Looking above, Noah saw something unbelievable.

The night sky which was empty every day due to smog was glittering like someone sprinkled sparkles all across the sky. It looked as if it was filled with stars to the brim.

But focusing more, Noah realized that it was something else instead of stars.

As he gazed across the sky, he noticed that these 'stars' were increasing in brightness. Their intensity kept going up till it momentarily stopped.

Just as Noah noticed the phenomenon and started wondering why it happened, the stars burst out with radiance which together formed a massive wave sweeping across the sky.

It was so beautiful that Noah could not help but marvel at the scene.

He was so engrossed that he failed to notice that the 'stars' had started falling towards the ground. The stars grew bright tails behind them.

He came back to his senses when the stars reached just a few hundred meters above the ground. Seeing this scene, his senses screamed danger and in panic, he went for his bag and made a run across the street. He rushed towards the nearest building for shelter.

Though, before he could reach the building, he tripped on his own foot and fell to the ground.

"Oh shit, not now. Of all the times, why I have to trip no-" While trying to stand back on his feet, he looked above and was shocked to see that those 'stars' were just above his head.

Another thing he realized was that they were slowing down in speed to the point they were essentially feather falling.

Registering this in mind, he calmed down. Then his curiosity took over him as he tried touching one such 'star'. He extended his hand slowly and grasped one of them.

It felt slightly warm to the touch. Even though he could feel it on his hand, it had no weight. It was quite a strange feeling. Slowly the 'star' disappeared. Same for the others which fell on his body and ground. As the light was dimming gradually, Noah felt a slight tremble in his body and his heartbeat started growing.

It continued for around half a minute with trembling increasing gradually before stabilizing and returning to calm.

Throughout the entire duration, Noah's panic increased by the second until he started considering something was seriously wrong with him, then the trembling started slowing down out of the blue and stopped completely a couple of seconds later.

"What was all that, It was really unusual. Should I call the ambulance?"

Noah was still feeling uneasy and waited for another 5 minutes before deciding he would wait till tomorrow and see if it recurs before paying a visit to the hospital.

After the entire thing vanished and the area became lively again with noise, Noah chose to return to his apartment first and see the news to hear what the government & officials had to say about it.

Rushing back to the EV, he hopped inside while it started and made its way towards his home. He was anxiously waiting while scrolling the news. There was no official response from the government yet. Apparently, it happened all over Earth.

The news anchors had nothing else to say either. All they were saying was to not panic and possibly stay indoors in case it happens again.

Within 10 minutes, EV reached home. Paying the fare, he made a run straight to his apartment, opened the lock, went in, and locked it back.

Being back in his flat and seeing the familiar walls and furniture made him somewhat calm down. He quickly went for a shower and changed to his more comfortable pajamas.

Sinking slowly on the couch, Noah recalled the incident.

'What was that, exactly? I don't recall any such news about a meteor shower. Well, even if there was one, what I experienced was no meteor shower. Also, the government seems to have no idea about it. Otherwise, it would have made the headlines weeks before. I will assume it was completely unforeseen for now.'

It was then that a broadcast by the government was announced and the news channel switched to the live press conference. A suited person which clearly looked a bit worn out was handling the conference. He was obviously just there to convey the message and without wasting any time, he went straight to the point.

"This evening at 6:24 IST, a celestial event had occurred which is believed by scientists to be a cluster of cosmic waves passing through the solar system. The cause of this event is yet to be determined at the moment. Though, this phenomenon is deemed to be of little to no concern with the scientist pointing that the only source of worry is the radiation of the waves which is estimated to be between 50-100 rad. In consideration of the safety of citizens, all public activities for the remaining week are prohibited in case another such wave occurs. A curfew is imposed throughout the nation. Caution is advised when going outdoors in case of emergency."

After conveying the message, the suited guy swiftly went down the stage and exited the room without taking any questions. Anyone could see that this conference was just a formality to pacify the public and to prevent panic. But most will be satisfied with this response. That's the reality, people only care about something if it will kill you tomorrow.

Watching the conference only increased the number of questions Noah had instead of answering them. 'The official is clearly trying to hide something. It's as if every country came to a consensus not to say anything about it.' Noah thought scrolling through news channels from different regions and seeing the same kind of response.

Despite the official statement, Noah had a feeling that whatever happened today was not so simple and it was not based on something abstract like a gut feeling. He concluded that by touching the orb (what he calls the 'star'). It was definitely something out of the norm.

But that's it. However many conspiracy theories or suppositions he could think of, they were in vain. Because in the end, no matter how intelligent, he was just an ordinary high schooler. Realizing there was little he could do to find the secret behind it, he went to sleep frustrated.

Noah tossed and turned for hours on his bed unable to sleep. He kept thinking about the orbs for some reason and couldn't get it out of his head. Eventually, he went into slumber but what he didn't notice was that his skin had started lighting up in azure as he was trying to sleep. It was the same color as the orbs.

The glow even increased to a maximum when he fell asleep. On a closer look, his body was starting to slowly change by the moment with Noah being totally clueless about it.

...

In a vast expanse of barren wasteland with sprawling mountain ranges

Booom!

A huge volcano burst forth in all its glory to bring devastation around the area.

In the middle of this hellish landscape, a young adult was lying flat on the ground sleeping as if the destruction around him does not concern him in the slightest.

The world seemed to realize his nonchalance as another volcano erupted. Though it failed to get the expected response as the boy continued to dream. This did not deter the world as the eruptions continued to the point that the boy was woken up by a shockwave from a meteor landing next to him flinging his body a couple of meters away.

Thud...

The boy woke up abruptly from the movement, his face becoming distorted from pain right away.

After enduring waves of pain for dozens of seconds, he finally pulled himself together to take a look around him. What he saw was an apocalypse with eruptions all around him and volcanic ash swathing the sky.

"WHERE AM I !!?" Noah screamed in panic finding himself in this nonsensical situation.