Prologue

✨ please, Take your time to read. ✨

The growling of his stomach is so loud and his hunger so intense that it finally wakes John. Today marks two weeks without a full meal and more than four hours with no food in his stomach. Even the leftovers from the restaurant were stolen by other, younger, stronger homeless people.

John wasn't always like this, it's not even his real name, but everyone calls him John.

John Doe.

There's an answer to this, cruel, but it exists.

John had a home, a wife, and children (eight to be precise, three boys and five girls), whom John and his wife loved with all their hearts..

But as time passed, his children grew up, and like all human beings, they changed from those innocent and adorable children. They became people without scruples or feelings, and although John noticed these changes, his wife always reassured him.

But everything changed when his wife, Jane Doe, passed away at the age of 75.

At the time, John was 82 years old, and his children wanted the house, but no one wanted to take care of John, much less pay his expenses. So they decided to send him to a nursing home, but only paid for the first three months.

Since John was a problem, the nursing home took no responsibility and simply let him go.

That's how John ended up living and sleeping on the streets, under bridges, sidewalks, and in sewers.

Hungry and cold, old John decided to get up from the sidewalk. When he saw two young men entering the park, he didn't think twice and decided to leave immediately, moving away from the place due to the terrible reputation these kids have, called scavengers.

These guys usually steal everything they have on them and, if they don't find anything, they'll beat them up as a reward.

John didn't get very far, and even if the old man wanted to, he couldn't run, so he hid in some alleys and from there watched where these unpleasant men were heading.

It was already late, and the cold was getting worse, so the old man decided to take shelter to avoid the sight of police or criminals. Suddenly, the sky lit up with an infinity of shooting stars.

Watching such an astonishing event, a few tears spilled down his cheeks, remembering those happy moments with his wife and children when they were still young.

Among all those shooting stars, there was one that stood out from the rest. This shooting star, besides being more intense, was larger, falling closer to the park.

The interesting thing about that star is that when it fell, there was no sound of impact, only a flash as if the star itself cushioned the blow.

John isn't the only one who sees this. There are other people around the park, but John is the first to approach, as he has nothing to lose. This was in case the rock was carrying some kind of radiation.

Upon closer inspection, John realized that the object that had fallen from the sky wasn't a rock, but rather a cube, a translucent cube the size of a fist. Inside the cube was a beautiful landscape, but the cube emitted a red mist.

John first touched the cube with a stick, but when he saw more people approaching, the old man didn't think twice and took it in his hands, then walked away. This was what he thought, but with just one touch of the side, the entire cube glowed brightly, and in a millisecond, the cube embedded itself right in the middle of his forehead.

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As everything around him disappears, John doesn't move and stares. Although the earth, water, trees, sky, clouds, and the sun itself look the same, they all look duller.

Everything takes on a duller tone and a strange reddish glow due to a red mist that begins to gather in front of John.

<< Tell me, old man, do you want to be immortal. ? >> A strange voice came out of that red mist.

John simply smiles at such a strange question, but immediately replies: —"What's the point of me being immortal if I'll always be an old man.?"—

<< Don't you think that if I can make you immortal, I can also rejuvenate your body.? >>

—"I don't doubt your words, I doubt the cost, since there's no free breakfast in this world."— John replies, looking sideways, as the fog acts somewhat restless.

<< "That, I learned the hard way, but tell me old man, what are you afraid of, if you already have less than two weeks to live.?" >> the red fog replies, leaving John with his mouth open.

After the shock of his imminent death, John wrinkles his mouth. —"Better tell me what your cost is."— the old man comments bluntly.

<< This is the best old man. There's no cost. I'll simply transplant all my memories, knowledge, and skills into your mind, and then I'll cease to exist. When your time comes, and you get bored or are killed, you must transfer your knowledge to the new vessel before you cease to exist. >>

—"But you didn't say I'll be immortal.?"— John asks, somewhat confused.

<< Indeed, you will be, but at some point, you'll feel alone, no matter how much company you have..>> To which the old man immediately nods and adds,. —"True."—

Without thinking, John looks into the fog:— "Good, I'm in."— Then the old man walks toward the red smoke. —"Where I sign."— He looks into the red fog.

The fog suddenly rises and begins to grow, saturating the blue sky with a blood-red color. Then, like a whirlwind, it rushes forward and forces its way into John's nostrils as if he were being sucked in.

Immediately, changes begin in John's body, and his sweat turns to tar, where every pore of his skin sheds a dark, viscous substance. But this is just the beginning, because the substance gives off a nauseating odor like a sewer.

Next come his veins, muscles, organs, and finally his bones, turning a dark red, while his brain receives a brutal amount of information:

John understands what the fog is, what it's for, and what its purpose is. But the information in his brain doesn't just speak of the fog, but also of the cube on his forehead, cataclysms, invasions, other worlds with abilities as absurd as if they were straight out of a novel, and most importantly, how John can achieve immortality and even become a god—not just any god, but the god of corruption.

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Being inside the red fog, John lost all sense of time. Each second inside felt as long as a year. By the time he emerged from the cube into the real world, only a few seconds had passed.

Two scavengers came running toward John. —"Hey, old man, give us the object you took, and don't you dare lie, because we both saw you take it."— says one of the scavengers, as the other man approaches the old man's back.

With a smile, John extends his arms, and from his hands, a column of fog as red as blood emerges, immediately enveloping the two scavengers. This fog is so dense that neither of the men can see their hands, while John carefully examines his own arms, legs, and body.

Essentially, Old John's body remains the same, but at the same time, it has changed, moving the red fog at the will of his thoughts.

As they are enveloped by the red fog, a percentage appears above the heads of those two scavengers, increasing depending on the time and the density of the red fog.

In this case, because it is so dense, the corruption in their bodies increases by 1% every second.

Like any human being upon seeing something unknown, both scavengers begin to fight and move from side to side, while the corruption in their heads slowly increases to 100%.

When they reach 100%, both scavengers stop moving and suddenly bow respectfully to John. —"Command, master..."— Both scavengers say in unison.

With this action, John realized he had full control over both scavengers, and in turn, his lifespan increased by 200 days—100 days for each completely corrupted person.

By having full control of both subjects, John also realized that his strength also increased by 1% per each person.

At the site of impact, there were not only those two scavengers; there were eight more people on the scene, but John didn't go crazy against those people.

The old man uses the two scavengers to attack him simultaneously, and the old man, in turn, struggles against the two men until one of them hits him from behind and knocks him to the ground. The same man then kicks John a couple of times until the old man stops moving.

The two scavengers take all of John's belongings, including a golden rock, which they show off to others. Then, both men run toward the park, where they disappear into the bushes.

Of the eight people still near the meteorite impact, five of them follow the two scavengers, while the remaining three approach and check John's belongings and body again.

John remained motionless, allowing those three people to search every inch of his body. When they were satisfied, they finally left the old man to his fate.

After several minutes, John crawled toward one of the nearby streets, and in one of the darker alleys, the old man finally stood up, but he didn't walk. He simply shuffled slowly until he disappeared into the farthest street.

John walked through several streets, continuing his activities until he approached the entrance to a nightclub where two security guards were standing watch.

The old man controlled the fog until it was as thin as possible and directed it toward the nose of one of the guards. It took a total of 100 minutes to reach 100%, thus adding another 100 days to his lifespan and 1% more strength.

When the red fog ended with one of them, John didn't stop. He continued with the other guard, but this time with a slightly denser fog, shortening the corruption time.

When the second guard is finally subdued, John approaches the door and, without saying anything, enters the club.

Inside the club, the place is packed with people, everyone dancing, shouting, and drinking. This time, John continues to avoid attracting too much attention and heads toward the speakers, because next to them is the dry ice that is partially thrown.

John uses this as camouflage for the red mist and begins to throw it until it fills the entire place with a dense red mist, while he waits patiently until everyone is corrupted.

Although at first, people had some doubts, but since it was a red mist, odorless and tasteless, combined with the lights and sound, no one in the crowd paid much attention.

It was almost dawn when everyone in the place stood completely still, while the disco music played loudly.

There were a total of 146 people, achieving a 40-year increase in their life expectancy—14,600 days, to be exact. with a 146% strength boost.

This includes cleaning staff, waiters, security, a bartender, and five girls, along with a couple of accountants and the owner of the establishment.

All of these people had a common trait: the pupils of their eyes had a red halo, due to their corruption at 100%.

—"Fine, go about your own business."— John tells everyone before heading into the office.

The old man's appearance had changed, with a more youthful body.

Upon entering the office, a man stood in one corner with his head bowed.

—"You're the owner."— John asks after entering.

The man immediately shakes his head and answers. —"I'm one of the representatives who handles the finances."— Having said that, the man doesn't move.

—"Okay, now bring me all the cash you have."— John tells the guy, and he immediately nods.

Then John looks at the girls. —"You guys collect all the money, cash only."— The girls nod and immediately leave the office. As he watches the guy in charge gather all the money, John asks,. —"Do you have surveillance cameras. ?"—

The guy nods again and adds. —"Yes, sir."—

—"Turn everything off and erase all the videotapes."— The guy nods, but before moving, the guy comments. —"There are a couple of independent cameras."— Then, the guy points to one of the corners.

John knows he's screwed now, but he doesn't panic. He just waits for the guy to gather all the money, while looking at the camera and giving a couple of middle-finger salutes.

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An hour later, several BMW 360i cars arrive at the scene, where several men dressed in black business suits get out of the cars.

They all wear gas masks covering their faces, but none of them dare approach more than 10 meters from the club doors. —"What the hell are we doing here.?"— one of the guys asks his partner.

The partner just looks at the guy as if he'd stolen his daughter and simply shakes his head and gestures for him to shut his mouth. —"Shhh."—

—"Oh, Shit."— the guy groans, muttering a few more curses, but he remains silent and looks toward the building.

Minutes later, a van with the logos of a multinational company approaches and stops in front of the building, where three men wearing suits used to avoid any type of radiation get out.

Each one has a device that resonates with the air. These devices measure the radiation in the street. But after searching for a few minutes and finding nothing, the three men look at each other and then look at the building's entrance.

These three people nod in understanding and walk slowly toward the entrance, continuing to move their devices around.

Several meters from the building, two people are talking inside one of the cars.

—"Hey, Bili, what's all this shit.?"— the driver asks his partner.

The guy named Bili ignores the driver's question and continues watching as the three men in radiation suits enter the building.

Suddenly, in the silence, the cell phone of the guy named Bili starts ringing, and before answering, he looks at the screen. —"It's the boss."— He says in a whisper before answering the call.

—"Boss, those guys just came in. Yes, boss. We only have the video we sent you and another copy, to the government, because we must, yes, boss, of course boss, no more questions." —With that, the boss ends the call, and Bili looks like he's swallowed a fly.

Bili looks at his partner in disgust and says through gritted teeth. —"Call everyone." —

—"What.? Why the fuck are we doing that.?" — asks the partner, but Bili keeps his mouth shut on the subject and answers in return. —"I don't give a shit what you think, just call everyone and that's it." —

Bili's partner swallows all his questions and nods. Then the guy honks the horn and flashes his lights.

Seeing this, Bili comments under his breath. —"Damn government." — All the guys in business suits start heading back to their respective cars.

As the BMWs were about to leave the site, the three men in radioactive suits were leaving the building's entrance, waving their arms in the air.

Seeing this gesture, Bili's partner comments with a smile. —"Look, Chief, they've already left and they didn't find anything."— Turning his head, the man's smile was immediately erased when he saw several trucks packed with soldiers.

The man behind the wheel was about to pull over when Bili's voice reminds him: —"Don't stop, keep going or we'll get into shit."— The man nods and drives forward. He sees in the rearview mirror how the soldiers get out of the trucks and stop the three men in radioactive suits.

The three men were upset and exchanged words with the soldiers, but the soldiers quickly beat them until they were under control and subdued.

—"What the hell just happened.?"— The partner behind the asks, and Bili response. —"The government just got involved."—

—"What happened.? That was too fast."— Bili's partner replies.

Bili smiles at his partner's naiveté. —"Apparently those crazy guys have been at this for months."—

—"Months.?"— His partner replies, immediately jogging his mind. —"The meteor shower."— Bili nods in response, but doesn't speak; he just stares straight ahead.

—"Now forget everything or you'll end up like those guys."— He points to the three men in radioactive suits who were still arguing with the soldiers about their rights.

—"But we're a democratic country now; we're not a dictatorship, nor are we slaves."— Bili's partner comments with obvious indignation.

Bili laughs loudly at his partner and adds. —"Sure, sure, why don't you go down and explain it to them.?"— He points to the soldiers who are beginning to surround the nearby streets.

—"By the way, there's another meteor shower today too."— Bili comments aloud.

To which his companion nods. —"Of course, it's three days in a row, everyone knows that, and they even mentioned it on the news."— Bili and his companion continued talking about the shooting star event, while John, several blocks away, looks closely at a sign advertising "Great dancing and debauchery tonight with disco music, under the shooting stars."

Before John could finish reading, a voice warns him. —"You're filthy."— John raises his eyes and looks at the guy approaching, annoyed, and says again. —"Do you see anyone filthier than you around here, or are you stupid?"

John, still surprised, points to his chest. —"You're talking to me."—

—"If or, you're an idiot, you better back off or I swear to God..."— Before the guy can finish speaking, a large red fog covers him from head to toe. This time, the red fog seems more sophisticated, grabbing the guy's feet and hands to lift his body a meter off the ground, while the red fog covers his mouth, preventing him from screaming.

The guy opens his eyes, and his face distorts in fear. But John ignores him and leads the guy inside. —"Come on, let's go inside. I have a few questions to ask you about the place. I hope you're not disturbing us. By the way, my name is John, John Doe."—

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To be continue...remember, if you like this story, consider adding it to your library, that helps me to know that you are liking and I will give it more priority. ¥ $ ₤ ₯ € ₨ ₩..