Two silhouettes could be seen quietly making their way through the darkness. There was not even a tinge of light yet the two continued to move unimpeded through the darkness.

“We’re here.” A soft whisper broke the deathly silence and the two silhouettes came to a stop. An instant later, a faint pulse of blue light was seen, immediately after a soft rumbling sound was heard.

“Whoosh”

A cool breeze invaded the atmosphere, and a hidden passage was revealed ahead of them. There was a faint light glowing at the end of the passage. Even though the light was faint, the surrounding darkness made it quite noticeable.

“The guards should be heading towards the northern city by now. Let’s just wait it out here for a few hours, follow me.”

“Whew, I thought we’d never stop running.” Another voice said, breathing heavily.

The two silhouettes entered the hidden passage and the entrance closed silently behind them.

The two continued to walk for a time, ahead of them the light was getting brighter. There was room at the end of the passage and the light seemed to be coming from the ceiling. When the two entered the room their figures were revealed.

One was a young woman wearing a white mask, dressed in blue tribal clothing. The other person was a young man. At a glance, the young man seemed to be naked, but upon closer observation, one could see that he was actually wearing some strange attire.

The two were Dante and Leah. After their encounter with Micah, a group of persons was quickly arriving at their location. Leah announced that they were ‘guards’ and that things would get problematic if they were caught, thus the two quickly fled the scene. It wasn’t until a moment ago that they managed to slip away.

The room Dante found himself in was nearly empty. The only things that were in the room were; a stone bed which was covered with some animal pelt, a chair and a table, all made of stone. Dante looked towards the ceiling and discovered it had several multi-colored stones embedded in it which gave off a soft glow which illuminated the entire room.

At this moment, Leah went towards the stone bed and removed her mask before sitting down, facing him. When Dante saw her face he was stupefied. Leah was captivatingly beautiful. Her eyes were blue like the open sea, yet her expression was ice cold which gave him the feeling that her gaze alone would suffice to freeze him. Her hair was snow-white which she wore braided into one.

“Wow.”

Earlier, when Dante awoke, there was very little light in the cavern and his head was still fuzzy. A short while later, he got caught up in a chain of events which led him into a brief fight, then fleeing for six hours. The whole time Leah was wearing a mask and the only impression he had of her was that she was aggressive and cold. Now, there was another adjective - beautiful beyond compare.

“Pervert,” Leah said in a cold voice. “You can sit over there, we’re gonna be here for a while.”

Dante pulled a long face when he heard Leah call him a pervert. It felt like a bucket of ice-cold water was poured over him.

“It seems we started off on the wrong foot,” Dante said while taking a seat at the table. “It was an accident; I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s in the past.” Leah interrupted. Her face devoid of any expression. “I have some questions for you and I need answers, where are you from and how do you know Dr. Lambert?”

An awkward smile appeared on Dante’s face. “This girl…”

“I don’t know where I’m from, I don’t have a home. I met Dr. Lambert three years ago by chance, if it wasn’t for him I would be dead right now.” Dante replied.

A slight frown appeared on Leah’s face. She paused for a moment and asked another question: “Where did you meet Dr. Lambert?”

“There was a bombing in New York, I was found half-dead in the middle of it”. After finishing, Dante noticed that the frown on Leah’s face deepened as if she was lost in thought. After a moment she spoke.

“You’ve been to the mainland? Then, how did you get here?” Her voice was filled with curiosity, caution, doubt, and disbelief.

The answer to this question was one that Dante wasn’t too sure of either, after careful thought, he decided to stick with his previous reply when he encountered Micah. “I was sent here by Dr. Lambert, I’m not sure ‘how’ exactly, but I was definitely sent here. Just now you said ‘mainland’, where exactly is ‘here’?” Dante asked with a confused expression.

“Havalon, can’t you tell?” Leah replied.

“Havalon? Never heard of it” Dante said while shaking his head. He couldn’t recall any city or country with that name. It was completely strange.

“Never heard of it?” Leah said with an astonished look on her face. “What rock have you been living under? Did you hit your head or something?”

“Your ‘friend’ hit me?” Dante replied

“No before that.”

“You hit me? Dante replied.

Leah “…”

“Before that…” Leah said while shaking her head.

“Nope, don’t recall hitting anything after falling into that cavern.”

Leah narrowed her eyes, then continued: “We’re at the outskirts of Havalon, the Northern City of World’s Edge. Havalon was built by our Ancestors over 300 years ago before the calamity fell to Earth. Havalon is the first and largest city they built for the human race to survive.” [How doesn’t he know that? Does he have amnesia or something]

“World’s Edge?! Are you serious?” Dante jumped to his feet, an incredulous look on his face. [World’s Edge is hundreds of miles off the West coast! Wait, did I really get teleported here? Shit!]

There were many rumors about World’s Edge which the public wasn’t able to verify, but being a candidate for the G.E.N.E.S.I.S programme gave Dante access to vast amounts of information. Regarding World’s Edge, it was a newly emerged island shrouded in mystery. The island was overflowing with vegetation even though it only existed for three years, it was also where prisoners of the war were sent to and experimented on by Dr. Lambert. Those prisoners were some of the vilest human beings in existence, and it wasn’t just them, there was also a vast number of undocumented ferocious beasts that littered the island. Being sent here was the same as being sentenced to a violent death!

[This is where he wanted to have us train and survive for a month!? That @#$%^&!]

After swearing under his breath for a moment, Dante suddenly recalled the former part of what Leah said and grew confused.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold up. What Ancestors? What calamity? 300 years ago? Are you high or something Leah?” Dante rebutted. “World’s Edge came into existence 3 years ago, not 300. It’s known to be a volcanic island filled with lush vegetation and abundant minerals but the island is overrun by criminals and ferocious beasts.” That is World’s Edge. Ancestors? The island didn’t exist until three years ago, your ‘Ancestors’ would be infants! You’re not making any sense.”

“Huh? You must’ve hit your head really hard,” Leah said as she stood up. She looked at Dante as if he were perhaps a sick person or a madman.

“If this was 300 years ago, then what you that would be true. The island is no longer filled with ‘lush vegetation’. It’s a barren wasteland out there. After the calamity descended it destroyed most of the world. You mentioned you were on the surface earlier. Did you see any ‘lush vegetation’ out there?”

“No,” Dante replied in a low voice, the confusion in his eyes deepened even further. He sat down and started going through his memories after arriving at the island. The more he thought about it the more confused he became. When he and his team members left their barrack it was early in the morning before 08:00 AM, the sun was ridiculously hot and the sky was clear. Not a single speck of cloud could be seen in the sky. But… after arriving, the sky, as far as he could see, was filled with thunderclouds and lightning. The island at a glance was barren. There was nothing but dead vegetation. There weren’t even any trees visible. The gigantic trees were a signature trait of the island.

The room became silent for an unknown period of time. Both parties were confused about what the other had said. One sounded like a history lesson and the other sounded like nonsense.

“Leah…” After a moment, Dante raised his head, confusion still in his eyes and asked her: “What year is it? I know it’s a dumb question, but please tell me.”

Leah looked over Dante and spoke: “It’s the year 2323”.