I Slept Through The Apocalypse

Pringles continued to explain. "If this was the doing of a secret organization's weapon then they would obviously have other rare resources to power that weapon. Even if this was done by a person, there's a high chance they would be part of a secret power hidden among Earth's people."

"I love a good ol' American conspiracy story." Clover rubbed his hands together, "If what you're saying is true... They've revealed themselves by shattering that meteor. Does that mean they're also responsible for the missing humans?"

What happened in these two years? His normal world was now filled with giant meteor destroying people, dinosaurs and demons. Could there possibly be more hidden secrets to this whole mess? He had a headache thinking about the whole thing. It wasn't something a normal 16 year old had to take in.

Pringles knew what he was thinking, "Rest assured, we'll find out everything happening on your planet one step at a time. For now, let's continue north." They looked towards the North as they began traveling once again.

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Elise once again walked around the border of Newark City. She had a routine. Walk around the borders of the city staring off into the wilderness in the early morning and watch the sun rise. Then go to school.

This early morning felt special. The rays of pink and orange weren't usually this bright. After the meteor shower, what everyone referred to as The Awakening, the sun changed color. Even after two years, she never got used to the pink and orange sun coming up from the horizon.

She sat down on a bench in a park near the edge of the city and admired the sun. Her posture was straight, from years of her mother's nagging. The rays of sunlight made her long black hair a slight tinge of pink. She had a small necklace with a glass jewel around her neck which reflected the entire spectrum of colors. Her neatly ironed white and red school uniform along with her tight ponytail lightly fluttered in the wind. In her small and smooth hands was a small potted plant.

With such a pretty face, Elise was pursued by countless boys at school. Anyone could tell that the girl was on her way to becoming an astounding beauty in a few years. But she didn't really care about popularity, She only wanted to be able to take care of her mother.

She and her mother had been living their lives in peace before The Awakening. Her mother was sick and was in a wheelchair. They got benefits from the governments however which gave them enough to live a peaceful life, along with the military compensation they received from Dad.

Her dad died in a military operation. They said he managed to save 2 women and a baby from a burning building. It was uncommon that civilians would get caught in the crossfire during military operations, nonetheless, there was an explosion and a fire. Hearing a baby's cry, without hesitation, he dived into the building. He had no firefighter's equipment. Just a helmet and his uniform. The two women and the baby all came out with mild burns. They were trapped in a hotel complex which was thought to be empty. They lived there in secret, and did not catch wind of the fire until it already surrounded them. He told the two women that he was right behind them and to run as fast as they could. Elise's father never came out of the building. They gave him a military's funeral when Elise was just five years old.

When The Awakening happened, Elise was at school. Noticing the meteor, she remembered that Mom wouldn't be able to walk and sprinted back home. As they hugged each other hiding under a table, the world shook, and a giant meteor hit their house and leveled it to the ground.

It's already been two years since then. So much had changed.

Swoosh!

A flying sword flew over her head towards the center of Newark City. Her long eyelashes blinked as the cool wind swept past her. It was the era of the Martial Clans now.

Everything happened so quickly. After the meteor broke and scattered across the world, many organizations emerged and took over the role of the world leaders. They called themselves Martial Clans and explained that they had been hiding their existence for thousands of years. They argued that the current leaders failed to prevent that meteor from destroying the entire Earth. Hence they were incompetent to rule. In every country, they quickly set up their clans and cities from the rubble.

Naturally, there was resistance against these martial clans. The old government sent soldiers armed with guns, tanks and everything they could think of. Instead of being afraid, the Martial Clans took it as an opportunity to demonstrate their strength. They quickly sent out their experts. Proficient in cultivation, which was originally thought to be a thing only in Chinese fantasies, they swept armies with a single wave of their hand. There were accounts of officials being assassinated from a mile away with a single needle or mountains flipped upside down with a single snap. There was even a record of the U.S. government attempting to use a nuclear warhead, only for it to be caught and dissipated by a giant hand which appeared in the skies. The resistance lasted for only three days before the old government surrendered to the martial clans.

The civilians remained helpless and sometimes, unaware of the notion that their governments disbanded and there were martial clans taking over. Many were quick to surrender and begged to join those clans in order to learn cultivation. Since the meteors leveled basically everything above ground, the buildings, telephone poles, and even satellites were destroyed. Humanity essentially reverted back to the Stone Age.

The Martial Clans settled their own cities and territory within a month. Then they began the search for talents to bring into their clan. They created schools to teach about basic cultivation. Talents that stood out throughout the schools, were recruited into the clans and given better treatment.

Originally, humans had really low aptitudes for cultivating. But the meteor shower awakened many new powers within humanity. It turns out, the meteors could be absorbed and used to increase one's cultivation. Sometimes, it would even awaken special constitutions. In their city, there was a legend of a former principal who awakened the Golden Flame Body constitution which allowed him to make a connection to the legendary Three Legged-Crow and became a major figure within the Newark City cultivators.

Elise knew of that principal before The Awakening. He was the principal of the high school next to her middle school. She had even seen him walk around their campus before. The kids used to make fun of him for being a single middle aged man. He always wore a hat to hide his bald spot and got depressed whenever he heard kids talk about his bald spot.

She caught a glimpse of him once after he awakened. He had shaved his head completely and wore sunglasses. His disposition completely changed. Now the same kids shook in excitement when they heard his name. Now he was Golden Flame Victor, the famous lone cultivator, with his signature bald head, sunglasses, and flaming long coat. One would occasionally see his flaming long coat flying above the city stopping by the map shops, after visiting the wilderness.

There were rumors that Golden Flame Victor was planning to travel to Washington D.C. Nobody knows why he was so set on traveling from Texas to D.C. but Elise felt like she could relate to him. She felt that they both had the same reason to go want to go out to the wilderness: to look for a loved one. But it wasn't that easy for her.

She had another stared off into the wilderness. Many other students had noticed and asked her before as to why she went out every morning and stared out into the wilderness. It was potentially dangerous walking near the border, nobody would voluntarily walk and sit on those benches at that park without having some ability.

When the meteor hit, humans were not the only ones that absorbed the meteors. Animals actually had a higher effectiveness at absorbing the energy from the meteors. Approximately 4 months after the cities were formed and Elise and her mom and the other nearby civilians were moved there, spirit beasts appeared in the wilderness. They seemed to have metamorphosed from the animals on Earth after hibernating for four months and were much stronger and faster than ordinary people. People who roamed out in the wilderness often went missing. Once this caught wind, the Martial Clans established perimeters around their cities and established danger zones.

Elise felt at peace looking into the swaying trees and grass in the wilderness ahead of her. For some reason, she had visited the park when it was first made and had never been attacked by a spirit beast. Even so, she wouldn't travel out to the wilderness until she got stronger.

She had never told anyone else about her main reason for visiting the border everyday. Often, guys that liked her would use it as a chance to offer her their protection. Besides Elise and her mom, there was another family member that never came back from school during The Awakening. He was presumed dead. People often joked that he was so useless that he died by the meteor which awakened everyone.

"Where are you big brother Clover? Your sister and mom miss you…" She spoke so soft that only she could hear.

He was adopted, and he knew that he was, but even so, he had always been a core part of their family. When she was five and her father died, Clover did not cry at the funeral. He believed that he had to be strong in father's place. He held his father's picture frame with pride even puffing out his c.h.e.s.t and standing up straight. He held Elise for the countless hours she spent crying without complaining.

When she was 8, a group of older boys pulled on her hair in elementary school and made her cry on the playground. Moments later, a ten-year old Clover jumped from the top of the playground set to drop-kick the one that pulled her hair. Then he fought the other boys all by himself. Even though he was the smallest boy in his grade. He was suspended for 3 days for doing that and had to get a cast but he didn't care.

In six grade, Clover had already become notorious at her school. Nobody messed with Clover's sister unless they wanted to get jumped by the acclaimed number one craziest guy at the school. He jumped three guys by himself after they provoked his sister. Even when he left elementary school, he left a threat for the kids in Elise's class. Nobody was dumb enough to provoke him. He was a demon in school but showed a completely different side of himself at home when he spoiled his little sister and took care of his mom.

Once Clover transitioned to middle school, he began talking to Lillian, the girl who broke his heart two years later. They started dating which made Elise jealous, since she had been spoiled by her brother for as long as she knew. For the first time, Elise felt anger at her brother. It felt like a sort of betrayal. She had forgotten that he was only a 12 year old who had missed out on his childhood to take care of his family. She didn't want to talk to him anymore or Lillian. Clover didn't understand what was going on with his sister but he always brought snacks and still tried to make conversation with her.

One day Clover came home without saying anything. Elise had still been ignoring him while being mad at him and so she didn't know what happened at all. Eventually she realized that the snacks, and forced conversations stopped coming. She barely saw him come out of his room except when taking care of their mom. His eyes were lifeless, like a completely different person. She also noticed that Lillian never came over again and he never went outside except for school. But he never spoke to anyone at home about it. Whenever their mom asked if he was okay, he'd smile sadly and insist he was fine.

Then The Awakening happened. When Elise and her mom woke up from the impact, they had gathered with the nearby community to figure out where to go. They met up with the school but Principal Hardy, who had begun his transformation at that time, had mentioned there was a kid missing from the roster. She hoped it wasn't him that was the missing student, but the reality was brutal. Clover was the only missing student. She saw Lillian standing among the school crowd talking with a bunch of other girls. In a fit of rage, she stormed over to Lillian demanding for her brother in front of the entire school. She knew Lillian was unable to bring her brother back but she blamed everything on her. If Lillian was still with her brother, he wouldn't have gone missing. She truly believed that. This was all Lillian's fault and she made that very clear to Lillian.

"Where's my brother! I heard you saw him last!" Elise screamed. Her pretty eyes were red with anger and teary. Tears streamed down her face as she looked at Lillian in hostility.

"Clover and I have nothing to do with each other anymore. I don't have to tell you anything," Lillian said calmly. She was extremely prideful and would not have a 12 year old girl tell her what to do.

A burst of energy emanated from Lillian as Elise attempted to slap her across the face. She retaliated with a slap of her own. An energy storm raged as both of them began fighting. In the end, Principal Hardy who was sweating from shock watching a 12 and 14 year old girls fight like Dragonball Z characters, had to break them up.

Over the two years the entire school came to know about Elise and Lillian's conflict. "Two beauties fighting over a useless guy who died in such a way" the public would say. They wouldn't say that in front of either girl though. The wrath of an angry woman should never be taken lightly.

Elise felt guilty that she wasn't able to be there for her brother when he was at his lowest. He did so much for her and she ended up ignoring him for a petty reason. I'm the worst sister… Tears streamed down her face as she recalled scenes of her brother bringing snacks and trying to talk to her despite her attitude toward him. He'd always smile in front of her, even when he had a cast on his leg, or when he fought off three kids by himself.

Her heart ached in pain thinking about him sitting in his room in silence. Being betrayed and heartbroken by Lillian and having to continue on enduring in silence. And while taking care of their mother. How did he do it?

Every day she'd go out to the "danger" labeled park and look out into the wilderness longing that one day that her brother would return to her. Immersed within the wilderness, she didn't realize the pair of eyes watching her from afar.

"There she is, sitting by herself again." Bryce secretly watched the 14 year old sit there by herself. Bryce knew Elise from elementary school. He was aware of the relationship between Clover and Elise. He was also one of the kids that trembled in the same grade as Elise when Clover's name was brought up. For the longest time, he had a crush on Elise but didn't act on it because nobody would dare provoke that crazy madman.

In the past two years, he had spent it cultivating like crazy in order to get Elise to notice him. He wasn't exactly the most talented student but he cultivated a formidable illusion technique which he stumbled upon. His ability to create illusions was top notch in class. In practice battles, many classmates were fooled into walking off the stage. In real battles, he would turn into an intimidating spirit beast, or the other person's worst fear. As he still had strong combat ability, he would put his opponents in an illusion which made it easy for him to win.

Every day she waits out here for her missing brother.. Wait..what if… I impersonate her brother? And pretend I survived? My illusions are strong enough so that she would never be able to tell. After we spend enough time together, and she falls in love with me, I'll confess to her. Heheheh.

A sick and twisted plan was beginning to form in Bryce's head. I've had enough of waiting and hiding in fear of that trash Clover! He is dead! I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing his identity...