Chapter One

It was a calm winter evening. In a way, it was unsettling. The streets were devoid of life and the only notable sound was the whispering of the wind as it steered the falling snowflakes toward the rooftops. 

At fifty-six degrees Fahrenheit and snow almost thirty-six centimeters high, it was a rare occasion to not see cars drive by.

The reason for this emptiness was because this day was monumental. It was the day the first ever humans were being sent on a mission to the red planet, Mars. So it was actually imperative that families were glued to their TVs in anticipation for this historical event.

But one person in particular was not.

Saffron Kiel, your average, non-athletic, 16-year-old boy. He lay face up on his queen bed with nothing to do and parents at work; the only thing he could do was scroll through feeds on his phone. His bed was draped in a white duvet, and under that was a baby-blue satin sheet that was barely visible at the corners of the bed where it wasn’t tucked in. The temperature indoors was eighty-two degrees, which was the sweet spot temperature in which Saffron found the most comfort. Because of this, he saw no need to cover himself with the duvet or wear his beloved plaid pajama pants and was instead in his black wool shorts, which were six inches above his knees, a white tank top, and white crew socks.

He truly found comfort in this temperature.

But behind this comfort lay a person with a deeply self-centered personality. Saffron had no care in the world if the astronauts successfully completed their mission or not; His parents asked him to join them on watching the mission at his cousin’s house but he refused. frankly, if anything didn’t affect him personally, then he wouldn't dare lift a finger to meddle with it.

Saffron’s silence was occasionally broken, with him laughing at something he found funny or snickering at a comment someone made. His unproductiveness was suddenly cut off; he had received a direct message. The message had no sender, or it was as if the sender didn’t exist. Fascinated, he clicked on the message and in his tenor voice read the words on his screen.

“Hello there. My world is in need of assistance. Do you mind lending a hand?”

Saffron scoffed

“Is this a joke?”

Of course, no one would take it seriously because why in the world would an extraterrestrial being send him a message? Saffron was sure that the message he had just received was a scam. But beyond that certainty was doubt.

“What if…”

That question skimmed through his mind. He unknowingly replied to the message with a yes. Why did he do it? Was he curious? Did an external force influence him? Maybe, maybe not. The only thing that was certain was that he replied with the word “yes” to the message. 

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

A few seconds after sending the message, nothing happened. The sender did not reply, nor was there any conversation history with the sender. He was almost convinced that he imagined that entire encounter if not for the fact that he had his messages tab open.

Saffron snickered

He decided to continue scrolling through his feed. Just as he closed the messages tab and went back to the explore section, he saw multiple live reports of the shuttle failing to take off due to an error with the communication systems between Earth and the Moon base in which the second rocket was awaiting the astronauts and that the mission will be delayed by another twelve hours. Saffron just ignored those reports, just as he does any other type of news.

Would it be false to say that Saffron was not disappointed? Again, maybe, maybe not.

After about a minute, Saffron’s feed stopped refreshing, and his phone wasn’t receiving any signal.

Saffron exclaimed

“Darn it! Just as I-”

Just before Saffron could finish his sentence, the power went out.

Saffron was nervous. Are the Martians coming to us instead? The silly idea crossed his mind. Since the moon made the outside look brighter than the inside, he decided to put on his black fur coat, blue jeans, and winter boots. After he was done, he headed outside. 

Why did Saffron do this? It was... “just because.”.

Outside, the stars seemed to glow brighter than usual—not unusually bright, but just brighter than usual—but he paid it no mind. Just before he could take his eyes off the stars above him, a golden holographic light about seven meters tall and three meters wide that seemed to have a design similar to that of the magic circles he had seen while playing fantasy games seemed to materialize above him.

The first thought that crossed his mind. A thought that he was certain about. 

“The Martians have come to stop us from invading their planet!”

Suddenly, he feels as if he were on a roller coaster that is high up, and then suddenly, it quickly accelerates straight down at unimaginable speeds. The feeling was the one someone gets in their guts during the period of time the roller coaster is going down. 

Saffron felt weak in his knees and fell. But what was the most surprising for Saffron throughout this whole ordeal was that when he fell, he didn’t fall down; instead, he fell up towards the holographic light. 

He felt sick. 

Beyond the light, there was a voice. The voice sounded like it belonged to an elderly man and was welcoming yet stern. It sounded like it was from afar yet so close. 

The voice was unintelligible, but Saffron felt as if he could understand it.

A comparison would be thinking you can understand the bark of a dog or the chirp of a bird.

As Saffron got closer to the light, everything else around him seemed to be getting further away.

He was truly leaving the world behind.

Just as his reality became more and more distorted, beyond the light a new reality seemed to be forming.

Saffron went through the light.