Chef in the Apocalypse

Dion sat down at the large table within the main building, his face looking grave. Ever since returning from the supporter gathering last night, he had not been able to sleep for even a moment.

His first instinct was to reach out to Jayce. Before he knew it, the Chef had become an irreplaceable figure. It was as if just being in Jayce’s presence was enough to calm him down.

Dressed in his usual suit and tie, Kane paced back and forth impatiently. He was like a bundle of nerves as he waited for the remaining people to arrive for the emergency meeting.

The sound of the door opening drew everyones attention to it, a large frame walked through the door, ducking down a little as he passed through the threshold.

Kane’s face eased a little, seeing the large and easy-going Colin finally arrive. The two had gotten close ever since the Beast Tide, making for a weird pairing.

The remaining people filed in after Colin and made their way to their seats. Seeing the grave expression on Dion’s face instantly let them know that their was probably no good news.

"Alright alright, let’s take a seat. Tell us what’s got you troubled?" Colin’s deep voice sounded, trying to break the tense atmosphere.

Dion let out a sigh, he really wished Jayce was here. Although he messaged him right away through the supporters chat, he had yet to receive a message back. He knew that Jayce often ignored the chat, finding it bothersome to read through them.

"There will be an invasion of the Earth in 2 years." He said simply, looking directly at Colin.

After a few moments of silence, everyone looked at each other with a confused look.

"Dion, what are you talking about? Are you making a bad joke?" Ben spoke up incredulously. He would have laughed if the other party did not look so serious.

Shaking his head, Dion sighed once again, "I wish I was. Don’t ask me how I know, but there will be an invasion from other worlds in 2 years and that is all I know."

"Other worlds? You mean like Aliens?"

There was another bout of silence as Dion looked to be deep in thought. Technically the term Alien wouldn’t be incorrect, because these invaders were from another world. Yet perhaps it was because all of the sci-fi movies he’d seen, he was reluctant to call them that.

"I-I don’t know. Beings from another world... I guess you could call them Aliens." He admitted.

Looks of disbelief and doubt crept onto the parties face at these words. The idea of such a thing happening seemed very outlandish.

"Look Dion, for you to suddenly say such things and expect us to believe you without questioning where you got this kind of information..." Colin spoke up, feeling a little exasperated with the whole ordeal.

While he had a lot of trust for Dion and Kane alike, especially after getting to know the two over the past 9 months, this claim was just far too outrageous to believe without evidence.

Before Dion was about to respond, Colin raised his hand. "I don’t think there’s anything that you can say to change my mind." His deep voice resounding through the room.

After pausing for a moment, he continued "But that doesn’t mean we’ll let down our guard. If what you say is actually true, we’ll be strong enough by that time to send them back to where they came from."

A wry smile appeared on Dion’s face. He didn’t blame them for not believing in his words, even he wouldn’t have believed it if their roles were reversed. However, he couldn’t help but feel a little hurt.

"It’s alright, just as long as you keep this in mind when the time comes." Dion looked as if he had resigned himself to being labeled a crazy person. Because his head was lowered in dejection, he didn’t see that Colin and the others had gone silent.

"W-What’s this?" Colin opened a notification in his system window and began to read.

Dear Hell’s Kitchen Members,

I’m currently in America with Lianna and her sister, we’re doing fine. I’ll be heading back to Bastion in a couple of weeks after I build another Teleportation Array.

Colin, I need you to organize some leveling parties so we can increase our strength. I expect you and our party to be level 60 by the time I return. If possible, complete your class upgrade quest too. Tell Dion he needs to work on the overall strength of Bastion as well.

If you can’t achieve this... Then I might need to reconsider the position for Vice-Leader.

Anyway, best of luck. Let’s have a feast when I get back.

PS. I forgot to mention, there’s going to be an invasion from other worlds in 2 years time.

See you soon,

Jayce.

Colin’s jaw dropped, reading the short and sweet message from Jayce. This was the first time that he had reached out through the Faction announcement function, and it was not that pleasant.

He quickly opened up his status window and almost despaired when he saw his level. "Shit, damn it! I knew I shouldn’t have been slacking while Leader was away."

Ignoring the despairing wails of Colin, the others were just as dumbstruck, especially because of the words right at the end of the announcement. They were exactly what Dion had just been trying to tell them.

The only difference was, they trusted Jayce more than anyone else on this planet. Even though it was done via a faction announcement, they took his words seriously.

Ben was the first to head over to Dion and place his hand on his shoulder. "Hey man, I’m sorry for not believing you."

The rest of the group also felt a little awkward, each saying a quick apology.

Dion was lose for words. He obviously was not part of Hell’s Kitchen, therefore did not know about the information they had just received. He merely blinked a few times, even look at Kane with a questioning gaze.

"Hey don’t look at me." Kane responded, looking just as confused as him.