DCEarth-FL-07, Unknown Universe.
Barry Allen's consciousness emerged from a state of confusion, the familiar smell of disinfectant mixed with coffee filling his nostrils.
The last rays of the setting sun shone through the blinds, casting dappled light and shadow on his face, a warmth that seemed almost unreal.
He propped himself up on the table, stretched, and his joints made a series of soft cracking sounds.
" Barry, don't stay up all night again tonight," Patty, his colleague at the next workstation, said while packing her things. "You've already pulled three all-nighters. Don't die of exhaustion at the police station; I don't want to have to write your autopsy report myself."
Barry forced a tired smile and nodded. "Don't worry, it definitely won't happen today."
His gaze fell on the wall clock; the hour hand had already pointed to the end of the workday.
He grabbed his coat from the back of the chair, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the gleaming gold ring on his index finger.
This ring, made of compressed gold fiber, conceals another aspect of his identity.
Stepping out of the police station, a cool evening breeze blew in.
Just as he was about to go down the steps, he accidentally stepped into a puddle of water, slipped, lost his balance, and fell backward.
In a flash, his brain had already issued the command.
Use the Speed Force to slow down time, then calmly adjust your posture and land steadily.
This was an instinct he had repeated countless times.
However, the anticipated surge of energy did not occur.
"Bang!"
He fell heavily to the ground, his elbow slamming hard against the hard cement steps, a sharp pain instantly shooting through his body.
What happened? Where's the Speed Force?
He lay on the ground, ignoring the pain, desperately trying to sense the surging energy within his body.
But it was empty; there was nothing there.
The Speed Force, which he was so proud of and which had saved him from danger countless times, simply vanished into thin air.
Just as his mind went blank and he struggled to get up, a gentle voice that made his heart stop rang out above him.
" Barry? You didn't fall, did you? How could you be so careless? You're a grown man, how could you fall down the stairs?"
Barry's blood seemed to freeze in an instant.
That sound...
This was a voice he only dared to reminisce about in his dreams, a voice he hadn't heard for a full eleven years.
He remembered that stormy night when a yellow bolt of lightning tore through his living room, and his mother screamed for him to run.
Then he saw her lying in a pool of blood, her eyes, which always held a smile, now forever devoid of their light.
He stiffly raised his head, and against the light of the setting sun, saw a face so familiar that it made his Soul Stone tremble.
The face, showing concern and a hint of reproach, was reaching out her hand to him.
Barry stared at the person before him in disbelief, his lips trembling, a broken syllable squeezing out of his throat. "Mom... Mom?"
Nora Allen pulled him up from the ground and brushed the dust off him. "What's wrong, Barry? You promised to celebrate my birthday with me today. You're not planning to celebrate it in front of the police station, are you?"
Birthday...
Barry's brain completely shut down.
He stared blankly at his mother, the bloody rainy night in his mind and the gentle smiling face before him overlapping and tearing at each other wildly, almost splitting him apart.
He subconsciously cleared his mind of all his chaotic thoughts and simply shook his head.
"No, Mom... I just... miss you a little." The words slipped out, choked with emotion he himself didn't even realize.
Upon hearing this, Nora's reproach instantly turned into heartache.
She reached out and gently stroked Barry's hair, sighing, "Silly child, you've been like this every now and then ever since your father passed away from a heart attack three years ago. Perhaps I should take you to the hospital sometime? Maybe you have some kind of mental illness."
An invisible hammer slammed into Barry's head.
Father... he had a heart attack... and passed away?
No! That's not right! Father isn't dead! He was wrongly convicted of murdering Mother and is currently serving time in Iron Heights Penitentiary!
He became the Flash, and everything he did was to find the real culprit and prove his father's innocence!
But Mother... Mother has been dead for eleven years.
What exactly happened? What kind of world did he end up in?
The Speed Force disappeared, the mother came back to life, but the father "died" in another way?
His family, his life, everything he knew was distorted into something he didn't recognize at all.
Barry felt like a Soul Stone puppet, being led by his mother's hand, and walked into a cozy-looking restaurant in a daze.
Nora skillfully ordered the food, handed the menu to the waiter, and then looked at her distraught son with concern. " Barry, have you been working too hard lately? You haven't been watching the news much, have you? The world has been a bit turbulent lately. Themyscira and Atlantis are going to war, and Eastern Europe has been flooded. It's said that tens of thousands of people have died."
"Boom!"
Another bolt from the blue struck Barry's mind.
He looked up abruptly, staring intently at his mother, his voice hoarse. "Mom, what did you just say?"
Nora assumed her child simply hadn't been following the news, and patiently explained:
"Have you forgotten? It's on the news every day. The ruler of Themyscira, Queen Diana, her mother died at the hands of the Atlanteans. And King Arthur of Atlantis, his wife Mera, died at Diana's hands."
"From then on, the two countries began to fight, and now the fighting is getting fiercer and fiercer, and the flames of war are almost reaching the east coast. It's really terrifying."
Barry was completely dumbfounded.
Diana? Wonder Woman? Arthur? Aquaman?
His comrades, founding members of the Justice League, heroes who protected Earth... have now become mortal enemies?
And they've already launched a war that has affected the entire globe and caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people?!
What's wrong with this world?
Where's Batman?
Where's Superman?
And Green Lantern! Cyborg! Shazam! Where did they all go? Where is the Justice League?!
Why is no one standing up to stop this insane war?
Barry opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
An unprecedented chill rose from the soles of my feet and instantly swept over my entire body.
Looking at his mother gently pouring him water, and at the ordinary people laughing and chatting in the restaurant, he felt as if he had fallen into an incredibly real nightmare.
This world has gone mad!