In the darkness, a holographic screen projects forward as the sole source of light. On the screen, the home screen opens up an app, which then brings up a feed of different images along with titles next to it, with the images and titles usually being associated with something revolving around coding, such as tutorials.
However, the screen then seems to blur, and a circle of icons appear, with different icons such as a mailbox, clock, and newspaper. The newspaper icon then expands to consume the whole screen, and it then fades to show a similar feed to the one shown earlier, yet the images and titles in the feed were associated with visuals of destruction and titles referencing the death of O.R.I.A.L.
The top video's title was 'O.R.I.A.L Meets its End to Exhuman Terrorism.' The image next to the title was of what seems to be the O.R.I.A.L building standing, however, with a fiery explosion expanding on one of the rings like a wave.
The image then expands to consume the whole screen, and a video begins to play out, showing video footage of the middle ring of the building exploding, evaporating part of the building. The upper part of the building no longer connects then begins to fall, crushing the top of the lower part of the building, and beginning to bring the whole tower down.
As it does, a male voice explains, "This December 25th, terror struck the online world as a viscous bombing was done on O.R.I.A.L headquarters, home to the O.R.I.A.L organization that has specialized in the innovation of artificial intelligence for over a century. It's reported that on that day, over ten thousand civilians were killed in the attack, being one of the larger strikes recently."
As the man continues to speak, the viewer continues to sit on his desk in his dark dorm room, wearing his pajamas with his green jacket over for warmth. He stares at the screen, his eyes wide yet dull, reflecting the images of the destruction.
The video then cuts to footage of the building completely fine, however as the camera zooms in towards one of the central rings, a large electric bolt seems to fire out of a window, and curve up before reentering the building.
Even at a distance it was clear that the bolt was larger than a normal size spark, and it seems to go from out of the building right back into it with an optimized curved path, something completely abnormal for an energy arc.
The man continues, "Reports of a bolt moving up the building was found later, with officials having confirmed that the point of reentry was in a personnel-only area made to protect a security device O.R.I.A.L had prized to reinforce security to a new height with artificial intelligence and creativity. This same floor later was confirmed to be the origin of the explosion, which seems to have launched a chain reaction of collapse, massacring everyone inside the building. It is clear that this is yet another terrorist attack conducted by Exhumans, however the identity of the one or ones behind this attack are still unknown. It seems not even the holidays can protect us from these horrific showcases of violence."
Rohan closes the video out before it could continue, returning back to the screen with the feed of different other videos. He stares blankly ahead, finding that any attempt to find answers only led to more questions. First, he didn't expect for the collapse to have been orchestrated by anyone, as he initially thought it could've been some sort of catastrophic failure. To his belief, Versepolis never suffered any attack, although the formatting of the news anchor's words gave a different story, as he seemed to be making it out like this wasn't the first one.
Also, what was an Exhuman? Rohan had never heard of such a term. It didn't even sound real, almost as if it was fiction, and yet it was used as the only label for the perpetrators.
Exhumans, he needed to figure out what that was. He knew it was already late, and he should've decided to look into this right after the attack instead of putting it off for weeks. Now, he has class the next day, and the corner of his screen reads 2:43 P.M.
However, he couldn't sleep now, he had opened pandora's box and now he couldn't just leave it open until he knew everything he needed to. While it was his belief that these attacks never happened in the past, he felt what he knew was being challenged, and he had to explore.
The search bar at the top expands, and he types the simple word 'Exhuman.' What he finds is a feed of more images of destruction, such as burning buildings or bodies being transported into medical pods. All of the titles were similar, they started with something along the side of 'Exhuman attack on-' before naming a specific place.
Starting from the top, Rohan opens the first video, and begins watching the whole report on the destruction of an apartment complex, with videos of the apartment burning, incinerated by a red flame.
The video once again plays the recording of a news anchor, this time a woman, saying "Last Saturday, a Hallalin Inn was destroyed, killing thousands of innocents who were still asleep. We do not have confirmation on the suspect, all we know was that we have footage of his conducting the attack."
The video then shows footage of the building still standing without damage, as if it was a normal night. However, a man walks into frame, approaching the building, wearing a hoodie which obscures his identity. The man stops not too far in front of the building, and just looks up to view it.
The video shows the man raise his hands up at the building, and start to glow reddish. All the sudden, massive red flames project from his body, and reach the apartment building, seeping inside and causing the interior to start burning.
Rohan stares with wide eyes, completely taken aback, as he wasn't sure if this was edited with effects or if what he was watching was real. He believed super powers were no more than a fictional gadget for old stories, and yet it seemed he was staring at someone who wielded them.
After finishing the video, Rohan moves to the next one, now eager to know as much as possible about these Exhumans.
Video after video, Rohan is met with graphic images of destruction and death, with every video showing a single being being the cause, somehow activating an inhuman ability to do so.
In one video, a woman begins screaming inside a restaurant, and while the restaurant's interior wasn't shown, the windows outside show an explosion of blood from within that attach onto the wall.
In another video, a normal man walks down an alleyway, and is met by another man, who wears a hoodie to cover his face. The two stare down at one another, yet in a few seconds the normal man turns around and attempts to run.
However, a sudden purple energy wall appears before the man, causing him to slam into it, unable to pass through. As the wall appears, the other man's body begins to glow purple, indicating that he was creating it.
The normal man turns around as three more purple walls box him in, and slowly begin to move towards them. Suddenly, the walls close faster, and Rohan watches in horror as he hears the audio of the man cry before the sound of crushing bones silences him.
It was disgusting, and yet Rohan felt addicted to watching more and more reports. Something was just so interesting to him, as he never knew such beings existed, and the only news he could find of them was people who only sought destruction.
Every video in the feed was a showcase of terrorism done by these Exhumans, these superpowered individuals, and not one showed any doing good. However, if these super powered individuals existed, at least one of them would use it for good, or at least so Rohan believed.
So he types into the bar, 'Exhuman hero,' and makes the search. The first video that pops up was one with an image of what seems to be a group of protestors, and the title reads ''Exhumans are not heroes' official from Earth 43 claims while he shows resolve in his stance to continue the extermination of Exhumans.'' Intrigued, Rohan clicks on the video, as it wasn't exactly what he was thinking, but it was one of the few ones he could find.
The video opens to show a protest going on in some city with many people chanting, and as Rohan watches it, he looks down to the information of the video, specifically the date it was posted. His eyes then widened to see that the video he is watching was posted on February 17th, 2692, centuries in the past.
This wasn't new, nor even close, but instead it seemed to be a topic that had been in the air for so long, and yet Rohan was only learning about it now.
The video goes on to be voiced over by a man who reports, "President Richard Montgomerz of Earth 43 Germany made a bold statement the other day after an interview while campaigning for his reelection, in which he was asked for his opinion on the movement of those trying to claim Exhumans were innocent.
The video then moves to show a mid aged man in a suit sitting on a nice red chair in a simple room, being asked questions by somebody off camera.
The question was, "Mr. President, have you heard the news of people opposing the continued Exhuman extermination programs? Is there anything you have to say for it, and your involvement in it?"
The man, who seemed to be the president, answers "We let them run around for a couple years, and look what happened. Pure chaos. They were starting wars, taking anything we wanted, ruining the economy. But once we put our foot down, everything has become much more peaceful and normal. Now of course, it isn't completely normal, now apparently I'm supposed to be working with the whole world to talk to other worlds, even though I still don't think we as a nation should associate ourselves with Canada. But anyways, on the Exhuman matter, I heard people try to say 'Exhumans aren't all bad, Exhumans are heroes.' Well, let me tell you something. I've seen the kind of hell they bring upon us all, and I can tell you first hand, Exhumans are not heroes. If you ask me, anyone who tries to push that narrative is as bad as them, and should be punished. Those 'vigilantes' are nothing more than spies, and I will continue to support exterminating them too. Whether they fight us, don't, or fight themselves, they are an enemy of true humanity. This program has lasted for decades, and it's going to keep going until we permanently wipe Exhumans off the face of existence. We will not stand for this age of false gods, we are a powerful nation that can rise against evil. Exhumans are a virus, and it is our job to cure it from our system."
Rohan closes the video out as the video returns back to footage of the protests and the anchor continues speaking about the general protest, and Rohan looks to see that there were no other videos in the feed that seemed to give Exhumans any sort of positive look.
All of it was death and destruction.
All of it showed a world of monsters.
However, more questions lingered now, especially about the extermination program. Now it seemed the government used to target them, yet he hadn't heard anything of that his whole life.
The rabbithole only became deeper the more he looked into it, as now there was a whole story that extended over centuries that he had never even heard reference to.
Questions stuck to his mind. Who were Exhumans? How did they come into existence? When did they come into existence? How long was this extermination program? How are they still able to continue their terrororism if they were exterminated?
So many questions, which consumed Rohan's mind. All he could think about was Exhumans. He knew he had a test first class in the morning, he knew he was supposed to study for it even though he didn't bother looking at his notes once, he knew what he was supposed to do but all he wanted to do was find what he didn't know.
He had thought himself as so intelligent and aware of the world, and now, he realized he didn't understand any of it.
As Rohan delved deeper into different videos, the time kept moving, as 2 AM went to 3 AM, which went to 4, then 5, and so on and so forth. As the time continues to climb, the Connect screen plays video after video, with some videos having been posted hours ago, and others having been posted centuries ago.
Wherever these Exhumans came from, they seemed near ancient seeing how long they've been around, and learning how much in the open they were the whole time, Rohan was no longer sure how correct his old views were on the world.
Perhaps he was lucky to grow up in a quiet and peaceful area, free from any harm, and so he had just simply lived a sheltered life. But for someone who sought vast knowledge, it felt absurd that he never noticed something so large and so present.
Now, he couldn't avoid it.
As the blue sun begins to rise, as evident by the light coming from his window, Rohan watches a series of documentaries he was able to find which delved into the public knowledge of Exhumans, which was several hours long. He hadn't slept all night, but curiosity had pushed him through, and the lostness he found himself in almost vanquished his sense of time.
It was a well produced documentary with clean visuals, helping to illustrate a story dated all the way centuries back to the creation of the Superverse, something Rohan had never found interest in, as the Superverse had always been his normal.
He watches an animation of a white meteor striking a yellow sun, which causes the sun to temporarily turn white, before releasing a massive blast of energy through the solar system.
As the animation plays, the narrator says, "In the year 2664, the Superverse was born, by an event all civilized Earth inhabitants have agreed on regardless of the Earth they came from. A white meteor composed of an energy that has been labelled as Exmatter entered the solar system and struck our sun, causing a shockwave that resulted in our Earth and all other Earths appearing in this now singular solar system, revolving around a much different sun, which has a dense Exmatter signature of its own. Some believe it's our own sun that just mutated, and others believe it's a completely new one, with the latter being leaned on more as the correct answer. However, the new system wasn't the only change brought about by this event, as it seems the wave of Exmatter that had initiated this change also randomly affected many of the people inhabiting the planets, giving them unnatural abilities. While research on this Exmatter, and these affected people who were dubbed Exhumans, was not perfect and so we do not have all the answers, it has been noted that the brains of these Exhumans are the most affected, and any bodily change resulted from the acquisition of these abilities seem to be initiated and signaled by the brain, leading to the conclusion that the Exmatter infused with the brain is what gives these abilities."
Rohan's eyes stare at the screen as birds begin to chirp outside, and the light from the window brightens the room, making the dark circles around his eyes more noticeable.
The animation goes on to show a visual representation of a human body, with the brain highlighted in white, and white lines running from the brain to the body to represent the signaling.
The narrator continues, "While there have been a few attempts to artificially recreate Exhumans from experimentation, they have become outlawed after disastrous results, yet there have been light conspiracies that artificially created Exhumans do exist, yet we cannot prove nor confirm that. So for now, the only way to create an Exhuman from our understanding is from birth, as it's been found that children of Exhumans have powers of their own, which are usually similar to an extent while also different in other ways, very much similar to how a child has similar traits to their parents yet they still hold their own unique characteristics. It is harder to understand why this is since as we said Exhumans should only get their power from the brain thus this shouldn't be biological nor inheritable, but that is one of the many questions we do not have answers to. In 2783, the EGA ended the Exhuman extermination program, and since then, Exhumans have become less of a minority then they once were, as for over a century Exhumans were outlawed and children were conceived in secrecy. However, even after the end of the program, it is still a known fact that any display of Exhuman abilities can lead to immense repercussions such as immediate detainment without trial, and any crime regardless of how petty for a regular person can lead to capital punishment. This however doesn't stop many Exhuman terrorists from creating chaos unfortunately, and while research is in the works to find ways to resist these terrorists better, it is still very much a challenge to fight against such an unknown science. If there is one thing that can be confirmed however, it is that Exmatter is alien, and was never meant to coexist with us. But now, it is something we all have to coexist with. However many innocent lives have to be lost to let that happen."
As Rohan continues watching, Dexter slowly sits up from his bed, having woken up. He groans softly, stretching his arms before letting out a loud yawn.
Dexter looks forward to seeing Rohan at his desk, seeming to be watching something. He tilts his head in confusion, and rubs his eyes to see better.
He then asks, "Hey, are you studying early again?"
Rohan's eyes widen, as he didn't realize it was already morning, and he closes his Connect screen. He then turns to Dexter, and nods his head, saying exhaustedly "Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that."
It wasn't exactly the truth, but it wasn't a lie either.
Dexter sighs, and he sits up on his bed. He gets out of his bed, and says "You look tired, maybe you should get more sleep. You sound dead, and I know you weren't exactly alive before but still."
Rohan sighs, and he stands up, leaving his desk. He rubs his eyes, blinking in succession as it was the first time he looked away from his screen all night, leading to a temporary blindness.
He responds plainly with: "I'm fine, Dexter."
Dexter takes his Connect out of his case to place it in his, and he brings up "You haven't really seemed fine to me. I thought you'd want to do something this break, like I dunno, we could've left the campus and went out. Or we could've even called mom and dad, since we don't live too far away. But you just chose to waste it here. I don't have many friends, but at least I had a more active break than you. Don't you have a girlfriend now? You should be spending the nights in her dorm, it gives me a bigger room. Aren't the walls soundproof anyways? You should be fine."
Rohan lets out a heavy breath, and he responds, "Dexter, I'm not stupid. I'm going to stick with the rules, and besides, I have no intention of doing anything like that anyways. I chose to spend my break wisely, learning and studying, rather than wasting it going out staring at clothes and eating expensive food. I've always been like this, so don't act like something is off about me."
Dexter sighs, and he shakes his head before walking to his closet, and searching for clothes to wear for the day.
He calmly says, "I've lived with you for a while now Rohan, I know you changed ever since...the trip. I'm your brother, you don't have to hide it from me. I wasn't there to see firsthand what happened, but I heard enough about it. I know it's impacted you. If you think lying to yourself is going to solve your issues, then I overestimated your intelligence."
Rohan tsks, and he puts up the privacy wall before walking to his own closet to change. He lets out an annoyed sigh and begins summoning a wardrobe, and as he does, he responds coldly: "I can handle myself on my own, thank you. I'll go to you if I need any help."
Dexter stands upright as the closet projects light onto his body, changing his pants and automatically tightening his belt while quietly responding back with a somber tone, "It would've been better if you didn't lie."
Rohan changes as his shirt is placed on him around his torso and arms. He lets out a sigh, and turns back to look at his jacket, which lies on the edge of the bed. His dull eyes stare at it for a moment, with the dark bags very visible underneath.
Finally, Rohan's jacket is placed on him, and he pushes his fist forward to make sure it was tight on his sleeves.