Beginning of the Invasion Part 1A

Chapter 36

Beginning of the Invasion

 Part 1A

The girls had a large tent and they were struggling with it, Since Ajbadan said he will help them, he decided to go to the boy Still, he was wondering why didn’t dismantle his tent? Or at least why? if he is not doing anything, why did he help the girls? Aren’t they his companions? At least they have been together more the rest of them, Regardless of their meeting in the forest, as they said, Murad shook his head like he was dropping the questions that filled it and went to the boy. Aden stood up when he saw Murad approaching him and smiled while saying, “It’s embarrassing to say that, seeing you came to help me, but I am actually leaving the tent here that way I didn’t dismantle it.” Murad was not expecting to hear that at all While the surprise was showing on his face, he asked, “Can I ask you why?” Aden didn’t expect to be asked that question either, so he hesitated for a second and said while scratching his head with a small laugh, ”hahaha, I believe a friend of mine will come looking for me, so I am leaving here so they know I was here.”  

Ajbadan looked surprised by what the young boys said and could not stop himself from asking, "Aden, right? I believe that you said you were alone; whom do you expect to come and look for you?” Still with a smile on his face, Aden said, “I don’t really know, but I have a feeling that is all.” Then suddenly the smile disappeared from his face, and he said, “Since I came into this forest, I have had this strange feeling that someone is watching me and guiding my steps, but towards what I don’t know.” Then he stood up and started dusting himself and took the back bag beside him. “Any idea why the emperor wants us to leave in a hurry?" Without waiting for any replay, like someone who is talking with himself, he added, “I thought no one was after him anymore; I wonder why the sudden change."  Ajbadan, confused with Aden’s behavior, was unable to give any answers at that moment. He just shook his head and said, “I don't really know anything myself, just like you.”

Looking at the tent, which was totally a sophisticated tent different than the ones they got, he could imagine how expensive it is and not something you usually leave in a forest full of UN-known beasts. But that was not his decision, so he didn’t comment on that; he just turned to look at the girls who got help from Captain Murad and were almost done by now. Now everybody was done and awaiting instructions, so Ajbadan went to his group. Everyone was gathering in the middle, a distance less than fifteen meters; everyone could see each other and even hear each other if they spoke loud enough. 

Everyone gathered in the center, and the camp was clear of everything except for one tent. Everyone was looking at it, including the boy it belonged to. When he reached the emperor and the rest and saw that everyone was looking at him, he understood that they were wondering about the tent that he left. He himself didn’t have much explanation for his action except that he received a message through his PA Watch that it was not working since the vehicle stopped at the beginning of this journey. and since he lost contact with his AI that he named EMM, but a few minutes ago he received a simple message, and he just had a feeling it was from EMM. He couldn’t tell, but he felt it. That was all that message simply said, {I am coming. Leave behind a clue to recognize where you are." Although it sounded strange and unclear at all and not asking for where he is heading, to ask for that was the logical thing, and he thought about it, but that was exactly what made sure that the message was from EMM, not from someone else, because anyone else would have acted normally and logically.

How would an AI be able to move, and what would it use? There were a lot of questions that he was thinking about, but since he couldn’t reach any conclusion, he stopped thinking about them. It was kind of a funny thing that an AI that was in his PA Watch less than half a day ago would be able to move; even he started laughing at the idea, but luckily no one was around him to see him doing that. Now the issue was: how would he explain the crazy idea that he had and the message that he received to the others? Fortunately, Ajbadan didn’t say anything, but will the rest accept his explanation? 

 He was expecting to be asked by the emperor or one of the girls who were with him, but surprisingly, the youngest one in the group was the one who asked the young girl with blond hair; she was a few years younger than him, and the thing that he noticed was that whenever he looked towards their location, he noticed that she was looking at him. He didn’t get that much chance to look at her before, but now she was actually standing in front of him, looking straight up to him, and asking. “Why did you leave your tent?” The question he was expecting, but not from her, and also the way she asked, there was familiarity, no hesitation or reservation; she asked him like she has been conversing with him all day long, and he felt that there was some kind of authority in her speech, not just a simple speech tone. At that moment, a feeling overwhelmed him, a feeling that he couldn’t understand but a war feeling, and suddenly it came to his mind, and he thought, “Is this feeling what I have been looking for, something I felt I was missing? Was I looking for this girl?” then immediately he removed it from his mind, telling himself that was impossible.

He looked at her for a while, then averted his eye from her and looked at the rest and said, “It belonged to a companion of mine that we lost each other, so I am leaving it for him just in case.” He was sure that was not convincing to anybody; he himself knew how lame it was what he said, but that was the only thing that he could think of.

No one said anything; they all looked at him for a few seconds, and everyone concentrated on the emperor wafting for an explanation or instruction on what to do next or where to go. Amran was still standing in front of Aden, looking at him. She noticed the fraction in his feelings and how he changed for a second. But she was not that disappointed because she knew he wouldn’t remember her that easily, but at least there was a hope, and she was sure that there was still some remnant of his personality inside that showed the way he averted his eyes immediately when he was lying to her. With a smile on her face, she went to join her group, leaving him alone and standing there, feeling his eyes on her back.

Emika was standing on the same balcony, looking at the same spot she was looking at a few weeks ago, still feeling the same dreadful feeling. She has been more anxious the past few hours. Since she lost contact with Aden in the beginning, she was able to monitor remotely where he was and also track his vehicle at the same time, but suddenly she lost contact with him and his vehicle almost six hours ago, both him and the vehicle disappeared, and something like that to happen in this age with technology available is not possible. But what is possible and what is impossible have become so thin to differentiate these last few days. They had an alien boy in the country that came from a totally different world; he didn’t come by spaceship; he just appeared on their doorstep without notice, so if he can just appear like that, for sure he could disappear also. The question now was not how or why he and the vehicle disappeared but why and where to. She sent a team to the last known location, and there was nothing. They were able to determine that the vehicle stepped in a specific location, and then all trace of it disappeared, like, it’s been erased. If someone took it, or if it was towed by land or air, or even if it was stored in spatial storage, which is hard to achieve according to its size,. And it’s not logical to store it for any reason. By the way, there would have been some type of clue left behind.

But unfortunately there was nothing at all, no trace of any kind except for some trace of some substance of unknown material; the lab was still working on it; that was the only clue left behind, which was found in the forest; that was the only thing and the whole are. Only a couple hours were reaming from the sun set, and Emika was wondering what to do now; she doesn't know where to search for Aden, and she started regretting letting him go by himself, and letting leave so soon to be with the council was against it for the start, but she insisted to give him his freedom and honor his wishes as homered their request and let them copy all the knowledge that he had from his home world. There was no reason to keep monitoring him, since it was clear to them that he was not a treat to them by any means; on the contrary,. She saw him as an asset; based on her dreams, he was the one standing between them and the herds of monsters that she saw. It was hard to convince people who believe in science of something like intuitions based on dreams and something you think may happen; if it’s not something tangible that they can see and touch, they would not believe in it, whatever she does. That was why she didn’t mention it to council; of course her father knew about it, but she asked him to promise not to mention it to anybody.

Now the council will assemble in the morning, and she will be questioned about what happened, like she had something to do with it. Although she was not responsible for what happened to Aden, she will be held accountable for his disseverance on the pretext that he became a citizen of this country and his safety was her responsibility. She was thinking of such things when she felt goosebumps all over her body, and suddenly she heard the sound of thunder. When she looked up at the sky, it was tautly clear that there was not one single cloud of rain or normal, even normal cloud; the sky was totally clear once more. The same sound of thunder. She could hear it clearly but could not figure out where the sound was coming from.

A thunder without rain, a sky that is not cloudy, the ominous feeling started to invade Emika, so she stopped looking around and only concentrated on the same spot she saw in her dreams the black portal, like it usually is. She heard a few footsteps behind her, but she didn’t turn and look. Her assistant Ayuma's voice was the only thing that reached her, but she couldn’t even hear what she was saying because, at the same time, in the same spot she was looking at, there was lightning all over the area not just lightning but electric lightning not coming from the sky but in the middle of the air.