IN VERSION

'It has been over 200 years since the HARVEST, which resulted in the extermination of virtually every single human on Earth.'

'The Number of Survivors.... only ONE!'

YEAR:2405

LOCATION: Earth (Ruined World)

"I'm all alone."

The scorching heat, barely breathable air, dead silence and eerie feelings seemed to follow Darey wherever he went. As he walked sluggishly along what used to be the road of Adele street in the city of Lagos, he felt a tinge of nostalgia. He had been walking for fifteen days straight and the exhaustion had begun to catch up to him.

He had not had a change of clothes during the fifteen straight days of his journey and as expected they reeked of his sweat. He decided to ignore that. He had also given up wearing shoes a long time ago.

"They get worn out too fast" or " They're uncomfortable" were the excuses he usually brought up whenever he questioned himself as to why he stopped using shoes. He took his eyes off his outfit, a fading black shirt with already worn out blue jeans as well as a grey colored hoodie jacket tied around his waist, and he once again looked around him. His expressionless face lit up a bit when he observed what used to be his neighborhood. Now it was overgrown with weeds, algae, moss and filled with broken down buildings. The smell remained however, in fact it seemed to have grown stronger over the course of time. The pungent odor filled the street and would normally overpower a person's sense of smell, but he did not mind.

"Nice to see nothing has changed" he said.

He noticed there was no movement within 50 meters surrounding himself. He felt a sense of relief as well as disappointment at this fact. "How could a place that once bustled with so much activity and life end up this way?" Though he already knew the answer to his question, and what he had resolved to do about it. However it seemed like such an impossible task at that moment.

He suddenly felt weary and decided to sit on the bare street floor, "It doesn't matter anyway" He retorted. He had developed the habit of talking aloud to himself, maybe because he wanted to at least hear the voice of a human being, or maybe he was afraid of forgetting how to speak. As he lay on the hot bare floor he closed his eyes and memories seemed to rush in.

He was an orphan, though he was raised by a loving family. He never knew his real parents but that never bothered him. The couple that adopted him had a boy his age and they were inseparable. They were best friends and did everything together. He began wondering how his brother fared during his last days on earth.

"I hope you were at least happy" He said to himself again. About two years before the Harvest he lost contact with his brother, and no one heard or saw of him. "He could have at least reached out to me" Darey said to himself, but quickly brushed all his useless thoughts of the past away. He rose up and started moving again. He had gotten enough rest for the day.

He walked for three more hours and got to the Yaba District, a small developmental area which was also where he underwent his college education. Suddenly he felt a strange sensation, something was there. He paused for five seconds, body trembling, eyes popped wide open. A large smile of unbelief and a tiny bit of hope appeared on his face.

Within fifty meters of his location, was the answer he had been searching for.

He immediately ran and in seconds he was at the location. He gazed at the long dead human corpse right in front of him and he still could not believe his eyes. He looked at the icon displayed above the pile of rotten bones and then he knew for sure

"At long last! With this, I should be able to make things right" With a mad smile on his face and the tension rising within him, he uttered the words

"DEADMAN MONOPOLY!"

A dark shadow covered five meters from himself and engulfed the already decayed pile of bones laying by the wayside. Ability extraction commenced, and within ten seconds he would finally obtain the final key, what had kept him sane in a world where he was all alone, his purpose and drive to keep moving forward, Finally!

"CRASH!!!" a sound came from approximately 34 meters from his location.

"No way, don't tell me.... it's...." Darey's eyes widened as he saw the grotesque figure approximately 34 meters from him... a CULTIVATOR, and a high level one at that. The beast had bloodshot eyes and its drool fell from his enormous mouth which displayed its sharp teeth. Its hide had spikes growing out and they glowed crimson. Darey could tell what kind of creature it was before the HARVEST. It maintained eye contact with him and snarled.

"Shit! Not at a time like this."

The colossal monstrosity which had already spotted him screeched in excitement.

"It has most likely not had anything to eat in quite a while. It must have devoured all the others in the area. Shit! shit!! shit!!!" Darey thought to himself as the monster advanced at a rapid rate.

Before he could even blink it was already in front of him. Darey cursed more under his breath as the monster raised its claw in order to deal the decisive blow which would render him into fine chunks of meat that the monster would gladly enjoy. 3, 2, 1 , 0... Ten seconds were up! However the claws had already almost met their targets. There was no time to think or react. Only time for one thing.

"TIME WILL TELL!"

As the words rang in his head he felt his consciousness fading and for the first time in over 200 years felt a sense of peace and accomplishment, as well as anticipation of what would happen next. The reason for his journey around the world and back. The purpose of his search, and the reason he even survived the harvest in the first place when everyone else died.... his special ability "DEADMAN MONOPOLY" which allowed him to extract the special abilities of dead lifeforms on the condition that he was 5 meters in distance to them and rendered immobile for ten seconds.

He had survived over countless years in this hell because of that, but that was not the reason for his joy and sense of accomplishment. It was because he had finally found the special ability he had been searching for all the years after the HARVEST. He found an ability that allowed him to finally make things right and stop the destruction of all humanity. To return the world to normalcy.

The ability to TIME TRAVEL!

TO BE CONTINUED.....