It was a normal day.
A day just like all the other normal days. Busy streets were still busy, with cars going to and from. Kids were in school, lazing about or studying hard, with tired and stressed-out teachers accompanying them.
In fact, most adults were probably at work, thinking about how to make ends meet, or wondering just when their shift would be over.
The rich were getting richer, having enough money to end world hunger or to at least try but no such activities ever took place. The poor were still poor, lacking opportunities, or the drive, or the intellect or even the ruthlessness needed to change their situation.
Babies were still being born, and people were still dying.
It was a normal day.
Then it happened.
It wasn't something very sudden. It was only the beginning.
It was on this seemingly normal day that it started. Lights began to flicker ever so slightly, not enough to raise an alarm, only enough to make people curse their electricity providers a little more than usual.
That was only the initial stages though. Nothing worth mentioning in the minds of many…if only they knew what was to come…Not that it would change much.
The flickering lights were followed by small tremors, which weren't anything new till not enough to raise an alarm in bigger circles, only to perhaps a few specialized scientists and a random conversation item among families.
Everything still appeared as normal as it could be. Then lights started to flicker a little more, tremors got a little bit more active, and this continued to happen and grow in intensity for three whole months.
By the time various scientists and governments started to notice something amiss, it was too late.
The fourth day of the fourth month would come to be infamously known as the day of the Great Reset, as it was the day that all electricity ceased to exist forever on earth and mankind was sent back to a period where swords dominated instead of guns. Of course, the actual month had long since been forgotten, with only the fact that it was the fourth that managed to be passed down through generations.
It was recorded that machines of all forms stopped instantly. The planet went dark, stop lights stopped working, planes started falling, and that began the start of the greatest tragedy mother Earth has ever seen.
It was almost as if the Earth was crying, as the crust began to split apart and caused global earthquakes bigger and more devastating than any previously recorded.
It then caused a chain reaction like no other.
Skyscrapers got reverted into rubble, mountains became flat, rivers became seas, and it was all accompanied by the dying cries of millions of people. The earthquakes caused nukes that laid dormant all over the world to wake up and roar as if they were desperate to be used.
This caused death on such a scale that the people who survived trembled when remembering the sight. In fact, the act surviving the Great Reset was not seen as a miracle but as a punishment to be made to live in such a forsaken world, because on that day it is believed by many that the Earth had gone tired of its people's sins among it, and finally brought down her wrath upon it.
From an earth that was home to almost 8 billion lives. To one that was cracked and ravaged beyond reason with no way to tell just how many or better yet how few of it's lifeforms remained.
A day that can't be fully described by the best of storytellers, a day where the sun never seemed to shine, a day that will never be forgotten, The Great Reset.
Whatever caused The Great Reset seemed to fundamentally change the way the world works. Gunpowder no longer caused a spark, solar panels and windmills no longer generated power, It was almost as if there was a rule in place telling us to "reset" modern civilization and revert to a medieval style of living. No one knows what caused this, and even after over 500 years it remains so.
From an age that saw people flying through the sky and even off the planet, and dreams to live among the stars, to one where horses are now back to being the primary forms of travel, and no hope of ever coming closer to reaching for the sky once more.
Truly an event deserving of the title The Great Reset.
•••
"And that was an excerpt from the very first reports published by the renowned historian Daniel LeGruff, but please remember class it's been roughly 500 years since that event took place, so not all findings are 100% accurate. Now, are there any questions?"
Leo was still fast asleep at this point, as he usually was during any lecture in Ms. Canter's general knowledge class. Which of course constantly brought upon him the ire of Ms. Canter.
"LEO!" yelled MS. Canter, a simple woman in her late twenties, dressed just like everyone else does these days, a typical dress shirt and a long skirt to match.
The sight of Leo being startled awake, with drool falling from his face was almost a daily occurrence by now but it still managed to get a few chuckles from the class.
"Leo it's the final day of school for you! which means it's time to pick a trade and begin life as an adult! Falling asleep in class is not a good way to end it."
"Hmmm...my bad Ms. Canter it won't happen again," said Leo while yawning and stretching with a smile on his face as if he was having the most wondrous dream.
Ms. Canter shook her head as she saw this. Her thoughts were filled with worry about the thought of what would come to Leo after he's done with school.
"Yes, Leo it won't happen again, as today is your final day of school." She sighed as she continued… "We'll end class here, Everyone, don't forget you have three days before you have to pick your trade. I hope you all pick smartly as you will be stuck with this job for at least the next 10 years. Enjoy the rest of your day and choose wisely, class dismissed with the exception of Leo."
All the other students then slowly began to trickle out of class, while saying their goodbyes to Ms. Canter, at the same time Leo ever so slowly made his way up to the front of the class to the teacher's desk.
"Ms. Canter I'm sorry for taking a quick nap, but do I really have to stay back?" Leo started, still yawning as he spoke.
"Leo if there was ever a time to choose to pay attention to what I'm saying now is that time, this is about your future Leo."
"My future huh."
The weary-looking atmosphere surrounding the 5'11 youth seemed to vanish as he spoke, instead replaced by a seemingly somber attitude. Even the way he spoke seemed to change, it was refined, more mature, and this is a change that caught Ms. Canter completely off guard.
"I think my future was decided a long time ago Ms. Canter, I appreciate the concern, and I know you mean well, but there's not much thought needed about where I go from here. It's been decided for a while now. A lot of things have been decided for a while now…"
The conversation taking a turn she didn't see coming, combined with this almost new person she saw in Leo, left Ms. Canter utterly flabbergasted, even as she watched him walk out of the room, not a word was said and with that, the five year mandatory period in school from the time Leo was 12 came to an end.