Specimen 0084. Raj. That was his name.
Raj remembered through the memories of this body that in the year 2030, a large blue sky distortion appeared over the Indian Pacific Ocean. The entire area was filled with turbulence, and from that distortion came out various sizes of spaceships. The turbulence did not last long, but it was enough for a fleet of hundreds of thousands of aliens to enter Earth's atmosphere. From that moment, the war between humans and aliens began.
The aliens used high‑tech weapons and a power system known as Aether, which they used to enhance their bodies and gain abilities that humans could never achieve scientifically. Humanity was overwhelmed in the beginning.
The war lasted for many years, maybe five or ten, no one really knew anymore. Humanity lost around 70 to 80 percent of its population. Many countries were destroyed. The old nations collapsed and turned into scattered cities, each struggling with its own survival. Only a few powerful regions managed to sustain themselves: America, Russia, China, India, Europe, Japan, and maybe twenty to thirty countries total. Even then, the population was extremely low, and the war was still continuing.
It was fortunate that no new space portal had opened after that first one. However, the aliens ensured they never needed more fleets. They introduced something into Earth's atmosphere: Aether crops.
Aether crops could feed on anything: sunlight, energy, even dead matter. They produced a strange gas called Aether, and anyone who absorbed it grew stronger. This same Aether caused mutations in humans and animals. Some mutations were good. Some were terrible. It was pure luck.
The alien civilization already had full mastery over Aether. They could control and manipulate it in ways humans could not even understand. Their civilization was known as the Zevron Dominion.
The aliens, the Zevron, are very powerful creatures, but they also have distinctions between them. Some of them can destroy an entire city with a single punch or one attack from their Aether system, whether it is fire, ice, or anything else. Some of them can only fight against a hundred people. It means they also have their own power structure.
In one of his memories, he saw a superior Zevron who easily annihilated thousands of modern Indian Army soldiers. Raj was one of those soldiers. However, he survived and later joined the resistance.
The resistance is now known as the Bharat Resistance. Since the concept of countries no longer exists and most nations have already collapsed, humans now live in underground survival cities. Bharat Resistance Group is constantly fighting, securing supplies, and ensuring the continued survival of humanity. The same situation is happening in other parts of the world, but communication between continents is almost impossible. Humans have no idea how many are left alive.
In simple words, it can be said that aliens have already taken over the world, and humanity is only waging a guerilla-style war to delay the end. Until humans properly learn how to use Aether and train themselves, they will never be able to overcome these aliens, because their power levels are far too high.
Underground research has started. Some humans have awakened basic Aether abilities like fire, water, and other elemental powers. But still, they are far behind the alien civilization.
He was a high‑ranking officer in the Bharat Resistance Group, so he had a lot of intel about humanity's research on Ether. He was also one of the people who awakened a fire ability during an Ether transplantation experiment done by the scientists of Bharat Resistance. He had the ability to create and control fire.
However, now when he looked at his body, he found himself totally weak and sickly. It felt like this body had been dead for a long time, or it had died and lost its functions very quickly, collapsing all at once.
He decided to focus inside his body because he felt something weird happening. There was some strange reaction going on. It seemed like the Ether inside his soul, merging with this dead body, along with the chemicals injected by the alien species, had caused a one‑in‑a‑trillion mutation. A change so rare that it had completely modified his body.
Something inside his soul had awakened.
He focused, closed his eyes, and concentrated on his body. Inside, deep within, he found that something had mutated under his soul. Yes, the new soul that had overtaken the soul of the original owner of this body. Maybe that old soul was devoured by the Ether, and his new soul absorbed that Ether. Along with the chemicals given by the alien species, his soul had mutated in a way that gave him a new function.
That function was the ability to give properties to items.
He could consume a large amount of Ether, convert it into a strange power through his soul, and then bestow that power upon an object he touched. The object would then gain a specific ability or some kind of power that was fundamentally impossible by normal physics. However, due to his soul mutation, the Ether energy would transform into this weird new energy, and that energy would be granted to the object, giving it supernatural effects.
After understanding and confirming his new power, he looked around his surroundings. He found himself in a very strange place filled with Ether plantations growing over human bodies used as fertilizer. A lot of weird things were scattered everywhere. He knew he had to leave this place, but it would not be easy.
Seeing this huge plantation area, he understood that there must be a large number of Zevron guards placed on Mars. Even if he escaped the fields, reaching Earth would be an even bigger challenge. He knew this was not Earth. The red soil, the dry air, everything clearly said Mars.
How would he return to Earth from here? That question hit him hard. It felt almost impossible.
However, he decided to test his power first. Maybe it would provide him something useful. Maybe it was his only chance.