The sky turned dark, and the horizon filled with terror as alien ships, vast and gigantic as entire cities descended upon our Mother Earth. Chaos erupted across the world. The nations, once divided, united against the common enemy, pooling every resource, every weapon. Fighter jets scrambled, bombs were dropped, and the mighty powers of humanity fought back. But all efforts were in vain.

The aliens, with technology far beyond our understanding, unleashed a mysterious force that made every adult vanish from the face of the Earth. All that remained were the young—our generation, inexperienced and naive, yet armed with the potential to rebuild. With the adults gone, it was up to us to figure out how to survive. We were technologically smarter than our parents, but we faced a daunting challenge. We had access to an ocean of information, yet we had to categorize and understand it. Despite over 5 billion deaths, more than 3 billion files containing survivor information awaited our attention.

The world was physically broken. There were no police, no military, no hospitals. The trains, planes, and ships stood still. Few of us knew how to drive, and no one knew how to fly a plane or run a power plant. We could only communicate through phones and the internet. We would have to rebuild governments, establish new leadership, and forge a way forward.

For my friends and me, the journey was life-changing. My friends, Prehaan, Jiyaan, Nehan, Jash, and Raman—formed an alliance, and we began turning our homes into functional hubs. My house, the largest, became our headquarters. We repurposed it as a center of operations, making plans and organizing efforts to survive.

Prehaan’s house became a food storage unit and an indoor garden. He lived on the 17th floor, where sunlight was abundant, so we used his space to grow our own food. With the adults gone, there were no farmers. Nehan’s house became a storeroom, a place to store everything our parents had left behind, much of it now useless. Jiyaan’s house turned into a gym, with a treadmill and a virtual cycle that we moved by car—there was no traffic anymore, so it was safe to drive. Jash’s house, with its huge kitchen, became a cooking facility, with Prehaan and me overseeing the food production.

Raman’s house, meanwhile, was sold to another group of kids. The sale brought us 10 Crore Rupees, a wise move considering the future need for money once governments were re-established.

Our small system of interdependence was working. Prehaan and I grew and prepared food, while Jiyaan and Jash handled the accounts. Raman and Nehan, both children of doctors, studied medical journals, quickly becoming our health specialists.

For over six months, we survived without the guidance of our parents. The world had slowly started to regain its rhythm. Without schools and the usual distractions of life, many young people stepped up to lead, becoming influencers and providing for those in need. Slowly, a new world order emerged, led by the generation that had once been considered too young to lead.

A year passed, and the unofficial leaders of the world formed unions to remove borders and unite the planet. Banks, without managers, were non-functional, and cash became the primary mode of payment. Our group, having saved money from the sale of Raman’s house, was in a favorable position. Small businesses sprouted, as people grew their own groceries and sold simple foods. The world was beginning to function again.

However, there were still challenges. Infants and toddlers were entirely dependent on their older siblings or cousins, like my young cousin, Manish, who was living with us. But we managed, and with time, infrastructure began to re-emerge. Power plants were repaired, transportation systems revived, and social order was gradually restored.

Twenty years after the invasion, Earth had returned to a semblance of normalcy. Although the world wasn’t the same as it once had been, the new society was functional. The once-impossible tasks—running power plants, driving cars, managing hospitals—were now second nature to our generation. Some even mastered complex skills like building planes or performing surgeries.

Among the many accomplishments of our time, one stood out: a spaceship, named "Rebirth 01," was launched, built by none other than Elon Musk’s son, X Æ A-XII. Now 24, he had used his knowledge of rockets and space technology to redefine the future of space exploration.

At 40, my friends and I had families of our own. We owned homes and lived comfortable lives, funded by the investments we had made in the redevelopment of Earth. Our upbringing, centered around self-study and self-learning, had allowed us to master skills that would have been unimaginable to past generations. But even as Earth returned to a semblance of normality, a burning desire for revenge still simmered beneath the surface. We had lost our parents, our grandparents, our aunts and uncles, and our siblings. We wanted retribution. We had learned from the mistakes of the past and refused to let the aliens of Nebula 471 get away with their crimes. They had taken everything from us, and now we would take everything from them.

The American Union, European Union, and Asian Union came together to create a master plan. We would send an unmanned satellite to Nebula 471, the home of the aliens, to survey their population and gather intelligence. With the technological advancements we had made, we were ready to launch a full-scale invasion. The mission was clear: destroy the aliens who had killed our people.

But as the unmanned satellite scanned the alien planet, we discovered something that changed everything. The adults had not been killed. Instead, they had been abducted and molecularly teleported to Nebula 471. The aliens had been experimenting on them, conducting a ruthless science program to study human life.

The realization hit us like a ton of bricks. We weren’t seeking revenge anymore. We were seeking to rescue our families.

The operation shifted. What had been a plan for retaliation was now a mission to save our parents and bring them back home. But we weren’t about to do it quietly. We would need to use all the strength, all the resources we had, to take the fight to the aliens and bring our people back.

It took another decade to prepare. We built rockets, gathered recruits, and enlisted personnel. Fifteen years after the discovery, we launched the "Redemption" spaceship, a vessel built for this very moment. The journey to Nebula 471 took two years, and when we arrived, we descended on the alien planet with an intensity that mirrored their original attack on Earth.

The aliens fought back, but we were prepared. They fired lasers from their defence sentries, but our anti-absorbent armour and reflective vests protected us. We launched RPGs, taking out the sentries in an instant. And then, we freed the adults— our parents, our grandparents, our aunts, and uncles. Some knew how to pilot the alien ships, and with their help, we used the alien technology against them.

In a matter of days, we were back on Earth. The journey that had once been about vengeance had now turned into a mission of rescue and survival. We had fought the aliens and brought our families back, but we knew that this was only the beginning of the new world we were going to build.

The war against the aliens was over, but the work of rebuilding and ensuring our survival would continue. Earth had been saved, and the next generation, once thought too young to lead, had proven themselves worthy of the task. Together, we would ensure that Earth’s future would never again be threatened. The cycle of destruction had ended, and the redemption of humanity had begun.

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