1 Unexpected Guest

I love looking at the sun. It's round and warm, and it stays on course. I also love Earth. It's also round and warm — well, sometimes the breeze seems a little cold, falls and winter, but they each have their own beauty — it's green and blue, with a touch of desert and white on mountaintops.

That's all I know about Earth. I have no idea what kind of creatures live on it — other from a few humans — or what it looks like now. "Don't go down, it's dangerous!" that's all the remarks I got when I asked about Earth. What, after all, would there be? Isn't anything safe?

But anyway, I'm not complaining about where I'm staying. It's fun up here. I can get closer to the sun and see the Earth ever wider and further.

"A sheet of white paper for 5 Copper!" Only 5 copper!" cry one of the merchants.

"I'll take five, please" said I. It's still too early for the price to fall. I had to spend 8 Copper for a sheet of paper last week. But what can I do? The merchant said that he has seven children to feed; I can't let those children go hungry, can I?

"Apple, apple, apple. Don't forget your sweet apple. Look how bright red it is. Only 2 copper, apple, apple!" another merchant whooped.

Ah, 2 Copper, maybe I'll stop by and buy some on my way home. For now, I need to get to school.

***

*Ring… ring… ring…*

That ringing bell always reminds me of three years ago when I was a student. Always arriving a minute before the bell rang — all because I slept late after a part-time job — and getting an earful the whole morning. And now I'm back at my old school as a teacher assistant.

"Axel! I thought you wouldn't show up."

"Sorry, Mr. Xiao, I passed by the market and can't help from buying these sheets of paper," I said, bowing and scratching my head. Sheet of paper is important, though we don't use it as much as we used to. It can teach children the feeling of writing on paper rather to writing on a hologram screen or tipping and tapping their fingers on a keyboard.

I help Mr. Xiao in teaching history, and I occasionally help the other teachers in math and science to the best of my ability. And it's fun; it's as if they have some set of rules for answering questions or how some theories rule out the universe. But when I teach history, I always feel like I'm telling a bedtime story to children, because this is what I tell them.

"Did you know that we used to live on the land? Down there on Earth. We built a house out of woods, stones, and something called cement; we went to a zoo, a place where some animals are caged-shown; we climbed the mountain, looking around in every direction atop the clouds — it's not much of a different from now — we went boat riding on a river; swimming in a lake; and crossing the vast sea, visiting one island after another."

And as I continue on, telling them all sorts of things we did on Earth, their eyes gleaming, like if they're hearing a fairytale. Then I continue.

"But then, one day, the sky burned red in the light of day. Meteors rained down on Earth. They changed the river's course, drained the lake, devoured the mountains, and boiled the ocean in redness. Then we heard it.

*Doom... doom...*

A bombing sounds shook the skies. On the easternmost part of Earth, the Atlantic Ocean, the wind crackled and space cracked. A big sphere — that's what we called it until now, Sphere — emerged from thin air after the sky was hollowed out by a blue light."

And right when I reached this part, the kids always started crying. Of course I feel bad; I never meant to scare them. But this is the truth, I only recited what was written in every records or files, including the story their father told them or their father before, and so on.

"Monstrous creatures emerge from the Sphere one by one. Destroying everything in their path and leaving a trail of ruin in their wake."

And their crying became even more hysterical. Every time I tell this story, it's chaos.

"One by one, the eastern countries began to fall, leaving nothing but fear in the other countries.

The remaining countries began to contemplated what kind of plan they needed to devise. Then, one person suggested attacking the Sphere, the root of the problem. 'We should attack the Sphere,' he suggested.

Thus, they gathered tens of thousands of air forces and began an attack on the Sphere."

"Yeah! Die you monsters!" cry out one of the kids.

"Hahaha…" His shrieking made me laugh. It turns out that there is a kid who is not 'quite' affected by the the story, which is a good thing, I'm happy to know.

"However, no weapons could do no harm to the unknown creatures, and so, many ships were lost at sea. The Sphere was smoked by grey clouds that rose from the shipwreck and high into the sky. Thus, hundreds of ships made it into the Sphere, but only five made their way back.

Those five survivors told a story of another world beyond the Sphere with a vast sea and purple sky, two stars on the east and west horizons, and monstrous creatures swarming the land and sky. We called them the 'Others'.

With that story, we were faced with hopelessness. Until someone said, 'We need to hide. Up to the sky, behind the clouds.' With no ways other than flee we rose to the sky, above the Ring, an artificial floating island where we live ever since."

I take a short break to glance at the kids; their eyes are gleaming and their expressions have improved. I'm worried that they won't stop crying or be scared over this story.

"Years passed since, and the Sphere remains on the ocean. It emits a new source of energy that amplifies the life around it. It grew the forest even taller and greener, it heightened mountains and heated the lava within them, the waves grew wider and taller, and it brought about a new kind of human.

These special human began to be born with greater power and strength than that of an ordinary human. Their number growing at an incredible speed, and only in five years, they even have a couple of Rings full of themselves. And we called them 'inhuman'.

With the rise of the Inhuman, mankind began to fight back, we drove the Others to the east and back to the Sphere from which they came. But Earth is not yet free, because the threat remains and the Sphere still exists.

And now, more than 3400 years later, we've driven the Others away from Earth, won four Conquest Wars, and freed four other worlds beyond the Sphere. Velerian is the World of the Lost Heaven; Temismere, the World of Endless Sea; Erda, Earth's Twin; and Nel Ogore, the World of the Giants.

So we no longer need to be afraid because the Inhumans..."

"Yeah! Long live Inhuman! I want to be an Inhuman when I grow up!" Again, the same kid cry out, a really loud one this time.

"Hahaha..." I laughed even wider. I don't recall ever having such a kid. But, thanks to him, the mood of the class has improved, which gives me some motivation to teach them more. Hahaha... I never tired of children, maybe because I have a little brother their age.

I then ended the class with a homework, asking the kids to write their dreams on the sheet of paper I bought — after ripping it into twenty smaller papers.

***

My name is Axel Ellena — Ellena is from my mother's name — and I'm sixteen this year. And, um, if you're wondering how I, a sixteen-year-old kid, can work, it's because of certain incidents that happened after we rose to the sky that seriously damaged the world economy. They then even permitted children above fifteen to work, with some protection clause from heavy working hours and unethical pay.

Did I mention I love the sun? That's mostly because I love to watch the sun set, with its orange warmth followed by a cool evening wind, walking down the street, through the market... Ah, right! The apple. I almost forgot to buy the apple.

Thank goodness the stall hasn't closed yet. Creny has been craving something sweaty since yesterday; I can't give him candy since he can become addicted if I give him even one.

Creny is my little brother, turning eight this year. I can't wait to see him; only yesterday, he hit me with a hug and didn't let me go until he fell asleep, and that was only because I was ten minutes late.

***

*Tip, tap, tap* I tapped the passcode on a door lock to my left.

"I'm home!" I exclaimed as I stepped in with my right foot. Hmm... These familiar scents, the living room, and the smell of baby powder. Looks like Creny just finished showering.

"Brother!" Creny cries out, running to the door, wait... Running to me? What?! Again? And he hit me with another hug. Ugh... I'm not even late today, so why...

"Creny, why are you running?" Ugh, my stomach.

"Because you come home early!" Creny exclaimed with his tiny hands up. He's got a big smile all over his face, his light ash brown hair swaying as he jumps out, with his green eyes gleaming under the evening sun.

Well, that's a good thing to hear, I said to myself.

"Creny! I told you not to run around the house!" Came a scolding from inside the house.

Ah, right, I forgot to mention that I have a younger sister, Ema, who is a year younger than me. She's frequently at home, watching over Creny when I'm at work. And uh... She's a bit scary when she gets angry. But that's just how she loves; she's always been like that.

"Axel!" exclaimed Ema, stomping her way out, her auburn hair fluttering in the wind with her golden-brown eyes ablaze in anger. "Why didn't you answer my texts? Do you know how worried I was?" She went on, her brow furrowed.

"I'm sorry, Ema. My CubeDisk is out of battery; I used it all today while teaching history class." I shrank as I said.

"Sigh, just get in. It's freezing outside." Ema ended.

Hmm, aren't the dinner here yet? I can't smell any food. "Ema, have the dinner arrived yet?" From the living room, I called out.

"No. Maybe soon." In reaction, Ema yelled while warming up a soup — a leftover from today's lunch — and cooking some side dishes in the kitchen.

Hmm that's odd, usually the dinner got delivered by six.

We're not ordering some delivery food; it's true we're expecting delivery food, but it's from someone else, who has been delivering food to our house, lunch and dinner. They began doing so six years ago, when our mother passed away. Having to live on our own without a parent, lunch and dinner are a generous gift. I also began exchanging letters with them, sometimes just to express gratitude, sometimes they ask how I was doing, and yesterday they asked what I'd been working on — I'm not sure why they asked this, it's the first time.

*Ding-dong* A ring came from the front door.

Wait. Is It dinner? But they never once rang a bell. I dashed to the door, grabbed the doorknob, and open it open with a swish. But it's not dinner; well, it is dinner, but it's in someone's hand. He wears a robe that wrap his head to his knees, but his silver hair glistened and I could plainly see it, and his face is of noble, his golden eyes gleaming in the darkness of his hood. "Are you the one who has been sending us food?" I blurted out.

"Oh this food? I'm sorry, I found it on the ground and just wanted to give it to you, the houser, it might get cold." The man said while handing me a bag of food.

"Ah, thank you, then." I respond with a smile, and he giving me back a gentler smile. "Umm… Are you looking for someone, mister?" I inquired of the man.

"I am. Could we talk for a minute, Axel?" With a smile, the man said. I was taken aback; I rarely have a guest, why would someone come looking for me for? "I come on an errand from Orion Academy. And am here to extend an invitation to you." The man continued while flashing me a holographic invitation on his CubeDisk. There is a three-circle seal on the bottom, a distinct seal from the three academies; a type of places where they train human who have awakened their abilities into an Inhuman, a soldier.

And did he say I've been invited?