"GAHH!"
A sharp sting reverberated throughout the man's body as he cried out in distress, his body quickly jolted up from a sleeping position.
Abruptly, both hands shot up, frantically feeling his face as if to confirm his existence, his fingers trembling.
"T-The fuck was that?" he spoke to himself, eyes wide in shock.
Hurriedly, he twisted his head around, surveying his surroundings.
He looked up.
A cracked, white-yellowish stained ceiling, its surface marred by its inhabitants' habits, bearing the unmistakable evidence of years of smoking.
He looked down.
A disgusting twin-sized mattress adorned by an equally rancid bedsheet, pillow, and blanket.
He looked to his left. A cracked, dirty window, draped in cobwebs and grime, entirely blocked the view but let in specks of moonlight.
Then, he looked to his right.
Splintering wood floorboards, white walls with corners festering with black mold.
A cramped kitchen stood in disarray, its gunky stove top coated with layers of grease. The sink overflowed with unwashed dishes, bits of food, and mold clinging to the plates and pooling in the grimy basin.
"Yup, looks like I'm home" he affirmed himself.
Shifting his gaze to the nightstand beside his bed, he looked at the digit clock and gave it a good tap.
"thunk" The clock suddenly awoken and a cute voice began speaking
"Good Morning Master!, it is currently 2:25 Am, March 14. What would you like me to do for you? It spoke out with a cheery voice
"Peppy, what year is it?" Exnil asked the clock
"According to the UETS (Universal Earth time system), it is currently the year 2565."
"got it," he remarked as he reached over and tapped the digital clock, shutting it down.
"Looks like tomorrow's the day." He said aloud, speaking to no one in particular.
He moved his attention to the nightstand drawer and pulled it open
The contents of the drawer revealed themselves: A large messy collage of pills, needles, nondescript baggies filled with powders, and a steel-clad pistol.
Finding what he was looking for he grabbed the gun, raised it to the air, and scrutinized it for a good minute.
'Exactly the one I used in the dream...'
'Hell, I haven't had such a vivid dream since I got the mods.' He thought to himself.
Getting off his bed, he made his way to the kitchen, the floorboards creaking beneath him as he grabbed a mug.
Reaching the kitchen sink, he twisted the handle to the left.
The squeaky pipes groaned, and water quickly filled the mug, the faint metallic smell already reaching his nose.
Lifting the mug to his mouth, he took a sip—and immediately spat it out.
"Tuh!" He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, scowling.
"Fucking rusty tap water."
Opening a cabinet, he pulled out an instant coffee packet and dumped it into the cold water.
'haven't paid the damn heating bill in years, not like it's gonna magically get any warmer if I let it run'
Thinking of anything related to magic ruined his mood. His already scowling face got noticeably worse.
Raising his left hand, he close his eyes in focused intently
"Tsk, nothing."
Grabbing his room-temperature beverage, he made his way to a couch that had seen better days.
Unlike his dilapidated living area, his television set was extremely well maintained, alongside the digital clock poised on a nightstand.
A stunning 85-inch flatscreen TV was mounted on the piss-stain walls.
"Peppy, turn on the TV" He instructed
"Sure thing!" The Assistant responded from within the TV
"What would you like to watch?" it cheerfully asked
"Something that's got nothing to do with magic" Exnil replied
A cutesy "Got it~" came out from the speakers as the TV lit open and processed available shows.
From the screen, a young-looking female reporter with bright violet and pink hair spoke out with enthusiasm.
"We all remember the day S.A.G.E was released to the public, don't we? Or at least some of us old folks do"
"Ohhh~ what's that? I don't look a day over 20?" She answered the question of nobody
"How old Am I? Not telling~~"
"Anyways."
"That day, the similarities gap between humans and animals widened astronomically, infinitely one could say."
"Suddenly, we were immune to all illnesses, genetic disease? Solved! Cancer? Pfft gone~~ Infections, viruses, pathogens, yada yada, Vanished!"
"Originally, it was meant explicitly to cure genetic illnesses in non-infants."
"Its predecessor, CRISPR could only alter genes of infants in the first trimester, and there were limits at that".
"The creators of S.A.G.E, Adrian Vale, and Seraphine Vale created it to save their children from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, but it led to soooo much more."
"Absolute Saints!"
"Anyways long story short, we humans advanced our cognitive and physical abilities so much, that the average child could wrestle an elephant no problem, and solve calculus problems like they were 1+1"
"Now I know you viewers might be scoffing "Hmph", my child can solve Partial Differential Equations without breaking a sweat, but do remember, this was about 500 years ago."
"But, I digress. The point is, after a certain point in S.A.G.E's continual advancement, our mental and physical capabilities went beyond any animal, and one could say we've become gods."
"The S.A.G.E allowed us to manipulate the "God particle", or as we call it "Mana".
"A fundamental force that imparts mass onto particles it interacts with"
"Now we all know the preschool-level physics equation of E=Mc^2".
"Simply, it means that Mass is a form of energy: Even objects at rest (with no kinetic energy) have energy because they have mass."
"Energy is stored in mass: The equation shows that mass contains an inherent amount of energy, even if it's not moving."
"Whiiiich means that by utilizing the God Particle, early humans were able to quite literally generate energy, utterly violating what was known as the "first law of thermodynamics" Tehee~"
"We now call it Magic now, but back then, it was like becoming a god"
"Buuut, as I'm sure all of you are aware, there is a limit and condition to use magic"
" To even use magic, you must enter the "Spirit Zone" and after you've harnessed the mana in the Spirit Zone, only then can you use magic."
"but to this day, no one has surpassed the threshold of 1 second for some reason.
"It's like an Inverse equation!"
"But let's not ramble on again."
"Because of the great magic war 500 years ago, nearly every animal went extinct"
"Most of you have probably not seen a single animal from our home planet Earth!!!"
"The real reason I'm out here today is to show you planet Terra Fuana VIX1!"
"For decades, a group of um, environmentalists?"
"..."
"I don't know what to call them"
"anyways"
"These great magicians have created an artificial planet exactly mimicking the conditions of Earth 500 or so years ago, before the great war, and without us humans of course"
The reporter quickly sprints out of a building where the filming was taking place and points at something.
"Look Look LOOK!!"
"You see that big thing with yellow and brown spots!! That's what was called a giraffe!! A GIRAFFE!!!"
"And look there! That fat grey thing with a horn, that's what was called a Rhino, pretty cool right"
"And look at these pink flowers, they perfectly follow the Fibonacci Sequence"
"There is sooo, sooo, soooooo much more I have to show you guys!!!!"
"Looking at it through the screen doesn't do it justice, it's a MUST visit, for solar tourists, and it's only 40,499 Helicredits for an inclusive planetary escapade!"
"I'll tell you the coordinates!!, its—"
"Peppy turn this shit off" Exil spoke abruptly, his bad mood somehow exacerbated"
"Okay T^T" Peppy responded in a puppy-like tone"
"Magic this, Magic that... FUCKING HELL" Exnil raged as he kicked the already beat-up sofa
"Master! (O_O) you know abusing that poor couch won't do anything" Peppy interrupted Exnil's tantrum.
Peppy knew Exnil bore no malice towards her, it was just the mention of Magic that would trigger her.
She'd been through this for centuries.
"Ugh"
As if all the fury drained out of him, he walked over to his bed and flopped onto it.
.
.
.
"Peppy, what's today's date again"? He asked with a worn voice
"Today is March 14. and the current time is 4:03 Am!" The AI assistant replied with a cheery tone as if nothing happened".
"Looks like tomorrow's the day" Exnil uttered ominously as he looked at the gun on the nightstand.
Another hollow "sigh" came out from him as he shifted his attention"
Raising both his hands this time, he focused with all his might and... Nothing.
No matter how hard, how many times he tried, he couldn't enter the spirit zone.
Once again sullen, and his fatal resolve affirmed, he closed his eyes.
"..."
"Um, Master, you just had caffeine, how are you going to sleep" Peppy asked
Exnil ignored the AI assistant.
"Also, are you really going to... kill yourself?" She asked, sounding like she would burst into tears at any moment
"If you do, Peppy will be very lonely and miss you very much..." She added
"Peppy has been with master for more than 5 centuries, are you going to leave me?"
The AI assistant spoke like an abandoned puppy.
"Peppy... It's been too long, don't you think?" Exnil answered
"I couldn't save them." He continued
"I'm powerless, can't you tell?"
"The gun was once considered the absolute judge."
"In the face of a bullet, everyone was equal. It was indiscriminate."
"But now, everyone who can use magic has a polyshield matrix always active."
"I couldn't prevent their deaths, no matter how hard I tried, and believe me, I tried."
"yet somehow, I'm alive to this day."
"aren't you tired too Peppy?"
"Dealing with me for 5 centuries straight."
"Watching myself drift through endless drug highs for so many years. It's as if I can barely grasp how much time has slipped away." Exnil finished
"..." Peppy was unable to formulate a response
"Master..." Peppy spoke without finishing her sentence
"Maybe that dream was a prophecy, guiding me to the perfect, thematic death..." Exnil continued.
"It's not like I can avenge them now. Hell, I don't even know who did it." He added on
"..."
"would you like a shutdown Peppy? Dealing with me for so long must have drained your emotional modules, aren't you tired too?"
"No master, I would never tire of you, no matter how bad it gets, no matter how much you neglect yourself, you're my creator, and though I would be saddened, I would never resent you." Peppy Replied to her master's solemn question.
"But, if you do wish to go, please shut me down... I couldn't bear a day alone without your presence." The assistant said in a teary voice.
"..."
Exnil said nothing for a while, saddened that he would lose the last precious thing in his life.
But he had made up his mind long ago.
"Hey Peppy, what time is it?"
"Master... it... it's 5:01 Am."
"What is my name?"
"Exnil Vale."