StarT.{THE BEGINNING
~AS EVERY OTHER STORY STARTS
Once upon a time,
in a remote landmass called Deinospark. Under the orange shade of the evening sun stood two men at the edge of a horizontal cliff, under the cliff there was a huge ocean.
"Do you have any last wish before I serve your flesh to the earth with all the rotting corpses of your men here, Abern Markist?" said a soldier carrying high honor in his heart, pointing his gun toward an outlaw.
"Even though I am a cowboy, isn't it rude to talk like that about the dead ones?" said Abern.
"The answer for your question lies in the first sentence of your statement, and as you don't have any last wish, I will proceed to kill—"
"Ahh, come on dude, wait! My last wish, huh? ... Fine, maybe leave me alive, what do you think?"
"I am afraid I can't do that, and don't waste my time—"
"Mannnnn, you are a boring guy, and my last wish is to throw this letter I wrote to my friend."
"Is that all you wish for? You may proceed."
Bern: "Aren't you suspicious? Or something?"
"My work is to kill you. Any other thing is none of my duty, and no more talk."
"Wait, wait, don't you wanna ask me why I'm not throwing it before your arrival?"
"I don't care."
"Well, the reason is, I don't want your crew to seize this letter while scavenging the corpses. That's part of my wish too."
"If everything is settled, now let me proceed."
Bern throws the letter in a green rum bottle with a sponge cork into the ocean.
~THREE BULLET SHOTS~
DATE: 21st July 2000
TIME: Around 7 AM
In a town called Pearl Hill, under the blue shade of the morning sun, stood a man at the edge of a horizontal cliff, under the cliff there was a huge grassfield.
"I have to deliver this to that kid no matter what .....mm but, what will a kid do with this?" said a man with a blue shirt, black pants, covered with bandages all over his body, with a paper in a green rum bottle with a sponge cork in his hand.
DATE: 20th July 2000
TIME: Around 11 PM
Near the quiet town of Pearl Hill, there stood an old house with a weathered, traditional windmill. The surrounding fields were draped in wildflowers, swaying gently in the breeze. Inside the house, an elderly man stood by a telescope, intently observing the night sky.
"Once the T.H.I.N.G. touches the world, everything will begin to change. What do you think, Mr. Dog?" said Old Man Dan, addressing his pet cat, who was perched lazily atop the telescope.
Dan was a bald, elderly man with large, round spectacles that magnified the curiosity in his eyes. His voice, though calm, carried the weight of a looming truth—one only he seemed to understand.
"Vaav (bark) meow (meow)," said the black-striped brown cat whose name was supposedly MR. DOG.
"Yeah, yeah, I will check the trajectory of the T.H.I.N.G."
A moment of silence.
"Meowwwwwww," replied the black-striped brown cat whose name was supposedly Mr. Dog.
TIME: Around 12 PM
"So, why are you taking an illegal ship when you are a reporter?" asked a man with a strange hat; it had chains of beads hanging from both sides.
"To be honest, I am scared a little bit, and as this is my useless dad's suggestion now I am scared even a little more."
"I see. Anyway, this is the best way because of the storm. What was your name again?"
"Samuel Whatson. And will my car be okay down there?"
"Our storage block is one of the safest. You will get your car just like you left it."
"I see. You have the hair of your dad, his face too."
As the ship captain talked about his father, he thought of what happened this morning, and even though he treated his father harshly, he regretted it a little.
"Car keys, checked.
Daily accessories, checked.
Two food boxes, checked.
Report accessories, checked.
And the rest is fine, I guess.
Mr. Dog, not here. Hey, Mr. Dog, where are you?"
"Meow vaav," replied a black-striped brown cat whose name was supposedly Mr. Dog.
"Where are you going?" asked a drunk man with blonde hair, scratching sleepy eyes.
"To make a living for a helpful cat, a useless drunk father, and his one and only unlucky son," said Samuel, a reporter for a big newspaper company.
"I will not be there for three to four days."
He left the city of Donlon for a place near a town called Pearl Hill through an illegal ship because all the legal ships were off due to the storm.
NARRATOR: Pearl Hill is a small town surrounded entirely by hills, and this is one of the colonized places where descendants of pirates and a few magician cults live (they are descendants of pirates and magicians, not pirates and magicians themselves—they don't have any powers like their ancestors).
The main reason for this colonization is that many people stopped using the Spiral Way long ago, so their bodies adapted to normal surroundings and lost their Spiral abilities. But these magicians, pirates, cowboys, and some others used it until recently, so their descendants are colonized until they lose their powers. To prevent any breeding, they are not allowed outside.
areas which are colonized are still ruled by nobles and royal families. Others are democratic.
DATE: 21st July 2000
TIME: Evening 5 PM
On the outskirts of Pearl Hill, on the way to San Altos (a city near Pearl Hill) {a deserted area with a long road and one convenience shop}, a scooter carried three people: a young boy (Dante Callahan), a fat big boy (Elliot Callahan), and an old lady (Adelina Callahan). They were waiting for some guy they were planning to follow but lost sight of him at this point. A black-and-white Pontiac Firebird Trans Am car hit them, and they fell down. The person they wanted to chase went away.
From the car, Samuel came out with a cat—a black-striped brown cat whose name was supposedly Mr. Dog. Apologizing, bowing his head, Adelina shouted at him, "Do you know how much loss you caused by preventing this event? Those alikator maps go for up to 3 million syn!"
"I am truly sorry, madam. I am actually just a news reporter. I can pay you for the scooter damage, but I can't pay you 3 million syn."
"Ummmm, we don't want anything. You can leave," said Dante.
"Who do you think you are?" shouted the granny.
Elliot waved him to leave.
"I am sorry for all the trouble."
Samuel proceeded to leave as he bowed down.
The car they intended to chase was driven by someone called William. He was a great-looking guy with black hair and perfect-looking features that any girl would like. Near his gearbox, he had a paper in a green bottle with a sponge cork.
"Awwww, my backbone hurts...
And now I have to look over the next job."
He proceeded to crash the car into the advertisement board of the only convenience store in that area.
As he got down from the car, the owner of the convenience store, about 25 years old, was standing with his son, about 3, in his hand.
"You don't have to break that board every time you come here."
"Don't worry, I will give money. My gut always tells me to crash the car on that board."
He entered by breaking the glass walls instead of going through the door.
He entered a basement by swiping a card under a sink.
He went down a metallic escalator shaking crazily as it descended. Many people were working at each floor.
IT WAS A SECRET BASE CALLED BLUE SEAS: GATE 7.
It dealt with things like supernatural phenomena and extraterrestrial stuff.
He was the head commander of GATE 7 (7TH BRANCH OF BLUE SEAS).
As he arrived at the main block, a stunning sight of a circular lab with many workers working appeared.
Observing from the top, he asked the chief, "When will the T.H.I.N.G. arrive? Where will it strike?"
The chief replied, "Our results lack accuracy, but it is expected to hit between Pearl Hill and Pig Hill."
"But Willy, we didn't get any order from above—"
"Willy, again? I will reduce your salary by 17%."
"Awwww ....that's not fair, and not gonna lie, 17 is a good choice indeed," said Calum, chief of Blue Seas: Gate 7.
"Okay, get everyone ready. I think it's better if we leave now," said Willy.
DATE: 21st July 2000
TIME: Evening 7 PM
Somewhere on this planet, there was a haunted building. Somewhere in the building, there was a room, and there was someone speaking to a fat guy who had something that looked like a typewriter but wasn't. They had some different-looking technology in front of them, sitting opposite and facing each other. The other man was totally black, seeming like a 3D shadow or silhouette. He was called MR. BLACK. He turned some gears in the steampunk-looking technology in front of him.
He asked the fat guy,
"When will the T.H.I.N.G. arrive? Where will it strike, Wrack?"
(Who the hell is Wrack? My name is Asimov, he thought.)
"I always have faith in my accuracy.
It will strike at 'a certain coordinate'
and at exactly 8:58:32 PM,"
said Asimov.
"Then ask Johnny and Jack to visit anyway to ensure everything is going well, Wrack."
(And again, who is Wrack? thought Asimov.)
DATE: 21st July 2000
TIME: Around 5 PM
In the central region of Pearl Hill, there was a hotel that had the only TV people could watch for free. But there seemed to be a crowd in front of the hotel because the only TV they could watch was not working.
Then two soldiers came to the place and tried to move the crowd. They were Jonathan and Jonathan. One was a fat guy with a tight shirt and pants, and the other was lean with a loose T-shirt and pants. Both T-shirts had the name "Jonathan" on the back.
They said, "TV, radio, nothing is working from this morning. Even in the royal castle, it is not working.
And do you want any other help?" asked Jonathan to the owner of the hotel, Submoloc Karl, a medium-fat guy with pink hair and an eyepatch on his right eye.
"I need a group of guys who ate my meals the day before yesterday and still didn't pay for them," said Submoloc.
"There are a few sets of groups of guys here, and I know every one of them," said Jonathan, who was lean.
"I think they were about five to six people. I remember one face—one of them was a great-looking guy with orange hair and perfect-looking features that any girl would like."
"Got it," said Jonathan.
And he proceeded to leave the area.
DATE: 21st July 2000
TIME: Around 8 PM
"How much longer do I have to walk into this forest? I am getting tired," said a boy named Henry.
"It has been only five minutes, slacker," said Mike.
Four guys were walking into the forest. They arrived at a "car with space in the back (pickup car)."
This pickup car had a cage-like cube model in its back and had grill bars around it except for two sides (the bottom and the entrance). It was covered with a green cloth.
This was their "tent."
"What should we do about that doll? I am certain I feel fear every time I see it inside our tent," said Mike.
"It helps power the radio, so we can't just throw it out," said Henry.
What they were speaking about was a doll-looking robot, which was bigger than their height. It had a solar panel on its back, so they used it to charge their radio. They found this robot doll last winter holidays when they searched for parts of their tent in the junk area of their town.
"There is going to be a storm tonight. We should tighten the cloth. Make safety precautions for our tent," said Henry.
"Yeah, I will take care of nailing the tent cloth. My grandfather taught me how to do it when we were camping in the mountains," said Carlos, one of the four guys.
"Then I will try to move the whole car to the shade between those two big trees so that it is safe,"
said Kevin.
After completing the work...
TIME: Around 9 PM
Kevin pointed out that there was a shooting star.
Henry said, "It has a spiral tail too. If it has a spiral tail, then you can ask for two wishes."
"Not believable when coming from you," said Carlos.
Mike said, "A shooting star? I missed that. That makes two wishes true—I missed that."
Kevin pointed out another shooting star, but it didn't have a spiral tail.
Mike wished for something.
"It would have been nice if Pickle, Richie, and Alice were here with us," said Mike.
"Pickle will be here soon," said Kevin.
Kevin's finger movement, pointing at the shooting star, moved as if it was going to fall down.
It fell down on the other side of the nearby mountain.
Carlos said, "We have to go and see what it is, don't you think?"
Mike said, "We can't just go there, and there is already a storm coming," but thought that some kind of alien stuff fell down, was curious about it, and had a conflict in his heart.
Carlos said, "We even have three cycles here. Come on, let's go."
To hide his embarrassment after refusal, he said, "I will come under one condition—you should ride me there."
Carlos, without a second thought, said, "Okay."
Henry stayed behind because he didn't want to catch a cold. He was in the tent, trying to hear some songs by adjusting the frequency.
They all went by going around the mountain.
DATE: 21st July 2000
TIME: Morning 7 AM
A horse carriage was moving along a floral entrance with arched trees.
In that carriage sat a girl named Alice. She was coming back to her place, Pearl Hill, after her studies abroad for research.
As they moved slowly, the whole view of the village Pearl Hill came into sight—a beautiful village fully covered by mountains, full of greens, trees, cattle, birds, and colorful flowers.
"It is such a beautiful sight. It's been one year since I came here, yet nothing has changed, but it still fascinates me."
"Yes, milady," said the driver.
"Mmmmmmmmm... I dunno what those guys are doing now. We are all 17, right? Except Richie, I guess. Maybe romance will start for me here... Heeheheheh... Sooooooo, who should I choose?
To come to a conclusion, we should jot down what we know first (1st rule of conclusive research).
Okay then... by alphabetical order...
First one is Carlos—a pretty guy, and any girl can like him, and that's a huge problem.
Second is Evan (Pickle)—he's quite rough but well capable when it comes to physical activities. He even saved me from a few students who bullied me.
Third is Henry—his looks are good but not up to Carlos, but still great. His body is quite fragile physically, but he's a good guy, gives off an innocent boy look.
Fourth is Kevin—even though he's a fat guy and quite a blockhead when it comes to romance, he has a good heart and is nice to everyone around him. But he's not ideal boyfriend material, I guess.
Fifth is Mike—he has an okay-ish look, sometimes cool-looking, and he's smart... but I doubt he has that romantic charm.
Sixth is Richie—it would be wrong if I mentioned his wealth. Besides that, he's above average in looks and is average and balanced in everything.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
I dunno who to choose. Maybe I'll choose after going there based on my impressions."
DATE: 21st July 2000
TIME: Morning 7 AM
In a place called Donlon, in the castle of Garfield,
"No TV, radio, or any form of communication device is working now, madam."
"Okay then, you are fired," said the old lady Rictoria IX (head of the Garfield family now).
"Now, coming to your case, son of mine, I will not allow your family to go reside in that colony. The nobles over there and we Garfields are not on good terms in past years. So going there is always a no."
"But Grandma, my friends are there. I want to enjoy my holidays with them," said a guy who was around 16.
"Dear cute Richie, I will consider that. Now, please go to the library and study."
"Yes, ma'am," said Richie.
His cat was sitting in the hallways.
"Vaav vaav," said a black-striped brown cat whose name was supposedly MR. DOG.
"See, Mr. Dog, I can't go visit them even now."
On his way to the library, there was a big text written on the wall:
"ART IS NOT TRUE, ORA IS TRUE."
He read that aloud.
"So, as now you have said that..." A guy in a black formal suit and golden cape pointed his gun toward him.
~GUNSHOT—AND THE TEXT ON THE WALL DISAPPEARED~
DATE: Year 2042
Three members, around age 19 or so, were searching for something in a shed with some steampunk-looking technology.
"Did you find it yet?" said one person.
"No... still searching," said another.
A moment of silence.
"I found it," said the second one.
"Oh... open it, open it!" exclaimed the third one.
One of them took a diary, opened it to the date mentioned as "21st July 2000," and read it.
"What does it say?"
"It says that only if we go and interfere with the event will it be a successful one."
"Then let's get going. And you take the time capsule."
They all went to an old-fashioned black-and-white Pontiac Firebird Trans Am car, which was broken all over. They went inside the doorless car, inserted the time capsule in the slot...
and a lightning flash appeared. They vanished.
DATE: 21st July 2000
TIME: After 9 PM
All three of them went to the T.H.I.N.G. that fell from the sky. It was an orb-like structure, around the size of a football.
Kevin took the T.H.I.N.G. and tried to bite it.
~BEEP~ A sound came from it.
Looking carefully, Carlos saw text written on it:
"ART IS NOT TRUE, ORA IS TRUE."
Then Jack and John (the guys sent by MR. BLACK) came to the place and said,
"Give that to me," said John.
"No," said Carlos, taking the T.H.I.N.G. in hand and running.
But both of them didn't seem to bother about it.
"Oi, are you serious right now?" said Mike, running with him.
"We found this, and we are going to be famous," said Carlos.
"That's great, you know," said Kevin.
Mike asked him to stop and hide somewhere in the bush.
Carlos was getting ready to toss a coin and decide, but Mike knew this was wrong. He stopped the coin toss and asked him to touch one of his fingers, but both were giving away, and Carlos touched it. When they stood up from the bush, they decided to give it away.
Commander William arrived and asked Mike to give the T.H.I.N.G., but now Carlos was missing, and the T.H.I.N.G. was with him.
Carlos was on top of the mountain suddenly and asked Pickle to come with him for a fight.
Pickle's family was isolated by the village and lived on top of the mountain. The main reason the tent was set up near that hill was that they wanted to contact and play with Pickle.
Pickle slid down and reached where Carlos was already waiting for him.
They all went to the scene, but there was not only William—he had his own men around him.
Jack was already dead, and John was in tears, holding him in his hand and sitting.
Mike was having his head with a gun pointed toward him.
Pickle started to hit one of William's men but got slapped back and was forced to surrender too.
Now, Carlos was trying to give the T.H.I.N.G. to William.
~A LIGHTNING STRIKE~
AROUND THE SAME TIME,
MR. BLACK was speaking to someone on a telephone that looked different.
"Oh, that's good to hear," said the man on the other side.
"So now, can you inform me what that T.H.I.N.G. is?"
"Can you say the codeword again?"
"Yes, absolutely: ART IS NOT TRUE, ORA IS TRUE."
"Well, the T.H.I.N.G. is—"
~SCENE CUTS~
Henry couldn't find any channel that worked, but suddenly, the robot doll's eyes glowed, and he started to hear someone's conversation:
"In which timeline are you in now?"
"I am in 2020. Soon, I will appear in 2000 due to some work."
"Related to this T.H.I.N.G.?"
"Noooo noo, something personal. How is the mission going on?"
"It appears that it will strike the east boundary of Pearl Hill and will arrive around 9 PM."
(Henry's eyebrows widened.)
"Oh, that's good to hear," said the man on the other side.
"So now, can you inform me what the T.H.I.N.G. is?"
"Can you say the codeword again?"
"Yes, absolutely: ART IS NOT TRUE, ORA IS TRUE."
"Well, the T.H.I.N.G. is—"
~SCENE CUTS~
DATE: 20th July 2000
TIME: Around 10 AM
A teacher who looked like a younger version of Dr. Dan (less white hair, rectangular specs, and taller than Dan) was teaching his class history.
A few men in white formal suits entered the classroom, pointed a gun behind him, and asked him to come to the staffroom.
"I will arrive shortly," said the teacher.
The white-suited guys waited in the staffroom, looking at a photo of the teacher and his grandchild.
One of them said, "That kid has great looks."
"Concentrate on work," said another.
"Let's take the photo for blackmail. What do you say?"
They all nodded.
The teacher arrived and said,
"What do you guys want from an old man like me?"
"You exactly know what we are here for—the alikator map."
"I don't have the exact one, but I have something related."
"We heard that from the dealer."
The teacher proceeded to open a secret closet with many cupboards inside, each requiring a different password. Then he took out a certain paper.
He asked them to open it in the restroom because there were cameras in the staffroom.
They all went to the bathroom, fighting over who would open it first.
When they opened it in the restroom, it said:
"F#CK YOU."
Then they all went back to the staffroom, but the teacher was not there.
The teacher was in the underground drainage channel. He put a paper in a green bottle and closed it with a sponge cork.
He handed it to a man with bandages all over his body, wearing a blue shirt and black pants.
"How are your wounds?"
"They're fine."
"Don't forget—hand it over to my grandson Carlos. He lives in Pearl Hill. He knows what to do from there."
"Yes, sir."
~SCENE CUTS~
IN SPACE...
"Hope you don't make any mistake in the mission, and don't tell anyone about the T.H.I.N.G."
"Mm, yeah.
Okay then," said a man in a skydiving suit.
"Have we arrived in 2000?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," a creepy voice answered.
"First of all, remove this unpleasant sight out of sight," he said, pointing toward empty space.
The owner of the creepy voice used one of his tentacles to pull down a "liver."
Now, the original view of space was seen—full of spacecraft, a sun with iron rings rotating around it, civilizations on the moon and Mars, and many more.
"Then proceed at full speed," said the man.
~CAMERA ZOOMS OUT~
The spacecraft moved at light speed, and its tail looked like a spiral tail.
An old man with round specs watched it through a telescope.
"Oh, there it is!" said the old man excitedly, looking at a comet-like object with a spiral tail.
Suddenly, the screen became BLACK.
"What?! Did it fall already? Am I dead? Did it blast??"
"Vaav meow vaav."
"Huh, so it was you. You shouldn't be messing with the lens and blocking my sight."
Looks through the telescope again.
A moment of silence.
"Oh, it's there—the T.H.I.N.G. It's coming soon. CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE WORLD GETTING INTERESTING AGAIN, Mr. Dog."
A moment of silence.
"Meowwwwww," replied the black-striped brown cat whose name was supposedly Mr. Dog.
~KNOCK KNOCK~
"Yes?" said Dr. Dan.
"Good morning, sir. I am here to interview you about your anti-aging research," said Samuel, with his black-striped brown cat whose name was supposedly Mr. Dog.
"Yes, come in."
"Vaav," said Dr. Dan's cat.
"Meow," said Sam's cat
NOW A QUESTION FOR YOU ,
GUESS WHO IS THE MAIN PROTANGONIST?