It happened in 2024.
Suddenly, a significant portion of humanity was devastated by the force of nature.
The first blow was an impossible event: the supposedly extinct volcano, Suribachi, in Iwo Jima, erupted. Japan, China, and all of East Asia went into a state of emergency. The wealthiest fled without hesitation, while most people perished despite evacuation protocols. The eruption triggered a series of tsunamis along the Chinese coast, averaging 30 metres in height. The water engulfed half of Shanghai and Hong Kong, destroying thousands of businesses and homes, and claiming many lives by drowning. Japan, South Korea, and North Korea were the first territories to vanish, followed by the Chinese coast.
Just days after this disaster began, as people struggled to survive, the second strike began.
The supervolcano known as La Caldera de la Garita, located in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, United States, erupted. Thousands of people migrated from North American countries to Central America and Europe; millions couldn't escape and perished due to starvation, suffocation, burns, or becoming trapped. Half of the United States lay in ruins and uninhabited. New York and Miami were the cities that withstood the onslaught best. The population was estimated to have shrunk from 330 million to 12 million. That's what was left of the world's second superpower after China.
The Dragon's country, on the other hand, ended up with around 15 million people and most of its territory in desolation.
It all had an air of divine providence, although rumours circulated on the remnants of the Internet claimed it had all been provoked. A conspiracy theory to which, as always, no credit was given.
Many asserted that this had already been foretold by seers and researchers who had managed to access classified information. However, despite their attempts to warn humanity, very few believed them.
Religious people argued that it was the end of times, that the prophecy of the Apocalypse was unfolding, and that the reign of the Antichrist would soon arrive. Be that as it may, two world powers had disappeared due to the catastrophe.
The ash that traveled in the air caused a global volcanic winter that primarily affected northern countries, especially Europe, where temperatures dropped by ten degrees. China, along with parts of Mongolia and India, suffered the same destiny. The sun ceased to be visible in those countries for a long time.
In the following years, Russia became the world's leading power, while the United States and China relocated their capitals and influence to, according to them, "invest" in Latin American countries. As expected, they saw in these lands natural resources that they could exploit more openly than in the past.
They orchestrated a meticulously crafted propaganda campaign, promising health, employment, and a more enticing version of the American dream. However, their true intention was to establish a form of cultural conquest and colonization based on language, certain anti-scientific ideologies, and a silent anti-Christianity centered around materialism driven by monetary promises and conveniently manipulated laws. The media was used to indoctrinate the populace while concealing their true motives, all the while establishing companies and initiating technological research on a scale never before seen in the region. China sought to do the same, and the Latin American countries became the stage for a technological race to surpass Russia.
It is now the year 2030, and the former capitals of Latin America have deteriorated into crime-ridden centers due to food and job shortages. Organized crime is largely led by Venezuelans, drug smuggling by Colombian and Mexican cartels, and various Argentine mafias, led by women but funded by powerful entrepreneurs, commit pre-birth homicides.
In contrast, small towns are experiencing unprecedented growth. They are safer, and their populations still cultivate fertile lands. This is why foreign companies prefer to build their factories and buildings here.
Public universities have seen an increase in technological fields, but private ones from China and the United States maintain a more advanced level. Most of what is developed is for people's entertainment.
In one such company, which had long ago established itself in a small South American country and had garnered a reputation as significant as the now-extinct Apple, it was here that one of its engineers dared to steal a quantum device in an attempt to invent madness.
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