"The Corruption of Knowledge"
Chapter 1: The end of era
Author: Frenames
On a dark night, with the crescent moon hanging in the sky and twinkling stars, the roar of vehicles flowing along the highway thundered. Amidst all this, there was a man walking while holding a book.
He had clear, pale skin, brought to life by his deep, sharp eyes and thick eyebrows. His nose was straight, and his moderately sized lips were slightly parted.
His black hair was slightly wavy and messy—with a few strands falling over his forehead and cheeks—giving him an attractive and mysterious appearance. He wore headphones over his ears, his favorite song humming through them, as if he were detached from the world in his own peace.
He walked for a few more moments, completely unaware of what was about to come. Suddenly, an intense beam of light peeked from a distance of twenty kilometers—right behind the man.
It was not just simple light, but a brilliant flash, as if the combined light of a thousand suns had suddenly pierced through the darkness of the night. Boom.....
Following this was an incredibly loud explosion sound that shook the surroundings—not just a simple bang, but a deafening roar that seemed to shake the very ground and pierce the bones of anyone who heard it. In an instant, a gigantic cloud of smoke and fire appeared before his eyes, shaping like a giant mushroom that rapidly grew and dominated the sky.
The colors of the fire blended into bright red, orange, and yellow, like a monster that had suddenly awakened from its slumber. It released hot air and small pieces of debris that glowed like flowers of fire as they fell downward.
Attracted by the noise, the man stopped walking. He lowered his headphones and hung them around his neck, then slowly turned around to face the source of the deafening sound.
He slowly raised his head and stared at the scene of the explosion. The intense light emanating from it illuminated the entire sky, replacing the darkness of the night with a strange and terrifying brightness, and casting an unusual glow over the man's face—revealing a mix of surprise and fear in his eyes.
"What is this? Did terrorists attack, or has another country declared war on ours?" he whispered to himself, filled with confusion and anxiety, his gaze unable to leave the massive explosion that was gradually spreading. But he suddenly froze when he noticed something strange amidst the chaos—there was an object glowing with a purple light, rising and floating in the air.
It seemed unaffected by the heat and force of the explosion as it moved rapidly towards him. "Holy sh*t!"
"What is this? That's bad luck! Why is there something speeding towards me? I'm going to get caught up in this too," the man cursed, looking around, utterly shocked by what he was witnessing and what was happening around him. The heat from the distant explosion was gradually being felt on his skin, and the smell of smoke and burning was starting to mix with the air.
"This thing is getting closer and closer to me. What should I do? Should I dodge or not and just wait for it to hit me?" he thought worriedly, as the sound of the explosion continued to echo and the massive cloud of smoke kept expanding. The man was still hesitating about what he should do, but it was too late when he felt that the object flying towards him was already right in front of him.
But instead of hitting him, it suddenly stopped right in front of him. It glowed with a bright purple light, and its radiance shone directly on the man's face, as if trying to cover up the terrifying sight of the explosion behind him.
"My God! I thought I was going to die. What is this?" The man furrowed his brows in confusion—it was a strange object, and he could not identify what was floating before him.
"What is this? An object floating in front of me with symbols drawn on it?" he muttered to himself, pondering, even as the noise and heat of the explosion behind him continued to grow louder. "As I look at it, I feel drawn to it, and I really want to touch it."
Unbeknownst to him, captivated by it, he slowly raised his left hand—the hand in which he was holding the book. As he stared and reached out towards the object, a strong gust of wind suddenly blew against him from the direction of the explosion—not just simple wind, but a blast of hot air carrying dust and small debris that hit his body.
And before he could move or reach the object, a red light suddenly expanded—brighter and wider than before—and quickly surged towards him. This light was like a wave of fire that rapidly devoured everything in its path.
"F**k! So the explosion reached all the way here!" the man cursed again when he realized that the explosion had already covered the very spot where he stood, and he no longer had time to escape. Boooom...
My vision gradually blurred until I could see nothing but blackness. "I have only one regret—to die as a virgin," he thought to himself.
To be continue....