I’d been home for a day and just finished unpacking. Thinking back on my trip home, I was very confused. I had been watching the news in the airport and there were evacuations going on directly in the center of each large, populated land mass. North America, South America, Australia, Eurasia, and Africa. Everyone I passed by in the airport had a look of fear in their eyes. As if something unknown and dangerous was hiding in the shadows just waiting for the right moment to jump out probably due to the ridiculous amount of riots happening all around the world.
‘It’s time to figure out what’s going on’ I finally decided.
Walking out of the room, I called out, “Mom?” I heard a shout in response from the direction of the living room and moved towards it. Making it to the living room, I see my parents and siblings watching some program on the TV. As they all turn towards me I ask, “Mom…Dad…Can we talk about what happened that night…and also why everyone in the world seems to be losing it?” I plopped down on the nearest couch facing my parents with a serious look on my face.
My dad cleared his throat and said, “Yeah…your mom had me find a video on YouTube that’ll explain everything to you about what’s been going on. If there’s anything else you need to know after that, then we’ll talk about it.” He began fiddling with the remote and the YouTube app opened up on screen. Activating the ‘search’ bar he typed in “Aliens’ purpose revealed.”
‘I knew it had something to do with them’ I quickly thought to myself. My dad clicked on the first video and it began loading.
The video started and an anchorman came into view.
“It has been confirmed all around the world that today, April 24th, at exactly midnight, our planet suffered a heavy scale invasion by entities we previously believed to be pure fantasy.” The video then showed pictures of goblins running amok in the streets commanded by the hybrid like creatures. “These two creatures are referred to as goblins and beastmen. They were among the first to reportedly pop up out of thin air.”
‘Out of thin air? But that’s impossible…’
The man continued, “These monsters were followed by large ogre like beings who rampaged through the streets causing death and injury to all of those around them. No armed forces all around the world were capable of putting them down, but they were heavily injured by the end of the catastrophe. Ground forces could not focus mainly on these ogres because there was a threat from the skies in the forms of organisms known as ‘harpies’ and ‘rocs’.”
‘Huh? I know what harpies are but what are rocs?’ Thankfully the anchor looked as though he were about to explain and pictures shot up on screen.
“For those of you at home who don’t know, harpies are grotesque winged creatures with the head of a woman and body of a bird. They are commonly referenced in relation to Greek mythology. Rocs are ferocious birds with appearances similar to those of a hawk, but are as large as a sail boat. Coming in droves from the skies, they were tough enough to withstand two or three bullets before taking any damage.”
‘It’s a good thing I didn’t run outside into any of that crazy stuff.’ Thinking back to the slaughter in the dorm I darkly thought, ‘well it didn’t really change much for them…’
Listening to the anchor talk about more monsters that were seen running through the streets killing anybody they could see and causing millions in property damage, I heard something shocking. “There were a total of up to four hundred thousand deaths in the U.S. alone and only tens of thousands were left mildly injured to receive aid throughout the entire nation.”
‘What!? Four hundred thousand people? Dead? I can’t believe they killed so many. I can only imagine how many fatalities countries further east suffered since it was daytime for them and more people should’ve been out and about.’ Shuddering, I look towards my family and offer up a silent prayer of thanks for their safety.
The anchorman shocked me with his next words, “Approximately forty-five minutes after it started, the catastrophe ended and all traces of the monsters simply vanished from Earth. Not one minute had passed before all forms of communication, TV, and internet blanked out across the world and were instead replaced with an audio message sent by the aliens in the ships. We’re now going to play you the message that they sent.” The screen blanked out and went completely white. Waiting for a couple seconds, an insignia in the shape of a black cross with a red circle around it appeared on the screen.
“People of Earth.” A cold and powerful voice rang out from the screen. I was surprised by its fluency, but my thoughts stopped as it continued to speak. “We have been…watching you. We’ve especially enjoyed the…colorful nature of your various cultures. Originally, we were meant to terraform your planet to suit our race’s needs…but after watching you all for the past 25 cycles, you’ve grown on us. Our race has ships scattered throughout the universe. They are placed outside the atmosphere of multiple planets just like this one. It would be simplicity itself to annihilate all the pre-existing life forms and take over all the planets, but we are a merciful and selfless people. All but one planet will become ours.” The voice paused for a couple seconds. I could feel a cold sweat break out on my forehead.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
‘Terraform? They’re taking all but one planet? How is that selfless and merciful!?’
“Towers will be dropped to the surface of every planet one month from today. Eight hundred humans will be marked when they do. The towers will land in the center of all the major continents. If any of those that are marked do not enter one of these towers by the time that one week passes upon their appearance, then the planet is ours to take. We’ve displayed our power to you today, it would do you well to fight for survival rather than to lie down and take it. Why don’t you show off that ‘never say die’ attitude that you humans are so proud of.” Laughing without emotion, the voice
disappeared and the insignia on the TV faded away.
The anchorman came back on screen and began speaking, “As you all can see, this is a serious threat not only to our own world, but also to all the others that supposedly exist. They will try to survive just as hard if not harder than we will” The anchorman began tearing up on set, “And to whoever the marked ones are…May God bless you! I beg you, please…please protect my wife and kids! My family! All the families on the planet!” Then the video ended.
“…So?” My mom cautiously asked me.
I turn towards her and say, “Well…it’s intense. It’s a lot to digest, but not impossible. We can only hope the chosen ones decide to show up whenever those towers land. But seriously though, eight hundred out of nearly seven billion? You’d have to have some terrible luck.” I paused to think for a moment and then…”Wait, shouldn’t those towers be landing today!? It’s been a month hasn’t it!?”
My parents grimaced and nodded their heads. “It’s already three in the afternoon…but the aliens seem to be very serious about this, so we don’t doubt it’s actually going to happen. You wouldn’t believe how many people are already actually making this all out to be one big conspiracy.”
Shaking my head I move to the nearest window and shift the blinds out of the way with my hand. Looking out and up into the sky, I shudder and think ‘What’s going to happen once the marked ones are chosen? How are they chosen?’
“Hey mom, I’m gonna go back to the room and keep a look out on the news. They should be catching this on video somehow.” Saying this, I turn and begin walking back to my room.
“Without lunch?” My mom asks, eyebrow raised skeptically.
Turning back to her I shake my head. ‘Tower watching will have to wait.’
………………..
Three hours later, I’m lying on my bed in my room waiting for the tower dropping to start. I caught the ball I had been throwing up and down for the past five minutes and sat up to look at the TV. Many of the news channels are focused on the sight of the obsidian ships in the sky. The four of them were slowly but surely shifting their positions, but still hanging outside of the atmosphere.
“Alex!” Hearing my mom call for me, I rolled out of bed and began walking back towards the living room.
“Yes, moooooooom?” Walking down the stairs, I see her in the kitchen and head over there.
“I’m gonna need you to do these dishes and watch the little ones while your dad and I go to Walmart to go and get some food.”
‘Grocery stores are still open on a day like this? Now that’s dedication.’ Thinking this I nod my head to her and just as I’m about to speak a tremor passes by underneath the house and we both stumble.
“The towers! They must be landing!” I exclaimed, rushing back into the living room to flip to the news channel. The channel was transitioning between different continents, but they all had one thing in common; a white blur falling directly out of the sky at high speed towards the ground. The caption on the screen changed to “Rugby, North Dakota. United States of America.” A gargantuan white tower could be seen standing imposingly within the center of a large crater with debris and smoke floating through the air. The tower, unperturbed by the mess it had caused, was glistening in the light of the sun.
‘Wow, it looks like an obelisk. It’s a really good thing they warned us about those towers beforehand. Otherwise, I’m sure a lot of people would’ve died from the landing itself. I mean, I felt it from all the way over here in Kansas.’ As I thought this, the channel switched scenes and showed what seemed to be the last tower falling down over the skies of the Eurasian continent.
As the final tower dropped closer to the ground, I clutched my head as pain tore through it. ‘Ugh, why is my head hurting all of a sudden?’ As I thought this, the tower was only getting closer and closer to the ground. Dropping to my knees, the pain in my head grew until it felt like my head was splitting apart.
“Ahhhhhh!! It hurts!” My mom dropped to my side unsure of what to do. The pain only grew worse until finally I was greeted with darkness followed by blissful unconsciousness.