Evaelona: The Trails of Advancement

Chapter 10: The Second Dream

For a moment, Wade thought that bad luck was following him in Evaelona anywhere he went. Especially if there was an entity which makes a person faint for his whole life, that was chasing Wade. Today again when Wade was going to sleep, the same black smoke rose. And this time, it was huge. And it also knocked him down in a different way. First, it rounded him up and started to strangle him like a reticulated python. Then as before, it took him near the ceiling of the floor & threw Wade to the floor like before with a ginormous force.

Wade had noted to himself to find a way to get ahead of any of Jonathan, AI Nathan, or real-life Nathan for all the trouble that he is going to get to the end.

While being unconscious, Wade faced the second dream. And this answered Evaelona.

It was 16th November 2009 from the clock that sits in Jonathan's old room. Jonathan used to live in Bangladesh for his education. Though not the best place for a computer science student, he liked the challenge & passed with distinction only with a motto, "Challange oneself with less & earn more."

It took a couple of minutes for Jonathan to enter the room. But as he entered, he had a very big smile on his face. On his right hand was a box & Wade took no time to realize it.

"The AI Box!"

Wade wanted to take it. Because he had a task to find another AI box. But as he went to get it, his hands went right through it. Like it is not even there. Then he remembered. He cannot interact. It's a dream.

Wade kept the box on his working table & went to freshen up. That took him a good twenty minutes. "Huh, no matter you take a lot of time in there," he thought.

After freshening up, Jonathan sat & started to work on the AI Box. Then like a backstory, Jonathan started talking:

"Many in life wanted to make a difference. And I am one of all those optimists. And so I went to work. Challenging myself with the low amount of resources in the education system of Bangladesh, which to my surprise, wasn't at all that low, I passed with distinction. Then I worked my guts out for three years fighting alongside my trusty friend Wade Wilis. With both determination & hard work, I have created the state of the art AI system. A complete country for those of our world, the poor, helpless & the needy. A whole country for them so that they can strive on it. That one day, I will be remembered for the service that I have done for the poor. But all that changed when Nathan Joe, my younger brother arrived."

And then the scene changed. Like a dimension warp that one sees in movies, he was taken to the place where he last left in the previous dream. But way before the timestamp.

It was 10 years before. Jonathan was working on the AI Box, perfecting it for the service that it was going to provide. And with him was Nathan. He actually helped Jonathan in the project. But he was a snitch & Wade realized that. Over the production period, Nathan induced faulty mechanics (by faulty, it means corrupted to bend in the will of a person.), corrupted coding & more things in the box for which the box also became corrupted. 

Finally, on the day of the inauguration of the AI Box, the most brutal fatality happened.

There were at least 10 people & Jonathan & Nathan & Housden that day. All of them were excited. Some even had a smirk on their face showing that whatever they did was nothing but junk & that they were wasting valuable time. But all were determined. And as soon as Jonathan started to talk, all the smirks changed into awes. Everyone was into it. And the funny thing was that everyone also excepted the idea of letting the poor use it to strive better than here in the corrupt world.

As all was going well, the meeting was about to wrap up, Nathan came in. He shouted on the mike, "Everyone stop. Don't move. Something is about to happen that will make you guys want it right now"

Jonathan asked him, "Nathan, what are you doing?"

"Just watch."

And with that, he activated the AI Box.

"What are you doing?!"

And before anyone could do anything, it was too late. The AI Box sent a shockwave blast which pushed everyone far away rendering them unconscious.

Jonathan woke up after a couple of minutes. And the first sound that he heard was the horrifying scream of terror. He even saw how it came. And boy, did he wished that he didn't see that. Nathan tore a person right in half. And with that, he gave out a maniacal laugh which meant one thing. Nathan turned bad.

"I see you have woken up & saw the last person to be killed in my gruesome style."

"Last... person," he stammered.

And then noticing the surroundings, he was beyond scared & horrified. All the ten persons who came to see what Jonathan had created, what he did for humanity, all of them ripped of inhumanly.

"Why?! What has gotten into you?!"

"You. You are the problem. And that pesky Wade, pm heh. What does he think he is? For him, I rotted in jail for seven years. I lost my wife, my child, my house & property, everything. I was ruined. And YOU!!! You did nothing. Instead, you helped in putting me behind bars. YOU WRETCH!!! You didn't even care."

"You did a crime. You experimented with the TN-01 gas, illegally. You just nabbed random people off the streets. And coincidentally, they were from the same batch of the same class."

"NO, NO. It was no coincidence at all. I nabbed them on purpose. I will do it again. And this time, you will help me."

As Jonathan moved to attack Nathan, something happened. It was Housden. He did something & for that, the more he moved, the more he feels pain.

As he moved, he felt that rising pain. "AHH!!! Make it stop."

"Stop moving, you i***t. Its LevFlax. It will increase if you move so I suggest you stop moving & listen."

Jonathan had to. Because if he moved too much, it would be the end for him.

"Ah, AI. Artificial Intelligence. It's something just mankind created but is not ready for it yet. And here we are, another man has created something that no one can yet possess. I will destroy your work & with you in it."

"Why?!"

"Pathetic fool. Do you think that creating a guide named AI Nathan will make me memorable? Do you think helping the poor will make me rich? Never. But if I exploit the environment, I might just make it habitable enough to sell it to the highest bidder. And I along with my other criminal friends will live there above the law. Where we will have anything. Where wretched like you and Wade will not pester us."

Then he turned to Housden. "Hah. My trusty accomplice. I grant your wish for freedom. Get in there & make an empire just for yourself. And you wait patiently. Very soon, we all will come to you."

"Thank you. I shall conquer & wait."

With that, Housden went in through a spiral that came out of the AI Box.

"As for you," he said turning to Jonathan,

"You can kill me. But I won't comply with you," Jonathan protested.

"Yeah. I know you won't. If you did then I would have done all the hard work for nothing."

Then Nathan showed a stream. Then he said, "From now, I have set an AI drone that follows the same mechanism of your AI drone over Wade. If you don't comply, then I don't need to tell the drone a thing. It's linked to my head & it will know what to do."

Jonathan shrieked. He screamed, "NATHAN!!! Go away."

"I'm sorry. But he can't hear you. And my patience is growing thin..."

"Please don't hurt him. I will do anything. Please. Anything."

"I'm not feeling it." With that, the sound of the drone arming could be heard.

"Please. I am begging you."

"Still not feeling it." Then aiming sounds could be heard.

Finding no other way, Jonathan stood up and knocked down Nathan. As Jonathan was induced with LevFlax, he felt unconscious. A bit more would result in death. On the other side, Nathan received a big blow also fell unconscious.

Hours went by. Jonathan felt a cool breeze over his whole body. But the pain from the LevFlax made it difficult for him to move. With great difficulty, he sat up. And realized that he was back in his apartment. Near his bed was a circular object with a blue blinking light. Jonathan picked it up & tapped the blue part.

With that, a recording popped up. It was Nathan. He said:

"Man, this AI is good. Jonathan, you may have created the best thing one could have. Now, onto business. You figured out that I was experimenting with the TN-01 gas. I heard rumors that it produces the effect called the specter effect. I want you to prove it. Then I will tell you what to do next. Till then, remember, your friend's life is on the line..."

With three beeps, the recording stopped.

Jonathan remained quiet for a second. Like he was not even a part of the world.

Snapping back into reality, he became so mad that he threw the device out of his windows. But then he fell succumbing to the effects of the LevFlax. He laid down there for quite a while, crying, regretting to create the AI box. He also kept on chanting, "Wade, what have you done to deserve this."

Then as before, the chanting of a part of the prophecy began & also echoed for a while:

"He gives his Light a shake

And screams I have made a bad mistake

The only other sound's the break

Of distant waves and birds awake."

And like before, he was pushed back with a super shockwave.

Wade woke up with a scream. "What happened?! Where am I?!" He realized that he was on the floor. And his body was sweating profusely. Both confused & shocked, he said, "Jonathan, what did you do to deserve that? What did I do deserve that?"

The rays of the morning sun hit Wades' eyes. It was beautiful as any other day. And Wade lived to see it. But not Jonathan. He then cried, "Oh!! I wish you were alive to see this."

For the first time, Wade actually cried. And his respect for Jonathan increased.