Chapter 3: World
Chapter 3: World
48 hours after the impact
Somewhere in a television newsroom
"Going live in 3, 2, 1," said the cameraman.
"Welcome to the morning prime-time news. Today we are going to discuss the meteor strike that occurred on the continent of Antarctica. As the whole world now knows, yesterday at 2:30 PM, a giant meteor hit the water near the lands of Antarctica, causing a colossal amount of damage to the continent. The nearby countries are facing natural calamities like tsunamis and earthquakes, and there are also cases of huge death tolls throughout the world due to something unknown to us. So, keeping all these things in mind, we will start today's debate and try to uncover all the disasters caused by this meteor and also the mysterious deaths of thousands, if not millions, of people throughout the world."
"Let us welcome all the experts who are going to participate in today's debate: Professor Smith, a renowned seismologist; Dr. Athena, a planetary geologist; and Dr. Khan, an ecologist."
"Thanks for inviting us to your show," all three guests said at the same time.
"Dr. Athena, my question to you is: What do you think about the meteor that hit Antarctica? The destruction caused by it has stopped as of now, but do you think there are still chances for more earthquakes and tsunamis?"
"First of all, thanks for giving me this chance, Ms. Sophie. And before coming to your question, I would like to clarify that it was not a meteor, but a huge asteroid. By observing the satellite imagery, it is approximately 210 to 230 meters in size. Now, answering your question, Yes, there is a slight chance of more tsunamis and earthquakes because of the impact. However, we have to be cautious because we cannot precisely calculate where and when there will be an earthquake."
"As a person who studies these types of occurrences, I cannot agree more with Professor Athena on this matter. The earthquakes that the world felt after the strike were all above 7, with one nearing 8, but that was felt only in the continent of Antarctica. The good news is that no earthquake lasted more than 36 seconds limiting the destruction caused by it, except for the one that was in Antarctica which lasted for 45 seconds. However, the destruction caused by the gigantic solar body on impact was quite severe, causing an area of 104 miles to disappear from the face of the earth. We can also see from satellite imagery that the shore where the asteroid hit is now completely barren and is flat land."Professor Smith said while sporting a nervous grin perhaps due to this being his inaugural appearance on a nationwide broadcast.
"Let us give our viewers a visual representation of the impact site," the anchor stated, displaying a picture of a massive crater that had now become a boundary between the ocean and the shoreline. Notably, no water was flowing into the crater; it was merely skirting its edges.
"Let me please direct your focus to the most paramount issue that we should be discussing now," the anchor said, magnifying the image to the edges of the crater, where it could be seen that the water is inexplicably staying put around the edges and not trickling inside the crater as it naturally should.
"Dr. Khan, what do you think about this unusual and, I should say, nature-defying phenomenon?" Sophie said, looking towards a man who had been silent since the start of the debate.
The individual in question was a man with rugged facial hair and a dark complexion, broad shoulders clothed in a white garment, and a black tie. Despite the fact that he appeared well-groomed, one could easily tell he was utterly exhausted; his cheeks were hollow, and he had shadowy circles beneath his eyes. He stood idly and approached the image of the colossal crater, stretching out his arm as if he were seeking something. The anchor assumed he was asking for the projector remote, and she got up from her seat to give it to him. Yet, when she reached him, she stopped and gazed at him as if he had grown multiple new members. She was shocked and tried to move away from the man in front of her, but she tripped.
"Mr.Kh..Kh… Khan! Your hand is on fire! Security, bring the fire extinguisher!" Sophie yelled after bringing herself back to her senses. She removed her coat and tried to wrap Dr. Khan's hand in it, but the man, now kneeling on the floor and looking a lot more tired, raised his hand indicating for her to stop where she was. He then began to stand up, with a bit of struggle while still exhibiting a spark of fire in his palm.
"There is no need to do anything, Ms. Sophie; I am perfectly fine," the man stated, clenching his fist and then opening it again. However, this time, the blaze that was smoldering in his hand was nowhere to be found. Sophie rushed to the man to inspect the extent of the injury his hand had sustained, but to her shock, his hand was totally unharmed—there was not even a speck of burns on it. Sophie raised her head and scanned the man's eyes as if asking him what in the devil this meant.
"Please sit, Ms. Sophie. Thank you for your concern, but as you can see, I am absolutely fine," Dr. Khan uttered, breathing heavily as if he had just competed in a marathon while returning the coat to the anchor.
"Like you all saw, my hand was on fire, and to the people seeing me from their homes, some of you might know what I did, and some of you might have thought this was a magic trick, but let's get this straight: this is all real."
Dr. Khan then approached the seat where the anchor was sitting and again opened his palm, startling the anchor, but this time he was actually requesting the projector report with a grin as if he foresaw that would be the anchor's response. He seized the remote and then focused it on the screen, magnifying further towards the center of the crater, and then inspected his watch.
"It should be arriving any second now," his look was concentrated on the screen, causing everyone to be bewildered yet looking at the screen with distrust and expectation. After a few seconds of waiting, they saw a wave of something azure erupting out of the crater, like a shockwave.
At this moment, Dr. Khan started zooming out and out, until miles of the area around the crater could be seen. Even after zooming out this much, the shockwave was still perceptible to the eyes. Everyone was perplexed, and after some time the shockwave disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place.
Dr. Khan spun away from the screen and faced the rest of the studio.
"What was that?" the anchor asked with a face full of confusion.
"I have been observing this since the time of contact with the surface. I noticed that when all the catastrophes were occurring after the impact, this asteroid started to radiate Saxe shockwaves in all directions, specifically, circular shockwaves. Somehow, the quakes, tidal waves, and blazes around it began to lose their power and eventually cease after a few minutes, diminishing the destruction that should have taken place when an asteroid of this size hit."
"I also think this shockwave is the cause of what you observe me doing and also for the inexplicable deaths of thousands of people."
"What do you mean by it being the source of what we just saw, What evidence do you have to support the notion that the strange deaths we have seen are a result of the shockwaves emanating from the asteroid on the other side of the planet?" inquired Professor Athena in a skeptical manner. She was deeply perplexed by the fact that someone who was not in her field of expertise had made such an outlandish claim.
"Well, I have not done any research on this topic or incident, so I don't have any scientific proof to provide you, Ms. Athena bu…"
"It's Doctor or Professor Athena for you," Athena inserted between his explanations.
"Sure," Khan smiled. "Doctor Athena."
"So, as I was saying, I don't have any concrete proof to give out to you, but what I do have is my involvement as an ecologist and as an individual who personally experienced the difficulty."
"All things considered, this capacity to manipulate fire or let's say producing fire out of nowhere, was something I uncovered after a sudden torment that I had never felt before hit me while investigating this space rock. It was like somebody or something was plunging my entire head with a sharp yet dull blade. My body felt like it was dropped into a container loaded with magma, yet after some time, it felt like somebody had solidified me to death.
Each fiber of my body was shouting in distress, and after what felt like an eternity, the serious torment started to reduce, and the tranquil sentiment of a mother's embrace secured my whole body. It felt like when a mother rewards her five-year-old after doing something amazingly hard out of the blue.
After losing focus for a couple of moments, Khan regained his composure.
"Ahem, ahem... But the reason I am telling you these things is not to solicit sympathy or sorrow. I shared this with you because I feel certain and confident that the suffering I went through was not something to be taken casually, and there is a considerable possibility that all those deceased individuals experienced the same agony as me, but could not end up triumphant, and all of this transpired after the release of the sixth shockwave."
"What do you mean by that," asked Athena
"And here I assumed you were an intelligent intellect, Professor Athena," Khan said sarcastically.
"You" Athena tried to say something but was interrupted by Khan.
"What I am trying to express in straightforward terms is that I am 99% sure the pain and changes my body went through and all the countless deaths are due to the effect of the energy radiating from that space rock. Every time it throws a shockwave, the energy spreads wider and wider throughout the globe.
"The jolt it just released was the 13th one, and, as per my estimation, this surge will reach half the circumference of the Earth."
"So, according to your theory, this wave of energy is the reason for the changes you experienced, and it is also the reason for the tiny flame you wielded a couple of minutes before, and it is also the reason for the mysterious deaths, right?" Athena said.
"That's exactly what I meant."
"So why haven't any of us experienced any of these changes?"
"Do you want to die that badly?" Khan thought to himself.
"Well, my analysis of this situation leads me to believe that there are three potential explanations, The first is that it only affects males, and..."
"That's sexist," Athen interjected again.
"Please let me complete"
Athena scoffed and kept quiet
"The second reason could be that this energy only affects people with certain characteristics, such as high body mass or something else; I don't know for sure, The third and most likely reason is that you all are simply late bloomers, but this is just my initial theory, and nothing can be said with certainty."
"However, there's another matter that I would like you and the entire world to witness," Dr. Khan inserted his hand into his pocket and retrieved his smartphone with a case of a boy wearing a straw hat sailing a ship, gesturing to the cameraman to zoom in on the mobile screen. Subsequently, a clip was displayed on the device that appeared to be of poor quality, with pixelation and distortion.
"I'm not sure if people at home can observe this, but this is a clip that I acquired while surveying the expanse of the area destroyed by the asteroid, and while doing this, I came across something mesmerizing yet frightening." Khan pointed to something that appeared like a large pool of goo.
"This is a clip of a Southern Elephant Seal mother and her cub. Upon closer examination, you can observe that the size of the mother seal is three times the typical size of its kind, and there are two lengthy, canine-like teeth protruding from her mouth, which is not a characteristic of theirs; unfortunately, I think the pup died as it could not bear the torture."
"My whole point in showing you this clip is to inform you that humans are not the only ones facing these changes; all living and perhaps non-living things are changing too."
Shifting his focus from Athena, Dr. Khan looked toward the cameraman.
"So, I urge the people watching this show: if you are like me and have encountered the anguish I have suffered and are petrified like me, please show yourselves; don't hide inside your houses. We have to face this new challenge together, not as a lone shark but as a shoal of orcas. Come to me. WE WILL TACKLE IT TOGETHER." declared Dr. Khan gazing directly into the camera delivering his resolute message to the public
Unbeknownst to Dr. Khan, he was correct with his hypothesis, aside from the part that the asteroid is the explanation for all the transformations he and numerous others encountered yet are not known to the world. The genuine explanation for the changes was the mana that was left beneath the surface, and the asteroid was simply acting as a trigger that quickened the cycle of the dispersal of mana.
While the world was figuring out the massive changes occurring in the world, various people started to show up after the interview with Dr. Khan was aired.
A good-looking man with dark locks and tattered garments was lying insensible, trapped in a massive glass-like dome, being pounded by the continuous energy blasts emanating from the stone as if something were deliberately lashing out at him in vexation.
"You don't belong here, Raven Whitelock."