Years passed.
I learned to live with less. Learned to fish, to pick fruits, to sleep under the stars. The Earth no longer roared with engines; it breathed.
But peace never lasts forever.
One day, I met her.
Reina.
Her gaze was sharp, too aware—like me, she remembered. But unlike me, she hated what had happened.
"We can bring it all back," she said, voice low and urgent. "Electricity. Factories. Technology. If we rebuild, we can rule this empty world. We can start over."
Her words cut through me like a blade.
"And then what?" I asked. "Destroy it all over again?"
She smiled, but it wasn't kind. "This time, we'll be in charge."
That was when I realized:
The reboot wasn't a gift. It was a test.
Earth had erased billions of people to recover. And here we were, already at a crossroads.
Would we repeat everything?
Or would we finally learn?
I walked away. I chose the forests, the rivers, the wild freedom of a slower life.
But not everyone made that choice.
At night, campfires sometimes glow on the horizon. Whispers spread about small groups trying to rebuild the old world.
For now, I watch. I listen.
And every morning, as the sun paints the sky gold, I stand barefoot in the wet grass, whispering to myself:
Maybe Earth had to erase us to save itself.
Maybe this time... we can do better.
YOU ARE READING
When the World Pressed Restart
General Fiction(Originally inspired by "A Thought During a Blackout: What If the World Rebooted?" by Angelica DelValle Entico) When a total blackout erases most of humanity overnight, a few survivors-including Amihan Cruz-wake up in a world that has rebooted. Natu...
