1 Humanity's Last Hope

In the year 2050, human civilization faced its greatest trial. This trial decided the race's survival. After years of effort, through sustainable practices and reformation policies, humans had finally managed to stabilize the environment of earth, their homeland. Looking forward to years of welfare and development, humans finally had time to relax. They no longer had to worry about their future descendants.

But that's when they faced the greatest hurdle they had ever faced. On June 13, 2050, foreign species appeared outside the atmosphere of the earth and remained stationary there. Scientists were baffled at first. These creatures looked terrifying. They resembled the biostructure of the insects present on earth but magnified thousands of times. But that didn't stop humans from being interested in them.

After confirming that these were living beings and not simply some fragments fallen from outer space, humans were elated. They had finally managed to find aliens! They immediately tried to approach them and make contact with them, thinking of them as non-intelligent species.

The humans weren't wrong in thinking so. Although these beings seemed to possess bodies that were much more superior and evolved than the human species, allowing them to travel through outer space with just their bodies, they didn't necessarily show any signs of intelligence. They simply remained stationary in space, seemingly dead. If the humans hadn't confirmed that they were taking in some form of energy from space, they would've had assumed them to be dead.

But that was the greatest mistake humans ever made. This seemingly unintelligent species was supremely intelligent. In fact, its intelligence even surpassed that of humans. When humans made contact with these creatures, they allowed this alien species to become aware of their existence. That's when their greatest nightmare ever started.

These creatures entered the earth's atmosphere and wreaked havoc. They possessed extremely strong physiques. They couldn't be harmed by any weapons; be it bullets or missiles. Moreover, they were extraordinarily well coordinated. They could communicate through large distances and had really strong senses. Whenever they sensed danger, they would either retreat or call upon their allies for help.

Humans finally realized what sort of monsters they had provoked. Although these creatures, zergs as they started calling them, numbered to only a pitiful amount, about a fifty, they still caused an enormous number of casualties. Distressed and panicked, humans could only turn to the double-edged sword they had – nuclear weapons. But the endangered countries-the countries which were currently being attacked by the zergs- were extremely against this decision of the other countries.

They knew what would await them if these nuclear weapons started being used. Since they were the countries currently being targeted by these creatures, they would certainly be targeted by the other countries. Nuclear weapons didn't distinguish between enemies and foes. If they were hit by these weapons, although it would help get rid of their enemies, it would also leave a permanent mark on their countries. Their citizens would die and the radiation would also affect them.

But humans always had been selfish. The other countries were afraid that the zergs would soon start attacking their territories. The objections of the endangered countries were heard and ignored. The other nations formed a temporary alliance and launched these terrifying weapons towards the territory of the endangered nations, where the zergs were currently residing and wreaking chaos. But the zergs were extremely smart. They realized they were facing real danger this time. The majority of the zergs escaped through the water. And the others who weren't fast enough headed to areas comprising a large population of humans.

Thus, the zergs managed to avoid their demise. The zerg losses were almost negligible, but the human losses were extremely large.

The affected countries were enraged. Not only was the problem of the zergs not solved, but they also faced huge losses. They were not the ones to just calmly sit down and let others bully them. The cornered animal finally showed its fangs. Since they were temporarily free from the zerg attacks, they decided to retaliate against the other nations. They also took out their nuclear weapons.

Thus, in the middle of an alien invasion, humans started their own internal strife. The most terrifying fourth world war started. Nuclear weapons were repeatedly used. There were a huge number of human casualties. The zergs were happy to see this play out. Whenever they saw signs of the war stopping, they would interfere themselves in ways to increase the strife between humans.

Realizing they were being played by the zergs, humans finally stopped fighting among themselves and united. But it was already too late. Human civilization was on the verge of extinction. Just when the zergs were about to start their finishing touch to annihilate the remaining human society and the humans thought they had lost all hope, something extraordinary happened.

Maybe it was because of the racial unity that was developed amongst humans due to the common threat against their existence or the nuclear radiation that had already affected almost all humans, an evolution took place. Human beings started evolving. Later this incident was termed as the First Evolution in history books. These new evolved human beings were called the betas. They had increased vitality, physical strength, and mental strength than normal human beings.

The emergence of the betas was a ray of light in the darkness for humans. The betas took charge in the struggle against the zergs. The zergs realized something was happening, and this 'something' was certainly not good for them. Their attacks became increasingly aggressive and fierce.

Although the betas were strong, they were still really few in number. After all, an evolution that was supposed to happen through a long passage of time had been accelerated forward to happen in a really short interval of time. The zergs still remained superior in the struggle between humans and the zergs.

That was when the second evolution happened. The humans who evolved in the second evolution were called alphas. The alphas had almost similar advantages to the betas. Except that they were better than the betas in everything. Especially their physical strength. Their physical strength was absurdly high.

The alphas helped changed the course of the war. They helped the humans fight a standstill against the zergs and even gain dominance over them. But that still wasn't enough to completely get rid of the zergs. After all, the number of alphas evolved was even lower than that of the betas. The humans wanted to completely annihilate these creatures that had caused them so much despair and sorrow.

The zergs realized that they were now in a difficult position. These humans were no longer as weak as they in the beginning. They had failed to annihilate them and instead gave them a precious opportunity, allowing their race to evolve into a super-intelligent race from a simple intelligent race. They were indignant about it and had no options left. They planned to escape. The humans wanted to stop them but they couldn't do so.

Just when everyone thought that the zergs would escape, the third evolution took place. The humans evolved through the third evolution were called omegas. These newly evolved omegas were really small in number. Their physical strength was really low, even lower than normal human beings. But their mental strength was absurdly high.

After the third evolution, humans created their fiercest weapon ever – the mechas.

Alphas controlled these mechas and completely destroyed the zergs. The human war against the zergs finally ended. But the post effects of the war were devastating too. The was had turned earth, their homeland, into a wasteland. Earth was no longer suitable for the survival of life.

Thus, humans had no choice but to immigrate. They carried many of the living beings from their home planet and immigrated to new planets for their survival. Fortunately, because of their evolution, their search scope for planets that suited their survival widened a lot. Humans found a lot of planets suitable for their survival and settled down.

But that's a tale for the future. The actual story started twenty-nine years ago, in the year 2021. A sixteen-year-old boy named Cory died in the dumbest way possible – by choking on his food.

When Cory woke up, he found himself in an unfamiliar place. The lights were very bright for his eyes. He subconsciously closed them and opened them again. He was almost shocked out of his wits. A giant face was looking down at him from above.

'No, wait…something's wrong.'

Cory tried to say something but the only sound that came out of his mouth was a helpless cry. Watching this, the giant face smiled. It was the face of a woman. Her giant hand stroked his head. "He's so beautiful."

Cory finally realized that it was not that the face above him that was large, but it was his body that was too small. He was in the body of a baby! What the hell! Did he transmigrate after his death? That was too cool! Then does he get a system? He closed his eyes and checked his mind for something. After repeated attempts, he realized that there was nothing.

He inwardly sighed, but still didn't lose hope. As a person who had transmigrated, he was sure to reach great heights in the future! He would be above all his peers and be a genius among geniuses. While Cory was happily cooking up fantasies in his mind, the woman above, who Cory now realized was his mother, looked at him with eyes filled with love and motherly affection.

"What should we name him, Charles?"

A man's handsome enlarged face came into Cory's view. Although his face wore a cold expression, his eyes showed were filled with love and care. He was about to answer when a juvenile voice rang out.

"No mummy, I'll name him!"

Cory realized that there was a third person in the room. A toddler about five years old came into view. He was a cheery smile and watched baby Cory with an excited glint in his eyes. Cory realized that he had a golden opportunity. Many kids were stuck with bad names because they never got the opportunity to choose their names. But Cory was different! He decided he must choose a cool name for himself, one that was suited for a protagonist.

"We should name him Beebee. He looks so cute; his name should be cute too!" Just when Cory was deciding on cool protagonist names for himself, the toddler above him voiced out. Cory's eyes immediately went wide. What an absurd name!

Seeing his reaction, the child was excited. "Look, he reacted! He likes it too!"

The woman was chuckling at her son's special name choice and wasn't about to take him seriously. But seeing Cory's reaction, she was also now having second thoughts. Seeing the odd glint in his mother's eyes, Cory was frightened.

"Co..rie"

The trio's eyes widened. "The baby talked!" The toddler said excitedly.

"Did he just say…coolie?" The woman asked with suspicion.

The man who hadn't spoken until now replied seriously, "No, he said 'Cory'."

The woman was amazed by this. She looked at the baby and grinned at him. "Little guy, can you understand us?" She asked, even though she knew it was impossible. Cory's eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat. Fudge, did I mess up? Will they think of me as a witch child and tie me up and burn me before I can even reach the great heights I am destined for?

Fortunately, the woman was just joking. She laughed at her own joke and poked the baby's small nose. "Well, we will call you Cory then."

The other two didn't object to her decision, although the child looked a little dejected that his decision was rejected. Cory finally sighed in relief. In his hurry, he couldn't think of any cool names and instinctually voiced out his own name. But that was okay too. Cory was an okay name too. After all, this name was supposed to reach great heights in the future! His eyes burned with excitement for the future.