„Welcome to this year's Nobel Prize Awards" an attractive man of about 40 years of age spoke in front of a huge audience. You could see many famous scientists, politicians and activists sitting inside the crowd, staring at the stage, for some reason none of them showed any type of suspense. They all seemed like they knew what was about to happen next.
„Without letting any of you wait further, let's get right into it. First off, the Nobel Prize for Physics. This years winner is… Sylas Aetherstein, for his research into quantum physics."
As soon as the moderator called out his name, Sylas stood up from his front-row seat. He was moderately tall, standing at about 185cm (6'1) with an average face and build. He had dark curly hair that didn't seem very well-kept, but that could be expected giving his job and nature. At least it perfectly matched his slightly darker skin-tone.
His eyes were brown, with long lashes and average-sized eyebrows. Rather big lips, a nose that didn't stand out and a somewhat sharp jawline, that could be considered impressive considering the amount of effort he put into working out, which was none.
He had a somewhat baggier suit, since he not only hated the way skin-tight ones felt, but also preferred the aesthetic of rather loose-fitting clothes.
As Sylas made his way towards the stage, cheers broke out from the audience behind him. It almost seemed like they had just seen their childhood idol.
„With just 16 years old, Sylas is the second-oldest winner of any Nobel Prize since its foundation. The only one that ever beat him was himself. I'm sure all of you remember last year." At those words every single person in the audience looked at themselves in disappointment. What were they doing with their life? Has a 16 year-old really contributed more to society than them? Twice in a row even.
Sylas finally reached the stage and was given a golden medal by the man, before being given a microphone to hold a small speech.
„Now that I stand here, for not only the second year in a row, but also the fourth time in total, I still want to thank my parents. Without their continuous support throughout my entire childhood none of this would have been possible. They always did their best to support me in whatever research I did and even paid for private tutors when our money was tight. Nothing makes me happier than the ability to finally give them the life they deserve."
After the speech, that was held rather short due to the fact that he had given similar ones many times already, Sylas was about to leave the stage, but was suddenly stopped by the host.
„Before you leave, wait a second please. We might as well make this quick, I'm not being paid by the hour after all, so the faster we are done, the faster I can go home."
He completely ignored the weird look the entire audience and Sylas was directing towards him, and suddenly pulled out another 2 medals.
„Just like last year, the prize for Chemistry and Medicine are awarded to Sylas Aetherstein as well. Congratulations, would you like to give another speech? Technically speaking you are entitled to another 2."
But the man of the hour declined. He also wanted to get this over with as quick as possible. He walked back towards his seat, but not before basking in the thundering applause the audience gave him.
The rest of the ceremony passed by in the blink of an eye. It only took another hour as there were only two prizes left. After all Sylas didn't have much interest in literature or spreading peace. He mostly cared about his research, but not to the point of obsessing over it. He was simply extremely talented and also enjoyed doing it.
After everything was finally wrapped up and Sylas had finally passed through a horde of grown adults that were fighting over shaking his hand and introducing themselves to him, he made his way towards the airport in his flying, selfdriving and environmentally friendly car, his own creation by the way.
As soon as he entered it, his phone suddenly rang. Looking onto the screen, he only saw a single word ‚Mom'. Immediately answering the call, he greeted his mother.
„Hey mom, what's up?"
„We saw the award ceremony and are so proud of you." „I'm here too." His father suddenly interjected.
„Thank you, I guess it's good to know that my hard work pays off, but if I continue like this I might not have enough storage space for all those medals." Sylas joked to his parents.
„Don't worry, before you throw them away, just give them to us, we will gladly take them, who knows for how much they might sell on the internet?" Sylas could basically hear his fathers eyes turning into dollar symbols through the phone, before a muffled ‚boom' could be heard from the other side.
„Hmpfh, don't you dare sell off your only son's trophies. If you do, then let's see for how much the balls that created him might sell for." Whilst his father cried out in exaggerated fear, his mom focused on Sylas again.
„Don't worry son, I will keep them safe. Also, if it gets to much for you, then take a break. You've already done enough for humanity's advance, so don't try to get a burnout." Sylas honestly didn't know what to say. Its not like he was overworking himself, its just that most problems that plagued other scientists seemed relatively simple to him. Working ten hours a day on something that brought him such immense joy wasn't too hard on him.
„Don't you tell our son to be lazy Michelle! You better not start rotting inside your bed Sylas, or I will no longer send you any money." His dad, John, berated him and his mom at the same time.
„You don't even send me any money, and I don't even need it! You know that I could be a billionaire if I wanted to, right? Anyways, I need to go now, I've already reached my airplane." Sylas ended the call with his parents, but not before they told him that they love him at least five times.
‚So annoying!' He thought, but in reality his cheeks were slightly flushed. He just couldn't deal with displays of affection, or any compliments as a matter of fact.
The moment he stepped into his plane, it started pouring down in liters, quickly flooding the entire runway.
‚Doesn't matter. As long as it isn't directly hit by a lightning strike, my plane can deal with any weather phenomena.'
The airplane that Sylas just entered was extremely beautiful and almost looked like a fighter jet. It was very slim and didn't even need a pilot, as it was operating with the help of an AI he had trained himself.
They quickly got clearance to take off, since Sylas was inside of a private airport, and so they set off.
The award ceremony had been in Stockholm, in Sweden, so Sylas would have to fly for a pretty long time before reaching the US again. If it wasn't for his comfy armchair, then he would have been bored out of his mind the entire journey. This way he would simply sleep for the rest of it.
The moment they set off, the storm started to intensify, with lightning lighting up the sky and thunder resounding in regular intervals. Sadly Sylas had already started sleeping the moment he sat down and couldn't hear or see them.
For some reason, the AI, that had never before malfunctioned, didn't turn around, but simply flew into the chaos. It was almost as if something magically hindered it from noticing the threat ahead.
The higher they went, the more chaotic the clouds around them got. They were basically flying through a see of lightning, but for some reason, all of the lightning bolts seemed to avoid the airplane, almost as if a forcefield was protecting it.
But after some time even said forcefield couldn't keep up anymore. Thousands of blinding streaks of plasma had already rushed past him, but suddenly one that was extremely bright appeared right in front of them, seemingly materializing out of thin air.
With seemingly striking accuracy, it headed right for the side of the plane Sylas was sleeping in. It hit the metal wall and caused an eardrum-shattering explosion that melted right through the extremely strong alloy that made up the plane's walls. This caused the air to fly out of the plane rapidly. And with it Sylas.
‚Huh? Where am I?' Sylas opened his eyes, but his mind was still slightly groggy. Though that changed within seconds. He felt the wind brushing past his skin, and he turned soaking wet as he fell through a cloud charged up with electricity.
‚W-What happened? Did I get hit by a missile? But my plane should be able to defend against them. Why is there so much lightning next to me? I programmed the AI to avoid it.'
Sylas was thinking rapidly, but he suddenly realized something. How he got here didn't matter. ‚So this is how I die. I never thought it would be through a plane crash, after all a car crash is much more likely, statistically speaking.'
At this moment Sylas was about half of the way to the ground. ‚Mom, Dad, please don't miss me too much. I had a great life, at least history will remember me as the only Six-time Noble Prize winner under the age of 17.' Closing his eyes, he simply focused on his fall.
„Unawakened planet #0736284926392749 detected, initiating awakening protocol. Time until initialization: 23:59:59."
An androgynous voice suddenly resounded through Sylas' head. He barely had time to process what it said before suddenly hitting the ground. For some reason though, his body was nowhere to be seen, only some blood splatters. The reason for that was unknown.
Due to the incident of the voice that resounded through everyone's heads, no one bothered to search for him. Even if they did, they would have only found an extremely charred ground that was cracked for several hundred meters. At the moment even the air still had a few cracks, but those were healing rapidly and would completely vanish in the next few seconds.