BREAKING: Disappearing Phenomenon enters Day 5, global cases exceed 40,000!
Armin stared at his phone screen, his mood already sour from the half-cold pizza that arrived 20 minutes late. He scrolled past the headline, only to find another topic on the same topic waiting below.
Mass Vanishings Continue - 40,000+ Reported Missing Across 47 Countries
He clicked into the comment section, half-curious.
@worried_mom26: Has anyone heard from their kids in Dellas? My daughter didn't come home from college yesterday. Police are saying they can't do anything yet. I am losing my mind.
@conspiracy_bhai02: WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! This is the government's experiment gone. They are taking us one by one. Share before this gets deleted.
@mumbai_techie587: Bro, I literally saw it happen at CSMT station, Uncle just vanished mid-step, his briefcase hit the floor. I still can't believe what I saw.
@definitely_not_bot_420: EARN $5000 PER WEEK WORKING FROM HOME. CLICK LINK—
@london_skeptic: Let's not jump to conclusions. Mass hysteria? Coordinated hoax? We need data, not panic. Remember the 2012 doomsday predictions?
@padre_miguel_mx: This is a sign from heaven! The rapture has begun. Repent while you still have time. Pray for the souls of the taken.
@babaji_spiritual_108: Kalyug ke lakshan hain ye! End times are upon us! Those with pure souls are being taken to higher realms. Start your spiritual journey now...
@have_good_time2938: HOT SINGLES IN YOUR AREA. CLICK HERE FOR—
He scrolled through the comments, looking at each message with indifference. If it were just a few days back, he might have laughed at the bot messages, but now? Now he couldn't.
Forty thousand people were missing, and that was just the official count - who knew how many vanished without anyone noticing, without anyone caring enough to file a report?
The people were in confusion. The government offered nothing but hollow reassurances and empty press conferences. The rumor that US president Donny Thump had vanished has sent social media into a frenzy, though no official confirmation has come. Not that it mattered. Whether world leaders were disappearing or just hiding in bunkers, the result was the same - silence when the people needed answers.
Yet somehow, life continued. Companies still expected their employees to show up. Armin still had to drag himself to the office each day, doing work he could easily complete from the comfort of his bed.
"Your feed is also full of the same nonsense?"
Armin glanced up from his phone, suppressing the curse he'd been about to mutter about his manager, who declined his work-from-home request.
Vicky sat across from him, contentedly working through his lunch box - complete with neatly arranged rolls and what looked like homemade cookies.
'Lucky bastard.'
"Yeah," Armin said, setting his phone down. "It's gone mainstream. Every influencer and their dog is posting theories about it."
"It's probably some kind of mass psychosis," Vicky said between the bites. "Remember when people thought 5G towers were causing COVID? People will believe anything these days."
Armin bit back a retort. All of Vicky's worldview was probably shaped by the Instagram reels and whatever his girlfriend told him, but what was the point of arguing? He felt that it wasn't worth it, and neither did he have the energy for it.
He finished the last piece of lukewarm and disappointing pizza and stood up. It was only then that his whole figure became visible.
Armin was well built. From his arms, it was very obvious that he showed up to the gym, but the rest of him was average - probably because of his diet, which clearly didn't match his workout routine. The pizza box in hands seemed like a testament.
His black hair was starting to show premature grey streaks- probably a vitamin deficiency, not age, though he had never bothered to check. He had dark eyes and decent features. Above average, if he was being honest with himself. Not model material, but not invisible either.
"I've got a client meeting this evening," Armin said, already moving toward the exit. "Need to prep some documents."
It wasn't entirely a lie, but the urgency had less to do with the work and more to do with his desperate need for solitude.
"Yeah, sure. Go ahead," Vicky replied, eyes already back to his phone, probably texting his girlfriend.
'…lucky bastard.'
Armin tossed the pizza box into the trash and made his way back to his cabin.
The office sat on the edge of the 12th floor, a corner room with floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the entire campus. During better times, Armin had appreciated the view. Now, it just reminded him how small everything was.
His desk was immaculate, everything in its place. He powered on his laptop and the external monitor, watching the screens flicker to life.
As he reached for his headphones, his eyes caught on the small photo frame near his keyboard. A woman's face smiled back at him from the picture. He stared at it for a moment longer than usual, something tightening in his chest, before he looked away and slipped on his headset.
He pulled up his playlist and hit play.
End of Beginning filled his ears.
Armin leaned back, closing his eyes, letting the music wash over him. His head bobbed slightly to the rhythm. For a few seconds, the world and its madness faded away.
Then-
THE MUSIC STOPPED!
All of a sudden, there was silence.
Armin's hand shot out toward his phone, but his fingers grasped at nothing. Confused, he opened his eyes.
The breath caught in his throat.
White!
Everything was white.
Not the white of walls or paper or snow. This was something else entirely- a pure, endless void that seemed to stretch infinitely in every direction.
The office, the desk, the windows - everything had vanished.
He looked down. His chair was gone. Instead, he sat on a white mass that had somehow molded itself into the shape of a chair, supporting him in the empty void.
His headphones were gone.
His laptop was gone.
His desk, the photo, his phone- all of it had simply disappeared.
"…What the fuck?"
Armin's voice sounded small and strange in the emptiness, swallowed up by the vast white expense. He blinked hard, once, twice, three times, then shook his head, trying to wake himself from what had to be a dream or a delusion.
But nothing changed.
It was just him. Just him and the white void.
Then, without warning, light bloomed in front of him.
Blue text materialized in the air, glowing with an otherworldly luminescence, each letter crisp and sharp against the white void.
[Welcome to ARENA]
─── ✦ ✦ ✦ ───