[3624 A.D., Daraish, Earth]
They never tested it. They didn't have the chance; they had no choice
"I was chosen for this mission because they say I have more humanity than the rest of them, and to complete this mission, they needed someone who could bleed and still keep moving..."
"Bull..
.. Bull stop zoning out."
The voice cuts through, startling the seventeen-year-old boy codenamed Bull for Mission Convergence. He quickly pulls his attention back, shaking off his thoughts, and replies:
"Dr Mary, I'm not zoning out. I'm just worried whether I can do it or not"
Dr Mary stepped closer, her expression a mix of forced calm and desperate urgency.
"Listen to me, " she said, her voice dropping. "You were chosen for this mission because, as they say, you have more humanity than the rest of us. They needed a person like you to complete this... a person who understands the value of what we're fighting for."
She took a deep breath and placed her hand on his shoulder, though her grip was tighter than necessary. "You are trained for this, Bull. And are our last hope. I know you can do this. You are our last hope"
"Dr Mary," a sharp, hurried voice interrupted their conversation," the core has been stabilised; the Helios will appear in 118 seconds. We have no time to waste; it's now or never!"
The words of the senior scientist sent the tense and calm preparation room into chaos. Dr Mary orders her humanoid robot to start the countdown.
She released Bull's shoulder and moved toward her team and shouted, "Team A! You heard Sir Peace. Get him to the teleporter now.
(96 seconds remaining)
Team B, finalise trajectory calculations. I want the teleporter stable."
Bull didn't hesitate. He knew he was their last hope; he made eye contact with Dr Mary, as if to say he would succeed. And went inside the teleporter.
72 seconds remaining
Team A locked the door of the teleporter and reported, "Team A done"
39 seconds remaining
Team B finalised the trajectory and reported, "Team B done"
13 seconds remaining
Sir Peaceful, now inside the cockpit, took over comms. And announced "Initiating final countdown, Dr Mary, Final lock engaged."
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bull took a shaky breath, the anxiety of the last moment settling into a cold, terrifying calm. He closed his eyes when the countdown went to 7 and opened at 1 and witnessed:
The Teleporter roaring, and then the world around him dissolved into a flash of blinding white. Nothing else, only white.
~~~
[unknown time, unknown place]
The blinding white light began to fade, a silent scream in the colourless void. "Am I dead?" The voice was numb, distant... it continued, "Is this some kind of limbo?"
He stumbled forward... then froze. Something wrapped around his throat. A horrifying sensation cut through his mind... pain, not mental pain, but the physical pain and the white light faded into darkness.
A rough, cold pressure tightening around his throat, his hand being pulled apart from his throat, his lungs breathing rapidly like he's losing his breath, and his heartbeat thundered, each beat louder than the last. Panic ripped through his body like a sharp knife in the chest. He began to shake, struggling to escape the bounds, and then a thought struck his brain:
"Is it worth it to live?" Darkness began to take hold of his mind "Is it okay to live without her?" Murky, suffocating green-black Vines began to wrap his eyes, his neck, his entire body, harder than before. He tried to fight back, but his despair was deeper than his will. By this time, he had realised that he was not dead. This wasn't death, but it felt like a twisted mockery of life, a cruel one, like a prison of his own internal world.
"How did I end up here?" The question cuts through his despair. It was his mind trying to give him a lifeline, demanding a reason for this, demanding a question for why he had to go through this.
And with that question, the memories rushed to him, fractured and painful.
[A few hours earlier]
[25th September 2024, Daraish, Earth]
"Yeah, Arry, I'm Neel, a 22-year-old male of the human species", he typed quickly. " And yeah, even a dog's life is better than mine. Trust me. But hey, I got my girl. She really cares about me." With a soft smile and a little shy face, he added, "Without her, I'd end myself."
He leaned back on his chair, waiting for a reply. With the help of his leg, he picked up the TV remote and removed it from mute.
The ambient noise of a news anchor spiked his ears:
WARNING - HELIOS CONVERGENCE, A RARE CELESTIAL EVENT TO HAPPEN AFTER 800 YEARS. The SCIENTISTS WEREN'T ABLE TO CALCULATE ITS EXACT TIME. SO EVERYONE IS ADVISED TO STAY INDOORS AND STAY SAFE.
He turned back to his monitor. There was a reply, "What's your thought on Helios? They say, according to the archives, the last time it happened, many people disappeared without a trace."
Neel laughed, "Helios Convergence, my ash. Sounds more like a sci-fi webnovel to me." Suddenly, his phone chimed... an incoming voice call. Contact name: My Love.
"Hey, babe, is your work completed?" He answered, a smile took over his cheeks, and his voice softened.
Her voice hesitated, and with guilt, "Neel, we need to talk."
"Something happened, babe, are you all right?"
Her voice, usually bright and comforting, was now flat and cold. "It's final, Neel. It's over for us. For good... I am sorry, Neel, but..." A pause, a dead silence.
Neel stood up, accidentally stepped over the TV remote, and unmuted it. He felt his blood run cold, and his chest tightened. He tried to laugh it off, a desperate and forced smile. "Babe, you know I don't like jokes like that."
"It's not a joke," she cuts his lines, her voice dropping lower, "Stop calling me babes, and I'm getting married next week. I just wanted you to hear it from me."
The phone dropped from his hands, and he became numb. The word GETTING MARRIED was spinning in his head. His only hope for living was gone now, and he had nothing to live for.
A line from the news anchor caught his attention:
THIS IS NOT A DRILL! SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY AND DO NOT LEAVE IT TILL IT'S OVER. DO NOT GO OUTSIDE NO MATTER WHAT!
Something took over his mind; his mind was completely blank now, except for the word GETTING MARRIED. He wanted to leave, to leave the house, to leave the life, to leave the world, and the lines from the anchor gave him a hope... a hope to vanish. He ran, ignoring the news, the warning, he ran out of his apartment, out of his building, straight to the streets.
The stormy, cool night air hits his heated body like a relief. Above him, the entire sky was tearing open. The Helios Convergence was here, in full, terrifyingly beautiful... A cosmic red light of rose was dancing in the sky, ripping through the darkness of night, a majestic destruction.
Neel stopped; his heartbreak was dwarfed by the phenomenon. A broken laugh escaped his mouth.
"So beautiful," Neel whispered, watching the sky.
And then the world around him dissolved into a flash of blinding white. Nothing else, only white.
To Be Continued...