Foreshadowing

( 2200 Hrs | Juvenile Prison Camp)

( Marshlands - Outskirts of Mumbai)

An hour after leaving his prison cell. Vermont traversed the plane and prison wreckage around Block A and B. He scavenged and saved anybody that he met, earning him a bit of good Karma.

On the way, he filled his stomach with stolen food from the Prison Mess, gathered supplies he believed would come in handy, and changed his clothes into something lighter. He looked like a typical tourist on a beach in his new outfit.

The more he travelled and studied the Simulation, the more he became unsure about his "Mind Control" theory.

"The Rave should reach the shores around 10AM tomorrow. There are only ~11 hours remaining."

He folded his hands and prayed to an invisible force. Vermont had long since become an agnostic-atheist, but some habits were hard to leave.

'Please be safe, brother.'

Vermont was not afraid of the coming cataclysm. He knew that the radiation of Strop energy currently travelling throughout the world will not only bring destruction but also great opportunities for all of humanity.

If he was still part of an Anti-Human faction, his superiors would do everything in their power to stop the cataclysm. After the initial destruction, humanity is bound to reach new heights after relying on the Rave Dimensions and nobody wanted to see the rise of humanity once again.

The only thing he feared currently was the simulation itself. The uncertainty surrounding it made him anxious as he was getting progressively unsure of the reality of his situation.

A part of him even didn't want it to be a simulation and hoped that he had travelled through time and space. He couldn't figure out how long the simulation will last, or whether it was even one, but he didn't want it to end irrespective. His emotional state was in a mess.

As a logical person, he couldn't believe in the unsubstantiated theory of 'Time Reversal', but only he knew how desperately his heart wanted that to be true. After all, who hadn't thought of redoing their life at least once?

If someone said "never", they were lying.

'It isn't like time reversal would be the craziest thing to happen after the cataclysm, right?'

He asked a ghost of himself. His mind drifted as he continued to run in a certain direction.

******

(12 AM | Block C )

HUFF... HUFF...

He ran for a long time and reached the half-destroyed kitchen of Block C. Blue-red fire made of Plane's fuel and cooking-gas mixing surrounded the kitchen periphery. The fiery atmosphere was suffocating, yet warm.

Thick expanse of forest surrounded the three prison blocks. A triangle shaped design with common facilities in between the blocks. The prison looked like a primitive crop circle from the sky.

When the Airplane crashed on this prison breaking in two halves, one fell on top of Block B, and another destroyed most of the Prison facility of Block C, leaving behind only one kitchen.

"I just hope there are no powerful biohackers. It would be two wasteful to fight them."

Vermont found a place around the kitchen and sat on top of the stone wreckage. A motherly woman saw the loner 15-year-old sitting quietly in the centre of the mayhem and teared up in silence at his miserable sight.

He was holding a wet blanket while wearing tattered summer clothing. Although it wasn't cold because of the raging hellfire, it was still an icy December midnight. Smudges covered his beautiful face and from the protruding bones, his weak, unawakened body was clear.

In a duffle bag near his body were supplies gathered in a hurry: first aid kit, standard prison biscuits, a water bottle, a foldable tablet. Vermont had picked up many essentials and extras for the Rave and was waiting silently.

He looked at the people running around and closed his eyes to hear the rhythmic screams and shouts. He didn't enjoy it, but there was tranquillity in the chaos that only he could appreciate. Having been on the run for the past half-century. It was only in violent times when he was at peace.

Although he dislikes violence, his life was nothing but a violent montage. He never wanted to harm humanity, but he spent all his pirate life undermining humanity's effort to rise on the cosmic battlefield. The only word that could define Vermont's life was "Contradictions". He was full of them.

The half-destroyed kitchen with no ceiling and decimated Prison Cells were rampant with fire and foul smell of flesh burning. Curry-like greasy substance was all over the kitchen floor.

From the corner of his eyes, Vermont saw a few rats and cockroaches that were having the feast of their life and a scene suddenly flashed in his mind. It reminded him of the evolution of monster and animals that would wreck the entire world.

From where Vermont stood - being aware of the future - the sight seems to foreshadow Earth's future. He shook his head in disappointment. Even if he knew the destruction was coming, he was only an unawakened 15-year-old child.

*****

( Year 3222 | 200 years in the future)

(Planet Agati- Therera Galaxy)

An unconscious body was lying inside a dead hermit's cave. Its lifeless and skeleton-y appearance could scar children for life.

Besides the lifeless body in its left hand was a golden figurine of a four-headed, four-handed, bearded old man sitting calmly on a lotus wearing a crown. Four hands of the figurine held a rosary, a sruva, a kamandalu, and a book, respectively.

Vermont would gasp in astonishment if he saw the state of his body after 150 years. It had become a dry husk of bones with no muscles and blood. His middle-age bearded look was no more. Wrinkles and saggy skin decorated what remained of his body.

The only saving grace being that his body hadn't started rotting yet. The effort he spent on stealing the Enhancer Serum from the Acremia Federation seemed worth it.

FISS...

The golden figurine glowed a faint golden tint and the black tattoo of a fifteen-petal lotus suddenly burned itself on Vermont's palm. The tattoo appeared out of nowhere as the lotus beneath the figurine crumbled into dust. As the golden tint vibrated, the majestic doll lost its glow.

Right next moment, the lotus tattoo burned a hole through the centre of his palm and hollowed it in the middle like a doughnut. There was no blood and no scream. Lifeless aged body of Vermont didn't even wince at the pain.

As if that version of Vermont didn't even exist, the body disintegrated slowly, just like the black lotus; starting from his palm and rising through his hands. As the carbon that made Vermont's body turned to mysterious golden dust, it flew outwards and into the walls of the dark cave.

WHOOSH... GRUMBLE...

Walls of the cave moved ever so slowly as if they were Giant's lungs breathing air and absorbed the flying golden dust somewhere deep inside the infinite pore-like cracks on the cave walls.

The Cave reverted to how it was before Vermont's arrival. Leaving behind only a barehanded golden figurine without its crown and seat.