The Oracle Paths Chapter 1 The Day everything changed

"Beep...Beep...Beep...BEEP!"

SMASH!

"Fucking morning," the man muttered with a sigh, his eyes barely open while the alarm clock tumbled to the floor.

His tight fist hovered over the nightstand where that cursed device was supposed to sit. Normally, he'd roll over and drift back to sleep, telling himself plenty of time remained. But not today.

Such moments were rare. It ought to have sparked some reflection in him.

On this particular morning, the young fellow extricated himself from the covers with unexpected ease. Standing bare-chested at six feet, over twenty years of age, your initial impression upon seeing him would likely be that he appeared... quite ordinary.

Though carrying a bit of extra weight, he managed to look decent in his attire. A keen observer might notice hints of underlying muscles, echoes from a distant era when he bothered with workouts and curbed his fast-food habits. Yet now, his drive was fading fast.

Pale skin marked him, along with shadows beneath his eyes. Nights lost to video games and long hours at the screen took their toll. A smattering of acne, not excessive, but sufficient to signal he was veering off course.

A wild brown mop, untouched by any barber, paired with a dense two-week beard framed these less-than-ideal traits. Luckily, his features held some promise.

Chiseled, refined lines and intense eyes stood out against his rough edges. Occasionally, a poignant, sorrowful spark flickered there, only to be swiftly buried under a scowl.

This young man's name was Jake Wilderth. Orphaned at three, his parents perished in the so-called Third World War of 2084, like countless others. Now 25, he'd been raised by his uncle Kalen alongside his cousin Anya, Kalen's daughter, in a mostly serene upbringing. Almost, that is.

The Wilderths formed an longstanding lineage, neither noble nor elite, yet haughty and exacting enough to burden their offspring heavily. Why, you wonder? No treasured relics, no buried legacies, no noble quests to uphold. So what fueled it? Sheer arrogance.

One trait united all Wilderths. Intelligence. Not otherworldly brilliance or epoch-defining genius. Rather, a consistent IQ topping 130.

Critics might argue genetics play a minor role or that IQ fails as an intelligence gauge. Emotional smarts prove far more vital for thriving in life, after all.

Still, when such intellect prevails across an entire clan, it transforms dynamics. Parents of a challenged or slow child might indulge freely, imposing no demands.

For a standout prodigy, however, guardians turn rigorous. They refuse to let potential squander away, while often projecting their own dashed ambitions onto the kid.

Among the Wilderths, a further pressure loomed: avoiding disgrace. Outshining kin was acceptable, but falling short invited ridicule that could crush joy from the start.

That's the bind Jake faced. His uncle showed kindness, and cousin Anya offered shelter. He matured in relative calm. Still, introversion or the trauma of losing his birth parents left him friendless. Top-notch school resources eased his path to college, but never instilled the grit for intense study.

This cocooned existence bred hesitation and delay. Aimless about his future, mounting expectations from relatives only heightened his unease. Like countless isolated, geeky souls before, he escaped into books, endless series marathons, and gaming sessions.

It wasn't all dire. As a sharp, rational thinker, he aligned his profession with his hobbies. Thus, he pursued studies in programming and computer science at a dedicated institution.

Regrettably, ennui struck swiftly. The workload dwarfed high school's demands, demanding real commitment even from him. Creating games paled against merely enjoying them. In the end, he quit.

He sampled other fields like business or automation, but tedium persisted. He graduated with credentials in cybernetics and coding, thanks to his uncle quietly leveraging connections to rescue his floundering nephew.

Such a journey might strike early 21st-century folks as odd, but by the 22nd, it fit right in.

Quantum computing tech had ripened. Moore's Law barriers on transistor shrinkage were overcome. Computer speeds surged once more.

AI and biotech leaped forward. Nano-cybernetics progressed steadily. Humanity planted its initial Mars outpost over four decades back. 3D printing reached mastery, even replicating organs from donor cells like printable material. Medicine advanced tremendously too.

Yet Earth's populace still bore the scars of the phony Third World War, even a quarter-century on.

Post-2070, global strains intensified. Over 10 billion souls crowded the planet, fresh water access grew unreliable. Climate shifts hastened polar melts, submerging famed shorelines and island chains alike.

Wealthy nations like the US or China fortified vital ports—New York, Shanghai—with hefty funding. Impoverished lands shifted folks inland, ceding swaths of land.

Fuels, water, rare metals, jewels: as extraction ramped up, prices soared wildly. Clashes multiplied accordingly.

By 2084, a Third World War loomed.

May 14 brought catastrophe, but not the expected kind. The enigma lingers unsolved to this day.

In brief: All major metropolises vanished in one fell swoop. Moscow, Tokyo, Paris, Washington, London—every famed capital wiped clean. No reasons disclosed. No bold journalists breached the barriers sealing off these zones.

Witnesses reported blinding atomic blasts over most sites. Yet oddities soon emerged from myriad bizarre accounts.

No regime could fully muzzle public outcry.

First irregularity: Links—phone or net—severed days prior to missile launches. Kin or pals calling city dwellers heard only harsh static before disconnecting, powerless to act.

Once ties broke, none returned. Governments still withhold clear answers for grieving families. Toss in eerie snapshots or clips of swirling rainbow glows from those spots, plus scant images of bizarre vessels.

That sufficed for wild guesses and favored conspiracies.

Terror plots or WWIII tales ranked low in appeal. The frontrunner? Extraterrestrial assault. Not just from odd craft glimpses or official hush, but the swift birth of an Earth Government.

If you've ever dabbled in history or governance, you'd know victors and vanquished alike need ages for pacts—months, years even. More so in a sprawling multi-nation conflict like hypothetical WWIII.

But it transpired. The Earth Government, or United Earth Government. Formed in mere four days, faiths and authorities united in chorus.

This fresh regime couldn't stonewall forever. They opted for an uncommon diplomatic ploy: delay. Two years post the 'False Third World War,' the steady administration broadcast a calming message to quell unrest. Aired endlessly, Jake memorized it young as he was.

"Earth citizens,

"What happened on the 14th May is so unprecedented that it can’t be resumed in a few words. Regrettably, we can’t tell you the truth of what happened right now. We are investigating at the present time, and the bit that we know is so tremendous that most people wouldn’t be ready for this.

"In the years to come, the way we live will change, but you will put up with this. You will adapt effortlessly compared to what is to come. The day of no return will be two decades in the future. In about twenty years from now, something will happen on a very particular day. Even we can’t say when it will happen exactly, we could be off from a few months to several years.

"But it will happen. Then our lives will not ever be the same"

Twenty-two years had passed. They erred by two.

Jake, now scrubbing his teeth, had no clue that this awakening heralded a radical shift in his existence, beyond his wildest dreams. The pivotal day arrived.

The 16th August 2106.