There was no explosion.
No lightning.
No thunder ripping the sky like the wrath of gods.
Just... silence.
And a sky that looked wrong.
Twenty-seven years ago, the world witnessed something unexplainable. A comet—or something like it—slowly drifted across the horizon. It did not glow. It did not burn. It didn't shoot like a fiery spear, as falling celestial bodies should.
It simply... passed.
Quiet.
As if it were watching.
As if the sky was staring back.
And in less than ten minutes, it vanished. But in those ten minutes, humanity's fate changed forever.
**
The next day, people began to die.
Not because the comet hit. Not because of disease. Not because of war or disaster.
They died because of... things that defied reason.
A man in India exploded after whistling.
A woman in Russia turned to glass after kissing her lover.
A child in Peru vanished into thin air from laughing too hard.
The world panicked. But there was no pattern. No explanation. Only one thing everyone agreed on:
A curse.
Every human had one. Every body carried it. Invisible. Unscented. Undetectable by tools or instinct.
And the most terrifying part:
No one knew when or how it would be triggered.
You could die from sneezing.
Or by saying the word "sorry."
Or maybe your curse only activates if you dance naked under a full moon—something you'd never do. But how would you know?
You wouldn't.
And by the time you found out, it was usually too late.
---
YEAR 1–10: A WORLD IN SHADOW
Humanity tried to fight back.
They sealed their mouths.
Fasted in fear.
Avoided sound, light—even touch.
They lived in airtight capsules.
They lived in silence.
And still... died.
Because curses knew no logic.
One person died from touching water.
Another died from not touching water at all.
Scientists gave up.
Mad prophets emerged.
Soldiers shot anyone they suspected of bringing doom.
The world turned into an ocean of paranoia. Every word, every move, every breath... could mean death.
Then came Lafar.
He wasn't a savior.
Not a general, not a scientist, not a prophet.
Just an ordinary man—with one gift:
If he touched someone for ten seconds, he would know how that person's curse worked.
That was all.
But in a world drowning in uncertainty, one certainty was light.
Lafar became a legend. A myth. A beacon of hope.
People came from around the world. Begged to be touched.
Some paid dearly.
Some just wanted to sleep that night without fear.
For three years, Lafar recorded more than two thousand curses.
He wrote. He guided.
He brought light to humanity's darkest age.
Until one day... he touched a man named Jurev.
The man looked ordinary.
No signs. Nothing strange.
But after ten seconds...
Lafar collapsed. Dead.
Jurev's curse?
"Anyone who touches me for more than five seconds will die."
The public exploded with rage. Jurev was killed. Burned. Condemned as a demon.
But it was already too late.
Lafar was gone.
His knowledge scattered, incomplete.
His wisdom turned into fragments. Hope buried once more.
---
YEAR 27 – THE WHISPERING STONES
Then the sky gave again.
Not a comet.
Not a curse.
But small stones, the size of a child's head, fell from the sky. Sparse. Random.
Warm. Glowing. Calm.
They didn't burn. Didn't explode.
But whoever touched one would see.
See… the truth.
1. What curse lived inside their body.
2. How to trigger it.
The vision came only once. But it was enough.
Enough to free someone from the terror of the unknown.
The stones were named: Stone of Truth.
But like all things from the sky, they were finite.
Their glow dimmed with each touch.
And when it faded, they were nothing more than ordinary rocks.
Humanity began to hunt.
To wage war.
To kill for a single stone.
Nations fell.
Dark organizations rose.
The black market for stones became more valuable than gold, weapons—even life.
And then—the voice came.
When certain people touched the stone, they heard... something.
Not a whisper from within. But from above.
"Continue the game."
"One step closer."
"You amuse us."
Who was speaking?
Aliens?
Ancient gods?
Or something far more terrifying?
Some began to believe:
We are merely pawns in their show.
The curses are entertainment.
The stones, the stage.
The world... just an arena of play.
---
YEAR 43 – THE CURSED ERA
Governments slowly rose again.
Great nations allied. Global corporations united.
They discovered how to recharge the stones—but kept the knowledge to themselves.
The Stone of Truth became a system.
Curses became data.
Every person was required to be tested.
Classified. Archived.
Used. Exploited. Discarded.
Mild curse? Put to work.
Complex curse? Monitored.
Dangerous curse? Recruited. Or removed.
Curse impossible to activate? Normal human.
People no longer lived as individuals.
But as risk factors.
Every smile could be a trap.
Every word a weapon.
Every person a threat—or a tool.
But beyond this system... some still remained free.
Unrecorded.
Living in the shadows.
Refusing to be known.
Some may be like Lafar.
Others... far worse.
Beings who didn't just carry a curse—but were the curse itself.
Because a true curse isn't just a cause of death.
Not just an anomaly.
A true curse is a mirror.
Reflecting what it means to be human... when everything else is stripped away.
And when that day comes—
When the stones shatter, the sky splits, and the voices return—
Humanity will ask:
"Why?"