Earth's Calendar Year 2050

After the great war that shuffled the power structure, the Eastern Nation became one of the four main powers on Earth, ruled by

the federal government of De Crusader.

A modernized country where people strive to reach the apex of technology.

At this time, a young man was strolling quietly down the wide street in Darian City, which was under federal government rule.

Cars were passing, and people were smiling and having fun.

A little girl with ebony-black hair and a pink skirt above her knee carries a basket full of brightly colored roses. 

 

She intends to sell them to neighboring couples. The little girl knows that it is better to sell flowers to lovers. 

 

So, she had the courage to walk in front of them, lovely lips on her face.

But alas, she was not paying attention to the pile of pebbles, and she accidentally tripped over her leg. 

 

As the basket of roses fell from her basket, teardrops slowly formed at the corners of her sapphire-blue eyes.

The young man, full of compassion, approached her. 

 

"Are you okay?"

 

Then she nodded in response. The young man helped her up and gathered the roses for her.

He comforted the sobbing girl and stroked her back. 

 

"What is your name?"

 

She stopped weeping and uttered, "I am little Autumn, Brother~."

She giggled while showing her two dimples.

"Thank you for helping Little Autumn."

 

She seems to have trouble speaking, let alone pronouncing. She should be around 3-4 years old.

'Why is she selling flowers at such a young age?' The young man thought.

 

She giggled, put her hand in the basket, and gave the young man a couple of roses.

But when she looks at the roses, she bowed her head in disappointment. 

 

"Sorry brother, the roses are ruined." 

"It's okay, little Autumn. This Brother has candy." 

 

The young man took the girl's hand and handed her the candy in his pocket. He then patted her on the head to comfort her. 

 

"Bye, little Autumn. When we meet again, I'll buy you more candy." 

 

The young man starts to walk away. The girl stared at the young man who was slowly disappearing into the distance, still waving at her from a distance.

She also smiled and waved her tiny arms. 

 

When she couldn't see the young man anymore, she looked down at her basket and remembered something. 

 

"Brother, I forgot to ask your name." She mumbled to herself.

 

….

 

The young man laughed at himself as he looked at the roses in his hand. 

 

"The kids have grown up these days and are already working hard. I want to buy her flowers and pay her more than the value of the roses, but I am in financial difficulty."

 

He paused for a moment. "If I see her in the future, I should bring some candy."

 

The young man continued to walk down the street. He went through a flower shop.

The young man stopped, looked in the mirror next to him, and saw his reflection. 

 

There is a young man with a funny-looking face, closely related to prehistoric humans, average height, and a twig-like figure. 

 

If others see it, no one will notice, but the zookeepers will.

 

"I couldn't be more ordinary than that. Those who would behold my beauty would die of shame." He sarcastically said, and he then scratched his head.

 

The young man raised his head and looked at the stunning cloudless morning sky with the sun reflecting off his face. 

 

The breeze was blowing on the face of the young man. He felt relaxed and carefree.

The young man continued to advance and entered an alley between the buildings. 

 

There was a pile of garbage in the driveway, and a rat was passing by.

It smelled terrible, but the young man didn't care. He had long since acquired immunity.

 

This alley is a shortcut to his apartment. The young man came to the entrance of his apartment, looked at the six-story building, and stood for a while. 

At the entrance to the building, there was a guard.

He got a little bored while looking at the crowd. He then found a familiar figure of a young man. 

 

A bright smile appeared on his face, and while yelling at him. 

 

"Hey, Manasi Shalom. How are you today?"

 

When Manasi heard someone call his name, he knew it was Jorge, the guard of the building. That looks like a buffed guy from the gym.

 

"Today is a good day, Jorge! Work hard and don't mess up anything. Have a happy day, Jorge!"

 

When Manasi stopped shouting, he wasn't concerned about what other people across the street would say. 

 

"You too, Manasi!" The buffed guard replied with a grinning face.

 

Manasi whispered to himself, "This person is always a happy-go-lucky kind of guy."

 

He continued to move to the less-traveled area behind the building. Few people use the back door of the building.

Manasi held the handrails on the side of the stairs and walked up. 

 

On the way to the dimly lit stairs, he met a young couple.

The person looks like a wealthy young master, with sunglasses on his shirt and a weird-looking hairdo.

 

This person was pale, like a junkie. Even if he takes drugs, nobody cares because he can do whatever he wants. 

 

The young man came from a large family, and the girl, with her arms dangling by his side, looked like a model. 

 

If people commented on them, it would be the fusion of a golden ring on top of a pile of dung.

 

When they met Manasi on the stairs, the second-generation prodigal raised his eyebrows at the dim light. 

 

He couldn't see the look on Manasi's face. But when they passed by, the weird-looking guy finally knew who it was. He grinned at Manasi Shalom.

 

"Oh! If it's not that poor guy, how are you? I didn't pay much attention to you. I thought you were dead. By the way, this is my girlfriend. Isn't she gorgeous? Do you want to join our date?" Sarcastically, the prodigal son spoke.

 

The lady just looked at Manasi curiously. Manasi didn't want anything to do with this person, so he ignored him and kept going up. 

 

The prodigal son saw Manasi leave without saying a word.

His smile stiffened, as he wasn't used to being ignored. He was furious and said threateningly.

 

"Are you trying to ignore me? Orphan boy!" while saying that he wouldn't want to lose face anymore.

Not wasting time on Manasi, he beamed at his girl.

 

"He's my orphaned classmate, a stupid loser in our school." 

 

As he spoke, he kissed her and continued. He isn't even concerned about the nasty things he just said. 

 

Hearing the "loser," Manasi clenched his fists, held back, and did not beat the prodigal son because he was right; he was a loser. 

 

Manasi took a deep breath and let out a "sigh". Deep in his heart. It is alright for others to say that he is an orphan, but it is too much to say that he is a loser!

 

But what can he do, slap that person in the face? Since he couldn't, he could only swallow his anger. 

 

"Not everyone can do whatever they want in life. If I get the chance, I will change my life so that no one can call me a loser." He scratched his head in frustration. 

 

'Maybe God will allow me to do great things in this life. So being depressed doesn't make sense. I'll keep praying until something happens.' He thought in his heart.

 

People who knew Manasi at school said that he was a failure, a person who did not succeed. Without parents and support, it is difficult to find a decent job. 

 

He turns twenty-four this year. He has been unemployed for two years.

 

There was a time when he yearned to see his biological parents. 

 

"Is it becoming a trend for parents to abandon their children to save them from starvation? I hope the orphanage will continue to provide shelter for the children." Manasi mumbled.

Nevertheless, he knew that this dream would be difficult to achieve as the doors of the orphanages were closing one by one, and no one was willing to donate anymore due to a lack of supplies. 

He stopped thinking because it only made him frustrated. Finally, Manasi arrives at his room.

There is a plastic chair and a broken-leg table, an empty wardrobe, a dilapidated bed, a small refrigerator, and an old-fashioned television. 

 

He took off his shirt, his lean muscles were laid bare, turned on the television, and laid down on the couch.

 

Manasi closed his tired eyes and listened to the news anchor. She said something about the news this year reaching the whole world about the rapture. 

 

The news says that the rapture of the Bible is imminent. Manasi sat on the sofa, always believing that God would help him.

But the church leaders began to condemn orphaned children, and he was disappointed. Although he understood their difficulties. 

 

The church believed that Manasi had given up his belief...

But he had always sought God, not through religious practice. He wanted to help the church orphanage.

 

On the table, there was a Bible. He tilted his head and looked at the ceiling. 

 

He got up and changed the TV channel. 

 

'Growl'

 

"I'm hungry." 

 

He walked over to the cupboard, took out the cup of noodles with a "free tag," opened it, and poured hot water over the noodle cup. 

 

'Sniff.'

 

'That smells good~.'

 

Manasi brought the cup of noodles to the table, silently said a short prayer, and then sat down on a chair to eat slowly. 

 

On the TV screen, the sky is clear, the forest green, a few sheep are grazing, a dog is barking, and a new news anchor is dressed in formal wear. 

 

"I've got to admit, she's beautiful."

 

She looks like a person in her early twenties. She interviewed a white-robed shepherd. On his head, there was a symbol.

 

"This is your news anchor, Jessica. And this is Mr. Dave, the owner of this ranch pasture." 

 

There was a big smile on Mr. Dave's face. With a calm temper, Mr. Dave nodded to Jessica. 

 

"Mr. Dave, you are a well-known figure in the church. Mr. Dave, what do you think of the Doomsday that is always mentioned?"

 

"Thank you, Ms. Jessica. I have a dream that I want to share with everyone because it keeps showing up and it bothers me a bit. It has to do with doomsday."

 

"What kind of dream is it, Mr. Dave?" Jessica asked curiously. 

 

"Darkness and destruction.... which is not a good sign." Mr. Dave said calmly. 

 

The news anchor took an interest in Mr. Dave's story.

When Mr. Dave suddenly stopped talking for a few seconds, the newscaster was about to ask questions.

 

On television, you can see Mr. Dave's face constantly changing.

His expression was relaxed at first, then changed to a shocked face, and finally, he looked scared. 

 

"Mr. Dave?" 

 

The News Anchor Jessica asked Mr. Dave if he was okay, but he did not respond.

The news anchor was worried, so she waved and patted him on the shoulder.

 

Suddenly, he shivered all over his body, and a cold sweat formed on his forehead. He kept trembling. His eyes turned red. Mr. Dave's tears rolled down his cheeks. 

 

The host, Jessica, panicked.

 

'Why is this old man suddenly crying?'

 

Mr. Dave felt that the newscaster was very concerned about him.

 

"I'm sorry, Ms. Jessica."

 

Mr. Dave began to speak to the camera with a serious expression. 

 

"I am a seer… But… I have never seen anything horrible. What I had seen in the vision was our end… The first sign is the return of the fallen and the abyss....."

 

Mr. Dave stopped speaking and closed his eyes. The ground abruptly shook, and the news anchor, Jessica, nearly tripped. She squatted quickly. 

 

Shaking the cameras, from its standpoint, numerous birds could be seen moving away from the forest.

As if they sensed the danger of the environment and were escaping from their nests. 

 

Jessica suddenly panicked and crawled away, then the channel was turned off.

Manasi, who thought about enjoying and eating his noodles, was speechless. He almost spits out the noodles.

 

"?"

 

The End of Chapter 1