After that humanlike creature leaves, I look around the room and don't know what to do next.If describing my emotions now as something figurative, then I suggest calling it a mixture of an avocado, some pepper, and a cup of coffee. An inedible mixture, which is as weird as my emotions are.My situation may be the most hellish one ever in humankind's history. After being chased by drones, fighting against an alien battleship, I'm probably caged for the first time ever in my life.Yes, caged. No matter how prosperous my imagination is, I have never expected that one day I will be caught, or caged—if you prefer the second word.I have been a good citizen for eighteen years of my life. A really good one, I can swear on my honor that even if my three years old little brother was a criminal, I would never be. My body is just simply unqualified to be a criminal, so if I ain't the victim, then there's no way that I will be the culprit.Thinking again, the only serious crime that I have commit
If you have ever failed in imagining how aliens would look like when they were in war, now I can tell you some with my damn experience.It is just… chaotic, in the way that you will easily recognize that they're in war. Only in war.This hallway is full of aliens, where I can see all the possible combinations of colors, shapes, and sizes on the humanlike bodies, which are the first thing that an Earthling like me has ever seen, smelled, or heard of.The atmosphere here is definitely not good for my health. The scent of grass, mixed with dust, roses, burning flesh, and something metallic like blood. Sometimes you can smell a bad odor as if there is a dead body. It is absolutely terrifying, but I see nothing but a dense crowd in the hallway.The headache tortures me. I want to vomit. But I have nothing in the stomach, and there is just no way to escape from this circumstance.Sighing in silence, I walk ahead, trying to pass through this crowded hallway as if I am one of them… Or maybe n
Then I sob while waiting for the alien's action. But it just sits there in silence, and it's quite illogical.The most perfect lie is a combination between right things and wrong ones. My muscles are actually useless after years of being weak, and… yeah, I can't live my life because I am too weak to do anything. Most of my words are spoken from the bottom of my heart. My actions are high quality as I have learnt it from a famous actress.I have to be the director, the script writer, and the actor at the same time. Ain't I talented? Why doesn't the alien trust me?Luckily, the alien comes closer to me, slightly patting on my shoulders. I look up with my tearful eyes, and those compassionate eyes look back at me.“It was a pity to hear that from you. She stole your power and now you have to follow her as a subordinate, begging for her protection…” Those words are fine for me, but the last ones force me to look up at the alien, “Women should never have powers.”Excuse me?‘Women should ne
PART ONE: Run Away To The Space July is not a comfortable month in southern Vietnam. It is a part of summer, filled with boiling hot temperatures, lasting for all the month. And so does today. No clouds floating beyond, the sun just emits its light rays, turning all this area into a huge steamer. And as a result, fans, air conditioners or anything cooling have to work more. Followed by that is money. The electricity bill we had to pay for last month was extremely higher than usual, most of which is spent on the electric fans, therefore my mother has stopped me from touching them. How fuckin' upset… I think about it while my hand is waving the paper fan, full of despair. “Remember to lull your brother to sleep, he needs a nap at noon.” My mother, after changing her clothes, stands at the door and talks to me—lying flat on the sofa. “I have to go to your auntie's house now. If I don't come back in time, warm up the food for dinner, okay?” I look up to the ceiling, feeling the dull pa
To be honest, I’m not sure how my little account has become so well-known.Sky Force was released six years ago by a Japanese game company called ‘Rhoha.’ Its computer-generated imagery (CGI) is breathtaking. Sky Force features stunning and figurative artworks, an infinite fictional world, and intricate control panels. This game, as everyone can see, is the hen that can lay tons of golden eggs, but Rhoha rejects. They require the techniques rather than expanding their business to make more money from those players.The only way you can get a higher rank is by playing better than the others. Money is nonsense, so we have dozens of poor gamers playing the Sky Force. And if you can create a record of winning at least ten thousand matches consecutively, you will receive a special prize, which—according to the company—can change your life forever.But I wasn’t interested in playing video games or even believed in their dreamlike advertisements.The-twelve-year-old me was concerned about hi
Hello, guys.Are you coming here to see the interesting battle between me and that idiot streamer?It’s kind of you to do so, but… no, we don’t fight.Oh? You ask why?Ha ha, it’s just a little mistake, a really tiny one.“Slam!”Not even closing the plastic box containing the electrical fuse with all my strength can cool down my fury now. It also has my finger stuck for a second, thrusting my nerves, and I just can’t hold back all my bad words like any other normal person. Of course, the one in the fire of anger.“I’m gonna hang that guy! Holy shit! Why the hell does he shut off my circuit? Today is damn hot and you come to switch off the others’ power?”And… yeah, you know the reason. An irritating event called artificial power cut, with an informal way to explain that phrase: there was a damn miserable guy coming to my family’s fuse box, turning off the power at noon, right at the moment I was about to take a serious fight. The capitalized ‘serious’.Like eating a delicious hamburg
If people hear about the aliens, they mostly show their concerns towards this mysterious and interesting issue. They often ask for more information, even fake news, for fun. Sadly, after my brother tortured me with his scary questions, my reaction was alone two words with a dumbfounded face showing how helpless I am.“Sorry, what?”I hear a motorbike from the door at the same time I reply to him. It’s familiar to the point I definitely know who is coming without looking through the glass window. My mother.Even though it’s earlier than I thought, my mother may have done her work at my aunt’s home and is now parking her motorbike in the front yard. Then I put aside what I heard from Long to go out of the room. Aliens? What are they? Are they edible? Surely they can’t be used as food, but my mother will bring back to me some bánh ú (beng u) for me.Is there anything more important than my favorite dish my aunt has promised to send me before? No, of course. It’s a pity that I nearly forg
Besides the identity of Leo Pavilion, I have a job as the one owning a part of this luxurious restaurant. Yeah, you don’t misunderstand. It’s me, who has just graduated from high school.To be honest, the birth of this restaurant derives from lots of factors: Long’s own dramatic parents, his mental wound, and a crazy moment of mine. Not the intentional idea to startup at a young age, certainly.The guy who is grabbing every piece of abalone over there is Long, one hundred per cent. He is ugly; I have to accept that reality, with naturally brown skin, black curly hair, a round face, and congenital myopia which forces him to wear glasses all the time. Those are the reasons he got rejected by his own parents.I don’t know it clearly, because it was Long’s sad memory, anyway. I just heard his butler saying that his mother, a young wealthy heir (yes, childish too), slept with her boyfriend and gave birth to Long a year later, when she was just sixteen. She rejected the little one who was h
Then I sob while waiting for the alien's action. But it just sits there in silence, and it's quite illogical.The most perfect lie is a combination between right things and wrong ones. My muscles are actually useless after years of being weak, and… yeah, I can't live my life because I am too weak to do anything. Most of my words are spoken from the bottom of my heart. My actions are high quality as I have learnt it from a famous actress.I have to be the director, the script writer, and the actor at the same time. Ain't I talented? Why doesn't the alien trust me?Luckily, the alien comes closer to me, slightly patting on my shoulders. I look up with my tearful eyes, and those compassionate eyes look back at me.“It was a pity to hear that from you. She stole your power and now you have to follow her as a subordinate, begging for her protection…” Those words are fine for me, but the last ones force me to look up at the alien, “Women should never have powers.”Excuse me?‘Women should ne
If you have ever failed in imagining how aliens would look like when they were in war, now I can tell you some with my damn experience.It is just… chaotic, in the way that you will easily recognize that they're in war. Only in war.This hallway is full of aliens, where I can see all the possible combinations of colors, shapes, and sizes on the humanlike bodies, which are the first thing that an Earthling like me has ever seen, smelled, or heard of.The atmosphere here is definitely not good for my health. The scent of grass, mixed with dust, roses, burning flesh, and something metallic like blood. Sometimes you can smell a bad odor as if there is a dead body. It is absolutely terrifying, but I see nothing but a dense crowd in the hallway.The headache tortures me. I want to vomit. But I have nothing in the stomach, and there is just no way to escape from this circumstance.Sighing in silence, I walk ahead, trying to pass through this crowded hallway as if I am one of them… Or maybe n
After that humanlike creature leaves, I look around the room and don't know what to do next.If describing my emotions now as something figurative, then I suggest calling it a mixture of an avocado, some pepper, and a cup of coffee. An inedible mixture, which is as weird as my emotions are.My situation may be the most hellish one ever in humankind's history. After being chased by drones, fighting against an alien battleship, I'm probably caged for the first time ever in my life.Yes, caged. No matter how prosperous my imagination is, I have never expected that one day I will be caught, or caged—if you prefer the second word.I have been a good citizen for eighteen years of my life. A really good one, I can swear on my honor that even if my three years old little brother was a criminal, I would never be. My body is just simply unqualified to be a criminal, so if I ain't the victim, then there's no way that I will be the culprit.Thinking again, the only serious crime that I have commit
PART TWO: Not Home, No Home“Wake up already?”A morning light ray shines in my eyes at the same time I hear this voice. I'm confused for a moment, my sleepy brain hasn't started working yet. I just follow my instinct, turning my head at the place where the voice echoes. Sunlight goes across my skin, leaving some warmth, which makes me feel a little… unfamiliar?Huh?Why is it unfamiliar?“Why are you standing right there? Go and bring those trash bags to the outside. The garbage truck will be here later… Can't you hear me?” The voice appears in my ears again, bringing some anger as I don't pay attention to the content.I look up. My eyes open wide. And, though I don't know why, my mouth has opened and said what it wants.“Mom? Why are you here?”My mother is holding a handkerchief. It seems that she is going to clean the glass window which is covered with fog droplets. She looks back at me with a complicated expression, then she throws that handkerchief at me. That thin object doesn't
Right after making a fragile bond between an unknown danger and a victim, that ‘danger’ picks me back to the control center because I can't walk.The lighting system couldn't escape the fate of being destroyed in the fight. We can't see light from outer space as well—maybe we have gone away from that cluster. The dim green light from the control panel is the only thing we can see in the dark, and it's obviously not enough.I slowly wave my hand on the floor to make sure that I'm not going to sit down on sharp metal pieces, then lean against the cold wall while Thuy comes closer to the control panel. Green light reflects her curious face when she stares at all the virtual keyboard, radar system, and the three-dimensional simulation—an expression which I can barely see on her cold face.“Looks great, right?” I ask her with a low voice but full of obvious pride. All the spaceships I designed in Sky Force follow the highest standards of aesthetics, so how could they be unimpressive?“Yeah
Actually I don't know what I'm thinking about, when I'm still lying on the metal floor and looking up at the electric sparks like a crazy guy.My head is aching, again.It feels like you met some fuckin' scary guys and they smashed you, at your head, with a hard brick. It was painful at first, but when they started changing their weapon into a block of metal, you…No.Now I just want to slam my head into something, or anything possible, to end this unbearable pain. I don't know if this pain comes from the weird substance which I got injected, but it is absolutely worse than the usual ones.For a moment my nervous system has stopped working. But just a second later, it starts, once again, thinking of some negative things like what I had to suffer in the past. They bloom in my chaotic mind as a call from hell, or an ugly hand waving me from the dark.The headache gets worse. Now it feels like someone is stirring my brain, and I can do nothing but bite the sleeve so as not to accidentall
Xeros 5M is never a good choice for face-to-face battles, especially for an unequal fight between a small spaceship and a huge battleship.Though its damage is perfect for long-range targets with a good motion detector, the cannon will break into pieces if we fire closer than the minimum distance. The weapon itself will become a disposable product—and it's a critical, deadly waste in fighting, which is usually prohibited (in Sky Force, at least).Because of that reason, not many players know that it was the muzzle that restricted Xeros' capacity, and it's just enough for an impressive headshot.First I move around the enemy battleship to check if it has anything related to my memories. Although it sounds ridiculous and crazy, I can't hold back thinking that this damn world might have some relation to Sky Force and… my spaceship design.We got a ship with all the functions of my Hurricane, now there is a battleship using something that looks exactly like the camouflage cover I have use
Wars follow humankind on their way to evolution.Before Christ, we had lots of wars in Egypt, Babylon, and the Hittite Empire, which were reflected in several famous comics which I don’t even read.The Roman Empire was in the spotlight for being involved in so many wars until the fall of the East Roman Empire in 1453 A.D.The Middle Ages was known for the Crusade.And the modern era shows us World War I and World War II, which everyone has already known after years in school.Differences and similarities are the main reasons that lead to wars. You’re afraid of something weird, ugly, unknown, and different from you, and then your instinct tells you to destroy that object to prevent any harm. That’s how war happens.No one wants war, or at least we ordinary people don’t. I am too.I don’t believe what the AI system’s voice said at first. I stand up again and look for a camera to check it out, thinking that it's just an error. I have a habit of taking photos of my opponents from behind,
At first, I didn’t recognize what it was.The first scene which catches my eye is a big room with a metal floor, and three huge glass-like cracked windows showing nothing outside. It is pure black, just like any normal scene coming from a science fiction movie. I am not attracted to this, because everything that draws my attention is the way to unlock the control panel. It’s the crucial part here. Nothing else.I’m trying to guess what the alien engineers thought when they created this spaceship. It’s time-consuming and patient-required. I have to make lots of ways, as much as possible, while the right arm—which is not broken—keeps on touching every single inch of the floating plate, to find something useful, shown clearly through lots of blood lines that my fingers left on the way.Where can the control panel be hidden?Aliens are not us. I have to forget all the usual methods of inference to think weirdly, as an alien does. Can this plate be the control panel? If not, why is it here