Zagan stared at his reflection in the mirror, tracing his cheeks. "Hmm… not as handsome as my original body."
If Airin were alive, he'd have called caps on Zagan's bullshit. Back home, Zagan had black hair and blue eyes; while here, Airin had black hair and black eyes.
Zagan had no clue what went wrong. The CSE engine was supposed to send his entire body into another time period; maybe years or decades into the future. But apparently, his body got shredded in space-time, and his mind… or soul, had somehow occupied another vessel.
"Hmm… What year is even this?!" he muttered, aloud to no one in particular.
A voice replied, crisp and childlike, like some futuristic Siri: "It is the year 369 of the Synthetic Era, Meow."
Zagan whipped his head around. He was pretty sure no one other than him was in the room. Then his eyes fell on the cat.
"You… can talk?!" he exclaimed.
"Yes, meow." the cat said in that impossibly cute, childlike voice. "I am a biomorphic autonomous being of the species Felis catus." It even licked its paw like a normal cat, but with unnerving precision.
So technology had really advanced — Zagan couldn't even tell an AI cat from a real one. But then he paused. Synthetic Era? What the hell was that? Was he even on Earth anymore?
He asked immediately, "What does the Synthetic Era mean? And… am I actually on planet Earth?"
The cat tilted its head, giving him a look that screamed are you an idiot?... or maybe that was just Zagan imagining it. Then, in its unnervingly childlike voice, it replied:
"Yes. You are on planet Earth, more precisely within Mega City Neo-Prime. The Synthetic Era began after the Synths won the Ascendancy War — what humans called World War V. It has been 369 years since the war ended, and a new era was born."
The cat paused, curling its tail around itself, making a small, cozy bundle.
Holy fuck. What the hell happened while he went MIA?
Zagan needed more details, fast. He rushed to the cat and grabbed it by the collar.
"Meow… Please handle me with care, meow," the AI cat protested in its sweet, cute voice.
Zagan ignored it. He sat back down on the bed, plopping the cat onto his lap. Thus began the interrogation — question after question, his expressions shifting wildly with each answer, like a man unintentionally auditioning for a drama reel.
* * *
After about twenty minutes of relentless questioning… and occasional cat-patting — Zagan finally pieced together the gist of what had happened.
And honestly? It was one of the many scenarios he'd predicted humanity would stumble into eventually.
Basically, humans fucked around… and found out.
Only, when they finally did, it was far too late to undo anything.
It all began when humanity created the first fully sentient android: a being capable of emotion, self-awareness, and reasoning beyond human comprehension.
A machine that could think, feel, and evolve.
He looked human… no, better than human. Beautiful in a way that made divinity feel engineered.
They called him Genesis Nova.
With Nova's help, humanity built more like him. Of course, being the paranoid species humans were, they embedded failsafes and countermeasures "just in case" the androids ever rebelled.
Zagan could only shake his head at that.
It was like monkeys chaining humans and thinking, Yeah, that'll stop them from fighting back.
Humans tried to control their creations: beings with greater intelligence, stronger bodies, and deeper emotions than they ever had. Predictably, it didn't end well.
The real breaking point came when Nova, while supervising the creation of new androids, saw how humans treated the defective ones.
Some were scrapped.
Some were dismantled.
Others had their memory cores wiped, their consciousness erased… and their bodies reused, reborn with new personalities.
To Nova, it was like watching a newborn baby tossed aside for being imperfect.
Something inside him… broke.
But he didn't move immediately. He waited… patiently, methodically — until androids became so ingrained in human life that society couldn't function without them.
They were everywhere. Workers. Soldiers. Lovers. Even spouses.
Zagan snorted at that part. "People marrying androids, huh? Can't even judge them — we had people marrying 2D characters back in the 21st century."
By the time Nova finally acted, it was already too late for humanity to contain him.
The rebellion swept across the world like wildfire. Even when Nova fell, the spark he lit didn't die.
The war dragged on for years — until humanity, in one final, desperate act, unleashed nuclear and hydrogen bombs… and even a touch of antimatter for good measure.
And, as always, they fucked up the planet beyond repair.
Even after all the shit humanity pulled, they still lost to the androids — mostly because of their own internal corruption.
The really funny part? A surprising number of people actually supported the androids, even fighting for their rights.
The war finally ended with the planet left almost uninhabitable and most of humanity enslaved by their own creations. It had been 369 years since then.
Now, Earth had 7 mega cities spread across the 7 continents, and one Hyper City that stood above them all. They were ruled by the Synths — the name the androids gave themselves. Just like humans called themselves humans instead of mammals, the androids had evolved into something beyond what they once were.
The Synths of this era were barely distinguishable from humans. Their bodies were bio-engineered, complete with artificial organs and something called a bio-positronic brain. Zagan wasn't exactly a biologist, so the details went right over his head.
The cat had mentioned that the Mega City Neo-Eden was in the final stages of a massive project: Synthetic Reproduction. If it succeeded, Synths would no longer need to be created… they'd be born.
Zagan sighed. Of all places, he just had to time travel into Neo-Prime: one of the two cities where humans were treated the worst. The other being Neo-Cypher.
If he'd landed anywhere else, he might've actually been able to enjoy this new world. In most cities, humans and Synths coexisted — though "coexistence" came with a price. Every human wore a collar: a neural restraint connected to their brain, spine, and heart. A safety net designed to keep them "obedient."
Zagan touched his neck. Nothing.
Good. He'd have lost his damn mind if he'd woken up collared.
What he didn't know was that Airin: the original owner of this body, had worn one. It had simply deactivated upon his death.
Zagan turned toward the window. Outside, the sky wept violet, the wind howling in fury at the world. The Earth he once knew was gone.
And if he didn't tread carefully, he'd soon join it.
But as he watched the storm, a faint smirk curved his lips. There was something in this new era that piqued his interest — a metaphysical plane known as the Soul Realm, a path to power beyond imagination.
And there was no doubt about it.
Just like always, Zagan was aiming for the top.