Chapter 1 – Prologue

In the year 2194.

An Earth where science, technology and medicine have become so incredibly advanced that the matters that were the worries and troubles of the early 21st century were now likened to the cry of a baby; pestering but not something that could be handled with time.

Those issues could be solved in a jiffy… with barely a snap of a finger.

Cancers? Dealing with those in this era was easy peasy lemon squeezy. Even chemotherapy and radiotherapy were seen as archaic regimens.

Visual impairment? Blindness? Pfft! That could be handled in a couple of hours if the person could afford the treatment.

Artificial intelligence was everywhere and involved in everything.

Even the shittiest of slums had elevators in their rotting buildings.

Cars were flying and trains were no longer moving on the grounds, same for vehicles generally.

Humans were well advanced in different spheres of life — science, medicine, politics and so on.

There was equal levelling up in every sector of the human society.

However, the only issue with such fast development was that mankind was not only getting better at positive growth but the rate of social vices worsened as well.

The rate of crimes was over the roof as well as murders and kidnappings.

Since not everyone was privileged enough to afford the things of the modern era on a whim, many turned to crime as a means to help themselves.

And it remained so until a few months ago when the conglomerate, NERVE, which was owned by the rich and powerful Dr. Joseph 'Joe' Neons announced their latest discovery, one that would change the world even further.

NERVE has been the forerunner of the revolutionary growth that mankind experienced in the past few decades.

A radical evolution that was first ignited by Joe's grandfather and founder of the company — Dr. Jacob Neons.

It was a company that specialises in studying human intelligence and the limits of man's mental capacity using advanced technology.

Dr. Joe, like his grandfather before him, had a profound interest in seeing how humans would remain at the top of the food chain of existence across the entire universe.

That was his true goal — to make mankind superior to all things and grant them the ability to survive in any situation or world that they found themselves in.

Several years ago, NERVE made yet another shocking discovery.

It was the finding of another world that supported life.

A world that they studied and tried to tap into and after years of failure, NERVE finally grabbed the sack of success.

Joe Neons named this realm Nexus but not much was known about this world even with their years of study.

Eventually, with their resilience and persistence, NERVE made yet another substantial breakthrough by finding a way to enter Nexus even for a limited amount of time.

Travelling to Nexus required the use of NERVE's latest invention.

These newest devices were technologically advanced gears called Axons and they allowed one to reach the realm of Nexus from Earth.

In fact, from the comfort of wherever they were without exhausting more than a click of a button.

NERVE had achieved so much; much more than other top companies in the world but Dr. Joe Neons wasn't satisfied… he wanted more.

His research projected that Earth, by the end of the next century, may no longer be able to support human life, not with the ongoing global warming having peaked and thawing of ice caps and so on.

NERVE continued to research Nexus for years until some months ago when they managed to hit the jackpot — they found a way to make a man stay longer than usual in Nexus.

Dr. Joe and his team of scientists thought the world of Nexus to be unreal.

Their trial trips to the newly discovered realm made them believe that Nexus was much more.

It was an advanced world or something that could be likened to a game simulation or virtual reality.

It was perfect.

A utopia. The utopia the human race needed to live.

The perfection in Nexus was the key that drove Dr. Joe and his company into creating the Axon gears.

The Axons were like keys to the doors that opened up into the world of Nexus, allowing humans to access the world.

The world was about to experience the next big thing and was yet to even realise it.

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A/N: READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE!