Chapter 5 - Broken Earth
Zhao Luo could think and issue commands to his body parts but they wouldn't respond.
Zhao Luo tried to move his arms but they didn't move. And the only thing he could see was pitch black darkness like when we close our eyes.
'Shit. What is this?'
He thought.
The only thing he could do now was thinking so he didn't hold back.
'How long have I been sleeping in this capsule?'
Zhao Luo questioned himself.
The conference inside the mind of Zhao Luo continued.
********
The outside world was going through its change. Since the time Zhao Luo was put to sleep in the capsule, the change had begun.
In these 100 years, many things changed.
Humanity came on the brink of its destruction many times.
First five years, a deadly virus took many lives.
Then in the sixth year, its vaccine was developed which made a person's body immune to the virus.
All the rich people got vaccinated for the virus. They monopolized these vaccines. The virus was so deadly and so easily spread that it became a market game for these rich guys to sell this vaccine.
In a single year, 3 billion vaccine shots were sold. 2 billion of them were already administered to people who could afford it.
So in the seventh year, the virus had already died down. People thought that the vaccine worked as there were no new cases of people infected with this virus. But the number of vaccines sold was still around 2 billion.
2 years after the development of that vaccine around 2 billion people died. All of them had one thing in common, they all had been vaccinated for the virus.
Most of the upper echelon of the world was already gone by 2029.
The world was in chaos. The chain of command was broken.
In just 10 years, a fear which was never felt before had enveloped the World. Imagine 2 billion deaths in one single year. The fear of losing your close one, your relative without any reason. The fear of going out in a World ridden with deaths. That is what happened.
Soldiers of every country became the ruling party. Without anyone to command them and keep them organized, the soldiers had chosen war in this already broken World.
'Why choose war?'
It was the result of human nature which does not let them be satisfied till they show who the top dog is.
'What are duties of a soldier?'
One may ask.
The answer is simple. It's to maintain peace.
But what if there is no governing body over the soldiers who are lower in command. This is what happened after most of the ruling parties died because of the vaccine.
Thus the war continued for more than 50 years. Soldiers kept on dying. Even those who didn't want to take any part in the war had to. Civilians were forced to join the army.
The only way to live was to fight every day. But nobody took the last step of using Nuclear weapons. They didn't want to destroy the lands that they will be taking.
While the people were fighting for their survival, someone was sleeping comfortably in one of those weird capsules that you see in sci-fi movies.
Not knowing that this forced sleep that he was put to, kept him away from all the worldly troubles. His luck played a great role in keeping him safe. He could have already died because of the virus or after taking its vaccine. Or in the war. But he would never know this as his sleep continues.
In the year 2083, The World was now called the Broken Earth.
There was no place where you wouldn't see dead bodies.
The war had already stopped this year. It didn't end completely but just a break. As they say when you aren't ready to become the best you keep your remaining strength for a later time. The parties at war decided to rest till they are ready.
This was such a period of fake peace.
There was a silent agreement between the remnants of each country. Countries that were still able to call themselves a COUNTRY. The treaty was only between them.
'No attacks on the neighboring country or any other country till they attack us'.
The people lived. They lived peacefully in this rotten World. They survived. Fearing that anything could happen after what happened in the last sixty years.
Time passed.
The world kept on changing but one thing remained the same.
Zhao Luo was still asleep.
In the capsule that Takuma had designed. He enjoyed a beautiful sleep that is not known to anyone. Not knowing that the World he once knew had already gone.
The year 2119.
36 years of peace.
Just when everything was getting better, a person was seeing everything from outer space.
Grinning while looking at the suffering of the people who were living their lives in this broken world.
He had long hairs that were tied with a hairpin. His beauty was unmatched. Even the most beautiful girls would pale in front of his contours and complexion. Sadly he was a man.
A man who was alive while floating in outer space. If others could see him they would have started worshipping him as a God.
Or either thought of him as an alien.
The grin disappeared from the face of that unknown entity. He pulled a sword from nowhere which was twice his size. The sword had a bewitching shine on it. One wouldn't be able to move his eyes away from that lustrous shine. The man halted the sword in a vertical position.
"GO."
The man said. After which he left his grip on the hilt of the sword.
The sword instead of staying afloat, accelerated towards the Earth showing that the sword had a will of its own.
"I hope you can find your successor. May fate bring us together, my friend."
After saying the rubbish he wanted and acting like a madman talking to himself. The man disappeared leaving the space empty as it's supposed to be.