Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The increase in my Wisdom wasnt something immediately tangible. Over the course of the day, however, I became grounded in myself. An acceptance of this reality, my place in the chaos, and finally how to proceed.The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

I thought it was fairly likely I was just one among countless others whisked away by this apocalypse. A part of the university had been teleported into some unknown wilderness. It stood to reason, across the world, similar happenings occurred.

Wisdom was understanding, judgment, and experience. A certain self-awareness of myself and the world. It allowed me to calm down, as much as one could expect to.

Enough to question what exactly was happening. Despite that, there were few answers forthcoming. This apocalypse came without warning, without preamble.

I found myself with ample time to ponder it.

The forest was a swampy expanse. A place where life lurked under the waters, where howls broke the silent nights, and the rush of splashing waters was a sign of nature running its course. The forest breathed and I was nothing but a speck of dust.

Four specks of dust.

There was Second, Third, and Fourth now. I covered a lot of ground, avoided many dangers. I had caught sight of those wolves in the daylight. One of the clones had seen it.

A dark-furred creature that swam just as fast as it bounded across the roots, four-legged and many-teethed. It was a different, less horrifying sight in broad daylight. Mainly because it was herding around its young. Puppies, no taller than my knee at that.

The sight was sobering. Wed been dropped into a foreign ecosystem and been immediately identified as prey. The bottom of a pyramid we humans used to stand at the top of.

I found nothing of the sort.

The place was abandoned, empty. The front entrance was collapsed but the second story had a balcony. I found a root path that led to the correct elevation and climbed inside. The inside was almost impossibly untouched. Dirt, rubble, moss, bugs, plantlife, but nothing damaging enough to ruin a bookshelf.

Some of them, however, were taken apart. Windows were boarded, doorways barricaded, there had been people here. Hope surged in my chest like a butterfly quickly preyed upon by the bird of reality.

The one thing I could rely on was myself. I doubted that was healthy thinking and it didnt help that it was the truth. Still, I continued to explore.

Eventually, I found the clue Id been looking for. Where had everyone gone? The answer stared a me. A note, lying on an empty receptionist desk in the middle of the library weighed down by a paperweight.

To any survivors,

None of us know what happened. Some of us are talking about biblical apocalypses, a reckoning of sorts. The end of the world. No one wants to die, though. If you see this, we left the library because no one felt safe here. We lost people to the wolves, to those green things, alligator-things in the water. We headed north, to try to get out of this damn swamp.

- Jonathan, 6th day of apocalypse

And that was it. In this place, the library was no less than a castle. It was safe. I wasnt sure if they understood what a treasure that was. Yet, I could understand just wanting to leave. In this swamp, humans were prey just like anything else.

Jonathan had dated the note. The 6th day. How long had it been? A little over a week, I guessed. Theyd left two days ago?

Without a single word said, three of my clones and the original adjusted their bearing. North it is.