1 Change

How did it all happen?

That's the question that plagues one man's mind. Alfred

Alfred is a young (20) engineer, more specifically was, who had already finished college despite what could be described as a lack of talent. Either way, he felt life was finally going in the right direction for him.

Before, he was pushed to the breaking point from constant betrayal from his family, friends, and peers. Each constantly scrambling for any possible edge over the other. No technological advancement seemed to push that out of people. Without any choice but to work, Alfred escaped into his own world through hard work and a strong sense of survival.

However, just as the doors opened up for Alfred, the universe threw him through the window, and glass hurts.

Currently, his consciousness is floating somewhere in a near infinite void…

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A creepy silence engulfed Alfred's mind. Crazily enough, he had calmed down from his initial panic. It was obvious that he was dead, but everything seemed to still be in place. He knew who he was, what he had done, where he had been, etc. All that was left was the obvious question of; "Where am I?"

Alfred had no way of knowing, it seemed. Nomatter how hard he tried to move, nothing happened. No God or Goddess had explained anything to him. He wasn't given any knowledge of the situation.

The best he could do now was wait.

…Which was a bit too boring. It didn't take long before he was thinking about anything that came to mind.

'it's a lot... clearer than I remember.'

At least right now, Alfred felt his mind grow clearer and faster than before. The speed wasn't significant, but the clarity and efficiency was noticeably better. It was like the tubes of his brain had finally been unclogged. 'Feels great! Still, what is this place…

It isn't heaven or hell, just some void. A void that only contains me.'

He didn't have much time to figure that out, because right when he finished his train of thought;

'???'

A light appeared.

He was moving! Alfred's now ethereal body was swiftly yanked into the light as fast as this state of being would allow him giving him a wicked feeling of being stretched like a rubber band.

*Snap!~*

Somehow, right when he reached the light, everything went dark… again.

*Bathump-thump!~*

"!!!- Two?"

*Bathump-thump! Bathump-thump!~*

*Bathump-thump-thump! Bathump-thump-thump!~*

"*Gasp!!!!~~*"

When he concentrated on the two heartbeats, finally, the light came.

Immediately he felt a difference. Everything was being processed at an ultimately faster speed than he remembered. It seemed to be amplified with the sensation he had before. There was a clear scenario in his mind that he noticed, although it meant nothing until he opened his eyes. He seemed to be in a heightened state of mind directed at his survival.

Alfred reacted quickly. There was a pain coming from the right near where his heart was. He saw a cauterized hole that went through everything. When he gazed into it he saw something ridiculous. There were two hearts. Before he had any time to think his hands reacted on instinct, reaching into the space on his left side for a syringe.

Without hesitation he injected the clear liquid over the leftmost heart.

Although his state of mind made everything flow slowly, Alfred knew subconsciously how much time had passed. Only one second passed until the reaction started. Alien structures shot out of the heart and grasped on to the other side of the hole. Quickly, they multiplied from tens to hundreds, then thousands. Before he knew it, more appeared than he cared to count. A wall of these structures continued to work for one minute, when the last movements concluded.

Slowly, his state of mind started to calm down. This was when he finally thought about what was there the whole time. Surrounding him was five grey colored humanoids, similar to the roughly detailed figures in his head. The two closest to him were covered in the same cauterized holes as he was. The other three had a few limbs cut off, along with flat versions of the holes in their foreheads. They had black and yellow colored suits on while the ones closest to Alfred had black and blue ones.

Alfred looked down to see he was dressed in the same black and blue getup as the two closest to him.

His face scrunched up in confusion as he backed away, 'What…'

The scene depicted some sort of battle (obviously). That wasn't the most surreal part.

"Aliens…"

His voice was hoarse and dry. Every word was followed by some odd humm that resonated from his chest area. Looking down, he saw crazy looking holes with hot air radiating from it every time he exhaled. He actually didn't seem to sweat, these holes were the way his body cools itself down.

Close to 30 seconds after the vein-like structures finished repairing the hole in his chest, A pain started in his head.

There he started searching through memories that had suddenly appeared in his brain. The ludicrous amount of things Alfred had to sift through was the only thing keeping him from totally flipping out.

Within those memories he found the answers. Roma 44-ii23 of Planet 23 is a junior member of the Venoenoe Spec. Ops. tasked with retrieving a translator for the 6th planetary system's resistance's encoded language.

Currently there is an intergalactic war going on between the Venoenoe Alliance and the 6th planetary group. Roma was drafted 4 years before now, and just finished the basic training. He's quite unlucky with his timing, since this is the predicted peak of the war.

Back to Roma's task. He was sent out with two senior officers to complete it as his mandatory practice mission in preparation for the final exam at the end of the year. It WAS supposed to be easy.

Now, apparently, he's stuck in enemy territory with no backup planned. Calling for backup would actually work against him in this situation since he has no Tech Breakers specialized in communication there to get past any enemy communications traps.

Roma, now Alfred, took a deep breath. Even if he was just a normal person back on earth, even if he wasn't the best in the spec ops, quite the opposite actually, he still felt like he wanted… no, HAD to live.

So, he picked up his rifle and plasma sword off the ground, grabbed his senior's identification chips, and headed out.

Little did Alfred know, the change in his mind had already started.

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