The time travel

An essay I submitted for some competition 2-3 years ago. Something IS definitely better than nothing. Yes, this is my exceedingly lame attempt to resuscitate my dead-ish blog... again. The instruction of the essay was to start with "50 years from now.." . I vaguely remember this essay but I do, however, able to recall that this essay was an extension of one my essay I wrote for some English test. I think.

Now that I'm older, I find this essay to be.. err... lame and very immature but that was me, nonetheless. How do you find it?

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50 years from now, the world is degenerated. One boy shall witness it and alter the course of time.

“O Time,
Release thy leash…”

It was a bleak and cold night; a perfect condition for Josh to take a refreshing stroll around the park area under the guidance of the silver moonlight. The trees swayed in resonance with the cool wind; as if waving at him– he smiled. As he paced down the eerie park, the wind changed; chilly and soft wind changed into warm and violent flurry. A ball of compressed lightning materialized out of thin air some 20 feet away from Josh. Gaining strength, the mysterious sphere started pulling nearby object as if having its own gravity. Panicked, Josh tried to escape from the pull but the magnitude was too much for him. He felt as if a thousand invisible hands pulling him towards the sphere. The force was gripping and gentle at the same time – that is all he perceived before he was knocked cold.

“Unbind this lad,
From thy vicious torrent …”

As his conscious returned, he felt himself floating on nothingness. Colours that he had never seen before surrounded him; the atmosphere was austerely bizarre. He felt like he was inside another dimension. Again, the same kind force that pulled him into the sphere wrapped his body and started dragging him to some place else and struggling, at that time, was futile – “To another dimension,” he thought to himself.

With a blink of an eye, Josh found himself in a place that only exists in post-war movies – the place was stark and footprints of destruction were everywhere. The clouds were as black as the night itself, barren land stretched for as far as his eyes can see. He pinched and slapped himself several times, making sure if it was a nightmare, he would wake up – Nothing happened. Terror swelled deep within him but he tried to suppress it. Deep breath was foolishly useless as the air stank the stench of rotten meat. Curiosity aroused, he followed his nose.

“Witness the stain,
Made by the hands of humans…”

As he grew nearer, the stench became more and more unbearable. The smell, he noticed, came from the base of a huge crater, like those seen on the surface of the moon. Shock ran through his body as he peered down. Human remains of all stages of life, young and old amassed at the base of the crater. He backed away from that place in terror. “What the hell happened here?” the voice in his head yelled. Suddenly, two strong hands firmly clenched both his shoulder. Instinctively, he wards off the hands and began running, only to be caught again by his wrist.

“Halt, I am a non-akuma humanoid!” Said the man, the voice was dry and croak but nonetheless, human.

Still terrified, Josh muttered in response “Wh.. Who are you?”
Josh studied his face; scars tainted his face to the point where he looked horrendously deformed but a hint of his own facial characteristic was there – the eyes were bluish green and the cheekbone was sharp, like his.
“I am Scorpius... Follow me, I’ll bring you to a safe place then, I’ll explain to you everything you need to know.” Answered the man en famille.

“Pandora Box was opened,
Letting loose the purest of evil...”

“Listen, I’m a scientist and the one who made you come here, you are in the future. If my calculation is right, you are 50 years ahead of your time.” Scorpius looked hard at me. “Whoever you are, you must derail the course of time so it won’t become like this!”
Josh took a while to digest all of that fact – the thought of him being the saviour of the world from total destruction seems awkwardly too much. Furthermore, time traveling sounds fictitiously surreal. He never thought that time and space continuum could be messed up to such a degree.

The man moved cautiously, making sure nobody or nothing followed them while Josh tailed him from behind. He asked what they were hiding from. Scorpius halted and in whispers, explained Josh the existence of a new breed of human, the akumas – the genetically modified humanoid that possesses strength and agility of a demon but lost their humanity in compensation. They were in the nutshell, animal with human skin. Scorpius warned him to take immediate evasive action if Josh was ever to see one as they usually come in packs and fighting back would be plain suicidal. Out of curiosity, Josh asked how to differentiate whether they are humans or akumas. Jokingly, Scorpius told him to try shaking hands with them.

Up on a hill, Scorpius prodded Josh with a telescope and pointed at the pack of akumas that was starting to gather at the crater where he was a few minutes ago. Caught unprepared, Josh puked on what he saw next; the esurient akumas edaciously dine on the remains. He threw the telescope back at Scorpius, revolted.

“How could someone even think of making those... those... things?” Josh bellowed; he felt his stomach was going to erupt.
Scorpius let out a dolorous sigh and said, “Those akumas are a perfect example of what a human’s greed and lust looks like in physical form.” He took a deep breath and continued, “When people get too obsessed, they tend to venture into the realms of inhumanity. If destroying earth look so simple to them, a fortiori, making akuma is easier!”
“Excuse me, destroying earth?” Josh interrupted

“Hope is missing,
Only Evil,
Only Malice…”

Josh looked around; scouting the desolated land, “You mean they’re not the one causing it?”
“Are you insane? Sure, they’re insanely vicious and all that but to destroy earth!” Scorpius said, irritated.
For the next hour, Scorpius spilled out all that had happened for the past 50 years. 31 years ago, the Russians secretly started building bombs name “Big Bang” that could alter the moon from being a piece to pieces. The year afterwards, the news leaked and that is where it all began – major wealthy country started manufacturing Big Bangs. The building of such bomb was indefatigable at that time. Even veto power was useless against their ignorance. They claimed to build it “for the sake of the country’s public safety and to maintain military equilibrium between countries” or so they say. Being suspicious of each other, they signed an agreement name Mega Military Treaty that agreed on one consensus: that is only to utilize their military prowess particularly, the Big Bang for defensive purposes.

Patently, a county breached the agreement and harnessed the Big Bang to conquer another country. Enraged, the world retaliates; never in the history of humankind, have political ties looked that lachrymose. Not long after that, the phrase “Actions speak louder than words” came alive. That very day was the day where all human that had survive shall and must remember and etched in their little twisted labyrinth.

“Give way, give way,
For Death is looming...”

The firework displayed on that day was by far, the most extraordinary of all for even the earth itself shook in respond. Hordes of Big Bang were unleashed en masse and destruction follows soon after. Most of the Big Bangs were intercepted while it was still in outer space and the view that tailed after was splendour beyond words; Sparks of red and blue coloured the sky, murdering the ozone layer. Clouds were blown away by the sheer shockwave of the Big Bang. Fortunately, only two of them really hit the earth but the catastrophe it caused was apparent until this very day. When the Big Bang touched the earth, flash of blinding light made a number of people and animal lost their visual. After that, a monolith grey mushroom of death was formed – blasted its way up with terrifying speed to reach the heavens. The energy generated was fiction-like – vast area of land was flattened. The earth was depopulated and terraformed. It was as if Death itself swept by an did what it does best; Greets people to the other world

It did not stop there, the radioactive energy released was phenomenal – rain itself changed into downpour of poison as the clouds was contaminated. Colours of the seas and rivers changed and drinking the water from those sources only brings fatality. Even the air was envenomed by the Big Bangs and inhaling it will slowly but surely kill everyone except a few who had total immunity against these things – Josh grasped his nose and mouth and started choking himself as if trying to avoid the air. Common sense kicks in and gave up doing so. The sunshine, Scorpius explained, is a like a raining of knives, it kills you in an instant. He could see the tears rolling down the cheeks of Scorpius as he told the story. His eyes dictated sorrow, emptiness and anger but his facial expression begged to differ.

“Where is hope?
When is she coming?”

All of the sudden, Scorpius abruptly stopped and started scanning for any akumas, Josh was confused by such actions – “If this is the “safe place”, where is it? All I see is land and more land” Josh mused himself. Scorpius’s finger was pointing downward, signaling that the shelter was right under his feet.

An akuma roared, calling the rest for dinner.
Scorpius hurriedly unlocked the entrance...
The akumas started running...

He opened up the hatch...
They are getting closer...

Both Scorpius and Josh jumped into the shelter and locked the entrance behind them.
War cries of the akumas were loud. At least, Josh had a clear idea on how insanely strong they really are.

Josh covered his eyes as Scorpius turned on the lights by voice activation. As his eyes finally adjusted, he gasped in awe as he saw numerous complicated machines of many designs filling the room. One particular device, however, captured his attention; it was a sphere made up of several suspended rings floating above an intricate-looking platform, which was connected to a gigantic machinery, which looked like a power generator.

“That is what I used to summon you to my time,” Scorpius blurted.

“Hope lies nowhere but,
Inside the children,
Children of the future,
For they are hopes and dream itself.”

Bang! Bang! Bang! The akumas almost breached through.

“Hurry, Josh, get into that sphere!” Scorpius persisted; his entire body was shaking excessively.
“What about you?” Josh asked. With all the strength he could muster, he tugged Scorpius to follow him – he was afraid of going alone, afraid that he might not able to succeed changing the future.
Scorpius calmed down, threw a weak smiled and looked at Josh in the eye “I can’t, the machine can only transfer one person. I am sorry to say this but I cannot go back to past, or rather, I do not want to go back to past. The sins I have done in the past must be repent by saving your future. One more thing...” He stopped “If you ever see someone in your time that looks like me, whatever you do, make sure he never ever think of making akumas”
With one final hit, the akumas broke in. Josh dashed into the sphere and the machine started automatically, his tears was flowing out uncontrollably
It started to spin faster and faster and shrouds of darkness engulfed him.

He woke up to find out he was lying on the ground of the park. Feeling dizzy, he woke up shaky and saw a paper with some writing. It reads:

“I lied, my name is actually Josh”

(1936 words)