6: Crystal drops

The flight from Rostia to Veridia was indeed a four-hour stretch, and when the aircraft touched down at Veridia International Airport, the afternoon air felt strangely different to Vivi.

Every unknown face she saw going about their day had no idea that mere hours stood between them and a cataclysm that would wipe out a quarter of the world’s population. Veridia would even lose its president to the opening wave of monster attacks.

Vivi cleared customs without difficulty, carrying her small suitcase, and took a cab straight to a mid-range hotel near the city’s central commercial district.

The room was clean, ordinary, and forgettable, exactly what she needed. She didn’t bother unpacking. Instead, she left her suitcase near the door, checked the time, and spent the remaining hours reviewing her mental map of the city’s future anomaly zones.

The crystal drop was like a rainfall, and just like rain, it fell heavy in some places and sparse in others.

In her past life, Vivi remembered that a large number of high-tier crystals, especially the golden ones, had descended around Veridia’s capital. Many had crashed into the towering financial and government buildings before scattering across the broader region.

In that timeline, the rich and nobles, as they so proudly called themselves, had enjoyed an overwhelming advantage. Their privileged addresses had placed them closest to the richest crystal deposits, allowing them to claim the golden crystals before most ordinary people even understood what was happening.

This time, however, Vivi intended to get there first.

By 11:30 p.m., she had changed into dark, durable clothing. She pulled up her hood, gripped a large black nylon bag, and left the hotel. The late-night foot traffic made it easy for her to blend into the crowd without attracting attention.

As the hours passed, the streets gradually emptied. Vivi was grateful for that. She had no desire to waste precious time explaining why she was wandering around at night with a large, empty duffel bag while dressed like a thief.

Eventually, she reached a public plaza and made her way to a wide, reinforced observation deck. The elevated position gave her an unobstructed view of the surrounding skyline, while the shadows provided enough cover to keep her hidden from anyone passing below.

She checked the digital clock on her phone repeatedly as midnight approached and with every passing second, her heartbeat grew faster.

A few late-night partakers remained nearby, most of them drunk and laughing as they joked among themselves, completely unaware that the seconds remaining on the clock were the final ones of the old world.

Vivi watched the clock.

Midnight passed.

For a while, nothing happened.

Then, two more hours went by. The surrounding streets had fallen almost completely silent by the time her phone displayed 2:04 a.m.

Suddenly, the sky tore open.

Vivi cautiously stepped out from her hiding place and stared upward as the heavens turned a deep, bruised red. A sudden, crushing atmospheric pressure dropped over the entire city, a feeling that could only be felt by anyone still outdoors.

The stars began disappearing one after another, swallowed by the unnatural red hue spreading across the horizon.

‘It’s starting.’

Immediately, a blinding shower of radiant light plummeted through the upper atmosphere, streaking downward like a barrage of falling stars.

“Oh my God,” Vivi whispered.

Even though she had experienced the apocalypse, she had never witnessed the cataclysmic sight when it happened and it left her momentarily stunned.

Most of the debris were standard white and pale blue flashes, raining down across the metropolis in a dazzling, terrifying display.

Vivi quickly scanned her surroundings, searching for the golden glow she had come to claim.

Then she spotted it.

Not far from her position, a dense cluster of brilliant, blinding gold slammed the earth with defending concussive shockwaves.

She ducked back, making sure not to get clipped by any of the falling debris as the impacts shattered nearby rooftops and concrete.

Sirens wailed throughout the city instantly, a chaotic chorus of alarms shrieking into the night. She knew it wouldn’t be long before the noise awakened the entire city. Confused citizens would soon pour into the streets, desperate to understand what was going on.

She couldn’t afford to waste another second.

Pulling her hood farther over her head, Vivi hurried down from the observation deck and raced toward the golden crystal that had landed.

At this exact moment, the rare shards were still scarce, impossibly difficult to spot amidst the countless white crystals and stray blue ones raining down across the city.

Fortunately, Vivi had an advantage no one else possessed.

She remembered where the high-tier crystals had landed in her previous life. Even if the deposits were difficult to locate, she knew which areas deserved her attention.

She only needed to search carefully.

She ducked into a semi-deserted corporate courtyard where the shockwave had blown out a wall of floor-to-ceiling glass..

There, half-embedded beneath a pile of shattered windowpanes, was another radiant golden crystal.

A grin spread across her face.

She hurried over, scooped up the crystal with her gloved hands, and dropped it straight into the black nylon bag.

Over the next two hours, as Veridia gradually awakened to the chaos, Vivi continued her search.

Confused citizens began emerging from their homes. Some stood frozen in disbelief, staring at the crimson sky and the strange glowing objects scattered across the streets. Others shouted questions at anyone nearby, while a few had already begun picking up the crystals without understanding what they were or what they could do.

Vivi stayed out of sight.

She located more golden drops, hidden in cratered planters, shattered park benches, while a few had buried themselves deep in the asphalt after striking the ground with tremendous force.

By the time her tally hit thirty golden crystals, she finally decided it was enough.

Her muscles ached from hours of hurried movement, and her breathing had grown heavy. Still, relief washed over her as she tightened her grip on the bag.

Thirty golden crystals.

That was more than enough to give her a tremendous advantage in the world that was about to emerge.

With her objective accomplished, Vivi carefully made her way back toward the hotel. She kept to the less crowded streets, observing the chaos from a distance as Veridia’s citizens struggled to comprehend the disaster happening around them.

Thankfully, no one was looking at her.

Once inside her hotel room, Vivi locked the door and dropped the heavy black bag onto the bed. For several seconds, she simply stood there, staring at its contents through the partially opened zipper.

Then a breathless laugh escaped her lips.

She practically threw herself onto the bed, collapsing backward against the mattress with a bright, triumphant smile.

“It’s really real. I really lived through this.”

Despite everything she remembered, a small part of her had continued to doubt herself. What if her rebirth had been nothing more than an elaborate hallucination? What if the memories she trusted so completely were merely the product of a delusional mind?

But staring at the heavy haul of glowing shards beside her, she knew the apocalypse was here.

“Time to leave,” Vivi muttered, pushing herself up.

She carefully transferred the golden crystals into the secure compartments of her suitcase, making sure they were concealed before closing it. After changing into fresh traveling clothes, she checked out of the hotel without looking back.

She had no intention of lingering in Veridia any longer than necessary.

Her next destination was the private docks along the city’s southern industrial harbor, only a short distance away.

A cargo boat she had arranged and paid for generously in advance was waiting near the docks against the dark waters, ready to smuggle her back across the sea toward Rostia.

There was no way anyone suspected a thing.