°•○● Chapter 1 - Strange Friends in a Simple Life

-နိုးထ Planet Kasper 

 -Present Time

[You Killed a Wild Dog!

[You have acquired +3 Exp, +0.01 Strength-Agility-Perception-Endurance-Charisma-Intelligence-Luck]

[You levelled up! +1 Status Point]

[The ability "Traveller" levelled up: Traveler (Rare) - Level 2

{Bip! New Passive Ability Unlocked}

[Home Sweet Home (Passive) - Level 1]

Eren sighed as he glanced at the message in his corneal implant. This wasn't the message he had been waiting for. Lowering the spear in his hand, he began to drag the bloodied carcass of the wild dog by its leg. Several others followed him as they walked a few kilometers.

Finally, when they returned to the settlement they called "home it was almost nighttime. Eren gestured to a middle-aged woman who approached him. Without a word, she rushed to carry the bloody wolf to the shelter. She would probably waste no time in hanging the carcass on a wooden rack to drain its blood. He didn't pay much attention to such matters.

Walking over to the well, Eren was handed a bucket filled with cold water by a young child. He offered a warm smile but small boy didn't care. 

After cleaning the blood from his entire body, he patted the child's head and headed toward his home. Before he entered, the gaze of an elderly woman following him sent a clear message.

She was gone already.

He knew but still..it felt weird.

"Now I'm alone in this dangerous world."

Eren lay down for a moment to rest before his late dinner, daydreaming about his home.

"I wonder how long it will take to return to my own world from this fu*king Magical Planet"

...

°•○● Planet Earth 

 Three Weeks Ago

Eren had been on the verge of passing out since morning due to his school classes. Being around people was already challenging for him, and the overly dull lessons and the prohibition of using his phone in class were incredibly stifling. To make matters worse, the school was perched atop a colossal mountain, subjecting them to scorching temperatures under the blazing sun, reaching 40 degrees Celsius.

"We're starting our vacation after tomorrow. It's finally ending, right, Muhammed?"

In this island country, Eren had friends from multiple nationalities and countries, two of whom he had met and befriended while smoking cigarettes during breaks.

"For me, it's the last week, but your plane ticket is in three weeks, isn't it? I'll be at my home in Abu Dhabi next week. Hopefully, my mom and sister's European vacation will get extended, and the house will be mine for a while."

Eren turned his head to look at his Arab friend with a light brown complexion. With his expensive cigar in hand, oversized headphones around his neck, three earrings in one ear, and a fake nose piercing, he had a peculiar appearance.

Due to his appearance and way of having fun, he was unlike any other Arab on the island. In this school, Eren had only seen similar looks on students from African countries. Despite their American-like behavior, they filled all the dormitory kitchens with exotic and heavy cooking smells. But this guy was even more gangsta than some of those weird African students. 

Nothing and nobody around me is normal...

Muhammed, aside from his name, was the one who looked the least Arab among those miles away. Even the other Arab students in this school were glaring at Muhammad and not speaking to him.

"Maybe your mom and sister won't come for the whole summer. If they are that comfy in France like you told me."

Muhammed didn't respond until he took a deep puff from his cigar and exhaled smoke from his nose, shaking his head negatively. "I still have a year before I finish school, but my mom wants to introduce me to a few potential brides this summer."

"You're lucky."

Muhammed grunted. "Hah." He knew Eren was aware of his situation, so he just grunted. Despite their last class ended on this Thursday afternoon, his mood was bad. Then, because he was in a salty mood himself, he decided to annoy Eren.

"Did you talk to your girl today?" Eren had started frowning even before the sentence began. But before he could respond, four beautiful girls swiftly passed them. They were all stunning, looking as if they had stepped out of a fairy tale or a cartoon. When Eren saw the one with long black hair walking at the front, he turned around and leaned against the wall.

"I want that too." Without waiting, he snatched the cigar from Muhammed's mouth and started puffing out thick and unpleasant smoke. Then, as if he were a professional, he pursed his lips and blew out perfect rings of smoke.

Muhammed was amazed by the smoke puffs in the air. "I can never do it like you. Mine are like worms, not like this."

"You need to work on your tongue technique..."

..

Two friends belonged to different ethnicities, countries and even college departments waited for the last member of their group to finish his class for about 10 minutes. Both of them had left their classes a little early, so they moved to the edge of the crowd as soon as they heard the bell for break time. They sat on a shaded bench between the classroom buildings and watched the passing girls.

Eren was a Turk, a very shy young man whose face turned red even when he looked at a girl he liked. He was 19 years old. Muhammed, his wealthy Arab friend who was puffing on a cigar nearby, had a classic name but looked anything but ordinary. Their last friend was even stranger than the combination of these two: Tomi, from Finland.

Tomi, who walked with an umbrella among hundreds of students, approached his two friends with a smile. He was aware that everyone around was looking at him, but he didn't mind. He was busy waving at his friends with a strange innocence.

Besides, the reason everyone was staring at him wasn't just the umbrella. With his snow-white skin, nearly two-meter height, and long, flowing hair that reached his waist, he was truly eye-catching.

What does an umbrella mean in the presence of such a spectacle? All eyes were on the smiles on this kid's face and the group he was approaching. Maybe, seeing these three weirdos, they were secretly grateful for how normal they felt. Who knows?

"Hey, let's grab some food."

Both Muhammed and Eren reacted at the same time. "We just ate!" "Lunch was two hours ago!"

Tomi, who had a Finnish father and a Bulgarian mother, had long grown accustomed to his friends' reactions. "I'm getting takeout. We can eat at my place."

When the three of them came together, it was as if they had planned it in advance. They surrounded Eren and started walking slowly. What people didn't know was that despite looking the most normal, Eren had psychological issues. He couldn't sit among people, couldn't walk among them, and couldn't even go to school until a few years ago. But, as he discovered after meeting these two friends, he could endure a little with them by his side.

Tomi, thinking he was cool with a shiny watch on his right wrist sighed. "My flight is tomorrow morning. I need to get a bus ticket for tonight."

Eren saw the watch and cringed the strange gift Muhammed gave to Tomi. This innocent giant didn't know how his watch in his right wrist looked childish. But Muhammed always said it looked cool and Tomi believed that crap.

After they finished their business with food in a tiny street food truck, Tomi closed his umbrella. Because his skin was so white, he could not walk under the extremely hot sun rays without an umbrella or clothing over his head.

All three of them felt strange as they walked with their shopping bags.

Since summer vacation had arrived, all three of them would be going home soon. One of them to Finland, to be with his father, one to Abu Dhabi, just half an hour away from Dubai, and the last to a village house lost among the fields in the west of Turkey, in three weeks.

The reason the one closest to home was going last was that plane tickets were very expensive, and Eren's economic situation wasn't great. His little sister was only 7 years old, and household finances were tight these days.

The peculiar group of friends soon bought bus tickets and played games online for hours in the evening.

After midnight, around 3:00 AM, Tomi packed his suitcase and hung his keys on the wall. Then, he suddenly ran and hugged his friends. Living in this island country had changed him, despite being a Nordic European who normally avoided physical contact. Now, he either shook hands or hugged during their first meetings and farewells.

"Hey, you're suffocating me. Calm down. We'll see each other in three months, and you'll be playing online games with us every night anyway. People outside think we're gay!"

"Aren't we?"

Both Eren and Muhammed burst out laughing simultaneously and nodded in agreement with the joke that had been going on for months.

Still, Tomi hugged his friends with all his strength and then looked at Eren with a single word before leaving. "Try Harder!"

This had become a code word among these three friends. It summarized Eren's efforts to overcome his social phobias. It meant the time he had to leave the house every day and force himself to spend time in the crowds.

He saw his friend's grin who resembled a vampire but had a heart as soft as cotton. He smiled back and waved. "Take care, Tomi."

..

One week later, Muhammed stood in front of the mirror, applying makeup to make the holes in his ears look closed. Normally, wearing earrings wasn't an issue. His country was quite modern in such matters. But his parents weren't. Especially his mother would create a big problem if she noticed his ear.

"I hope my mom extends her vacation." He had the unhappiness of a young man who knew what he was doing wouldn't really matter.

Eren simply nodded and grinned.

"How do I look?" Tomi asked.

"Like a three-holed ear with makeup. I think you should either wear headphones all the time or tell them you're becoming more religious and start covering your head like religious women."

"Hahaha, very funny. I hope you start joking around with your platonic crush like this. She'll fall for you in the first minute."

As Eren looked at his friend's ear, a real idea came to his mind. "Actually, can't you wear that thing Arab men put on their heads? Even some of the guys here use it sometimes."

Muhammed didn't take Eren's words as real advice. He continued to look in the mirror with a disgusted expression before adding another layer of foundation, usually used by women for makeup.

"What you're talking about is an Agal. Black or red-ringed headpiece, right? But even my dad is too modern to dress like that. My uncle always wear full black smokin and thinks that man should dress neatly. If they see me with that agal, I would be in a bigger trouble.."

When Muhammed left home, he hugged Eren and gave him a lot of advice, said "Try Harder" like Tomi before getting on the bus that would take him to the airport. As he watched his friend from the balcony, he noticed that he had put on headphones in his seat.

He really used my advice..wait.

"Fool! All the makeup you did will be ruined because of the headphones."

But instead of warning his friend with a message, he smiled and went inside. Muhammed's father would notice his ear holes in two seconds. Eren wondered what would happen to his friend, and how mad he would be in the group chat that night. 

Entering the empty house, he felt truly alone for the first time in a year. It was as if he had lost the anchors, helpers, or parents that had brought him up to the level of other average people. Without his roommates, he wouldn't progress in school or survive socially.

He entered his room, closed the lid of his laptop on the desk, and lay down on his bed. The night before, they had stayed up all night playing an online game because of Muhammed's early morning bus. He would try to sleep while watching videos on his phone. 

..

Weeks passed and Eren had flown to Turkey.

He spent the whole day playing with his little sister. He had fun all day with his family in the small city center and finally completed his day by eating ice cream at the famous sweet shop of their city.

Due to his sister's insistence, he had a tattoo of a polar bear on his right cheek that came out of a bag of chips. The bear on his sister's cheek was huge, but Eren's was small and resembled a white cartoon character with big eyes.

In the evening, as they returned home, he held his sister's hand and smiled happily. He was just realizing how tired he was from studying technical subjects. Also working on laboratory projects all year and trying to catching up with his two friends drinking habits in the evenings... these were mentally exhausting. It sounded fun when he talked about his college life, but it was actually very demanding for someone like him.

In the evening, his parents sat at the table in the back garden of their home, prepared a large teapot, and turned on a small television. Both had retired from their jobs and were leading a quiet retirement life. At that moment, his sister Tuana was in the living room watching cartoons on the smart tv.

..

Throughout the day, both his family, his sister and childhood friends from the neightborhood had treated him very well.

But now, as Eren looked at his reflection in the bathroom, examining his blue eyes and black hair, he had a hunch that something was very strange.

"If I were Asian, I could explain such jet-black hair, or if I lived in Europe or northern Russia, blue eyes would make sense. But in a kingdom..."

[System Error! Data conflict detected in memory. An artificial avatar is being created, and unnecessary parts of memories are being cut]

..

°•○●

A Note from the Author:

I will start by publishing 1 Chapter per day and we will see the rest. 

No lies or no crap. Just me, my editors and a simple story. 

Have Fun 

;")