The Awakened World

Part 11: Prelude to the End

It was a cold place. Nothing could be seen, just a black void speckled with tiny lights. Brian was floating in this emptiness and couldn't shake the feeling of déjà-vu. Something about this was so very familiar, yet he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "So how exactly did I end up here?" he thought and began to recount his recent actions. "I arrived at the bunker, then spent the night drinking with Mercury and Minerva. After that we were attacked by the government agents and I passed out..." Suddenly Brian shuddered. "Did I die? Is this the afterlife?" he asked aloud but received no answer. He looked around. The space was vast, and he couldn't make out any shapes. The lights, though numerous, didn't really provide much in the way of illumination. Suddenly he heard a thunderous crack, and a silhouette appeared. The creature was seated, and it's body was mostly humanlike. It possessed six arms and a reptilian head, which made it's visage surreal to say the least. Then it spoke, with a booming voice. "You're Brian Stevens. I have chosen you as the one who will decide the fate of your race." Brian was flabbergasted. Thousands of questions spun in his head, but he managed to blurt out the most obvious ones. "Who, or rather, what are you? Have I met you before? Where am I?" The silhouette shifted it's position. "I will only say that you have seen me before, in a dreamlike state like this one, back when you were first awakened. Answering the rest of your questions is redundant, as you shall forget this encounter when you wake up, too. Really, it is pointless for me to talk to you in the first place, but I did want to see you before making my decision." As soon as it finished speaking, the world started to fade. "I'll see you soon," the creature said, before disappearing.

"...he's coming to." "Good. Keep pumping the anaesthetic. I want to have a word with him, and him breaking out would prove problematic." "Understood." The room was brightly lit. Brian could quickly make out the outlines of three people before his eyes adjusted to the light. Soon he could see normally and realized that he was strapped to a table and a cannula was attached to his arm. Two people were standing with their back to him, but the third was staring right at him. Or so he thought, as her mask made judging her expression difficult. A familiar mask, in fact, as the woman was the Crimson Witch. Brian somehow managed to suppress his panic, and tried to activate his powers, but nothing happened. He noticed that he couldn't even sense any presences. The anaesthetic being pumped into his veins must have been the culprit. For all intents and purposes, he was back to the way he was before: a normal human. "I regret to inform you that we have blocked your powers away." The other man had turned around and seeing him made Brian realize just how bad his situation truly was. Because he, a middle aged and short Asian man, was the de facto ruler of the entire world, the one known as Supreme leader. "I can't have you trashing around. You've recently become irreplaceable." He walked to Brian's table and sat on the chair beside it. "We haven't met, but I'm fairly certain you know who I am."

Seconds ago, Brian had been paralyzed by fear, and at the verge of panicking. But now he had calmed down. "What the hell, I'm going to die anyway," he thought as he faced the man. "Yes, how couldn't I recognize the one who decimated the combined armies of the old world, and then created this fascistic hellscape we live in?" Brian didn't know what kind of reaction to expect after spitting out his words, but he did not expect that the man sitting next to him would burst out laughing. He could only watch in confusion as the leader of the world kept laughed his heart out. Finally, he stopped and turned his head to look at the other man in the room. "What did I tell you? Our boy is an idealist!" The man in the corner snorted briefly, but soon returned his focus to the computer in front of him. The Supreme leader turned his gaze back toward Brian. "Look, I really must admit that I hate people like you. You are so attached to the idea of me being an evil overlord who drinks the blood of the innocent and sacrifices babies to the devil that you don't even stop to consider the facts." "What facts are there to consider? You have effectively enslaved a large part of the population, and for what? So that you and your kind can lead an easy life!" Brian was fuming. How could the man in front of him ever justify anything he's done? The Supreme leader rubbed his eyes and looked at Brian. "Let me tell you something. The old world you rebels idolize was not a very nice place. You were lucky that you were born into a good family in a country with good standard of living, and that's why you have such a skewered perspective. I was born in southern Asia in the late sixties. And, if you know your history, you'll be aware that it wasn't a very good place to live during that time. I had to work incredibly hard to get education. And after that, I had to work even harder to set up a business. But it was all in vain. Corrupted policemen and politicians made sure that every venture I ever started was soon driven to the ground. It even cost me my family! But then, suddenly, I was offered a way out. A ticket to a better world: I was awakened."