Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Internet in Apocalypse
Kane cupped both his ears with his palms, waiting for the earsplitting cacophony to hit at any moment. But nothing happened.
Just when he thought that his home system was not working, he noticed the Temporal Echo struggling in its tracks. A realization stuck him as he understood that the frequency emitting from his speakers was way above the 20,000 Hz range. It was inaudible to him or any human, for a fact. The Echo however, hovering eerily in his home, writhed in the air, disoriented by the high frequencies assaulting its existence.
Seizing the moment, Kane raced through his apartment, searching for dry newspapers and matches. While he did not have a flamethrower, creating a fire did not need some genius. He crushed the layers of newspaper into a ball roughly the size of a volleyball and stuck the ball into the mop that he picked from his bathroom. Using a match, the ball of paper quickly caught on fire, turning to ashes rapidly.
Before the fire ran out of fuel, he made his way to the Echo. Flaming rod in hand, he plunged the torch into the dancing ghost. The apparition, already on the brink of dissipation, ignited into a blaze and crumbled into ashes under the intense heat as Kane watched. It was like watching miniature fireworks.
He remembered what the GUIDE's exact words were about level 1 Echoes.
|*High-Energy sources can easily disturb their existence and forcefully dissipate them. A flamethrower would be handy. Or a lightsaber.*|
The GUIDE's advice about high-energy sources being effective against these spectral echoes had saved Kane. He had made the best of the resources at his disposal to defend against this strange and ominous threat.
'Although it's strange that high-frequency also affects them. Talk about too many apparent weaknesses. Good for me though.'
With the ghost reduced to a pile of ashes, Kane wasted no time cleaning up his apartment. Now that he had received the rundown on the merger and had all the basic information he required, he felt the sense of urgency increase. But at least with the smartwatch on his hand, he felt ready to start planning for the future now.
After refreshing up with a quick shower and some food, he opened his mobile phone to check on the outside world and was met with a cascade of strange occurrences happening: apparitions, missing landscapes, bizarre storms, and more. Just like he was expecting. Furthermore, he noticed the time and was shocked. It was past six in the evening. He had slept through eight hours somehow without feeling the passing of time. So the conversation he had with the GUIDE inside his mind had only made it feel like time hadn't passed. But that was only an illusion.
Time had passed by just normally
Something even more strange was how the internet was still functioning amidst the upheaval, but maybe it was just luck. Thinking about this, Kane called upon the GUIDE once more.
"Since the GUIDE is present everywhere and connected to everyone, can you connect me with my friends and establish a channel of communication?"
He had thought of this just now, about the possibility of connecting with other people through GUIDE, to send messages and gather information. If this was indeed possible, it would be a great tool.
|*This is indeed possible and another way of using the GUIDE during this merger. Glad that you could think of this on your own. Anyone who has made the first contact with the GUIDE is within its purview and can be contacted as long as they accept a connection.*|
GUIDE responded affirmatively, and its remark made Kane light up like a bulb.
Realizing the immense potential for communication in this apocalyptic scenario, Kane decided that he needed to connect with his friends quickly. He quickly dialed his friends, thinking of updating them all on the information he had learnt so far. But it was only then he noticed there were more than five missed calls from his friends in the call history logs. Realizing that they must have called him during the time he was communicating with the GUIDE, he got worried about them. For eight hours, he had disappeared. He hoped nothing had occurred.
A minute passed, and when no one picked his call, his worries grew. He was about to re-dial when the smartwatch on his hand glowed and the GUIDE's voice broke his thoughts.
|*Resident Zephyr is calling you right now. Do you accept?*|
Surprised for a moment, he quickly accepted, and the scene in front of him changed once more. He was back in an empty white area, his mind space. But there were 4 more figures standing in here and no robot.
The shock on his face was palpable as he looked at the cheeky smirks on their faces. His voice choked as he tried to form words. But the big form of Jay engulfed him in a big hug, as the others joined in too.
"We all missed you, too."
Asche's voice croaked from his back.
He had definitely not been expecting such a reunion, but as long as they were all safe and fine, it would be okay.
They all sat down with crossed legs as he observed his friends.
"So I guess everyone has been through some shit, especially you, Eli."
Kane looked at the lady in front of him. Not only were her eyes bright red, but her hair legit looked like it was on fire. She looked even more dangerous than before, somehow. She smirked at his remark.
Then there was Zephyr. At a glance, nothing seemed to have changed about him, but as his close friend Kane could notice that he was taller than before. Compared to his previous 175cm, he was almost reaching Jay now, at 180cm. The difference was huge. And he looked even more lean than before, almost as if he would topple if the wind was too strong.
Jay and Layke had no obvious physical change, but they must have experienced stuff as well. Layke already had been through one almost sea monster encounter, so maybe not him though.
*Snap*
Zephyr snapped his finger to bring back his attention, then asked the group,
"So who's gonna go first, then? No one? Then let me do the honors..."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Detektive_one
Detektive_one I'll put on a note one more time, the groups real names and nicknames will be used interchangeably. But if that is an issue, do let me know.
Mainly, the difference is that in a conversation between the group; we make use of nicknames, while in formal conversation or just while mentioning said person, their actual name is made use of.
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