The sky was dark. The Sun was covered by something, it was the moon. A solar eclipse happened all of a sudden.
"Whoa!"
"Look at the sky!"
People all around him were shocked and excited at the same time. It was as if it was night. The weather changed rapidly and cold winds started to blow.
He anxiously looked at his watch.
9: 24.
He was already late for his job interview and then this happened.
He, Kairen, couldn't sleep the whole night from anxiety and couldn't eat much breakfast either. After leaving home, he realized that he had forgotten to bring some of the documents he needed and had to go back home to take them. That was why he was so late.
And finally, when he was about to arrive just at the right time, cars and people stopped moving and blocked the way. The reason? A goddamn solar eclipse appeared out of nowhere.
'I will just tell them that I got stuck in this eclipse thing...'
While making some excuses in his mind, Kairen looked at the reflection of the sky in the water under the bridge that he was standing in. Even though he was displeased, he was mesmerized by the scene before his eyes. It was an amazing thing to see a total solar eclipse after all.
'It is beautiful...'
In that darkness, only the sun's corona was visible, giving out faint lights that brightened a small area around it. Kairen could feel the temperature drop significantly. He knew that it was one of the normal effects of a solar eclipse.
While looking at the scene with interest, his eyes caught on something.
'What is that…'
He looked up. Far on the horizon, there was a huge something slowly becoming visible. It was huge. It was as if a giant planet appeared in the sky. No… it actually was a planet that wasn't there just seconds ago.
The sun was still covered, making the earth void of any light. Just in a few moments, big objects appeared and covered the whole sky one by one.
It was one of those scenes you would see in Sci-Fi movies. Freighting as much as amazing.
Kairen's heart started beating fast as a weird fear crept into his body.
'…What the hell…'
Ooonnnnggg, splash splash, Ooonngg.
Earth started to shake. The water under the bridge also started to shake and surge. The shaking got more and more intense with any passing second.
Tall buildings bent and crumbled. Trees fell and streets cracked. Fierce winds blew up everything and the sound of explosions rose up from every corner.
Before the panicked people could do anything, a sudden force started sucking them upwards as if the gravity was reversed.
"What? What?"
"Kyaaa"
"What is going on?!"
People were screaming, trying to hold themselves by grabbing onto something. Kairen too grabbed the bridge's railway. Shocked and scared, he looked at the cars, people, water, and other things floating in the air. It wasn't that the gravity disappeared, it was as if a more intense gravity was overpowering that of Earth.
'What the hell is happening?'
The railway that he was holding onto bent and one side of it broke. Kairen couldn't think of anything at the moment as if his brain has gone numb. Not even the interview was in his mind right now.
The upward gravity was getting more and more intense. He put all his power into his limbs, trying to hold himself on the ground. But that didn't work. He felt a displeasing pressure in his ears and sudden pain throughout his body. It hasn't even been 5 seconds but it felt like an eternity to Kairen and other people there.
And finally, strength left his hands as breathing got impossible. It was hard to breathe, so hard that his chest hurt every time he tried to take the air in. His body hurt so much that he felt that it was about to be ripped apart. Kairen felt his eyelashes become heavy and everything become blurred.
Just when he was about to close his eyes, he saw a light that appeared in front of him out of nowhere. A beautiful and pure dark gray light. A tiny sphere-shaped light was floating in front of his face. Then the light started spinning around his body and as soon as the light made contact with his skin…
'Huh…?'
Everything went silent. The movements around him, the force sucking him, floating objects, everything vanished. And he saw it, he saw cracks appearing in the area where he was floating. small cracks joined each other and made bigger ones and in no time the whole space around him was covered in these strange crack-like things.
'…..'
And then… everything went white.
*****
Kairen opened his eyes. A white ceiling came into the view.
'.....'
He jumped up and sat down on the bed. His heart was beating fast. He clutched his chest and gasped for air, trying to take deep breathes. His hands holding onto his clothes were trembling and his body was wet with cold sweat.
'That… was a… dream…?!'
Kairen looked at his hands. He was sure that his hand got injured by the railing while trying to hold himself on the ground. And he was hit by some floating objects as well, but there was no pain or injury in his body.
Yeah right, a dream. A solar eclipse and planets and cracks? What the hell! There was no way something like that could happen.
He slowly calmed himself down with those thoughts and tried to think properly.
'When did I even fall asleep?'
He clearly remembered that he was staring at the ceiling the whole night.
"Kairen! You are awake! Are you fine?"
"Whoah!"
And then, he almost had a heart attack! A man was sitting beside his bed!
'What are you doing in my room.' was what he wanted to say, but he got interrupted before even opening his mouth.
"What is the matter? You are sweating so much... The doctor said there were no problems though!"
It was just then that he realized that he wasn't in his room but somewhere else. Kairen looked around. This place looked like…
"…. Hospital?"
"It is the academy's infirmary."
"Academy….?"
"…. Why are you looking at me like that?"
The young man in front of him looked worried and confused. The boy stood up and moved one step closer to him. Kairen could see his face better now. Blonde straight hair and blue eyes, a handsome face that he had never seen in his life before.
'Wait, how does he know my name?'
"...….."
"Don't worry. There were no serious injuries. Also, they said that you could take the exam again when you are better."
"...…."
'Who are you?! What exam?... wait… exam? Oh no my job interview!'
Kairen jumped out of the bed, stressed out. He looked at the clock on the wall. It was… 11:35… Too late! How could he forget this important job interview?
'I… now… what should I do now? My one and only job opportunity…'
Kairen plopped down on the bed again.
He was so happy that he would finally have a decent job and salary after having so many part-time jobs with low salaries. He thought his wallet could see the light of the day again. But now, for some unknown reason, he was in an unknown place and had missed the interview.
Kairen massaged his forehead as he had a minor headache and dizziness.
'What is going on? I don't get it. Why am I in a hospital...um.. infirmary?'
"Hey what is wrong? Are you not feeling fine? Shall I call the nurse?"
Kairen looked at the young man again. When you don't know the situation you are in, you should ask someone who knows! And Kairen decided to do that.
"I don't really get what you are talking about. Where is this place and who are you?"
He said those words in the politest way that he could.
"…."
"Sir?"
"…. Huh?"
The man looked at him whit a stupid look on his face.
"And I'm afraid I have never seen you before but you seem to know my name?"
He asked that once again in a polite tone.
"...…."
'Come on! What is wrong with this man?'
"Um… sir?"
"…. Kairen?"
"Yes, that's my name and how do you know it?"
The man who was looking at him with a dumbfounded face suddenly chuckled.
"Pfft. That was some good acting there! You almost got me! But you really should be visited by a nurse. Wait, I'll call one."
'What? Hey! Dude!'
Kairen couldn't understand it at all. Just in a few seconds, he thought about lots of things but couldn't come up with a conclusion.
Who was that man? Why was he here? Kairen wasn't even rich to assume that he was kidnapped!
But anyway, he had to get out of this place. An unknown place was a dangerous place!
That is why he got up again and walked to the door. He grabbed the wall as he was still dizzy. That was when he saw his reflection on the window glass.
"What is this…."
He wasn't wearing hospital clothes but wasn't wearing his normal clothes either.
'This looks like… some kind of… uniform?'
Confused, he examined his clothes but again. He had never owned this kind of clothes in his life.
He then realized the scenery outside of the window. Walking a few steps closer, he could see a city under his feet. But... the city was not even close to where he used to live. Kairen looked around... huge and weird-looking buildings, different cars, different faces. The language on which the shops' names were written was something that he wasn't familiar with, but he could somehow read them. He now realized that he had been talking in a language that he had never learned.
'Seriously, what is going on? Is it another dream?'
It was the only logical explanation. He had to wake up again.
Slap
And to wake himself up, he slapped his face.
"What are you doing now?"
"It is not working"
Kairen just ignored the young man and continued on his "going back to my fucking life" mission.
Slap, slap slapppp
He slapped himself until his face went numb. But instead of waking up, the dizziness and headache he had got even more intense. He started staggering at the sudden dizziness.
"Hey hey K…Kairen"
Someone grabbed his arm.
The young man looked at Kairen as if looking at a close friend. Kairen, his face swollen and as red as a tomato, looked back at him with a questioning gaze and tried pulling his arm out of his grasp, but couldn't as the young man was holding him really toughly.
"Who are you…?"
"… What… I… Stop joking okay?"
"….."
"H-hey you are scaring me!"
"…. Tell me your name…?"
"….R-Reyan?"
"...…..."
"...."
Yeah. Right. Just as he had thought! Kairen didn't know him! And there was a long silence. They stared at each other. The dude was nervously observing him while wiggling around as if he didn't know what to do.
"Hey, you aren't alright at all. Let me call a doctor ok?"
"And what is this place? Academy you said?"
"…Y…yes…"
"Sorry, but I have been graduated from university already... Would you like to explain what am I doing here?"
"What the hell. you are talking as if it's the first time you have met me!"
"That's right. I have never seen you before. And could you please let go of my hand?"
"...."
Reyan hesitantly released his grasp.
It was the best chance for Kairen to run away but he couldn't do so as his head was spinning like hell. He could see Reyan running to call a doctor but he didn't care.
Sitting down on the bed, he started thinking. He was thinking about that dream, the solar eclipse. It was in fact too vivid and detailed to be called a mere dream. Even now, he could remember the kind of pain that he had felt back then.
'Is it possible that… by any chance… that wasn't a dream?…'
How would that be even possible? If it wasn't a dream, then what happened after that eclipse? There was huge destruction even in a few seconds. If so, why is everything so calm now? Oh, wait, which country was he even at?
Kairen was someone who had read countless webtoons and web novels in his life. Wouldn't there be a zombie attack or something like that after an eclipse in stories? Of course, he couldn't judge reality by the measures of fantasy stories.
'But back then... that feeling...'
He remembered clearly that a strange light covered his body and everything went white after that. At that moment, he remembered the feeling he had...It was as if he was being moved somewhere. As if something was forcefully throwing him to another place. He wasn't in a condition to mind it back then, but now... it felt weird.
He had an ominous feeling. Something was telling him that this place wasn't his home. He had to find out what happened to him. He thought...
'Could it be possible that this place...'
He couldn't think any further as Reyan came back with a doctor.