The New Era

A Message?

Noor and her crew had already started building the dome, being precise with every measurement.

Morgan was watching them closely, giving any pointers or suggestions. "The dome should have a little open door, so people can come in and out of the city," he suggested, pointing at the big round dome in the blueprints, and encircling the desired area.

He also suggested that the dome should have a little vent, so air can come in and out of the city, and people wouldn't be deprived of oxygen, and some people wouldn't feel lightheaded and dizzy.

Noor laughed. "Morgan, we're still planning to make the dome, and you've already gone ahead on what we should do! I love the ideas, but we engineers already have enough to worry about, don't you think?"

Morgan agreed, though he didn't mean it. The engineers should be working fast, not playing around like fools, a heatwave especially so massive is nothing to make fun of, he thought. He gave a nervous smile, and shook his head. "Very well. I'm just hoping you get the ideas. Keep working, go on now." He put his hands behind his back, and watched them work.

Soon enough, a dome would cover the city.

What Noor had thoughts before was upsetting but true: humans would probably never feel free ever again. It's as though the heatwave, with its power, had frightened what was left of Man, and made them feel weak, helpless, vulnerable. And now their only saviour, was this dome.

Would this city ever be the same? Unlikely.

Jacob had already felt more vulnerable now and then. He kept seeing weird and scary dreams in his sleep, which made him shoot out of the bed, feeling worried and terrified. If not even, traumatized.

The dreams he was seeing made sense. He kept seeing his family, and a sudden figure emerge from the depth of his darkness. The figure was quite odd, looking like what he thought, an old man with a white beard and an unsettling smile.

In his dream previously, the figure held out his hand to him, offering him comfort. Jacob was sprawled on a floor, which was cracking, revealing a large canyon, filtered with red and a dark liquid, which he thought was blood. His family was on the other side of this canyon, and Jacob reached out to them, hoping to save them.

Crack.

The floor which they were on cracked, and they fell down into the canyon. Jacob couldn't help but scream, and he reached it to the canyon with his arms, feeling sorrow, pain and anger. As he watched his family fall down into the depths of the canyon, the black dot of them soon disappeared.

Jacob scooched back from the canyon, to his sage zone, and cried. He brought his hands to him, covered his face, sobbing and muttering

Just then, a faded white light shone infront of him, and he uncovered himself. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve, and sniffed. Infront of him was the figure. The old man. The old man then gave his weird signature smile, then reached out his long arms to him. His palm would be upright, and he just stood there, waiting.

Jacob was reluctant to getting up, offering his hand. Instead of doing this, he whispered, "Who are you?"

The old man shook his head, kept smiling.

"Who are you!" Jacob said, his voice loud and clear. "Why do you keep coming here and smiling like that? My family just died, and you coulda helped me!" He was raging.

Finally - The old man never spoke in all the dreams he ever appeared in- he said lightly. "I've been waiting."

Jacob, not getting the point, yelled back. "Waiting for what? My whole family to die? Me to die? Who the fuck are you!"