They called it the ‘Great Vanishing.’ It started in the year 2025 when 100 individuals mysteriously disappeared. Unknown to all this was just the beginning of something much greater than anyone could have ever imagined. 

Then on the second year, it was 1,000 poor souls taken from the face of the earth. This continued on, year after year as more and more people were never heard of or seen again, and rumors started to spread in the furthest reaches of the internet.

Soon all these strange disappearances caught the attention of some very important people in high places. It wasn’t long before some Governments all around the world and unknown private groups tried to keep a lid on things while attempting to get to the bottom of it.

Still, all these strange missing cases persisted; from airline flights that never landed, to renowned and famous people never being heard of again, to communities turning into ghost towns overnight, to people unexplainably vanishing into thin air right before many witnesses' eyes, to whole islands being mysteriously emptied of their whole populations, and many more such incidents. 

It wasn’t long before it was too big to cover up as millions had vanished at this point and people started catching on. That was when panic and fear slowly started to spread to the public.

There was no stopping the public outcries from all over the world as people had experienced parents, friends, children, and loved ones disappearing without a trace. However, the question that should have been asked is what happens when a whole eight of the world's population vanishes from right under everyone's nose. 

It was then 2033, the 8th year in a row that people had started disappearing when the world was greeted to Chaos! Airplanes started crashing down from the sky, cars piled up on streets with no one at the driving wheel, oil refineries malfunctioned erupting into giant blazes, underground train systems started flooding, and electricity grids started shutting down in parts of the world. It truly looked like the end times. 

None understood or could give answer to the 1 Billion humans that all went quietly into the night. No one even understand what was truly happening or come to wrap their heads around it. It wasn’t long before the old world order as we knew it started collapsing, and mayhem gripped the world. 

The 9th year quickly passed as 10 Billion people disappeared from the face of the earth. Now as the 10th year approaches, earth is a shadow of its former self, the ghost of the missing still haunts everywhere, and the same question is on everyone’s mind. Society had long collapsed and it is each man for themself. Everyone was just waiting for the inevitable end to arrive.

-  Excerpt from the Archivist, Keeper of all human knowledge and history!

***

Waking up with a sudden start, Lucian Arcades whole body went tense for a single moment before slacking. There was no transitional period between sudden awareness and empty nothingness. One moment he wasn’t even fully there, then the next he was. 

Blinking his eyes a couple times, he sat up on his bed and looked around, taking in his bedroom while his mind played catch up with his body. 

His living quarters were large enough to fit a medium-sized family apartment all by itself. And it had all the modern amenities he could ever want. 

From a bed large enough to fit a dozen people, lined with countless plush pillows, and silken golden sheets. A nice crispy fire roared in place at the hearth. Massive elaborate chandeliers hung up high as they cascaded bright golden lights. 

Expensive rugs over white marble flooring lined the room. Vintage victorian-style furnishing decorated the place with lavish paintings filling the walls. Set in one of the corners was a grand beautiful piano laid out. Opposite him were double sliding doors that opened up to another suite that contained his very own private library and study room. 

He had everything he could ever want, but underneath it all, there was no hiding the empty, lonely feeling that prevailed throughout the whole place. 

Slowly the blinds automatically rolled back as the first rays of sunlight shone in, and he stared out into the gardens out back. Stretching his arms out, the first thing he did was stare at the clock near his bedside which read; Dec 31st, 2034 7:17 a.m.

Today was the day!

The day everything as he knew it, would change! 

Getting up from his bed, the young man headed into the bathroom, and slowly turned on the faucets, letting the water just run. He took a moment to stare at himself in the mirror as his reflection gazed back at him. 

He stood at nearly 6 ft tall with a slender, lanky figure and with all the awkwardness of a teen growing up in places even though by now he was basically an adult, at 19 years old. He had thick blonde locks that fell all the way to his neck. Bright green eyes that shone like emeralds. Pale smooth skin that hadn’t for sure seen the sun in days. An oval face with high refined cheekbones, a sharp aquiline nose, full red lips, thin arched eyebrows, and long lush eyelashes that all together leant him an aristocratic look. 

He was the picturesque of a soft, pretty boy. And he knew who he had to thank for that. People always did say he was a mirror reflection of his mom, from his cheekbones, body, and even attitude. 

At those thoughts, the same old familiar pain that was always deep within his heart welled up to the surface. Before it could become all-encompassing, he mercilessly shoved it back down. 

There was no time for dilly-dallying, he needed to get prepared!

Washing up quickly, the young man threw on some clothes and then headed downstairs along the long elaborate stairway to the ground floor of his family’s Château. The manor house was eerily quiet with not a single soul in sight. The only person within the whole premises seemed to be just him. 

Walking down the long empty halls, Lucian made his way to the kitchens to see what he could fix up for himself since now all the staff was gone he had to make do by himself. 

Entering, the first thing Lucian noticed was the singing coming from inside. 

“Dadadada!” 

“What are you doing over there, CB-3?” Lucian called out to the bot at the stove. 

Turning around to face him was a capsule-shaped machine with a reflective mirror-like body, electromagnetic suspension disk for feet, and tiny hands that were also disk-like in shape while height-wise it barely even reached his waist.

“Oh, master,” the bot greeted him in a childish voice. “You are here just in time - come, come sit.” It waved him over to an open stool. Humoring the bot, Lucian took a seat as the automaton hovered towards him with a steaming hot plate of food. 

Robotics has come a long way throughout the years. Humanity still hasn’t reached the level of making human-like androids, cyborgs, digital humans, synthetic beings, or any other far-flung creations.

Nevertheless, we did manage to create a plethora of different kinds of machines to help facilitate with everyday matters; from service bots, to security, industrial, research, companion, and so many more. 

CB-3 was third in a series of companion bots mostly targeted at children, the elderly, and people who suffered from loneliness and depression. And at this point, he guessed he fit the box. But in all seriousness, CB-3 was his little sister’s robot, and it was all he had to remind him of her. 

Staring down at what was served to him, Lucian couldn’t help but gag a bit. Bots were clearly not built for elaborate stuff like cooking. 

“Today is the big day. And breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” CB-3 said. Quoting some long-dead cereal maker from his database. 

“I will just have my coffee,” Lucian said with a weak smile.  

After he had his cuppa, Lucian began to prepare himself for the long road ahead. He put on his trench coat on one of the racks, some heavy solid boots, a scarf around his neck, and a pair of gloves, then he started assembling everything he would need for his journey. 

He set down a camping bag on the table and started tossing in some ropes, matches, medical kit, tape, pocket knife, food rations, and anything else he could imagine he would need for wherever he was disappearing off to. Plus on his way out he even snatched up an old-school portable radio in the kitchen to complete his set. 

Finally, when he was all done, his eyes slowly wandered over to the gun cabinet filled with all sorts of hunting rifles. Without a second thought, he opened the cabinet and slung over his shoulder one of the rifles. 

“Master,” CB-3 called out, who had been watching him silently this whole while. Turning around to face the little robot, it bowed its head to him and said. “I will be waiting for you, and standing guard until you come back home with your whole family!” 

“Thank you, CB,” Lucian smiled sadly, giving the bot one final pat on its metallic head, and then headed out the back door. 

Looking at his watch, Lucian saw that it read 9:33 a.m. 

He had a lot of ground to cover, and time was ticking by. Thus to make his journey all that much easier he headed to the back of the estate and walked up to the stables. Horses neighed and whinnied in excitement at the arrival of a human being in a long time.

He could have gone for any of the numerous vehicles parked in the garage, or even the helicopter on the manor’s rooftop. But he didn’t want anything too flashy that drew too much attention. So what was better than a good old oldy than a horse. 

Not stopping for anything, Lucian came up to a stall with a gorgeous-looking silvery-grey mare who was walking around in circles in her stable.

“How are you doing, girl,” the young man greeted the little beasty as he patted her head. “You feeling angsty after being cooped up in here for so long?!” 

Snorting at him as if saying ‘you know it.’ Lucian chuckled softly as he let out the horse from her stall and began putting on her saddle and stirrups. He brushed her long mane with his hand and whispered in her ears. “Ready to go on one last ride?” 

Staring down at him with eyes that held such intelligence, Ivory nickered in agreement and started following him out. Before he left, Lucian opened all the stalls, letting out all the other horses. “Come on and run free,” he shouted, smacking them on their rumps. 

They didn’t need to be told twice as they started galloping away into the wide-open fields. Lucian watched them go, and for some reason, he couldn’t stop feeling giddy and quite pleased with himself. His father sure did love those horses! 

Without another word, he hopped onto Ivory's back, and with a click of his tongue, they were off. The landscape all around them raced past with trees bare of all leaves, a small sprinkle of snow covering the ground, and the cold chill of winter winds brushing against him. 

Lucian looked back at his family home which was all he had known for most of his childhood as it quickly became smaller and smaller in the distance. He felt like a baby chick leaving the nest for the first time.

He didn’t know what he would expect on his journey, but he was willing to face it head-on. 

The both of them quickly ate up ground, galloping across the open meadows and low-lying hills. Still, they had a lot of ground to cover as the land surrounding the estate was massive and it was all his family’s private property. 

The closest town that Lucian knew about was a couple miles down rugged roads and small densely packed forests.

With one hand on Ivory’s reins, Lucian used the other to tune into the radio, flipping from one channel to the next. 

“Good morning, America,” a man who sounded like a car salesman spoke from the radio. “Are you worried about your inevitable fate? Well, you don’t have to be anymore, thanks to our new product. It offers all the salvation you need! Call in right now, before it's too late.”

“I tell you,” a squeaky voice came from the radio. “It's aliens. Goddamn aliens that are doing this to us. They are taking us up to their motherships parked above us and are putting everyone in cages like animals. They have these sick, twisted experiments which I am one of the few lucky people to escape from so that I can warn you all.”

“Repent!” An older man wept. “For we are sinners, and this is God’s righteous punishment upon us. Ask for forgiveness before it is too late, or else you will end up like those evildoers taken away from us. God will only leave us innocent lambs from among his flock to inherit his earth, and build a new virtuous and pure world!”

“Reality is a simulation,” a creepy-sounding man laughed from the radio. “The Matrix is crumbling all around us. We are just ones and zeroes…”

“We had this coming,” a disappointed woman sighed. “We devastated our own planet and brought it to the brink of collapse. Now we must face the music!” 

“The empty void now stares back at us,” a dry monotone voice of a young woman spoke. “Its cold fingers wrap around us in its tight embrace…” 

Lucian turned off the radio. It was just pure insanity and unadulterated fear coming from it. And he knew exactly why… Humanity as they knew it would soon cease to exist on this planet! 

Just then, they reached the outskirts of the town. This place used to be a mining town, before the mine closed and work dried out. The only reason why it continued to survive was that it was quick to turn itself into a tourist trap thanks to all its pleasant sights and attractions. 

Now though, the whole place was a ghost town. He didn’t see a single soul out in the streets or through the curtains as he rode into town. 

The one place he spotted that looked open was a small convenience store with an open sign and its lights that were on. 

Tying Ivory’s reins to a post, he patted her neck affectionately and walked into the store while keeping his firearm close by. A bell rang as he swung the door open, announcing his arrival.

“Good morning,” a voice called out from the front. Not wasting any time, Lucian got what he needed and came up to the cashier. 

Behind the counter where an elderly couple, the older woman was going over receipts with a pencil in hand, and the older man was bent over on the floor stocking up the shelves. Just your image of perfect, ordinary folk. 

“Would that be all,” the older woman asked as she looked down at the oranges, flower bouquet, and candles he set down on the counter. Her eyes glanced at the rifle over his shoulder and a hint of apprehension settled over her, but she said nothing as she rang him up.

“Yes,” Lucian simply answered as he dropped a couple wads of cash on the counter without even counting.

“Can’t be too safe, huh?” The older man spoke up after getting up from the floor, breaking the momentary tension.

“Couldn’t agree anymore,” Lucian nodded his head. With the end of the world near at hand, most people were just hapless fools either waiting for the inevitable end to arrive or living life to the extreme as they partied all day and night long.

But there where some folk that took the complete collapse of society as a cue to do whatever they wished, and let loose their more animalistic side. Every day you hear about looting, killing, raping, shooting, and so much more atrocities going on. And there was no one there to stop it.

In the corner of his eyes, he spotted a tv with the news on, and he reluctantly turned around to watch it - expecting more madness from it. 

“Coming to you live from our studio in Chesapeake, VA. It's Channel 20! We are here to monitor the situation as it unfolds until the very end,” a woman with asian features dressed in a black blazer addressed them. Along with her co-host a well-coiffed caucasian man for the end of the world. 

At the corner of the screen was a timer that read 13 hours and 23 minutes. 

“As you all know departure day approaches as the year comes to a close,” the man spoke up. “The start of 2035 will be marked with the complete disappearance of humanity from the face of earth…”

“Ahh, don’t listen to that stuff,” the older man said, turning off the tv. “What will come, will come.”

The older woman handed him his stuff in a bag while she stared at him with a perplexed gaze. “Do I know you from somewhere, dear?” 

“Nope,” Lucian said a bit too quickly. He didn’t want to get into the tedium of it all where they recognized who he was. 

“I best be going now,” Lucian nodded his head to them and quickly headed out. 

“WAIT,” the older woman called out, but by then he was long gone as he got on Ivory’s back and headed out. 

The older couple stepped outside and they could only watch him as he disappeared into the distance. 

There was no denying that his family was well known. As the son of a multi-billionaire and heir to one of America’s biggest corporations, his family’s name used to mean something.

He rode throughout most of the day taking no breaks until at long last he reached his destination. The sun stood at its zenith in the sky as he hopped off Ivory’s back and they overlooked a cliffside that sloped to a rocky beach down below where the cold foaming Atlantic ocean waves came crashing in. 

Patting Ivory on the neck, he began to take off her saddle and reins. “This is the end of the road for us, girl,” he whispered, tossing aside the gear. 

“Come on. Run and be free!” Lucian smiled reassuringly at her while she stared back at him too intensely for a horse. Finally, at long last, the little beasty nudged him with her head as if saying goodbye, then she let out one final whinny and was galloping off.  

Turning around, Lucian’s eyes landed on the sole landmark within sight - a massive tombstone that sat near the cliff. He walked up to it and removed his gloves then rested a hand on the granite stone. 

On it read; Isabel Arcades

July 13, 1995 - September 28, 2033

Loving Mother & Wife

“Hey, Mom,” Lucian greeted. “Sorry I haven’t come by in a while. I guess I was just being me, moping around and everything. But guess what, today is it,” he smiled as he sat down before the grave.

“Hopefully, I will end up where they did,” he muttered while staring far off into the distance as if remembering something. 

Snapping back to reality he put on his most reassuring smile and shook the bag in his hand. “I brought your favorite!” He said as he took out some oranges and cut them in half. He placed it on the headstone and took out one for himself. 

“You won’t believe the state the world is in right now,” Lucian resumed, taking a seat on the ground as if he was here for the long haul. And he continued talking to the headstone all throughout the evening while the sun began to set in the sky. 

“Yea, so that has been my year so far while the world went to shits,” he finished as he took a long pause. The constant barrage of the ocean waves was soothing as it put a lull in their conversation.

Lucian took that moment to dig into his coat’s pocket and pull out a picture in which had a happy-looking family. There were the parents of course; a broad-shouldered, well-built solemn man, and a beautiful beaming woman wrapping her arm around the man’s arm. 

Then there were the children, 3 in total - the oldest had a cocky grin while messing with the middle child’s hair who it turned out to be him, and grabbing his sleeve was a little girl who looked very shy and trying to hide behind him. 

Lucian stared at the photo as long represented memories came flooding in. 

At first, it was his father who disappeared with the first wave. Nobody knew at that time what was even happening. Nevertheless, the damage has been done as whispers started - some assumed he ran off with a mistress or something, and very soon the sharks came circling around, smelling blood. 

Then on the 4th wave, it was his brother, Alexander Arcades, who was taken. That blow struck closest to home, and the person most affected by it was his mother who was heartbroken and soon fell sick. Finally, after years of being bedridden and emotionally disconnected from the world, she passed away. 

The only saving grace that Lucian saw was that she passed away before the 9th wave came in which his baby sister was taken from him. 

So many people; friends, family, and loved ones had been taken away from him as their time on earth was cut short. And he carried with him all their memories as he was the last one remaining on earth. 

Folding the picture in hand and putting it back in his pocket, he turned to face the tomb with eyes hardened into something unreadable. “I promise you, Mom. I will find them no matter what and bring them home. Then we can be a family again.” 

Getting up with resolve in his back, and his fist clenched in determination, Lucian was just about to continue his little declaration until out of the blue wooziness overcame him. 

He swayed on his feet drunkenly and fell back onto the ground a part of him wondering what came over him. He clutched his head as suddenly the small dizziness spell turned into acute sharp pain with his ears ringing and everything starting to blur all around him. 

“AAAAA!!!” 

A scream broke from his lips as the pain seemed to be dialed up to 11. His brain felt like it was on fire and it was constantly thumping against his skull as if it would explode at any second now. He curled up into a small feeble ball on the floor right before his mother’s grave. 

He wanted to let out another scream, but it was caught up in his throat leaving his mouth gaping open in a silent expression of pain. It felt like an eternity that he was trapped in this endless cycle of pain. He felt like scratching out his eyes at the pure agony he felt.

Then as if reaching some tipping point, it became too much for him to bare, and before he knew it was lights out for him, and he knew no more. 

***

Once more, Lucian woke up with a sudden start. It was dark out this time with a grey crescent moon hanging high in the sky and the stars shining brightly overhead. 

He tried to get up but quickly found out that was a mistake since he emptied out whatever was in his stomach. After a couple moments of heaving, he wiped his mouth with the corner of his sleeve and tried once more to stand up. 

He was a bit shaky on his feet but other than that he seemed to be sort of fine. Still, the question remained what just happened to him. He never heard about people experiencing head-splitting headaches before departure day.

This was clearly an outlier. 

To add to it, everything felt weird. It was like he was experiencing deja vu as everything all around him was uncanny familiar, but also out of touch for him. He could have sworn he had been here, which he had been plenty of time, but he also remembered making that exact same promise over his mother’s grave right before he disappeared. 

Lucian swore under his breath when that thought flashed through his mind. He pulled out his watch and saw that it read; 11:59 p.m.

All that he was able to get out right as his watch struck 12 o’clock and he begin to disappear in a bright flash of golden light was, “Fuck m-...” 

The only thing left in his wake was empty silence and a lone gravestone that stood overlooking the ocean. 

***

CB-3: https://displate.com/displate/4903820

https://www.deviantart.com/mdwyer5/art/Ron-s-Gone-Wrong-Bubble-Bots-900833365