E-day

Today is 28th December 2018, which is supposed to be the last day that is going to be normal on Earth. We trekked low hills of Himalayas around Manasarovar until late afternoon and set our tents near it.

There is a small forest near us and a lake within our reach so, this is a perfect camping area. There are not many people around us because of the winter. Very few people prefer hill stations as tourist spots in winter, so it is peaceful.

But tourist packages to the hill stations are cheap in winter. So, many middle-class families tend to go to hill stations in winter. Hence the camping site is still littered with people here and there. Seeing all these families made me remember my parents and little brother.

My parents are safe in their lab and my little brother was immersed in being a mage in the game, which I think will be a good practice for the future.

There is a family of five with middle-aged parents, their twin daughters in late teens or in their early twenties like us and a boy in his early teens are camping just hundred meters away from us. It will be difficult to see such a healthy and happy family after today.

As I was indulging myself in such a happy sight, Razik interrupted me, "Oi! stop ogling at them" and continued with an impatient voice, "I and big bro Jagath put our dibs on those two".

"But girls like bad boys like me, you know?" I replied with my usual smirk.

"You...you bastard, don't know how many girls you spoiled in Kasi city in those two days and now you can't spare even two women for your good brothers, " grumbled Razik with a red face, "and big bro Jagath is already in an age of marriage how could you do this to him".

"Oi oi oi !! why are you involving me in your dick-talk, " retorted Jagath towards Razik.

While bantering among ourselves and setting our camp it became evening, which rose the chill in the atmosphere So, we set a campfire before our tents.

Then the kid from the camp of twins came running towards us, "B...big brothers can we have your lighter for a moment we forgot ours, " he asked while shivering and rubbing his shoulders.

we watched towards their camp, they crudely set up some wet sticks to start a fire, I don't see any spirit (alcohol) or kerosene to start the fire and they chose their site nearer to the river so, the wet ground under them.

They are amateurs at camping and they didn't even think of starting a fire while camping here in their plans.

I watched towards Jagath confirmed with him about what I thought and invited the family to our camp. First, they didn't agree but we convinced them it is for their own health and we showed them Jagath's Police trainee certificate to their parents to convince we are good guys.

Father's name is Chandu Lal, Mother is Sunitha, while twins are Asha, Maya one is a silent, spectacled beauty and the other is an active and cheerful one respectively and the little guy is called Bharath. Their father is an accountant and mother is a housewife, they own a small house in Delhi. They are celebrating their daughters' getting admitted to Delhi University, which is a prestigious thing. So, the twins are two years younger than us ha?

We celebrated along with them. Aunty is a good barbecue maker and all of us helped her, we all ate our full. it's almost 10:00 PM, the fog around us is getting thicker and thicker.

"Don't you think the fog is getting thicker and thicker?" said the silent girl Asha. Maybe she belongs to the same category as Raj, the perceptive type.

"Don't worry about it. Hill stations are all like this in winter, we have been to a dozen by now, hence no need to worry" Rajik placated them enthusiastically and he looked at me like he earned one more good point than me before them.

If I tell him that the whole world is like this at this moment, he is going to be scared shitless. I can see Raj frowning at the corner. He took out his phone and said, "I lost all my signal".

Everyone took out their phones and panicked a little seeing that they all lost their signal. Aunty started panicking a little, then I stepped in.

"Alright it's about time," I said, then everyone looked at me.

"What? you guys don't want to sleep? we are in a hilly area with the least population so this is very normal to lose signal sometimes" I said calming them a little.

Later we decided on shifts to watch over the fire, with me, Jagath and uncle in the first shift until 1:00 AM. So, everyone went to sleep.

Everyone went to sleep while we three talked about many things and slowly things got silent, the fog got thicker until we can only see our fire and two tents. I slowly started feeling drowsy and I thought it's about time watching 11:55 PM on my phone screen.

I looked to my side to see uncle and Jagath started dozing to my side. It has started, The E-day has begun. I resisted hard and took out the 'Taser' But I have to be awake this time whatever the cost or the same fate will repeat itself.

Now its a test to my will. In my past life, I went on South India tour and coming back, just a day away from my house. Then E-day happened while I was sleeping in the hotel room. All of us slept just like that and woke up 72 hours later on 1st January 2019 along with every human on Earth.

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I don't know what happened to humans in those 72 hours but when they woke up, they are presented with a status menu and level system.

After they woke up, everything around them changed. The whole Earth of 12,742 km diameter expanded ten times its size to 127,420 km diameter. Everything manmade remained the same but everything else expanded.

If you see the Earth in satellite map everything remains same but human establishments would seem smaller than before, just compressed by a scale of ten. Thick forests covered the newly expanded land with many mutated animals living in it.

As if all of this is not enough, a new continent with the size equal to the combination of all the landmasses on earth surfaced in the newly expanded Pacific Ocean. This has thrown the whole world into a panic and speculations. Then dimensional stores operated by Sigrid merchants started appearing like army camps in the forest areas in uninhabited zones nearer to cities.

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After two hours of fighting against my sleep, I am wide awake now. When I thought I can relax now, fog in the surroundings started moving and seeping into the people around me. I also felt the fog coming towards me and thought this fog must be the so-called cosmic energy that can evolve a planet and its species with it.

When some of it seeped into my body, I felt full and bloated but when it continued on that's when I know that I bought a direct ticket to hell. Every cell in my body felt like a baby chick thrashing to come out of its egg.

A pain I haven't felt even when burned by death flames along with the origin tree coursed through my body. The energy passed through every nook and cranny of my body even my brain, breaking and constructing my body.

After overcoming the living hell for six hours came the sweet voice I am expecting.

~Ding~

[Gaia, the will of this planet felt the species living on this planet are too weak, so she decided to unlock the unlimited potential to its species. Fight among yourselves and stand on the top]

[Please say 'status panel' in your head to see your body configuration and status.]

I felt relaxed and the pain receded in my body after notification and there came another notification

~ Ding~

[Gaia liked your resolve and will to go with the evolution in the hard way to save this planet, so Gaia grants you "Gaia's Blessing"]

I was gobsmacked by the notification and decided to check it, "Status Panel".