A modern-day (dys)topian narrative
The World
Shin-Utrecht: The worst has come to pass, and in the year 2030, the post world wars NWO experiment had failed. Through the act of populists, insatiable capitalists, and the metastizing of the all digital dystopian grooming of the world populace come to bear; the western model of democracy had failed. Its collapse was 10x the downfall of the USSR some 40 years earlier, and as such, not a single nation in europe and north america alike was left standing as a cohesive society. Chaos, martial law, looting, massacres were a daily occurence. The so-called “elected officials” were the product of that same school of greed and personal gain in place of public service. Out of the chaos and calamitous collapse of the western world, there were 2 beacons of hope, albeit minuscule when put against what had been. These 2 nations would end up creating, out of the ashes of the old world, and in spite of the totalitarian juggernauts surrounding them, a new way of living - nay, a whole other civilizational model, full of esoteric wonders to marvel at.
Japan and the Netherlands, at first glance, these two nations did not have much in common, historically or culturally. Surprisingly, the resilience of these 2 countries, born out of different hardships they had to struggle with, was a powerful catalyst for them banding together and emerging as a unified nation spread across the pacific ocean, from the Japanese archipelago to the innumerable pacific islands all the way to Hawaii.
Magic System
We’ve all read or were curious about magic as kids. Once adults, you learned to dismiss such ridiculous notions as super powers or spellcasting as nothing more than a nice hobby for nerds and YA novels to self-insert into. The saying goes, however, that any form of technology advanced enough would be indistinguishable from magic. While authocracies chose to weaponize scientific breakthroughs to enslave their constituants, gradually replace all of them with sophisticated algorithms and cyborgs to the benefits of oligarchs; Shinhopan decided to put all the advancements in tech. not in the hands of the military, but in the hands of its citizens: following the northern european model of decomplexed socialism, efforts were poored in on the governmental level in order to decentralize access to scientific processes and manufacturing, such that each micro and macro communities across the realm could spin up their own workshops and stores, subsidized by the “government” which acted more like a facilitator than a God. This was only possible through a 20 years gradual effort to eradicate ignorance, making sure each and every individual was accounted for in schools and raised to critically analyze their own thoughts, seeking and welcoming contradictions. Every person was hence an active member in their community, by virtue of which all the wrongs of late-stage capitalism were ironed out.
Our Hero
Born to a middle-class lebanese family, Jad was not destined for greatness. Born too late to ride the post-cold war prosperity, yet born just in time to experience, in his formative years, the greatest civilizational fall Mankind had ever experienced. Jad had always been taught to choose the path of least resistance: Cowardly by nature, with enough smarts to guarantee graduating highschool and making it into a middle-of-the-road college. Truthfully, he never wanted much out of life. His parents were equally unremarkable, yet honest hard workers. Unfortunately, in their efforts to make ends meet and “do right” by their family, they ultimately neglected teaching him the value of hardwork, and what true effort meant, from the simplest of things such as his homework. Early post-college years were a struggle to say the least: incapable of holding a job for longer than a year at a time, half-assing and not even trying to concentrate on a single task for more than 30 minutes at a time, his potential as a software engineer was squandered. As with most ADHD adults on the spectrum, their life of “doing just enough to pass” ends up costing them heavily in their adult years. Deep knowledge requires effort, and true mastery only comes from years, nay, decades of applied efforts. It would not be until it was way too late, well into his 30s and with AI forcing him into a dead-end minimum-wage job that he would finally learn this vital lesson. And learn it he will. It started off in the mid 2020s, when agentic AI models started taking care of people’s chores for them. It always starts with a nice promise of convenience, and the first hit is usually free or at least cheap. What was not foreseen, however, was the loss of almost 95% of all office jobs. For the western cultures, where 90% of the population bought into the easier path through life slowly climbing the corporate ladder doing busywork, this spelt disaster: by 2027, even the most pro-worker companies had to face reality and switch to AI in most of their departments, or face a steamroll of individuals spinning their own service “companies” using the latest AI models for a fraction of the costs associated with operating a traditional business. Jad was of course a victim of that armageddon, owing to his sheep follower attitude in his career, and lack of urgency when it came to self-actualization. Its not that he was slow in the head, or lacked the capacity to learn, on the contrary! He simply let his Adult ADHD dictate the flow of time during his early 30s and rode what could’ve been a salvageable future into the ground. In our protagonist’s defense, the whole world order collapsing and nuclear powers openly threatening one-another on a monthly basis did not leave much room for economic growth or contributed to healthy job market, so unless Jad somehow climbed his way to upper societal decision making positions, the writing was already on the wall from the start. It was perhaps this deep shame and anger at himself that sparked in him a desire for a better Life. This miserable swaying through the tides generated (mostly with AI) by double digit IQ individuals from America could not be it.. On one of his doom research sessions, he noticed a hacker news entry in his feed that looked out of place in the otherwise AI tech dominated listings: an illustrated guide to the esoteric. Naturally the original intent of the poster was mostly to share a laugh with the world and move on, but on that day, Jad was open to having his notions of objective reality challenged. Growing as an average christian kid in a post-civil war Lebanon, our man was quickly traded his family’s weak connection to faith for the standard western atheism pumped through their media. By the time he turned 15, none of the catechism of his catholic school days remained, and the next 15 years of his life would see him briefly dabble into buddhism before fully adopting it as a philosophy of Life. This context is important to understand the absolute insanity of Jad even remotely contemplating the occult as a serious subject, much less coming to strongly believe in it the deeper he delved.
Pilot
“Jad, ra7 tousal m2a55ar 3al sheghel! 5allesne w 2oum lbos!” It was more effective and annoying than any phone alarm: the voice of his mother urging him up for his first day at work. 2017 had been the start of a formative year for his life: Freshly graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, sparkles in his eyes at the prospects of putting years of algorithmic knowledge and engineering cursus into practice somehow. Ah, to be a greenhorn, not a care in the World but to prove oneself in the market of Life, unaware of the often cynical reality awaiting average salarymen. Because of course, coming out of a run-of-the-mill second-rate university was never going to land you at Google, Jad had to settle for the first Web Developer entry-level job that had the decency of accepting him, not so much for his skills, but for the cheap asset that is a Junior engineer in a market where engineering skills are in low demand. Biting softly on the labneh sandwich, he waved his mom goodbye before turning to make sure his company laptop, charger, lunch, and car keys were all there in his backpack. The atmosphere felt so much lighter to him, especially when compared with the absolute dread he had felt time after time on a final exams morning.. School or College, it didn’t matter. For a young, impressionable mind, these days were the end-all-be-all of one’s Life; and failure was never an option he would even dare consider. However, that was all in the past, and he had no intention of underperforming on his first day of Adulting! The clock showed 8:30AM on the dashboard when he turned on his car.
Boy was he late, sweating, and nervous by the time he found a parking spot in an unfamiliar part of Beirut. The trip itself had not been so bad, accompanied by the familiar voice of Joe Rogan through his car speakers. Beirut is just a known urban chaotic mess, where more cars circulate in its narrow inner roads than people, and finding a decent parking spot in that mess was the national sport by a mile. Jad was now rushing from his wild parking spot to the main company entrance, trying his best to avoid as much of the sweating as he can, with varying degrees of success, partly no thanks to the humid summer weather. “Hi, ana awwal nhar sheghel hone.” He greeted the receptionist, whom he found quite cute in fact. Its worth noting that our man here was never a ladies’ man, much to his dismay, throughout his formative years, and well into his adult life, the only attention he’d ever gotten was for his ugly face and thinning hairline. But that was all in the past now. He had vowed to achieve the god of war 2018 look, hitting the gym on the daily, completely shaving his head, and maintaining a magnificent beard. The future was certainly looking up, when pit against what had come to pass as his destiny as an insecure adolescent. The kind lady at the reception ushered him into the elevator, where they went up to the 8th floor, IT department. On that innocent elevator ride, something strange happened. It felt to Jad as if Time had gradually slowed down around him, with what should have been a 10 seconds lift turning into 30. A cold sweat ran on the back of his neck as he wondered whether he was having a stroke or if the elevator was suddenly malfunctioning. Just like in a videogame, Time seemed to gradually go back to normal speed as they neared the top floor, with a familiar ting indicating their arrival. “Fi shi monsieur?” inquired the cute receptionist. She had definitely gotten an anxious vibe out of Jad, and all he could do was pretend it was first day at work jitters. “I’ll be fine” thought Jad, “I’m not gonna let some freaky hallucinations ruin my one shot at a stable career.” And on he went through a narrow hallway, where he was led by his host into a spacious room marked “IT Crowd”. Great, another bunch of american pop culture consumers.. As if my college years weren’t torturous enough. The room itself was surprisingly spacious, in contrast with the hallway. It had the average office cubicles layout, with islands of 4 people spread around 5 areas, a couch with a TV and a console, a pingpong table in the far back, and what appeared to be a glass room for the head of department; which looked busy behind his monitor at the moment.
Just as he stepped in, eager to introduce himself to his new team members, Jad’s eyes were attracted to a bright flash, seemingly coming from the right window bay in the room.. Time came to a halt, as his eyes met those of a gigantic lizardhead pressed against the window bay.. An actual Dragon, in the middle of Beirut. What the hell is going on? If you had asked him prior how his first encounter with an honest to life mythical creature would go, he would have doubtless nerded out about his passion for video games and fantasy popculture at large, and how he would “definitely” be fangirling, asking what type of dragon it was, or if it was an Aspect from World of Warcraft. Reality was somehow a lot more brutal and terrifying. In that moment that seemed to last an eternity, he could only stand frozen, from fear of engaging the instincts of the behemoth staring down into his very soul.
“You’ve gotta be joking..” Jad feebly mumbled. As if somehow reading his lips, the dragon roared in a raspy, elderly voice shouting: “You had done better acclimating yourself to the world of what you humans call Fantasy, little one. For this encounter will soon feel quite mundane to you.” This voice, powerful as a gut punch, put the fear of gods back into our protagonist, whom could only manage a curt nod before finally finding the courage to ask “If I may be so bold, I’m just an average dude looking to start a career in programming.. Whatever this is I’ve only ever seen in my favorite animes.. Not that I would mind being the protagonist of a power fantasy.” The flame lizard roared with laughter, causing the entire building to wobble as if under an active earthquake. Jad was doubly anxious when remembering how poorly maintained, and certainly not earthquake -proof lebanese buildings were. Thankfully, the time dilation seemed to keep solid materials around him intact for the Time being.
Once the initial phase of pure Dread had washed over, Jad was starting to consider the implications of what was happening, the potential for excitement, adventure, and fun; contrasted against the guaranteed path of corporate grind and adult-like responsibilities for the rest of his life. If somehow this was all real, if dragons and sorcery were tangible things in his world, then it would be a crime to waste it on fear and anxiety, two staples of his teenage and young adult years. “Sir, I realize this is presumptuous and perhaps am i speaking out of line here, but I would still risk it and ask you to consider me a candidate for whatever adventure or tasks you’ve come to put on me-“ “Don’t presume to read the mind of an Elden dragonkin, Human. I was not even trying to reach you from the fae plane.. this situation is most intriguing in fact.. Were you not so bewildered I would even have suggested you were the one manipulating this plane’s Time Dimension.”
Life hadn’t exactly filled Jad with confidence and the balls to put himself out there. Part of why he had ended up an average joe with no real career prospects besides a deadend programming job was years of belittlement, self-image struggles, and undesireable peers/failed mentors making sure he knew how little he mattered and where he stands on the food ladder. The dragon’s apparent faith in his abilities felt like a stark departure from that, boldening him a bit, so much so that he dared to double down on the reptilian’s theory: “It was me, in fact. The moment I had sensed the presence of a beast, I had to make sure I could have a one on one explanation with them. Tell me, Dragon, what brings a being such as yourself to my humble turf?” Jad was somehow hoping this bullshiting was landing on his target without arising too much suspicion.
”..You do not look the part, dare I say, little one. I’ve never met a chronomancer in all of my visits to the Mortal Realm.” Jad was starting to sweat pretty heavily at the sound of those words. He had to somehow keep a strong and smug facade, to pass as a confident Mage in control of their situation. He managed to put together an argument “You out of all creatures should know the capacity of true masters of the arcane to take on multiple shapes, am I wrong?” A spark of surprise flickered in the Elder’s gigantic eye “..you know of transmogrification.. I have no choice but to apologize and sincerely ask for your understanding, great chronomancer. I will now be on my way back to my own Realm and trouble you no longer. Whatever business you have with these mortals is your own, and I will not be a hindrance to you. Farewell.” An endless stream of relief flowed through our programmer, as he curtly bid the mythical lizard goodbye, as it flapped its wings the size of a airplane quickly and seemed as if to teleport through a Yu-Gi-Oh-like portal(?) above Beirut.
Jad could finally take a deep breath after what felt like an eternity.. Speaking of eternity, how was he supposed to fix this whole time dilation situation? The dragon now seemed to be long gone, yet the room he was in did not seem to have recovered at all. Looking around the office, he noticed a barely perceptible shift in his colleagues’ movements. Effectively, time had not completely grinded to a stop, but slowed down to such a dramatic level that you could hardly notice any movement.. or could it be that he had suddenly awakened flash-like powers? At this stage he was tempted to believe so; between time bending trickeries and an dimension-traveling Dragon visiting him, he certainly appears to be the common denominator here. After making sure that the whole office was well and truly frozen in time, TEMU-flash decided to take a stroll around the block, assessing the extent of what was happening: was it akin to a time bubble, or something affecting his entire reality? The jury was still out on it.
It was a scene straight out of animation: car traffic the likes of which beirut was known for, yet not a hint of exhaust fumes, the usual honking and general constant cacophony was mute, you could almost be forgiven for thinking these lebanese city folk were peaceful calm loving individuals.
He was getting hungry from all this adrenaline-pumping action, even though technically, no more than a few milliseconds had passed in the “real world”. That was actually a good question: how did food operate under these new laws of time? One way to find out! Jad swiftly made his way to his favorite snack place serving chicken subs lebanese style, as well as oh so many other grilled meats sandwiches. In his opinion, one of the best tasting foods money can buy (for the price or otherwise). His trusted clerk, 3ammo Antoun, looked the same as always behind the counter, as if he were intensely analysing every fiber of the chicken leg he was grilling. “I’m sure he’d forgive me knowing the circumstances!” Jad muttered, convincing himself that what he was about to do was perfectly legal. It was quite fun for once to build his own favorite sandwich behind the counter, and to his surprise, there was no funny business when it came to time locked food items! What a relief..
Food was not the only thing on our newly crowned chronomancer, he had to make sure this “situation” could be reversed, and that none of his family or friends have been negatively affected in any way. Sadly, taking his car back home was not possible, as the motion of matter was slowed down to a halt. There had to be a better way than hiking back home for the next 2 days though.. I mean, if he seriously could manipulate time, it stood to reason that slowing it down was not the only method. To put that theory to the test, he assumed a meditative position, and began his regular practice of concentrating on the breath. Over the following 15 minutes, he managed to finally clear his mind and fully relax his limbs, at which point a strange sensation of leaving his own body behind took over, he was seeing himself from the third person! From that, he felt as free as the wind, traversing vast amounts of space in split seconds. He had never, not even when landing in Beirut, experienced this type of speed; kind of how you cannot even see the wheels of a car moving past a certain threshold, his fear of flight could not even trigger in thst context. Landing inside of his childhood room, Jad was relieved to see his mother fixing some breakfast for his dad, and his sister getting ready to meet some friends in downtown kaslik. Now appeased that whatever was happening did not yet cause some irreversible damage, our newly vetted hero decided to check if through concentration, he could finally pinpoint the source of all this. For as much as he loved tooting his own horn, it was quite preposterous to think his single person could trigger such a global stasis. Good lord, all of these thoughts and insane events made him wish for a quick cigarette to numb his nerves a little.. Mechanically, he motioned as though putting a cig in his mouth, and snapped his left fingers in front of it.. A fine stream of smoke undulated in front of his eyes. He had reflexively materialised an object, and produced a spark by snapping his fingers. Jad could not help grinning to himself, knowing he was slowly becoming a cool new-era mage, the likes of which he used to play in some of his favorite RPGs. Unable to contain his excitement, he tried snapping his right fingers again, this time around, while concentrating on producing a flame. Lo-and-behold, he had the equivalent of a fireball spell now floating atop his fingers. He was even able to guide it to a safe stop to the left of his left shoulder, where it could just float around while he moved. “Alright, that’s gonna come in handy during the next blackout..s” There was a tinge of sarcasm mixed with resignation at the fact that he was a lebanese boy in a lebanese society, and intermittent electricity was part of the culture. In Jad’s mind, excitement at the thought of all the spells he could potentially try casting from his D&D nerding days was boiling over. Now that basic fire spells were confirmed to exist in his reality, alongside chronomancy, he had to try his favorite element in any RPG he’s ever played: Frost. As for the previous experiences he’d had thus far, his goal was trying to feel and embody the element or spell he was trying to conjure or invoke: In that instance, he harkened back to his first trip to New York in December of 2018, where for the first time ever, and hopefully the last time, he had experienced temperatures downwards of -20 degrees Celsius. For a Lebanon guy, that was 30 degrees below baseline. And so he remembered how it felt having his bones pierced through by arctic winds, the way his entire being shook over, and his very spine could feel the bite of frost. A strange sensation of time dilation took over his senses, as though he was finally feeling the effects his world was already experiencing. But this was somehow different. It was the kind of sensation you get on a freezing night, out in the street, surrounding by a coat of snow, with no sign of any living being anywhere near. As he followed this thought in his brain, Jad naturally extended his palm forward, as 3 icycles appeared, floating symetrically in an arc around his right arm. “Holy shit this is cool” This was a spell straight out of final fantasy XIV, and he was here for it. Carefully moving his arm around, he tried aiming at a distant garbage bin, and then flicked through his mind the icycles in its general direction. He had never been a good shot with a bow or a firearm, but somehow, all 3 of the icycles embedded themselves perfectly centered around the point he was aiming at! “Awesome, magic spells come with aimbot in this world! Life imitates art I guess.” After playing around with his newly acquired powers for over an hour, a question popped vividly in his mind: can it be that he was the only person on this planet unaffected by these time shenanigans? Or was it more of an Avengers situation where there were multiple individuals with superpowers roaming the planet? Naturally, he knew it was impractical to roam the globe in search for them, even with near-instant teleportation at his disposal. No, the only way to perhaps get in touch with potential other supes was to somehow contact them telepathically. So once again, he assumed a meditative posture and started emptying his mind of all thoughts, searching for any prick of human activity out there.. After what felt like an hour of concentration, he was about to give it up when an overwhelming sensation of dominance took over his brain! Jad was startled awake, struggling to regain his composure and catch his breath. That brief experience felt as though a 2 Ton raging bull had charged right at him, as he was convinced his mind would’ve been broken had he not in-extremis severed that connection.