The First Legacies Of Zion: Omaye

NATHANIEL The smell of rusted metal and mold was encumbering. Nathaniel would have loved to have lived anywhere other than here. The steel factory had existed for as long as he could remember, from the time he was nothing but a little toddler till now, a young man standing at the end of everything he had ever known. It was not just the smell of rusted metal or the deep groaning the earth now seemed to make every fifteen minutes, but it was also the red sky, the blistering heat and the stench of perspiration that clung to his body. The sun was about to go supernova, and twelve billion humans would be fried to ash in a few hours or days. Nathaniel shouldered his bag as he made his way past the steel factory that has neighbored his family home for over two hundred years, it used to be the family business of a family whose bloodline came from a Japanese blacksmith who had decided to move to Africa for greener pastures. At the moment such an information no longer mattered because Africa along with every other continent, country, state, city, town and village would cease to exist in a few hours or days. Today was just the final chapter in the long book that was titled earth. Nathaniel moved his feet faster as he bypassed and circumnavigated scalding hot pieces of abandoned cars, trucks and motorcycles. With how hot the earth currently was, touching anything metal would peel a layer of flesh off your body. He was careful though, and he was swift, he had no time to waste as his family were already waiting for him. There was no escape from the disaster that was coming, the sun reaching the end if its life happened just as suddenly and without warning as someone who sneezed. It was too late to implement a proper escape route, because no one and nothing would be able to outrun the blast range. But there was hope, well something like that. No human body would survive the incoming disaster, but what about the Human mind; the human soul. A virtual world had been built by a game company about sixty to seventy decades ago, it was not fully complete as the world was ever expanding and growing with a capacity for self growth that has baffled humans since the birth of Microsoft. The server of the virtual world was made on a mineral enriched moon about two galaxies away. It was basically another planet, another world. And while it has mostly been closed off to the public and had been under extensive beta testing for the past ten years, almost everybody on earth knew enough about it that it had become the next big thing. This world was not just made as a game, it was supposed to be a tourist attraction, a place where people can visit and relax. But now it was going to be humanities last hope. Every willing man woman and child would have their mind sent through almost seventeen billion server satellites, before their minds would arrive at the virtual world, perceiving everything like it was reality and starting all over again, if the whole propaganda was to be believed. Their bodies would be forgotten behind and life would go on as usual almost as if nothing had happened. There was a lot more complexity and channels involved, but the basic gist of the matter was that his brain was going to be somewhat fried and transferred from his body and put in a game. It was overwhelming, but it was survival. Nathaniel hurried along the almost empty and abandoned streets of the once great city of Abuja, all that was left of this former capital of Nigeria was eerie silence and those unfortunate souls who preferred to stand their ground and wait for the end. It was pathetic really, but Nathaniel couldn’t fault them, he would have given up hope if his family did not choose to stand for and together with him. New world, new life or a new chance aside, as long as they had each other Nathaniel did not feel a need to be scared of anything. The city hall came into sight as he rounded the corner of a former shopping complex. The 700 floors of pure steel, concrete and glass was a culmination of hundreds if not thousands of years of Nigerian culture and heritage. The city hall was more like a museum, it held Nigeria’s history, now it would be left behind as a spectator of the end of that history. There was a significant crowd of people at the front of the building, hundreds if not thousands. He could just as easily pick out his family, they were all dressed in blue traditional clothes and were surrounded by soldiers, immediately they saw Nathaniel their faces lit up with visible relief as they waved him over. Nathaniel was scared, but it was time to say goodbye to everything he had ever known, and somehow the thought of it all going away put a burden that even his family’s love would not be able to carry with him. Dusk has come to earth.