Anddd swing, rotate to the left and then to the right, and thennnn swing again.

Nathan sighed as he swung the cutout sign again, pretending it was a sword instead.

The corner he'd been assigned to had started to become deserted. The streets were almost empty, and most of the shops around him had closed for the night.

Nathan mindlessly rotated the sign again, the act so repetitive that he could execute the steps with so much flourish without even thinking about it.

He didn't need to; he'd done it so many times within the last six months of leaving High School and getting this dead-end job that he could pull it off with his eyes closed. He swung again, making another arc.

The chilly breeze of the night comforted him bringing with it the knowledge that it was almost time to return the sign and get the sleep his body so desperately craved; heck, half of the reason he wasn't cursing right about now was the fact that he'd get time off tomorrow.

Which was fan-fucking-tastic, to put it mildly.

He spun the sign with both hands even as his eyes glanced around the area nervously. He wasn't expecting trouble, but that didn't mean he shouldn't be alert at this time of the night.

brrr

brrr

Nathan smiled for the first time in hours — his shift was over. He pulled out his phone, which was still vibrating and couldn't help but grin triumphantly as he saw the alarm interface on his screen. He turned it off. He'd gotten through today without any issues, which was a lot better than he would've hoped as it barely ever happened. It was almost as if the universe was giving him a day off to just... work, without the bullshit.

Dropping the phone back in his pocket, he gripped the sign with both hands and then spun, going through the different sword forms he'd seen in the video games he played on his off days as he planned to do tomorrow.

Left slash, right slash, upward slash... the whole shebang. Nathan went through the whole thing with a maniacal grin across his face. The boyish joy he got from such actions couldn't easily be explained, and Nate probably couldn't even if he tried.

Unfortunately, though, all good things come to an end, and this was one of those times. Tucking the sign between his arms, he made his way down the street toward Mr. Wong's shop.

The man who had so graciously offered him the gig even though he could just put up ads like everyone else. Nathan himself wouldn't complain though, seeing as that was his source of income.

He looked around as he finally made his way out back to the Snorting Dragon, Mr. Wong's fine establishment. A quick check confirmed that his bike was still chained out back, and he let out a sigh he didn't know he'd held back. Losing the bike would hurt him — financially, that is.

He walked in through the back door; no doubt Mr. Wong was somewhere doing something. The man was so often the first to arrive at the restaurant — even though he had five other workers — and the last to leave.

"What you staring at?" a male voice called from within the restaurant. Nathan let out a soft chuckle as he let the door close while heading to where the sound came from.

Mr. Wong stood over a table, furiously cleaning it with a rag even though Nathan could tell it was clean already; no doubt one of the other workers had already cleaned it, but Mr. Wong always preferred things extra neat.

"Why you put my sign in your armpit, Nathan?" Mr. Wong said, not even looking up from the table. "We discuss and you agree stop."

Shit.

Nathan almost facepalmed. Of course, Nathan knew he'd been forgetting something when he stepped in but just waved it away to him being tired from the day's work.

"I apologize, Mr. Wong," Nathan said with a grimace, his five-nine frame and broad shoulders sagging as he waited for the rebuttal.

"He apologizes," Mr. Wong said as he dropped the rag to look up at Nathan, making him flinch. "Apologies won't buy me a new sign. I deduct two dollars from your today fee and will continue till you learn good manners."

The thin man said while repeatedly making a pointing motion at Nathan. Nate winced at the deduction, which had messed up his pre-calculated profit and expenditure sheet back home, but he couldn't fault the man. After all, this was like the seventh or eighth time he'd been warned.

"My bad, I promise there'll be no next time," Nathan said sincerely, receiving a snort at his response before the Asian man went back to cleaning his table.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Drop the sign, get your things, and leave my restaurant," Mr. Wong said. "Your money is under the takeout bag in the kitchen; leave two dollars when you take it."

Then the man fell silent. Nathan knew better than to waste his time apologizing to Mr. Wong; the man had heard him, fined him, and all was forgotten unless Nathan repeated the misconduct.

Making his way into the kitchen, he dropped the cutout behind the door while making his way towards the paper bag that contained his takeout and meal of the night, courtesy of Mr. Wong's generosity. He made sure all his staff left with food at the end of the day, and Nathan wouldn't argue with that.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

More important was the cash that was wedged underneath the paper bag; he could see greens sticking out. He raised the bag, took out the cash, and counted. A hundred and five dollars at seven-fifty an hour, fourteen hours a day. Not bad. The cash was a combination of different denominations, so it wasn't hard for him to pull out two ones and drop them on the counter.

Nathan left the kitchen and started to head out back, taking his backpack from behind the kitchen door where he usually dropped it. He said his goodbyes to Mr. Wong, the thin man responding with a barely audible huff.

Nathan sighed as he stepped out the door, the chilly air caressing him as he stepped out. He shivered a little before taking his hoodie out of the backpack and wearing it over his Liverpool jersey.

Nathan rubbed his fingers together and blew hot air on them; it was almost winter. He unchained his bike before taking off, pedaling as if his life depended on it, but in reality, he just wanted to get home as fast as possible as every second he could sleep counted.

He wanted to be as fresh as possible tomorrow so that he could spend the day gaming, just him and his online friends—or well, friend if you wanted to be technical. Deucalion was the closest he had to a friend since leaving high school.

His eyes scanned the empty streets as he made his way downtown; like he always told himself, he wasn't expecting trouble, but it was always better to be prepared if it did come.

A few cars sped by, no doubt up to no good at this time of the night. Probably a group of adults on their way to make mistakes that they'd regret by morning.

Nathan followed the twists and turns till he finally made it to his apartment complex. A few druggies hung around the run-down place, but Nathan couldn't care less; their kind usually left him and other people alone, and as far as that remained the case, Nathan didn't care what they did. He got off the bike as he made his way towards the stairs, bike in hand.

Some of the crackheads were sleeping, while others were milling about looking lifeless, no doubt their latest intake of whatever drugs they preferred was currently in their bloodstream.

Nathan would've laughed at their pitiful state if not for the fact that his situation wasn't looking that good either, and if he didn't find a way out of this hell hole, that could be him with a seventeen-year-old teenager—well, eighteen tomorrow—disgusted by him.

Just as Nathan was about to sigh, two hands gripped his shoulders, and a very, very disturbing face met his; a deranged-looking man's face occupied around eighty percent of Nate's vision, and before he could do anything to remedy the situation, the deranged-looking man shook him vigorously.

"They're coming... They're commminggg!!!" the deranged-looking man screamed while looking at Nathan. "The stars speak to me; they are coming for us allll... pick yes!! Pick yessss when they come, or elseee!!!!"

Yep, I definitely need to find another apartment.

Nathan didn't even need to do anything as the mad-looking druggie let him go, turning away as he continued to mutter things that were sounding incoherent to Nathan. Although he could pick out a few things like 'Ra', 'crimson', 'apocalypse'.

Nathan barely paid the man any heed as he shook his head while heading upstairs towards his apartment. The government really needed to do something about the drug problem.

He pulled out his keys as he fiddled with the locks, the interaction with the druggie leaving him shaken in a way that he couldn't quite place. Half of his mind felt like there was something to be understood by what the druggie was saying. The other half was wondering what he was going to do first when he got into his apartment—eat or sleep first.

The door finally let out a soft click, and he entered the room, dragging his bike in. Careful not to bump his leg against anything in the dark room, he made his way to his light switch and flipped it.

The fluorescent light covered the room instantly, lighting up the place. Nathan ran a hand through his hair as he looked at the mess he called an apartment. Not letting the image settle in his mind, he picked up his bike and used it to wedge the door—his little way of trying to prevent unwanted visitors at night or to at least alert him when he did get one.

He picked up his backpack and his takeout and made his way to his couch, which also served as his bed, depending on the time of the day. Dropping the bag, he made his way to the bathroom, carefully skipping over the clothes and other items strewn across the floor in his small room.

He eased himself in, washed his hands, and took out a soda from his mini-fridge before heading back to the dining area, which was also his gaming area, which was also his sleeping area—but it was his, and that was all that mattered.

Opening up the takeout, he wasn't disappointed by the aroma coming out of the bag. It was Chinese, not surprising really, but Nate loved to keep his mind ticking like that. He pulled out his phone and watched the last highlights of his team's last match.

As usual, they won and dominated the game too. Nathan would've loved to be a football player, but life had other plans. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd been on a football pitch. The adrenaline from scoring goals as a striker was incomparable. The dribbles, the flicks, the showboating—all the things that made his mind come alive. Unfortunately, all things had to come to an end.

Soon enough, he was done with food and also the highlight. He glanced at his phone percent—12%.

Shit.

He sluggishly stood up from the couch and plugged it in, making sure it was charging before making his way back to the couch.

Too tired to pull off his clothes or do anything else, he laid down on the couch and fell asleep within minutes.

Nathan had barely slept for a couple of minutes when he felt like the whole room seemed to be shaking, but he couldn't be bothered to wake up. Instead, he turned on his side, tired to the core.

When the rumbling persisted, Nathan grudgingly opened his eyes, ready to stand up and check what was happening when he had the craziest experience of his life.

"Huh," Nathan said as a blue screen appeared before him, words already starting to arrange themselves.

Successfully Identified the world. World 2737, also known as Earth, will begin Integration into Ra'ahal. Terraforming...

Nathan was still struggling to comprehend what was going on when the words seemed to rearrange themselves, some letters disappearing altogether. A new message replaced the old one.

Terraforming complete.

Would you like to take part in the tutorial?

Tutorial, Terraforming, Ra'ahal? What did any of these things mean?

Had Mr. Wong slipped some drugs into the takeout, or had the druggie stealthily injected him with something during their brief interaction?

What the fuck was going on?

Nathan couldn't fathom it. He tried to touch the blue screen, but his finger went through, touching the couch’s backrest.

I must be tripping.

He glanced at the screen again.

Terraforming complete.

Would you like to take part in the tutorial?

That was when Nathan realized that the rumbling had stopped, and he could finally go back to sleep.

"Tutorial pfft, no thank you," Nathan said as he prepared to get back to sleep.

Tutorial declined

Transporting candidate to a ready incursion zone.

Wait Whattt?