SHIN SEKAI: SPARK OF THE NEW WORLD

The order

01011000, 10000101, 01-01-1000, 1000-01-01. The one thing all these numbers have in common is the memory that they trigger (and also the fact that they're binary but that's not the issue).

  once someone comes in contact with any of them, they are immediately reminded of the beginning of recorded history. 

  one day the entire world gained what was perceived as free will. they never felt chained or forced against their will before then but after that day, they felt like they were finally able to do what they truly wanted. This led to a whole year's worth of chaos and was the first ever recorded event in history.

  events before that time could not be recorded because there was hardly anyone with memories of them and no one knew why(generally speaking). It was also a wonder why there were no records of the past before then but there was no record to depend on to tell why there was no record.

  In the end the chaotic year was dubbed the year of oblivion and everyone one went on with their lives. but the search for truth didn't end for everyone. 

  a large group of people from the eastern-most part of the world came with their stories but were shunned and were considered a cult by the majority a small group from the west spoke but they were not even heard. soon these two groups gave up and their stories were seen as nothing more than myths till this day 

  the emergence of the priests swayed a few minds but the majority of people were able to put up strong a strong argument against them.

  the priests were men that were chosen by the gods, but people couldn't see the gods with their own eyes so they saw the priests as ordinary men who were seeking attention and the false priests weren't really helping the matter. the messages of the gods they conveyed were seen as lies, even the divine power they displayed could not convince the unbelieving masses but they were not bothered. they had a duty to the gods and the men that followed, there was no time to waste on people who didn't want to believe. 

  the priests definitely had other reasons that we don't know but that's a different story. for now, let's talk about what caused the oblivion.

  with Shin's memory and a little help from the gods, Tanaka was able to relay a story that....well....didn't exactly console Endo but helped him face the harsh truth. 

*****

  It started in a small village located in a country that is now known as Naijà. this village was not named, it didn't have any representative either but the people were able to get by.

  every one in the village depended on letters of prophecy that they received. the prophecies were always accurate so the people trusted them and lived without worry.

  here's the thing about prophecies, it doesn't matter who prophesies or how sure the events are to happen, if someone doesn't like what he sees, he would go against it especially when a loved one is involved. this happened in the case of 'Uzo'.

  he had just received a letter prophesied the murder of his mother and the perpetrator was said to be his own sister.

  similar things had happened to others and there was nothing they could do about it. anyhow they tried, no matter how drastic the action, the prophecy always came true and people gave up trying. even his family had already resigned themselves to their fate.

 he had already lost his father and elder to illness when he was young. he wasn't ready to lose his mother that worked hard to raise him, and he was sure that his big sister could not do what the prophecy said by her own free will.

  any other man would have not been able to stop this but the man called 'Uzo'ndu'(the path to life) was not just any man.

   on the day of prophecy, he stood in in front of his hut, counting silently until he reached a certain point and stopped. not only did he stop counting, he stopped moving and held his breath.

  he looked in front of him to see a man coming towards him. the mysterious man was covered with a cloak and mist emitted from within the cloak. 

  Uzo could tell that the mist was dangerous and he dared not breathe, he remained where he was until the man got close to him. 

   the man got close and stared into Uzo's unmoved eyes and said "sleep" that was as far as his memory went. all the cloaked man could remember was a brief moment of darkness before finding himself in a cassava farm with Uzo standing right above his bound half naked body.

  "in case you didn't know, this is my place of work" Uzo said as he looked down on his captive "I am Uzo, so what is your name?" he asked as he leaned closer. 

  "Nicholas" the man said with a short breath. he didn't know how long he had been out in the open but his body felt like it was a long time. the sun was hot enough to hurt his eyes no matter the direction he looked and the wind was cold enough to make him feverish. he was on nothing but his underwear and the reaction was expected but Uzo was practically dressed the same way. all Uzo had on was a piece of cloth that was just enough to cover from his waist to his knees but the weather didn't seem to have as much effect on him as it had on Nicholas.

  "I'm not going to waste any time, considering how you might die on me, let's get straight to business. why do you want to ruin my entire life?" Uzo asked 

  "what do you mean?" Nicholas replied 

  "aren't you one of the prophets?"

  "yes"

  "and what would you be doing in my home at the time I caught you except fulfilling a false prophecy?"

   "what do you mean false?, the prophecies are always true" 

  "then why did you need to come to my house and try to make me sleep. I know exactly what your mist does, it makes people highly susceptible to whatever you tell them to do. you planned to use that on my family"

  "how do you know all these things? I don't remember telling you."

  "it's sort of a special ability of mine" Uzo answered and was immediately replied with "YOU HAVE NO SPECIAL ABILITY. I read your file. from the day you were born till date, you show no sign of being anything but normal. normalcy runs in your bloodline. there's no sign that you have any form of magic"

  Uzo let a little laugh as he looked at Nicholas and said " I'll let you in on a little secret. at a very young age I discovered that I had a very special power. it was a power that let me know how to prevent death. I couldn't let anyone know about it because I learned that if I did it would lead to my death. what makes this power really special is that the more I use it, the more information I get and just yesterday I learnt something really interesting. the order, the reason for all my suffering and what to do to bring them down.