CHAPTER -1 HOW IT ALL BEGAN.

 Adam clenched his fists and looked skywards, "please god, let me get accepted into the University of Tokyo!" exclaimed Adam

His mom's voice rang out like a drill sergeant, "Adam, get dressed and come down quickly, we will be leaving for your grandparents' house in 30minutes"

"Yeah, Mom, it won't take long for me to get dressed up, make sure you won't take more than an hour to get dressed up like last time"

"Yeah, my son, you are absolutely right, your mom is so bossy she always orders us around, but never follows what she tells us to do"

"What was that, honey! Were you saying something?"

"No, my dear sweet honey, how can I complain about you? You are my dear wife."

" Adam, your father will be camping outside today as a punishment after we reach your grandparents' house"

"My son! Please help me, or else I'll really be sleeping outside again!"

" You guys are always like this, having a lovers' quarrel and involving me in it when things go wrong. This time, I'm not helping you, Dad"

Adams' family was full of excitement and delightfully chaotic.

Adams' family got into the car and started their journey to his grandparents' house. They reached their grandparents' around 7 pm. It was a small town on a hill far from civilisation and surrounded by a thick evergreen forest.

"There you guys are. I was tired of waiting for you guys all day. Couldn't you guys have come faster? Could it be now that your grandmother has passed away last year, you don't want to see this alone, frail old man?"

"How can that be, Father? I just had a lot of work to do this morning"

"I know that, I was just trolling with you, hahaahah!"

"Now I see where you get your personality from, Dad", exclaimed Adam with a sigh.

"Well, let's get in, I have caught and prepared a fresh wild boar which my grandson loves!" 

"I have told you not to do that, you are too old for that, you old man!" said Adam cheerfully

They got into the house and had a great feast prepared by their grandfather, and they slept for the night as they were tired from their journey.

Next morning, there was a slight cool breeze coming through the window, the gentle sound of birds chirping, and a deep, excited voice of an old man

"Adam, get up, let's go for a morning walk, you need to burn some of that fat, you have gained a lot of weight in the past year!"

"Ehhhhh?, Grandpa, I don't want to go outside"

Grandpa convinces Adam to go take a walk outside with him. 

"Grandpa, who is that big dude running across the street? I have never seen him before"

"They are our new neighbours, they came to this town around 4 to 5 months ago."

"But grandpa, why would they move out here? There is nothing but forest"

"I had the same doubt and asked them, they said that their son won in a lottery contest and earned so much money that they don't have to work again, they wanted to come and live peacefully with nature out here"

"Why don't you go and make yourself a new friend? That big dude is their son"

"He seems very busy right now. I will visit him some other time"

They returned home from the walk, they freshened up and had a hearty breakfast. Adam was playing video games.

"Tch, what is wrong with this video game? Why is it not working properly? I was fine till yesterday"

Adam started to read manga, and then his mom called him down for dinner.

During the dinner, Adam told his parents that his video game stopped working around 2 pm

"Yeah, my phone and television also stopped working around that time. Is your phone working, honey?"

"No, my phone also stopped working, all the electronics seem to have stopped working for some reason"

They think that the electronics stopped working due to a power outage, and carry on with their dinner. All of a sudden, the sky cracked open with a low, unnatural hum- somewhat like metal grinding against the edge of reality. 

"What was that sound, Honey?"

"I am not sure either. Have you heard something like this before, Father?"

"NO! It's the first time for me to hear such a thing around this area."

"You guys stay in, I'll go take a look outside to see what's going on."

"Be careful, honey."

It's been about 5 minutes since Adams' dad left the house, but he hasn't returned and isn't responding. Everyone at the dinner table gets up and goes out to see what's going on. They see their father staring into the sky and stand still without any response.

"Why are you standing still and not responding? I was scared something happened to you"

"Why are you still not replying, Dad? What's wrong?"

As Adam asks his dad, everyone looks up at the sky, only to be shocked and stand still in awe, as the sight before them is unbelievable. It seemed almost like the sky was splitting apart and was raining down on them. In the distance, they see something heading towards them from the sky at astounding speed, before they can realise what's going on, a bright light spreads across the whole town, and  BOOM!

Adam fluttered his eyes open, his head pounding like a drum.

"Argh, what is going on? Why is my head hurting so much? aarggh!!"

As Adam tried to get up, he realised that everything around him was razed to the ground, his grandparents' house, his neighbours, everything was destroyed within seconds. He tried to move around to look for his family, but realised that a wooden splinter had struck through his leg.

"Argh! I have to look for my family. I can't let this stop me."

Adam gets up despite his pain and looks for his family. He sees a hand sticking out of the rubble.

"There is no way! There can be no way that the hand belongs to my family members!"

Adam gathers the courage and pushes the rubble away.

"Nooo! How can this be? No, No, No. This isn't real. How can this be happening to me?"

As Adam moved the rubble, he found all his family crushed. Adam couldn't hold it in. Adam screams in Agony. His screams echo through the once peaceful town.

As Adam screams in Agony, A hand reaches out to him from the shadows.

"Don't scream, otherwise they will hear you"

"wh-who are you?" Adam asked 

the person who reached out his hand, who slowly came out of the shadows, making him visible to Adam.

"A-aren't you the new neighbour's son?"

"Let's go somewhere safe before they come for us. They must have heard us because of your screaming."

confused, Adam agrees to this neighbour, and they slowly walk into the forest nearby before they notice Adam and his neighbour.

"So it's about time you tell me what's going on. What is your name? How are you still alive?"

"My name is Tanaka Go. I get you must be feeling down because your family members are dead, but this is not the time for it."

"What do you mean by that, Tanaka-san?"

"I heard that you are a smart guy from your grandfather, Adam-kun. Let me give it to you straight, then. Right now, our planet is under attack by an unknown civilisation that is more advanced than us."

"H-hhow can this be, Tanaka-san? Everything was fine until a few hours ago, and if that was the case, why didn't the government and other authorities warn us? I remember now, all the electronics stopped working around 2 pm today, it must have had something to do with this attack"

" As expected, Adam-kun, you are very smart indeed, and you don't have to call me Tanka-san, call me Go-kun, we are of the same age after all. Yes, you are right, Adam-kun, the electricity outage and the electronics not working were due to this reason. Luckily, when the power went out and the electronics stopped working, my dad was listening to a radio that ran on batteries. The news on the radio said that they were under attack by a civilisation far more advanced than Earth, and multiple countries have already fallen victim to their invasion. It also said that more than 99% of the population will be destroyed, which could lead to the extinction of humanity"

"Sigh! Go-Kun, what happened to your family?"

" When we realised that something was approaching the town, we started to run into the forest, but it was too late. When the missile exploded, the rubble from he explosion hit my parents, and both of them died on the spot. Before they died, they told me to try to escape here. I was in the same state you were a few minutes ago, but then I heard a scream and came running. There I saw you, and you know what happened from there on." 

"Now we have to focus on our survival, but first, I have to treat my injured leg."

As Adam said that, A military aircraft crashed and landed in the forest near where they were hiding. They went to check the crash site, and there was a pilot who made it out alive due to the parachute he was using.

"How are you guys alive? Has the Blooden civilisation not reached here yet?"

"Blooden civilisation? Is that the name of the civilisation that is invading the earth? And who are you? How do you know the information that even news channels didn't know?"

" My name is Raiko, and I am a scientist who works for the space program in Japan. 2 days ago, we received a message from unknown frequencies saying that they were from the Blooden civilisation. And they were pirates who conquered planets and sold them on the space black market"

"s-space black market? a civilisation from the depths of space? blooden civilization? I don't care who ever they are, I am going to get my revenge for them killing my parents!!" shouted Go-kun furiously

"Go-Kun, we need to keep the voice down, the people from the Blooden civilisation might be nearby. But Raiko-San, how powerful can they be to conquer the whole planet within a few hours? Do they look like some weird monster from the movies?

"No, they are very  similar to human beings, the only difference is that their skin colour is blood red, they are very huge, at least 8 feet tall, with fangs like the sabertooth tiger and use some mysterious energy to power their weapons and technology"

"8 feet, blood red skin, fangs like sabre tooth. How is that similar to human beings!?" expressed Go-kun.

"Anyway, we forgot to introduce ourselves. I am Adam, and this is Tanaka Go. Do you have a first aid kit on the aircraft? I need to treat my injuries" 

"We should have one, but it might be unusable because of the crash."

Go-Kun looks for the first aid and treats Adam's wound. 

"The crash might have already attracted the Bloodens. If they send someone to scout, it might be troublesome. We need to get out of here," said Adam.

As Adam, Go-Kun and Raiko-san were about to leave, they heard the sound of an unknown person talking in the distance. They couldn't recognise the language, and the voice was very deep and sounded like it was coming from a huge person.

"This sound, and language seem similar to the bloodens!" cried out loud Reiko-san

"shit, they are here faster than we thought, Adam-kun, what do we do now?" Go-kun asked in fear.

"Let's hide in the hollow tree right over there, Go-kun and Raiko-san. Looks like the hollow entrance is big enough for 4 or 5 people to fit in. Right now, we don't have time to run away. All we can do is hide and hope for the best."

As the group hides in the hollow tree, the big red giant, who is at least 8 feet tall, walks over to the crash site. He was wearing a suit, fully geared up with mysterious technology. He walked over to the aircraft and waved his hand upward; the aircraft mysteriously floated in the air and was floating behind the red giant as he was walking back.

"W-what was that? Is that some kind of magic that doesn't exist in this world? Or is this because of the gear he had? Raiko-san, aren't you a scientist? How does that work?" exclaimed Go-kun

"Go-kun and Adam, I am not sure of what that was, as this is the first time for me to see something like this. But one thing is for sure, it's not because of the gear he had, it was some type of mysterious power."

"Well, whatever, looks like we are safe for now. He is just taking the crashed aircraft and going back- w-wait a second, guys, looks like he is contacting someone, w-why is he pointing a finger in our direction and smirking at us?"

The Blooden had felt the presence of the 3 humans hiding in the tree hollow and contacted his underling to take care of the ones that were hiding."

"Shit!, looks like the blooden somehow sensed us hiding here and is sending his underling to take care of us. We have to run, guys, let's go," screamed Adam 

Realising the danger that is about to come, the three of them start running for their life. After running into the woods for a while, they realise that no one is following them, and are relieved. They sit down on the rocks to rest for a while. But little do they know that the Bloodened that was sent to kill them was right above them in the sky, watching them take a rest

"Foolish bugs, don't even know that they are about to be crushed", said the Bloodened with a smirk on his face.

Go-Kun looked up at the sky while resting to have a good look at the night sky. saw someone floating up in the sky, looking at them.

"G-g-guys, can the bloodened fly in the air?"

"Why are you asking such stupid questions in this situation, Go-kun?" replied Adam.

" I am asking because there is one right above our heads right now."

"What nonsense are you spouti-?"
As Adam and Raiko-san looked in the sky, they couldn't finish their sentence as they were too scared and shocked to see the bloodied right above them.

"Oh no!, looks like we are done for, guys. Adam and Raiko-San, is this it? Are we going to die here?"

The bloodied underling descends and starts talking to the three guys, but they couldn't understand the language. As the underlying raises his hand, it starts glowing, like a type of powering up; they understood that they were about to die here.

" aoufof s foaf haeo faoancjgrii auh nfosf" 

"Raiko-san, what are you doing all of a sudden?" asked Adam

" I learned their language since the time they sent us the message from the unknown frequency. I have a plan that might save us. Just don't do anything."

As Raiko-san talks to the Bloodied underling, he gets closer to the underling and throws a grenade at him. The bloodied was arrogant and was not using his mysterious powers to protect himself, as he was not considering humans a threat. The big Bloodied fell down, shouting in pain.

"Raiko-san, where did you get that grenade from?, It was dangerous, you could have died," said Go-Kun

"Adam and Go-kun, looks like the bloodied is dead, let's get out before anything goes wron-"

"Raiko-san? What's wrong, Raiko-san?" shouted Adam and Go-kun in unison.

It was the Bloodied. He was on his last breath when he used his mysterious powers to twist Raiko-san's head off. 

"I dead, captain kill you hahaha"

Lughed eerily on his last breath, and the bloodied underling died.

As the underlying died, Adam and Go-Kun didn't have time to mourn Raiko-san's death as the captain of the Bloodied instantly appeared in front of them.

"Adam-kun, we are fu**ed, the big dude who took the aircraft earlier is now here"

The bloodied captain caught Go-kun by his neck and lifted him into the air with a single hand, and was about to kill him by crushing his neck. Adam tried to intervene, but the captain slapped Adam, and he flew 5 feet away and fell down. He couldn't get up and do anything as he watched his friend Go-Kun get crushed.

"No!, Go-Kun, I can't Go-Kun too," said Adam.

As Adam was about to run at the bloodied captain, there was another spacecraft that just appeared and landed. out came people who were looking exactly like humans, but had very advanced gear on them and sliced off the bloodied captain's head with a single sword move using the same mysterious power the bloodied were using.

"Wh-who are you guys, why are you here?" asked Adam

"We are wanderers. We travel across the galaxy doing our missions, and we came across this planet that was under attack by the Bloodied civilisation. Our readings said that the life on this planet was destroyed, but luckily, my crewmates' cosmic power can detect even the smallest living organism, we were able to find out that 5 people across the whole planet were able to survive the Bloodied, you 2 were the last ones we had to save, you planet is doomed becasue of the Bloodied, if you want to live come with us. We will take you to the Wanderers' headquarters, and you will be safe there"

" Cosmic power or whatever it is. I want to live; my parents sacrificed themselves to save me, and the same about Raiko-san, what about you, Adam?" 

" It is still hard to believe all this cosmic power bullshit, but there is no other choice for us right now. We will come with you, wanderers. We are now in your hands until we reach this headquarters you are talking about"

As the spacecraft takes off, Adam and Go-Kun look out the window, reminiscing about the time they spent with their family on Earth. As the spacecraft speeds up, Earth slowly disappears from their sight as they head to a completely New world, The Wanderers Headquarters.