Difference between revisions of "The Lonely God"

Revision as of 00:08, 15 May 2022

It was a one in a billion chance. With each anomaly found, the probability is exponentiated. The possibility that the radiation from the explosion would alter the genetic code of a human being to such a level of precision, with just the right permutation to create... meta humans is beyond unfathomable. Yet in this eve, we may just caused an evolutionary leap for mankind, gentlemen.

- Doctor Youssef Rawling, Ph.D in Nuclear Physics

Prologue

It is the year 2032. With the evolution of artificial intelligence, the world had shifted into an age of data. Everyday tasks were automated by computer processes. Computer science was paired hand in hand with society. Improving mankind.

And with the rise of artificial intelligence, the use of automation and machine learning had enabled multiple frontiers in science and engineering to be unlocked. Cutting edge technology had become more and more prevalent. And soon, governments from all around the globe raced to represent the country to discover the next ground breaking medicine, technology, physical phenomena...

and weapon.

"General Routh." Lieutenant Baker solemnly took off his hat.

"Our Orion Squadron has... been eliminated."

Routh slowly placed the papers he was holding in his hand on the glass surface of the desk. The congress was silent, as the sounds of gunshots peppering the air could be heard from the communication device, echoing in the enclosed bunker.

"Lieutenant Baker, state cause of elimination."

Baker closed his eyes.

"It was them. The high powered mortars of the Vaticus. The Orion stood no chance, sir."

SLAM.

"How many more lives will it take, General?" An officer took to his feet, indignation finally breaking through his objective mask.

"Young men and women are on the front, fighting for their lives. Fighting those... those Torvi bastards. Ameradans. Canareians. Our brothers and sisters across the border. At this point, we are deploying our next generation to their deaths. While we, the Ameradan Military Leaders, cower behind steel walls!"

"You will speak to your superior with respect, Lieutenant Voorhes." A woman cut Voorhes off, her cold glare causing great discomfort to ripple across the congress.

"No, General Livia. He is right." Routh muttered.

Livia was silent, slowly taking her seat.

Routh knew what Ameradan, the nation he had been called to serve, was doing. He knew his soldiers were being torn apart. But there was nothing they could do.

There was nothing the United Nations could do against Torvus now.

While Ameradan and Canaria had taken full advantage of the advancement of artificial intelligence to greatly expand their technological empire, it had not been enough.

Breakthroughs of research in medicine, science, energy, transportation, greenhouse gas reductions... For a time, it had led to a flourishing economy in both nations.

While it had indirectly benefitted their military might, there was a limit to ethical engineering.

And in the end, ethical engineering would always be eclipsed by unethical engineering.

The philosophy of using AI and machine learning to fully benefit the military might of a nation.

This was the philosophy adopted by the nation of Torvus.

And when Torvus had chosen to finally invade their neighbouring nation, Kronia, a member of the United Nations, they had decided to declare war against the world.

"Hey. Ukko. Is this working?" An adolescent voice suddenly broke the silence of the room, causing a jolt to run down Routh's spine.

"HELLOOOOOO. I know you Ameradans can see this! Don't ignore me!" The voice sung, as the screen suddenly changed.

The face of a young girl smiling illuminated the entire congress, causing a wave of chaos to ripple amongst the members.

"What the hell is this? River, have we been breached?"

River furiously mashed the buttons on his computer, but to no avail, as the girl continued singing, moving and tilting the camera angle in an unorthodox manner.

Routh clenched his fist. Despite the chaos ensuing in the consensus, his mind was fixed solely on the maniacal eyes of the girl who had taken over the assembly.

Her short blonde hair dancing in the wind, the bodies of the numerous soldiers who were disembowelled behind her. Their blood, staining her Torvian military uniform. But it was a special uniform.

A uniform assigned only to Torvus' most elite Taskforce.

"Kanna Beckingdale. What do you want." Routh said, as he eyed the girl.

"Awww. General Routh. You're going ahead and calling me by my real name! How embarrassing! Eeee!" Kanna squealed, putting her hands against her cheeks.

"But you know, you really shouldn't be giving me the cold shoulder. After all..."

The phones of the congress suddenly began beeping.

"Dammit. Beckingdale's powers go through even the high density Osmium borders of the Pod?" A voice panicked.

"That bitch!" Another said.

With each voice that filled the air, Kanna's smile continued enlarging.

You don't know when we will strike again. And whenever we strike, we know you cannot stop us. None of you can.

An alert sound erupted all around the room, causing numerous military personnel to attend to them.

"General Routh! Another shelter has been compromised!"

Routh ignored Kanna and ran to the side. Kanna watched the General with a sadistic curiosity.

"General Forger. Report!" Routh said, sternly.

"General Routh... no... Quentin... It's over. We did all we could. But..."

"You have my orders, you have my permission, Forger. Use the atomic cann-"

"I'm sorry, Routh. We... we've already used it. He nullified it all. He..."

RIP.

SCREEEEE.

"Listen to me, Forger. The civilians of Kronia are your first priority, you-"

"Quentin... it's over for us. All those rumours about Atomos. They were true. They were...."

KABOOM.

The screen shifted to the image of a man, who stood before the screaming civilians.

"Soldiers..." Forger muttered, the screen broadcasting Atomos from the General's point of view, shone to the whole congress.

"We will defend the people of Kronia with our lives. Hold off Atomos with your lives. A soldier serves their country. But today, we will serve Kronia. Because Kronia is our comrade."

Frustration surged through Routh's body, as he watched Quentin Forger, his best friend from since the first day the two enlisted in the US military, to the day the both of them were promoted to generals, was slaughtered live.

Knowing full well there was nothing they could do.

Against the might of Torvus' elite.

The Obsidian.

Atomos, a direct result of Torvus' military research, was a Torvi soldier who had willingly participated in numerous genetic mutations through AI, and possessed the power to generate tremendous amounts of energy by seemingly initiating atomic bond breaking and formation in his body. Doing so allowed him to not only release energy, but manipulate it.

From previous reports, it was Atomos who had destroyed half of Amerada's aerial fleet, there was not a single military missile that could defeat him. And with Kanna Beckingdale's technomancy, thee two were seen frequently together.

And whenever a member of the Obsidian appeared, the world was subject to their mercy.

This war...

Would always be a war destined for Torvus to win.

Until the mistake of a certain Canareian nuclear physicist, by the name of Youssef Rawling, changed the course of the war forever.

Superheroes

For Yuni Twine, a life of a super-heroine was never something she had imagined.

Yet as she soared through the air, the power to control the wind allowing her to cast her shadow onto the city of Vanc, the freedom of living her life as one who contributes to society was beyond fulfilling.

"It's her! Ma! It's the Swallowtail!" A child called out.

"Swallowtail!" An elderly woman waved the heroine. Yuni waved back, smiling through the eyepiece and purple costume which concealed her identity.

The civilians cheered their heroine on, as Twine flew to the location of a burning building.

"Do you see them, babe?"

Yuni was greeted with a sigh from her earpiece.

"Yuni, if you want to play the role of the super heroine, you gotta be a lot more conspicuous than that."

"But Joooooosh. You're the computer science genius!"

"Just because I know computer science, doesn't give you a reason to out yourself out like that! Now anyone who happens to have been listening to this conversation knows the guy behind the monitor is your boyfriend!"

"Well. I think they should be proud that you're my boyfriend. I sure am. I have such a supportive sweetheart like you."

Josh Garder. Age 16. Computer Science prodigy, who was currently enrolled in the University of Higher Hills, tapped on his computer irritably.

But a rush of giddiness went through him, upon hearing his girlfriend's praise.

"L- Look. Yuni. Just get rid of the fire and let the firemen rescue the civilians inside. Our goal is to-"

"AWWW! That's so boring! I want to save the civilians too!"

"Stop it. Ultimately, this is what they're trained to do. Just make the job easier for them. Make the fire gone."

Yuni pouted, as she snapped her fingers. Wind swirling all around her, a green glow illuminating the building, as the fires were doused. A wave of applause rippled throughout the audience.

"Stop pouting." Josh said.

Yuni bowed before the civilians, before flying off.

"God, you're such a handful sometimes, Yuni. We're lucky I managed to find a new onion routing method to keep the gov from tracking us down. But this will all be for nothing if you keep hanging around so much!"

"You're such a buzzkill Joshy!"

"Ugh."

"But I like that about you. Let's go on a date tonight."

"Wha-"

Josh minimized his window, staring at the assignment that he had to complete by tonight.

A smirk escaped him.

Josh was always a high achiever. But since meeting and dating Yuni, he had discovered there was more to life than grades and getting into the top tech companies. Of course, that was still his goal, but...

Josh stretched his legs, resizing the assignment PDF and revealing the wallpaper of him and Yuni at the park. The smile Yuni had on her face, and the beautiful red coat she was wearing, complimented by Josh's boring flannel.

Life with Yuni... he wanted that to be his number one priority.

So when Yuni had hesitantly revealed her powers to her boyfriend, her face petrified at the possibility of Josh dumping her, his acceptance only made her love him even more.

And for Josh, supporting his girlfriend with her hero work, was without question...

Always going to be his number one prerogative.

"Joshy! Can we order steak!"

"Geh!" Josh choked on his water.

Working night shift for Parsa Ameri was just another gig for him to afford rent.

Well, not really.

For a time, it was his way to avoid his mother from scolding him. After all, Parsa was just another 25 year old single man, who did not possess the aptitude to make it into University, and instead opted to watch anime and read manga, whilst still living with his parents.

Parsa's plans for his future was about the same as his chances with women.

Non existent.

Parsa was nothing like his classmates from high school, they had all gone off to work at the big tech companies, even the bullies who tormented him.

He had tried all he could to improve his life.

Fitness.

Weight loss.

Saving up for a fancy car.

New hair styles.

But ultimately, there was not much he could do. There were limits, and for Parsa, it was as if the world had cursed him to be this way. So instead, he simply gave up, and turned to anime and Reddit. His daily routine was dull and pointless. After all, people like him were destined to suffer alone forever.

Until now.

"Hey. Don't you think it's a bit dark for you to be hanging out here, kid?"

A lowlife, Parsa thought.

The goon approached the boy, flexing his muscles. His biceps were even bigger than Parsa's thighs.

"What are you looking at? You little racist punk? Your kind is the reason why my bro can't get a job, you know. Your stupid Palastani kind. Yeah. Real great, for you to get hired. You can just cal your Palastani brothers to help you out right? While people like me have to work our ass off pushing coal for their stupid machines to operate. HUH?!"

Parsa clenched his fist.

He wanted to kill that man, but he knew that this would be wrong.

Even if he was blessed with the powers from that mysterious laboratory explosion.

To kill an innocent was wrong.

This man was innocent, despite his racial remarks. His attempt to intimidate him, there was a reason behind it.

He felt neglected by the Canarian economy.

"I'm sorry for bothering you, sir." Parsa said, politely, as he hauled the trash to the trash bin, turning around, but the man grabbed Parsa and slammed his fist into his face, causing Parsa to hit the pavement.

"God. Dammit. You. Piss. Me. OFF." The man growled, as he picked up Parsa and slammed him into the wall, striking him repeatedly.

Blood leaked onto the ground, but Parsa was unfazed.

"10..."

"HUH? The hell did you just say?!"

No, this is wrong, Parsa thought.

He couldn't use his powers to hurt innocent people.

But with each blow that was connecting to his body, Parsa could only imagine how annoyed his supervisor would be to see his worker take so long to dispose of the trash.

"Percent..."

The man stopped swinging, as he backed off, terror filling his eyes.

The scrawny boy before him... his strength should have destroyed his bones. The strength of a 220 pound male with a bench press of 405 pounds, and a deadlift of 600 pounds...

This child should have been decimated by his fists, but it was as if he was unharmed.

Untouched.

The only evidence of his assault was the blood, but even that started to look less and less convincing as the boy had seemingly regenerated.

Parsa got to his feet, cracking his back and knuckles.

"I see. So 10 percent shields my bones and my vital organs. But still leaves my outer flesh susceptible to external shocks and forces."

Parsa glared at the man, who's face was white as a ghost.

It didn't matter if his body was torn apart. Parsa had discovered his power the night he had tried to take his life and jump off a cliff. It was the night of the day he had received his powers from that explosion. Parsa had tried every possible method to unlock his abilities from ever anime he had ever watched, and even tried asking fellow Redditors on his subreddit feeds for advice.

The irony of his powers of invincibility and immortality, to be discovered from something as deadly as suicide.

For months, Parsa had experimented with his powers. To test its limits.

And so far, it was as if he had none.

Fighting wild animals, to take an explosion point blank. Gunshot wounds. Headshot wounds.

Vicious chemicals.

Radiation exposure.

Drowning and suffocation.

Malnourishment.

Disease.

His body was immune to it all.

But that didn't stop there.

The man, in a panic, swung at Parsa once more, only for his fist to be caught by the boy's fingers.

"Impossible!" The man shouted, as Parsa let loose a small smile.

It gave him satisfaction to see a higher power fall.

No matter how much he tried to deny it.

"My boss would be upset if I returned late. So there's no time for me to deal with you." Parsa said coldly, shoving his hand on the man's chest and sending him back with astonishing force.

The man smashed into the side of his car, warping the door.

"I'm calling the damn cops!" The man shouted.

Parsa's eyes flashed dangerously. The same way all the protagonists would do in the animes he watched for intimidation.

"Try it, and face the consequences. You witnessed some of my powers today. Who knows what else I'm capable of?"

The man's face, which was already pale, paled even further, turning grey.

No, don't call the police. This kid is dangerous, too dangerous, the man thought.

And with that, the man sped away.

Parsa put his hands in his pockets, forcing the smile on his face to revert back to normal.

These were his powers.

To be unkillable.

And once he had saved enough from his night shift job, he could finally make something of himself.

To save the world, and be appreciated for once.

Another day, another wave of rejection letters.

Rejection was a way of life for 26 year old Nathan Chan.

Nathan's parents had left the asian nation of Toph in hopes of finding a stable future in the West. The nation of Canaria.

But little did they expect...

That their son, Nathan, would be such a failure. Or so Nathan had thought.

BZZT.

Nathan pulled out his phone, to receive a text from Parsa. His high school friend.

"Hey. How's it going man?"

Nathan typed back.

"Nothing much. Just trying to find work. Do you think your place is hiring?"

"Why would you want to work at my shithole? Lol."

Nathan's eye twitched.

"I don't have any place to work. I'm unemployed and have been for over a year."

"But don't you have a degree in structural engineering?"

"Yeah. But I've been hunting for jobs for over a year."

No response. Parsa must have been wrapping up for the day with his night shift.

Nathan put his phone away and walked down the steps.

Parsa and Nathan had been friends since high school.

"Good morning." Nathan waved at his sister, who ignored him.

"Ew. Failure." Eve replied.

Nathan bit back in an insult. Firing back would only initiate pointless arguing. Maybe if he was in his teenage years, it would have made sense. But as a 26 year old man? Living with his parents? Jobless?

There was no excuse to act out of line.

Just living here was enough of an indicator of how downhill his life was going.

Nathan made a cup of coffee and sipped it, browsing the deep web on his computer.

Nathan was a whiz with computers, learning almost everything on his own.

Ever since Nathan's friend circle slowly dispersed, he had found himself more alone than ever.

It first started with Salem, who had found a girlfriend. Salem had shown up to their meet ups less and less often. Then came Riley. Who had accepted a job offer for a robotics company in Toronto.

And for the longest time it was just Nathan and Winn. But on the last day of the degree, it was Winn who got the happy ending.

To be asked out by a girl on the last day of exams no less, as well as an offer for grad school.

As for Nathan, despite working so hard to apply for jobs during his final year, he was met with rejection after rejection.

And because he had invested so much time in job hunting, he was unable to keep up with academics, causing all of his grades to fall embarrassingly below class average. It didn't take long for all of his friends to leave him in the dust.

And while Winn had ended his college life with a big bang, worthy of amazing memories, Nathan did not.

He was met with the absolute worst ending possible.

To move back with his crazy parents, unemployed, and neglected. Even the girl he had a crush on turned out to be a vile toxic bitch who, even on the last day, intentionally flexed in his face her plans to go travelling.

Nathan clicked several links, to his favourite site.

The Silver Thread.

The Silver Thread, known as the TSVT, was a website only accessible to deep web compatible browsers, which was an Internet forum to discuss supernatural causes.

"Swallowtail nullifies a building fire with a single snap." Nathan read out loud, as he clicked the video link, showing the clip where Yuni had used her wind powers to nullify the flames.

Nathan clicked the comments.

"Swallowtail has to be one of the people who were affected by the Rawling Explosion." One comment wrote.

A user had replied in a thread.

"Sorry for being a bit out of the loop, but what is the Rawling Explosion?"

Another replied.

"No worries. The Rawling Explosion was a phenomena that had occurred on May 2032. You wouldn't have heard of it. The media and government have classified it as a hoax and tried to cover it up as much as possible and say it was a gas leak. But obviously that's bullshit. A girl with the power to manipulate wind months after something like that happened? Many theories have been made to try to explain it, but one of the users here, who goes by the name of ProfV, postulated that it might have been radioactive in nature. Anyway, it isn't just Swallowtail. I'm sure if you browse this forum a bit, you might encounter other posts of other super beings."

Nathan clicked off the thread and continued scrolling.

There were a lot of posts of Swallowtail.

Whether it was an appreciation post, or a post trying to debunk or analyze her powers.

Or even creepy Rule 34's of her.

Nathan smirked.

The deep web was relentless after all.

Nathan glanced at his phone, then pulled up his conversation with Parsa. He had replied.

"What are you up to, man?" Parsa had texted him.

Nathan texted back. "Just browsing TSVT."

"See anything interesting?"

Nathan checked that the app he had made that covered text tracking was on.

"A lot of posts on Swallowtail. But it looks like you're starting to gain some recognition man. They're calling you the Night Panzer."

"Cringe."

Nathan laughed out loud, only to have his mother peek from within the kitchen.

"I hope that laugh was off of a job description, Nathan."

"Yes, mom. I'm applying right now." Nathan lied, as he turned back to his phone. Parsa had texted him again.

"Honestly bro, I don't know. With this night shift job. I kind of want to quit it and pursue vigilante work full time. But then I'd have no money."

Nathan gazed at his empty wallet. His bank account only had several hundred dollars left.

Must be a true tragedy.

Nathan looked back at the phone screen.

Parsa was someone who deserved to be a well known hero. He had been through enough. From bullying in middle school, to high school, only to end up incapable of even getting into University. Nathan always believed himself to be a failure, but he would never complain to Parsa, because he knew Parsa was in a worse situation than he was.

So that night, when Parsa had revealed his power of immortality to Nathan, he was nothing but supportive of his friend.

But to be a hero meant to be accepted by the people. And right now, the people preferred Swallowtail.

"I'll back you up, man. Always." Nathan texted back.

"Thanks bro. You have no idea how much you mean to me. Not in a weird way." Parsa replied.