It was late at night, around seven o’clock. I had just arrived at home, tired from the exhausting and time-consuming work that I had to go through every weekday. Living alone was nice, as it separated me from any annoyances and responsibilities other than myself.
Only having to take care of my own problems and get mad at my mistakes once I get home, I’d shudder to imagine how much more stressful my life would be if I had children to raise. I would not really consider myself a good father to them if I had some, considering how I’m acting right now.
Either way… Taking a few steps forward, towards the old dusty couch that had been in my house since forever, a loud ‘thud’ emitted while I quickly collapsed on it. My body barely had any movements if any at all, my mind wasn’t thinking of anything other than taking a quick rest. I inhaled deeply, letting out a deep, loud, and cynical gasp. My eyes closed just as quickly… Not long after, I was already deeply asleep without realizing... This job is killing me.
Morning rose, the sunlight through my window hit my face, waking me up. Thinking to myself, I couldn’t help it but quietly say “Ah, good”. Due to today being a weekend, it was a free day for me.
Rubbing my eyes, I stood up, away from that old couch, to start with my waking up routine. Wash my face, brush my teeth, all that jazz until finishing with making some nice coffee for myself.
Just as my lips were about to touch the brim of the coffee cup though, my phone began ringing. Quite a surprise really, it was early and I had no duties. If anyone simply wanted to tell me something, They could’ve just as easily sent me a message. But nonetheless, my hand reached for the phone and I answered the call.
“Yes, hello?” I said, uninterested to such an extent that my mind didn’t even bother thinking about checking who was the one calling me.
“Hey, Matt… It’s Natalie, I’m glad to see you’re awake already… You usually sleep ‘til late.”
I took a brief pause, quickly getting annoyed. Natalie is my boss at my workplace, my face was quickly expressing frustration despite the fact that no one could ever see it in the first place.
“Natalie? W-what is it? You know I don’t work on weekends!” I said not expecting her, also slightly bothered, I still wanted to show some respect to her regardless of how annoyed I already was, so it was better to ask what was going on first.
“Yeah, I know that, but if I’m calling you on a weekend this early then there has to be an important reason, don’t you think?” said Natalie. I rolled my eyes, quickly noticing the sass in her voice.
“Geez,” I took a three seconds long pause and continued, “Alright, what is it?”
“I need you over at headquarters for an emergency meeting, and I seriously don’t want you to miss it. Got it? It’ll be at ten AM, we have to talk about this in person.”
Before I could even answer, she had already hung up. I’m already used to this kind of treatment from work, but I was seriously desiring a more relaxing weekend. Nonetheless, I looked at my phone for the time.
It was eight AM. Surprised over how early I woke up, so after letting out a tiny awkward chuckle, I felt a bit better and went to get ready.
After drinking my coffee, I made myself a quick basic sandwich for breakfast, then walked outside my house to see what was going on. It’s weird to say it, but this world is full of advancements, innovation, and creativity. I just loved watching all the buildings every time I went out, even if it was just outside my house rather than some fancy place of sorts.
Just outside my doorstep stood lots of buildings of perhaps a hundred floors each with varying purposes. Some were markets, some were apartments, and some even belonged to the richest companies. Besides being so useful, they were even decorated pretty nicely, simplistic yet gorgeous designs… yet my own house looked so boring and plain.
I thought to myself… Has it really been that long?
It’s the year 2,000,000,000. Such a huge number meant that basically everything you could think of was already made. All thanks to the five leading species…
I knew a lot about my species. Humans. They are the smartest of all and even invented one of the other species, Robots. While they also lived shaping the rest of society. Most of the technological heaven that exists on this planet was created thanks to them.
Unfortunately, their high intelligence came at the cost of poor survival skills, meaning they needed to get insulation in cold climates for example, and the strongest Human in the world is still not that strong compared to other species.
Monsters are considered by most people to be the second best, they are the species of adaptability and are anthropomorphic animals. It might sound funny, but humans initially found them naked in an intense, killing cold that they were perfectly comfortable with. While humans had to use insulation as I mentioned. Their strength knows no limits, the average Tiger Monster could easily beat a professional human wrestler with just their fist and claws. I’ve also noticed that predator species tend to be taller than prey or other species… Although it’s not that bad, while the prey Monsters are not as strong, their survivability is a lot stronger and nothing to laugh about… Oh, also, some people call them furries, which is weird, but whatever, not my business.
The third species are the Robots, they were invented by Humans to automate a lot of tasks such as jobs that were related to fabrication, logical thinking, and such. Robots have been fabricated to have free will as everyone agreed it’s morally wrong to have them as ‘slaves’. We wanted to keep them as useful as possible while still being able to think for themselves. I should also note that all Robots are genderless and unable to breed, but some of them prefer to be referred to with a specific pronoun if they wish.
The fourth species are the Terrans. Plant people, who interestingly can either look like plants, even with flowers, or instead look like trees. They keep nature healthy and growing, and their bodies release spores that eliminate contamination and keep actual plants productive and healthy. Terrans are extremely friendly, and go for laid back lives such as farming since their own presence is enough to speed up crops for harvestment.
Last, but not least, Plasmatics. They like to wear flashy clothing and are humanoid sentient energy beings that have great social skills, for some reason, they have a huge sense of leadership and protection. I heard a story of a famous Plasmatic who ended up lost in a forest, he put others' lives above his own, and admirably, once the group was rescued everyone was perfectly healthy except him, who looked slightly ill.
Since years ago, All of the races have united as one and all work together… For example: Humans have worked hard with new inventions for evolution, Monsters have used magic to treat illness or for shows, Robots have kept businesses flowing, Terrans have protected every single sentient living being and kept the world clean and fresh. Plasmatics shape the social skills and morals of children. It's thanks to all the progress everyone made together that led to what the world is today. Although, I gotta note that any race is free to choose any other career or path in their life if they so desire. So for example a human learning magic is pretty normal.
But then again... If the world is so perfect… Why am I so… unhappy?
To this day, I still don’t know the answer to that.
I put my hands in my pockets and went to call a taxi. having nothing else to do,, I might just as well go there already, I thought.
As I sat in the back seat, the Taxi Driver adjusted the front mirror and looked at me.
“Heeey, hold on, you’re a Shielder! I recognize that badge on your chest!” I rolled my eyes as he said so, this whole thing is embarrassing… While shielders are important law figures in our world, I was a bigger fan of quietness over loud fame.
“Ah, yeah, well… I guess I am. I wanted to go to Silver T. Big”, I said a bit awkwardly. Silver T. Big is one of the many buildings for the Shielders, and the one I’m assigned to work with.
“Ya, will do. Though, if you’re a Shielder, then there’s no need to pay me! You guys can enjoy those fancy law benefits you get. It’s only fair after how much you guys do for us!”, he happily said. No words… I didn’t understand what was in my mind, but I wanted to pay to avoid this conversation. It only required a single penny, anyway. But nonetheless, the conversation had already started. So, I simply chatted with the driver awkwardly until I got there.
I had a leftover penny, so once I got to my workplace I decided to walk to the vending machine and get myself a nice drink. Single cups of coffee never satisfied me, so I thought about getting myself some more… Picky me. As I got there, someone was already drinking something, and he looked at me. A tall robot whose appearance literally yelled: ‘I’m important!’.
This guy’s name is Arthur. He's perhaps the oldest person in this world, about a billion years old. He was created long ago to lead each generation of our world as a king, but now that the world is so perfect, he takes most of the time to take a well deserved break, yet still is part of us.
There’s rumours of him being corrupt, but there aren't many records of his time as a king, and from the looks of it, the rumors are just crap and he did a fine job.
“Hey, Matt. You’re here for the emergency meeting quite early. Something happened, I’m guessing?” he asked while very relaxed.
“Yeah, I fell asleep as soon as I got home, so I guess it’s only natural for me to wake up early”, I answered.
Arthur took a sip of his drink and chuckled very lightly. “Alright then, in my case, I like to sleep and wake up early but not too early, it would be funny if I happened to wake up late in contrast to you.”
Laughing, “Yeah, that would be funny actually… But not so funny once you realize we’re all needed at 10 AM. It’s good that we both woke up early.”
Arthur nodded. “Yeah… You’re right.” [sip] “So, how much do you like coffee anyway? You’re always drinking it. So much.”
“It’s my life, Arthur.” I chuckled a bit, softly. “I like drinking it in the morning, although I like its taste more when you make it yourself rather than when a machine does it for you. Also, I wanted to drink something as soon as I got here, and the vending machine is fast enough for that task.”
“Good riddance.” said Arthur, Out of curiosity, I looked at what his drink was. It turned out it was just grape juice.
It was understandably boring waiting, but soon enough, It was time.
Arthur, Natalie, some wolf monster employee I didn’t recognize and I entered the room. It was killing me with curiosity and annoyance mixed together... I wanted this meeting to finish before it had even started.
Natalie, a Terran lady who looked gorgeous yet always had more strength in her person than what her appearance showed. She knew how to get people to do what she wanted, and she’s part of the reason the Shielders get moving… The fact that I’m here outside of my work hours says enough.
Natalie held her hands together, wrapping her index fingers with each other. “I would love to start with the typical formality, but I’m not interested in wasting any time. We all know each other anyway.”
We heard her words and looked around confused, and I even noticed that part of what she was saying simply wasn't true. I don’t know who that wolf is, and I don’t think he knows who I am either, but it didn’t really matter right now. The fact that she was willing to rush the talk meant that this is serious.
Natalie continued, “Long story short: Our scientists have been looking more deeply into the problem with Emptiness. We can’t afford to ignore it any further. It’s getting life-threatening for every single one of us.”
That’s when it hit me. Emptiness… The anomaly that was consuming the universe slowly, causing black holes unpredictably all around it and making some things along the Milky Way even disappear. I remember now… So this is what she wanted us here for.
Putting my palm in my face I was already getting annoyed. Not only had I been robbed of free time, but I had just been dragged into apocalyptic matters… This was going to be a long day. “Let me guess, it’s approaching us.” I said, wanting to keep some disbelief in me. I didn’t want to believe something like that was gonna end us then and there.
“Yeah, that’s it, Matt. We already saw what that… insane unexplainable mess has caused outside of our planet, I honestly don’t want to imagine or know what it would do if it reached us.” replied Natalie.
“Sorry if this sounds silly, but I was only informed of what Emptiness is. I know how dangerous it is, but I was never informed how it spreads. In fact, I don’t even know how scientists even figured out that it’s coming for us in the first place.”
The wolf looked at me and said, “Ah well, it’s kinda like a layer. To be fair our planet is still reaaally far from it. It’s the fact that it’s coming to us eventually that’s troublesome. But that layer has been extending itself around the universe and growing and… yeah you know.”
“A layer?” I blinked. “If I understand this right, it’s blocking what’s behind it. Can we confirm that perhaps it’s a simple moving layer? We don’t know for sure it’s consuming the world, it might just be hiding them from our view.”
Natalie pondered. “Hm… Good point. We’d have to do more research related to that, although…” She looked to Arthur, then.
Arthur began to talk. “Alright, we got an anomaly in our hands, that much is clear, but what are we gonna do with this regarding the people? Can we even inform people about this? If we launch people into space for research, wouldn’t the media eventually notice?”
Everyone was silent for a while.
The Wolf nervously said “A-alright... hear me out… I’m pretty sure it is making things disappear, so... Monsters are good with magic, right? And robots are good at building? This might sound crazy, but… Do you think we could make a magic barrier that protected us?”
I looked at him and replied. “Well, that sounds insane… But on the off chance that we screw up badly, it might work. However, there’s one huge problem; we don’t know exactly what can stop Emptiness. We’re gonna have to find out as quickly as possible, without catching people’s attention. We need to do this in secrecy.”
Natalie nodded. “Alright then, in that case, let’s not waste any more time and start researching what we can do to protect us from or stop Emptiness. Go crazy and experiment if you want. I don’t care what it is, it’s better to try ideas rather than sitting to think about what to do.”
Just like that, the meeting had concluded. Everyone got off their seats and started walking away. I looked down at the floor for a moment, taking a moment to think about what to do.
The Wolf employee approached me and put his hand on my shoulder. He looked goofy and harmless despite being a predator in his species.
It was late at night, around seven o’clock. I had just arrived at home, tired from the exhausting and time-consuming work that I had to go through every weekday. Living alone was nice, as it separated me from any annoyances and responsibilities other than myself.
Only having to take care of my own problems and get mad at my mistakes once I get home, I’d shudder to imagine how much more stressful my life would be if I had children to raise. I would not really consider myself a good father to them if I had some, considering how I’m acting right now.
Either way… Taking a few steps forward, towards the old dusty couch that had been in my house since forever, a loud ‘thud’ emitted while I quickly collapsed on it. My body barely had any movements if any at all, my mind wasn’t thinking of anything other than taking a quick rest. I inhaled deeply, letting out a deep, loud, and cynical gasp. My eyes closed just as quickly… Not long after, I was already deeply asleep without realizing... This job is killing me.
Morning rose, the sunlight through my window hit my face, waking me up. Thinking to myself, I couldn’t help it but quietly say “Ah, good”. Due to today being a weekend, it was a free day for me.
Rubbing my eyes, I stood up, away from that old couch, to start with my waking up routine. Wash my face, brush my teeth, all that jazz until finishing with making some nice coffee for myself.
Just as my lips were about to touch the brim of the coffee cup though, my phone began ringing. Quite a surprise really, it was early and I had no duties. If anyone simply wanted to tell me something, They could’ve just as easily sent me a message. But nonetheless, my hand reached for the phone and I answered the call.
“Yes, hello?” I said, uninterested to such an extent that my mind didn’t even bother thinking about checking who was the one calling me.
“Hey, Matt… It’s Natalie, I’m glad to see you’re awake already… You usually sleep ‘til late.”
I took a brief pause, quickly getting annoyed. Natalie is my boss at my workplace, my face was quickly expressing frustration despite the fact that no one could ever see it in the first place.
“Natalie? W-what is it? You know I don’t work on weekends!” I said not expecting her, also slightly bothered, I still wanted to show some respect to her regardless of how annoyed I already was, so it was better to ask what was going on first.
“Yeah, I know that, but if I’m calling you on a weekend this early then there has to be an important reason, don’t you think?” said Natalie. I rolled my eyes, quickly noticing the sass in her voice.
“Geez,” I took a three seconds long pause and continued, “Alright, what is it?”
“I need you over at headquarters for an emergency meeting, and I seriously don’t want you to miss it. Got it? It’ll be at ten AM, we have to talk about this in person.”
Before I could even answer, she had already hung up. I’m already used to this kind of treatment from work, but I was seriously desiring a more relaxing weekend. Nonetheless, I looked at my phone for the time.
It was eight AM. Surprised over how early I woke up, so after letting out a tiny awkward chuckle, I felt a bit better and went to get ready.
After drinking my coffee, I made myself a quick basic sandwich for breakfast, then walked outside my house to see what was going on. It’s weird to say it, but this world is full of advancements, innovation, and creativity. I just loved watching all the buildings every time I went out, even if it was just outside my house rather than some fancy place of sorts.
Just outside my doorstep stood lots of buildings of perhaps a hundred floors each with varying purposes. Some were markets, some were apartments, and some even belonged to the richest companies. Besides being so useful, they were even decorated pretty nicely, simplistic yet gorgeous designs… yet my own house looked so boring and plain.
I thought to myself… Has it really been that long?
It’s the year 2,000,000,000. Such a huge number meant that basically everything you could think of was already made. All thanks to the five leading species…
I knew a lot about my species. Humans. They are the smartest of all and even invented one of the other species, Robots. While they also lived shaping the rest of society. Most of the technological heaven that exists on this planet was created thanks to them.
Unfortunately, their high intelligence came at the cost of poor survival skills, meaning they needed to get insulation in cold climates for example, and the strongest Human in the world is still not that strong compared to other species.
Monsters are considered by most people to be the second best, they are the species of adaptability and are anthropomorphic animals. It might sound funny, but humans initially found them naked in an intense, killing cold that they were perfectly comfortable with. While humans had to use insulation as I mentioned. Their strength knows no limits, the average Tiger Monster could easily beat a professional human wrestler with just their fist and claws. I’ve also noticed that predator species tend to be taller than prey or other species… Although it’s not that bad, while the prey Monsters are not as strong, their survivability is a lot stronger and nothing to laugh about… Oh, also, some people call them furries, which is weird, but whatever, not my business.
The third species are the Robots, they were invented by Humans to automate a lot of tasks such as jobs that were related to fabrication, logical thinking, and such. Robots have been fabricated to have free will as everyone agreed it’s morally wrong to have them as ‘slaves’. We wanted to keep them as useful as possible while still being able to think for themselves. I should also note that all Robots are genderless and unable to breed, but some of them prefer to be referred to with a specific pronoun if they wish.
The fourth species are the Terrans. Plant people, who interestingly can either look like plants, even with flowers, or instead look like trees. They keep nature healthy and growing, and their bodies release spores that eliminate contamination and keep actual plants productive and healthy. Terrans are extremely friendly, and go for laid back lives such as farming since their own presence is enough to speed up crops for harvestment.
Last, but not least, Plasmatics. They like to wear flashy clothing and are humanoid sentient energy beings that have great social skills, for some reason, they have a huge sense of leadership and protection. I heard a story of a famous Plasmatic who ended up lost in a forest, he put others' lives above his own, and admirably, once the group was rescued everyone was perfectly healthy except him, who looked slightly ill.
Since years ago, All of the races have united as one and all work together… For example: Humans have worked hard with new inventions for evolution, Monsters have used magic to treat illness or for shows, Robots have kept businesses flowing, Terrans have protected every single sentient living being and kept the world clean and fresh. Plasmatics shape the social skills and morals of children. It's thanks to all the progress everyone made together that led to what the world is today. Although, I gotta note that any race is free to choose any other career or path in their life if they so desire. So for example a human learning magic is pretty normal.
But then again... If the world is so perfect… Why am I so… unhappy?
To this day, I still don’t know the answer to that.
I put my hands in my pockets and went to call a taxi. having nothing else to do,, I might just as well go there already, I thought.
As I sat in the back seat, the Taxi Driver adjusted the front mirror and looked at me.
“Heeey, hold on, you’re a Shielder! I recognize that badge on your chest!” I rolled my eyes as he said so, this whole thing is embarrassing… While shielders are important law figures in our world, I was a bigger fan of quietness over loud fame.
“Ah, yeah, well… I guess I am. I wanted to go to Silver T. Big”, I said a bit awkwardly. Silver T. Big is one of the many buildings for the Shielders, and the one I’m assigned to work with.
“Ya, will do. Though, if you’re a Shielder, then there’s no need to pay me! You guys can enjoy those fancy law benefits you get. It’s only fair after how much you guys do for us!”, he happily said. No words… I didn’t understand what was in my mind, but I wanted to pay to avoid this conversation. It only required a single penny, anyway. But nonetheless, the conversation had already started. So, I simply chatted with the driver awkwardly until I got there.
I had a leftover penny, so once I got to my workplace I decided to walk to the vending machine and get myself a nice drink. Single cups of coffee never satisfied me, so I thought about getting myself some more… Picky me. As I got there, someone was already drinking something, and he looked at me. A tall robot whose appearance literally yelled: ‘I’m important!’.
This guy’s name is Arthur. He's perhaps the oldest person in this world, about a billion years old. He was created long ago to lead each generation of our world as a king, but now that the world is so perfect, he takes most of the time to take a well deserved break, yet still is part of us.
There’s rumours of him being corrupt, but there aren't many records of his time as a king, and from the looks of it, the rumors are just crap and he did a fine job.
“Hey, Matt. You’re here for the emergency meeting quite early. Something happened, I’m guessing?” he asked while very relaxed.
“Yeah, I fell asleep as soon as I got home, so I guess it’s only natural for me to wake up early”, I answered.
Arthur took a sip of his drink and chuckled very lightly. “Alright then, in my case, I like to sleep and wake up early but not too early, it would be funny if I happened to wake up late in contrast to you.”
Laughing, “Yeah, that would be funny actually… But not so funny once you realize we’re all needed at 10 AM. It’s good that we both woke up early.”
Arthur nodded. “Yeah… You’re right.” [sip] “So, how much do you like coffee anyway? You’re always drinking it. So much.”
“It’s my life, Arthur.” I chuckled a bit, softly. “I like drinking it in the morning, although I like its taste more when you make it yourself rather than when a machine does it for you. Also, I wanted to drink something as soon as I got here, and the vending machine is fast enough for that task.”
“Good riddance.” said Arthur, Out of curiosity, I looked at what his drink was. It turned out it was just grape juice.
It was understandably boring waiting, but soon enough, It was time.
Arthur, Natalie, some wolf monster employee I didn’t recognize and I entered the room. It was killing me with curiosity and annoyance mixed together... I wanted this meeting to finish before it had even started.
Natalie, a Terran lady who looked gorgeous yet always had more strength in her person than what her appearance showed. She knew how to get people to do what she wanted, and she’s part of the reason the Shielders get moving… The fact that I’m here outside of my work hours says enough.
Natalie held her hands together, wrapping her index fingers with each other. “I would love to start with the typical formality, but I’m not interested in wasting any time. We all know each other anyway.”
We heard her words and looked around confused, and I even noticed that part of what she was saying simply wasn't true. I don’t know who that wolf is, and I don’t think he knows who I am either, but it didn’t really matter right now. The fact that she was willing to rush the talk meant that this is serious.
Natalie continued, “Long story short: Our scientists have been looking more deeply into the problem with Emptiness. We can’t afford to ignore it any further. It’s getting life-threatening for every single one of us.”
That’s when it hit me. Emptiness… The anomaly that was consuming the universe slowly, causing black holes unpredictably all around it and making some things along the Milky Way even disappear. I remember now… So this is what she wanted us here for.
Putting my palm in my face I was already getting annoyed. Not only had I been robbed of free time, but I had just been dragged into apocalyptic matters… This was going to be a long day. “Let me guess, it’s approaching us.” I said, wanting to keep some disbelief in me. I didn’t want to believe something like that was gonna end us then and there.
“Yeah, that’s it, Matt. We already saw what that… insane unexplainable mess has caused outside of our planet, I honestly don’t want to imagine or know what it would do if it reached us.” replied Natalie.
“Sorry if this sounds silly, but I was only informed of what Emptiness is. I know how dangerous it is, but I was never informed how it spreads. In fact, I don’t even know how scientists even figured out that it’s coming for us in the first place.”
The wolf looked at me and said, “Ah well, it’s kinda like a layer. To be fair our planet is still reaaally far from it. It’s the fact that it’s coming to us eventually that’s troublesome. But that layer has been extending itself around the universe and growing and… yeah you know.”
“A layer?” I blinked. “If I understand this right, it’s blocking what’s behind it. Can we confirm that perhaps it’s a simple moving layer? We don’t know for sure it’s consuming the world, it might just be hiding them from our view.”
Natalie pondered. “Hm… Good point. We’d have to do more research related to that, although…” She looked to Arthur, then.
Arthur began to talk. “Alright, we got an anomaly in our hands, that much is clear, but what are we gonna do with this regarding the people? Can we even inform people about this? If we launch people into space for research, wouldn’t the media eventually notice?”
Everyone was silent for a while.
The Wolf nervously said “A-alright... hear me out… I’m pretty sure it is making things disappear, so... Monsters are good with magic, right? And robots are good at building? This might sound crazy, but… Do you think we could make a magic barrier that protected us?”
I looked at him and replied. “Well, that sounds insane… But on the off chance that we screw up badly, it might work. However, there’s one huge problem; we don’t know exactly what can stop Emptiness. We’re gonna have to find out as quickly as possible, without catching people’s attention. We need to do this in secrecy.”
Natalie nodded. “Alright then, in that case, let’s not waste any more time and start researching what we can do to protect us from or stop Emptiness. Go crazy and experiment if you want. I don’t care what it is, it’s better to try ideas rather than sitting to think about what to do.”
Just like that, the meeting had concluded. Everyone got off their seats and started walking away. I looked down at the floor for a moment, taking a moment to think about what to do.
The Wolf employee approached me and put his hand on my shoulder. He looked goofy and harmless despite being a predator in his species.
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