“What is the meaning of life?” I wondered while observing the swirling milk in my cappuccino, “Is there no meaning? Do we exist to give life itself a meaning?” I pondered adding some more sugar, “Or the meaning of life is just to create more life by fucking each other and having children, maybe extending the lifespan to x-limit until the end of time itself.”
A sullen mood descended on me, what is the meaning of living if we just die anyway at the end of the game, when we die we don’t even get to be like “yay, I lived 78 years old and had 3 children, I beat your fucking score, Bob!” and even if we lived forever would it even be called living, losing everything that makes us humans to unnaturally prolong our lives just because we are scared of the void?
“And that’s why I’m forever banned from the zoo… are you listening to me?” Pulling me out of my thoughts with a pinch my girlfriend stared at me with a dark expression. “Y-yeah of course I was, you just told me that because of what happened two koalas and a giraffe are now dead.”
A little trick I had learned as daydreamer was to appear as if I was listening while thinking to something else, all was needed was to actually listen to a few words every now and then. Her eyes darkened even more, “Did you just do that ‘listen to a few words’ bullcrap you explained to me the other day?” dammit! I shouldn’t have calmly explained to her the methods I use to pretend I care!
“No! Of course not, and the fact you think that of me makes me very sad and angry…”
“So… indignant?” she pointed out.
“Yes exactly! I feel indignant! Thanks, honey.” I said going from an angry tone to an affectionate one in a heartbeat.
“Yeah whatever, whenever you lie you always pretend to be angry; who would think that such a big guy like you is actually a little bitch,” she said with a smirk.
“Your little bitch” I add lowering my head. Her smirk widens and she leaves a small kiss on my lips.
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“You know it, anyway I have to go now, Prof Marroni asked me to drop by later for some extra activities, apparently he wants to know ‘what a facebook is’ as he said.” she gave me a second deeper kiss and got up, her long auburn hair following her like a cape as she turned around.
“See you later at home then!” I said waving my hand at her; as she walked away my eyes remained stuck on her sexy derriere, the way she walked made me just so…
*BOOM*
The world around me disappeared as light swallowed everything; I fell to the ground holding my face, a burning sensation pierced my eyes like red-hot needles. Then came the vibrations, at first weak then exponentially stronger until the whole world was shaking like mad, I could hear glasses shattering and heavier objects falling all around me.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity in my blinded world I was able to slightly squint open my eyes and take in the changes; the whole coffee shop had changed to a ruined building, long cracks spread from the floor to the ceiling with various decorations either dangling or outright fallen to the floor.
Suddenly I remembered i wasn’t alone, my head turned to the entrance to the shop looking for my girlfriend; I don't’ know if you ever had one of those moments where your thought accelerated to a crazy speed and you could see a thousand different outcomes in an eyeblink, that was exactly what had just happened to me, in one flash I saw she was fine, in another one the ceiling had collapsed on her, in another she was just ashes.
When my eyes finally focused on the entrance I saw her on the ground holding her head, just when I thought the worst had happened she raised her head and looked at me with a silly smile grateful I was ok, I almost broke out crying for the relief, however, our touching moment was cut short by a sharp noise coming from outside.
I turned my head to the window and up in the sky I saw something so crazy I thought my eyes were still playing tricks on me.
The sky had turned metal, or how I realized a moment later, some gigantic metal construct had obstructed the sky, its irregular surface riddled with alcoves and glass domes; and right from that construct came a booming voice broadcasting a message that would forever change our lives.
“Greetings humanity, your world has now been conquered by the Quatrih empire, as per our customs when facing low tier civilizations such as yours, we will give your species a last chance at fighting for your freedom, send your finest warriors on top of our mothership and prove your worth.”