had changed, and they needed to understand why.
The news continued to flash on the TV, showing images of empty cities, desperate families, and the overwhelming loss. But for the first time in what felt like forever, they weren't just witnesses to it, they were part of the story.
The room grew quieter as they all stared at the screen, knowing that whatever happened next would change their lives forever.
As they adjusted to the shock of the news, their attention was suddenly diverted by the sound of screeching tires. From the window, they could see several military vehicles pulling up outside the hospital. The hum of sirens and the echoing clank of military boots filled the air. Tension gripped the group as they exchanged uncertain looks, unsure of what to make of it. They had barely come to terms with the disappearance of millions, and now this?
Before anyone could react, an elderly man dressed in a sharp, formal suit appeared at the door, followed by four younger men, all similarly attired. The old man's presence was imposing, his face etched with lines of authority. His eyes scanned the room, lingering on each of them before settling on the group as a whole.
"Everyone, please follow me," he said, his voice firm but not unkind.
The group exchanged wary glances, their confusion deepening by the second. What was going on? Were they under arrest? Or was this some sort of government operation? Despite the uncertainty, there was no immediate sign of danger. The group, still shaken but curious, decided to follow the old man. They hadn't felt hurt when they woke up, their bodies surprisingly fine, so they had no real reason to resist.
As they walked down the hospital corridors, the soldiers stood at attention, watching their every move with intensity. The old man led them through the building's sterile hallways, and as they passed windows, the group could see more military personnel mobilizing outside. The air was thick with the sense that something monumental was unfolding, and they had no idea what role they played in it.