Reality

- - Year 2046 - -

"Ryuichi Makato, you need to pay attention!" The middle-aged woman said.

I was staring outside, looking at the empty streets, then I slightly nodded, and said:

"Yes. Sorry teacher…"

Attending an online class is sure troublesome…

All the schools were closed because of the war that was going on. That's why there are online classes now, even though I didn't like it, I can't complain, nothing would happen either way.,

The online class was about to end, but there was always a question at the end of the class. It was mostly unimportant questions that weren't even possible in a cruel time like this.

"Alright, class! Question of the day before we end today's lesson."

"What are your dreams?"

Surprisingly, the question of the today wasn't as bad as the previous ones. However, It wasn't like I was expecting something out of my unintelligent classmates.

But I had no right to judge as someone who doesn't even have an answer. For me, it was pointless to answer. I've given up all my dreams and hope. There was nothing to achieve here anyway.

Even though it was pointless to answer, my classmates were overjoyed after hearing the question. I guess they didn't know the reality yet.

Shortly after the question, one of the kids instantly raised their hand.

"I wanna be a superhero!"

Another girl excitedly raised her hand as well.

"I wanna be a model!"

The hands just kept going.

"My dream is to become a soldier!"

"No, being a doctor is better!"

My classmates were arguing about which dream was the best, but it didn't interest me at all. For me there was no point in discussing dreams, there was a war going on, and you can't achieve your dreams in a time like this.

All the kids answered the questions, some sounded realistic, and some didn't.

Then the teacher turned her gaze towards me, expecting me to say something great.

"Aren't you going to answer? Ryuichi…?"

My dream? I hesitated for a second, truth be told I didn't have an answer. All the other kids wanted to be either a hero or something like a doctor. But me? I hadn't really thought about it, since it's pointless.

"Well, uh…"

"Hahaha, Ryuichi doesn't even have a dream, what a joke!"

"Loser!"

The kids laughed at me for not knowing my dream, but what's the point of having one when you can't achieve it?

For me, you should dream when there's at least a possibility of achieving it.

In the meantime, the teacher was looking at me, waiting patiently for my answer, and my classmates were silenced after she shushed them.

After hearing thinking for a short moment, I realized that I never wanted to be a hero. Heroes were flashy, always looking for someone to save, but they rarely understood how things worked. They fought the battles others could see, but I was more interested in the ones fought in the shadows—the games played without anyone noticing until it was too late.

The ones who truly controlled things weren't the strongest or the loudest. They were the ones who knew how to move pieces on the board without ever stepping into the spotlight themselves.

That's what I wanted—to be the person no one could touch, not because I was invincible, but because I was untouchable. The influence wasn't about being liked or admired; it was about making sure you were always ten steps ahead, the one pulling the strings while others danced without realizing it. The power behind the power. That's what I desire.

I cleared my throat. "I… I guess I want to be someone important. Someone who can make things happen, you know?"

She raised an eyebrow, looking at me with a surprised expression. "You mean like a leader?"

"Uh, yeah sort of." I nodded, though that wasn't quite it. "I don't need to be someone who everyone looks up to, but someone who achieves things. Someone with …. Influence and power!"

The teacher seemed to think about it, then slightly nodded. "I've never heard this before, interesting answer Ryuichi!"

Though my classmates looked at me with disbelief, like I said the strangest thing they've heard in their life.

It seemed like they were too stupid to understand.

Even though my classmates were unintelligent and naive as hell, I didn't hate them. I had no reason to hate them for a small reason like this, hating someone without a proper reason is stupid.

- - -

I recently joined but I realized no one in the class was paying proper attention, and neither did I. For me the classes were pretty stupid, it was hard to learn through a computer, and I'd rather learn things myself.

But there was one girl named Ren, she has long black eyes with pretty green eyes. who was quite different from the rest. Instead of bustling like the rest of my classmates, she's rather on the quiet side. She answered the question of the day too, but no one heard her, but I did. She wanted to be an author, it was hard to become one, especially at a time like this. Everyone reads the popular ones, and the small ones, mostly fail to become popular. But if she is serious, I would read her book, since my hobby is reading and it wouldn't hurt to read her book.

It was an online class, and not everyone could afford this, especially in a rough time like this. That's why there weren't a lot of people in my class.

You weren't even allowed to go outside without a proper reason, you can't even go outside to get food, in other words daily need. Well, you can buy food once a month, but it's limited how much you can buy.

Even electronic devices couldn't keep you company, most of the websites are prohibited because of the war. The only thing we could see was things that originated from my area, in other words; countries in Eastern Asia. It was enough to accompany you for a while, but you'll eventually run out of things to do.

All this was caused by a huge war called The Great Collapse War that began in 2039.

By 2037, the world had been reshaped by new technologies and science. The so-called AI, in other words, Artificial Intelligence expanded to a whole new level. Well, not in a good way, they now use these for wars, which leads to even more deaths than in a "normal" war. Some countries even teamed up and they called that the Mercenary Alliance. Some of them were that huge while others were a bit smaller, the biggest of them was like a continent, but it wasn't exactly like a continent, it was more like a huge country.

And the war wasn't just caused by new technologies, it was also caused by absurd science. There was a rise of an "Aether" culture, it is a name for powers that are created by science and technology.

It was a culture where certain individuals gained mysterious abilities through advanced science and tech, though it was a rumor, it was believed that it changed the global balance of power.

Well, it was caused by a small mistake, but that small mistake caused The Great Collapse War. The small mistake led to another mistake, and that led to another mistake, it kept snowballing and eventually led to this war, in other words, The snowball effect.

In the early 2030s, a scientist in Europe failed at his project, but the failure led to the creation of Cognitive Imprinting devices (CID). It was a device that could perfectly transfer information, knowledge, skills, and even memories between individuals. It was intended to improve society, by improving education, healthcare, and even socialization. It was truly an amazing project, but that's what they thought. The military and government wanted to use this, as an advantage for quick improvements.

But little did they know, that everything goes downhill afterward.

In 2033 there was a small research team, located in the unstable region of Eastern Europe, that was tasked with how far this imprinting could go-whether an entire personality or worldview could be transferred into another person's mind.

Later on, a junior of the research team unknowingly made a mistake when using the Cognitive imprint device (CID) for a cognitive transfer. The slight measurement error resulted in corrupt data being imprinted into the test subject's mine. This "corrupted" data carried unintended side effects, distorted emotions, extreme aggression, and an obsessive drive for control.

The experiment's subject being a military strategist, quickly rose in ranks after the transfer. But the error twisted his mind, making him do horrible decisions. The error led him to believe that the only way to achieve improvements was through absolute dominance, which led to the death of thousands.

For me that was the real beginning of the ultimate nightmare.

What was meant to be a test to bring understanding between cultures turned into a horrible psychological shift that pushed the people into thinking that absolute dominance was the only way to achieve success.

Over the next three years, the data took over his mindset completely. The strategist gained influence within multiple powerful governments in Europe.

Slowly but steadily, his corrupted worldview spread among world leaders, decision-makers, and huge military figures through CID networks. It was all meant to maintain global peace, but it was the opposite, everything went downhill because of that small error.

In early January of 2038, an incident happened between nations that became a flashpoint. A hacked CID transmission sent false memories to both governments, convincing them they had been betrayed by their allies. With each side believing they were justified, a huge military conflict broke out.

They both had lots of alliances, the conflict spread rapidly. The neutral technology that was once meant to protect peace became the primary weapon. Governments initiated mass imprintings, manipulating the soldiers into unwavering loyalty. This wasn't just a war of resources or territory-it became a war to dominate through itself.

The conflict that ensued became known as "The Great Collapse War." Unlike wars fought with physical destruction, this war was fought on the battlefield of minds.

People seem to know the name "The Great Collapse War" but they don't seem to know the history behind it.

It took years for them to discover the truth about CID though, it was the middle of the war. And they couldn't stop, it had already been started. And one of the reasons why they couldn't stop was because of trust, they didn't know who they could find trustworthy anymore. With this suspicion, the war even worsened, because of the lack of trust.

This is also why I could never trust any of the governments. People were looking at it differently though, they all seemed to be scared of it because of the dominance.

They couldn't even properly ban CID because it was massively imprinted and the ones who were imprinted wouldn't allow it to be banned.

All this was stated in a book that I found in my dad's room, this was also part of the reason why I suspect him of being part of a government. And if this is true, I hope he isn't imprinted with that CID.

This is also why I'd rather avoid talking to my dad since he might be imprinted.

Even after all this, I still don't know the real nature of the governments. I only know that the military has a huge influence on the government.

With the war that they caused themselves, they're clearly not going for world peace.

- - -

"Makoto, again… You seriously need to pay attention."

"Class has ended."

All the kids already left the meeting, it was only me and the teacher who were still in it.

She sighed, looking at me with disbelief.

"Seriously… What can I do to change your behavior, I might even call your dad…"

After hearing that I froze, I don't want to hear that man and if he finds out I'm a bad student, who knows what he's going to do?

Her expression turned into a worried one.

"Hey… Are you sure you're okay? You've been a bit down the whole time."

After hearing that, I smiled at her reassuring her that I was completely okay.

She just sighed at my words.

"Honestly, I can't believe you. Today you gave such a strange answer to the question, I wonder what's going through your head."

"It's nothing…"

Giving one last smile, the teacher began muttering again.

"I'll see you tomorrow Ryuichi."

I waved goodbye to the teacher before closing my laptop.

Once again, it was a boring lesson, but at least it's kind of keeping me company at least.

Well, now there's nothing to do again…

There was nothing but books in my house, I guess reading is the only option available for me.

There were all kinds of books in the huge bookshelf in my house; mystery, romance, history, fantasy, and much more.

But this time I saw something strange, a book that I hadn't read before. It was very unusual, normally I could recognize every one of them right away. But this one was different, I didn't recognize it.

I slowly picked up the book named: Future Fragments. The synopsis was pretty good so I'm going to give it a shot.

[ Future Fragments ]

The book explores glimpses of a broken future, piecing together different stories from timelines that never fully came to be. It tells of advanced technologies, forgotten wars, and the mysterious forces that shaped history. These fragmented tales reveal the dangers of ambition, greed, and playing with time.

Each chapter offers a warning about how easily progress can lead to disaster. A hidden truth emerges through scattered records and lost memories—someone or something is pulling the strings behind the scenes. The pieces slowly come together, showing a world on the brink, where even the smallest mistake can lead to chaos.

Will these glimpses of possible futures help guide us toward a better path, or are they just reminders of a fate we're doomed to repeat?

A few moments after finishing the synopsis, the ground suddenly began to shake.

Rumble—!