Trapped as a Dying Extra in the Doomsday Game

"It hurts… Why does it hurt so much?"

The words escaped her lips, carried away by the deafening roar of the world around her. It felt as though the very air itself was alive with fury.

'Wait—that isn't my voice!'

The thought struck her like a bolt of lightning, but before she could process it, pain ripped through her chest, as if shards of glass had lodged in her lungs. Her body felt impossibly heavy, as though gravity itself had turned against her, pinning her to the ground.

A faint glow forced its way through her eyelids. Summoning what little strength she had, she pried them open—and immediately regretted it.

Blinding light seared her vision, making her flinch as tears streamed down her face. Slowly, the world came into focus.

Above her, the sky burned. Fire and smoke churned together in an apocalyptic haze, while streaks of brilliant white tore through the air like veins of raw energy. But the lightning didn't flash and vanish. No, it lingered, crackling like an angry god, every strike a reminder of the world's rage.

'This is bad. This is really, really bad.'

But before she could get a grip on her thoughts, another bolt of lightning cracked the sky. It wasn't just a flash. It slammed into the ground with a force that made the very earth tremble beneath her, sending a shockwave that rattled her bones.

A deafening crack echoed through the air, and she flinched as a nearby building collapsed, its steel frame crumpling like wax.

The sky lashed out again, bolt after bolt crashing down with relentless fury, each strike ripping through the city like a divine punishment.

Around her, the distant silhouettes of buildings crumbled, falling one by one into clouds of dust. The once-bustling metropolis was reduced to skeletal ruins.

"What is going on?" she whispered hoarsely, her voice barely audible over the chaos.

Screams cut through the madness. Turning her head weakly, she saw them—people, bloodied and desperate, sprinting past her without a second glance.

A man stumbled and fell just a few feet away, his face pale and twisted with terror. He clawed at the ground, dragging himself upright before bolting into the madness. Behind him, a woman clutched a child to her chest, her cries drowned out by the thunderous roar of collapsing buildings.

The reason for their panic became clear.

The lightning was getting closer.

'I should move, too. I need to move.'

But her body refused to obey. She lay there, trembling, her fingers scraping uselessly against the cracked pavement. Each breath was a struggle, her chest heaving as the air grew thick with ash.

The streaks of white energy slammed closer and closer, the ground shaking with each impact.

The people running, they were fleeing for their lives.

But she couldn't.

She was stuck in place, paralyzed by pain, pinned beneath the weight of her own failing body.

The ground trembled beneath her, vibrations rattling her teeth as rubble shifted and groaned all around. Heat from a nearby strike washed over her, scorching the air and pulling her deeper into panic.

'This is not good.'

The thought sliced through the haze of pain and fear. Her fingers curled into fists, scraping against the jagged pavement.

'If I don't move, I'm going to die here. Of course, I'll die here. Why not? Seems fitting, considering how my luck has been.'

Clenching her jaw, she forced trembling arms to push against the ground. Her muscles screamed, her chest burned with each ragged breath, but she refused to stop.

"Move," she whispered hoarsely, her voice cracking under the strain.

Her knees scraped the pavement as she dragged herself forward, inch by excruciating inch. The weight on her chest was suffocating, but she gritted her teeth, locking onto the raw instinct to survive.

'Why can't I stand up faster? This isn't even a slow-motion scene. I'm just... stuck!'

A lightning strike hit dangerously close, the impact hurling her onto her side. The shockwave sent rubble flying, and the air filled with choking dust and ash. She coughed violently, tears stinging her eyes, but her frustration burned hotter than her fear.

"No, no, no…" Her breath came in ragged sobs. "Get up, just—get up!"

Summoning every ounce of strength left in her body, she pressed her palms against the ground. Her legs trembled violently as she tucked her knees beneath her. It felt impossible—every fiber of her being begged to collapse—but the fear of dying, the fleeing shapes in the distance, and the deafening destruction around her kept her moving.

With a guttural cry, she pushed herself upright. Her legs wobbled like they would buckle any second, but she was standing—barely, but standing.

Her breaths came in shallow gasps, her vision swimming. The air reeked of burning debris and ozone, but she didn't let herself falter.

One step at a time.

She staggered forward, her legs heavy as lead. Each step felt like a battle won. The distant screams and explosions dulled into the background as she focused entirely on moving.

The lightning strikes grew faster, each one landing closer than the last. The ground beneath her cracked and shifted, threatening to split apart. Still, she didn't stop. She couldn't.

And then something familiar pierced through the chaos.

Her gaze locked onto the horizon. A cluster of people had gathered, huddled in what appeared to be a temporarily shielded zone. At the center of the group, a green light pulsed faintly, cutting through the haze of ash and smoke.

Her breath hitched.

'A green light?'

The Green Zone.

Recognition washed over her like a slap to the face. It was all too familiar.

'Just like in games? That means it is a safe zone...'

Step by agonizing step, she moved forward, defying the pain that wracked her body.

Her foot brushed against a shard of glass, and the reflection it caught made her freeze. Lavender hair in disarray, amber eyes wide with fear—her face, but not hers. Her breath hitched as she murmured,

"This…this isn't me."

'Hilda.'

Her fingers trembled as she reached up to touch her face. "I named her after myself," she murmured. "Just for fun. A throwaway extra... One of the countless characters I created to populate the world of..."

Her stomach churned. This wasn't a coincidence. This wasn't a dream. She was trapped in Ashen Den, the game she had helped design—down to the smallest detail.

Panic clawed at her, but the green zone glimmered ahead. She clenched her fists and forced her legs to move.

Then, a blinding flash split the air.

The ground buckled beneath her feet as the thunderous roar of lightning cut through her reverie. Her heart slammed in her chest as the shock of the strike jolted her back into the chaos.

'Focus.'

She gritted her teeth and pushed forward, ignoring the tremors in her body.

With each step, fragments of memory surfaced. She knew this world, its rules, its cruel logic. She knew what awaited her if she stopped.

"I'm doomed," she muttered, her voice cracking.

Her legs ached with every step, the air thick with the acrid scent of burning rubble. The storm raged above, shaking the ground beneath her feet with every strike.

But she didn't stop.

The green light flickered in the distance. She focused on it, blocking out the deafening crashes of nearby buildings and the unnatural silence that followed each strike.

A sudden tremor sent her stumbling. She caught herself against a crumbling wall, her fingertips scraping against its jagged surface. Pain flared, but she pushed it aside.

Her gaze flicked toward the huddled figures in the green zone. Their faces were streaked with dirt and terror, their eyes wide as they clung to the faint promise of safety.

'Now I'm one of them,' she thought bitterly. 'A survivor in the nightmare I created.'

She pushed off the wall, her legs trembling but her resolve hardening. The green zone was within reach now. The faint outline of a makeshift barricade loomed ahead, and she saw the survivors begin to notice her, their wary eyes flicking in her direction.

Then, a blinding flash lit up the world.

Lightning struck behind her, the explosion of sound ripping through the air and shaking the ground. The force hurled her forward into the green zone. She hit the dirt hard, gasping for air as pain radiated through her body.

For a moment, she lay there, stunned, her mind racing. Slowly, she pushed herself to her knees.

'That was close. I survived.'

Just as darkness began to creep into her vision, a sharp chime rang out, echoing unnaturally loud in her ears. A blue holographic screen appeared before her, hovering mid-air.

[ Ding! ]

[ Congratulations, survivor! You've activated the Hourglass TimeLimit System! ]

She blinked. 'A system? Great. Just what I needed.'

Before she could process it, a sharp pang hit her chest.

'What the—'

She barely finished her thoughts when a violent cough overtook her. To her horror, she coughed up blood. A lot of blood. As a wave of dizziness hit her.

'Blood loss? Wonderful... Couldn't have asked for anything...worse.' She thought, her body swaying before collapsing to the side, darkness swallowing her whole.