Odyssey Of Survival-Chapter 84 Crumbling World

The old man’s gaze lingered on Nate, his ancient eyes filled with something that Nate couldn’t quite decipher—regret, sadness, or perhaps something else entirely. His voice was steady but carried the weight of centuries as he spoke again.

"Your father survived the exile," the old man said. "He escaped the humans’ trap… but he was just a child. Alone, afraid, and hunted."

Nate’s brows furrowed, his mind struggling to piece it all together. His father? A Koryathan? He had grown up believing he was nothing more than an orphan, a regular kid with no history, no lineage worth mentioning. But now, this stranger was telling him that he came from an ancient civilization lost to time.

The old man continued. "I found him. He was barely breathing, hiding in the ruins of what was left after the humans took back their world. I couldn’t leave him. I wouldn’t leave him." His voice softened, his gaze distant, as if remembering that moment vividly.

"I took him in, raised him as my own," the old man went on. "But even in my home, he was not safe. The humans had already begun searching for remnants of the Koryathans. If they found him, they would have erased him from existence."

Nate’s throat tightened. "So… where did you take him?"

The old man met his eyes, his expression grim.

"There was only one place left," he said. "A place no human could ever set foot. The one sanctuary hidden from the world—the only world the Koryathans had left when they returned to Earth."

The realization struck Nate like a bolt of lightning. His lips parted, his voice barely a whisper.

"…This island?"

The old man nodded.

"Yes, this island exists on Earth," he said. "But it is not of Earth. It is a world within a world—a sanctuary created by the Koryathans, meant to be their last refuge should they ever return." He exhaled slowly, his voice tinged with sorrow. "But they never got the chance to live here."

Nate felt like the ground beneath him was shifting. His entire life had been rewritten in mere moments. This place… this cursed island… was meant to be a home.

Suddenly, the old man’s form flickered.

Nate’s heart leapt. "What’s happening?"

The old man looked down at himself, his body slowly unraveling like strands of shadow dissolving into the air. He lifted his gaze back to Nate, his expression calm despite what was happening.

"My time has come," the old man said simply. "This is the end of my existence, and the beginning of yours."

Panic swelled in Nate’s chest. He had more questions—so many more—but before he could speak, the old man’s gaze drifted to Alice.

"Your friend…" the old man murmured. "She is special."

Alice flinched as the man suddenly raised his withered hand and pointed at her.

A strange energy pulsed through the air, invisible yet unmistakably powerful. It lasted only a second before the old man lowered his hand. Alice shook slightly, but unharmed. Explore more stories at novelbuddy

Nate clenched his fists. "What did you just do to her?"

The old man didn’t answer. He only looked at Nate, his ancient eyes locking onto his.

"I know you have questions," he said. "But it is not my purpose to answer them."

Nate ground his teeth in frustration. "Then whose purpose is it?"

The old man only smiled—a small, knowing smile, as if he held secrets Nate wasn’t meant to hear yet.

"You will understand in time," he said. "But if you seek the truth… when the shadows stretch longer than the sky itself, follow the path to the frozen horizon."

Nate opened his mouth, but before he could utter a word, the old man’s body collapsed into itself. His form twisted into a dark, shadowy mass, swirling like a storm before it compressed into a single point.

And then—

It shot forward, slamming straight into Nate’s forehead.

Pain.

A searing, unbearable agony tore through his skull, his mind, his entire body. His vision turned white, then black, then everything at once. It was as if something ancient, something too vast for his mind to contain, was pouring into him.

His body collapsed to the icy floor.

The last thing he heard before his consciousness faded was Alice screaming his name.

Darkness. That was the first thing Nate felt before his senses sluggishly returned to him. His head throbbed, a pounding sensation that felt as if something had been forced into his mind, something foreign yet strangely familiar. His body was heavy, his limbs sluggish, but before he could even process the discomfort, a frantic voice snapped him out of his daze.

"Nate! Wake up! We have to go now!"

Alice’s voice was sharp, filled with urgency, and the next moment, he felt hands shaking his shoulders. His eyes fluttered open, and the moment they did, he saw Alice kneeling beside him, her face pale, her breathing ragged. There was a look of sheer panic in her icy-blue eyes, a look that sent an instant wave of alertness through him.

Then he felt it.

The very ground beneath him trembled violently, a deep rumbling noise echoing all around them, growing louder with every passing second. It was as if the entire palace, no—the entire world they had just entered—was on the verge of collapse. The air itself felt heavy, unstable, charged with an energy that was spiraling out of control.

Nate pushed himself up, ignoring the dull ache in his skull, and took a sharp breath. The world around him was falling apart. The grand palace that once stood tall and regal was now cracking, its icy walls shattering like fragile glass, sending massive chunks crashing onto the frozen floor. The sky, once an endless stretch of ethereal blue, was now distorting, warping, as if it were being torn apart at the seams.

Alice grabbed his arm, her fingers ice-cold. "Nate, we have to go! The portal—!"

His gaze snapped toward the entrance of the palace where they had first entered. The gate was still there, flickering, pulsing erratically as if it, too, was struggling to hold itself together. If they didn’t leave now, they might never get the chance.

Without wasting another second, Nate reached for Alice. "Hold on tight!"

She barely had time to react before fire erupted from his back, scorching-hot, roaring with a newfound intensity. In the blink of an eye, they were propelled forward, blasting through the crumbling ruins with an unimaginable speed. The sheer force of the wind against Alice’s face made it impossible for her to even keep her eyes open. She clenched her teeth, clutching onto Nate’s waist as tightly as she could, her heart hammering in her chest.

Everything around them was pure chaos.

The sky continued to fracture, cracks of glowing energy splitting through it like veins of lightning. The ground beneath them wasn’t faring any better—it was splitting apart, massive chasms opening up as entire chunks of land broke off and tumbled into the void below. What had once been a world of mystery and ancient history was now nothing more than a collapsing ruin, being swallowed by oblivion.

Nate gritted his teeth, his eyes locking onto the portal ahead. It was their only way out.

The moment they neared it, he pushed himself even harder, flames surging around him as he forced his body to go faster, ignoring the burning strain in his muscles. The portal was shrinking now, its edges curling inward, threatening to disappear entirely.

With one final burst of energy, Nate shot forward like a comet, diving straight into the flickering vortex with Alice held tightly in his arms.

What took them more than an hour when they came here took him only a minute to cross this time.

The world behind them collapsed in on itself the very instant they escaped.

As soon as they crossed the threshold, they tumbled onto solid ground, Nate rolling instinctively to absorb the impact before coming to a stop. Alice landed beside him with a gasp, coughing as she scrambled to her knees, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

Nate lay there for a moment, his body exhausted, his breathing heavy. Then, with effort, he turned his head back toward the portal.

It was gone.

The world they had entered—the palace, the old man, the strange visions—everything had been swallowed into nothingness. There was no trace left behind. Only silence remained, the cave around them eerily still.

Alice was the first to break the silence, her voice hoarse. "...What just happened?"

Nate didn’t know how to answer. All he knew was that something inside him had changed. Something deep, something irreversible.

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And whatever it was, it had only just begun.

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