Chef in the Apocalypse

[Time remaining 12:00 hours]

"Huh?"

Jayce felt the tremendous pain coming from his chest suddenly disappear, as if it were never present in the first place. Yet before he could make sense of anything, he felt a wave of exhaustion assault his body, forcing him to fall onto the ground helplessly.

As he lay there unable to move, his mind was filled with confusion. After monumental effort, he finally managed to turn his head towards his friends, hoping and praying that they were safe. ’Please let them be safe.’ Jayce said inwardly.

He breathed a sigh of relief after seeing they were still in the same position as before, splayed out on the ground in exhaustion much like himself. The rhythmic movement of their chests filled his mind with ease.

"Are you guys alright?" Jayce asked, not even recognizing his voice at this point. The night full of yelling and screaming had damaged his vocal chords.

Colin moved his head, locking eyes with Jayce before his trademark grin crept onto his face. The big man tried to lift his arm and send a thumbs up his way, but he was just too tired. "We’re fine and dandy" he responded, the exhaustion evident in his voice.

A few tired exclamations from the remaining party members followed after Colin’s words, bringing a smile to Jayce’s face. He laid his head back down against the ground and stared up into the sky which had begun to light up from the rising sun.

The Earth and celestial bodies continued to function as they should, unaware and uncaring of what had just transpired. The warm rays of the sun broke over the horizon, signaling a new day full of hope and expectation.

Humanity had taken its first major step towards fighting back against the Apocalypse. Jayce hoped that this would be the catalyst for the future direction of their race in which they could stand as a united front and reclaim their world.

Despite their struggles and losses throughout this battle, they had fought against the odds and most importantly, came out on top. Jayce’s mind began to drift, his exhaustion settling in. In fact, he wanted nothing more than to sleep for two days straight at the very least.

He tried to fight back the sweet embrace of sleep, wanting to at least take a bath before he gave in. Suddenly, he felt a warm sensation wash over him, soothing his aching muscles and filling him with comfort.

A face appeared above him, draped in wavy brown hair. Jayce’s eyes attempted to focus, seeing the gorgeous features and rosy cheeks staring at him with deep emotion. His tired eyes blinked a few times and he muttered some words before giving in to the sweet embrace of sleep.

"So pretty."

Lianna was startled for a moment, hearing the soft words that came out of Jayce’s mouth. She wiped the tears away from her eyes, feeling a genuine smile form on her lips in response. This was the first time that Jayce had looked at her like that, let alone said such words.

She was originally still lost and hurt after their earlier confrontation, but hearing those words and seeing how he had looked at her even in his current state, had brought her great comfort. She checked his pulse just to be sure, and flashed a brilliant smile after confirming he was just asleep.

***

Jayce’s eyelids fluttered as he slowly regained consciousness. He found himself in his own bed, nestled within the comforting familiarity of his room. His head throbbed, and he groggily scanned his surroundings, trying to piece together the fragments of his memory.

His stomach growled loudly, reminding him of its demands. He cast a glance out of the window and saw the sun on the horizon, casting its gentle, golden light into the room. It was a serene and peaceful morning.

Gingerly, he pushed himself up into a seated position, his body feeling strangely refreshed. He glanced down and realized that he was wearing nothing but his briefs. An eyebrow arched in surprise. Who had undressed him and put him to bed? The question flitted through his mind briefly, but his rumbling stomach quickly pushed it aside. He was ravenous.

Yet his attention was drawn to the multiple flashing icons in front of his face, daring him to open them. Jayce ignored his dissatisfied stomach and laid back down on the bed, casually opening up the notifications one by one.

[Player’s stats have now recovered]

[Event Quest has been completed]

Quest Objectives:

Monster Slaughter: Kill 10,000 monsters - [13184/10000] ✓

Boss Takedowns: Kill Boss Monsters - [5/5] ✓

Survivor’s Guilt: At least 50% survivors - [770/1153 - 66% survival rate] ✓

Bastion’s Last Stand: Protect city walls ✓

[Calculating Difficulty and Rewards based on contribution...]

[Error... Please wait.]

[...]

[Please come back another time]

Jayce stared at the words in front of him, baffled. "What do you mean please come back another time? This isn’t a convenience store... Do your f*cking job" he complained incredulously.

Doing his best to stay calm, Jayce tried to think logically about the situation. From the bits of information he knew from Macie, there was an entity that interfered in some way. If Jayce was a betting man, he would put all of his money on those three beings on the thrones as the culprits.

Remembering the power of those three sent a shiver down his spine. Who were they? Where did they come from and most importantly, what did they want?

Jayce was filled with questions, none of which he was even close to answering with his current knowledge. However, there was one thing that he had pieced together after somehow surviving the mini black hole incident.

Based on what the three beings on the thrones had said, they were able to balance the world without receiving backlash. Also when they were passing judgment upon him, they stated that he and his friends were too strong for this world, and they would be eliminated.

This led him to believe that once his skill Dinner Rush ended, he and his party were no longer deemed as too strong for the world and were therefore spared from the mysterious power. He had a feeling that his enormous luck stat had played a part in the timing of the skill running out.

If the skill had ended any later, they would have been torn apart by the mini black hole. Yet, if it had ended any sooner, the beings on the throne could have possibly returned and decided to finish the job regardless of any "backlash" they had alluded to earlier.

Either way, he was thankful that himself and everyone had survived the ordeal. Staring at the annoying words from the system in front of him, he noticed that there was one more notification still flashing, ready to be opened.

He willed it to open, curious as to what else he needed to be notified about.

[World balance has deemed you too strong for the world at this point in time - You will be removed]

[Danger! Player’s existence is being erased from this plane of existence]

[World balance is rejudging your existence...]

[...]

[World balance has redeemed you]

[Skill: VIP15 has been deemed too imbalanced and will be altered accordingly]

[Skill: VIP15 has been changed to Ill-fated]

...

Ill-fated (passive) - A curse that follows the character relentlessly, reducing their luck to 0 while this is active. Can not be dispelled.

"What?"

-End 1st volume - Bastion