After the Second World War, in 1946, the United States carried out Operation High Jump, an operation aimed at determining the limits of the icy continent.
After the success of the mission, in the following decades, the U.S. would conduct various test missions, and soon all countries in the world would sign a decree prohibiting the occupation of Antarctica.
This decree still holds to this day.
Humanity welcomed the 21st century in extravagant consumption, with a large part of the forests being cut down, a vast amount of water polluted, and many species brought to the brink of extinction.
However, that didn't stop humans from continuing. When I was a child, I spent most of my time watching movies with my father.
However, among all the films, those that captured my attention the most were those about the end of the world.
Whether it was because a child loves adventures or a subconscious part of a child desires to delay the moment of growing up, I couldn't tell.
Yet, in the following years, I spent my whole life preparing for the end, exploring conspiracy theories, weapons, survival techniques, and everything I had seen in movies.
However, as I aged, the end seemed further away, not happening as easily.
The desire for the end was slowly suppressed by everyday life, as well as worries about what my parents or friends would do, whether they would survive the apocalypse, whether I would suffer for them—a sign that I had grown up.
Thus, I became a dull blade.
But fate decided otherwise.
I never wanted the world to disappear in an instant, where everyone's suffering and joy would merge into one, until the doctors announced that my father was sick and the CEO of a high-profile company fired him.
I am Uraski, the oldest son of my family, 22 years old.
Every day, I walk through the cypress street, the commercial part of the city, the square of the unknown hero, St. Mark's Street, the bridge over the river, until I reach my workplace. I am involved in delivering firewood to all citizens who need it.
As usual, I asked my boss how many meters were expected.
-"15 meters," he said clearly.
-"Understood," I replied.
The sound of the machine, the sound of axe hitting wood, echoed through the room.
Slowly, I cut through the logs, from small to large, going one by one until I completed the task. I put the axe aside and wiped the sweat from my forehead.
I looked around, and smelled the workspace filled with the scent of freshly cut wood.
The sun was slowly setting, another workday was behind me.
It was time to go home; I left at 1 p.m.
The streets were full of passersby hurrying on their way. I passed through the square of the unknown hero, where people gathered and chatted.
The scent of lemonade wafted through the street, bringing freshness to the summer day."
"One of the moments where I'd feel freedom was during walks.
In those moments, I wouldn't think about anything else but focus my thoughts on one single thing.
Now, I was thinking about the boss who fired my father, thinking about how he owned cars, enjoyed vacations, while someone else was dying. I wanted to change that, not just with him but with all like him.
My flame of revenge burned stronger and stronger, hatred erased my sense of time and space.Until I saw her.
A girl with white hair, delicate facial features, black eyes radiating depth, unattainable for the current me.
I stared at her for the next 60 seconds, like a psychopath.
I could already imagine us leaving the church together, her holding my son's hand when... Flash... and an earthquake interrupted my most beautiful dream.
I quickly cleared my mind.
Something , something terrible has happened, I said.
I've never been a hero, but I would be angry at myself if someone else didn't help to my loved ones if they were in danger; my conscience was gnawing at me.
I went to see what happened.
The closer I got, the more clearly I could hear some kind of sound.
Smoke, large amounts of smoke, like a curtain, obstructed my view slowly.
The closer I got, the harder it was to breathe, people around me looked confused.
-"What's happening?"
-"What is it?"
The windows on most houses were cracked; everyone went out to see what happened.
Glass not only cracked but inexplicably shattered, injuring many people.
A piece of glass lodged into the stomach of an old man in the background.
-"Are you okay?" I asked.
He nodded, seemingly avoiding fatal injuries and crucial organs.
Nevertheless, I had to stop his bleeding.
Venous bleeding, I took a part of my shirt, and asked the man if there was any alcohol nearby.
-"Check the fridge,' he told me.
As I entered the house, I noticed that the thunderous sound was getting louder and louder, as if approaching, panic set in.
-"What a beautiful house," I said as I opened the fridge.
An old bottle labeled 1984 and some vodka were the only drinks the man had.
The feeling was stronger than me; I needed both for his salvation.
Slowly, I bandaged his wound and started escorting him into the house.
But then... I felt it.
Ominous feeling , a feeling as if an event contrary to all laws of logic was about to happen, engulfed my body.
For the third time in my life, I experienced what I called a Deus Ex Maxima."
"I stopped like a tree, immobile in space and time. The old man then looked at my figure, but all he could see was a pale face, a young man resembling his war comrades who had gone through the so-called rat tunnels.
I knew that something bad was going to happen, I felt that feeling when my grandma died, and when my dad was diagnosed with an illness.
I turned towards the place where the smoke was coming from.
Due to the smoke, I couldn't determine, but a figure of 1 to 2 meters stood ominously, 15 meters away from me.
What I was looking at resembled a humanoid being with wings.
Time, time, time that is.
Time of death, time of collapse, time of the end.
When the fairy, the forest fairy, in the trumpet, a terrible sound played.
The song, which I repeated so much to memorize it, began to recite in my head.
-"Impossible", I said fearfully.
The song continued to unfold in my head.
Darkness thick, thick embrace,
Harbinger of fate,
Son of human, it really is,
for you now to late.
The sun was still there, the blue sky could be seen despite the smoke.
-" Good", I said, frightened, rushed to take the old man home.
Tu Tummmmmmmm.. The sound of the trumpet interrupted what I wanted.
The earthquake followed again, the earth shook, houses split in half, the street cracked, but what
was most terrifying was some celestial body moving towards the sun.
Shine the sun, stronger, stronger!
Sad is the human fate.
Warmongers, damn humans.
It is now to late.
New moon, blue moon,
run, it's already late.
Something resembling the moon, blue in color, with some rings, covered the sun.
I ran to leave the old man in the house.
Like a ball, someone's head flew past us. But I didn't pay attention to that.
The sound of gunfire soon covered the sound of thunder.
Some being, with long ears, much taller than humans, began attacking people in the vicinity.
With the corner of my eye, I watched what was happening, some people tried to shoot it with automatic weapons, but it somehow resisted them.
Slowly, it approached us. The old man seemed to have lost a sense of space, unaware of the approaching threat.
-"Do you have a basement?" I asked him; he didn't know how to respond, so I laid him down next to the bed.
I went to the window; I didn't want to believe what had happened before my eyes, so I wanted to make sure I hadn't gone crazy or found myself in some sci-fi movie.
Purple-striped curtains, there were a few centimeters that separated me from a clear view.
I pulled the cable and slowly moved them.
Instead of a view of the street, of the old man's neighborhood, two pairs of blue eyes were staring at me.
Like a predator, like some sublime aristocrat looking at his slave, a being that considered lower value, an animal, a figure we call an Elf, was looking at me.
With a turn, he quickly approached my throat through the window with some red object resembling a knife.
I began to fall.
My brain was thinking so fast.
Suddenly, I remembered the words:
To the elf speak the words, he shall halt,
Saved you may be, let fortune exalt.
Stop, i said on elvish, hebrew, english, dwarfly, mirmirian.
-"Atzor"
His blade stoped below my throat, making a cut and letting a bit of blood flow.
My heart was racing at 250, blood started to come out of my nose from the adrenaline rush, and the capillaries in my eyes burst.
The elf-like being quickly returned the red knife-like object to its pocket with his left hand, and my gaze followed it.
I felt relief.I looked up, but his gaze remained fixed on me the entire time.
He was like a beast; his gaze made me fall to the floor.
As I fell, he quickly, with his right hand wearing a white glove, grabbed me by the throat.
Slowly, he choked me. I was losing consciousness, looking at him, then at the sky, then at the wall. Thoughts of my family came to mind.
-"Was I going to die like this?".
-"I must not die before them," I said sadly to myself, hoping this wasn't the end to encourage myself.
My consciousness was slowly slipping away; I was slowly losing myself.A day later...
- "Darling", I said to her.
- "Yes dear?"she said.
- "What's our son doing?" I asked her.
- "He's playing in the yard", she told me.
I went outside; the green grass of my home and the blue sky were like a perfect spring day.
Wild acacias smelled throughout the street, flowers, carnations, and violets were blooming, bringing spring.
My son standing there , playing with a ball, a dog going around him.
I walked towards him when my wife called me.
I turned to her, and instead of our lovely little house, I saw a wooden ceiling.
"What is this... where the hell..." My hands, legs, the whole body was paralyzed.
I saw only that ceiling. Where am I, how did I end up here, I wondered to myself.
But the thought that I was alive made me happy for a moment. However, immediately after, I thought about my family; are they alive?I stood there, hungry, and thirsty.
The human body can endure for a maximum of 3 days without water; it's a law of nature.
Time passed; I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. The thought of being experimented on was terrifying for me, for what else they could leave me alive.
I remembered the book I read about elves, the so-called Nifi-Tip.
I tried to recall every detail in my head.
Elves are proud creatures; they take pride in their race, considering others as lower life forms. They live in forests, despising beings similar to them.
An elf doesn't like seeing someone higher than themselves; skin color and height are what status and money are to us.
They draw their power from crystals in the Elf Mine.Then I remembered something else.
This is the formation you need to make to awaken your powers. You need crystals from the Elf Mine and your blood.
The feeling of dread, which was there before that catastrophe, returned. And again, those 2 pairs of eyes were in front of my face.
With his left hand, another elf, much shorter and darker, took the blue knife and came towards me.
"It's over; I'll become an experiment and die painfully".
He swung towards me and said something mentioning regeneration.
Intense pain enveloped my body.
Muscles in my arms, legs, the whole body began to tear and reconnect, once, then another time, all in a loop; my organs were being shifted, I felt like I was dying.Suddenly, the pain started to diminish; I couldn't make a sound until then.
As soon as language function returned to me, I screamed in pain, but soon fell silent when the elf looked at me.
I slowly felt my legs and arms, and the pain became less and less.
Until the moment I fully regained control over my body.
I moved my fingers, but I didn't dare to get up so that the elf wouldn't perceive it as an aggressive act.
-"If you stand up" , were the words that came out of the elf's mouth , or that's what I understood.
I looked at him, pretending not to understand.
-"Stand up", he told me again, as much as I could understand him.
- "I see you understand", he told me again, after I pretended not to understand.
I got up.
Then he said to me:
-"Learn" , and he gave me a book.
The book was called Elvish for Lower Beings, I think.
Then he started to leave the room.
- "Where is my family", I asked him in human, panicking.
- "Family", I said in Elvish, with a bad accent.
He closed the door, and I heard him say, I don't know.
I fell headfirst to the floor, hitting my hands in despair.My hands became bloody; I yelled like a monster.
The door opened again. The elf swung his legs over my stomach.
I flew into the wall. He said: Learn and let yourself in Elvish.
Then he closed it and quickly left. It was clear to me what he meant.
I grabbed the book and read and read.
10 days later...
- Man only knows the things he tames, said the fox.
People no longer have time to get to know anything.
They buy ready-made things from merchants.
And since there are no merchants selling friends, people no longer have friends.
If you want a friend, tame me!
-" What does tame mean?" asked the elf.
- "It means to make someone yours".
- "Do you have anyone tamed"? he asked me again. I thought a little.
- "Yes, a dog, and a cat".
- "What about your family that you mention so often" , he asked me.
- "They are different".
- "How different", asked me the elf.
- "They are at the same level as me, my kind.
- "So like Elves have other Elves?
- "We are similar in that regard," said the elf. "All of us elves are one big family."
- "Not quite," I told him.
- " Why" he asked me.
- "There's something we Humans call love that separate other humans to our humans" I told him.
- " That's sounds like our "rapir" he said.
Then Elf asked me:
- "What is this thing called an airplane", he asked me.
- "A thing that flies."
- "Like a fairy?" he asked me.
- "Planes flies much higher than your fairies."
- "You have them in the sky or you had, I told him.
- "Fascinating", he told me. - What are airplanes used for?
- "F... for transport."
He went to find an airplane.
I pressed my head against the door to see if he had gone; elves can hear everything, so I had to wait at least 5 minutes until he left.
Then I took a piece of my hand with the knife I used to eat, so that a circle would flow out of it.
Remember, it goes like this... I drew a circle and then a square around it, and so on, overlapping.
Then the symbol. Finally, you have to break the crystal. I had something small, like a ring. The formation lit up.
-"Let's go" I jumped .
Welcome to Terra 33; we're switching to human mode.