The boy ran his hand through his brown hair. He pulled a note out of his pocket and began to read.
"Hello, I– uhm, what does it say?"
Can't you even read your own handwriting?!
The boy's face turned red with embarrassment, and he quickly shoved the note back into his pocket.
In his thoughts – No, no… I have to improvise now!
He took a deep breath and started again.
"Hello, my name is Mike, and I am one of the first children of the galaxy Empros!"
Mike's eyes glowed blue, and it seemed as if he was truly excited. He took another breath and continued.
"BUT! How did it come to this? That I now have laser weapons, spaceships, completely different possibilities than children had twenty years ago? It all began like this…"
Mike stood before a glowing blue sphere. It had been floating beside him the whole time. He tapped on the sphere and spoke.
"This will explain to you the story of the beginning of the war!"
The blue sphere shone brightly and then burst into millions of pieces. Suddenly, the entire galactic class found themselves inside a room of time.
Mike smiled.
"This is the final test of Class 2, and therefore the graduation class. That's why I put in extra effort!"
Now show us already, you blockhead! a girl shouted from the crowd.
In Mike's thoughts – Damn it, I wanted to drag this out a bit longer, since the whole presentation is supposed to last fifteen minutes.
"Okay, okay, okay – here!"
Mike took a step to the side, and suddenly everything around the class began to take on color.
The year 2064. A normal afternoon. The sun shone on the tall buildings of the city, reflecting in the windows of the high offices. The silence was there as it was every day. On a chair in an office sat a man in his mid-30s, talking on the phone. He looked out the window, holding the phone to his ear.
"Yes, I know, I'll get our hero something."
A smile appeared on the man's face as he heard the small noises of his now one-year-old son. A woman's voice spoke:
"Good, Mike can't wait."
He hung up. The man placed his phone on the table in front of him, rolled his chair back to the desk, and looked at the monitor glowing before him. He wanted to start working again. But suddenly, a message appeared.
Breaking News
Lizard-like creatures have been sighted all over the entire Earth. What they are and what they want is currently unclear. This is not a drill. Please stay in a safe place and lock your doors.
The news channel switched to a live recording.
"What you see here is apparently the air vehicle of the so-called lizard people."
The man in front of the screen looked closer and studied the spaceship from all sides. It was partly covered by clouds, but still clearly visible: green-colored and long. The man thought he saw many smaller ships beside the massive one, but it was no illusion – they were really there.
He took a deep breath, kept watching the monitor a bit longer, but no new information came. So he turned his gaze away and looked out the window again. Shocked, he fell from his chair.
"L-look, everyone!"
The man pointed at the huge spaceship, now visible even just by looking out the window. He turned his eyes away after a short moment and sprinted outside.
"W-wait, where are you going—"
He pushed the man trying to stop him aside and shouted behind him:
"Sorry, Tim, go to your wife!"
And he disappeared through the door. As he ran down the stairs, panic filled his ears. Since he was in an office on the 32nd floor, he had to get down first. He heard the screams of people from the rooms, but he wasn't afraid – not of what could happen to him, only thinking of his wife and his one-year-old boy.
So he rushed down the stairs, missed a step, twisted his ankle, and tumbled down a few steps. He pulled himself up again, ignoring the pain. After a few minutes, he reached the bottom, went outside, and saw chaos in the streets. People were running, a massive crowd filled the roads, cars stood still, people pushed and shoved one another – everyone had just one thought: escape.
But Zaul was different.
"M-must…"
The crowd shoved Zaul to the ground.
"M-must save Mike… must…"
Explosion!
A shockwave threw to the ground those who weren't already lying there. Buildings collapsed. In the distance, a spaceship landed in the city. Zaul staggered back to his feet, wiped the blood from his nose, and saw what was happening before his eyes.
When he looked up, he saw about two thousand small ships steering toward New York. The entire sky was full of green, disgusting, scaly ships.
"Must… get to family!" said the staggering Zaul, and he ran off. He ignored everyone around him. The noise grew quieter and quieter. And suddenly, Zaul fell to his knees in front of his house.
It was destroyed.
The ashes of the house blew into Zaul's face, and the rubble was still glowing. It must have happened only seconds ago.
Zaul dropped to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks. He laid his head on the ground, clenched his fist, and struck the floor again and again until the bones in his hand bled.
Zaul screamed in fury.
"W-what do you WANT!? W-what… do you… want…?"
But suddenly, a crying baby interrupted Zaul's outburst.
-
Author here – Hello! I would be very happy to receive some feedback on the first chapter of my novel! And if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments.
If you enjoyed the story so far and want to know how the first days of the war with the lizard-aliens unfold, or if you want to see how the entire story continues, then feel free to add this book to your library.