[Author notes: Hey everyone! Thank you for giving a chance for my second book! This first volume will be an introduction, showing how the Apocalypse started, also as some other concepts of the world. Also, superpowers won't be shown much in this first volume as well, so don't expect it in the first chapters. The main story will begin in the second volume (After chapter 20), and there the superpowers will be more displayed.]
Chapter 1: The beginning part 1
He was looking up to the sky, feeling his heartbeat clearly. The sensation he had was to be immersed in water, all his body was numb and seemed to be floating.
In the sky, something was falling. It was beautiful, yet dreadful at the same time.
It gave the feeling of seeing a strong and amazing waterfall from above, but have the fear to fall from there.
That thing fell at a high speed… and once it touched the ground…
The man widened his eyes as the sky started to bleed and--
.
.
.
Owen woke up from his daydreams. His heart was racing inside the chest and he felt his face feverish.
He was looking through the window beside his desk while daydreaming. Out there a huge city could be seen, with numerous and enormous buildings, intense traffic of people and vehicles, filled with the usual tension and stress that a busy urban environment would give.
The skies were clean. Its blue color was as dazzling as ever and it relieved him a little bit.
The man was really nervous for some reason, maybe because of the thoughts he was having a while ago when looking at the city and the sky.
He started to organize things on top of his desk, even though they didn't need to be organized at all.
He was agitated. His mind told him all the time to get up from that chair and leave the enterprise he worked on, then go to his house and settle down.
Owen was the manager of the commercial sales department though, so he couldn't leave before all his team left that place first. He saw that habit as a display of his responsibility to the company.
The last coworker to stay at the department stood from her desk, turning off her computer and heading to the exit.
'As always, she is so gorgeous today, so elegant…'
Owen looked at his coworker, someone that often was part of his particular fantasies.
Let alone the discreet flirts, she was a wonderful and competent woman working in the same place as someone with a bad marriage like him. No wonder he would feel like that.
'Though my marriage is so boring and helpless because of me.' And he was entirely right.
'If I could at least leave one of my three jobs, I would surely have time to play with my own daughter…"
He was feeling more dejected than usual on that day; his usual self was melancholic enough to bear all the day along, by the way.
He didn't know what was happening with him. Maybe he was just lacking some time with his family or all that daily work was finally showing its consequences on his health and killing him slowly.
Either way was bad, but Owen was a man of habits and he wouldn't be leaving his jobs or paying more attention to his family, although he wanted so much to do it.
'A man of habits… But not all of them are good ones, anyway.'
Once that beauty finally stopped to look at Owen as if she was about to eat him with her eyes, she headed to the exit and left the department.
Owen got up from his chair and quickly kept some things on his backpack, leaving the enterprise.
The manager found himself needing to hurry to the train station. He stayed for too long at the department and it caused his delay to go take the train at the right time.
'Damn! We are on the capital of this freaking nation and they still don't have a flexible schedule for a train!"
Owen wasn't someone athletic. Also, it was two times harder to run with a backpack and avoid waves of people in the way.
Later, Owen would ask himself how things would turn to be if he didn't choose to run like crazy and get that train at the right time.
Maybe each step he made that day was just destiny. He was inevitably taking his path to the day that would change his life.
A normal family guy with a weak marriage and that worked too much was going to face closely what chaos really meant.
…
"As you all know, the Human Development Index of Saphyr is one of the highest in the world. Our education system, quality of life, health support, and economical state bring us to have such a high rank among all the other nations." A professor spoke in front of a huge blackboard that was displaying several statistics for the numerous college students paying attention to him.
"Can someone say to me whether our crime rate is high or not?"
A student promptly raised his hand and the professor allowed him to speak right after.
"Ten cases of violent crimes for every hundred thousand inhabitants, Mr. Will. It's a very low number, by the way."
Will energetically nodded with his head smiling at the student and then returning to his lecturing.
"Exactly! And, now, as you can see, we can associate our low cases of criminal activity with our high score regarding the economy, health, and education. When those three pillars are at their peak, a bunch of problems regarding society is solved automatically."
He wrote some keywords on the blackboard, then turned to them again.
"Now, what would happen if all these three pillars got destroyed is something obvious. When humans can't live in a society in the way they think they deserve, they will try two different things: they will join the chaos and worse everything each time more, or they will try to fix it, but in their own way.
"However, no matter which causes they choose, something is a matter of fact: Once these pillars get harmed we are going to see a brutal phenomenon."
He gave a pause, waiting for his students to ask something just to be sure that they were paying total attention to what he was saying.
"And… What's it?" Another student questioned biting his pen.
"An Apocalypse! People often show this kind of phenomenon as rocks falling from the sky, crazy knights killing people, Fenrir, God's fury, zombies, and so on. But it's not like this. The true apocalypse will happen when humans stop working together, live together, struggle together… In short, our world will end when society ends, when our bonds as human beings get cut!"
After that impactful quote, the alarm sounded and all the students started to prepare for another class.
Will smiled, satisfied with the results of another sociology class.
Some of his listeners complimented him for the class and even stayed there to talk more about it.
After some while, he found himself alone in that huge classroom of the university he worked at.
'Again alone, huh?" The man sat on the nearest chair while taking off his glasses and rubbing his face.
'It's time to go home, but I don't want to at all. I won't find anyone when I get there, anyway. There is no one waiting for me.'
He lit up a cigarette, taking a deep drag on it and then releasing all the smoke at once.
Will was an exceptional professor, but the worst man he knew.
He hadn't any good experiences in romantic relationships. The last entanglement he had with someone was in his final years of university, and since then he's remained single.
Will didn't have friends. The only familiar faces that he would be interacting within a regular basis were his students.
He wasn't good at many things except his current office in the sociology field.
He left the university dragging his feet, not looking like the cool professor he was just a while ago.
'I hope that insomnia doesn't keep me up tonight as well.' He thought, giving a solitary sigh.
'To be honest, maybe an Apocalypse would help my life to have more taste. Maybe I wouldn't be a loser like now when trying to survive in a desolate world and society.'
He could have got the train at any time, but for some reason, he felt like getting the train from 7 pm.
…
"You know, my fiance is a wonderful person. I love him so much…" A woman spoke to the bartender, who was cleaning some glasses on the other side of the balcony.
"That's the fourth time you say it, Sarah… Are you sure you didn't have enough?"
Sarah looked bothered towards that man with her tired and dried eyes. She was feeling all her body and mind numb.
"You saying this kind of thing just makes me want to drink more, you know?" She complained. "But I can't spend too much. We are planning to marry, so I need some money for our Honeymoon."
The bartender looked at her raising one brow.
"You are a successful lawyer who earns more money in a month than my bar in a semester. If you didn't drink so much, you wouldn't need to worry about money."
She rolled her eyes, licking an ice cube from her glass.
"I drink this much to forget about my shitty family. Otherwise, I won't pass a day without hating them more. I do it for them as well!"
The man just narrowed his eyes, shrugging. Of all the excuses he heard through his life, that one was the worst. Probably, no member of her shitty family cared about her hating them or not.
"I am a wealthy and independent woman. I am on a love adventure with a firefighter, and about to marry. I love my work and have good health as well… But why am I so sad, Tom?"
The man thought about that for a while, cleaning some more probably due to anxiety.
"Because willing or not, the love of your family will always have a space on your heart that none lover, work, or money will fill."
After Tom said this, they both fell into an awkward silence.
'That's… That's true but not what I wanted to hear at all. In the end, it just serves for me to remember that this emptiness never will be filled. Not with the family I have, at least.'
Sarah switched her attention to the tv, trying to run away from that situation.
"Today, some meteorites will fall on the surface of the earth. The scientists don't know the exact point where they will fall, but it doesn't seem to be harmful. In truth, once they cross our skies, maybe we will have a beautiful show!" The reporter spoke.
He was going to give more details, but Sarah ignored it.
"Well, I am going to take the train. It's nearly seven and I want to see the rain of meteorites with my fiance."
She left the bar waving to Tom, who didn't wave back.
'A rain of meteorites, huh? I never saw it before. I wonder where they will be falling…"
Thinking about her fiance, Sarah walked hastily towards the train station.