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Due retreated to her lab, her mind buzzing with the enormity of the task at hand. She had never attempted something of this magnitude before, but she was resolute in her determination to succeed.
She was taken aback by the sheer number of individuals affected by bullying. According to the report, an estimated ten million children worldwide were victims of bullying each year. This figure did not account for adults who were bullied, suggesting that the actual numbers could be significantly higher. The prevalence of cyberbullying was another unknown variable. She harbored hopes that her plan would provide some relief for these victims.
She then turned her attention to the distribution of the virus. After some deliberation, she concluded that the most effective method would be to infect the computers utilized by social media websites. Once she had made her decision, she set to work on developing a program that would seize control of these computers. Within minutes, she had created a reality-bending program that could be planted directly into every global internet server across the world, thereby gaining control over all connected computers. She was confident that this approach would enable her to infect the computers used by social media websites. While it wasn’t a flawless plan, it should suffice to instigate a widespread viral outbreak. She then summoned Sam to her room to connect the virus to his power. Sam, accompanied by Vincent, reluctantly entered the room.
“Hey guys, I’m here.”
“Great! Now, I’ll explain the plan to you again. I’ll start with the virus program. You need to connect your conscious mind and leave a sample. That will be all.”
“I understand.”
Due reassured him with a smile, “Don’t worry, you won’t feel a thing. I’ll make sure of that.”
Sam nodded and closed his eyes. In a few moments, the link was established.
“Well, that’s that,” remarked Due. “It’s time for you to do your part. I’ll be watching you.”
He responded, “I know. Thank you for the opportunity, Vincent.”
Sam then voiced a question that had been nagging at him, “So I have been thinking, how exactly did Uno know my dream? I never told anyone?”
“About that,” said Due. “As you know, Uno has an ability which allows every fiction he knows to become reality and apply to himself.”
“I see,” said Sam. “So I guess that means he knows every fictional character in existence. So he can read my mind with a fictional character ability same as mine.”
“Yes, he can,” said Due. “But it’s more convoluted, you see, powers and abilities in this world are unnatural and without a system like you read in manga, our powers don’t have terms and power levels, it depends on what form it takes in our soul at a young age. When Uno was born, his power was one of a kind and he learned to use it at a young age. I believe that your power is based on your dreams.”
“Huh? Dreams?”
“Yes, your power comes from your dreams. Dreams that reflect on what you desire the most and expressed through your soul. From the day you were born until now, you have been dreaming. And each night, you are given the chance to manifest what you want in the world. Your dreams are something that come true, the only difference between your dream and reality is how big or small your dream is. Which in Uno’s case, he set up a rule to the world that only one of his kind of power will exist at a time, so he can control the situation. The only problem is that if you don’t know what you dream of, it will be hard for you to understand the rules of your power.”
“Oh, I see,” said Sam. “But there is one more thing I am interested in. How could Uno know my dream?”
“There is one other thing that I haven’t told you yet,” said Due. “Uno has an ability called the power of dream, where he can take control when you dream or pray and grant it. So, if he took your dream, he can see your mind. He may be the reason why you keep having nightmares.”
“Oh,” said Sam. “That makes sense.”
“So, that’s it for today,” said Due. “I’ll be waiting for you tomorrow.”
“I’ll be here,” said Sam. “Thank you for everything.”
“Anytime,” said Due. “And good luck.”
Due exited the room and returned to the lounge.
“All right everyone,” said Death. “You can go now. Just remember to follow my instructions.”
Everyone nodded in agreement and followed their respective teams. Once everyone had departed, Due returned to her lab and locked the door. She sat down at the table and sighed. She was exhausted. She had worked for hours straight and was still not finished with the program. She decided to take a short break and rest her mind. She leaned back in the chair, closed her eyes, and began to meditate. She began to think about how a comic artist writes about a world with superpowers, it tends to go to the theme of politics, how a country controls it and how the world kind of has a rejection to it. She remembered when she once got a miracle happens to her when she prayed to god. It was a stomach pain, after she prayed her stomach stopped having the pain, it was a real miracle, but the feelings in her mind kept making it feel like a coincidence. Maybe it is abstractly a certain way of the world works. But it turns out that her prayer was granted. She wrote down her theory and shared it with her friends, they said that she was crazy and that her thoughts were too farfetched, but due to their curiosity they read the story. They said that it was interesting and that she was talented. She did not know why or how but she was glad that they enjoyed it. But later, one of her friends told her that she thought she could be famous if she let him sell it. She agreed and the story was published. It was a huge success, but she kept getting money from the publisher. Then her editor told her that she was crazy and said that readers like to read crazy writing and they will not change. The only thing that changed is that she became popular and she got famous. But she was still worried about her mental health after the prolonged time of writing and publishing stories and novels.
She opened her eyes and looked at the time. She realized that she had been meditating for an hour. She stood up and stretched, feeling refreshed. She resumed work on the virus program, hoping that she would be able to finish it. After a while, she ran a quick test to make sure the program worked. To her amazement, it did. This meant that her plan was finally done. She took a deep breath and relaxed. Now she only had to wait for the rest of her team to finish their assignments. She figured that she had about three or four hours left before the plan would begin.
The next day, Due arrived at the lounge. She was surprised to see that the rest of her team had already finished their assigned tasks. She had expected that they would be late because of the lack of sleep, but that wasn’t the case. She was delighted to see that she had more time to do other things than just waiting. She went into the lounge and greeted her team.
“Well, we’ve finished. All we have left to do is start launching the virus. What about you?”
“We’ve also completed our assignment,” said Death. “but we’re going to wait for you before we start.”
“Good idea,” said Due. "Here is the start button, who wants to do the honor?
“Me!” said Sam.
“Me too,” said Vincent.
“I’ll join you too,” said Due. “3,2,1 Press!”
They pressed the button and all the computers in the lounge turned on. The viruses began spreading throughout the world. The spread was slow and steady. Soon, the virus would reach the servers. Due smiled to herself. Finally, she would be able to save all those children from bullying.
