Dawn of the New World

"Angelo, tell Valentino to properly greet them at the port. We will be there soon. I can't make contact with him; my device is not properly working."

He nodded and went outside to talk with Valentino.

“Trey, how many cars do we currently have?”

“Only one, because Risa picked us on her way.”

"One is enough. Angelo and Orlando can ride the bike I came here on while the rest of us can fit in the car."

“Fair enough.”

“Risa, are Marsia and Aida done with the evacuation?”

“Yes, they are currently in one of the CAS districts with refugees.”

“Good, tell them to stay there until I make any call. As for you Risa, I will drop you at the hospital where Fina currently is.”

"Leave it to me, I will take care of her."

“Please do.”

“I have explained things to Valentino.”

"Good, now, time to leave. Angelo, you follow us on the bike with Orlando."

I came out from the house and sat on the steering seat; Risa sat beside me. Trey, Coda and Jacob, with his hands tied, took back seats. I pressed the accelerator and we were out of the district in no time at all.

As Trey and Coda were busy talking, I turned towards Risa.

“I have a feeling that I might make a wrong call.”

"Why do you say that?"

"Let me give you a brief context. The ships that are approaching the port are from the outside world. According to my great grandfather's memoir and Jacob, the world was at constant war for 80 years. They called that time period 'Apocalypse'. War ended 100 years ago with a peace proposal of uniting all the nations of the world into one but the head of the state of that time, Grigio Leonardo, who was also my great grandfather, refused to accept that and separated his nation from the rest of the world."

“Hold on, that’s a lot to take in.”

"But I barely scratched the surface…"

“Seriously?”

"Hey Nicolo, aren't you curious about the era of the void? You must have heard that name before."

“You know about that?”

“Not entirely but I do have some knowledge regarding that.”

"I just assumed you might be dark like the rest."

“So, do you wish to know?”

"Don't drag this, Jacob. If you want to tell me something then spill it already."

"Fine, fine. Apparently, the era of the void is the term that is used for the time before the year 2000."

“What?”

“Some incident happened three to four hundred years ago that wiped out all the records from the world. The records of everything related to this world from the start of mankind till 1999. No one knows what happened before 2000. That's why the era before 2000 is now referred to as the era of the void."

"How is that even possible?"

“I asked the same question but there is no answer to it. I tried to find some information regarding that incident but there is none.”

“That’s really weird.”

“Indeed.”

Now, I am having more doubts regarding my decision to join hands with the rest of the world.

"As I was saying, Risa. What I am planning to do is to accept their offer."

“???”

“To accept their proposal and merge this country with the rest of the world, something that my great grandfather refused to do. So, what I am getting at is, will we get the freedom and peace that we all fought and struggled for?"

"What are the chances of winning against them?"

“Zero.”

"Then, it can't be helped. We have no choice but to accept their proposal if we don't want everyone to get killed."

"But this throws up our idea of freedom in the trash can. The goal that we want to achieve. Everything will be in vain. We were so close to victory but now this..."

"Are you trying to put all the blame on yourself?"

"Because I am the one who made this decisi___"

“What did I tell you before, Nicolo? Don’t take everything upon yourself. We all agreed to follow your ideals out of our own free will. We have never doubted your decisions and we never will.”

“What about the people we were trying to rescue?”

"Then, it's clear that some things cannot be changed, no matter how hard you try. We try to take fate into our own hands and diverge it as much as possible, but who knows, this all might be a part of a bigger fate that is impossible to change. I am glad we at least came this far and I am optimistic that everything will be just fine. There is no point in overthinking when there is only one option in sight.”

“Why are you always so good with the words?”

Risa giggled.

“I am not joking; your words always seemed to convince and help me get out from dire situations.”

Risa giggling turned to laughing.

“Hey…”

"Sorry, sorry."

"What's going on? Did Nicolo tell a joke?" Trey couldn't ignore Risa's laughing.

"No, it's nothing. By the way, Trey, I heard you confessed your love to Risa." I tried to change the subject.

"Ehh!" Both of them said at the same time and were blushing, especially Risa.

"Who…who…who told you tha…that?" Trey stuttered as he spoke.

“Fina.”

"That damn girl… I will deal with her once she has recovered." Risa ground her teeth.

“So, is it true?”

Both looked at each other then nodded. They were in complete sync.

"That's not good, Trey. You didn't tell me anything about this. I can understand the reasoning of Risa that she is a girl and it's embarrassing to talk stuff like that in front of a guy but what about you?"

"Uuuuuuh… I was also embarrassed."

"Spare me with your excuses."

"Ah, you win. I wanted to surprise you with the announcement of our wedding."

"Wedding? Now, that's what I called development."

“What about you and Fina?”

“We haven’t decided yet.”

“How about having a joint wedding? Two couples and a huge feast?”

“Not a bad idea. It could actually work.”

"Nicolo… were you worried just a moment ago?" Jacob seemed to be confused with my sudden change in mood.

“Were you listening to Risa? There is no point in overthinking when there is only one option up ahead.”

"You really took it to the heart, huh."

The whole car was filled with laughter.

We arrived at the hospital where Fina was admitted.

"Thanks a lot, Risa."

“Don’t sweat it and take care.” She waved her hand at us.

We headed straight to the port. I was hoping for things to take a beneficial turn. We didn't want to go back to our usual lives.

We were driving through the wasteland in complete darkness. There was still some time before the crack of dawn. I was getting nervous as to what this proposal would bring to us. There was complete silence in the car. Everyone knew regarding the weight of this situation but tried to lighten the mood when Risa was there.

I looked back to confirm whether Angelo was still following us or was he lost. The shining headlight confirmed that he was still following us.

After 20 minutes of driving, we finally reached our destination, the port.

I came out of my car and spotted Valentino.

“Where are they?”

“Currently resting in the ship since there is no place to rest on the land. I will inform them about your arrival.”

Moments later, a huge muscular man appeared on the deck, staring at me from above. He came down and stood right in front of me. He was huge, crossing 2 metres easily.

“So, you are the infamous Nicolo Leonardo.”

“And who you might be?”

“Pardon, I should have introduced myself. I am the Minister of Peace, John Halton. Nice to meet you."

He put forward his hand. I shook it.

"Is that you, Igor?"

"Yes, sir."

“I apologize in his stead.”

HUH?

"He was tasked to peacefully negotiate with the head but instead, he went with a complicated plan and destroyed everything. This was not our intention so I truly apologize for that."

“No need for that, sir."

I was shaken after hearing that. I wasn't expecting this.

"Now that you are the ones who came victorious in this prolong battle, what are your plans moving forward?"

“We want to create a more systematic society from the scratch. We want to give people freedom and rights with proper law and justice.”

"That sounds all well and good on the paper but do you know how to implement it?"

I did have an idea but I didn't have a clear vision…

"If you think things work as you move forward then that's not how things work in the real world."

I didn’t say a word.

"If you don't have anything in mind then, I have a proposal for you."

There it was.

“I can’t promise you an exact replica of your dreams and your definition of freedom and human right because the reality is crueler than you might think. You cannot have constant peace and perfection. The utopia, that you dream of, is impossible to create."

His words were really disheartening. It felt like he was saying that all our struggle was not worth it. That we fought for the wrong vision.

"But, it is possible to create something close to a utopia."

…

"I promise to provide you people with a living standard better than before. A place where the only way to rise is to struggle. Equality among people is impossible to achieve but giving human rights will surely be a thing. There will be no official discrimination or class system. There will be a law to judge everything. You don’t have to take the law into your hands, you don’t have to worry about the well beings of the others as the other factions are there to help them. You can live a peaceful life yourself. So, what do you say, kid? Willing to join us or still want to create your own utopia? We won't interfere if you want the latter."

His words really hit the soul. His words made so much sense. We were just teens. We didn't know how the world worked, yet we went on to create a better society. There could not be anything better than this proposal. We could finally get to rest and enjoy life while not worrying about the others. We don't have to run the country ourselves while handling all the problems.

That felt like a dream. How could I say no to it?

"Of course, I do." I said with a big smile on my face as my eyes got a bit teary.

Those were the tears of joy, tears of happiness. Our struggle and pain had finally paid off. No one had to suffer anymore.

Seeing me like that, Halton gave a big gentle smile.

The first ray of dawn hit the spot where we were standing. The longest and toughest night of my life was finally over. The break of the dawn brought us victory and much more. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

"As for you, Igor, I have discussed the matters with the committee and they issued an order of your execution in two weeks."

“Execution?” I instinctively said that.

"I expected that. I broke too many laws, fooled the government twice and disobeyed their orders on multiple occasions. It's obvious that I will be executed for that."

“Precisely, you will be executed through poison. You have served us a lot so the least we can do is give you a painless death. The poison will make you unconscious and you will die in your sleep.”

"Well, it doesn't matter. I have already lived a really long life and am honestly bored with it. Maybe the afterlife will be more fun."

"You will go straight to hell, which will be anything but fun."

“Hahaha. You are right about that.”

“You should at least be proud that you were the only person to have a successful brain surgery.”

“You still doing the experiments?”

"No, we abandoned it since we realized it required a special brain like yours. You were a very different case. That's why you were able to live for more than 100 years."

"Move." One of the soldiers grabbed Jacob and pulled him towards the ship. He had a smile on his face. A smile of satisfaction as if he fully enjoyed his life.

“Are you going to join us Nicolo for a cup of tea?”

“Thanks a lot for the offer but I have to decline. There are things that I need to settle before I aboard your ship.”

"Then, I will be waiting for your return."

I waved my hand in return.

“Nicolo…” It was Valentino who said that.

“WE DID IT.”

I screamed and everyone followed me with that.

I saw my sister standing in the corner, crying.

I went straight to her and lifted her up. She was smiling.

"We did it, Sophia."

“Yes.”

Her precious smile was worth every moment. I put her down and shouted.

“Everyone, straight to Alibi. Fina and Risa are waiting to hear the news.”

I was all over the place with joy and excitement.

I hopped into the car along with Valentino, Trey and Marsia and Sophia. Angelo and Orlando were on the bike while the rest of the people hopped on the three-winged plane along with Aida.

We rushed through the corridor and burst into the room where Fina was.

There, we witnessed Fina sitting on the bed while Risa was peeling the apple. Both were surprised to see all of us there.

I couldn't hold back. I went ahead and hugged Fina all of a sudden. She was flustered with that because everyone was watching and had smirks on their faces.

"Hhh…hey, what are you doing? Everyone is watching."

"I am glad you are safe. I was so worried about you; I couldn't bear the thought of losing you."

To everyone’s surprise, I was crying.

“What is this all about?” Risa asked in a confused manner.

"We won, Risa." Trey said in an extremely joyful voice. "He is having a mixture of different emotions right now and he is not used to it."

Everyone laughed at his comment. Risa was crying in joy as well.

But Trey wasn't wrong. It was hard for me to control the joy of victory and Fina's recovery. The anxiety was killing me all this time. But there was no need to fear anymore.

As this was the dawn of the new world.