4

"Well," Xen had expected this, but he didn't think they would announce it so soon and so suddenly. The situation seemed worse than he imagined. He turned to look at his mother, whose face had gone pale. She had known about this for a long time because of her husband. She had been preparing for this day, but she didn't expect it to come so quickly.

She first looked at the screen, then at her son. She wanted to say something, but in the end, all that came out was a sigh. As the wife of a high-ranking official, she understood exactly what was at stake. She didn't panic, nor did she say something like, "Everything will be fine." Instead, she gave him a warm smile. But the redness in her eyes showed the storm in her heart. After all, what mother would want to send her fourteen-year-old son to fight in a war they were destined to lose?

Maybe Xen had already noticed it, so he didn't make any excuses. It would be a lie to say he wasn't scared. Deep inside, he was already panicking. His life had just started, and there were so many things he still wanted to do. He wanted to have fun with his friends, hold hands with the girl he liked, and explore the vast outer space. But all those thoughts faded into a sigh when he saw his mother's face.

"I'll go and make some preparations," he said, heading back to his room. Now that the announcement had been made, it wouldn't be long before his recruitment notice arrived. He didn't know how long he would be fighting or if they would even survive, but all he could do was hope for the best.

Heading inside his room, the first thing he did was to wave his hand, and with that, his entire room was locked. With a grim expression, he clenched his fists and spoke in a flat voice. "Connect to the Recollection Hall."

Since he was unable to find anything of value there, he was going to give it a try in his room. The only problem was...

[Connecting to Recollection Hall.] With a warm woman's voice, his entire room plunged into pitch darkness before a screen popped in front of him.

[Reomte Acess to the Recollection Hall will cost 100 Credits per hour. Whether to confirm?]

Xen looked at his pitiful balance of around 2000 Credits that he had saved over the years and was planning on using for his trip to Saturn before letting out a bitter smile. In the end, he took a deep breath and decisively spoke a single word. "Yes"

With that, his entire room blurred before he once again found himself standing in space, staring at the earth. Without wasting another second, he began to look for anything that stood out.

---------

While Xen was looking for a way out, the entire world or should we say the rest of the eight planets of the solar system were in turmoil. Earth wasn't the only planet where the announcement was made public, the rest of the planets too had their respective announcements. But within an hour after the announcement, the entire planets were plunged into chaos.

Though the talk about fighting against the enemies might sound grand and might make one's blood boil, not everyone was in favour. Different groups have already gathered and started their protest.

One such protest was happening just a few miles from Xen's home.

At that moment a crowd of roughly a hundred or so men was gathered shouting about the unfairness and this idiotic decision of letting even the kids go to war. Not only in the area surrounding Xen's home but throughout the world, people were going crazy. This sudden disruption of their everyday life wasn't something they were willing to take lightly, regardless of their future fate.

A few of the self-proclaimed leaders have already started to rally the masses and had no intention of obeying the so-called recruitment notice. They wanted to talk to the elected leaders of the earth's council and put forth their demands. Some were even going as far as to ask for their resignations.

Inside a small exquisite room that was filled with antique furniture, the figure of the woman in her late twenties was sitting in one of the chairs with a furrowed face. She was the current elected ruler of the Earth's council, Ariosa.

In front of her was a cluster of screens displaying scenes throughout the world. The more she looked at them, the darker her expression got. Even though she had expected there to be a backlash, she wasn't expecting it to be this fierce. If things kept on going this way, then she could kiss goodbye to the recruitment as well as her position.

"Make preparations for the United Council Meeting. I will answer their questions there." Waving her hand, she spoke to the hologram of an old man standing there. Were it any other time, she wouldn't have batted an eye, but now at this critical junctor, she had no other choice. Time was a luxury now, so the faster she shorted it out, the better it was for everyone.

After hearing her request, the old man just nodded in response before fiddling with the screen in front of him and soon, a notification was sent to every single person in the world.

[Earth's Leader Ariosa will be holding a United Council Meeting in two hours. The leaders of their respective areas are invited.]

It was a short message, but it was enough to quell the flames of protests that were about to go out of control. And sure enough, within moments, the groups began to plan a list of questions and their demands.

By the time two hours were over, a broadcast was being relayed throughout the Earth.

The meeting was being held in a large hall that had hundreds if not thousands of seats. Upon each seat was the hologram of a person. This was perhaps the first time in centuries that in the entire council hall, not even a single seat was empty.

"You are here." After a few minutes, the hologram of Ariosa appeared on the main seat in the middle of the hall as she looked around before speaking further. "Go on, I want to hear your questions and demands."

The hall was silent for a long time, many of them wanted to see who was the one to ask the first question. They wanted to see how Ariosa would react, hence an eerie silence filled the air as everyone waited for the next person to speak first.

Arisoa looked at it all in silence before shaking her head. "The most valuable thing right now is time. If you are going to waste it all here, then I suggest you all go back and wait for your recruitment notice."

As soon as she said these words, one of the men finally couldn't keep quiet. Standing up, he put forth his views.

"Why do we need to fight?" His question was not only directed at Ariosa but also at every leader and every viewer. "We have machines, we have robots, we have artificial intelligence. Despite these things, why do we need to participate in the war? Especially the kids."

"YEAH! ABSOLUTELY."

"Answer us."

"He is right."

Within moments the entire hall was plunged into noise. The announcement of the war was too abrupt. Besides the few high-ranking officials, almost no one else knew about the war, so it was tough for people to just accept it.

"Because they have the means to completely disrupt Artificial intelligence. Even our giant machines and robots... They can disable them within seconds." Ariosa's words were like pouring cold water on everyone present. Who would have thought that the machines and the artificial intelligence that everyone took pride in were so fragile? It was like someone dropped a bomb in a calm lake... It was bound to cause many ripples. Some even wondered whether Ariosa was joking with them. After all, it was such an absurd notion.

After a brief silence, a woman stood up before shooting another question. "You said there's a war going on. But I doubt that... Where's the proof? The only thing we have is your words. We need ironclad proof."

Her words were once again met with unanimous agreement. Though a few people already knew about it, the remaining ones were still in doubt.

"Then see for yourself." Without wasting another second, Ariosa waved her hand a new screen appeared in front of her on which space stations and battleships spanning cities were being destroyed like fragile toys. The opponent wasn't even visible, just a burst of rays and everything was reduced to dust.

"Any other question?" Ariosa gazed across the hall, her every word spoken with grace and an eerie calmness.

"Why not inform us till now?" One man finally stood up and asked the most important question. "You said the war has been going on for the last three hundred years, so why tell us just now? Why not when it started or mid-way through?"

"....." Ariosa's fists clenched tightly as she listened to this question.

"We..." Her voice trembled for a moment, "We wanted to keep the peace and order and let everyone live worry-free. We didn't think the situation would turn into this. We were sure the war would end within a few months. For the situation to turn this dire; it was out of our expectations too."

"What a joke." A woman suddenly stood up with a sneer. "I'll tell you what. You just wanted to sit comfortably in your position. You thought if everyone knew about it, then you would be held accountable and you would have to answer. How about that, huh? Am I right?"

"We truly thought about keeping peace and order. We wanted to..."

"Oh, Piss off." Cutting her off mid-sentence, the woman let out a mocking laugh. "You have been sitting on the seat of Earth's leader for more than a hundred and fifty years. If you really thought about Earth and its people, you would have told everyone the moment the war started. At least we could have found a way out of this, but NO... You and your power-hungry ego... You just had to keep it a secret. And now that it's finally here and even your life is at risk, you can't hide it anymore. And now you want us to fight for your mistakes."

The more she spoke, the hoarser her voice got. By the time she reached her sentence, almost every leader in the hall was shouting in her support. Just like she said, if Ariosa really cared about the people, she would have either told them early or found a way out of this predicament. But now when her ass was on the line, she finally couldn't hold it back.

"I am not here to prove anything." Ariosa's emotionless voice echoed in the hall as she spoke further. "I am here to answer your questions. As for your personal preferences, it has got nothing to do with me."

When she decided to talk about the war, she was already expecting a scene like this. But she wasn't here to solve their doubts or prove herself, she was here to put her views and answer their questions. As to what they think of it... it was none of her business.

"Let me remind you once again." Her cold gaze ran across the entire hall. "We are at war. If you haven't noticed already or if the puny brains of yours still haven't got it, then let me remind you once again...

The entirety of the human race throughout the MILKY WAY has been DESTROYED. This solar system is the last line of defence and even here, pluto has already fallen and in a few days or weeks, Neptune would be next."

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and spoke softly. "So, we do not have the luxury to make demands or go on protests now. We can either choose to defend our home so that our family, our friends, our children could live in peace or we could stay here and wait for the inevitable death."

"I will leave the decision to you."

After these words, the entire hall plunged into a deathly silence. Many of the leaders who were looking forward to her resignation were now lost deep in thought. Just like Ariosa said, if there was no planet, then there was no use in them being the so-called leaders. Many of the leaders present were still reeling with the shock and gravity of her words. For the humans throughout the Milky Way to be wiped out... it was a scene straight out of a nightmare.

As the hall plunged into a long silence, it was an old man who finally broke it with a sigh. He looked around the hall before focusing his gaze on Ariosa as a bitter smile flashed across his face.

"We can go to war... We can join the army... But not the children..." His voice was hoarse, with years of wisdom. "A civilization truly reaches its end when it is its children's turn to pick up the weapons."

"What do you lot say?" He glanced around with a smile. "There are plenty of old bones here willing to take up the arms. But I still believe that those under eighteen shouldn't be allowed to participate."

His voice was firm, leaving no room for argument.

"I agree." It was at this moment that a man spoke out in support.

"Me too."

"I agree too."

Within moments, the entire hall agreed to this reasonable request.

Ariosa stayed silent for a moment before letting out a deep sigh. "Fine." She nodded in response. Even though she wanted everyone above the age of ten, it was pretty clear that the people here wouldn't accept it. This was their bottom line. Perhaps in the future when the situation becomes dire, they might reconsider this. But until then... they wanted to keep their humanity alive.

---------

Inside his room, Xen was unaware of everything that was going on in the outside world. His eyes were still stuck on the constantly changing scenery, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't find anything of value.

"I am almost out of balance." Looking at the balance that was only enough for a few minutes, he despaired. This was his last hope and without it, he didn't know whether he was going to find anything, but for him, his father's words were the only truth. Since he said there was hope, there must be...

Minutes passed and soon the time limit was over.

"Is it over?" Feeling the world around him turn into nothingness, Xen let out a deep exhausted sigh. It seemed even his last hope was gone.

"Hehehehe..." A bitter laugh escaped his parched lips as he barely controlled his riling emotions. His heart was full of deep exhaustion and despair. He didn't know what he was looking for, neither did he know if it was true. But it was his last hope... a flicker of light in the darkness, and despite the truth, he wanted to believe it. And now that he had suddenly lost it, he didn't know what to do next. His current situation was just like an arrow that had lost its target, except he never knew his target to begin with.

"....." Just when Xen was wondering what he was going to do next, the scene around him blurred once again before he found himself standing above a small village. It was a typical village for that era and judging by the looks, it was possibly in the early 2000's. The village looked rather desolate with only narrow dirt roads along with old stone houses. Judging by the scenery around, the village was located in the mountains.

"What the hell?" Suddenly being jolted awake from his stupor, Xen jumped up in fright. He knew there was no balance in his account, so there was no way the scene would continue to play, much less the changes in the scenery that he wasn't controlling. "Is it a bug or a virus?"

Xen's first thought was that this was perhaps a system error in the Recollection Hall. But before he could do anything, he saw the scene changing once again. This time he wasn't standing above the village, instead he was standing in the middle of it and in front of him was the figure of a woman walking slowly in front of him.

He couldn't see the woman's age, but if he had to take a hard guess, he would say somewhere between twenty and thirty. He turned around, hoping to see more, but was stunned to find that in the entire village, only this woman was present, who seemed to be walking forward, but even though she kept on walking, she didn't seem to move. It was as if she was walking on an invisible treadmill, always stuck at her initial position despite her efforts.

"This is?" Stunned, Xen could only look in wonder. His mind still couldn't comprehend what was even going on. He waved his hand, hoping to change the scenery, but it didn't work. He tried to exit, but nothing... It was as if he was stuck here.

"What's going on?" Now the nervousness in his heart was growing at an alarming rate. He looked around, hoping to find the answer but no matter how much he tried or what he did, nothing seemed to work.

Helpless, he could only look at the scenery in front of him.

As he looked at the woman's back, Xen narrowed his eyes, not understanding what was the point of the scene.

Just when he was wondering what was going on, the figure of a boy slowly walked past him, chasing after the woman.

"Huh!?" Just now Xen had scanned the entire village and he didn't find the trace of this boy, just where did he pop up from? Everything in front of him was so strange that he was having trouble making sense of it.

Helpless, he could only focus on the scene in front of him. The boy looked barely sixteen with a frail stature. Wearing old coarse clothes that seemed to have been washed countless times, he was walking slowly. Xen couldn't see his face due to his back towards him. He wanted to move, to see more clearly, but his legs didn't move. It was as if he was stuck in his position. In the end, he could only see the boy in front of him who raised his hand, trying to reach out for the woman, but suddenly stopped mid-way.

*Thump

The moment he stopped, Xen felt his heartbeat speeding up unnaturally. He didn't know why but at that moment, he felt an inexplicable sense of panic and fear. It was as if he was standing in front of the wild beast who was ready to pounce at him. Throughout his short life, this was perhaps the first time he felt this way.

At that moment, Xen didn't even think why he felt this way inside a recollection, but his instincts were screaming in terror. He wanted to turn around and leave this place. He didn't know what it was or what he was seeing, but he didn't want to see it for another second.

He wanted to open his mouth to speak, but words seemed stuck in his throat.

He raised his hand, wanting to change the scene, but the moment he raised his hand, the world around him froze. It was as if someone paused the scenery. For a moment, Xen wondered if someone else was controlling the recollection, but soon his eyes widened in surprise and his expression turned into horror.

As the entire world paused, the boy in front of him should have been too. But under his horrified gaze, the boy raised his hand slowly and his head turned slightly, revealing a smile under his lips. He then waved his hand towards Xen as if throwing something.

Before Xen even had a moment to process, he felt like something hit him on the head before he completely lost consciousness.

As soon as he lost consciousness, the scene around him blurred before disappearing completely, letting the room resume its previous appearance along with the fainted body of a young boy...