Chapter 00: Prologue

Year 2343

Human ambition is an unstoppable force.

After so much chaos, people believed that humanity would learn from its past mistakes and we would move into an era of more cooperation, but that was just a dream, the moon's reflection in the lake.

Resources were becoming increasingly scarce, and what was believed to be a flowering period in human development lasted no more than a few years.

THE THIRD WORLD WAR.

That was the event that made life hell for almost the entire human population, triggered by a few who wanted more.

This time there were no sides, there were no powers, there were no defined allies or enemies, there were no privileged or rich, just total chaos and pandemonium. Countries were divided, others were destroyed. The threat of nuclear weapons became irrelevant, because in a world where fertile land was worth more and more, anyone who dared to contaminate what they were fighting for would become the enemy of the world. That was the tragic fate that befell the largest country in the world at that time, one with a long history that was thought to be too big to fall, fell, even its own citizens took it upon themselves to bury those glory days in the sands of time. It didn't matter who, it was as if everyone had been programmed to do it, whether it was their former allies or enemies, even poor countries on other continents, they all came together to attack the common enemy. From that incident, the "powerful countries", the same who were proud to show their weapons of mass destruction, took it upon themselves to destroy them and not leave a single trace of them.

This war lasted only 3 years. But the destruction it caused was like never seen before. Although the number of direct victims was not small, what followed was the worst. Due to the distrust of the people in their leaders, the same ones that led them to that situation, anarchy took over society. The destruction of infrastructure made people lose the basis for survival.

This time of total chaos lasted a total of 15 to 20 years depending on the country. But the scars were something that did not disappear even in the following 50 years, and that is that the population fell from 10,000,000,000 to just 2,000,000,000. The biggest cause was the change in the mentality of the people in the time it took for society to reform itself. People, who were so used to a quiet life, were afraid when everything changed and…they just stopped having children.

During this time, the leaders were more collaborative when sitting down to talk for the good of people. The chaos caused a lot of the national identity to be lost in the hearts of people, so they began to divide the world. The countries that had formed by then began to disappear again, many of the new leaders began to develop new ambitions, but their own people were the ones who took it upon themselves to crush them with a little "foreign" help because of the constant fear of the hell they've been through may happen again.

The most fertile lands, regardless of the country or continent, became the world's farm, other areas were dedicated specifically to industrial development, others to the production of services. It was an arduous logistical job on the part of the people, but with the passage of time another stage of human development finally began, and despite the fact that the population was increasingly reduced, the general changes worldwide and the increase in technology made it possible for the elderly to enjoy a quiet life without problems. At last, after so many years of human development, it seemed that a paradise on earth was taking shape.

But, as if god didn't want to leave humans alone, another disaster was about to happen.

Due to the increase in technology, the measuring devices became more and more precise, and these same devices were in charge of discovering a terrifying fact, a supervolcano, sleeping in the depths of what was once the first power in the world, was about to wake up.

At that time, a military experiment in a certain country that was stopped developing due to the short duration of the war was the light in the midst of darkness for the people.

MOON project

Renamed like this in reference to the famous phrase "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind", this originally consisted of breaking the space-time fabric to generate an area of destruction where everything would disappear, however, its new objective was something that humans did not believe possible until that time, travel across great distances through a wormhole.

Thus, humanity set out to find a new home where it could inhabit this vast universe.

Lite was one of the few born in the time of chaos, his country was devastated and he lived as a refugee with his mother, he was forced to grow up fast and fend for himself in such a messy time, in his youth he quickly became the head of the gangs in his city, tasked with maintaining order in the underworld, his mother was forced into prostitution for a time since there was not a man in the house with a strong fist to protect them against the abusers that roamed through the streets, that is something that marked Lite very strongly when he found out. Once he began to climb the stairs to power, he took care of hunting down one by one the people who had abused his mother, from who forced her to get into that business to the clients she served, based on cruel methods, he left each and every one of them wishing for death, something that would stay as a wish.

He, someone who lived in the darkness of the world, knew perfectly well that he was not going to get anywhere or protect anything if he was indecisive, that was the secret of his success, never doubting and using the most inhumane methods to protect his loved ones. In this way he maintained order in his city, being a monster with human flesh for some and being a savior for others.

This way of being was what made him so surprised when the changes began to arrive all over the world, the peace and cooperation that seemed so foreign to him seriously clashed with the way of doing things that he was used to, making him do something he hated all of his life, to doubt.

He wondered every day if what he did was for the best, if the people he discarded would have had a better end if he had dealt with the problem differently. All the screams, pleas and tears that their victims left could not be erased from his mind, many of them perhaps had no choice but to lead that life out of sheer necessity, perhaps they became corrupted in the process, but was there a better way? Another option?

If the rulers of the world could pull it off, why couldn't he? What they had, he had it too. He was the supreme ruler in his city and his will was the law, his followers were more faithful than the samurais themselves, in addition to having money, contacts and resources. Maybe he wasn't in the "light", but he had it all to make a change…and he didn't.

Lite realized a simple truth, just like the people he had dealt with, he too had been contaminated, he had reached a point where he locked himself in his way of being and stopped thinking about how to improve things.

Lite was someone who loved his people, the love that his mother had given him in such a dark time was what motivated him to improve his situation, and although he did, he couldn't do more than that.

Lite was lost, doubting and depressed, and his path became more and more vague, losing his direction. When he was at one of his lowest points, it was no one but his mother again who rescued him. If he was someone who had witnessed the evil of humanity, she was someone who had experienced it firsthand, every time those men abused her and she could only endure to get something to eat, that they do not mess with her son, a day more of life. She took it all inside and was able to leave that place with a smile on her face when she saw that her goal had been accomplished, her son had managed to survive and become someone who was capable of leading others.

Little by little he began to see the world differently, he understood that his way of thinking was not that of a leader who could lead others in the light, but that of someone who hides in the shadows. The light that is in charge of illuminating, the shadows that are in charge of hunting.

Lite began working with the rulers of his locality, each with their respective task to perform, each loved what was being created, each had gone through tragic experiences in one way or another, and each wanted to make the world a better place.

Once he decided that it was what he had to do, he put his plans into motion again, and his area of influence grew.

Years passed and Lite started a family, his mother remarried one of his subordinates and his city, his "country" and the world in general, was a better place.

Everything was fine until the news came, the volcano, the imminent destruction and hope.

Lite did not hesitate for a minute and joined the MOON project, his years of dominating the underworld, cleaning up any filth he encountered made him an expert in logistics and leadership, in addition to the fact that his network of contacts spread throughout all corners of the world, something that while not directly contributing to the project, it was extremely important, as you have to remember that literally everyone had their eyes on them and the amount of things to handle was countless.

12 years passed and the predictions dictated that the end was getting closer and closer, but with the monetary resources of the whole world, the brightest minds that humanity could offer, an industrial network that guaranteed that whatever was required was ready in the shortest amount of time possible, literally the two billion existing people worked for and to achieve it, and finally what seemed so far away was done.

The project was completed and the coordinates of the destination were set. It was a distant planet with the perfect conditions for human life, finding it was very difficult, but it was the only option, time was running out and it was not enough to terraform a planet from scratch. If it were that easy they would have simply decided on Mars.

In other words, it was faster to develop a method to travel thousands of light-years than to modify a planet next to ours. The irony.

Perhaps if the leaders had focused more on cooperating instead of looking for conflicts for everything, our destiny would have been the brother planet, it coudn't be donde since every time it was believed that one could set foot outside the planet, a new conflicto would come out. to prevent it.

MOON Project, a portal to the new world, breaking the space-time fabric and opening it to another place in the universe, something that could perfectly be defined as the an*where-door, but with only one destination.

After so long, that phrase for which the project was named was said again by the first person to set foot in what was literally a new world.

"ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND".

And with that step began the great migration. It was a slow process, since everything essential that guaranteed the base of civilization had to be transported, in addition to building the cities in the new world. Obviously they were not going to make the same mistake as with earth, and this time they chose to live alongside nature instead of destroying it.

The biggest problem was that there was no animal life, therefore it was not only the emigration of humans, but as many animal species as possible, so the trip took several years, not only to move cattle and everything that needed, but also to confirm that the plants already existing there are edible.

Perhaps, within millions of years, another intelligent civilization would have arisen on that planet, unfortunately it is something will never be known.

It was decided that no one would be left on Earth.

At the end of it all, a middle-aged man and an elderly woman approached the door, there was no one else on planet earth.

Due to the contributions that Lite had made from the shadows to the continuity of humanity, he was granted the honor of being the last person to set foot in the new world, officially closing the era known as "the great migration", so he decided to cross it together with his mother.

Lite felt quite nostalgic, at the end of it all, he was able to change his way of working and truly help those he loved, he felt that his past actions were forgiven even a little, however, he did not allow himself to be enveloped by that feeling, he understood that feeling like this was just an insult to the people who had been saved by those very actions.

With his small suitcase in hand, he looked for the last time at what until then had been the home of his species.

The portal was located on top of a mountain with quite a beautiful view. It had been deliberately done this way, albeit more laborious and inefficient, so that people migrating could take one last look at their planet before leaving. The original plan was to build a portal at each landmark in each region, but this proved impossible due to the complexity of each construction and the high cost.

At that moment, a figure came out of the portal to warn him to hurry since the other side wanted to close the portal as soon as possible.

This was Lite's wife, named Rosa. They met when he started working for the world council. They had chemistry right away, but started out just as friends, until one night Rosa called him to meet. She had found her partner at that time with another woman in bed, so she contacted Lite to seek comfort, and from there and due to various circumstances they got together until they got married.

Lite could only smile at her. His wife had quite a strong character, so for those guys to annoy her to such an extent that they made her come to rush him, even knowing that later she won't stop scolding them for it, they must be quite in a hurry there.

Lite caressed his backpack with affection, in it were the most precious memories of his entire life, including a book of drawings, as his mother called it, this was a fairly old manga that he kept with great affection, it was the birthday present that his mother gave him in the dark time of his life, he had become a fan of the work out of pure affection for the protagonist, a boy who was hated by his entire community because he had a monster inside him, but even so he tried to see the good side of people.

The book was quite old, from more than 300 years ago, which is not surprising, even in this day and age you still read things like "the art of war", which is already thousands of years old. What is surprising is that a comic, or manga, is read even in these times, even if only for a niche, which speaks volumes about how famous it was.

It was a simple gift, cheap enough, but very important to him and one of the few things he was willing to take with him.

Without wasting any more time, he decisively took the hands of his mother and Rosa and entered the portal.