Episode 0: Declaration of the ZWO

Written by Homare W.Baker

It all began with one man who unintentionally stood on the pinnacle of the world: President Francis Marshall. Looking back now, there was already something about him that resembled a leader of the Immortals. With a preternatural business skill that predated his political career, Marshall had established an unshakable presence in the financial sector, leading to success in a diverse range of business ventures. He amassed an awesome fortune that became legendary among the media. With his dualistic notion of “not fearing to create enemies, but doing business for the sake of his own victory,” he exhaustively used the media for his exposure, rising up from a mere fringe candidate to claim the apex of the world: the office of president. Indeed, he was unspeakably wealthy. However even after attaining office, all that occupied his mind was the pursuit of even greater wealth. Meanwhile, silently but steadily, the threat of chaos was looming over the world.

Famine, refugees, class struggles, nuclear arms, racial and religious conflict, pollution, disease... None of these were of the slightest concern to President Marshall. During his 4 years in office, as Marshall’s wealth accumulated, so too did his sins deepen. But some believe in karmic retribution. That good deeds are rewarded, and villainy punished...

The first harbinger was during his first year in office. In a village where for years, water pollution from industrial development had driven away the marine life, one day a monstrous fish was hooked. It was very similar to an oarfish, but the bizarre shape owing to its enormous tailfin and pointed beak like that of a needlefish led tabloids to label it the “arrowfish.” Had it ended there, this would have amounted to little more than some vague gossip story tinged with science fiction, but the appearance of the arrowfish was accompanied by the outbreak of an unknown illness in the fishing village. One of the fishermen who landed the fish exhibited symptoms of a cold that grew steadily worse, until it claimed his life. The disease was reminiscent of the new strain of the flu thought to have emerged in Mexico several years ago. But this was not the problem to President Marshall. The issue to him was that the company developing there was his own energy resource development firm, Tech Industries. Before the situation could escalate, he “took care of” the fishing village.

He used his excessive wealth to ensure that the poor fishermen of the village would keep their mouths shut, and at the same time hurried to identify the cause. He loaded Tech Industries’ own deep-sea exploration sub with a seasoned diver, and sent it down to depths of 100,000 meters. Although the diver was sacrificed, the incident led to a startling discovery.

It appeared to be a hole. The wide-open hole, there among the massive pressure of the ocean depths, had a bizarre presence in the deep sea devoid of all light. Mysteriously, the hole, with a diameter of perhaps 50 cm, gave off a rainbow sheen as if it were a giant soap bubble. How could it reflect light in the pitch-black ocean? Even to Marshall, the staunch realist who abhorred mystery, the hole was somehow incredibly alluring. The main focus of Tech Industries, supposed energy development company, turned to investigation of the hole. Despite pouring massive funds and personnel into the project, and making numerous sacrifices, all who neared the hole were bewitched by it. From the name of the fish, the investigation was codenamed the “Arrow Project.”

After two years of this large-scale, highly confidential research, the nature of the hole was finally exposed. It was indeed a hole, but on the other side of its rainbow glow waited another world. The arrowfish truly was an oarfish. President Marshall had already become entranced by this new world.

In the other world, all people would become undying, solving every conceivable problem. Marshall believed that his own world was the fictional one, and that the other world, the world of the Immortals, was the rightful domain of the future human race. Or, perhaps he was made to believe so...

Behind the president’s political battle for reelection, the Arrow Project was also secretly entering its second phase. It planned to use missiles to expand the hole, bringing about the new “reality” that Marshall desired. Then, with all the technology and might of his great nation, he would seize this reality for his own. The fictitious world would draw to an end, for the sake of attaining a new order... One day, standing upon the stage of a political convention, Marshall made a proud declaration: “The world we knew was an illusion. Today, we face reality! This is the new order of the zombie world.” From that day forward, the world had inverted.

Didn’t someone once say that the fluttering of a butterfly could cause a distant hurricane? Now one could not help but agree. The declaration of President Marshall, leader of a mighty nation, traveled into the ocean depths of the fishing village, and found its way to a tiny, far-off island nation where it would have an incredible effect.