1 How it began

A pack of bipedal creatures were chasing a herd of triceratops, the speedy thieves were fast on their feet as the bushes rustled behind them, their eyes fixated on their prey as the slowest among the herd soon fell behind the others.

The other triceratops however did not pay heed to their abandoned ally, to them, staying alive right now was their only priority. Ignoring the cries of their triceratop brother that was surrounded by the vicious velociraptors, the other triceratops made use of this opportunity to escape for their lives.

The velociraptors closed in on the triceratop, pouncing onto it with synchronisation as a pack, digging and clawing deep into its body. Piercing through the defensive scales which proved useless for the triceratop as it fell onto the ground giving in to the pain. The triceratops followed up with a loud silent whimper before its final moments on the soft warm dirt, drawing in its last breath.

The velociraptors then started to compete for the meat, ripping its body apart while snatching parts from the jaws of each other, as they pulled and tore meat off the carcass of the triceratops, its blood seeping into the ground as the screen faded into darkness.

"Nick, if there are no further questions, then I believe that you have decided to accept this mission for the future of humanity, so that we can open up a new age of technology and maybe seek further for that chance at a grander future." The government made his final verdict, his tone commanding as he stared straight into Nick's eyes. This is what happens when you decide to interfere with my plans.

Being the type of youth that spends every day of their life, gaming at home in the corner of their room. He doesn't interact much with others, resulting in him having a lack of friends besides one, Marcus, who has been his friend since elementary school, Marcus was the one who stood up for him the day when a gang of bullies cornered him because he gave them an evil eye, if it wasn't for Marcus who saved him that day with the martial arts he had been learning since a tender age, then he would have ended up a cripple if he even made it out alive.

But now, he's all alone by himself against the entire political group of the USA, it was a group of people with unlimited power that he was up against, he had no say going up against such power. Just like the triceratop that was left to face the pack of velociraptors, he's unable to fight back and left to accept his inevitable fate.

His body was quivering from the extreme shame and fear, must he give in to them just because they have a higher authority level than him? Even so, that's just how cruel the world is and how power determines everything when it comes to orders that have to be followed just because someone has a higher up in the hierarchy.

On the seats, Nick was sure that most of them held malicious intents towards him for discovering their secret ambition, one that prevented most of those trying to get into their circle one status away from them such that they could remain in power and control.

"When do I have to leave?" Putting aside his anger, Nick squeezed the words out of his mouth, leaving the stubborn tone of every rebellious teenager. His body was already breaking out in sweat from the tense atmosphere that seemed to be crushing down on him, but he could hear his inner voice speaking to him. Just bow down for now, you'll get your revenge.

"Tomorrow morning will be the day you leave, just ensure that you bring along a sufficient amount of food and water for a few days. My team of elite scientists will be there for the whole research and you will be required to wear a unique contact lense so that we can see what's happening from your point of view." The government cut everything short and only stated the main points, not even bothering to give any further explanation.

Returning home, Nick returned to his room without even bothering to follow his daily routine of watering the plants. His mother may have instructed him to do so in her stead while she's away, but none of that matters now as he started to rack his brains out for a solution out of this.

If only he had ignored that rectangular shaped device that he had dug up out of the ground the other day. Why did he have to give in to the temptation and allow for curiosity to take control over his mind and pick up the device cutting his finger and having his blood absorbed by the device.

He paid no attention to it initially, only to be surprised by the pixelated message in text form. In the center of the device, was another rectangular box that was of a smaller size, yet this box only appeared after feeding on his blood.

[Eth Den Fo Eth Sandiruac]

Translated: The End Of The Acrudians

(Spell backwards then 2nd and 3rd letter swap 4th and 5th swap and so on.)

Nick thought of this as a toy, one that was created just to be sold to some random kid for fast cash. Yet, his inner thoughts were telling him that things weren't as simple as they seemed on the surface. There was much more to it, it was evident from the weird design of the device and the material it used, it was one that he has never heard of.

Unwilling to jump to conclusions just yet, Nick decided that he should do some research as he brought the device into his room, switched on the desktop as he went into the search browser.

From there, he keyed in the characteristics of the material used in the creation of the device, it was soft but durable, waterproof and resistant to scratches and even absorbs blood to undergo changes.

But even after keying in a few searches, he realised that there were no search results for the information he was trying to obtain, it was a secret that he was trying to pry into and he knew it, but this was also the reason why the government found and located him.

Apparently, the government had caught wind of the landing of a foreign object onto earth after his personal search team reported it to him, but he realised that he was unable to find it even though he searched every area possible. But this was explainable since the object had apparently sunk into the ground and was actually just in the civilian area, which made it difficult for him to conduct a thorough search or he'll receive many questions and disgruntled complaints.

Ever since then, he had arranged for another team to report to him if any suspicious searches came up and Nick was the first one to have been targeted just a few hours after the team was assembled.

But they only arrived after Nick keyed in the weird search result of '[Eth Den Fo Eth Sandiruac]'.

From there, Nick told them everything that happened that day and even passed them the mysterious object which made no sense before going back to gaming as per his usual lifestyle routine. He only managed to grind in for a few hours before they came back knocking on his door again which led to where he was now.

Packing his back while being totally clueless about the future that lays ahead of him, hopefully it will last more than one day and he'll still be alive by then. When he tried to ask just what exactly the message meant and where he'll be heading to, the government shut him down without saying anything besides cautioning him to be careful.

After finishing off by adding in a few bottles of water and some bread, protein bars and some daily lifestyle necessities, he threw his heavy backpack onto the ground as he fell slump onto his bed. Tomorrow will be the day where life takes a sharp turn for him, will it be one of hell or will it be one that leads to another new domain of technology or knowledge which will help humanity to progress one step further?

Schwing!!!!!