Chapter 4: The World Now

It was hours later when the other tubes burst open. Aria and Alex looked confused as they both appeared stressed out. Aria was freaking out because she was naked mostly Alex was freaking out because he did not know where he was

"Here!" Jack called as he threw the clothes. John could have sworn she put the clothes on faster than they were thrown. Alex was like John in that he took his time.

"John, what's going on here!?" Aria shouted, embarrassed by her naked body being displayed.

"Yeah, I would like to know that too. So Alex, do you want to elaborate?" John asked his brother.

"Yeah, yeah, follow me. I will explain once we are away from all these scientists." They followed him out of the giant lab area. Aria was calming herself down after the embarrassing moment. Alex tried to tease her. It didn't work, since she teased him about other things instead since he was on the short side. They fought their way to an office-like space. It was spacious enough for all of them. There was a couch, a desk, and a chair in the room. To be honest it looked like a counselor's office. Jack took the chair behind the desk while John, Aria, and Alex took the couch.

"This story will take a while," Alex said with a sad sigh almost.

"That's fine. Just explain." John was focused on what he had to say. Since Aria and Alex trusted John, they just followed the flow for now.

"Fine. 20 years ago, our father worked on a secret project. It was called the Alternative project. No one knows what happened 20 years ago when the project got out of hand. An explosion happened in the lab and that's what caused the sun to turn. This day was known as the blackout. Humans fell into a slumber. Some woke up sooner than others. When the first group of people woke up, the world was not how we left it."

Aria blurted out before Jack continued "what do you mean not how we left it?"

"Well, when the first group of people woke up 3 years had passed. Beast had mutated into what we now call mana beast. Dangerous creatures are only the first thing we encountered when we slept. Our world has undergone massive changes. So did we. The first group of people learned how to use mana. A thing that helps us adapt to this new world." Jack smiled when he said this it wasn't as depressing as the other stuff.

" What the hell? You tell me we have been sleeping for 20 years. Also that the world has decided to bring my fantasies to life." Alex was delighted, he sounded like a geek about magic.

"Well basically. You have to be able to awaken first. We will talk more about magic tomorrow. Let me continue. So we learned magic and fought to bring back what we lost. On the bright side with magic, we were able to build faster. So for the last few years, we have been able to get back what we lost and even got schools reopened. Our society has been restored mostly with it revolving around magic and science."

"Jack, this is cool and all. Although you never said what happened to mom and dad or where Aria and Alex's parents are." This froze Jack's smile.

"Unfortunately, there have been no updates on our parents or theirs," Jack said. This turned everyone's mood sour. Eventually, they were led into a room to sleep. It was getting late although the three of them couldn't sleep after what Jack said.

"Hey, although we don't know where our parents are, at least we got each other right?" Aria was the first to break the depressing atmosphere.

"Yeah you're right I'm glad you guys are my friends. As corny as that sounds."

"You said what?! John, did you call all of us your friends? Dude you have never said that. Keeping you in that tube must have made your brain gooey or something." Alex never saw this side of John. Aria was quiet and she didn't expect a response.

"Yeah, whatever. If we get stuck returning to school, hopefully, it's with you, Alex. I need someone to copy notes from," John said. They laughed as they talked themselves to sleep.