1 Ch. 1 : A beautiful lie

There was a time. . . time above, a time before all this. There were perfect things, like absolute diamonds— better than one could have ever deserved.

But, how easily things fall. How easily things change, everything changes. And when it falls, it’s fallen.

The sound of gunshots roared in the alleyway.

The time was before dusk, when the sun had just plunged itself below the horizon, flashing its final orange rays for the day into the now-turning dark evening sky. The city, often considered as calm and happy, was standing on the border of the vast land of the desert. And there was a massive structure, an ancient pyramid, visible in the north of the city.

People in the city would, every day, look at this massive structure of unknown origins, and would wonder how old the building would be.

On the dusty night, when the flares of the sun were long gone from the now darker sky, the door of the cinema house folded in four parts, opening outside. Three walked out of the building after revisiting their favourite show for the sixth time in the month.

A mother, a father and a son. Beautiful smiles and chuckles and hopeful waves of laughter they had was something anyone would envy. The voices of joy and happiness echoed in the alleyway before a person stepped out of the shadows. Before the man would realise, the mother would push her child behind herself and act like a shield.

The man stood on his standing, wearing a heavy long black coat and a brown circular hat. His eyes were hidden behind the big black glasses. His one hand extended, holding a gun with his forefinger already placed to pull the trigger.

His vision crossed the young boy and the mother, again, covered her child behind her. The father stepped forward trying to calm him.

“I don’t know who you are,” He would say. “But I’m sure there is a misunderstanding.”

“Shut up!” The man would shout, still keeping the gun pointed. “I know who you are and what I am told.”

Father glanced toward his child for a moment and looked back at the man. “Is it about him?”

The man nodded.

Father sighed while mother kept looking at him. “Let me talk to him once. I’m sure he would still listen to me.”

“There has been no misunderstanding, nor would he care about your words anymore.” The man said. “You’re a traitor.”

The father took a step back moving close to the mother. "Talia,” He would whisper. “That’s it, get him and run.”

The father dashed and rushed forward toward the man with the gun while simultaneously, the mother grabbed her child to move inside the cinema building. Father tried to grab the gun but the man had no hesitation. He slid across father’s body and escaped his hand.

A gunshot

The child grasped, shrunk back. The blood spattered across his face as he took a step back, eyes widened and the mother fell to her knees. The father shouted in agony and dashed toward the stranger with a closed fist.

Another gunshot

The father helplessly fell to the ground. The child wanted to shout, scream, but words didn’t escape his mouth. The boy descended to his knees, looking at both motionless bodies. His eyes were unable to control the tears accumulating in them. The man walked eerily toward the kid.

“Nothing personal, little one,” said he, pointing the gun at his forehead.

Final gunshot.

The sound of the gun runged into the alleyway for the third time, but the bullet didn’t escape the pistol. The stranger, with his shocked face, soon fell to the ground. Two people, the subordinates of the father and mother came rushing into the area.

The moment they reached, they already knew they arrived late. The child still stood calm, tears constantly running down his face and his eyes stuck on both the lifeless bodies of his loved ones.

Lights flashed in my eyes. A feeling struck my mind, and in my fantasy, they took me to the light.

~~

In the coming year, unity was initiated.

Three figures ascended, synchronized high up in the sky right above the ancient grand pyramid.

On a cloudy day, it was another calm time of the day, just like it was when he lost his loved ones, the only people he had to call family. Two more hours before the sun would make its way below the horizon. The boy, seventeen in age, walked down the road from the footpath looking at the sky flashing orange tinge of sun rays.

An explosion

A sound of explosion roared in the area like the sky tore open. People all over the city would hastily come out of their houses to see the view. A wave of disturbance spread around the citizens, looking at the ancient pyramid.

The boy stopped in his place, turned his head at the sound.

The sky had torn open, creating a big circular spot on the cloud layer and a bright white beam of light emerged from above, beyond the layer of skies and struck on—which looked like— the tip of the ancient pyramid.

The gust of strong wind currents blew across the area depositing a layer of desert sand on the city buildings.

People still refused to walk inside and kept looking at this unusual, abnormal phenomenon.

Another explosion

Another sound of explosion roared much louder than the one before. A feeling struck the boy's mind and the clouds in the sky around the city tore open in a larger radius.

“What is happening?” he asked himself.

A world appeared above the sky, upside down. As if a whole other planet, approaching closer to theirs. The white beam had emerged from the pyramid on the other planet and had connected to the ancient pyramid in the desert nearby.

The force of the light beam struck harder at a point in space and the earth rumbled.

“An earthquake!” People in the city shouted in distress and a wave of chaos spread all over the city.

“There’s a whole other planet floating above us,” one of the other people shouted. “It’s getting closer. This is more than just an earthquake!”

‘Is it an invasion of other beings,’ the boy thought. ‘That planet. . . it looks like ours.’

Final Explosion

The earth rumbled with a great magnitude. A wuthering wave of destruction emerged from the borders of the ancient pyramid and spread on all sides. People saw the wave of destruction, they saw the desert land, getting torn apart like a piece of paper and realised the same would soon happen to the city.

No other thoughts ran through their mind. Taking their loved ones, some took cars, some on bikes, some on foot. All the people who witnessed the destruction of the desert rushed, trying to get as far as they could get from the destruction.

But where would they go if the destruction gobbles everything?

The boy too ran away from the destruction. His feet were fast and his mind, tangled with countless thoughts.

‘All of a sudden, why is this happening?’ He asked himself. ‘Am I having a nightmare? How is there a whole other planet on our head, and this destruction?’

It was not long before his legs gave up. The pain engulfed his body, but the boy refused to stop. Stopping was not an option. The destruction was following everyone, it had begun and would not stop at any cost.

Only if the humans were faster than the wuthering wave of extinction.

The boy gave up and his eyes closed. The wave reached the humans, buildings were crushed and towers fell down like a castle of cards. Machines were destroyed, and humanity saw its last moments. The boy's eyes opened to realise his soul, still intact with his body even after the wave. A faint blue thin layer of particles had appeared in front of him, covering and protecting him like a shield.

Whoever it was who placed the shield at the very last moment, the boy wished they would have not done that and he would not have been saved. He saw his world and humanity getting annihilated in front of his eyes. Animals, pets, the people and their innocent kids, everyone gone in a blink of an eye.

A vision flashed in his eyes— The layer would soon spread all over the planet and nothing would be left behind. And, he could do nothing but watch his world wiping out of existence.

The boy looked back at the pyramid, where all this had started.

Three figures, which looked like human bodies, ascended high up in the sky right above the pyramid and the beam of light increased, covering the entire vicinity of the pyramid.

“The unity shall be formed,” voices roared from the figures. “A new, better world would begin. A better world.”

Many more waves simultaneously emerged from the base of the pyramid spreading all over the area. This time, the boy refused to back off. The shield didn’t disappear the whole time and the boy walked toward the pyramid. Many more waves would emerge as if they were trying to stop the boy from reaching the pyramid. But the shield protecting him would not break and the boy walked ahead.

“When my parents died, people said I was saved by my fate for a reason.” The boy said to himself. “My innocent world had been annihilated in front of my eyes, and fate saved me again. If I’m being saved for a reason, if this is what my fate wants from me.”

He continued walking until he reached the border of the white beam of light emerging from the world above, upside down.

“If I am being saved for a reason,” The boy touched his palms to the border of the light beam. “This is my vow, the world above destroyed my world, and that world will pay for it. Through me, justice will be served.”

His body was pulled inside the bright beam of light and the words whispered in the boy’s mind.

‘Follow me, son. . . follow the voice.’