Chapter 34-It’s here

Chapter 34: 34-It’s here

Aymara woke before sunrise, though she didn’t know what had pulled her from sleep.

There had been no alarm, no sound from the ship, and nothing unusual inside the fortress, yet the moment her eyes opened, she knew something had changed.

The movie she had been watching the previous night had long since ended, leaving the huge screen dark.

The blanket had slipped from her shoulders and rested across her lap. For a few seconds, she remained still before turning toward the windows.

The ocean was black, not the usual dark blue, but black. The faint light of dawn had not yet reached the horizon, and the enormous ship continued sailing silently through the open water.

Aymara slowly sat up. "Is it time?"

The system answered immediately.

[Countdown completed.]

[The apocalypse has arrived.]

Aymara’s heart skipped. She stood, her palms suddenly cold for some reason. Even though she had spent the entire week preparing for this exact moment, actually hearing those words felt different.

The apocalypse had arrived. There would be no more countdown, preparation, or pretending that tomorrow would be normal. There would be no tomorrow like the tomorrows that had passed and she knew it.

Aymara walked toward the window. The sea was strangely still right before a deep rumble rolled beneath the ship.

BOOM.

The entire cruise trembled, and Aymara grabbed the edge of the table. "What was that?"

[Warning.]

The system’s voice suddenly became much more serious.

[Seismic disturbance detected beneath the ocean floor.]

Aymara’s eyes widened. "How bad?"

[Seismic activity increasing.]

Another tremor struck, this time shaking the floor hard enough to make the furniture rattle.

Aymara immediately activated the ship’s emergency systems. The lights changed, the doors throughout the ship automatically locked, and the surveillance screens came alive.

Outside, the calm ocean suddenly began moving. It didn’t move with waves, but with a violent and unnatural pull. The water around the cruise seemed to sink.

Aymara stared as the ocean dropped several meters, revealing an enormous section of seabed in the distance for one horrifying moment. Then the water came rushing back.

The impact created a wall of water so enormous that Aymara couldn’t even see its top. Her blood ran cold.

"Tsunami," she whispered, her voice filled with horror.

The system confirmed it.

[Multiple tsunami waves detected.]

Aymara immediately checked the ship’s location. They were far from land-very far and that had been intentional.

The farther they were from the coastline, the better. But the waves were enormous, far beyond ordinary tsunamis. The system estimated that they were high enough to destroy entire coastal cities.

Aymara watched in silence as the first wave reached the mainland. Even from miles away, she could see the distant horizon disappear beneath a wall of water as the world began to drown.

---

On land, people were still sleeping. Some were preparing breakfast, some were driving to work, and others were complaining about the strange weather of the previous few days. Nobody was prepared, nobody understood what was coming.

Then the ground began shaking. Buildings trembled, windows shattered, and cars bounced on the roads as people screamed and ran outside. Phones began receiving emergency alerts.

EXTREME TSUNAMI WARNING. SEEK HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY.

Another alert followed, then another. The messages became increasingly desperate.

[EVACUATE COASTAL AREAS. DO NOT RETURN HOME. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.]

People finally began to panic. Traffic came to a complete standstill as millions attempted to escape at the same time.

Highways became parking lots. Families abandoned their cars and ran screaming for their dear lives. Parents carried children while people screamed into their phones, trying to reach relatives or simply understand what was happening. Others stood frozen, staring at the horizon.

Then someone saw it and yelled out. "Everyone, look!"

All eyes turned towards the sea and that’s when they saw it. A wall of water rose higher than the tallest buildings. For several seconds, nobody moved as they were stunned silent in horror and then the screaming began.

"Aaargh! Make way for me I can’t die here!"

Panic rose as people scattered in every direction. No one had the time to check where they were running towards, just as long as their feet carried them away from there.

The tsunami crashed into the city.

The first buildings vanished beneath the wall of water almost instantly. Glass exploded from windows, cars were swept away like toys, and entire roads disappeared beneath the raging flood along with the people trapped on them.

Houses were ripped from their foundations and carried away. Bridges snapped under the tremendous force. Ships were tossed inland as though they weighed nothing.

The water tore through everything in its path. Within minutes, streets that had once been packed with traffic had transformed into raging rivers.

Vehicles collided and disappeared beneath the waves while debris hurtled through the current like deadly projectiles.

Within an hour, entire neighborhoods had vanished and the wave kept moving.

People desperately fought to stay afloat, clawing at anything they could reach. But the water came too fast and with too much force. The current dragged them beneath the surface, leaving them gasping for air as debris slammed into them from every direction.

There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. The doomsday tsunami was not a natural disaster people could simply wait out. It was a force of destruction swallowing everything in its path.

---

Aymara watched from the cruise’s observation deck as the system projected the situation onto one of the screens. The images were horrifying.

Cities were disappearing, coastal towns were completely submerged, and people were desperately trying to climb onto rooftops. Others were trapped inside vehicles.

Emergency services were overwhelmed, hospitals were losing power, and communication networks were beginning to collapse.

"The end is here," she uttered.

Aymara’s face became pale. She had remembered the apocalypse, the betrayal she suffered and the pain of dying by the hands of someone she once trusted.

But seeing it happen again was different. This time, she wasn’t inside the disaster. She was watching it from safety.

She slowly released a breath. "I’m sorry."

She wasn’t sure who she was apologizing to. Perhaps it was the people she could no longer save, perhaps her old self, or perhaps the world. Regardless, she gave the apology.

The ship suddenly tilted, and Aymara grabbed the railing. The enormous tsunami had reached them.

The cruise rose higher and higher, climbing the monstrous wave as though it were a mountain.

Water crashed against the hull with enough force to destroy an ordinary vessel, but the fortress barely moved. It’s reinforced structure absorbed the impact well.

The ship climbed over the wave, then descended.

BOOM!

The entire vessel shook, and Aymara stumbled.

The system immediately spoke.

[Hull integrity: 100%.]

[Structural damage: 0%.]

Aymara blinked, then laughed. "Good, good... All that preparations wasn’t for nothing."

Another wave came and the ship climbed it smoothly, then another, and another.

The ocean had become violent, with waves rising like mountains around the cruise. Lightning split the sky, and thunder rolled across the endless water.

The beautiful blue sea from the previous day had disappeared. Now it was dark, angry, and filled with debris.

Aymara looked toward the horizon. The world had changed overnight from the tsunamis but deep down, she knew, the tsunamis were not the only threat.

"The worst is yet to come."