The Kobarycs

"Wait... did I just hear Ender?"

Suddenly, another person appeared from the same door, which Ender recognized instantly. Tall... very tall. Black hair tied in a ponytail.

"Hey there Jackie..." He said before sighing.

"What the hell... are you the new tenant next to us? What a coincidence." He then looked at Loren and said, "Well, the good part is that your lo-"

Before he could finish, Loren gave him the elbow to the stomach and said, "Fuck off." Jackie just laughed it off while going back into the apartment.

"Don't mind him, he acts like that with every boy I met. He won't stop even if I tell him... anyways, want me to help you with whatever you bought?" She asked while fixing her shirt.

"No thanks, you sure worry about your schedule now, because it seems like you woke up right now." He said while pointing at her hair.

"I woke up after two hours of sleep with the biggest hangover I've ever got in my entire life... anyways good luck with whatever you have to do..." She said while yawning and going back inside.

Ender chuckled and got back into his apartment.

["Well, well, who would have guessed it... I don't really like that girl and now I gotta deal with her every single fucking day."] Ren complained.

'You are the one dealing with her? Also, she is not as annoying as the others. From the entire group, I couldn't have asked for better neighbors.' He said as he put the bracelet on his wrist.

["I don't like her that's all..."]

'Admit it, you don't like anyone you met.'

["Whatever you say."]

Ender opened the spatial bracelet and started with his bedroom things. He summoned the mattress and sheets and prepared his new bed. Though he forgot the most important part of it, the pillow.

He sighed as he started remembering everything he hasn't bought that could come in handy, like a sofa, a table...

He stopped worrying about it though and decided to focus on what he had. After finishing the bed, which Casper quickly made his place to sleep, he got the spatial closet out, which was a medium-sized box where he could store all of his clothes.

The good thing about it is that it automatically cleaned anything he put inside, so he never had to worry again of cleaning his own shirts and trousers again.

He stored everything as well as his current shirt, as it was somewhat sweaty from the outskirts incident, leaving his body exposed to the refreshing cold of the room.

He began preparing the kitchen, which was the hardest part as he had no idea how to assemble shit. Luckily, he got the hang of it after reading all the instructions and finished it in ten minutes.

He walked back a little bit to see what he has "built". He smiled when he saw all of this, feeling happier than ever.

For once, he didn't have to spend the day with shitty people that treated him like trash from the street.

He then got the TV set and checked that it worked properly.

'Alright... I need to buy all the utensils for the kitchen stuff, a sofa to properly watch the TV, as well as small support to put it on... and that would be all.'

He ordered all the things he needed but this type didn't pay for the faster method as it was irrelevant. Still, everything would arrive in twelve hours. He looked at the time and it marked 8:00 PM, meaning he still had time to spend.

'Ren, want to check that now?' He asked him.

["If you are able to fall asleep, sure."] Ren replied mockingly.

'Oh right, my schedule is fucked...'

Ender scratched his head and decided to put watch a series on the TV. He subscribed to a good entertainment platform, which was 10 Earthies monthly, and selected a documentary about the Kobarycs.

Even if he was here to have some fun, he decided to go with the visual representation of knowledge. It wasn't because of the tasks, but because he truly enjoyed learning new things.

He spent an hour and a half listening closely to it but still felt that there were some things missing. Because he didn't have a book about Kobaryc's, he decided to go on the Internet for some books.

Ender downloaded ten of them and started reading, starting from the very beginning.

'Let's see what all of this is about...'

The Kobarycs were an extraterrestrial race, that came to Earth in the most critical period of the planet, 2043. What humans saw was, simply put, black rain. Of course, they didn't mind it and labeled it as a reaction to the chemicals in the clouds.

But, two months later, they started moving on their own. First slowly, increasing their speed throughout the weeks, when they reached a speed faster than humans. That's when we started a war against them.

Sadly, the Kobaryc had something we didn't have, Elemental Manipulation. Whereas humans had lead and iron, they had control of nature itself.

Strangely, they never counter-attacked, they just defended themselves until properly learned the language and culture of Earth.

It wasn't until 2051 that they developed a humanoid form and dialect, being easier for us to treat them. What we discovered was off the charts.

They were better than we were, in everything. Their IQ surpassed the global average by fifty points, were excellent politicians, bankers, and any job.

Of course, people started seeing them as a threat made to end the Earth, but the Treaty of the Black Blobs proved them wrong. They got committed to the safety and restoration of Earth as well as filling our net with knowledge.

When asked about it, they said they had no place to call home anymore, and this place was their only hope. They also saw the potential in humans and decided to help them.

No one believed them of course, but when they completely reverted global warming in less than a month, people started worshipping them as heroes. They ended wars, introduced space exploration, everything.

By the year 2072, we had already mapped the entire Milky Way.

Everything went fine these years until 2081, when the first Kobarycs started developing the human sexual organs, giving birth to the first Humanycs.

This race had the DNA from humans and the Elemental Manipulation from Kobarycs, so they looked exactly identical to a humanoid while having supernatural powers.

People, especially religious ones, didn't like the fact that two different races could have mixed offspring, but once they saw how powerful Humanycs could ever be by 2098, they shut their mouths and started creating more.

The first Humanycs created the Black Blobs Federation, following the treaty name, and used it in case any Kobaryc or Humanyc went rogue as well for special space exploration missions.

And everything stayed this exact way, for the past four centuries and a half.

Ender turned his phone off after reading those ten short books in less than two hours. He took a deep breath while cleaning his eyes and lying on his new bed, extremely comfortable by the way.

Honestly, he expected the Kobaryc's descent to be more... impactful? It felt as if humans literally didn't care and just found another target to practice their guns on.

'They suddenly came? I'm not buying that, something must be hidden... I'm not trusting these books until I read an official one at the BB Headquarters.'

He then deleted those books and promised himself not to touch another one until that. He looked at the clock and realized it was already 9:38 PM.

Ender got up from the bed and got some snacks from his bracelet, as he didn't have anything inside the fridge yet.

Though, before he could even open them, somebody knocked on his door. He quickly got up, again, and went toward the door to open it... until he realized he had no shirt on.

He went towards his closet and got the exact same shirt he had before, though this time it smell like the gods, as it was recently washed.

He put it on, and this time he went to open the door.

"Hey there, we were wondering if you wanted to come to have dinner with us since it's your first day living here."

To no one surprise, it was Loren. This time she was wearing a more appropriate shirt, one of her size.

"Uhm... sure? Wasn't expecting it." He replied.

"Don't look at me, it was my uncle's idea. We only have salad though. It's Sunday so there isn't anything open."

Ender just shrugged his shoulders and got out of the apartment. The door automatically closed and he went toward Loren's apartment. The door was already opened and it revealed a well-decorated place.

"Damn, now this looks like a proper apartment..." Ender muttered.

The apartment had the same decoration his old home had, making it feel alive. Comparing it to his own he didn't know whether to blame his lack of taste or time. Jackie was already sitting on the sofa while eating his dinner.

Loren quickly walked to him and slapped him on the neck, "Hey! Didn't we agree to wait for Ender?"

"Couldn't hold myself, you know I love your salads." He said while eating another bunch of salad.

Ender laughed at their interaction. Even for how Loren treats Jackie and vice-versa, they seem like they get along just well... something he wished he had with his old family. He shook his head, trying to get rid of those thoughts.

He got a chair and sat near the side of the table while Loren sat beside his uncle. They started eating in silence when Jackie said out of the blue, "Why did you come to this flat?"

"Well... my instructor arranged everything involving the new apartment where I was going to live. Landing here was out of pure luck."

"Your trainer? Who is she?" Loren asked with her mouth full of salad.

Ender chuckled and said, "Her name is Sakura, I don't know if y-"

"Sakura?!"

"For real?! I thought Alex was bluffing!"

Loren spat most of his salad on top of Jackie's plate... as well as his cheek. He scolded her while cleaning his face from the spit and said,

"Loren told me but I just couldn't believe it. Sakura is probably the most demanded trainer that facility has ever seen... and I haven't even touched it once in my life! How did you even land an appointment with her?"

"Uhh... one of my high-school teachers is Mr. Daniel Xanatius and we get along just fine, he was the one to arrange the meeting."

Both Loren and Jackie stared at Ender like he was some sort of monster for some seconds. This was somewhat uncomfortable for him and he started scratching his cheek due to embarrassment. Jackie finished his dinner and said,

"You even know the old Prime Commander... where do you study by the way?"

"I'm from Umbrian."

"Now it makes sense!" Loren said, "You never told us before where you studied!" She shouted as she got up. She sat beside him while pushing Jackie aside.

"Is it as cool as they say to study there?"

"High standards, that's all I can say about it." He quickly answered as he finished his salad, which tasted really good.

Loren stared at Ender with interest and said, "Want to get the bus with me to high school? I know a line that drops off at both Umbrian and Knights, the bus arrives around 7:50 AM, and since it goes through Umbrian first... I guess you'll arrive around 8:05 AM."

Ender nodded as he got up and place the plate on the sink, "I will be going now, good luck sleeping."

Loren chuckled and said, "Will be waiting for you on the bottom floor by 7:45 AM, don't be late else I'll go without you."

"Sure, see you tomorrow." He said before leaving the apartment. Once he was out, he sighed as he started walking toward his own.

'She seems too nice... I don't know if I can trust her... maybe you are right Ren.'

["Told ya. I'm not telling you to stop any kind of interaction with her, but be aware."] Ren said as Ender got inside his apartment.

He took his shirt off and threw it inside the closet. He dropped on the bed and Casper quickly got comfortable on his stomach. Ender looked at the cat and the scar from his body, and while touching it he said, "I wonder where I got this... Never had it before."

'Whatever.' Ender got comfortable on his bed as Casper came near his head and fell asleep in front of him.

Ender felt the drowsiness kicking in faster than he anticipated, but he knew why it was happening. After all, it was mentioned in Psychology books. Now that he left that house, he was safe from everything.

With a smile, he fell into a deep sleep while hugging Casper.