Chapter 1: The Curse
It was a cloudy, gloomy night. Once, this place had been the heart of the greatest country on Earth. Now, not even its name remained.
The sky was heavy, hiding any sign of the stars. Not even the moon dared to show itself.
On the ground, the ruins of a forgotten city were lost in the darkness. Skyscrapers in decay, roads swallowed by greenery, concrete silhouettes eaten away by time.
Back in the early 21st century, this city had been buzzing with life. Now, all that was left was silence. There was no war. No disaster. People just... left.
On the balcony of a crumbling building, a young man was lying there. He was so skinny it was almost pitiful. His short hair had a faint greenish tint, and his eyes were slightly red.
His name was Darian Wube, and those features were a gift from his father, a man born in the Aeternum Atlantis Empire of Earth.
Aeternum Atlantis. One of the three continents that, for reasons no one could explain, rose out of the oceans in the 22nd century, forever changing Earth's geography. At first, humanity hesitated, but those lands were way too fertile and rich in minerals to be ignored. People rushed to settle the new territories, and life went on.
Over time, those born on the new continents started to show small physical differences compared to the rest of the population. Nobody ever found out why, but it was just another weird thing—after all the changes Earth had already been through, it was easily accepted and forgotten over time.
After all, by the 25th century, the impossible had pretty much become normal.
Darian lay there in the dark, flat on his back, eyes fixed on the clouds and the empty skies.
He let out a weak breath and muttered, barely loud enough to be heard: "On my last day... I won't even get to see a little bit of light..."