Crimson two worlds

📘 Chapter 1 — The Shift

You were just walking.

Nothing special about the day. Backpack over your shoulder, thoughts drifting somewhere between boredom and routine. The kind of moment you never remember afterward.

Then the world changed.

Not with a sound. Not with an explosion.

It was more like reality… skipped.

One instant, the street was normal. The next, it wasn’t.

You stopped.

Slowly, your eyes adjusted.

The buildings were wrong.

Cracked concrete. Broken windows. Cars abandoned and rusting in unnatural positions, as if they had been left mid-collapse. The air itself felt heavier, thick with dust and something far worse underneath it.

A smell like decay.

Your heartbeat rose before you even understood why.

Then you heard it.

A sound behind you.

Low. Wet. Not human.

You turned.

Two figures stood at the end of the street.

They shouldn’t have been alive. At least, not like that. Their movements were uneven, broken, as if their bodies were remembering how to function rather than actually doing it.

Your stomach tightened.

“…Zombies?”

The word left your mouth before you could stop it.

And the moment you spoke it—

They heard you.

Their heads snapped toward you at the same time.

You ran.

The world blurred as you sprinted.

Footsteps slammed against broken pavement behind you—fast, wrong, relentless. You didn’t look back. You couldn’t afford to.

Your eyes locked onto the nearest building. Half-collapsed, unstable, but enough.

You climbed.

Hands scraped metal. Legs burned as you forced yourself upward, refusing to think about what would happen if you slipped. Every second felt heavier than the last, as if the world itself wanted you to fall.

Somehow, you reached the roof.

And you didn’t stop running until there was nowhere else to go.

A rusted water tank stood near the center. You crouched behind it, forcing your breathing to slow. Your heartbeat was so loud it felt like it could give you away.

Silence followed.

Too deep. Too complete.

Then—

Something shifted.

You held your breath.

Slowly, carefully, you leaned just enough to look.

A girl stood on the rooftop.

She looked around your age.

Covered in blood.

But not wounded.

Not panicked.

She moved with calm precision, as if this world didn’t surprise her anymore. Without hesitation, she struck the side of the water tank. Metal dented instantly, water bursting out in a heavy stream. She leaned into it, washing the blood from her arms like it was nothing more than dirt.

You stared, frozen.

She didn’t look like a victim of this world.

She looked like she belonged to it.

You shifted slightly.

A small mistake.

Metal beneath your foot clicked.

Clink.

The sound wasn’t loud.

But in that silence, it was everything.

Her body stopped.

The water kept running.

But she didn’t move.

And then she vanished.

Your breath caught.

Before you could even react, something cold pressed against your throat.

A blade.

Sharp. Steady. Absolute.

She stood in front of you now.

Close enough to see her eyes.

Cold. Focused. Measuring.

“Who are you?” she asked.

You didn’t answer immediately. You couldn’t.

Your mind was still catching up with the fact that you were no longer alone in a dead world.

Your eyes drifted—briefly—to your backpack.

A small packet of peanuts was visible.

Her gaze followed it instantly.

“…Food?” she murmured.

That single word shifted the air.

Carefully, you forced your voice out.

“Hey… calm down. You can have it. I can get more.”

Something changed in her expression.

Not trust.

Not yet.

But hesitation.

And in this world, hesitation was rare.

Before anything else could happen—

A roar split the silence.

The rooftop shattered into motion.

A massive infected creature climbed onto the roof, its movements heavy and violent. There was no time to think.

Only action.

She moved first.

Fast. Controlled. Lethal.

You followed instinctively—barely helping, barely surviving the chaos that followed. It didn’t feel like a fight. It felt like watching someone rewrite what survival meant.

And then it ended.

Silence returned again.

She stepped forward, pressing her hand into the fallen creature’s head.

A faint glow emerged.

A crystal.

She pulled it free.

And in that exact moment—

Gunfire cracked through the air.

A bullet struck her leg.

She dropped instantly.

Across the rooftops, figures stood watching.

Not zombies.

Humans.

Armed. Smirking.

Hunters.

Looters.

The crystal slipped from her hand.

And fell into yours.

A voice exploded inside your mind.

“Tier 1 mana crystal detected.”

“Recharge available?”

You froze.

“…What?”

There was no time to understand it.

Only instinct.

“…Yes.”

The crystal vanished.

Another message followed.

“Recharge complete.”

“Two transfers unlocked.”

You didn’t know what that meant yet.

But your body did.

Because something about this world had just changed again.

The girl forced herself up despite the wound. Her hand tightened around her weapon as she shoved it into yours.

“Kill me,” she said quietly. “Before I turn.”

Your grip tightened.

“There has to be another way.”

Her eyes didn’t soften.

“Only penicillin… but it doesn’t exist anymore.”

That was all she said.

Then silence.

You took a breath.

And made a decision.

“I’ll be back.”

“Transfer.”

The world broke apart.

You stood in your room.

Clean. Normal. Alive.

For a moment, you just stared.

Then you moved.

The pharmacy lights were harsh. Cold. Real.

You didn’t hesitate.

Three bottles.

Then back home.

Then—

“Transfer.”

The rooftop returned like a wound reopening.

She was still there.

Barely holding on.

You forced the pill into her hand.

“Take it.”

She swallowed.

And slowly—

The color returned to her breathing.

She lived.

But peace didn’t last.

Footsteps echoed above.

Figures arrived.

Hunters.

They came for a corpse.

But they were too late.

She moved.

And the rooftop turned into a battlefield.

🔥 END OF CHAPTER 1