Daniel smiled faintly as he observed William kneeling before him.
— "They say men don't cry; however, I think differently..."
William raised his head and looked into the man's eyes upon hearing those words. He couldn't explain it; this individual was apparently younger than him, yet possessed power and a presence that were inexplicable in human terms. William felt as if he were looking at an experienced elder who had lived and seen it all.
Daniel leaned forward slightly in the armchair before continuing:
— "Men only need a valid reason to justify their tears, for they are demanded by the world to be strong all the time... How far are you willing to go to get what you desire?"
Hearing those words, William remembered the face of his beautiful wife, Juliane. He recalled her smile and her peaceful face while she slept.
His mind also raced through the faces of his parents, whom he did not visit out of shame, and his parents-in-law, to whom he had promised to make their daughter the happiest woman.
— "What do I need to do?" William questioned with a serious and determined gaze. The tears had already ceased, replaced by a look of absolute resolve.
Daniel stood up and took a few steps until he was right in front of him. The invisible and inexplicable pressure alone made William tremble, but he kept his eyes fixed on that mysterious being of human appearance.
— "I want everything! Your life and everything you consider important... If you follow me, I will take care of everything and give you an unimaginable future, but you will have to turn your back on everything else!"
Jéssica and Estela, who overheard this, couldn't help but shudder.
In that man's words, they understood clearly: if William followed him, he would have to turn his back on the nation and even the world, should it go against his interests.
If anyone else had said that, they would have laughed and said he didn't know how high the heavens were; however, this handsome man's words were like decrees... as if he were absolutely certain of what he spoke.
They remembered that this man wandered easily through the vacuum of space as if it were his backyard, and because of that, even they were beginning to believe that he could indeed turn the world upside down.
— "Is Mr. Daniel telling me to abandon my nation and even the world to follow him?" William asked, half-perplexed. He was a patriotic U.S. astronaut; he cared deeply for his country and wanted the best for humanity, but...
— "Sir... could you answer just one question for me? Then I will give you my answer."
Jéssica and Estela were nervous. They were witnessing the potential national treason of their colleague...
and what terrified them was that they also felt, deep down, that if they didn't seize this opportunity to follow this man by clinging to his thick thighs, they would regret it. Despite thinking this, they were too scared to say anything and interrupt the two.
— "You may ask your question," Daniel encouraged him.
He nurtured a small amount of esteem for William, who reflected deeply instead of simply being selfish and thinking only of his own well-being and his family while ignoring everything else.
He reminds me of Sebastian... they would probably get along well, he thought, with a certain relief.
— "What does Mr. Daniel intend to do? It's clear that you are not a human like us and possess power inexplicable by human standards... Do you intend to harm the USA and the world? If that's the case, I cannot follow you..."
Daniel was testing him. He did not intend to nurture someone who would turn their back on their compatriots out of pure selfishness.
William's question and stance made a smile appear on his lips. He saw the desperation in William's eyes—the fear of losing the only chance to get what he sought—but at the same time, he also saw conviction and the character of someone who valued the lives of others as much as his own.
— "You passed, William!"
— "Eh?" William didn't understand and looked bewildered.
Ignoring his confusion, Daniel continued:
— "If you were just a selfish person who would sell everyone out to get what you want, I would simply let you die, as was your destiny, but you showed me your distinct character."
William, Jéssica, and Estela were perplexed, for he spoke of William's death as destiny with absolute certainty. This fact terrified them.
— "Could he be some kind of psychic?" Jéssica murmured.
Estela, who had already set aside her carnal desire, also reflected on this. She and Jéssica were two astronauts, but their pasts were not so simple.
They were only there to try and escape the influence of their respective families. Perhaps it was in their genetics, but they felt deeply that this man held in the palm of his hand what was necessary for them to gain control over their own lives.
Daniel thought for a few seconds and, with a gesture of his hand, all transmission and audio of what was occurring were cut off...
making President George, Admiral Thomas, Marshal David, NASA Director Alisha Huber, and the others narrow their brows. They saw clearly that the other party knew they were monitoring everything on the satellite and that he could easily interfere with the signal with a simple movement of his hands.
Meanwhile, Michel, the CIA director, had made a call and smiled as he remembered William. For some reason, William had attracted the attention of that unknown being.
"My dear William, it seems I will have to use some means to control you," he thought with a malicious smile.
— "Well... I believe our friends at NASA have seen enough for now."
With his words, everyone noticed that the transmission equipment signals went dark. They couldn't help but tremble; with a wave of his hand, he ended the connection between the satellite and NASA. It was so simple it was terrifying.
Daniel didn't care and continued from where he had left off:
— "William... I seek world supremacy, simple as that! You are wrong to think I am not human, for that is what I am. I am not different; I only belong to a different time than yours—a future that was destroyed by human selfishness and greed."
— "You're from the future?!" Jéssica shouted in perplexity, but realizing her mistake, she covered her mouth with both hands.
Estela looked at her as if she were mad; her friend didn't seem to have much love for her own life. Daniel glanced at her and nodded.
He didn't care if they heard him or not, for if he wanted to, he could erase that information from their minds.
— "I come from several decades in the future, and much has happened, but in the end, humanity perished... See for yourself."
Finishing his sentence, he touched his index finger between William's brows. The astronaut seemed to enter a trance, his eyes rolling back.
In William's mind, countless scenes emerged. He saw portals appearing all over the world and monstrous beings invading Earth and devouring countless people. It was a terrifying scene. Humanity was powerless and needed heavy weapons to eliminate even the weakest of those monsters; against the strongest, many weapons were useless.
Soon, William saw a portal resembling a black hole appear in the sky over Washington.
Beings that looked like giant whales flew down and, by opening their large mouths, swallowed hundreds of kilometers of the city. Screams echoed from all sides. Then, he saw something fall and was perplexed: as if a small sun had erupted in Washington, a devastating shockwave swept through the entire city, leaving destruction and a massive mushroom cloud of toxic smoke. It was a nuclear explosion.
Listening to a strange and thunderous roar, he saw the giant bodies of the flying whales emerge from the middle of the explosion with only a few burns and scars; not a single one had died. In his mind, information appeared: "Rank A Portal, Void Whales."
The scene changed, and he saw a group of people with long hair and Oriental features. These people flew toward the whales and, with the movement of their swords, waves of energy emerged and left deep marks on the whales' colossal bodies, which fought back by creating tornadoes of hail and lightning.
William watched the entire fight, absorbed, and saw that, in the end, those people defeated the three terrible giant whales; however, of the ten who fought, only two remained.
The scene changed once more, and he witnessed something that left him even more disoriented.
There were thousands of prisons full of men, women, and children being carried on top of large lizards, and those humans in silk and linen robes in an Oriental style led the thousands of cages toward a portal similar to the one that appeared in Washington. Scene after scene passed, and he saw the leaders of humanity selling out their people in exchange for power.
Everything seemed hopeless until a man, whose face he couldn't see, emerged among the humans. He possessed skills similar to those martial artists and was even stronger than them. After fighting many of those who were taking the people as slaves, he rescued a third of them.
Upon returning to Earth, he began to kill all the monsters and expel the invaders. Over time, more and more people with powers began to emerge, and the situation on Earth seemed to ease slightly.
But for some reason, his people continued to die and disappear. Then William saw that man holding someone by the neck. It was Bryan Brit, who had run against President George but lost by a small percentage.
— "You are trash... worse than a demon! How many of ours died because of you..." the man said before crushing Bryan Brit's neck and throwing him to the ground.
— "Forgive me, my disciples... I was a fool," he murmured as he walked toward two unrecognizable bodies. He made them float and carried them away.
The scenes passed rapidly, and William witnessed that man always fighting for humanity, teaching his disciples, and later burying them one after another. His eyes were red, but he did not give up.
— "A man needs a reason worth his tears," that man whispered as he disappeared inside a portal.
William observed the similarity between those words and what Mr. Daniel had said to him.
But the two were very different, even though he couldn't fully see the man's face. He was older than the Mr. Daniel he had met, but there was a certain resemblance: that man seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.
William witnessed much destruction and many deaths. Humanity dwindled day after day, but that man continued fighting alongside his disciples, of whom only twenty now remained.
Soon, William witnessed other monstrous beings, much larger and more powerful than the whales. They were similar to dragons, of two types: Western and Eastern.
They did not seem to get along, as they fought whenever they met. He witnessed part of the Moon being disintegrated by a breath that looked like a plasma laser.
Honestly, he didn't understand how the Earth wasn't destroyed when hit by that.
— "You bastards!" A cry arose, and then he saw that man cut off the tail of a red dragon—the same one that fired the plasma blast.
With a roar, the red dragon flew, intending to strike the human who had wounded it, but at that moment, the Oriental serpent dragon opened its mouth and fired a bolt of water that pierced the Western dragon's head.
— "Because you helped me, I will let you live for today, little human!" The serpent dragon's voice was thunderous. Its body measured around three hundred meters in length.
The man could only clench his fists as he watched the dragon depart. He had spent all his power and had only managed, with difficulty, to cut off part of a dragon's tail... and there were hundreds of them.
— "Master!"
— "Mestrinho!"
— "My master!"
Three women ran to him, catching him before he fell. Meanwhile, thirteen other individuals faced hundreds of monsters surrounding them with bloodthirsty gazes.
— "Master, why don't we flee to another world?" a beautiful girl with dark skin and blue eyes asked while appearing to give him something to drink.
Raising his bloodied hand, he smiled as he stroked the girl's hair:
— "Vivi... with great power, there will always be responsibilities... And also... you know, just as we can identify beings from another world, it's the same for them. Instead of living on the run, I prefer to die fighting, but if you want to go, I won't stop you, nor will I be disappointed..."
— "Mestrinho, you're a fool! I won't go anywhere without you," a beautiful redhead said, sticking out her tongue as she hugged him.
— "The same for me, mestrizinho," a beautiful blonde with a seductive gaze added, hugging him quickly, making him flash a helpless smile.
— "And you, Vivi?" he asked the dark-skinned beauty with blue eyes.
— "My master, I won't go anywhere without you... everyone is my family, and you are like a father to me... I will stay by your side."
The man seemed a bit disappointed, as if he wanted them to choose to flee even without him, but he soon smiled. He felt that, because of these disciples, his life was not meaningless; it was worth fighting every day.
The scene changed once more, and William saw ten very old people looking at the back of that man entering a dark rift and disappearing.
With a sharp intake of air, William stood up and looked around, realizing he was back on the satellite. He saw his two colleagues looking at him, not understanding the reason for his exaggerated reaction.
William's gaze turned to Daniel, and he asked:
— "Was that man who fought all the time for humanity you?"
He was still absorbed and asked without thinking much. Daniel only smiled but didn't answer.
However, William understood and couldn't help but remember the many dead disciples. Yet, Daniel was alone now. His heart trembled slightly. This man before him was much younger than the one he saw, but he was almost certain it was the same person—the hero who carried the weight of the world and never gave up.
"Why would an elephant bother to deceive an ant that can be easily crushed?" he thought.
— "Mr. Daniel, I accept to follow you, even if I have to turn against the nation and the world!" William said, determined.
This man was the only one who could save the world, while the leaders humanity trusted sold them out for power.
Jéssica and Estela didn't understand what was happening. Minutes ago, their colleague was determined not to betray his nation, but now he simply accepted everything.
"Could he be bipolar?" they wondered.