Limitless: New Dawn

Arthur and Selene sat side by side on the edge of a weather-worn highrise rooftop, their legs dangling over the edge of the roof as they observed the ruined city. Below them stretched the skeletal remains of what had once been a thriving metropolitan city.

Crashed or idle cars lay abandoned in tangled rows, some parts of the streets were already starting to get covered by moss and vine as patches of greenery had begun reclaiming the city. The wind carried with it the faint scent of decay, time always moved forward whether humanity kept up or not.

Selene watched the slow, aimless wandering figures below. Some dragged their feet. Others twitched in place as if they were having seizures.

She exhaled softly. “These people are so pitiful… There are even children among those zombies.”

Arthur didn’t answer immediately. He had already run countless analyses on the virus, traced its genetic sequence, and simulated reversal attempts across every framework he possessed. But the result never changed.

Selene turned to him, her expression hopeful despite everything. “Can’t you do anything about it?”

Arthur sighed and shook his head. “I’ve analyzed the virus thoroughly, the process is irreversible. Their bodies are no longer functioning under human biology, the virus has corrupted their genetic structure completely… there’s nothing I can do to bring them back.”

Her shoulders fell slightly, disappointment settling in. For someone like Selene, who always had a weak spot for impoverished people, accepting that these suffering souls could not be saved was not easy.

Arthur sighed, then added, “But… that doesn’t mean I can’t help the ones who are still alive.”

She looked up again, a spark returning to her eyes. “Are you going to kill all the zombies?”

“No,” Arthur said calmly. “That’s not my role. This is their world, their fight. If I solve everything for them, they’ll never rebuild properly.” He paused, then gave a faint smile. “What I can do is give them a chance. A place where they can survive long enough to stand again.”

Selene nodded as she also felt it was right and Arthur couldn't just help all the world he travels to, as there was no end to the number of worlds suffering even worse than this one. And if he tries to do so for every world he comes across he would only stretch himself thin, even someone as powerful as Arthur had his limits.

Selene considered that, then nodded slowly. “You’re right, I am sorry for asking the impossible.”

Arthur smiled and replied. “It's okay, what matters is creating something sustainable for them. I am going to build shelters for them.”

She glanced around at the endless city. “How are you planning to build shelters for this many people? That sounds like years of work.”

Arthur stood and offered her a hand. “Not with the way I plan to do it.” and teleported out of the city.

…

They reappeared moments later far beyond the city limits, hovering high in open air. Beneath them lay miles of empty terrain, a wide highway, and scattered industrial zones buried under dust.

Arthur closed his eyes and raised his hand forward.

Selene immediately sensed Arthur’s awareness expanding from his body.

He focused on the metals underground in the city and started extracting them without damaging the old structures as there could be survivors present inside them.

Buried steel beams, collapsed bridges, derelict vehicles, underground pipelines, every fragment of usable metal started to fly out of the city. Not only that he also tried to sense metals from the terrain. Though the metal content was low in the terrain he was in, he still extracted whatever he could find.

Selene widened her eyes as entire streams of metal flowed upward like a river under Arthur’s control.

Arthur guided them with precise control using telekinetic manoeuvres, compressing, refining, and purifying them mid-air before layering them together. He used Matter Manipulation and reshaped the materials faster than any industrial process ever could. Impurities were removed, molecular bonds were reinforced. And the resulting material’s density increased far beyond what this world’s metallurgy could achieve.

Before long, the outline of something massive began to form in front of them.

An immense circular structure rose steadily from the ground. It thickened, hardened, and curved outward, enclosing a vast stretch of land.

Arthur didn’t stop. When nearby resources ran dry, he teleported briefly to distant regions rich in abandoned infrastructure or metal ores, returning with fresh material along with him. Each addition merged seamlessly into the growing structure. He even used nanobots to build the tech parts which he was still unable to create using Matter Manipulation.

Hours passed, and by the end of the third hour, the construction stood complete, he had completed what could be considered the biggest construction this world had ever seen. A colossal ring wall nearly one hundred meters tall and twenty meters thick, encircling an area roughly fifty kilometers of radius. Its surface was smooth, seamless, and impossibly durable for this world’s standards.

Selene stared at the huge structure with wide eyes. “That’s… enormous.”

Arthur exhaled slowly, scanning it with satisfaction. “It’s strong enough that nothing in this world can breach it. Even if the zombies evolve further, they won’t be able to break through.”

Within the enclosed land, he subtly reshaped the terrain, leveling uneven areas, redirecting water sources, preparing fertile ground for agriculture. But he deliberately left the space empty of buildings, as he felt the humans of this world need a purpose and if he handed them everything they would not value it.

He installed gated entry points every ten kilometers on the wall, embedding them with sensor systems to recognize human biology thus allowing them to enter it. But he didn't add any hot weapons on the wall, the structure was just a very tough circular wall which would prevent the zombies from entering and the material was strong enough to withstand their attacks.

Autonomous systems were added quietly beneath the surface, controlled by a central AI designed to guide the humans, an archive of knowledge capable of teaching survivors how to rebuild their civilization.

He also stored caches of tens of thousands of cold weapons durable enough to hurt a High grade martial artist inside the walls and gave the AI instruction to give them to people who are willing to fight the zombies.

Arthur muttered, "If you consider farming, this place could house up to a million people. And I just need to build a few hundred more of these throughout this world to support the current number of people populating this world."

Selene smiled. “You’ve thought this through.”

…

That single Sanctuary was only the beginning.

For nearly two months, time that flowed differently compared to Thyrandel Arthur repeated the process across continents, he built them where there was a higher density of people like the outskirts of big cities… each location gained another immense protective ring.

Selene sometimes helped guide scattered survivor groups toward them, occasionally stepping in discretely when danger grew overwhelming for them. Most of the time she simply watched Arthur work, keeping him company during the long stretches of his creation.

By the time they finished Arthur had created more than four hundred of these structures all controlled by a central AI system in various parts of the world.

…

By now a lot of people have noticed the tall structures appearing out of nowhere and curious they travelled towards them. They were amazed at how tall and endless the wall was and as they reached near one of the gates, it opened automatically and as they entered it apprehensively a floating orb like structure appeared in front of them, explaining its purpose.

It explained that it was the AI in charge of maintaining the ‘Sanctuaries’ and it possessed all the knowledge like agriculture, engineering, medicine, governance and on how to rebuild human society from ground up and it would help them in doing so.

When the natives asked what these ‘Sanctuaries’ were it explained to them that these were safe havens for humans and that there were hundreds of such structures like the one they were seeing in front of them spread throughout the world.

The people were flabbergasted and asked who built these ‘Sanctuaries’ but all it said was they didn't have the clearance to know that. And all around the world similar instances were unfolding.

Humanity, which had been on the edge of extinction, suddenly had places to gather, organize, and rebuild again.

…

And at the end of the two months Arthur's work was finally finished, though most people have no idea about these ‘Sanctuaries’. And seeing Selene's puppy eyes he relented and spent the next two days teleporting all the surviving people inside nearby Sanctuaries.

And so that they won't have to worry about immediate food supplies he also teleported all the packaged food he could find, inside the Sanctuaries and instructed the AI to distribute them evenly.

But from his calculation the food he collected would last less than two months for the approximately 250 million people before getting exhausted and the humans would either have to hunt animals or grow their own food for survival, and he made sure the AI reminds them of that.

Arthur and Selene later floated high above one Sanctuary near what had once been Chicago. Hundreds of thousands of people were gathered near distribution points on the inner side of the wall, receiving food supplies.

The people still couldn't believe something like the Sanctuaries appearing out of nowhere and even more surprised when they were teleported inside it.

But there was one group among these people who were comparatively less surprised when they were teleported. The group consisted of Arnold, Lily, Luke, and their companions.

Two months ago they had faced something similarly bizarre. They collected their ration and left the crowd behind.

Arnold spoke in a hushed voice. “Do you think… it’s the same person who saved us before, built these Sanctuaries?”

Luke nodded absentmindedly. “It has to be. There couldn't be such coincidences, they must be related.”

The other three also nodded. They had become much stronger after consuming the cores that were left behind after the unknown entity helped them and from then on they hunted more and more zombies and consumed their cores to become stronger, they didn't want to feel that helplessness like before again.

Arnold hardened his gaze and declared with a clenched fist. “Whoever helped us gave us a chance, but we shouldn't become complacent. The zombies are becoming stronger day by day, we cannot hide behind the safety of the wall forever, we must become stronger.”

His friends agreed without hesitation.

…

High above them beyond their visual range Arthur and Selene watched them, and Selene said, "That group of people have a very good mentality."

Arthur nodded. “People like those are the ones who’ll carry this world forward.”

He was also satisfied seeing there are people who could see the bigger picture. He knew there would be people who would get too comfortable with the presence of the Sanctuaries but it was human nature. But as long as people like these existed, people with strong will, the Sanctuaries would become foundations, not cages.

There would also be people who would not like to lose the feeling of getting stronger and would venture outside of the wall to hunt zombies. He just hoped his intervention wouldn't have any adverse effect on this world.

Arthur looked across the horizon, “I’ve done what I can,” he said quietly. “The rest… is up to them.”

***

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