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The Era of Evolution

Autor: Pleki

Kapitel 1: New World

In New York City, chaos is happening – a tumultuous din can be heard as people watch the hand of the Statue of Liberty breaks. Some kinds of plant grow several centimeters high as each minute passes by. Sirens are wailing; public services are busy helping people that go hysterical about things that happen in the last month. In other cities – weird, unexplainable and illogical stuffs keep happening which make people worry about the catastrophic ending that awaits mankind – the world's end is coming. Mount Fuji– the tallest mountain in Japan turns into an active volcano in a span of a week.

The tiny island of Hawaii turns into a desolate land mass; almost becomes 5 times its normal size as all the inactive volcanoes become active and erupt simultaneously which give way to the rise of a new land. This results to the devastation of all that inhabit the island.

Luckily, a researcher notices and discovers the weird activity of the volcano – warns the government to act immediately and evacuates the civilians. Yet even after all the counter measures done by the government, the immense number of casualties keeps rising by far.

In the sea, near China – never before seen earthquakes occur causing the ocean ground to shatter and make the water seeps in through the massive gaps. All the people in China are able to witness as the sea water recedes; fishes are left dying on the waterless seabed.

Before they can even process what is happening – a 15-meter-high tsunami hits the beach with a devastating force which wipes all the parasols and small stalls that used to be there. Just before the tsunami hits the city, an image of a dragon appears and makes a bubble shield to protect the city from the tsunami.

In India, statues in the temple become alive – causing mayhem as some people try to destroy them while others protect and worship the statues. Meanwhile, in Europe, ghosts start to appear in the old castles wearing nobility kind of clothes and some even wear full iron armor.

-----In some secret undisclosed location-----

Silence....

A rounded large table stands in the middle of a room with 25 hologram projectors placed next to it. In the middle of the table are scattered images of cities that are in chaos because of the disasters that happen all over the world – snowstorms in the middle of Africa, hurricanes in Australia, and the fall of the Great Wall of China.

An old, feeble, yet somehow strong voice echoes around the room with incredible force, "A new era is coming... The world that we know will now end... They are coming... The war is coming upon us once again..."

The silence lurks upon the room once again. Everyone wants to break the silence that suffocates them yet no one knows what to say. As an old saying goes, 'If you don't have something nice to say then don't say anything at all'. Each and everyone in the room is a world renowned leader – the greatest minds of this time yet at the time like this, every single one of them don't know what to say.

Cannot bear the silence; the youngest among them coughs slightly to get everyone's attention. His projected body has reformed completely into a reality. He smiles shyly, before saying, "We have to do a plan G and launch project New World. Like it or not, this is our only chance of surviving this mess. I hate to say this but HE may really come to help us. And at the time like this, we need every help that we can get."

"Are you really sure about this? How long has the beta test been going on and what is the result?" A middle-aged lady with a frown on her brow asks.

"The alpha test was concluded one month ago and last week, we start the beta and in this document is the result of the alpha test after a year. We haven't compiled the result of the entire beta tester. But looking at the result we have collected so far, it can be said that it was successful."

"What is the failure rate of that thing? And is there any casualty?"

"Depends on what we see as a failure. From what our team concluded so far, the ability that we get from this project is unique for each individual. Even though some of the ability are identical, they can evolve depends on how that individual use it. From alpha and beta test, we have 99% chance to evolve people and for us, to awake each and every evolver is a success. If you see a noncombat class and less useful trait like cold resistance a failure, then we have a 75% failure rate."

"What about the 1%?" asks by a skeptical old man with goatee.

Some of them cannot believe that the casualty number is that low. But the fact that there are casualties is already a proof that they can't trust it. In another field, 1% failure rate is an acceptable rate. But this is unknown stuff that came out of someone that supposes to be non-existent in the first place. The room falls in raucous – sounds of whispering in all different languages can be heard; until finally, the feeble old man takes a deep breath and with a resigned voice pronounces in the room.

"We take a vote. Those that are in favor, please raise your hand."

Without counting the hand, the old man can already see that they are overwhelmingly in favor of the plan.

"We launch project New World in 3 days. For those who are involved in beta will be sent back to their homes with their equipment. Are the equipment ready to be sent to all of the potential candidates?"

"We don't have enough equipment for all the candidates but it will be ready in 1 month at most."

"Will those that start later have a disadvantage?" The skeptical old man asks.

"This is not a competition for fuck sake! This is our only chance of survival! Can you let those egos of yours go for even just a second?" A lady in dress exclaims.

"Yes, they would be. But not too much that it would affect their chance. From the entire previous test, we concluded that it took approximately a week up to a month to get used to their ability. I suggest that we evolve the potential candidates first. Then, send all the equipment that we have at the moment. The rest of the equipment would be sent to them as fast as possible, and in the meantime, they have a chance to adapt to their new power."