Chapter-5 Plot twist?

"Who's Ramsay? "

"No one. He was a great chef back in my time. He made it to a doomsday bunker when the scope of the outbreak was realised. One of the lucky ones if you ask me but considering what happened over the years not so lucky after all. " He rotated the spoon as he was talking.

The rest of them were eating while paying attention to Joel's words.

"I see. He must have been a phenomenal chef for you to remember him even after such a long time. By the way, I was given the family name of Williams."

"After Anne Williams, right? Makes sense." J said while picking another slice of steak, Joel merely nodded in recognition as he picked up his cup of tea. Leaving a befuddled girl who simply looked from left to right hoping one of them would explain it more clearly but none did.

*sigh* 'Why are they so clueless or do they do it intentionally?'

"So who is this Anne Williams?" she finally asked looking at Joel.

J simply grinned and slightly jerked his head in her direction indicating Joel to answer her.

'This cheeky brat. He wants to push all of this on me while he eats and enjoys himself. ' One of his eyebrows twitched as he deciphered the meaning behind that action. He calmly sipped his tea.

"Anne Williams. Full name: Anne Marie Williams is one of the most influential figures of our time. She is among the first few who had a shareable blessing. Her blessing was termed a 'miracle' and reminded people of the innate nature of blessings. She's currently a cardinal better known as 'THE HEALER of GRACE' or 'Salutaris Gratia'. She represents the church of Raphael."

He placed the teacup down and glanced in her direction only to see she was sporting an absolutely lost look on her face.

"What ?" she felt like a tiny boat sailing in stormy water. She was completely out of her depth.

*sigh* Joel pinched the bridge off his nose he realised he was likely going to be forced to give out a lecture.

"So where do I start from?" he asked in a begrudging manner.

"From the start." J replied on her behalf as he picked up his teacup.

"Yeah,...Yeah. I got it. So do you know how blessings work?" he asked her.

"Start from even before she doesn't even know what exactly blessings are. Think of her as someone who missed all her Sunday school because she was busy in training to become the next Ramsay." he said as he sipped his tea.

'Wow...he is insulting me while complimenting me. Wait. Who asked him to speak on my behalf?'

"I can speak for myself, thank you very much. From the beginning please." she stared at him and then addressed the latter part towards Joel.

"I was only giving him a reference point. Don't worry I know you can speak. " He said as he took another bite.

'You speak almost too much. '

Joel cleared his throat as he interjected their minor conversation.

"So are we doing this or not?"

She excitedly shook her head. Finally, she would know a bit more. While he plainly raised his hand in a 'take it away' manner.

'If only he can shut up and not disturb him.'

'If only she can shut up and not nit-pick everything I say. Seriously you don't want to ruin Joel's mood. Otherwise, say goodbye to your story-time. Not that I need it.'

"3 decades...i.e. is 30 years

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30 years ago something happened. Something so unnatural that it has never happened throughout the history of mankind. More like it was inconceivable that a phenomenon like that could even occur. It was assigned the codename 'ORTUS' or THE RISE later on by the UCND because of what it signified for us.

All of the people that have survived including me will tell you that it is the one event that is permanently burned in our memories, in our eyesight and in our very souls.

I remember the 6th of May 2018 like it was yesterday.

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It was still daylight, me and Tommy, my brother; had taken down some hunters. I was resting for a brief period while Tommy worked behind me. I was looking up watching the sky. It used to calm me down. That day was no different I was looking up at the sky when I noticed something was off about it. It was unsettling, I couldn't immediately point out but there was something different that day.

An abrupt question but where does the sun rise from?"

'Wait, is he seriously quizzing us while telling a story? What are we kids? seriously...' she rolled her eyes at the abruptness of the question as she was going to answer him she was cut off by J.

"flom the east and sets in ja wesht..." *nom* *nom* he spoke while chewing apparently too interested in his story that he didn't bother to speak after he ate.

'At least now we know one of us is a kid indeed.'

"Hey, don't speak while eating that's bad manners." she glared at him.

'Oi, quit acting as if you're my mother, woman.' he merely gave a grunt and proceeded to pick another slice of the steak but he felt a light smack at his hand.

"What?" He looked at her calmly.

"Leave some for your friend. She'd be hungry, she's been literally out in the rain with Marlene and hasn't returned yet. She'd be tired and definitely starving."

"Hmm.." he nodded calmly as he dropped the slice back. To her, it seemed there was a very faint grumpy expression on him.

'But then again when is this guy not grumpy? Either he is completely indifferent or irritated. ' She then remembered the small smile on his face.

"I am only saying that because we have the second dish as well." she gently added.

'What she cooked more? Oh man, this kid is not so bad at all. I am glad Tess made me the babysitter. I get to nap and know I get good food. ' he thought as he observed the interaction between the two. Not at all upset at breaking the flow of the story.

J nodded again impassively as the previous time and started to pick up the now empty dishes of everyone. He placed them in the sink and started to wash them.

"Yo, Joel continue, man." he called out.

'Hmm... she's good. She has already started to grasp how to handle him. She's unknowingly taking the Tess approach. This is the second time I have seen him take initiative. He's taken a faint liking to her.

He only does a few things without being asked and even then he tries to sneak some sarcastic gripes and his amusing but rotten and twisted monologues. Very rarely he has done things irrespective of his convenience.

Well granted it's just washing dishes so it does not mean much but she met us only a few hours ago and that is significant.'

"Yo, Joel you there?" he asked again deducing that he was distracted as he didn't answer back.

"Yeah, yeah. So where were we? the sun right?"

She nodded as she sipped her tea.

"I looked at the sky and observed something off about it. The sun was going back up. Believe it or not, it was rising back until it hung perfectly overhead. We felt the evening time turn to the afternoon.

and then the most creepy thing happened we saw a shadow rising fast behind the Sun. Believe me, kid, every fibre in my body was screaming to run but the phenomena unfolding in front of our eyes kept us stuck. We couldn't move not till we witnessed what was happening.

The shadow was the Moon. The moon had emerged from behind the sun and hung adjacent to it. We saw the blazing afternoon that reigned sovereign literally divide itself into two. One side was completely day and the other completely night.

We could see that division all around, everywhere and then we saw these mild waves, golden rays behind the sun and pitch black behind the moon. That's when our sense of danger went off. Tommy and I started sprinting away, we didn't know where we wanted to sprint off to considering it was the SUN and the MOON, but we ran.

I turned back and saw the waves collide. I saw them locking against each other resisting each other before like an explosion it started expanding.

We were running we did not dare stop, we could not stop. I felt a sense of heat and cold simultaneously from my back and then everything went dark; just stark blackness.

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And then Nothing, just absolute nothing, you couldn't see anything."

She gulped, as he took a pause from the story. She did not expect it to go into the territory of so bone-chilling scary. She could not even imagine what that experience would have been like. Meanwhile, J had washed the dishes and set them back on the table considering they had another meal coming up. He had been silently listening as well.

"Only thing I can compare that experience to might be to being adrift in space. I don't know since I wasn't an astronaut but that is all I can conjure as a possible similar experience.

I sat in that nothingness for hours.

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Or I think it was hours. I don't know. Luckily, after some time and I don't know how much time later some visibility returned to that region. It was no longer pitch black, it was enough for me to spot my brother who had smartly approached the same solution and decided to wait it out rather than walk in blind.

Later, Both of Us made it out of that zone and entered the exactly opposite zone where everything was bright, everything was bathed with these golden rays of light.

I remember it took 5 days more for these zones to disappear completely.

We were the lucky ones. You see, it was not all of it these zones had been accompanied by Meteor Showers. While most of them were not so destructive but it's a METEOR! wherever it would land the place would undoubtedly be in rubbles."

"You said most of them." Joel nodded in acknowledgement of his unspoken question.

"There were three meteorites that carried devastating power. All of them caused massive destruction but one of them just landed in a bad spot. A lot of lives were lost because of it.

In retrospect, we now know that the biggest asteroid of 4.5 km in width had hit the Mountain region of the Arctic, the second largest asteroid 2 km in width had hit the forest cover of Greenland and the last meteorite of 1.3 km in width had hit right at the Capital of Cambodia. It destroyed roughly a quarter of Cambodia by itself. That one had cost a lot of lives."

There was a brief lull in the conversation as the orator had paused probably to reflect on something or to pay his respects to the dead and the listeners had been quite silent, to begin with.

"It was only months later we came to know everything was changed because of what had occurred that day. These zones were not something exclusively faced by us. Every part of the world had been divided into these two zones equally.

and I mean every part of it. At least that's what the UCND stated later in their official report of the incident. I don't really think they would have that much manpower to analyze every spot on the planet. More like the overwhelming confirmation of most of the places and countries led them to hypothesize that it might have been a global-scale event or even bigger.

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It is very possible that it was so huge in magnitude that it might have changed the functioning of our very solar system. But that is something we have no proof of. Maybe the top - elite ranked people might have a clue but common folks like us? We have no chance of knowing. "

"What happened after? " she carefully asked.

"We fell ill." he continued in a solemn tone.

"I thought you implied before that this was the origin of the blessing. Why did you guys fall ill?"

'Did she stop using her brain? He clearly talked about the zones. The entire phenomenon was an undefined sequence of events with unforeseeable influence on life and the ecosystem as a whole. It wouldn't make sense if they did not fall ill.'

Joel simply nodded at her question while J kept his thoughts to himself and observed the interaction between the two of them. He placed a palm under his chin, using the table as support for his elbow. His expression was aloof but his eyes were completely set on both of them indicating his interest in their conversation.

"Yeah, it was nothing serious but I think everyone had suffered from a fever for a week or two on and off. Some had more severe symptoms but it wasn't anything life-threatening in my opinion. It was just awfully hot, other than you dying due to thirst, lack of food and a possible encounter with infected or wild animals it wasn't really dangerous.

The blessing came after.

Rather we identified it afterwards. When everyone had begun noticing these weird changes in themselves did we realise the impact. Later, on we saw some changes reflect in the environment as well. Still, everything was fragmented for us nobody knew what it meant on a global scale. "

"So this event had given you some advantages or some skills that you guys later collectively termed as a blessing? " she aired her deduction.

"Partially correct" Joel said as he finished his tea.

"It's pretty evident that term either got coined after the speech of the UCND head since he had used it in the speech or It came from the church. My money is on the latter, possibly the church gave it while pointing his speech as an auxiliary reason. " J chipped in the conversation as he slightly played with his own tea cup.

'What an infuriating guy... he gave two alternatives and then decided to go with a new choice altogether. (✿╬ Ò﹏Ó)'

"Is that your final answer? Do I lock it in?' He looked straight at him, his voice held a tone of amusement in it.

'Huh? lock in what? What sort of catchphrase is this?' while she was pondering upon this he turned his head towards her.

"So miss-" he paused slightly.

"Now that I think about it we never introduced each either officially. You can call me Joel."

'She's good..., never seen Joel actively do an introduction. The fact that he is even indulging in time waste like this shows he's taken a slight liking towards her. But it's just an introduction so not at all significant.'

"I am Ellie. (✿ዕ ﹏ ዕ)"

"So miss Ellie, do you agree with your team-mate, the cold-hearted straight-faced looking guy over there?" he pointed towards J

"Or do you want to change your answer? Remember, once you lock it in the answer will not be changed and you can't use 'Ask the expert' lifeline considering none of us here is an actual expert on this."

'He's a bit strange as well.' she did not immediately answer him.

"What's the point of doing a routine and referencing shit nobody can catch besides you. Stop doing it before she thinks you are weird." he said in a dismal manner.

'Oh, it was a gimmick. He isn't weird.'

"Quite sure it didn't come off as weird. I kept my tone normal. The actual game show that used to do it looked corny doing it. " he immediately cleared up any misconceptions. His body language went back to being himself.

'Gameshow? the name is self-explanatory but I wonder what it was really like? I'll remember to ask Marlene about it someday.'

"Well, I'll go with his answer as much as I don't like him. I do think he might be right." she answered him.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, midget." her answer was met with a quick sarcastic comment.

"Correct answer. Congrats J, you won. Would you like to know what did you win ?" he calmly asked.

'Do I look like a fool to you? (_) That's a trap right there if I have ever seen one. I am not walking into it. Nope.'

"If it's along the lines of I get the authority to answer the rest of her questions. I'd like to pass."

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*grunt*

"Anyways, that's how the term blessing came about. " he continued in a monotonous voice.

'He really was trying to push the responsibility on him. (✿⊙︿⊙ ) '

"Ok, so I got the origins of the blessing down. It also explains how religion got connected to it. Basically, the church piggybacked off the unexplained events and grew in influence. What I don't understand is how did they maintain it? Don't people realise it was just a sham, a scheme by the church?

At the end of the day, a blessing is something that everyone possesses, right? " she asked as she moved to check up on the cooking pot.

She removed the lid to take a look at it. Using the ladle she stirred it around and then used a spoon to taste test it.

'Tastes good. Let's just give a few minutes more to the broth. ' she placed the lid back and stood near it.

"Answering it is a Pandora's box, kid and frankly I don't want to be rained down by the flurry of succeeding questions. " he looked at the mild pout she was sporting.

*sigh*

"Guess it wouldn't hurt to make you aware. Hell, I don't know why most of you kids don't know about it. J, take over for a bit. I'll join in the mid."

'Oi, oi. Aren't you being too generous here Joel? '

"No, They do teach that stuff y'know. She didn't learn it." he said as he pointed a finger at her.

"No, they don't. " came her swift reply.

"Of course they do. They will be foolish if they don't. It's practically bragging as much as it is history. " His reply was met with silence.

She remembered dodging classes to go and meet with Riley. Many a time she had opted to go around and have fun with her only friend than attend drab lessons in the academy. There was a reason why she was classified as a troublesome kid.

'Whelp. He might be right. It might be just that most of the ones that I skipped had stuff explaining this. But I can't tell him. That's like willingly handing dirt over myself to him.'

"Wh-Whut? I said they didn't teach it. One of the instructors was a real slouch. He used to say he can't be bothered with this and the only reason he was in the academy was that the pay was decent."

*whistle* "Is that so?" he stared at her noticing a mild unconfident expression on her.

"You got to work on your poker face, kid. Lying is art too. " Joel sagely voiced his opinion.

'Shit. They are smarter than I gave them credit for. (✿ ᓀ ﹏ ᓂ )'

"Alright, alright... Maybe they did teach it and maybe just maybe I wasn't paying attention to it. Oh, look...

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food is ready. "

*tch* 'What a cunning woman. She quickly suppressed the topic.'

"Anyways, you were saying..." she urged him to answer her before they went completely off-topic.

"Yeah, yeah... I got it. So like I said they would be stupid if they don't teach that because it is as much of a brag as it is history. You have got it the opposite way. The church did not grow in influence using the emergence of blessing."

"What? I don't understand, how can that be?" she asked as she served rice again in the bowls.

"Think it over. Here's a clue, the hint lies in the book you took a recent liking to. "

"Geez, what is this a thinking exercise?" Joel asked him, confused as to why he was going about in a roundabout way.

"Yup. What's the point of spoon-feeding answers? that just makes you dull. Let her try. "

He said as he stood up and went upto her. She signalled him to the cooking pot while she took a trivet stand and proceeded towards the table. She placed it on the table and moved aside in time as he brought up the pot and placed it on the stand.

"Just to be clear. I didn't manage to read much. It was only the first page." she stated as she poured the steaming hot broth over the rice using the ladle.

"And I am saying the hint is in there. " he sat back in his chair.

"Hmmm...

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Does it have something to do with the speech at the end ?" she enquired as she placed the bowl in front of Joel.

"Careful, it's super hot. Don't burn your tongue." she addressed Joel.

'Why is she acting like my mother? ' Joel's face cramped up a bit but he did not voice out his thought as he knew it came from a point of concern.

"It has got nothing to do with the speech but the answer is definitely there. Think what term stood out in the speech."

'The sacrifice of the great seven shall be remembered and marked in the epoch of history. What was the title he gave them? Uh...um... I know it... I just read it. '

"The SEVEN SAVIOURS! is that the hint ?" she immediately blurted out as soon as the words struck her. She took a second to recollect herself and get back to her work, picking up another bowl.

"Bingo. " he nodded his head in approval. Joel had a look of recognition as soon as he heard the girl speak of the title. Clearly, he knew about it.

"Now here's the burning question. Why seven of them and why should their sacrifice be never forgotten? and more importantly why the title of saviour? What exactly did they save?

or who ?" he glanced at her waiting for her to connect the dots and give him an answer.

'What sacrifice did they make for them to be termed as saviours? He referred a who.'

She placed the final bowl in front of him and took her own seat.

'What no warning for me? I guess I am more responsible than Joel. hah.'

"Wa-Wait. Do you mean -"

"Yup. " she was cut off by him even before she could complete her words.

Today had been a completely unpredictable day for her. Firstly, she had not expected herself to be handed out to some smugglers. Not only that, they had been tasked to smuggle her out of the city safely.

She had never imagined that she would be separated from Marlene. At least the strangers in charge of her safety turned out to be okay, for now.

Then she had been shocked by the resourcefulness of these guys. She had then discovered the origins of the blessing and now she was caught completely off-guard by this revelation as well.

'Is he really implying that? ' She looked back at him. There was a mysterious look in his eyes. A look of someone who almost enjoyed the chaos, someone who was amused by the inner turmoil that the discovery sprang upon her. She knew he was speaking the truth. Logically it made the most sense.

'Still, it is truly difficult to accept.'

A faint smirk made its way unto his face. "Some plot twist isn't it? I guess it would be difficult for heiress firefly to accept it."

She looked down at her food. Her gaze concentrated on the beautiful rice and broth. She had not touched her food yet and neither had he. Joel was the first one to take a bite from his portion.

"Tell me, how did they save us? How did they save HUMANITY." there was positively an icy tone to the words spoken by her.

Reading Navigation:

1. 'Bold and single quote' - inner thoughts or inner monologue of person/ keywords or made-up words by any character.

2. "simple text in double quotes " - words spoken aloud i.e. normal conversation

3. " Bold and double quotes" - words spoken by non-factoring characters + minor characters that belong to a different group. (coz I don't want to do - J said, Joel said, Tess said, Marlene said. It will annoy you guys)

4. * * - indicate sounds

capital letters - indicate an increase in the voice intensity of characters. (so I have used ! as well i.e. to indicate the character is really trying to put pressure and is being very vocal.)

Meta-data about the story:

1. The date 6th of May 2018 has been meticulously chosen. In fact, if you look up the Astrological calendar you'll find the logic behind it. The answer is:-

Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower: The Eta Aquarids is an above-average shower, capable of producing up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak. Most of the activity is seen in the Southern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, the rate can reach about 30 meteors per hour. It is produced by dust particles left behind by comet Halley, which has been observed since ancient times. The shower runs annually from April 19 to May 28. It peaks this year on the night of May 6 and the morning of May 7

2. If you will read the chapter with a keen eye. You'll notice some inconsistencies. Trust me it's not gonna seem important but they are super important. Remember guys this is TMOU it is a different world set-up than the last of us.

(*whistles* "what I am not going to give you guys a hint. I will totally not tell you about the inaccurate year.

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Oops. No! What did I do? (T ^ T ). I am just gonna shut up .")

3. You'll notice I cut out a lot of exposition. I still have only given a rough detail on blessing. I am saving that for the future. I just don't want to overload you guys. I just wanted to explain how the RPG elements are being integrated. As you can figure out from the information it is a very subtle sort of RPG infusion. It is in no way meant to be blatant levels, MP, HP and all that stuff. If you want something so direct I hope you change your mindset a bit. That sort of inclusion is impossible even in a crazy world like mine.

4. "About J, he seems a little whimsical. "

"Yup, he is meant to be a little whimsical. I am not altering his personality. Remember he is on his downtime. Hence, a bit more relaxed. As we are approaching the end of the relaxation time. You'll witness his conduct first-hand. Please remain patient."

5. About Joel's story. If you remember the previous chapter, specifically the speech. It stated it took a total of 7 days for that event to disappear. Joel here states he remembers it took 5 days more for everything to go back to normal. Meaning he and Tommy were in that dark zone for 2 days.

Just wanted you guys to know. It wasn't exactly a 'few hours' like he had thought.

Just some cool trivia nothing actually important.

Author's Note of Apology:

I know I have been away and I was irregular. As much as I want to promise I will be more regular. Unfortunately, I just can't. I was not able to find any time recently due to my college. Hence, why this chapter is a bit short. The next chapter will be huge don't worry. I just found a good sort of adjourning cliffhanger. So I was forced to end the chapter early even if I wished I wrote more.