Terra-293019, locally known as Earth by its inhabitants, was a peaceful, blue planet with chunks of different shades of green thrown in. Zooming in after nightfall on the main, and a biggest, continent on planet Earth, one could see signs of civilization scattered around several dozen big lumps of light. The source of one of those lights was City K. Humble in size, the metropolis, that was City K, was home for 15 million of planet Earth’s humans. From the darkness of the sky, hundreds of billboards could be seen playing advertisements and causing light pollution; strangely to the dismay of no one, since no one could really remember the appreciation they had for the stars, before the cement was layered, the light posts raised and skyscrapers built.

Upon measuring the atmosphere on the ground, one would face a very erring discovery. Maybe even horrifying- no at least terrifying for any spoiled Eonians who bathe in Mana-filled water, breathe in rich, doped air and is thrown mana-infused lollipop-crystals to munch on to keep quiet. Earth was in fact, as of the moment, devoid of any celestial energies. Living up to its backwater status, Earth had no trace of mana, qi, psi or faith or any other phenomena a being could innately channel and bend reality with. Truly lacking, even when compared to some of the planets on the other side of the same galaxy, a few hundred thousand lightyears away.

Surprisingly or not, the salty air blowing in from the ocean smelt fresh. City K, like all other cities on Earth, had no access to huge deposits of fossil fuel, yet people could still be seen cozily transporting themselves on suspended, electric monorail trains made with large tempered glass windows at the sides.

Inside a train, which, at this time in the night, looked a lot like a glowing caterpillar, different people of all ages could be seen. An elderly couple with their grandchild next to them. A Group of loud youngsters chatting, their weekend still ahead of them. Couples returning from their respective dates. And a very tired-looking and much annoyed dark-skinned young man in a suit. Trying to sleep, the man’s curly, medium-short hair did a poor job hiding his displeasure with the current situation. Having picked a quiet corner, he was on his way to a well-earned slumber, when loud high-pitched laughter startled him from his sleep. As a frugal, hardworking salary worker at Hoshida Industries, he could afford noise-cancelling earplugs and had considered it as of late but deemed it unnecessary after looking up the price on a pair. Silently having cursed the kids, he had tapped a reminder into his schedule.

{Invest in earplugs, noise-cancelling}

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Rubbing his eyes, he hadn’t thought, he could be more unfortunate. That was until a beautiful young couple, smitten by each other had walked in and expressed their affection for each other in the seats directly in front of him, an overworked single male with too little time for romance, bringing him to furrow his brows with closed eyes.

“Hon, the restaurant was absolutely amazing, the soufflé I’ll remember forever,” the female chirped.

“Honey, I’m super happy you liked it, but I like the ones you make at home more,” the male chirped.

“Aw, hon you must be lying, there’s no way that’s real. Pinky promise if you really mean it,” the female chirped.

“No honey, It’s true, pinky promise. I can taste your love that fills the soufflés you make. It’s the only thing I want,” the male chirped.

“Aw hon, come over here,” the female chirped, leaning in for audible smooches.

*smooch* x 10

The creases on the man-in-suit’s forehead could be seen growing for each smooch, until he at last gave in to an inaudible sigh and stared out of the window. Lots of happy-looking, carefree people on the streets below, he couldn’t help but notice. Then shifting his eyes up and staring up at the dark void, that was the sky, he suddenly caught a glint of a very small light streaking across the sky. He couldn’t help but ponder,

‘I thought, it wasn’t possible to see shooting stars in the city because of the light pollution. Weird, but whatever not my field. No more looking into the bleak sky. Wait, what is that I see…’

Having found his tired neck trying to align itself to a more comfortable position, the hardworking salesman could indeed in the window see the reflection of the couple cuddling busily, much to his dismay.

‘Man, am I really that unattractive… I guess, I have to focus on polishing my career to compensate,’ he couldn’t help but contemplate, while eyeing his employee card. The card included a picture of a Trevor Herington, a very poor judge of own looks. Trevor was by human standards handsome with a tall and a somewhat robust stature (for someone who works in an office), brown eyes and caramel-colored hair. He couldn’t help but dwell on the date the card was issued to,

’03-07-2160. That’s almost three months ago, huh since I started. To be honest, I’m having trouble remembering my life before getting the job. Speaking of which, my stop should be ne-’

“…no hon, you’re the best! I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you,” the female chirped, unsettling Trevor.

“Honey, I can’t wait to get to back. There’s a special honeymoon gift waiting for you”, the male chirped.

Standing up to leave the train for his apartment just around the corner he couldn’t be more relieved, and then at the same time another thought was running inside his head, making him shudder,

‘Man, I feel bad about the poor kid that has to endure those parents. Maybe I should be grateful for just being unattractive and having normal parents.’