IN VERSION

"The strangest thing about the 'Rip's' occurrence was that there was no record of the event ever occurring. All electronic devices were scrambled and satellites were automatically shut down. The only sources of proof for it's occurrence were only every living being on the planet at the time."

YEAR: 2171

LOCATION: EARTH

Some called it the Judgement of God, some postulated it was a result of man's negligence and insensitivity toward nature. Some called it the Rapture, Armageddon, Ragnarok.... The end of the world! However, the 'Harvest' was none of these things.

It occurred on April 23, Year 2171. It was a busy day for Darey as he was headed toward his recently acquired job. Having just finished his second degree in International Marketing at one of the best Universities, York, in UK, prequel to this was his completion of his course in Business Administration at his home country, Nigeria, He was a top agent at Grimeshaw's which was located at Loch Lomond, U.K... a major attraction for tourists and residents alike.

Everything was perfect. However, his seemingly enjoyable life was entirely shattered by those who he would eventually known to be the Reapers and the event known as the HARVEST.

The Rip which had happened 50 years prior, suddenly manifested once more. As was in the case of the previous phenomenon, no electronic device could function, and all weapons and nuclear systems were inoperative. What made this Rip different from the last however was that It lasted for a span of over 7 hours.

Darey's planned day was ruined as everyone was ordered to stay indoors by the neighborhood security men, a few hours after the Rip had appeared. Suddenly a bright light shone from beyond and one by one, individuals randomly began to vanish all over the globe, including the building he was in.

Darey who was stuck at the office was so confused as to why this was happening. His colleague however was petrified with fright and despair enveloped her. He tried to comfort the once talkative and extroverted individual, but the look on her face was that of one who had abandoned Hope!

"It's the Rapture, it's the end.... I've been left behind.... God please not me....." was what she kept muttering to herself.

Another colleague was confidently saying it was Divine Retribution from the heavens for soiling the Earth with toxins and defiling her.... Some were praying, some were giving out theories, some were trying to pointlessly reach their loved ones, to no avail and while others like him just sat in their corner.... utterly paralyzed and trying to rationalize their current predicament. His 25 years of life was not going to be cut short by this strange phenomenon.

"Am I going to be next?" "Has anyone seen Phil?" "Why was that asshole Rebecca caught up and I was not?" "Tribulation! Woe unto mankind" "Come on pick up the phone, come on service just work.." "Robby hang in there." and more were the voices ringing in his ears. The chaos could not be quenched as the government could not even be reached to procure an answer and no definite explanation could be given.

"Screw this! I'm out... you all can stay here like the bunch of maggots that you are but I'm gonna find out what's going on outside!" Someone finally spoke up.

It was the proud and pompous Larry whom everyone had grown to despise but surprisingly the look on their faces was not that of disgust but admiration. For he was going to confront the situation head on! Since there was no electricity, the ventilation system was inoperative and so they had to leave sooner or later. Everyone followed Larry and opened the doors.

The fresh air of the outside world was.... Poison. Immediately they stepped out, they began to choke, their skins turning pale and a few seconds later, they died... leaving the door open. Those hesitant to leave and remained in the office were also exposed to the Dark otherworldly toxic atmosphere and died as well.

As Darey began to choke on his own breath and blood his bloodshot eyes were averted to Charlie, the dog in the office which belonged to the Boss. The mutt which had been asleep through the whole ordeal suddenly awoke. It's eyes bulging, drool constantly dripping. It began to transform before Darey's eyes and became a beast.

It was so similar to a Grade 5 monster which he has previously seen on his Virtual screen. Was he hallucinating? He looked to his side as most of his colleagues were already dead. He tried to speak but he could not make out any word... his moment of confusion vanished. He knew for sure... he was going to Die!

"I'm Dead?" An Inner voice rang within him.... Like letters being typed out, in the infinite darkness he saw the word 'DEAD'.

"I'm a Dead man" he thought to himself.

'DEADMAN' was now seen clear as day before him.... Is this hell? where am I? Millions of questions rang through his brain, as letters began to form.

'My.... Other....No..... Oh no..... Please.... Outside.... Leave....You! Each of the first letters of the words started coming together....

"MONOPOLY?"

Now he was confused he read aloud the maxim before him 'DEADMAN MONOPOLY' and everything went dark once again.

Darey woke up and opened his eyes. The light seared through his eyes causing a sharp sensation to be sent to his brain and the pain permeated throughout his body. It felt like this was the first time he was seeing, as his eyes were not accustomed to light. He was not wrong. He had been reborn! He eventually discovered what had transpired after a while passed.

The Harvest which had occurred earlier beamed all the Ability Users on Earth away, including the Special Ability User Force, The ZENITH.... those who were registered and those who were not, all were long gone. Those left behind were humans who had not awakened. The aftereffects of the Harvest caused the Earth to be filled with Otherworldly Energy, which proved toxic to beings who did not come from the Other world. He discovered lots of things as time went by. All humans had died due to the Otherworldly Energy poisoning, making him the last one left.

Why was he an exception? His ability had awakened at the last minute. 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 kicked in automatically as he was about to die. He then survived the Hellish world for 234 years before he finally found a way back to the past to reset everything.

YEAR:2161

LOCATION: Lagos, Nigeria

"Wait, I don't get it..." Tenny said after listening to Darey's story.

"What part?" Darey asked. He was amazed at how Tenny calmly received his story.

"Knowing him... I'm sure he's still trying to analyze the situation" Darey thought to himself.

"You said all the Ability Users were beamed up right? Which ability did you plunder that enabled you to be reborn?" Tenny inferred.

Darey smiled... He too once once perplexed about how it came to be until he came into the realization.

"Everyone has an ability!" Darey said "As a result of the first Rip, we humans were exposed to Otherworldly energy that caused us to undergo millions of years of mutation in an instant, however not everyone is able to manifest it by natural means."

Darey smiled, remembering how he had come up with his theory and how it was confirmed.

"All abilities require certain conditions for them to manifest. However, they exist within everyone all the same. It's like a recessive gene becoming dominant during mutation. My ability allows me to see and extract such abilities at the most basic level" Darey replied his brother, with a now serious expression.

"The reason I survived was because the woman next to me had the ability of 'INSTANT INFANTRY' which enabled me to generate new and living cells, tissues and organs as well as transferring my consciousness into my new body." He added.

Tenny at this point had forgotten his fear and was already too engrossed in this new discovery

"This is such a groundbreaking discovery... if the world knew this, things would be different. Stigmatization toward Ability Users would be non existent because everyone would realize that they were all the same! But there's still a part that is unclear to me. You said Otherworldly energy made the world toxic right? How come 40 years ago the humans did not die from it. Also how did you survive in the Ruined world if it was toxic?" Tenny asked in excitement.

Darey was happy at his brother's optimism but he knew things were not as simple as that, however he was impressed that his brother had found holes in his story and was smart enough to figure those out.

"It turns out the Otherworldly energy from the 'Rip' was different from that of the Harvest's. The energy that mutated all of us comes from refined and calcified Otherworldly energy, while the one later was unrefined and raw. As to how I survived in the Ruined world, Awakened Ability users are not affected by the toxin of the raw Otherworldly energy. So when I awakened I was immune to it's effects." Darey answered.

Tenny seemed so captivated, however Darey knew that the world he lived in was not so uneventful for him. The toxins were the least of the problems he encountered.

"The Otherworldly energy was not an issue to me, but that doesn't mean my journey was a walk in the park too. There were issues pertaining to feeding, shelter... and the worst problem of all... CULTIVATORS" Darey spoke seriously.

Tenny went back to the state of confusion "Cultivators? What are those?"

Darey's expression turned grim at this moment and after a slight hesitation, he decided to tell him.

"Remember the dog I saw transform right before I died?" Darey asked as Tenny nodded.

"Well I was not hallucinating! The dog evolved and mutated as well, becoming a Cultivator. However, it was only a Grade 4 at most, a low level one. Cultivators are the true names of the Monsters that randomly appear all around the world we see a lot of them on the Virtual screen, and we see them being subjugated by Ability users. However, the ones I encountered were not only more ferocious, but more powerful than the ones we saw. That Grade 4 dog displayed the strength of a Grade 6 by this world's standard of monsters. Grades depend on lots of factors, mostly the amount of Otherworldly energy they possess as well as their predatory nature and instinct. So that Dog could not be compared to wild animals such as Lions which had also become 'CULTIVATORS'." Darey said.

"In the ruined world, most animals and plants had already mutated and so food was scarce. I ran into a lot of CULTIVATORS and realized I needed to get stronger if I was to survive. I began to absorb as many abilities as I could and got stronger. Thus I managed to survive that world. I even got an ability that considerably slowed down ageing, that's how I was able to live so long." He finished.

Darey left out some parts, including the true nature of the present world Cultivators as well as other information, he knew his brother wasn't ready for it... yet! Tenny marveled at all what he was hearing, but he still had many questions.

"Now I've got tons of more questions... In the first place how do you know so much of these things?" Tenny asked again.

Darey knew his brother and if this persisted he would be answering questions all day. As to how he knew... some were from his observations and personal discovery, however not all of them were. He couldn't start telling Tenny this already, so he decided not to answer the question.

"Why don't we stop here for now. Instead of just telling you... why don't I show you?" Darey said.

Tenny's heart was already beating fast from the excitement "What do you mean by that?"

Darey stood on his feet and started walking toward the door "We are going to hunt down a Cultivator... You coming?"

Tenny's long forgotten nervousness returned and he didn't know what to say... "B-But that's dangerous. I mean... I don't even have an ability."

Darey knew it would come to this, but he had already made up his mind. From the moment he had decided to tell him about the other world, he had resolved on what to do. He looked at Tenny's nervous, but expectant face and said

"Did you forget what I said? Everyone has an Ability, and now it's time we awakened yours."

TO BE CONTINUED...