TO CUT A TURNING TAIL

73). SEVERAL REVELATIONS

THE REAL ZENITH CONTINUES TO RECITE THE FLASHBACK, which we don't see in italics. Instead, the dialogues of the present have been written in italics.

And then, Zenith and Cook travelled to the future. However, Cook left back in time so that she can take time to build something as mesmerizing as all the other scientists are building. "You should have gone to a psychologist. This hiding personality of yours, that, oh, I shouldn't be seen working hard, I will feel shy then. Everyone would think I'm hardworking. No, I don't want it! Hardworking is just a definition, why are you thinking of it as a status! You're not from the past! They just use it as an adjective". Cook didn't listen to Zenith, she had to leave for a while, however, she made sure he stays busy for that time. Nate on the other hand is living with a mask on in the polluted environment, staying aloof from Cook and Zenith, trying to improve his ventriloquism.

Zenith started time travelling more and more, he explored throughout the weekdays, improved his holograms at nights. This was till his ego shattered. Zenith is standing in a world made of holograms, its architecture changing at every turn of time. When its night, many turn into a cocoon believing its cozy. The next day, the same cocoon has been turned back into an office. They aren't holograms though, however even they are made with the help of extensive AI. Another world of robots, many many robots. Those blending architectures are based on the AI ability called Shigos. Shigos are the faculty facilitating robots as well. These sorts of robots are made so that they can be stopped before they can go rogue. 

Almost everything works on Shigos. In fact, Shigos were actually brought to existence by the seven continents so they are named after their initials, making their actual spelling SHEEGOS and some write them as SHEGOES; anyhow, the pronunciation stays the same. Sheegos, the place where he encountered the most powerful people. And their arch enemy, his hiddenstone Learn. Zenith soon enough changed his tattoo, just because Learn commented, you have to be number one in everything you want to have a life. Soon, he started becoming more hardworking.

On one hand, Cook used her battle IQ to wit it into Deva, Zenith used his sharpness to make a world better than Anbu's. However, his world only stayed to one crowned territory. He met him; King Harbinger was his name.

"What was he like? Is he what we saw of him?" "Well, to be honest, he is quite a radical thinker. He has his obligations and thinks his own way. There is a word used in his nation from far before, PARST, which means someone who is opinionated and is fixated on those opinions. Their thought process always stays the same and they mind their own business." He regretfully affirms, "he is nothing like me. He sets his own ideals and walks on them; he is as smart as a kyle. "Yeah, I do believe he foresaw a lot about our plans" admits Hook. 

"He would have made a great king; he knew his opinions won't have helped make unity amongst the people and he related the responsibilities that he had been served if being a king. He said he sees an indecisive man in me, someone who hears everyone carefully and then takes a decision because he can't take one on his own. The latter is false, I thought. But he was right! Or maybe, he was smart. Saying something semi-true and stating a half-baked semi-true statement always affects a brain. An indecisive one, sorry. Anyways, I still find it hard to believe that I am his hiddenstone. Huh, he locked our reality from your view only I figure."

****

ANOTHER STORY 

There is a rally of despondent, weary, and weak-looking sluggish people standing in a line. Zenith (Harbinger) walks to them one after the other, their eyes are dull and dark circles dressed under them like mascara. It seems as if they have not eaten anything in the past many years. "So, you're all the heartbroken people there are in this world?" he interviews in an Irish accent on a red loudspeaker. The people in the queue nod.