There was a subtle shift in the air.
Darkness rolled in like an approaching tide, covering the whole planet in shadow.
It's an anomaly not unlike the eclipse.
Yet unlike an eclipse, none seem to care. Except for one life form.
Humans, ever curious creatures, were the only ones that looked up. And it was justified.
Far above, a structure seems to be floating. A gigantic castle with a size large enough to be viewable from any place on the planet.
Aincrad? It's not.
After all, the giant castle in a game is not a golden castle that becomes visible in total darkness.
The walls and rooftops were built from gleaming gold, shaped like blocks of stone, stacked seamlessly together. An exotic garden front large enough that it can fully be seen from the surface of the planet. And people.
As impossible as it sounds, there are people standing in the garden looking down on them, earthlings.
Wearing variations of clothings that can be found in different eras across multiple human cultures.
And the earthlings can see them.
Like a universal action, almost everyone rubbed their eyes.
'Is it really possible to see people from that height?'
For every person on the planet, it felt so long. Yet it only lasted a mere ten minutes.
"Waaahhh!!! We're all gonna die!"
"Ouch!"
"Kyaah! Stop!"
"-Unexplained events that for some reason, made everyone see people in a floating castle."
"-as everyone thinks that they may be aliens that have decided to make contact with mankind."
"It's probably a mirage that coincided with an eclipse. The human brain tends to interpret hallucinations to the extreme."
"Repent! Repent! For they have come! The angels of the lord!"
"The gods have arrived!"
Humans.
'Earthlings'
It had been a week at most.
Although what happened sometime ago was still largely unexplained, people had to go on with their lives.
And when everything seemed to be shifting back to normality, tragedy struck.
In a sudden bleep, the temperature rose so fast. None could acclimate.
Up in the sky, appearing out of nowhere, a large ball of flames falling straight down the surface of the planet.
It heralded an armageddon.
Like a frenzied herd of sheep, people started running in scattered directions.
Then it landed.
Accompanied by a flash of blinding light that covered the planet.
For a long moment, nothing could be seen. Sounds were muffled as if the world was submerged in deep waters.
But that was it.
The light slowly receded, going back to its focal point, far in the middle of the pacific.
Those close enough to witness it happen all had a single question.
'What was that?'
The answer would not be obvious for some time.
That was the prelude to a new era.
Almost as if the stars colluded, thousands of balls of flames started falling on the planet.
Far smaller than the previous one yet more dangerous.
In New York, the head of the Statue of liberty fell as it was hit by an asteroid landing just a few hundred meters behind the statue.
The top of Mount Fuji exploded as another gigantic rock hit it right in the middle.
A group of penguins in Antarctica scattered, thrown by the force of another asteroid landing right in the middle of the group.
Then out of the pits from where the asteroid landed, they appeared.
Dwarves, Elves, Dragons, Satyrs…
Every being once living only in mankind's imagination arrives in the new universe they call reality.
"Kaev! Kaev!"
She's not going to stop anytime soon.
He pretended to be unaware for the sake of personal reading time, hoping she'll just stop once she finds something more interesting.
"Kaev! Kaeviel! Hey!"
It became obvious it did not work by the time she started shaking him.
So much for trying to ignore her.
Exasperated, he relented.
"What is it Selena?"
"Finally! I thought you fell asleep since you couldn't hear me earlier?"
"...Really?"
Are you for real?
He could feel the subtle twitching of his dark eyebrows.
"Sorry, sorry. Do you need anything? "
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot!"
You totally forgot.
"Come with me quickly!"
Then she pulled him against his will.
They were on time to arrive at a hall, a white haired girl their age fighting against two brunettes by pulling each other's hair while a meek boy watched on the side.
He shook his head.
He patted Selena's head before approaching the other boy.
"What is it this time again Reuben?"
Said boy, wearing glasses and with auburn hair, could only look down.
"They're at it with you again?"
A nod.
He took some time observing the smaller boy, noting the lack of scars.
"Did she arrive before they were able to do anything to you?"
Another nod.
He winced.
"It would be hard to prove you were bullied."
"Ahh! The old lady is here! RUN!"
For the second time of the day, he was pulled along by Selena and without having time to brace himself.
He would hardly complain though. Without even looking, he already knows who the old lady Selena is referring to.
He
That old lady is a bonehead who would definitely punish everyone in the crime scene for the sake of fairness.
He snorts at the thought.
"St-Stop!"
"Selena"
Yet she kept running, she couldn't hear him.
"Wait!"
He tried to pull back but Selena pulled harder.
"Ouch!"
Selena stumbled face first on the ground after being hit by a sandal on the back of her head.
"Why did you hit me!?"
He silently pointed to the white haired girl that followed them along with Reuben.
"Oh! Hey Luna, I didn't know you were there."
"We told you to wait"
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Okay! Okay! Stop hitting my head!"
He sighed pulling the two girls apart.
"Okay that's enough, why did you call me anyway?"
Selena usually calls George who always plays the referee. They wouldn't have needed to run from the adults if George was present, the adults seemed to favor him.
The purple haired younger girl shook her head.
"I followed him all the way to the direction of the river but I got scared so I stopped."
"You're still spying on other people's stuff?"
She frowned.
"Hey! You're the one who asked me!"
"And you just confirmed for me."
She could only childishly blow him a raspberry.
"Uhm-"
"Ben?"
"I've been seeing him go to the river a lot these days."
"The river?"
"Why would he frequent there?"
It was Luna who finished the question.
"I don't know, but there was something weird with him last time I saw him there."
"Weird?"
"I… ah… I think I saw him talking with a ghost."
"Ghost!? I knew it, there's ghosts in that part of the forest!"
"Shut it Sel, ghosts aren't real."
"You're probably imagining things, Reuben."
Kaeviel assured him while patting his shoulder.
"But let's go get him anyway. He's the only one that can save our butts from the adults."