I Awakened the Apocalypse System

What My Mother Knew

The man in the white coat stood remarkably calm among the surrounding Hunters, carrying no weapon of his own, which somehow frightened Ethan far more than the guns pointed in his direction. The warehouse had been completely surrounded, yet the man appeared entirely at ease, as though he already knew precisely how this confrontation would end.

“Take Player Zero,” he ordered, before his eyes drifted toward Mary. “And bring the woman to me.”

Ethan stepped in front of his mother without hesitation. “You are not taking her anywhere.” Mary placed a trembling hand on his arm. “Ethan.” When he glanced back at her, he caught something unfamiliar in her expression, a fear that went beyond the ordinary terror of a mother watching her son fight for survival. There was recognition in her eyes, as though she had seen this man somewhere before. “Mom?” She quickly looked away without answering.

The commander raised his weapon. “Do it,” he ordered, and the Hunters surged forward. Ethan tightened his grip on the Beginner Blade despite his exhausted body, having already fought Hunters, survived an explosion, and defeated a Level 3 Shadow Eater that night, his experience sitting at seventy out of one hundred but still short of Level 2. He knew he could not fight everyone standing before him, and he needed another way out immediately.

His Danger Sense flared to life, drawing his attention toward a narrow door tucked behind several shelves on the right side of the warehouse. “Mom, can you run?” Mary looked at him with determination. “I can try.” “That is enough,” he said, grabbing a metal chair and hurling it toward the nearest Hunters. As they scattered to avoid it, Ethan rushed forward, striking one across the arm and kicking another in the chest before shoving his way through the opening. “Move!”

Mary followed close behind him, with Victor trailing after her while the commander shouted furiously. “Do not let them escape!” The three of them vanished through the narrow doorway and into a dark corridor beneath the warehouse, and Ethan pulled the door shut firmly behind them. For several long seconds none of them spoke, until Mary reached out and touched the side of Ethan’s face.

“You are hurt.”

“It is nothing.”

“It is not nothing,” she said, her voice shaking. “You are bleeding.”

Ethan wiped the blood from his cheek. “I am still alive.” Tears welled up in Mary’s eyes. “That is all you keep saying.” He stared at her silently as she took a deep, unsteady breath. “I know you are trying to protect me, but you are still my son. I watched you struggle for years just to make sure I had food and a roof over my head. You worked when you were tired. You came home late and pretended everything was fine when I knew you were worried about money.”

Ethan looked away from her. “Mom, this is not the time.”

“It is exactly the time,” she insisted, holding his arm tightly. “If something happens to you because of me, I will never forgive myself.”

He met her eyes again. “You are not the reason this is happening.”

“You do not know that.”

Her words stopped him cold, and Victor turned to study Mary as well. “What did you mean?” She fell silent, and Ethan noticed the shift in her expression immediately. “Mom, what do you know?” She lowered her gaze. “I did not want you to find out this way.” “Find out what?”

She glanced back toward the corridor behind them. “The man in the white coat.” Ethan waited, and she continued. “I know him.” Victor’s expression hardened. “What is his name?” Mary shook her head. “I do not know his real name. Years ago, he came to me because of you.” Ethan’s stomach twisted painfully. “Because of me?” “Yes,” she said, her voice dropping even lower. “He told me that one day people would come looking for you.”

Ethan could barely force out his next words. “You knew this would happen?”

“No,” she said quickly, shaking her head. “I knew something might happen. I did not know there would be monsters. I did not know about the System. I only knew that you were important to people I did not understand.”

Victor stepped closer. “What did he want?” Mary looked directly at him. “He wanted me to give Ethan to them.” Ethan’s hands clenched tightly around the blade. “And you refused.” “Of course I refused,” she said, turning to face her son fully. “You were my child. I would never hand you over to anyone.”

For the first time since the apocalypse had begun, Ethan felt something stronger than fear rising inside him. He felt anger, not because his mother had kept a secret from him, but because someone had known about his significance long before he had ever encountered the System.

The blue screen flickered into view before him.

WARNING. HIDDEN INFORMATION DETECTED. PLAYER ZERO’S ORIGIN MAY BE CONNECTED TO TARGET MARY COLE.

Ethan stared at the message in silence, and Victor noticed the change in his face. “What did it say?” Before Ethan could respond, the System updated again.

NEW MISSION: DISCOVER THE TRUTH. OBJECTIVE: FIND OUT WHY MARY COLE WAS TARGETED. TIME LIMIT: 72 HOURS. REWARD: UNKNOWN. FAILURE: SYSTEM INFORMATION LOCKED.

His eyes widened as he realized this was no ordinary survival mission, but something deeply personal. “Mom,” he said quietly, “we need to talk.” She nodded. “I know.”

Before either of them could continue, a loud sound echoed from the far end of the corridor, signaling that someone was approaching. Victor raised his weapon instantly. “They found us.” Ethan looked around desperately, finding nowhere left to hide, until Mary pointed toward a small metal door nearby. “There.”

Ethan pulled it open to reveal a staircase descending into darkness, and the three of them hurried down without hesitation, emerging into a large underground room filled with old equipment. Ethan stopped in his tracks, recognizing the space immediately as some kind of laboratory, littered with broken computers, empty glass containers, and several metal tables. A faded symbol marked one of the walls, and Victor stared at it intently. “I know this place.” Ethan turned to him. “You have been here?” “No,” Victor said, shaking his head. “But I have seen that symbol before.” “Where?” “On Hunter documents.”

Ethan approached the wall, where several photographs had been pinned up, most of them destroyed beyond recognition except for a single one that remained intact. He picked it up, and his entire body went rigid at what he saw. The photograph showed a much younger version of Mary, standing beside the man in the white coat, but that was not what shocked him most. Between them stood a small boy who could not have been older than six.

It was Ethan.

He stared at the image in disbelief. “I do not remember this.” Mary walked toward him, and the moment she saw the photograph, she covered her mouth in horror. Ethan turned to face her. “You told me you never met these people.” Her eyes filled with fresh tears. “I lied.”

The sound of footsteps echoed from somewhere above them, growing steadily closer as the Hunters continued their search. Ethan looked back down at the photograph in his hand, realizing that for years he had believed himself to be nothing more than an ordinary man unlucky enough to survive the beginning of the apocalypse, when in truth his story had begun long before the System had ever appeared to him.

The blue screen returned once more.

MEMORY DATA DETECTED. PLAYER ZERO’S SEALED MEMORY IS AVAILABLE.

His breathing slowed as a new warning followed.

WARNING. ACCESSING THIS MEMORY MAY CHANGE YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF YOURSELF.

He looked over at his mother, who stood crying silently in the dim light of the laboratory. “Mom,” he whispered, “what happened to me when I was six?”

Mary closed her eyes for a long moment before answering. “They took you.”

At that instant, the lights throughout the underground laboratory flared to life all at once, and every screen mounted around the room lit up simultaneously, displaying the same haunting image. A small boy lay inside a glass chamber, surrounded by several figures dressed in white coats, and Ethan recognized the child instantly as himself at six years old, with the same man from the warehouse standing among the group gathered around the chamber.

Ethan stared at the screen, his voice barely a whisper. “No.”

Mary raised a trembling hand to her mouth as the recording continued, a voice crackling through hidden speakers somewhere in the room. “Subject Zero has survived the first stage.” Ethan felt the blood drain from his face. Victor turned sharply toward Mary. “Subject Zero?” She offered no response, and the recording pressed forward relentlessly. “Memory suppression will begin immediately. The subject must never remember this facility.”

Ethan turned slowly to face his mother. “You knew.” Tears spilled freely down her cheeks as she struggled to meet his gaze. “I tried to protect you.”

The image on the screen shifted again, now showing young Ethan seated inside the chamber, his eyes wide open and streaming with tears as he cried in front of the camera. Then the boy looked directly into the lens, his lips moving as the audio sharpened into clarity. “Mom, please don’t let them turn me into a monster.”

Ethan’s breath caught painfully in his chest. Mary broke down completely. “I am sorry.” He turned to her, his voice cracking. “What did they do to me?” She shook her head helplessly. “I do not know everything.” “Then tell me what you know,” he pressed, and she stepped closer, her voice trembling.

“They told me you were different from the other children.”

“Different how?”

Before she could answer, the entire laboratory shuddered violently, and every screen around them went dark at once. A new message from the System appeared.

SEALED MEMORY INTERRUPTED. EXTERNAL ACCESS DETECTED.

His eyes widened as another line followed.

WARNING. THE HUNTERS ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES SEARCHING FOR PLAYER ZERO.

Victor raised his weapon defensively. “What does that mean?” Before Ethan could respond, one final message flashed across his vision.

UNKNOWN ENTITY HAS ENTERED THE FACILITY. IDENTITY: CLASSIFIED. LEVEL: ???

The underground door exploded inward, filling the laboratory with thick smoke, and through the haze a figure slowly stepped into view, his face impossible to make out clearly. But the voice that emerged from within the smoke was enough to freeze Mary in place instantly.

“You should have told him the truth years ago.”

Ethan turned to his mother and watched her stumble backward in terror. “Not you,” she whispered. The figure came to a stop and addressed Ethan directly. “Your mother did not save you from us, Ethan.” A heavy silence followed before the voice continued. “She saved us from you.”

The System delivered one final warning before the lights went out completely.

PLAYER ZERO’S TRUE ORIGIN IS BEING REVEALED. WARNING: DO NOT TRUST ANYONE.

And in the darkness that swallowed the laboratory, Ethan heard his mother scream his name.