Chapter 1 Invasion

A soft golden glow was cast across the clear blue skies above a certain small town, making it seem like a perfectly normal day like any other. The birds were merrily chirping while the roosters excitedly announced the arrival of dawn, as the warm sun rays illuminated everything on their path.

In the heart of a certain shopping district, a small two-story building stood there, with the words 'Old Luke's food' written messily on the large signboard hanging above its entrance.

As the warm sun rays gently enveloped the building, the cheerful voice of a young man sounded loudly from within as he called out

''Grandpa, I'm off!''

A young man who looked around 18 years old took one last look in the large mirror in front of him, fixed his messy short black hair and straightened his black-colored school clothes, and after taking one last look at his own handsome face and those deep blue eyes that were shining brightly like stars in the early morning, he opened the door and walked outside.

From the balcony of the second floor, an old man who seemed to be in his early 70s, with a head full of white hair and a long white beard that reached all the way to his chest could be seen collecting dried clothes from a long rope, when he suddenly turned his attention towards the young man standing right below him and said

''Arthur, don't be late! I need your help with the shop today!''

''Don't worry Grandpa! I'll see you after school!''

Old Luke had a content smile on his face as he watched his grandson run through the empty streets, passing through the rest of the shops that had yet to open for the day.

As Arthur ran through the street and passed a few shops that were preparing to open early, he soon arrived in front of a wooden 3-story building that looked similar to his own house.

'Fresh Bakery'

Just as was about to knock on the door however, the wooden door in front of him suddenly swung open before a young man with blond hair and clothes similar to Arthur's appeared from it.

The young man had bright green eyes and sharp defined facial features that made him quite handsome as well, while his thin lips curved up into a smile when he saw the young man who was standing outside of his house.

''Lazybum, how come you came so early today?''

Placing his hand on Arthur's shoulder, the blond-haired young man asked with a cheerful smile as the 2 of them walked together through the empty streets.

Arthur smiled and slapped the young man's hand away from his shoulder before he replied

''Early? If I waited for you to wake up every morning we would have to run to school every day drenched in sweat.''

''Tsk. What do you know? This is called exercising. It's all thanks to me that we are both in such good shape after all. Besides, don't you know that sleeping longer makes you more handsome? Sigh, how can I have such an ignorant guy as my childhood friend?''

Arthur smiled and ignored his friend's shameless remarks as the 2 of them arrived in front of a bus stop just a few minutes later.

Looking at the tens of buses that were lined up one after the other, the 2 young men walked towards the bus that was located on the very front and entered inside.

The bus driver's seat was empty, but Arthur and the blond-haired young man knew that the bus driver wouldn't arrive until it was time for the bus to leave, so the two of them found 2 empty seats on the left side of the bus and sat down before they closed their eyes and waited for the bus to leave the station.

In less than 20 minutes, the seats of the previously half-empty bus were filled almost completely by young people, as well as some middle-aged men and women who were wearing their working attires, before the bus engine finally revved as the bus was about to start moving.

Sensing the familiar shaking of the old bus that was like an old washing machine that could stop working at any time, Arthur knew that they were about to leave, so he kept his eyes closed and was about to rest for a few more minutes.

And yet, the engine of the bus was actually revving for more than a minute, but Arthur didn't sense the feeling of moving yet which made him feel somewhat puzzled, when he suddenly felt a hand on his left shoulder pushing him, while a trembling voice sounded in his left ear almost at the same time

''Ar-Arth-ur... look!''

''Leonard, what's wrong?''

Opening his eyes to look at the blond-haired young man next to him, Arthur noticed an expression of shock etched on his friend's face as he looked at him, as Leonard pointed at the window of the bus by his side.

Feeling that the atmosphere inside the bus that had suddenly changed, Arthur followed Leonard's gaze, only to see an unbelievable sight in front of his eyes that made his pupils dilate in disbelief.

The sun above their heads had been blotted out completely, as a fleet of dozens, enormous, pitch-black spaceships had appeared above the sky.

Each of those spaceships were long and thin, and were shaped like sharp swords with rough edges that were descending horizontally from the sky.

From each of those spaceships, countless black dots began to emerge, numbering in the thousands as they moved towards the planet below them at extreme speed.

Arthur and Leonard were unable to discern what the black dots actually were, but a single word seemed to have appeared in their minds practically at the same time, making their hearts shake to their core as they were unable to believe what they were seeing

''Aliens!''

''AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!''

Silence had filled the bus for a few moments as everyone stared at the scene through the windows that seemed to have come from some kind of movie, before the scream of a middle-aged woman suddenly broke this silence.

A woman that was dressed in a business attire suddenly stood up from her seat and ran towards the entrance of the bus as quickly as she could while screaming in terror.

''RUN!''

Her scream seemed to be some kind of switch, as everyone inside the bus started to panic and scream in fear, running towards the entrance of the bus as well.

The bus driver was no exception as he was actually the first one to abandon the bus and run away from the scene.

Staring at the chaos around them, Arthur and Leonard looked at each other before they too ran to the entrance of the bus as well.

Aliens? How could humans possibly react when they saw the dozens of enormous spaceships appearing in the sky above them that completely covered the sun?

No person on the planet could imagine before today, that this would be the day where the structure of the entire planet would suddenly change in the span of a single night.