The sky split open, stars fell, and miasma filled the air. No one knows why, but one day our world collapsed.
Mutated monsters, contaminated zones, weakness, fear, human nature, failing technology, and a deteriorating ecosystem. Cities became wastelands.
To survive and preserve civilization, humanity had no choice but to build thousand-meter-high walls and retreat into underground shelters that could hold only a hundred thousand people.
In the long days after she opened her eyes, she was given a name.
Her name was Gu Wei.
The researchers told her that Wei meant "the only one." They said she was the sole ray of hope after the apocalypse, the last harbinger of dawn.
But the other humans were not grateful. They feared her.
They called her "the Source."
Wen Mu can always feel the intensely scorching gaze fixed on him from behind.
That stare is like a savage beast driven mad by hunger, or like murky wine steeped in twilight. Madness and thirst churn beneath the haze as it examines its prey, making no effort to hide its desire for him.
For a while, he suspects the other person wants to eat him.
PS:
· Sentinel-guide story. Female Sentinel, male Guide; features nonhuman characters. Set 129 years after the apocalypse.
· A dangerously powerful figure constantly teetering on the brink of losing control, and an exceptionally fastidious, elite, cool beauty who is the only one able to guide him.
Theme: Hope is a light in the cracks. The darker it gets, the brighter it shines.
