The year is 2006. If you were a dimensional traveller and come to this world. You'll find it very peaceful and prosperous. But in truth, it's actually engulfed in the flames of war. A war which will decide the fate nations and the order which civilisation must follow. Currently war of influence and propaganda goes on, in the world but not with the benefactors wanting all out war. For all the benefactors in this war having trump cards. That may lead to humanities destruction. A Cold War, so to speak. Many thought that with the collapse of the USRL, weakening of Emmeria and Etrusca. The war would've been over with the Ossettian's claiming victory. But that was wrong. It just has a new round of players. New superpowers striving for dominance.

I'm Jonah. Nothing much to tell you about me that you might relevant. But I got someone to meet today.

It's a hot day, I thought to myself. As I stood with the crowd on the crossing point, waiting for the traffic light to turn red.

I was surrounded by low to mid level buildings and medium level skyscrapers. Just infront me was a 5 storied mall. It was coloured in red with the name of the mall, plastered in the front side of it. "Ferdousi Shopping Complex."

Cars were going all around. Men and Women in suits were everywhere me. Probably going to work. But I wouldn't have thought less of this because today was a work day and many workplaces like Construction, Electronics, Law, Engineering, Analytics, Trading and Pharmaceutical firms were right around the corner after the mall that you came to after crossing the road.

Currently I was trying to cross the road and meet a acquaintance of mine at the food cafeteria on the second floor of the mall.

The traffic lights turned red and with the crowd, I crossed the road. The crossing was between a pair of X shaped lanes.

I headed into the mall. At the entrance, there were a total six step and there were metal detectors at the inside of the lobby, with black and yellow uniformed, balaclava wearing security guards armed with MP54s standing beside them.

The metal detectors were always at their place. But the heavily armed guards are a new addition. And a couple of NDF soldiers as well in the background patrolling floors.

They were certainly added to increase security at the mall. I wouldn't expect less . In light of the recent events. Security was heightened all over the country. The security of this city is currently being handled by the National Air Defence Forces. After sun down, soldiers patrol the streets and in the daytime, they just do surveillance. They let the police handle law and order in the city.

I came to the metal detector. A guard told me to remove all my belongings for them to check before entering. There wasn't much on me. Just underwear and undergarments. I was in my navy blue and white school attire. I had a school backpack and I also had my credentials. I also had a wallet which held some money and a credit card. And more importantly, a smartphone.

I put it all on the tray beside me and I passed through the detector without a hitch. My belongings were cleared without any problem. I put my backpack on and took back all I had given without a single incident. For a minute there, I was afraid something might happen.

But that was not my case. Though that was not the case for the persons beside the detector gate, I was going through. They had inconsistencies and were taken to the back of the mall. Probably to the security room.

As I walk through the lobby to take the escalator to the 2nd floor, I noticed a few soldiers on the 2nd floors were staring at me awkwardly.

From the looks of it, a group of female soldiers. Indefinitely they were checking me out because of my looks. It's kind of awkward to say but I am quite attractive to the other gender especially with my baby face like posture.

It's a daily occurrence for me. So I don't give much heed to it. I proceed up the escalator to the 2nd floor.

The 2nd floor was filled with boutique shops, restaurants and cafes. The place, I was about to meet my acquaintance, Dr. Valentina Zokimosa was at a popular cafe at the mall, called the "Radiant Sun Cafe and Bar". And yes, It does serve alcohol.

Funnily, It was named that way after the bar of the same name in the Etruscanian Federation. Which was famously destroyed in a bombing by the Medici People's Resistance Army (MPRA) in the late 70s. Which became known famously and funnily as the Castille Fellatio Affair. Because then senator and board member, Gerad Castille of People's Justice Board was getting a blowjob in the backroom of the bar, from one-time Ms. Medici, Actress and breast cancer survivor, Sophia Zekatos. More funny is the fact, that this cafe's owner and founder is the son of that same Radiant Sun, Wei Lang Nguyen. Daniel Lang Nguyen.

I reached the Radiant Sun and as I was going in. I encountered Dr. Zokimosa in the outer section of the cafe. I expected her to be at the bar drowning in alcohol after what had happen to her.

I went to her. It was a standard outer section of a cafe. Tables with a umbrella standing uptop and a people sitting in them and people drinking cocktails and juice while sitting in chairs.

Dr. Zokimosa was sitting in a table and eating a plate of steamed rice with curry on-top. She was very concentrated on eating and didn't even noticed me. That's Dr. Zokimosa for you.

I approached her and greeted her. But Dr. Zokimosa didn't even stare at me. Her eyes were fixed on the plate and she was looking down on it like she was spirallingly falling down to it.

She was going red and started to tremble all of a sudden. She was looking like a bomb that was blow at anytime.

Suddenly, she stood up and walked to the table beside her. A couple of 4 girls were occupying that table. She grabbed a ice filled drink and chugged it into her mouth as fast as she could.

"oh, god! That was some hot curry. *cough *cough" said as she regained her posture.

"Oh, hey. Jonah! You finally came. You know, it's rude to keep a lady waiting. I've been waiting for ages and I even ordered rice and curry. But because your super cute. Your forgiven!" She said after noticing I was present at the scene.

"I'm really sorry for that , Dr. Zokimosa." I said in reply to her.

"How many times do I have to say to call me by my first name?" (Dr. Valentina)

"Ah, ok. Dr. Valentina"(Jonah)

We both sat down in our chairs then and I asked Dr. Zokimosa. Why she wanted to meet with me all of a sudden.

"Well, I'm not going lie to you, Jonah. But I have been struggling with my job recently and I got a offer from abroad which could substitute for that." (Dr. Valentina)

"So simply put, you lost your job" (Jonah)

"Hey, you don't know that!"(Dr. Valentina)

"Nobody uses the word "Substitute" with "struggling with my job" very often."(Jonah)

She slammed down her head down to the table and said, "You got me."

"So what happened, this time?" (Jonah)

Let me give you a short career history of the great Dr. Valentina Zokimosa.

She was once the writer and illustrator for a several hentai manga series and her popular one being about a blue skinned giantess warrior with a large penis but then she had a falling out with a exec at the publishing company and she subsequently broke his nose with a thermos. She was fired. That was during her stay in the Ezo Republic.

She worked for the Simon Wiesenthal Company's robotic lab in the Democratic Union of Zanzibar for three years.

Then she was kidnapped by the Palauan military intelligence to work on their ballistic missile defence system and also their armaments modernization programme.

After some time after that she started working on the Hadron Collider with the CERN institute in Albion.

At the present, she is residing in the PUR. She designed the new standard rifle for the NDF and currently or was working as the team leader for a secret energy project sponsored by energy giant, Holcium Corporation.

And that's just the short version and jobs she has told me about. I'm sure. She has a lot of former careers. She's considered a genius and also considered a mad scientist among the scientist community. She's also a avid supporter of the Richoletti Dimensional Portal hypothesis.

"Mr. De Villers is pulling out of the project funding. It was already bad that I had to spend some of my income on the project to keep it running with the 500,000 ₩ a year."(Dr. Valentina)

"Well, that's what's supposed to happen when you give promises you can't keep."(Jonah)

"I can deliver on what I had promised only if they could give me some time. I really hate it, when people do things half assed especially sex. Do you have a sex life, doctor?" (Jonah)

"Yes. I do like a normal adult would. Though...That's not the point here. All I'm saying is, I want to finish this project and I will do it with or without Mr. De Villers."(Dr. Valentina)

"Well, I'm sure with your smartness. You can find a new benefactor to fund it and pay you a wage worth your weight in gold."(Jonah)

"Yes. I surely can. I'm a stubborn bitch after all. But I don't have to." (Dr. Valentina)

"You don't have to?"(Jonah)

She stood up from her chair and came close to face. she cheerfully said to me, while bowing her head to my face, "Yes. I've got somebody who's willing to take care of expenses and pay my research teams wages, more than 6 times more. I'm so gonna buy a lot of..."

"Say no more. So who's your new employer anyway?"(Jonah)

"Oh, I think, you'll be acquainted with her."(Dr. Valentina)

"Yeah. You find everyone acquainted with me. When I even haven't met them."(Jonah)

"But I'm telling the truth, this time."(Dr. Valentina)

"Who is it?"(Jonah)

"Nigella Bloom. She said her niece was also in the same grade as you and also in the same school."(Dr. Valentina)

"Wait, how did she know about me?"(Jonah)

"Oh, I told her about you, of course. You dummy."(Dr. Valentina)

After hearing her answer, I frowned and placed my hand on my forehead. And started wondering if the doctor does it intentionally or out of habit.

"Are you ok, Jonah? You look kinda pepperoni."(Dr. Valentina)

Wait, who says "You look kinda pepperoni" to someone? That's the sense of wackiness of the doc for you.

"No, I'm fine. Please continue Dr. Valentina."(Jonah)

"She said that her niece had a big crush on you and if you tamper with her feelings. She'll have you exiled to a cramped and pestering pit in the Borealis."(Dr. Valentina)

I forgot to mention who, Nigella Bloom is. She's a high ranking diplomat and military intelligence advisor to the Combined Forces Intelligence Directorate or CFID and also the Bureau of National Defence. She's been the chairman of the SIS "Ezekiel" security committee, twice and also was head of the Special Intelligence Unit Durandel. She's been accused of many things including torture, money laundering, abuse of power, keeping ghost prisoners, terror funding, extortion, extra judicial killings, running hit squads and black site prisons around Laurasia and Brasil etc. She's one hell of a bitch, so to speak.

And how do I know this? Well, that's simple. She's a regular occurrence on the news. She's a divisive figure in my country. Most of the population hate her methods of counter-terrorism. Personally I just don't wanna be tortured.

"Also the reason, I called you here today is because I'm relocating. It's sad I know, but discovery waits for none. Do you understand my reasons for abandoning you, Jonah? Even though I don't want to."(Dr. Valentina)

Seriously, your making it sound like I'm your cheaply bought from shop puppy than a friend or little brother like figure.

"It's okay, Dr. Valentina. I understand."(Jonah)

"Uh.. I'm happy to hear that. I thought for a moment, you were going to grab me and drag me, lock me up in your basement, rape me and impregnate me with your sperm. Or kill me for leaving me and have sex with my corpse" said Dr. Valentina as she became teared up and emotional.

She has some quite creepy fantasies. Though I won't confirm or deny that I have or not have fantasies that people may or may not find disturbing.

As we were talking. Suddenly, the ground shook and the mall for a moment felt like was moving. The juice glasses on the table behind us fell off the table to the ground. People held onto their table and a elderly person shouted aloud, "What the hell was that shaking, is there a earthquake going on?"

That would be impossible due to my country not being near any fault lines or any tectonic plates. And it felt like a reaction you would get from a detonation.

"I wonder, What's going on?" said Dr. Zokimosa with a bright and cheery face.

"Maybe someone blew up the high court." I replied as a joke.

She then looked up at the glass ceiling above us. Looking at the black smoke cloud that was becoming visible from the place that it was originating from.

"That's quite plausible. The justice district is quite near. And totally someone probably did blew up the high court. I really hate that gothic style horror house." Dr. Valentina said with laughter.

"Dr. Valentina. Keep it down, would you. That's the highest judicial court in the country and people work there. Certain people will get offended." I hushed to her. Probably because I don't wanna be killed.

Humans love to kill for any reason, they can possibly find. In my case, currently there's been rising tensions among the many classes of the PUR's society. Nationalists, Globalists, Unitarians, Sectarians, Socialists, Middle Class, Higher Class. You name it, we got it.

"Jonah, chill. No one here even cares about it."(Dr. Valentina)

Soldiers and Guards come up to 2nd floor. They tell everyone to evacuate the mall and at the same time, the speakers blast the same message.

Dr. Valentina and I along with everyone in a uniformed fashion evacuate the mall.