BEFORE

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His eyes burned. If he were to look outside from the walls, he would see nothing but strong and intense yellow light, and if he looked at anything inside the building, his eyes would only see a colony of floaters. Infuriated by his eyes, that just didn't adapt to the lighting, he cursed and decided not to look outside. Realizing that it was too late, and he could barely see a thing in th dark inside. 

He couldn't stop noticing the perfect shadows. Somewhere in his mind, it was intuitive that the shadows get blurred many times due to interference, but miraculously, always the shadows were perfect. They were there, sharply tracing the image. Of a pillar, that was coated by sharp and hard crystals. 

But this was no time. To contemplate the weird shapes and fractal-like appearance of the sand grains. He walked through those stairs, towards the pedestal that housed the exit portal. 

It was tall, oblique shadows penetrating through the evenly paced pillars. On top was an overweight block of stone acting as a roof. Due to the terrible flaw in lighting, all he could see inside was ethereal blackness and scary vibrations radiating out, transmitting via the solid and dry, white concrete floor that stretched infinitely in all directions.  

Unlike all other places that he'd been, this one was untouched. It has this awesome feeling of safety along with the fear of something new happening. 

He approached the structure even more. Noticing the the perfect and crack-less structure, as if made just now for him. On top, where rested precariously the giant stone slab, acting as the roof he saw icons engraved sharply: 

Π = VI . II VIII

He had prepared himself, for this very time. Something will happen, and that's supposed to be really iconic. Something big, that has never happened before in this world. People had died the in most gruesome possible ways that one can't even imagine. All. For this. Very moment. He did not host any goosebumps or any feeling at this point. He had to escape this nightmare. 

All his aspirations and dreams were fading before him, as he robotically walked further. 

He was going to be himself, he was going to leave. He was going to die. After all the struggle by so many people. After vast sacrifices, he could familiarize himself with. He was the one and only the one beneficiary. He was the one who lives. After the many who died. He bore the divine responsibility of carrying his race further. 

He was the code that lives. 

He was the program  that was chosen, the final code, which they would hail as "The perfect one" He was the output of a zillions years of evolution, that happened in merely a few months. 

Being alive or dead were luxuries that could determine the future rather vastly. They were identical. How could you judge life and death if you haven't felt any. How can you live in superposition for so long?

Now he had climbed the giant pedestal, which was as tall as he was. Noticing the lack of stairs as he stood back up. . The view from here was marvelous. The buildings, the tall structures that he once lived and parkoured with, were far away, covered by haze. All around him was just an ocean of dusty and dry, white concrete, the pedestal was the same material too. 

This structure, one of its kind in this entire world was a big tall square. Built on a square pedestal it was easily a hundred feet long either side. Giant pillars projecting out, sloping outwards and supporting the roof. 

There was pitch black darkness where the sunlight didn't make its way inside. Hence, there were stripes of black and white on the pedestal floor. But he didn't need to see the inside. It was a room, closed. he was on the outside and walked its perimeter, feeling the walls, hoping to find a door. Feeling with his fingers the concrete floor and and walls. Crouching stealthily and silently, hoping to find a door. 

He found it cool to alternate between the intense stripes of light and dark as he walked around the room. 

And there it was. His hands went inside a hole. 

Wait, he thought. And then felt further, careful no to go inside it. 

But now he knew. There were two passages in the wall or maybe they were portals. And now he stood in front of them, a thin stripe of wall separating them. He wasn't foolish enough to think that the two closely placed doors were leading to the same room, physics did not work like that. 

There were absolutely no signs around the doors. His decision had to be random. When he tried peeking through the portals he saw nothing but eerie darkness. As if trying to suck him inside. 

And so, he randomly chose one of them. Left or right didn't matter. 

As soon as his entire body went inside on of those portals. The place vanished. Except the pedestal, there was nothing there. But the floor had a button. Red. Red as blood. Red as everything he was going to see from now.  The reddest thing he'd ever seen. 

Hasty winds blow over him, sand particles smoothly landing  on the pedestal and some flowing with the air.  And in this iconic moment, now he was to make his last choice. Whether to execute his decision. Or maybe not. 


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