Each second follows the next, yet nothing lasts forever.

The deep night sky uncovered a marvellous legion of stars. They stretched across the sky as if the black background solely existed to make them stand out. Free of light pollution, these celestial bodies offered a glimpse of the Milky Way. After adapting to the dark, the finest eyes could discern the dark filaments of large interstellar nebulae within it. Even further, faint distinguishable dark fogs spread across the galactic horizon. Yet, the brightest thing lay a few light steps away. It was not the Gibbous moon but the many bright spots shining from its unlit part.

A million voices roared in unison, shattering the still night.

“Five!”

They followed with an even more deafening yet clear sound.

“Four!”

With around a second in between, just like before.

“Three!”

So loud that the resounding din would shatter the eardrums of those unfortunate enough not to wear hearing protection.

“Two!”

At this point, it sounded more like an acoustic weapon of mass destruction than a countdown.

“One!”

As one would expect to hear zero, a swarm of fireworks detonated, bathing the night sky in a sparkling glow.

“Happy New Year!” The crowd yelled, celebrating the dawn of a new era.

The first bursts of light formed ‘2500’, the fresh new year according to the Gregorian calendar. From the sky, its unparalleled brilliance lit up the landscape for hundreds of miles, revealing a massive futuristic city below. The megalopolis and its silver suburbs extended for tens of kilometres, with a centre overflowing with ever bigger skyscrapers. The city’s core housed the tallest, whose upper end soared over seven kilometres.

Amidst the celebration and well-wishing, another kind of ceremony went on.

On the roof of a dome-shaped villa - in the suburbs of Brussels, the Belgian capital - stood three teenagers: two boys and a girl.

With a tiny cake hovering over his hand and the glittering number 15 floating on its top, the first of the group was a 188-centimetre-tall Caucasian.

He had a smooth, clean-shaven face whose light complexion gave depth to chocolate eyes that matched his brown hair. Beneath a neat undercut, he wore a comfy outfit composed of ultra-comfortable black sneakers, light wash jeans, and a grey t-shirt under an open tan overcoat that showed off his balanced figure.

He stood tall and wore a cheerful expression, overflowing with self-confidence. As a result, he naturally looked attractive, especially to the opposite sex. Extending his arm, the Caucasian boy lifted the cake and looked up to the sky as if to show it to the world, awaiting its reaction.

Taller than the first and with a B-shaped earring hanging from his ear, the second fellow snapped his fingers. The stimulus triggered a holographic video sequence showing souvenirs of the three teenagers joyfully playing with flying bumper cars.

Fully Dressed in black and wearing groundbreaking athletic shoes, he opted for the latest trendy clothes with fabulous sleek fashion styles fitting his dark-brown skin. Contrasting with his short, curly black hair, a thick overgrown white dreadlock passed between his faint eyebrows and obsidian eyes, reaching his flattened nose.

The black teen made a few leaps and bounds, performing mid-air dance moves before landing beautifully on the roof.

His morphology was unusual; his upper body was lean and muscular, while his legs were over twice longer but barely thicker. Looking from the side, they curved inwards below the knees and outward above, almost like a kangaroo. He had thin wrists and ankles. In fact, his ankles were so disproportionate they looked like they might break at the slightest misstep.

The girl in the group pressed the scarlet ring on her index finger. Three small round objects flew away. High in the sky, they shone with a golden radiance and formed the word ‘love’ with their disintegrating honey trail.

One word was enough to describe her: stunning. Half a head smaller, she was short compared to the boys; the difference would become increasingly apparent in the future, given her earlier growth spurt.

Her voluminous, wavy caramel hair and tanned skin gave her a Hispanic appearance. She had a heart-shaped face, a small Nubian nose and plump lips.

Her gorgeous eagle-like eyes that glowed in the lowest light made her truly stand out. Aside from being much larger and rounder than average, her pupils erratically varied in size under the firework’s dazzling light.

Before the start of the light show, an onlooker would have seen her black pupils filling her irises.

All three teens were in good health and had blemish-free skin.

The first boy was still holding his cake when the number 15 shimmered and dimmed, losing its consistency. About to disappear, it shone with a new light. As if life had taken hold of it, the light remodelled to form ‘16’.

“Happy birthday, Loris!” the black and Hispanic teens said in turn. “We wish you a year brimming with luck,” added the tanned girl. The Caucasian teenager named Loris sought eye contact before smiling. “Thank you, Fabrice, Anastasia. Happy new year.”

Loris looked up brightly, admiring the fireworks as he went, but his actual interest lay beyond that. A nearby flock of birds took to the skies in the moon’s direction as he opened his mouth, “Diligence is the mother of good luck; thank you, mother, for allowing me to live one more year.”

Fabrice and Anastasia looked at him with a smile; they were used to his odd behaviour. They did not wish him good luck randomly; it was, in their view, the best gift they could have given him.

“The fittest try their utmost to survive, but the luckiest always pull through,”

It was the favourite and, paradoxically, the quote Loris Gregorios most despised. He gave ludicrous importance to his life, and if he had an aversion to risk on top of that, he would not leave his house for fear of a meteorite falling on his head. To his friends’ great relief, he acted sensibly; he didn’t hesitate to take risks as long as necessary and could lead to long-term benefits.

Around thirty minutes past midnight, the firework display reached its end. The climactic final round formed the shape of a magnificent, futuristic spaceship. Unlike the previous rounds of fireworks, it flew towards the moon instead of temporarily fading away.

It was the ultimate parade of the drones that had led this light show. They would end up disintegrating, trying to reach their destination. ‘Meet your purpose or die trying’ was a popular idiom symbolising the ideology of Merigen—the nation to which most of Europe and Africa belonged.

But above all, The Nation that had chosen the path of genetics in the millennial journey towards Earth unification. A struggle that had seen entire nations destroyed, absorbed or imprisoned. A promise that only the big five shared. Yet, in the end, only one will remain.

Eyes twinkling with excitement, Anastasia admired the showpiece that faded under the bright moon. “It’s a replica of the Mars Colonisation Spaceship.”

Fabrice nodded. “Yes, it will be launched tonight.”

Anastasia ran her hand through her hair and turned towards Loris. The latter was still looking at the sky, particularly in the moon’s direction. “Lolo, it’s your birthday. What do you want to do today?”

He lowered his head. “Since high-class citizens have already booked all public sources of entertainment for the new year, we can’t do much. After a small jog, I’ll do an inner-thought session.” He said. “Oh, I also need to do my daily quests in Warsuit Supremacy. Afterwards, I’ll probably spend the rest of the day reading. A new Science Fantasy novel was just released, and I’m so eager to read it.”

Fabrice shook his head in astonishment. “That’s what you do every day. Come on, you’re an adult now.”

Loris glanced at him and smiled bitterly.

“That’s what he likes. Besides, we can do it together today!” Anastasia added with enthusiasm.

The teenagers chatted while they walked towards the city’s edge, as the Belgian capital and its outskirts were shining again.

Most public light sources had been turned off for the celebration. Buildings and other kinds of infrastructure didn’t emit light. One-way windows were the norm in affluent areas where everything was monitored. Yet the silvery pavement glinted at the tiniest illumination.

As they approached their destination, the crowd intensified. Most individuals had peculiar body shapes. Some had disproportionately large skulls that presumably housed big brains. Others were as tall, muscular, and large as Hulk. The teenagers looked fairly small among the crowd, whose stature ranged from one and a half to three metres.

Anastasia pointed straight ahead towards the most off-centre skyscrapers, about two kilometres away, and grinned. “Look, we can see the giant hologram and the spaceship.”

After a moment’s effort to look at it, she added. “The spaceship is sooo big. The settlers look tense. I hope everything will be alright.”

Fabrice mirrored her enthusiasm. “Yeah, it’s beautiful.”

Loris raised an angry eyebrow.

“Not to us, Fabrice. Once, not twice,” he snapped.

Fabrice’s face dulled; an instant later, he smiled a sad smile and nodded awkwardly.

The friends struggled through the dense crowd that surrounded a large-scale splashing city fountain.

Further up, before an enormous gateway floated screen-like holograms. With a brief delay, they broadcasted the events from the lunar launch base and inside the spaceship.

A massive three-dimensional spacecraft slowly spun in a circular centrifuge above the fountain. The holographic vehicle stood roughly twenty-six metres in length, five metres high and four in width.

Anastasia peered at it with her large shining eyes. “Wow! How big is the real one?”

“You could fit eight thousand of these into it. Yet it only carries eleven thousand two hundred and forty-seven settlers, including staff.” Fabrice answered.

Loris connected his smartwatch to the local network and displayed a modest but detailed hologram of the spaceship and its statistical details. He noted that Fabrice’s information was perfectly accurate and smirked. “Way too meticulous, as always.”

The teens bickered good-naturedly as a timer - positioned above the massive spaceship replica - counted down the minutes and seconds until its launch.

While the minutes ticked by, the two boys traded some light blows. Despite his thinner arms, the darker teen boxing speed was beyond compare. “Quit it, guys. There’s only a minute left.” Anastasia said.

Ignoring her, they continued.

As the countdown fell below a minute, Anastasia’s facial expression gradually distorted, settling on total disbelief.

Loris quickly caught on. “Stasia?”

Sweating, the girl pointed a quivering hand at the launch’s countdown. She gibbered, “The numbers, your voice, everything is getting slower and slower.”

Having great respect for Anastasia’s incredible perception, the guys immediately focused on the countdown, then on the surrounding people. Indeed, everything was slowing down. “Let’s get out of here. Something is wrong.” The black teenager said.

Not missing out on jostling hundreds of people, they bolted out of the crowd, which soon counted down the last ten seconds as the real spaceship and its holographic replica accumulated speed in The Electromagnetic Spacecraft Launch System. Among the crowd, the most perceptive realised something was wrong within two seconds. The ship, which was speeding up, seemed to slow down.

While intelligence quotient is a relative measure, a genius of the twenty-first century would be below average in the twenty-sixth, yet human nature remained the same.

As more and more people stirred and tried to move away from the sheer mass of humans, a veritable mob phenomenon occurred. Within moments, the crowd went crazy.

Those bulky and tall tramped and jostled the rest of the crowd. The resulting cacophony would have been reminiscent of the new year’s countdown if it wasn’t for its distinguishable screams and shrieks.

Amidst the terror and panic, the smallest, youngest and weakest were squeezed and crushed mercilessly. Yet a handful of the bulkiest - who did not lead this carnage - sacrificed their integrity to protect their dear ones at the cost of their own bodies. Some less scrupulous people didn’t hesitate to use them as trampolines to escape the crowd or get away from its congestion point.

When there were only six seconds left on the countdown to the spaceship launch, a second was almost worth five. And it grew worse every moment.

The three adolescents were relatively safe, running away from the dreadful crowd trampling.

With eyes that almost popped out of their sockets and increasingly tense expressions and movements, Loris couldn’t look more panicked. Yet, he still found the energy to cry out. “We should stop running, or we will trip over our own feet. Our perception of time is messed up.”

“It is time, that is….” Fabrice said. The end of his sentence was slow and incomprehensible as if he was speaking underwater.

A bit after the three stopped, most still running people stumbled one after the other like macabre dominoes. However, they were falling in slow motion, wondering if the fall would really be hurtful or if they would have time to choke to death.

Four seconds left.

As time slowed to a crawl, small shadowy dots popped into existence, filling up space like stars fill the sky. They were everywhere, about a metre apart, glooming over the distances.

Three seconds left.

Incongruous shadowy fragments appeared, and little by little, they shaped translucent filaments that interlinked the dots with each other. The shaded dots and filaments grew clearer as the time flow grounded to a halt, finally forming an unfathomable network that stretched far into space.

When the black dots lost all their transparency, they shone darkly. It wasn’t light, though, but something different.

As it glowed brighter and brighter, growing darkness took over everything.

A gloomy fog established between the inky network’s gaps for the rare few who could still make something out.

The world turned utterly black as if all light was negated, driven away, or perhaps consumed.

Just over two seconds were left on the countdown.

Tiny black diamonds formed before every human being, feeding on the jet black network. They became clearer and darkly brighter, following the same pattern as the dots. Yet after becoming opaque, they shrank back, almost fading away. For an instant, the world regained a bit of its colour.

Nearly invisible, the keenest sight couldn’t see them.

The diamonds plunged towards their assigned humans and lodged into their solar plexuses.

When the countdown showed precisely two seconds, it stopped.

Time was frozen.