LONE: The Journey Beyond-Chapter 12: Ominous Signs.

The moon was a celestial body that didn't have a light source of its own; it reflected the light from the sun. It didn't even have an atmosphere of its own and was subjected to extreme heat as well as extreme coldness.

'The Lunar Doom', the incident that made countless scientists lose the hair on their heads, destroyed all the pre-existing thoughts that the scientific community had about the moon and outer space.

It was an incident that was beyond the scope of human knowledge!

Scientists around the world finally showed some results after years of research, but the conclusion they reached was terrifying.

The results showed that the moon was hit with something. The telescopes recorded a ray of purple-gold light that hit the moon, but the thing was that it had no mass; they literally couldn't detect any matter in it.

After continuous research, they finally got to the current conclusion, which said that the matter that emitted that light was moving faster than the speed of light, i.e., it was anti-matter, so it wasn't visible to the telescopes, and only the energy particles emitted by it, which slowly lost their energy and changed their form from anti-matter to matter, thereby coming into the action of the Mass-Energy relation, became visible.

As for the remaining invisible anti-matter, they had no idea about it as of yet. The reason being that the anti-matter didn't follow the rules of known physics.

While the scientists were guessing this, someone came up with the theory that the 'World Energy' that enveloped the Earth was a result of it.

This confused everyone even more, but this was also the most viable reason. All in all, this baffled scientists all over the world.

-----

March, 2127

Tokyo, ISC-Japan division.

Nine months had passed since Reven's transfer.

In the meeting hall, an officer reading a holographic document in front of him with a frown on his face could be seen. He was none other than Reven Greh.

"Lt. Greh, what do you think about this matter?" Another officer, Lt. Dave Jarret, who was Reven's senior at the academy, questioned Reven with a stern expression on his face.

"No idea." Reven replied as he switched the hologram off.

"Sigh, just when we thought things were going well, something like this hits us." A lady officer, Wing Commander (WC) Lucia Keanu, who was also Reven's friend from the academy, sighed.

The thing was that the scientists finally came to a conclusive statement about 'The Lunar Doom' incident. The information revealed was really mind boggling and terrifying at the same time.

If their theory was correct, then it would also explain the 'World Energy' surrounding the planet. Also, this would bring a new age to planet Earth's history.

"Let me rephrase this, Lt. Greh. Do you think that the reports are true? Cz if they are, then..."

"We will be facing something that is way out of our league. I know…" Reven cut him off.

He continued while pressing his fingers against his forehead, "And I believe that they are most likely true. That's the only way to explain the other incidents.

Though we don't really have any evidence, seeing the news of NATO's failure in the latest 'Doomed Moon's Reconnaissance (DMR) Mission, it's quite clear."

The atmosphere around the hall turned heavy as Reven finished.

The discussions continued, and everyone else presented their views on the matter.

"I don't think that CF will neglect it either, which means the Africa Mission will be very important."

"We may have to choose a side. The nukes are already losing their effectiveness because of the Plasma Domes. If any of them gets their hands on whatever is present in the moon, the entire power scale will tip off and the balance will be broken."

"Well, we have good relations with Russia and many powerful countries in NATO. No one takes China seriously anymore. But the US, well, if they get it first, then we are fu*ked if we don't play it right."

"It's like having a cliff on one side and a deep well on the other."

"Our scientists are also working on the project day and night, but it will still take at least 3 years. NATO will also take 3 to 4 years for their next launch, and for CF, I really hope they don't launch their project too fast."

"Everyone, calm down. We can't get agitated here." Reven spoke with a stern voice, which silenced the hall. Then he continued, "Fix a meeting with the Russians in the Arctic tomorrow. It's time…"

He didn't finish his sentence, but everybody realised what that was about.

A few years ago, ISC helped Russia reclaim Moscow, which they lost due to the 4th World War. Reven was thinking of setting up negotiations with them using this as a base so as to ensure at least some level of cooperation.

"Lt. Jarret, you will talk to the higher ups for clearance. Adjourned!"

With that, everyone got up and left the meeting hall.

-----

Next day.

The Arctic. Russian military base.

Reven and a few officers met with the Russian delegation in secret, trying to establish some sort of cooperation between ISC and Russia.

"We need the Cyborg back and an agreement that you will never create any Cyborg from the data that you have gathered.

Also, we need data about how you removed the side effects of the Super-Serum. This is the last we can extend. Anything less is of no use to us."

"We accept, but you have to sign the peace agreement between our countries, which will be active even if war breaks out between us and the CF. You will not interfere until we attack you first.

The scientists from both of our countries will work together in secret for the 'Moon Mission' to make it happen in 2 years at most."

"You have got a deal."

"Pleasure to cooperate with you again."

Soon, the delegates ended their conversation with a reasonable deal.

Reven also shook the hands of his counterpart and left the Russian base with a sigh of relief on his face.

"The Russians really took GEP as Super-Serum. Lt. Greh, your deduction was spot on. It's a good thing we prepared for it, or else we were close to getting our secret revealed." The President, who was on the line, spoke in Reven's mind via the Seven-Link.

"Mr. President, the Russians, or any other country for that matter, have never viewed ISC as someone who could compete with them. It's a trend from the 21st century; I just used that and made them take us lightly." Reven replied with a smirk on his face.

"Genius! Absolute genius! We got a good deal from all of this. The MHS is really the biggest asset that ISC has." The Defense Minister, who was also connected, said in Reven's mind.

"Thank you. Over and out." Reven said as he cut the connections.

-----

Another 10 months passed.

There were many things that took place in these 10 months. Some of Reven's other friends from the academy joined him at the Japan base.

The scientists from ISC and Russia had begun their programs too. Australia also made a non-aggression pact with the ISC. New Zealand submitted its request to start trade with ISC, which was accepted as New Zealand gave an army base to ISC in exchange.

Another thing was that Vera and Aleena had finally finished their research on the data gathered from the Cyborg. Of course, as Reven liked research more than battle, he helped them too.

The Nanotech Project was developing at a high pace because of it. Although there was an agreement with Russia not to use the data from the Cyborg, it's not like they would know about it. Plus, they were working to develop something entirely different from the Cyborgs anyway, so it didn't matter.

Today was an important day for ISC, as they were going to Hawaii to meet US officials, NATO members, and Chinese & Russian officials.

This was to discuss Africa, the only continent where resources were available. This was especially true since the arrival of the cold decade of the 2070s, when the Earth's climate took a sharp turn because of various human devastations and ecological imbalances.

All the resources of the planet were depleted, and Earth's lifespan decreased by millions of years.

In the midst of all this, only one continent had resources left, but most of the people there died because they were left behind in the industrialization of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Since then, the US, CF, and ISC had all made the largest investments and consumed the greatest amount of resources in Africa, but issues had been gradually getting worse.

Not only did the three involved parties fight amongst each other, but the natives started to rebel against them all. Well, they didn't have anything to lose at this point, so they just fought to kill the invaders, which led to many losses.

After that, the three parties used the Divide and Rule Policy, and slowly, a few countries in Africa took China's side as China had heavily invested in a few of the dictatorship led countries in the early 21st century. Some North-African countries sided with the US, and the left overs sided with ISC.

The matter came to an end after that. But now, things have started to get out of control.

Reven's group of five included two army officials from the Japan branch, named Lt. Hirohito Nakako and Lt. Komi Tadano, and two of Reven's friends, none other than Lt. Gaurav Hasra and Rachel Romanov, the Foreign Ambassador.

"I don't know why, but I feel uneasy." Reven muttered to himself as he looked outside the airplane window.

-----

Hawaii Island, Earth.

Tri-Continental Meet, January 2129.

"Today, we have gathered to talk about the issue of Africa. How will we split it? And how will we do it while avoiding a potential conflict? So, let the meeting begin!"

Everyone activated their holographic devices, and the leaders of all the countries presented themselves, and the meeting started.

While the meetings were proceeding on Earth, something was happening on the moon that would change the very course of humanity on Earth. No, the entire Cosmos.

After hours of discussion with no conclusion, the envoys and the leaders of the three Superpowers were left with no choice but to get a new date for the next round of discussions.

With that, everyone was just getting ready to leave the meeting when suddenly...

The entire meeting hall started to shudder; it looked like an earthquake had struck, but that was not the case.

Everyone first thought that it was NATO's doing, but soon that idea was eliminated as the big leaders were not even here.

Reven had a very ominous feeling about it.

Everyone ran outside the hall and looked up at the sky.

What they saw was...

…..

Author's Note:

>> Finally, with this chapter, the prologue to the main story ends. I know many may think that such a long prologue is unnecessary, but believe me, I have very big plans ahead in the story, so the prologue will act as the base to support all of that.

>> From next chapter will begin the true journey.

The Advent is coming!

Stay tuned!

*****