Derek groaned as he got up from the bed, his splitting headache leading him to swear solemnly to never drink again. He made his way to kitchen and picked up the almost empty pack of cereal before proceeding to have what could only be considered as an adequate breakfast. He had always been a man of few emotions. The last time he had any semblance of emotion was when his parents had expired. He had cried for an entire night. He was only 14. Its been 5 years since then. His parents had left him considerable savings, with which he continued to lead a monotonous life. Go to college, eat, sleep, repeat. Well, that was until the pandemic started. Now he no longer had to step outside his house.

After finishing his breakfast, just as Derek was contemplating on whether he should go out to buy groceries, his phone started ringing. It was Matt, the one friend Derek had. Just as Derek Picked up, he heard an enthusiastic Matt shouting. “Derek! Did you see the news? Apparently, this pandemic was man made. Someone deliberately caused this!” Derek rolled his eyes as he replied “You only realised this now? Geez, I thought your conspiracy-oriented brain was faster than that”. Matt sighed as he responded with a hmm. Just as Derek wanted to console him, his bell rang. 

 Asking matt to hold on, Derek went and open the door only to see two unknown men in suits looking at him with a stony expression. Feeling a tad bit apprehensive, Derek cautiously asked “Can I help you guys?” One of the two men removed his sunglasses and stared at Derek. Derek had a strong feeling that he was being judged. Just as he was wondering whether to ignore them and shut his door, the man replied in a deep gravelly kind of voice. “Are you Derek Shields?” Derek, although surprised that these people knew him, replied in the affirmative. The man nodded and said “we need you to come with us”. Derek was shocked although his expression didn’t change. He cautiously asked “Where do you want to take me and may I know why?” the man hesitated before saying “we are not authorised to reveal any information at this point”. Just as Derek was thinking of how to get these men to reveal more information, the man who was silent till now snorted and impatiently said “Why are we wasting time talking to this kid? Lets just knock him out and take him in’. before Derek could react, he felt a prick on his neck and then he passed out.

When Derek woke up, he was still in shock. He couldn’t believe that he was abducted from his doorstep. He had no idea how much time had passed. He only hoped that his friend Matt, who was still on the call when the door bell had rung would realise something was wrong and notify the police. Thinking till this, he started to take stock of his surroundings. The first thing he realised was that he wasn’t restrained in any way. So clearly, his kidnappers, whoever they were weren’t afraid of him escaping. He was in a room that was entirely white, including the floor. He was sitting on a chair positioned in front of a table, both of which were also white. Derek was on the verge of getting up to find more information, the wall in front of him gradually parted to reveal a gorgeous woman standing in front of him. She looked at Derek with a smile and then came and sat opposite him. She was also wearing white but the thing that grabbed Derek’s attention was her hair. It was completely red, almost like fire.

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Not knowing what to say, Derek continue to wait for the woman to break the silence, but she continued to just look at him. Just as Derek was about to crack and ask what the hell is happening, she spoke in a bell like voice. “Hello Derek, I am Emma. I will be your instructor. You are the first one under me! I am so excited.” Derek looked at her bewilderedly, not understanding a thing she was speaking. Emma calmed down and said in an embarrassing tone “umm sorry about that. I was just too excited. I’ve never had a subordinate before and I finally qualified! I know you have a lot of questions so let me explain.  First of all, welcome to 8TH sense. You will learn about our organisation slowly. All you need to know at this moment is that we are an organisation that acts as the last defence of humanity. We have a history of over a thousand years and we have been constantly at war our enemies. There’s a lot out there that doesn’t come into notice of common men.” With a smirk, she added “Common men like you.”

Derek was stunned. He had no idea that there was so much going on behind the scenes. He always thought that the world was a boring place. A place where everyone lived monotonously, struggling to make money and provide for their children and then continuing the cycle. These things had never interested Derek. He was always living for the sake of living but now finally, finally he had heard something that had piqued his interest. One could see the excitement gleaming in his eyes as he slowly composed himself and made sense of what he had just heard. After taking a deep breath, Derek asked “All of this sounds exciting to be honest. But, how did you know about me?”

Emma smiled, as if she had already expected this question. “We have been keeping an eye on you for a long time. In fact, we were even there when you published the thesis on mutation of marine live in the sand bay area. That was when we actually decided to pull you in. I mean, you may not be a fighter but you can definitely help the biology department.” With a confused expression, Derek stopped her before she could continue “wait a minute. I never wrote any thesis. I don’t even like biology. What are you talking about?” Emma’s mind was blank for a second. After telling Derek that she will be back in a couple of minutes, she scurried out of the room.

A few minutes later, she came back with the 2 men who had abducted him. With an embarrassed expression, she asked in a pensive voice “Your name is Derek Shield, right?” “No, I am Derek Shields. Shields with an S. when your men came in, they clearly asked if I was Derek Shields”. This embarrassed Emma even further, turning her beautiful face into a bright shade of pink. “Umm, I apologise Derek. There has been a spelling error. The extraction team got the wrong name by mistake. Don’t worry, we will send you back immediately. As an apology, ask me anything you want. As long as its within my reach, I will get it done”. “Anything?” Derek asked with a strange smile. “Anything” Emma reaffirmed her offer. Letting out a relieved breath, Derek smiled “Let me join you”.