Chapter 3: THE TWENTY-FOURTH DEATH
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐: ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐-๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐
....๐๐:๐๐๐๐....
All the pain that Eric just went through could not be compared to everything he had just assimilated into his mind.
"So many deaths..." Eric was stunned after the process was done. He sat down and leaned with his back to the glass window and his front to the unknown invader. He was depressed.
Eric had just been initiated with classified information about the world itself and the few mysteries behind it as well as the fact that everyone in this reality had already died before, so many times, in so many ways. It was a hard pill to swallow but... It was necessary.
"But I-I...I still don't understand. Why? Why are we still alive?" Eric asked the unknown invader.
"Hmm... You don't have to understand, all you need to do right now is survive."
"...." Eric was beside himself in the realization of his insignificance in the grand speck of reality.
"I will say, that it was probably the Mayans that figured out the truth first but it honestly doesn't matter. Just take it all like a bad dream. Who knows, it just might be." The unknown invader assured Eric whilst patting his back.
"I wish it was all a nightmare. Then if what I saw was correct, the first world apocalypse was-"
"-2012, yup. Is it that surprising?" The unknown Invader interrupted.
"And what's funny is that the next one's coming in the next 50 years."
๐โ: ๐ณWait! Cut! Cut!
๐ธ๐๐โ๐โ: Hmm... Wait... I'm the one that says "Cut"!
๐โ: Yes, I know but should he be saying that?๐คจ I mean what if the readers find out the date and you know...?
๐ธ๐๐โ๐โ: Oh... Don't worry๐ They don't even know what year this is for you, so don't overthink it, just follow the script and continue the story. If it gets too detailed I'll block the other years just to be safe, alright?
๐โ: ๐ฎOh ok, just checking. I apologize for interrupting the story.๐
๐ธ๐๐โ๐โ: Oh don't worry about it, now let's get back to work! Action!
"(Clears Throat)Mm, mngm... Ahem. And what's funny is that the next one's coming in the next 50 years." The unknown invader said.
"That soon?" Eric was even more bewildered by the closeness of another apocalypse.
"Yes, I'm afraid that's the truth." The unknown invader confirmed.
"If that's the case then... What's the point?" Eric said.
"I...." The unknown invader was short of words.
There was a dead silence that enveloped the atmosphere between the both of them, only the raindrops and thunder could be heard.
The darkness of the night thickened.
And just like that, the unknown caller dispersed his control of reality and released the building...
"Mmnnghh... I have to go back to my time." The unknown invader proceeded to stick his codes-covered hands into thin air and began to tear apart space to create a big enough gap to pass through.
"Are you abandoning me?" Eric asked as he watched the unknown invader leave this plane.
"....No. But I can't stay any longer."
"Why?"
"Your time is almost up." Those were the last words before the hooded invader disappeared through the hole in space. The hole closed up almost immediately as he left.
Once he was gone, there was silence once again, only this time, Eric was all alone. Until...
"Huh? What's buzzing? In my pocket?" Eric received a phone call from the unknown caller once again.
Eric Brander answered but he was still in deep thoughts...
"Hello, can you hear me?" The unknown caller asked.
"Yes, I can hear you."
"Ok great, that's such a relief."
"Why do you say so?"
"I thought I may have been late to help you survive."
"Oh, I see. Hey, listen."
"Yes?"
"What is my reason to live if my very own reality is fake?" Eric asked with a serious but depressed tone.
"...." The unknown invader didn't answer.
"...." Eric accepted his silence.
The dead silence had resumed once again. But was interrupted by...
"I-" The unknown caller's words were interrupted by the eruption of an extremely loud thunderstorm with a flash of lightning that struck close to the glass windows, one of which Eric was leaning on at the time.
During the intense thunder and lightning storm, it was faint but the light from the lightning strikes illuminated a silhouette, a silhouette of a person whose presence was made known by a sudden gunshot noise.
And right before Eric's eyes, standing five floors below Eric, right at the entrance of the building complex, was a man in a hoodie and a gun in his hand. The gun was smoking giving the assumption that the gunshot noise that was heard was caused by the mysterious person.
It wasn't very clear to see with the rainstorm, but the mysterious figure seemed to be wearing a Guy Fawkes mask on his person. Even though he had just shot a bullet point-blank on the ground, the lightning storm and rain blocked the noise of the gunshot at the time but Eric still heard it as clear as day.
"Oh My God! Who the f#ck is that?" With everything Eric had just witnessed and heard, he knew who the mysterious person was. Or at least, his reason for being here, and that the next gunshot would probably be pointed towards his own head.
"Your worst nightmare." The unknown caller answered Eric through the phone's loudspeaker. He had assumed Eric had finally met his predestined assailant.
"So you mean to tell me that that's Delete?" Eric asked the unknown caller.
"Yes, got cold feet?" The situation seemed dire for Eric now but the unknown caller still tried to lighten the mood.
"Not really, it's just become so surreal that I'm going to die now," Eric replied.
"I'm so sorry, but there's not much time anymore. I wish I was up to the task." The unknown caller apologized for his shortcomings and his inability to save Eric in time.
"Don't be, I wasn't going to accept the truth no matter how much you explained it." Eric had accepted what was to come now.
"The time is coming. Ten..." The unknown caller began to countdown at the perpetuated death that was coming.
Almost as if on cue, the mysterious figure with a gun in his hand headed inside the building once the countdown began.
"Damn it, the assailant actually came in! I need to think of something, anything!" Though Eric had accepted his impending doom, he was still desperate to find a solution to survive his approaching attacker.
"Nine..." The unknown invader kept on counting down, like clockwork.
"I can't fight him, since he's probably experienced, I won't be able to beat him, and the struggle might as well be a pathetic waste of time." Eric thought.
"Eight... There isn't much time..!" The unknown invader reminded Eric as he counted down.
"You think I don't know that!?๐ข" Eric angrily replied.
"Seven... Sorry, just saying..." The unknown invader apologized.
"I get you're trying to help but you're distracting my train of thought right now. So just let me think, alright!?" Eric said as he looked around the office for any possible defense tools or aid.
There wasn't any.
"Six... I really don't think there's any logical way of escaping your death, Eric Brander. Just accept your fate, I'll try my best to save the next version." The unknown invader suggested.
"...." Eric didn't respond to his suggestion.
Eric moved as well as stacked all the office equipment that he could carry, including the monitors, the CPUs, and the cubicle chairs all to block the elevator entrance to the office.
"Five... What are you doing? I hear noises." The unknown invader noticed the grunts and scraping noises from his side of the phone call.
"I'm stalling."
"Stalling...? Stalling for what?"
"Time." Eric's demeanor and tone had changed. To the unknown invader, it sounded like Eric had gotten some sort of control of the situation. He surmised it from the calm of his voice.
"Four... Do you have a plan?" The unknown invader asked.
"...." Eric didn't answer.
"Three...! Do you have a plan, Eric Brander!?" The unknown invader asked once more.
"You mentioned before that there wasn't any logical way that I would escape my death, right?" Eric asked as he moved towards the elevator, his back facing the glass window and his stance in sprinting stance, phone on hand of course.
"Two...! Yes...!? But what does that have anything to do with-"
"-You were right! There's no logical way out of this!" With a raging tone, he interrupted the unknown invader's words and accepted his fate but...
"Then..." Eric still had something to say.
"Then...?" The unknown invader was curious.
"One! Then I'll choose the illogical route!" Eric declared, ending the countdown himself.
....๐:๐๐๐๐....
"Time's up, he's here." Just as the unknown invader stated, the elevator door opened and there he stood, the mysterious assassin after Eric's life.
The stacked-up obstruction didn't really stop the assassin as he simply kicked it all down and face Eric with the intention to kill.
Face to face with a revolver pointed to his face. It happened so fast, Eric's thoughts were in hyper mode. Just as the assassin pointed a pistol revolver to his face, Eric calmly placed his smartphone to his ear with the unknown invader listening in and he said his last words...
"I-I don't want to die, but... If I have to die, it'll be on my terms!" He immediately dropped the phone and sprinted towards the glass window.
"Wait, what are you-?" That was the unknown invader's confused response as the phone was midair. In that split second as the armed assassin was pulling the trigger, Eric attempted to die by himself. And just before the smartphone dropped completely to the floor, the unknown invader heard...
*BANG!*
The assassin had shot the gun but slightly missed and hit the glass window instead, leaving a slight crack from which Eric did the most insane thing possible, he jumped through the window.
That's right, he jumped out the office glass window from the fifth floor and fell to the ground floor.
A bloodied body was all that remained of Eric. He was presumed dead by the mysterious assassin...
"The 24th version is dead." The mysterious assassin said those words in a form of a report as if he was relaying the kill to someone else.
"Now onto the last version of Eric Brander. The very last error." A mysterious voice responded to the assassin.
The rainstorm had finally stopped. The phone call was ended as soon as the unknown caller had confirmed that Eric had just died...
"Damn it! I'll try harder next time!" Those were the last words that the unknown caller said just before he ended the call.
**********
All that remained was a corpse now, or so they all thought before they left this timeline. However...
Eric's bloodied hand twitched, and a heartbeat pulsed. He had come back to life, but that wasn't all because from behind the dark shadows of the night, a strange man appeared right next to Eric.
There emerged a mysterious man in a black suit, black gloves, black Fendi-Kaligraphy Derby shoes, a black silver Rolex wristwatch, a Guy Fawkes mask just as the assassin wore, and to top it all, a black fedora hat.
The mysterious man looks at Eric and says with an excited and devilish tone...
"Ahh...! You're still alive. Excellent, let the game begin."
๐๐จ ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐๐...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Firelorn_P_King
Firelorn_P_King No Eric's were harmed in the making of this chapter. Well... I really just wanted to say that at some point.
You've gotten this far, you must like what you read so why don't you add it to your library? Wouldn't that make it easier?
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
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