Unlike usual, the atmosphere of the world leaders’ conference was grim. Three hundred men and women stared at each other in silence, a projection of the world map on the floor. Four fifths of the map were covered in red, areas where a calamity-level threat had appeared. Red dots speckled the remaining fifth of the map, and they were growing at a slow, but visible, rate.

“Where’s Mr. Donovan,” the leader of Nipon asked, staring at a strange man who was sitting in Mr. Donovan’s usual seat.

The man shook his head. “While he was sleeping, his brain was extracted and he was turned into a puppet by Lilith.”

The leader of Nipon sighed. “I suppose now would be a bad time to ask about my shipment, huh?” he asked, looking around at the other leaders with a wry smile. No one met his gaze.

“Dammit!” the lion-like beastkin shouted as he slammed the bottom of his fists against his desk. He pointed at Mrs. Atrina. “This is all your fault! If that stupid contract wasn’t in place…”

“Quite frankly, I don’t believe our situation would change much even with nuclear weapons,” Mr. Volkov said as Mrs. Atrina hung her head. “We already know it’d take around a hundred nuclear weapons going off at once to fill the skies with soot and cause a radioactive winter, but look at how many threats there are. There are sixty-two in Amireca alone.”

The rest of the leaders waited for more, but Mr. Volkov shut his mouth and folded his hands on the desk in front of himself. The lion-like beastkin frowned. “Then what do you suggest we do?”

Mr. Volkov shrugged. “All of my country’s manpower is working towards a solution. So far, the only projected results have led to humanity’s inevitable extinction. If the giant space squids weren’t floating around the planet, fleeing to Sram would’ve been a viable solution. I’m sure all of you have come to similar conclusions.”

“I know a way,” Mrs. Atrina said in a small voice. The leaders all turned to stare at her at the same time. She pursed her lips as she pointed at the world map. “Pick an intelligent calamity and subordinate yourselves to them. Raustalia has already come to an agreement with the ancient phoenix, Fenistia.”

The leaders stared at the map. Aric Stone furrowed his brow and asked the leader of South Rokea, “What about Anaheim? Has she said anything?”

The leader of South Rokea shook his head. “She disappeared without telling us anything. Besides, everyone here knows she lived in South Rokea for the food. I can’t control her as she’s only an honorary citizen.”

Aric Stone sighed. “The world could really use a hero right about now.”

***

Khrx sneezed, waking himself up from his nap. He was still lying in the meadow, but flowers had grown all around him while he slept. His nose twitched as he sat up, and his head turned back and forth as he looked for any clouds in the sky. Unfortunately, there weren’t any. He sighed before plucking a flower and bringing it to his nose. He sniffed it a few times.

[Flower identified! Rose: an ordinary flower that smells like roses.]

Khrx blinked and waved away the notification. Right, didn’t he have a skill to identify flowers? It wasn’t like he ever used it though. He tossed the rose away and plucked a flower that was a color he didn’t recognize. He gave it a sniff, and it sprouted teeth which tried to bite off his nose. His eyes widened as he tossed it aside and stomped on it.

[Flower identified! Dolo: an ordinary flower that sustains illusions.]

Sustains illusions? Khrx rubbed his chin before dismissing the screen. Well, he already knew he was in an illusion; how could he not know as a dragon who lived through nearly everything? But those cloud pushers really did taste real. Khrx sighed. Too bad the cloud pushers weren’t around anymore; otherwise, he wouldn’t mind spending more time inside.

“Khrx? What are you doing?” a familiar voice asked from behind him.

Khrx stuffed some dirt into his ears and ignored the voice. He wandered through the meadow of flowers, plucking all the dolos he saw while avoiding the person chasing after him from behind. He avoided looking directly at the figure, using the shadows it left behind to discern its position. Once, when he was little, he was trapped in an illusion created by a siren and ended up crying for his mommy after not eating for several days. His parents had to bail him out, but they taught him what to do the next time he was caught. He just had to destroy the last flower sustaining the illusion and he’d be free.

***

“You … certainly caught a lot of scary creatures,” Anaheim said as she stood by Theda’s side. When they walked into the goddess’ basement, the two entered a separate dimension. It was extremely large—large enough to hold thousands upon thousands of creatures only seen in myths.

“Right?” Theda asked. “This world is certainly a remarkable one. Any of these cute little fellows could cause the end of the world. So how is it possible that even a single one of them died here? What killed them?”

“Oh,” Anaheim said, pointing at a massive bluish-white dragon. “That’s Tsorf’Nogard. My ancestor killed him. But she was only active a thousand years ago. I don’t know what 99% of these creatures are. …Are you sure it’s safe to keep them around even if they’re trapped in an illusion?”

“I’m absolutely confident in my ability to maintain illusions,” Theda said. “After all, what is life except for one massive lie? Death and only death is the absolute truth.”

“That’s—”

“Wow, there are a lot of familiar faces,” an adorably childish voice said from Theda’s and Anaheim’s waists. A pair of furry, white cat ears with black stripes entered their vision. “But where’s Fufu…?”

“Khrx…?” Theda asked.

Khrx continued to squint at the crowd of beasts, scanning them for his beloved Fufu. “Hmm?”

“Weren’t you trapped in my illusion?”

“Yeah, but I broke it because it didn’t want to feed me anymore,” Khrx said with a nod.

Anaheim glanced at Theda. Theda turned her head towards the crowd of beasts. Their dull eyes and sluggish movements didn’t seem so dull and sluggish anymore … as if they were waking up from a dream. A lion with six wings let out a roar as it flew towards the top of the dimension and tore through it like paper. It was the first domino to fall, causing a chain reaction as the thousands of calamity-level threats surged like a wave towards the gash in the dimension left behind by the lion.

“Ah! There’s Fufu!” Khrx shouted, his eyes lighting up. His tail swung back and forth as he leapt into the sea of creatures, smacking them all out of his way. He hovered in the air next to a giant, fluffy, white quokka-like creature and embraced it, his tiny body sinking into the creature’s fur as if it were an ocean. The creature, Fufu, let out a squeak as its legs and tail twitched in surprise. “Fufu, my Fufu! My precious pillow! I missed you so much!”

***

Awakening Cycle 1,072,362: Day 47.

Dear Diary,

The world ended, but at least I have Fufu.

Love,

Khrx