Paradise Lost to Humanity

By Arunanshu Chatterjee

To whomever it may concern,

If you are reading this, it means that I am not alone. Thank God, for that. And by the odd chance that this is a fossil and somebody from the future is reading this, well, I hope you enjoy stories.

A world where all our thoughts come true sounds like a true paradise. When it all began, it was hailed to be a God-sent gift, a pathway to bring heaven on Earth. The ability to shape the world based on our thoughts was thought the stepping stone to achieving the perfect harmony on Earth. Thus, plans were made, goals were set and people were enlisted to help with the plan. We were all set for a perfect Earth. The project was titled “Omega Project” of our timeline.

Thirty years have passed since the Omega Project began and the Earth has been reshaped. However, far from being the perfect paradise it should have been, it looks as though some eldritch being of supernatural power has torn through it. But I suppose it was to be expected. If you give humanity the power to play God, it is expected that something would go wrong. Sins permeated the paradise and the Omega Project began to go terribly wrong.

The first signs of failure were noticed when several fires spread through the forests of the Indian subcontinent. Despite the “efforts” of the Omega Project, the losses of human life were huge. It caused several controversies as people were quick to blame each other for the failure to save lives. The arguments devolved into conflicts and standoffs, and soon the Project was called off. 

The standoffs developed into conflicts and war broke out. We know human imagination is endless, and so is the level of destruction it can bring about. This war, it took its toll and countries fell, severed apart by unimaginable horror. 

The first case of eldritch horrors began in USA when people began mysteriously disappearing. The horrors were later traced back to the Chinese. As a new door to damnation opened its floodgates, the ugly side of human thought reared its head again.

The tides of war soon changed. Countries no longer fought each other. People fought amongst each other for power and glory, all to end up in the gallows of death by some exceptional phenomenon or something as simple as heart failure. 

As I stand in this burning wreck of a world, I ponder about what the war took from me. My family, my friends are all gone. There were 8.5 billion of us when Omega began, and that number has been reduced to 2 million, as of three years ago. Today, I do not know if anyone apart from me is still alive or not. 

I leave this letter in the hopes that if somebody finds this, they can be assured that they have a friend in these times. To whoever reads this, thank you for staying.

The paper stayed in my hands for a long time as I checked over the writing. Oh, the sun was already rising. I got out of my temporary shelter and looked towards the East. Lost in my thoughts I did not notice the Creaking sound right above me, nor was I aware of the ceiling beginning to collapse. 

Crash! The ceiling came down with a monumental thud, and the last feeling I had before the pain from the fallen debris caused me to blackout, was the letter falling away from my hand.

By Arunanshu Chatterjee