At the stern urgings of my Dad, I was pulled out of my thoughts as I quickly wet the hand towel with alcohol and started fervently scrubbing every inch of my exposed skin.
However, within thirty seconds, the towel was utterly caked with blood, causing me to toss it aside and use another.
"Where the hell did all of this blood come from? Did it seep through our pores or something?" Besides me, Renton had an equally difficult time getting clean.
"Not sure, but I'm amazed that we didn't bleed out and die, considering there is a quarter of an inch thick layer around our face and ears, not to mention arms," I added after pulling off my uniform jacket and seeing that my undershirt was completely crimson, instead of light green.
It was like I had taken a blood bath; apart from parts of my body where the sweat had caused the blood to run thinner, there were certain areas, such as the crook of my elbow and forearms, which were completely coated.
Glancing up from the spot I was cleansing, I looked over to find that Dad was half free of blood while Carleigh and Chase were working to clean up Tristian.
After my last statement, no one said anything, and since time was of the essence, we all scrubbed as if our lives depended on it, until finally, with a little over a minute and forty seconds remaining until the promised time, I was good to go.
Sitting on the floor in only my boxer briefs, I sighed and picked up the soiled uniform before making a mad dash upstairs, confusing everyone.
Thinking on my toes, I rushed into my bedroom, ripped open my closet, grabbed two pairs of gym shorts and four t-shirts without looking if they matched, and sprinted out of my room.
When I reached the stairs, I knew there was less than a minute left until the Reboot happened, so I jumped up, landed on the railing, and slid down it, as I had when I was younger.
It took me around 30 seconds from start to finish, and when I returned to the living room, I chucked a pair of clothes at Dad, Renton, and Chase.
"No time to talk; just change and worry about everything else later." Ignoring how potentially embarrassing it was to change in front of other people and that I was frantically running around in only my underwear, I pulled on my black shorts and shirt before diving onto my makeshift nest of blankets.
"He changes his clothes but keeps the dirty briefs, riddle me that…." I heard my Dad say aloud but chose to ignore it, as I was already annoyed there wasn't enough time for me to change my underwear too.
"What do you expect, Dad? Dean has always been neurotic about cleanliness." With a snort, Renton pulled on the red pair of shorts and neon green shirt.
He even used finger quotations when he said the word cleanliness because my obsessive-compulsive need to be clean only pertains to my body and clothes; when it came to things like my room, it was another story altogether.
"Hey, how come you are the only one with a matching outfit," sitting up so that his brother could help him get dressed, Tristian complained as he grimaced upon seeing the bright purple graphic t-shirt and yellow shorts.
"I grabbed the first thing I saw; why are you complaining? At least you don't look like a highlighter marker, like Ren." Lying on my back, I held up my hands and struggled to hide the stupid grin on my lips.
Unlike Renton and Tristian, Dad didn't bother arguing about the clothes I threw his way, a dingy grey shirt with kaki gym shorts.
Luckily, a lot of my clothes were loose fitting, so there wasn't a sizing issue for anyone, especially since we were all relatively close in height and body shape, except for Renton, who was a little bulkier after working out like a fiend during training.
"Alright, everyone lay down; I don't want any accidental head contusions," Acting like a shepherd tending to a flock of sheep, Dad shooed us with his hands and forced everyone, even Carliegh, to lay down on a blanket nest, while leaving Tristian on the couch.
"Heh, this feels like back in the day when we used to all sleepover on the weekends." Staring around the room with a nervous smile, Tristian did Tristian things and tried livening up the mood.
"It seems like so long ago…." I heard Chase murmur, but before I could respond with some witty banter, I was overcome by a wave of exhaustion, causing my eyes to feel heavy.
"No…*yawn* matter what happens…" Faintly aware that someone, I think Dad, was trying to speak, I found myself unable to focus as I became light-headed, and eventually, my eyes closed, and I fell asleep.
***
All around the globe, similar situations were occurring, with families lying down in the same room or the occasional unlucky person who was caught on a park bench in the middle of an empty park, and it wasn't only humans either; nearly every single living being, from the smallest insect to the largest mammal suddenly closed its eyes and drifted off to slumber.
And for the first time in tens of millions of years, Planet Earth was utterly silent, giving the eerie appearance that the once lively planet had experienced a mass extinction.
However, one person was still awake and stood atop the tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, looking down at the planet below as if he perceived himself to be a god.
"Hm…I suppose that went better than expected," the man said to himself as he uncrossed his arms and stared into the distance.
Surprisingly, neither the high altitude nor the frigid cold seemed to bother this man, as he stood at the highest point on the planet, where numerous people had died in the past.
"Still, it's only the first part of my plan; forcefully kickstarting the evolution of every living being was no easy task, but molding this planet so it can house its new inhabitants is a tall order." Scratching his chin, the man tried to estimate how much strength was necessary to pull off his goal.
"Hmmm, what to do, oh what to do. Sigh, I guess I just have to take the meathead approach and brute force my way through this." The man stated after releasing a tired sigh.
"Alright, first off, I need to build the Aetheric Network like the planet's atmosphere, although it will only generate a minute amount of the proper Imperium, and it won't be nearly enough to sustain someone of my Rank or Grade; it will grow over time and allow for the inhabitants of New Earth to get stronger progressively." Wearing a giddy expression, the man swung both arms up and created two baseball-sized orbs of rainbow-colored light.
"I am excited to see how things progress; I hope they show me something interesting this time; my last experiment went horribly awry. It's a bummer that only half of humanity evolved, but I can't complain; even mosquito legs can be considered meat."
With that said, the man released the two orbs, one shooting North, the other South, and soon, with a bright flash, a thin membrane of rainbow light coated the entire planet before turning invisible.
With its disappearance, the planet shook, and for a time, chaos erupted as large rock, floating in space began expanding and growing under the influence and introduction of Imperium.
Oddly enough, not a single creature, who was asleep, was injured, and although Earth was transforming, its inhabitants were completely safe from harm and unaware of what the new landscape would be when they woke up.
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END OF VOLUME 1
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