PGR, The Last Chance

Life was hard.

Earth had been flourishing, with humans acting as the dominant species, a mere step ahead in the evolution race giving them the lead they needed to dominate everything they could ever want.

From struggling to create fire, to building giant reactors emitting more heat the world could tolerate. From finding trouble to find water, to building giant artificial lakes and seas, or even dredging a fraction of a sea to have more habitable land. From exploring their unknown surroundings, to creating spatial stations in the middle of the cosmos outside the planet that gave birth to them.

A single step ahead of its immediate competitors allowed them to take a thousand more, putting them miles ahead of everything else living on their planet.

And so, humanity had flourished.

Art, economics, science, society...

No area humans could take part in had been left untouched, their versatility, ingenuity and desire pushing them forward, collaborating and helping each other to reach higher ceilings.

They had colonized every single place on their planet using their inventions and intellect. Submarine stations in the deepest of seas, building a residential house in the distant moon, aircrafts able to travel faster than sound crossing the air...

But of course, human greed didn't allow them to stop. Once everything had been conquered, they specialized in making use of what they had, making their own lives easier.

Giant machines able to pierce through the earth to extract kilometres-deep minerals, weaponry able to decimate everything that could threaten them, robots and androids to fulfil their basic needs, giant constructs that would keep their environment safe...

Humanity had reached the perfect state.

They were self-sufficient, weapons far too strong to be used made sure peace wouldn't disappear, androids would make their lives easier, the world wouldn't degrade due to abusive consumption of its resources thanks to their masterful inventions, and art, in all its shapes and forms, had been able to mesmerize all of them, illnesses had completely disappeared, and their technology had been able to extend the humans lifespan to the point they would be the ones to tire out of living.

The world humanity was in was... perfect.

This was known as the Golden Age of humanity, the perfect place to finally stop and rest. They had all they wanted, why would they ever need to push ahead?

And they vaguely sensed it.

A thin wall that hindered their development, one that hid what lay beneath them, and would cause great change and trouble upon breaking.

If humanity had been living in a small pond, the next natural step was to colonize the land, facing all the troubles and predators it might have and risking everything they had.

What would happen if an apex predator took notice of the rich pond? Would it chase humanity to their habitat, their world, and proceed to hunt them down mercilessly? Would humanity have any place to hide or retreat to when faced with this new danger? Would they be able to fight back? Were they ready to face what lay beyond this thin layer protecting them? Was the risk of continuing their crazed sprint towards greatness worth it?

No, they knew it didn't, they had much to lose, when they didn't need anything to win, as they were in their perfect world.

But human greed didn't allow them to stop.

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"Fhral, turn it on"

In a small white room, buried deep beneath the surface of the planet humans lived in, a group of men with white coats stood behind a thick wall of translucent crystal, looking at the device that represented the next step in their evolution.

Using technology that they shouldn't have been able to discover, only appearing in a spark of genius that could be called a miracle, they were ready to tear the wall open, as humanity was an arrogant race.

They had defeated the local fauna, the climatology, the natural disasters, the limits physics and chemistry had imposed upon them, their own nature. Humanity had only won without knowing defeat, why would this time be any different?

They would keep moving forward, defeating everything they faced, ascending towards Greatness, reaching the place they deserved to be in.

The top.

No matter how tall was the mountain, or how distant was the ceiling of the universe, humanity was ready to brave all challenges ahead of them, improving along the way with their naivete and intellect.

"Klein... are you sure?" asked a man with short brown hair, a nervous look in his eyes. "We can't turn back, an-"

"Fhral, turn it on" a man with medium-length black hair interrupted the hesitating man with a frosty voice, one that admitted no disobedience.

"Bu-"

"I will do it" said a woman with long blonde hair and beautiful green eyes, pushing the man consumed by doubts away.

Ting tick blip

On a blue screen that seemed to float in the air, the woman expertly manipulated the program it held, inputting the codes, orders and passwords required to activate the device that would take humanity to a new land, full of secrets and discoveries.

All in base to an impossibility humans had found, leaking from the wall they had been too afraid to cross.

A mere particle that they had learned was a virus, far too weak to infect anything, and far too removed from its original place to receive the signal it needed to carry out its purpose.

Humanity, seeing something they didn't understand, had lunged forward like a horde of ravenous beasts, thirsting for enigmas to decipher their world had run out long ago, exerting their full efforts to learn.

Learning had taken them to their current utopic world, why would it be any different this time?

So they had built the machine that would allow them to isolate the mystery, peel off its outer layer to unravel what lay within, allowing them to discover the true essence of what lay in the unknown land.

The Zero-Point energy reactor.

The one that would allow them to finally reach the ground zero of the universe, because they knew that after this wall, no other would ever appear, the one that would make reality turn into a Zero that would unravel the true meaning of the virus.

The engine started with a soft hum that got gradually stronger, until the scientists, the best ones that had ever graced this planet, were forced to put on the headphones that would protect their eardrums, as any other method would have interfered with the Zero-Point reactor.

Their surroundings started trembling as the engine reached its highest state of activity, but no one cared, not even the man named Fhral, all their eyes set on the other side of the thick wall.

From 2 needles fixed on the ceiling and the ground respectively, a small ampoule with a single red dot stood, gradually turning white as condensed electricity surged through them accumulating the energy needed to create a small hole in the wall constricting humanity from which knowledge would come from.

Humanity's dream of reaching a new land was about to be fulfilled, leaving behind the stale and comforting society they had bled and struggled so much to obtain. Humanity was a greedy and arrogant race after all.

The man named Klein, the one who had received what even now, with everything about to finish and being a deep rationalist and atheist who didn't believe in any higher existence, he considered to be a divine revelation that allowed him to build this technology, stepped up to a mall panel with a small white button and a keyhole.

Introducing a metal key, a completely archaic method of unlocking things, but one that would make it impossible to hack his creation, saw the white button start glowing, meaning that it was active and ready.

'For a greater future' thought Klein, allowing a small smile of excitement to appear in his otherwise eternally frozen expression, finally pushing the button.

*RAAAAAAAAAANG*

A lightning storm appeared in the room where the small ampoule was, with chaotic lightning escaping the restraints humanity had tried to impose on him, creating a maelstrom of electricity that shocked the scientist looking at it, and worry grew within the human's minds.

On everyone, but Klein, whose smile widened to a degree that human anatomy shouldn't have allowed.

Because if lightning had escaped their control, even after having completely dominated it, it only meant...

That a new rule, a new variable, had appeared. Something humanity didn't know about, something.... More.

And then, it appeared.

A small hole, that due to mere coincidence, they were able to see as the rules it followed affected the reality humans were able to see with their naked eyes, appeared in the place the small ampoule had been, its red dot acting as a thread that linked Earth to the great beyond.

With all the energy humanity was able to muster, they followed this thread to create a passage that would forever connect them to the other reality, allowing them to learn and evolve.

The maelstrom stopped, the engine started to cool off, the trembling room recovered its usual stillness, and the humans slowly understood that despite an unusual happening taking place, their project had been a success.

Humanity had proven once again, that even despite starting from the lowest point, they were destined to conquer every obstacle the universe put in their path.

"Ella! Check the entropic values! Fhral, the stability! Harry, the gravity and electromagnetic field!" Klein released a barrage of orders, knowing that now that they had something to investigate, they had no time to lose.

And the scientist, albeit elated and joyful, immediately sprung into action with nothing but determination and confidence.

After thousands of years, humanity had finally reached a new level, with them being the pioneers that heralded such a magnificent and glorious change. How could they not be elated?

Each scientist, a genius in their own right, immediately did what they had been studying and training all their life to do, understand and learn. Complex diagrams, mysterious diagrams, overly complex formulas representing that they weren't even able to sense or see... every single tool humanity had discovered in their long stay on this planet was masterfully used to their highest degree, assaulting the mystery ahead of them.

What was that hole? Why did it look like that? How did it spawn? How long would it stay?

And more importantly, what was that red dot they had trapped inside a glass ampoule?

But above everything else...

What lay beyond the hole?

For minutes, a flurry of shouts, concentrated frowns and frustration and their slow and feeble minds were all that appeared in the room, while Klein looked at the work of his life, the hole that would propel humanity to a greater stage with deep satisfaction and relief.

Since he had been a child, and understood the principles humans worked by, he couldn't help but think that the closest race to humans weren't monkeys, or even mammals. It was sharks.

Humanity, just like the giant elasmobranch fish, would drown and suffocate if they didn't stay in movement. 

Investigating, learning, facing struggles, working towards a goal... no matter what you call it, humanity needed something unknown to work around, as history has proved countless times. But now, in this Golden Age, humanity had nothing ahead of them, stillness gradually muddling their brilliance with laziness, acceptance and conformism eroding the sharp edge humanity had always been characterized by.

'But not anymore' thought Klein with fanatical elation. 'Humanity shouldn't stop. It CAN'T stop.'

The murmurs and quiet whispers he was hearing from his own team gave him all the proof he needed, as he had never heard or seen such a degree of excitement in them, nor in any other human in the world.

In a world where the unknown didn't exist, and surprises had long since been a fairy tale, what was there to be excited about?

But now, humanity would recover what they had been losing and even forgetting about. Excitement, expectation, thirst for improvement.

All because humanity had found a chance to move forward, and had been brave enough to take the step.

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Humanity had looked at the sky, wondering what would it feel like to cross it like birds did.

So they investigated by trial and error, understanding how gravity, air sustentation and temperature affected gases to build aircraft of all kinds.

Humanity had looked at the seas, wondering what it looked like in its deepest trenches, so they had learned how pressure worked and its exponential growth, the vertical gradient of temperature and how resilient were different metals and amalgamations to build their submarines.

Humanity had looked at the distant moon, wondering what their own planet would look like from such a distant place, so they had investigated fuel efficiency, the energy required to beat the gravitational field Earth created, and how to return to their own planet to send people to the satellite.

Humanity's biggest source of motivation was their wonder, and their perseverance their bridge to conquer their goals.

But they had forgotten something.

Humanity was not that great.

Unlike adaptable animals who could immediately adapt to new dangers due to their physiology, humans were weak.

Too much water, too little water. Too hot, too cold. Too much food, too little food. Too little stress, too much stress.

Humanity was frail, and only with enough time had they been able to conquer everything. With time and effort, they had understood the rules their world was governed by, and they had admittedly been successful in doing so, their arrogance growing and making them forget what pure helplessness was like.

The only reason they had been able to dominate their world had been the fact that they had been granted enough time to do so, as they could protect themselves easily against all threats, unlike their origin in which they had struggled to create even fire.

A time they had taken for granted, after all, what could harm them?

So when humanity set a first step in the land, leaving their ridiculously small puddle behind... they realized that they had no time.

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The whole the scientists were looking at with rapt attention trembled.

It started with a small shiver no one sensed, their tools and methods not being able to sense such a small shiver in a hole they didn't understand, but it grew stronger.

Klein, who had been in rapture looking at the road humanity now had in front of them after being aimless for millennia, was the first to notice.

The edges of the hole that seemed to suck everything towards the unknown, had slightly moved outwards, making the hole a bit bigger.

"Klein! The hole is expanding!" shouted Ella, the graphic in front of her showing a huge spike. "Entropic values decreasing!"

'Decreasing?' thought Klein with a small frown, looking at the hole. 'The room is completely isolated, and entropy can't simply decrease, it's impossible as the room is a closed box. Unless...'

"Fhral" Klein's solemn voice made the scientist calm down, panicking after hearing something physics couldn't explain.

"Stability values are the same" replied Fhral, seeing the horizontal line in his own screen stay flat. 

"Gravity and electromagnetic fields stable" added Harry, seeing something similar to Fhral.

"Entropy decreasing even more" interrupted Ella, drawing all attention to her screen except Klein's, whose eyes were still fixed in the hole.

The red line in Ella's graphic was taking a nosedive, reaching alarmingly low level and even more sinister connotations.

Entropy is the degree of uncertainty and chaos in the universe, forever increasing but never decreasing, as the universe tended towards disorder and chaos. What did it mean for entropy to be decreasing then? Was the space inside the isolated room losing its tendency to chaos? Was the room turning into another reality? Would the room reach perfect order if the entropy reached 0? What would certainty look like?

No one capable of entering this project was a fool, the same questions and their connotations swirled inside everyone's minds, but they were still calm, trusting their own means to control whatever happened.

Klein's piercing blue eyes were set on the hole, that had trembled once again, expanding a bit.

The entropy values kept decreasing, while the stunned, confused and expectant scientists stood in a frozen silence, too mesmerized by that red line shattering their notions of the world they had considered absolute.

Down, down, down... until the red line hit the ground.

"Entropy value... 0" muttered Ella, too stunned by the impossibility of what her own words implied.

"Inside this room" said Klein, his serene voice making all his team look at the room in wonder. "There is Order. The impossible has appeared in front of our eyes, and it's our duty to make it turn into the lands our knowledge rules."

But... the hole trembled.

Faster than what the optic nerves could tell the brain, the hole had expanded. What had been a hole a dozen centimetres wide, had turned into a dozen meters, touching the walls of the giant room and turning the scientists' vision into pure darkness, alarming and surprising all of them, even Klein, due to the sudden and random of the occurrence.

All graphics were the same as they had been a mere second ago, no alarms had sounded, no strange reading nor weird visual effects.

And yet, something had changed.

Humans, facing the unknown, were slowly recovering the instincts they had abandoned millennia ago. And now, these same instincts were telling them what they had forgotten.

Fear.

In a safe world, there was nothing to fear, but faced with what they couldn't understand, they remembered such a primal emotion.

"SHUT IT DOWN!!"

Much to everyone's surprise, it was Klein, the one who had fearlessly gone ahead with the project, the one who shouted with horror in his voice. But Klein didn't mind, because his instincts were screaming at him.

Of his greed and arrogance, of his foolishness and impatience, of his hubris and pride.

Because he was understanding now, that they had no time to adapt, investigate and learn of the wider universe they had stepped on.

Whatever this hole meant, it was greater than humanity, because they couldn't understand it.

Were they capable of stopping something that Great, when all humanity was allowed to was to squash what they understood?

No, they couldn't.

And only now did humanity realize how arrogant they were.

Millennia ago, hurricanes and earthquakes had sprouted fear and helplessness within human hearts, and now, the same feeling of facing something unstoppable had appeared in the hearts of scientists.

Klein, using all his willpower to tear his gaze away from the hole devouring their thoughts, rushed to the panel with the white button.

Tap

And with his whole fist, he pressed it 

Only to despair when the hole didn't disappear, staying in the same place with eerie stillness.

"GET OUT OF HERE!!" shouted Klein, the horror in his voice waking up the rest of his team.

Dominated by fear, something they hadn't felt in their whole lives, the scientists ran faster than they had in their lives towards the door that would take them to the elevator, while Klein kept hammering the white button hoping a new miracle happened. The previous one had brought forth this disaster, only a new miracle would make it disappear.

But whatever phenomena they had brought forth, had already taken place.

Thud

A scientist tripped on his own feet, falling to the ground in surprise, but quickly tried to stand up pushing himself with his arms, only to find his trembling arms didn't have the strength they had, so he did what no human had done in hundreds of years.

"HELP ME!" a scream of help that no one needed in their modern and advanced society left his mouth, with a kind soul crouching next to him to help him get away from this disaster.

Thud

But he also fell to the ground next to the man whose relief turned into horror.

"cough cough" because from the woman who conquered her fear to help another human, a dry and deep cough made a torrent of blood leave through her mouth, much to the surprise of the scientist.

The man immediately tried to run away, fear fuelling his muscles, but...

"cough" he looked in despair at his hand, now filled with bright red blood.

Thud thud

With low noises of bodies hitting the floor, more and more scientist fell to the ground when their legs failed to keep them standing, their vision turning blurry and blood leaving from their mouths, noses and eyes.

Klein, who had been smashing the button with enough strength to make his fists bleed, desperately kept hammering the only way he had to bring an end to this disaster. Even when his vision turned red from blood covering his eyes, even when his throat was blocked by blood coming from his ruptured lungs, even when his mind was starting to slow down then his brain screamed in lack of oxygen, he desperately kept pushing the already useless button.

It had been his fault this happened, and all he could do to take responsibility was to keep pushing the button he already knew was useless, while hearing the agonizing screams and choking noises from his team of scientists.

Out of the 3 dozen scientists, only a handful of them reached the elevator, albeit more than half of them died due to the state they were in, losing too much blood and their organs failing.

Because by now, everyone realized that something had escaped that hole, and they hadn't been able to detect it.

"Dam- cough Dammi- cough cough" Klein wasn't allowed to end his cursing word, as blood hadn't stopped leaving his mouth, while his blurring vision made him almost unable to see the white button.

Only deep regret, impotence and guilt were now present in his mind because as dying as he was, he was the smartest man on the planet Earth.

Whatever had killed his team, and would kill him, was something humanity didn't understand, and as such, unstoppable. What had happened here would expand to the rest of the world, because nothing they could do would be able to put an end to this hole or the cause of their deaths.

He had single-handedly brought disaster to humanity, which was now facing a disaster that chose to walk into the puddle they had been living in, bringing death and destruction with it.

A crime Klein knew was too big, but one that he would need to carry in the few minutes he had remaining.

But not even then was Klein allowed to grieve.

From the whole, a red tidal wave eerily similar to the red particle they had used to create such an abject error flooded the room, attacking wantonly the new world it found itself in.

The last thing Klein saw was a torrent of red liquid breaking the wall, crashing into him and making his eyes stop working.

And the last thing he felt was the insidious red fluid attacking his body, his mind, prying it open to learn his thoughts and emotions, far too purposeful to be devoid of intelligence.

Only now had Klein understood how frail humanity was.

Because there were things far Greater than them.

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The day, Humanity's Golden Era ended.

Like an expansive wave, the red virus shook the whole planet, shattering the peace humanity had enjoyed for too long.

Humans died upon coming into contact with the virus they couldn't see nor detect in any way with the tools they had, far too fast to receive any possible treatment, and too quick to understand the symptoms further than the obvious rupturing blood vessels and tissue inside their bodies.

If that wasn't enough, the virus was able to infect even that devoid of life. Robots, machines, androids, mechanical constructs... everything was infected by the devious virus, that turned everything technological into a hostile existence that sought to exterminate the few humans remaining when their logic circuits were taken over and reprogrammed to turn into mindless beasts seeking human death above everything.

Humanity crumbled like a sandcastle, as they were unprepared to face such a pandemic and unable to fight back against the mysterious virus that didn't belong to this dimension.

Only a few groups of humans survived, not representing even 1% of the total population, and only due to luck. The virus had stopped in the polar ice caps and in the tallest mountains, revealing that cold temperatures could provide some safety, while other humans living in space stations were also safe from the all-consuming virus.

They grieved, cried, cursed, screamed and raged, but eventually, humanity was forced to face the new situation they were in.

Thirsty for peace and love, hungry for revenge and retribution, desolate of loss and pain, and backed into a corner, humanity took a few trembling steps forward, almost afraid of walking again after a fatal step had almost exterminated them.

Humanity was arrogant and greedy but also determined like no other, so they did what they had done millions of years ago, learn and understand.

The fatal virus no medicine or antidote was known for was quickly called the Punishing Virus, the one that had revealed how arrogant humans had been at taking a step they weren't allowed to. The Punishing Virus would kill all humans, and corrupt the machines, leaving humanity no choice but to fight back.

At least, until a new miracle happened, this time in the form of a cruel revelation that would cause pain like no other, but represented their only way to conquer their own planet.

Constructs, being made of pure metals and similar materials, built to house a human mind.

They had the resilience of a machine to prevent the human body from collapsing, and a human mind to fight off the corruption the Punishing Virus would cause in machines.

The road to perfecting them was plagued by suffering, betrayals, pain and torture, but eventually, humanity was able to master it, creating soldiers able to fight in the frontline against the virus and fight off the remaining androids the Punishing Virus had taken as soldiers.

Their bodies were built to resemble the ones the human minds they housed once had, to reduce the human's consciousness panicking and shutting off after finding their body wasn't what they were supposed to be. Resilient to the corruption effect of the Punishing Virus, albeit not completely immune to it, they needed to have a link with a completely human being, being tethered to it to avoid getting lost in the red sea of corruption by a device known as Inver-Device, albeit it had its own risks.

Constructs and humans started working side-by-side, even if problems appeared between the 2 collectives in which one was thrown into merciless battles in which they saw their friends and companions die while the other had all the privileges being a pure human carried, but overall, humanity had a chance to fight back now.

After decades of experimenting and adapting to their new reality, powerful corporations appeared, controlling the process of manufacturing Constructs and being in charge of fighting to retrieve back their world, the most important one being Babylonia, named after the space station humanity now used as a last resort to stay safe and away from the virus.

And finally Babylonia, along with the smaller and darker organizations in charge of improving constructs using all means possible, even ethically and morally wrong ones, chose to step on the planet they had once lived in, now a hostile ground full of Corrupted robots and a ravenous Punishing Virus waiting for them.

What they didn't expect, was for there to be survivors.

People were lucky enough to have been in cold places when the Punishing Virus lay everything to waste, and people who had always looked at the black dot in the sky represented a safe life away from their cruel reality.

Food was lacking, water was poisoned, safety was a fairy tale, fun was a mirage, and pain a life-long companion.

Human society, once brilliant and magnificent, had devolved into a cruel one where everyone was for themselves, except in certain parts where the groups had been too small to be allowed to infight between themselves, while they knew that those living in Babylonia had abandoned them to such a life full of cruelty and violence.

It was no wonder that when Babylonia contacted them, they were met with hostility and rejection.

Despite wanting to offer them food and safety, they were met with violence and curses, as such offers were taken as an insult.

Babylonia had abandoned them decades ago, and the vast majority of them had grown in such a desolate world, on what grounds was Babylonia allowed to appear as the white knight? Why only now, when their lives had already been twisted into something they felt repulsed witnessing?

Also, humans on Earth had learned how to avoid being infected by the Punishing Virus, and had developed their own way to fight back against the Corrupted, albeit always suffering some losses. But they could survive without Babylonia's help, their pride and resentment wouldn't allow them to abandon everything they had fought so hard for.

And thus, humanity took 2 different paths, albeit both ones leading to the same place.

To recover what they had lost.

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Humanity was arrogant, by now everyone had realized it.

But it was also resilient, as their history of conquering their whole world proved, and this time it wouldn't be different.

No matter how strong the storm was, a few seeds would always grow after it passed, providing the lush forest a new chance to grow.

And this time, it wouldn't be different.

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In a town located on a mountain protected by the walls of the same and leaving only one entrance, where the cold temperature kept them safe from the virus, a small child with white hair and blue eyes sat in a ruined house next to an emaciated woman, trying to ignore his rumbling belly.

"Sora, we won't have enough to eat today" only the woman with black hair, and eyes devoid of life, knew how much those words hurt her.

How could a mother not feel pain at telling her son she couldn't find enough food for him to eat?

"It's okay" the child called Sora smiled brightly, because he didn't need to eat.

His mother was next to him, how could he care about food?

But his bright smile, a completely sincere one and without the slightest bit of complaint, hurt the woman even more.

"Let's sleep today, tomorrow will be a better day" proposed Sora, showing a maturity that only made his mother wonder what kind of incredible person would have her son been allowed to grow into, had she been a better mother.

But she was too tired, as the lack of food had left her frail and weak, so she could only nod.

Sora, named after his parent's desire to see a blue sky, tucked up her mother in the only bed they had in their ruined house with the cloth full of holes, and far too thin to provide any warmth, keeping his smile until his mother fell asleep, hoping that by the next day, she would open her eyes.

When he was sure his mother was asleep, his eyes narrowed, knowing that his turn to protect his mother had arrived.

He left the house, seeing that the rest of the houses were in the same condition he was in, but ignored them for now, as he had a goal to reach. The cold streets, covered in snow that didn't let them grow anything, greeted him, making him shiver as his body tried to produce enough heat to keep him safe, failing as it always did.

Once again, as always, Sora ignored it and sneakily walked through the deserted streets, knowing he didn't have much time as night would arrive in a few hours.

The giant gate, far too flimsy to provide any security, had a hole big enough for Sora to pass through, leaving him in the dangerous world outside his poor town, and exposing him to any animal or Corrupted who saw him, but even this failed to make Sora cower.

How could he be afraid of dying, when his mother was about to?

Sora still didn't know many things about the world, his mother, or even himself, but what he knew was that a life where his mother wasn't in, was a life not worth living.

Running through the giant plain outside the town, he quickly reached a steep slope from where a forest could be seen in the distance, far too far for him to reach without taking a few stops to rest, but once again, Sora had no choice.

Descending from the rocky and steep slope, Sora proceeded to walk for hours while seeing the sun gradually hide, but reached the forest while a modicum amount of light was still illuminating what he needed to see, the small and scarce fruits he had seen in the town, but ones too luxurious for his mother to buy with what they had.

Quickly taking them, and knowing there wasn't that much time, Sora kept searching for as many as he could while the smell of fresh vegetation tickled his nose for the first time in his life, always mindful of leaving traces he could follow to avoid getting lost. After an hour, he got as much food to eat as he could carry, and seeing the last lights of the day on his frozen skin, he quickly ran back to the steep slope that now appeared far bigger in his eyes due to his exhaustion.

And yet, he had no choice.

By the time he snuck by the hole in the flimsy and rusted gate, his sweat had transformed into a second skin, far too cold to be healthy, but Sora could only smile at reaching his final destination with enough food.

Avoiding being seen by anyone, an easy task now that only the moon shed its tremulous light through the dense canopy of dark clouds, he returned to his home, sighing in relief as his mother was still sleeping, which he was forced to confirm checking her breathing.

Far too many people had been considered to be asleep, only for them to not wake up again.

"Haaa...haaa..haaaa…" only now that Sora could rest at ease after reaching his goal, did he realize how utterly exhausted he was.

His ankle, which he had twisted while climbing the rocky slope, was sending waves of pain through his body, his arms were full of scratches he got walking through the forest, a few of them still bleeding. His fingers were purple, revealing how close he had been to losing a few, even if he would need to wait until tomorrow to know if he could still conserve them. His whole body was shivering far too violently to be normal, and his vision was blurry due to exhaustion.

But Sora could only smile weakly, because he had food for the next day.

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Why wouldn't have Sora's mother done the same as her child had done?

Why did only a few people in the town go to the forest, and why were only the bigger and stronger people allowed to go? Why was this mere task even a 7-year-old child could accomplish considered a risky one?

Why was the town so hungry when the giant forest was just below them?

Why hadn't Sora died of hypothermia, if his town was cold enough to make sure he shouldn't have been allowed to come back?

The forest was below them, the leaves from the tall trees creating a canopy keeping the heat inside.

Lower temperature meant the humans could stay outside more time, but also...

That the Punishing Virus was stronger.

And yet, a small child had been able to enter such a location and come out unscathed, defying a certain death.

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Humanity was indeed resilient, and their perseverance and struggle to stay alive had allowed them to obtain one chance.

One more chance, one last chance.

The final opportunity they would have to take back what they had lost, one that would take cooperation, courage, and sacrifice to protect and seize.

Life was hard.

But it wouldn't need to stay that way forever.

Punishing Gray Raven, the last chance.