Chương 1: Lifelines
HUMANS!
*3 seconds of bone crushing silence*
...It is not important who I am, nor where I am.
I am no messenger of God! I am but a warner. Warning you that the end is near, an end that you cannot delay nor escape.
However, you will have to prevail for one last time! For he knows the unknown.
I will leave you the reason of my being, search it!
It is heavier than mountains, tougher than steel, shinier than diamond and more valuable than gold. The secret to immortality and peace, the way to ascend human flaws, lost in ancient times. It is within the poor's reach!
Search for it young man! It is buried where man died..."
....
...
..
.
*30Years later*
"...How was it caused?". Asks the doctor while examining closely the hand of a young man.
"Work accident." He replies briefly.
"Well it seems your ring finger's bone broke." She says, as she backed off and took away her weird looking black glasses. "Someone like you shouldn't be doing much hand labor to begin with, but you'll be fine. Just wrap this special bondage on it and take this pill once a day."
"I don't like pills."
She wraps his finger up tightly. "You're free not to take them, they'll increase your generation speed by double."
"...Thank you!" He gets up and leaves the room without saying any further.
Her assistant notices her smile and gives her little two cents about it. "As creepy as ever, isn't he?"
"Well, he's a rare breed I'd say. Especially in this day and age..."
"I don't know why he would come anyway, his broken finger will be healed in 3days maximum..."
"That's what I'm trying to understand myself..."
After going out of the hospital, he puts his hood on his head, stretches his shoulders widely and lowers his head towards the ground. The city is a loud place, especially the one he's living in, just moments later he cannot bear it, so he puts his earphones on. And magically! It starts playing music without a single pushed button!
Not only that, but the exact song this young man felt best to hear at the moment.
It looks like he never moves his eyes, but very swiftly he takes notice of all his surroundings, a crowded city full of skyscrapers, though no moving cars to be seen!
He takes a look at the sky for once, it's crowded as well, with clouds... The sun, is also nowhere to be seen.
'The same thing every day...' He looks at his finger, and finds himself back 17years in the past...
"HEY HEY!!! Throw me the ball I'm here!!"
"Hey me!!"
"Shoot it!!!"
"LAWRYYYY!!! SHAMAAAN!!!"
Just like it sounds, bunch of young careless kids full of life playing football in what seems like a large backyard. Sitting in the backdoor's stairs was a woman that had just started losing her battle with father time. However, her smile as she looked at the kids playing wouldn't let you think of such thing at first glance.
"Be careful Hugo!
Ahhh!! He's always reckless when playing football..."
Slowly, a little kid approaches and stands next to her side. Catching her attention, she smiles at him, while stretching her hand to play with his soft black hair.
"Levon!
Why don't you play with them?".
The kid, or better say Levon, lowered his head and looked at the others playing.
"Come on! Look, they're waving at you to join. Go have fun!"
After seconds of hesitation, he goes running towards them with an emotionless face. But in truth, his heart was pumping with excitement. It showed from the way he played the moment he got the ball. The way he's controlling it, his body movements, they were a bit superior from that of the rest, not a glaring difference but to a football coach for example, it would've been noticeable!
The score was 5 goals to 4, with Levon's team being the losing side.
A little girl shouted from the sidelines.
"5 MINUTES LEFT!!"
"...Ah man!! Already?"
"Come on we got to win, they've won last time we can't let them repeat that!!"
"YESSS!!" Agreed the losing team.
"Hari! Stay at the back and make sure no one gets past you.
Antoni! Pass me the ball I'll be open
And Levon..."
The kid looks at him, and Levon this time does not lower his eyes.
"...You'll score the winning goal!".
Levon's heart started pumping even harder, he felt something warm from being trusted by someone else.
And Just as planned...
"GOOAAAALLLL!!!". Samir, the captain scored.
The game is tied, 5-5 with 1minute left.
The girls cheered from the back, each for her own favorite team, the intensity of the game got to a higher level.
Malika, the woman that earlier encouraged Levon to play stood up from the stairs she was comfortably sitting in, she wanted to witness what's coming next from up close.
Hugo, being the leader of the opposing team was giving his own instructions. He led the attack!
Passing the ball to Shaman his teammate and positioning himself to get It back in a dangerous area, he gets it back. However, Hari was standing in front of him like a mountain! He was the taller and stronger kid, it seemed like there was no way Hugo would get past.
But the plan wasn't for Hugo to score this time, Lawry, another teammate of his cut through the lane without anyone guarding him. The captain does not waste a second and passes him the ball, a clear path awaits him, and a certain goal will seal the victory...
"SHOOT IT LAWRYYY!!!". Hugo screams.
The shock left Hari and his team as spectators unable to react in the right time, this is a common thing in football back when it was professionally played worldwide, even the best players when caught by surprise do not react quickly and and up conceiding a goal.
But! One player wasn't, one player focused on the ball and nothing else, It was Levon!
He took the ball right before Lawry receives it, and now the shock is sent back at them!!
Samir knew this was it, with wide open eyes and a smile on his face
"LEVOOOOOOOOON!!! GOOO!!!!"
Like a breeze, Levon leaves Lawry behind him and heads towards the target. Hugo tries his hardest to catch up with him, and he did, but the sheer speed of his acceleration played in favor of Levon, by simply changing his footing and dribbling the ball with his left leg instead of his right, Hugo was dropped like a stick of wood. Now, it was only Levon facing the goalkeeper. There was still some distance to cover in order to get an accurate shot on target, But Levon acted almost unwillingly, and prepared to shoot it from far away.
Samir didn't understand why, but it was too late to do anything but to stare at him from the back.
It was suddenly so quiet, with 5seconds left in time...
Levon shoots the ball, curving it in the far-left corner using his left foot! It was a beautiful shot, it didn't pierce air with sheer force, it danced with it until it reached its destination.
But its destination was...the post!
*Whistling*
"Alright alright... Wooaah that was very close! Amazing shot Levon hahahaha...
Time is over kids!" Declares Malika, as she clapped her hands in joy!
Levon stood up emotionlessly, and looked at the post that denied the ball from going in...Then lowered his eyes to the ground and walked away. silently
He heard his name being called from the back, no one was sad or angry about the shot, but he did not look back...
"I'm sure you're all tired and want to eat, but first you'll have to take a shower!!
Go on, to the bathroom immediately!". She says as she picked up the ball.
Hugo. "AAAAGHHH shower agaiiin!!"
Shaman. "But I'm so hungry Mamaaaa..."
"Don't argue now, or else no more football games!".
"Alright alright... Here we go! Last one to the bathroom gets to wash our clothes!!!"
"Oh sh...WAIT!!!"
All of them hurled towards there to avoid the cursed task.
"Mama! Why did Levon walk away like that?
Is he upset?" Said one of the girls that were cheering on.
Always with a smile, the woman they're calling Mama put her hand on the little girl's head and said. "I think so...
I'll go see what's wrong, meanwhile how about you all help me make food?"
All the girls agreed excitingly
"Prepare the kitchen then, I'll be there in a minute."
Malika approached Levon, then sat in front of him, his eyes would not look at her directly.
"What's wrong Levon? You wanted to score that goal badly didn't you..."
He stayed quiet.
She noticed that his knee was bleeding a bit! "Hey! How come you didn't tell me you injured yourself!?"
Malika gets some cotton from her pocket and puts it on to stop the bleeding, then gently started wiping off the blood.
For a moment, Levon forgot what occurred just moments ago, her touch was so smooth and warm that it felt like his injury was healing much faster!
"...You know, my mother told me once that the touch of a female doctor is as sweet as that of a mother, I wonder which one she had because she was both a doctor and a mother." Malika told him, then added.
"I hope I have half the touch she did." She laughed briefly.
Levon didn't realize how his eyes lifted and looked at Malika's for couple seconds, he wanted to say something, but his mouth wouldn't let the words free...
The bleeding stopped quickly, and the cut did not look dangerous.
She got up and started walking towards the door. Suddenly, she stopped and asked."...If you could go back in time, will you still shoot it, Levon?"
....
...
..
'Why am I remembering all of this now?
Ah...The doctor thing.
I can't say from what I've seen that it's true, the touch of this doctor doesn't feel any different than that of a stranger.
Or maybe..because I am comparing it to yours...'
Being absent minded, he bumps into a group of young college students! One of them immediately reacts!
"Hey!! Watch out where you're stepping in!'. It was clear from his flamboyant crazy style, that he's the trouble bully guy.
The group had 2girls, more of a reason for him to show off his "dominance".
Levon stops the music playing in his earphones, again with no pushed buttons, It is as if he controls the device using his mind. Then, he looks to analyze the situation.
His eyes gave such a cold look that it triggered those who saw it, considering that he is "wrong" in this situation.
Levon turns his back and continues walking, without being apologetic.
Sometimes, not saying a word is an indication that the person in front of you is not worth a word, and this is arguably worse than giving him a punch in the face. The trouble guy was outplayed in this "dominance" game so easily.
"Hmm! Look...Something is mysterious about him right?"
"He looks attractive, doesn't he? Although his style needs an update..."
The 2girls were chatting to each other, and the guy heard it! Feeling humiliated, the troublemaker found his justification, and there is no stopping him.
So, he followed Levon and grabbed him from the back tightly, forcing him to turn! His hood fell off, and his face appeared clear to everybody.
No reaction was drawn in his face, his hands buried still in his pocket. You'd expect that a punch was on the way to ruin that stone-cold look.
But someone from the crowd saw the scene and yelled.
"Hey! This guy is...Levon Graham right!?"
The troublemaker backs off, looking away at the others to answer the question.
And of course, the girls were the first to reply.
"OH YES! It's him!!"
"Oh my god! I've never seen him in person..."
The other guy pulled his friend back and told him it's best not to get in trouble with someone like that, and that was the end of it!
The people passing by noticed, and the chatters got louder.
"Look over there! That's Doctor Robert's son isn't it?"
"What's someone like him doing here?"
"They said he never gets out of the lab!"
Levon puts on his hood and earphones again and walks away from all of it, ignoring all the noises, eyes and talks.
The music resumed in his ears, and the lyrics went on like...
"...But isn't it a shame?
Times, have changed...
But isn't it strange?
Lifelines stay the same
The same..."
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