30. Impassable (Final)

When the already dim lights went dark amid a tremor strong enough to knock people off their feet, young sailor Tobini thought of nothing. His mind went blank, and he even forgot to be afraid.

It was only when screams kept ringing in his ears that he realized what was happening, but by then he was powerless to do anything.

In the pitch-black darkness, the crowded mass fled in every direction. The smells of sweat, blood, and someone's overpowering body odor all rushed into his nostrils, making the seventeen-year-old dizzy. He could only go with the flow and move with the crowd.

His feet had been trampled numb, and an elbow from who knew where had left the area beneath his left ribs throbbing with pain, but none of that compared to his headache—the screams and curses everywhere were driving him insane.

Fortunately, the world soon fell quiet.

Of course, not in the peaceful way he had hoped, but amid a violent explosion and some kind of bizarre shriek.

The former sent Tobini truly flying, while the latter temporarily robbed him of his hearing. During those few seconds floating in the air, he actually rather liked being deaf. But when he came down hard in a pool of scalding, sticky blood, that gratitude swiftly turned to panic.

The darkness around him remained absolute, but whether he could see no longer mattered. Ignoring the intense dizziness, Tobini hurriedly reached out to feel around. Something sharp pierced his fingers. The searing pain was almost unbearable, but he did not pull back. He kept searching.

He quickly realized that he was touching bone, or something like it. The sensation of warm flesh and blood was so distinctive that, even though he had never experienced it before, he could immediately guess the truth.

He