How many times had Elara Voss stared at her reflection, wondering if this second chance was just a cruel joke?
For a full hour, she'd stood frozen, eyes fixed on the 18-year-old girl in the mirror—youthful, stunning, oozing the arrogance that once made her unapproachable.
Then, without warning, she smiled. A cold, bitter twist of the lips.
Slap!
The crisp crack echoed through the empty room.
Five bright red fingerprints bloomed on her pale cheek.
Finally—proof. This wasn't a dream.
Before the smile could fade, tears flooded her eyes, streaming down in unrelenting rivers.
She crumpled to the floor, burying her face in her arms as suppressed sobs tore through her.
For two hours, she cried until her throat was raw and her eyes dry.
She rose, slow and steady.
A hot shower washed away the tears and the weight of two lifetimes.
Fresh clothes, phone, keys, wallet—she grabbed them all and headed downstairs, resolve hardening with each step.
"Huh? Elara? You look terrible—sick?"
Aunt Guo, her neighbor of years (though Elara could barely recall her name), called out in concern.
"Just a cold," Elara mumbled, nodding perfunctorily.
No warm greeting, no polite smile—nothing like the haughty but courteous girl Aunt Guo knew.
The woman blinked, confused, but nodded. "Better see a doctor, don't drag it out."
Elara didn't respond.
She just kept walking.
Standing under the scorching sun, she tilted her head back, letting the heat seep into her bones.
July 2nd. Twelve days left until the Apocalypse.
No zombies—worse.
Every animal would mutate.
Fish, birds, dogs, even mosquitoes—all growing massive, vicious, their attacks and defenses amplified beyond reason.
Oceans would swallow cities, sea monsters crawling onto land to hunt.
Humans, once top of the food chain, would become prey.
The Great Escape would begin.
Billions would die.
And then there were the Superpowers—humans awakened by the chaos, their battles with Mutated Beasts painting the sky in dazzling light.
Elara had survived the initial outbreak, fleeing with her neighborhood until Kael Voss found her.
The name alone made her face blanch.
Her brother. The man she hated more than anyone—rude, uneducated, a violent brute who'd ruined her life.
In her eyes, Kael was a deadbeat.
A man who spoke in grunts and fists, who'd gotten kicked out of the army and even jailed for beating her first love—her fairy-tale boyfriend—so badly he'd spent a year in the hospital.
Their breakup had been the final straw; she'd moved out, cutting Kael out completely.
After the Apocalypse, he'd forced her to stay by his side.
She'd thrown tantrums, run away, blamed him for their parents' deaths (killed by mutated dogs while he protected her).
Yet he'd never wavered—giving her the last of the food, risking his life for clean clothes, even trading precious supplies for her to bathe.
She'd taken it all for granted.
Hated him for it.
Then he'd awakened fire Superpower.
His loyal brothers had too—until her unreasonable demands got two of them killed.
They'd given him an ultimatum: her or them.
He'd chosen her.
Left his crew behind without a word.
"Take care," he'd said, pulling her away without looking back.
Elara had mocked him for being betrayed.
Memories flashed—him, bloodied and broken, pinning her to the bed that night.
Her stabbing him, screaming in disgust at the violation.
His cold words: "If I die, you'll sell your body to survive."
She'd hated him more for the truth in it.
Then Felix Corin, her first love, had reappeared.
And she'd made her worst mistake yet.
Shaking off the haze, Elara headed to a corner diner for wonton noodles—her last taste of normalcy—before hitting a big supermarket.
Food, water, weapons—all vital when Mutated Beasts ruled and oceans rose.
But she had no spatial ability, no golden finger.
How to survive?
She wandered the aisles, mind racing—until a splitting headache hit.
Her body burned, heat searing her skin.
Shit.
She stumbled back to her rental, slamming the door shut before collapsing into darkness.
Her parents called repeatedly.
No answer.
Kael, frantic, kicked the door down.
She never heard it.
When she woke, white walls blurred above her.
The stench of disinfectant burned her nose.
Hospital.
"Elara? You're awake!"
A bright, cheerful voice pulled her focus.
Lila Marek—her best friend. Once.
Elara hummed, hiding the icy sharpness in her eyes.
She'd recognized the jade pendant around Lila's neck the second she saw it—pavilion-shaped, glowing against her pale skin.
A spatial artifact, she'd learned too late in her past life.
This time, she wasn't letting it slip away.
"Aunt and uncle just left—I'll call them, don't worry!"
Lila chattered, pulling out her phone.
She hung up after a quick chat, then noticed Elara's gaze on the pendant.
"Like it?" Lila grinned, touching the jade.
"Meh," Elara said flatly, her tone cold but deliberate—just enough to pique Lila's interest without seeming desperate.
Lila yanked it off, shoving it into her hand. "It's yours!"
Elara's eyes flickered with calculated calm, but her face stayed blank. "No."
Lila laughed, not offended. "Right—you never take free stuff. Trade me your red agate bracelet, then."
Elara's lips tightened into a thin line.
The bracelet was worthless, but Lila didn't need to know that.
She unclasped it and handed it over, taking the pendant in return—her first step toward surviving the Apocalypse.
Outside the ward, Kael Voss paced like a caged beast.
His jaw was clenched so tight it ached, knuckles white as he gripped the doorframe.
When he'd broken into her rental and found her passed out, he'd felt his heart stop.
Now, hearing her voice inside, he wanted to burst in and shake her—demand to know why she'd ignored her parents' calls, why she always had to make him worry.
But he hesitated.
She hated him—hated his temper, his brute ways, hated that he couldn't be the "proper brother" she wanted.
So he stayed outside, jaw ticking, waiting for the right moment to storm in.
Inside, Elara tucked the pendant into her palm, its cool touch grounding her.
She'd fix everything this time.
Protect her parents.
Stop Felix Corin before he betrayed her.
And… make amends to Kael.
Even if the thought of it made her chest ache with guilt.
"Your brother's been pacing out there for an hour," Lila said, nodding toward the door.
"He looked ready to crush the wall when he brought you in."
Elara's fingers tightened around the pendant.
Of course he had.
Kael Voss was a man of rage and obsession—his love for her twisted, possessive, but unshakable.
In her past life, she'd mistaken it for cruelty.
Now, she saw it for what it was: a desperate, broken kind of devotion.
"Tell him I'm fine," Elara said, lying back and closing her eyes.
She couldn't face him yet—not with the weight of all she'd done hanging over her.
Lila shrugged, but Elara knew she'd relay the message.
As her friend left, Elara opened her eyes, staring at the pendant.
Twelve days.
She had twelve days to prepare.
And this time, she wasn't going to waste a single one.
Next Chapter Teaser
Kael storms into the hospital ward—fury blazing, but his tough exterior cracks when he sees the pendant in her hand. Elara's Superpower awakens unexpectedly during a Mutated Beast attack, and Kael's instinct to protect her collides with her newfound resolve to stand on her own. Meanwhile, Felix Corin reappears, unaware Elara already knows his dark secret—and she's ready to strike first. Will their fragile truce survive the first taste of Apocalypse chaos?