1 Shooting Star

Once upon a time on a planet called earth lived a race of intelligent beings called humans, they prided themselves for their intellect, uniqueness, and society.

Amongst them was a young man who dreamed of the unknown, he would sometimes stare at the night sky and wonder if he was alone in this vast universe, he wondered if humans were truly the greatest as they were told.

Sometimes he would wonder if the sky was real, perhaps everything was an illusion, a dream, of sorts or not, in the end, did it matter truly?

No, it didn't matter at all, because he felt it was real, and he chose to believe it was real until he felt it was not so.

But that's not the point of this story.

amongst the stars laid a strange construct, its origin unknown, its purpose unknown, what is known is the fact that it shone like a bright pearl, and yet so far away that none could see its brilliance.

One fateful day, the construct activated and started moving towards a certain land, on that day the young man choose his life goal, he wanted to find the answer, the truth of this world, it was pipe dream he knew but he chose it regardless.

What caused the activation of the construct was perhaps his determination to find the truth or his foolishness, or maybe it was just luck that it activated after eons of sleeping but it didn't matter in the end, because the star had already begun to fall from the heaven to earth towards a certain man.

Astar never believed in the extraordinary, he cherished the thought of something more than the current reality but he also knew that fairy tales and stories don't exist.

He would never have imagined that a meteor would fall near his house, it was a shocking event for him, he was excited to see how it looked like up close.

Astar was currently on a vacation in the countryside, there were few people close to his location, it gave him ample opportunity to go and see the meteor before the government came and took it.

He approached the landing site, it was exactly how he imagined it to look like, he began looking cautiously, and crouched near the meteor.

He unexpectedly didn't see a rock, it was a polished silver crystallized structure, it was quite obvious it was not naturally made.

The discovery made him excited at the prospect of finding a possible extraterrestrial item that could prove the existence of aliens and such.

He carefully lifted the object, the crystal began shining a golden color the moment he touched it.

He tried to drop it immediately, but the crystal stuck to his hand, no matter what he did he could get rid of it.

He began to panic, he regretted touching it, but he didn't have the time to carefully plan anything because the golden glow intensified and his figure gradually vanished.

Astar would later know that him touching the meteor was not without consequence for the earth, because it led to the forming of a new age on earth, The Age of Magic. That's another story for another time though.

Within the confines of the boundless Eternal Cosmos existed a Shooting star, if one looked carefully, they would see a young handsome man barely 18 years old 5'10 tall with short black hair and fair skin floating inside a protective sphere.

Weeks passed like this for Astar, he was sleep during this time thus didn't feel anything. His body in a state of stasis.

Green Stream immortal realm, west of the great snake river, Everbright kingdom, near the beast forest, laid an ordinary village of mortals named wood cutting village, they enjoyed their mundane life and piece, it was quite uncommon for cultivators and immortals to pass by so it was relatively unbothered.

At this moment a bright flash streaked across the sky, and something fell close to this village, yet no one noticed anything unusual because it was midnight.

Astar woke up to the sound of water and chirping of birds, bright light engulfing his vision as if to invite him to awaken from his sleep, he felt soft grass beneath him, he felt very comfortable.

Eventually, he sat up and realized his circumstances, on the moment he was touching an alien device and next he was here.

The only conclusion he could reach was being kidnapped by aliens, he started to panic but of course, he knew that panic wouldn't help him in this situation.

He took a deep breath and began to calm down 'whoever put me here didn't want me to die', so he thought, 'if they wanted to harm me, I would have died long ago, how long has it been? my internal clock is all messed up.'

It was at this point he started paying closer attention to his surroundings, he saw a waterfall in front of him, a forest behind and the earth was covered in green grass.

He felt extremely relaxed, the air was filled with life, the earth filled with vitality, he was shocked, he had been to many places on earth but none of them felt this alive, no scenery this vibrant.

After taking in his surroundings he drank water from the waterfall, checked to see if he had anything useful on him, finding nothing but the clothes he wore he began walking in a random direction depressed in hopes of finding a human settlement or something.

It didn't take long for him to stumble upon the village, he was quite close to it, he reached there and an ordinary-looking middle-aged man in simple attire greeted him "young man what are you doing here, this forest is quite dangerous for you to pass, there is no river that grants immortality behind it trust me."

He advised kindly "I have seen many youths like you trying to conquer it, not worth the risk if you ask me, turn back and go home."

Astar was a bit dumbfounded but he quickly regained his composure and replied "I am lost, can you help me to stay here for a while ?" but at the same time, he was thinking ' they don't speak English, how can I understand this strange language so perfectly and talkback so naturally? The device did something to me'.

The middle-aged man frowned and began thinking to himself then replied: "of course we are happy to be of help but nothing is free in this world, if you wish to stay here you have to help me with my work, a fair exchange, what about it?"

Astar agreed and the middle-aged man became quite happy with the exchange he suddenly asked: "what is your name by the way?".

Astar told him his name and the villager replied: "Astar hah a unique name that is rare, I am called 3rd cloud, call me Uncle cloud since you are helping me here."

Astar felt very shocked with the villager's name, he started making his conclusions about this place possibly another world or timeline.

He was led to a plain-looking house and was given a simple room to stay as a guest for a while, 3rd Cloud told him he was single despite his age which led to him being lonely, 3rd cloud was a lively individual with a simple personality so they got along fine.

As for the other villagers, most men had gone hunting and the women to collect herbs, so the village was relatively empty at the moment.