’Did she employ some kind of tracking or spying method?’ I thought and it made me more angry than I would have thought it would.

"What’s wrong, Eren?" my mother looked at me in concern when she noticed my expression and quickly walked over.

I took a deep breath and shook my head, "It’s nothing, Mom. I just remembered something unpleasant."

This excuse didn’t convince my mother and she was about to press me to tell her what was wrong when suddenly...

BOOM!

An ear piercing boom rang out.

Clatter!

All the dishes, chairs, tables etc trembled.

’It’s here.’ My heart skipped a beat.

"Ah..." My mother covered her ears and staggered. I quickly stood up and grabbed her, preventing her from losing control and falling.

"What was that?" My Mother asked when the sound vanished. My father had stood up and I could hear the footsteps from upstairs—Dave and Emily were rushing down after being startled.

Buzz!

Before my father or I could say anything, our T.V. made a keening noise, then the screen turned pitch black and a mechanical voice sounded out.

[Greetings, Natives of Planet Earth. This is Celestial Corp 19. We urge you to listen carefully because it won’t be repeated.]

A Golden symbol with two White Angelic wings behind it appeared on the T.V screen when the sound paused.

"Mom, Dad!" Dave and Emily ran down and called out.

"Keep quiet for a bit, you two." My father said, his eyes glued to the T.V. screen, his expression a mix of apprehension and excitement.

This made me raise my brows—this wasn’t normal.

[You, the planet as a whole, have one year to eliminate every foreign being that will step out from the Gates and destroy the Gates. If you fail to achieve this within the given time, this planet will become Corp 19’s property including living organisms on it.

To give you a fair chance, Merchant shops have appeared throughout the planet where you can trade for information, resources and everything else you might need.

With that said, your time starts now.]

As the voice finished speaking, the symbol shifted to the top of the screen and a countdown appeared in the center.

[364:23:59:59]

A silence befell the living room which was eventually broken by my mother’s voice.

"What was that?" She was looking at my father.

"I think... the world as we know it is about to change." he said after taking a deep breath and controlling his expression.

’What do you mean, Dad?" I asked.

"I heard a fleeting rumor a few days ago." he said, his voice low, "It said that the Federation had spotted a UFO heading toward Earth and the entire Federation, or the top brass, was very concerned. It said something big might happen when it appeared and we should be prepared."

My mother, Dave and Emily stared at him with blank expressions. I mirrored them.

After a pause, he continued, "I didn’t believe it at first since this kind of rumours have been present since the beginning of time. But then I noticed something strange. Some Federation officers had begun buying supplies in larger quantities than usual and many customers who bought things in large quantities were taken to the Federation office and were locked up. This made me suspicious and..."

He turned to the T.V. "...It seems my suspicion was right."

Hearing this, I felt both relieved and disappointed that there weren’t hidden powerful factions in the world and my father was a part of them.

"But you didn’t bring any supplies." My mother said, her expression saying she was having a hard time believing it. The same was true for Dave and Emily, but both of them appeared more excited than apprehensive.

I could practically hear them cry inwardly. ’I’m going to become a hero and fight all the bad guys.’

I shook my head and looked at my father, who sighed. "I couldn’t because the Federation would have taken me away too." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"So what now? Can you bring some now?" she asked, slowly turning anxious as a commotion arose outside which told her that others had heard the boom and voice and it wasn’t just a prank that my father was pulling.

"It would be dangerous but—"

"No, you can’t go." I interrupted him, seeing he was about to agree, "Everyone will be panicked and would swarm all the market places and shops. They wouldn’t hesitate to cause others harm to get their hands on the supplies."

My mother bit her lip, worried.

"How much supplies do we have at home?" My father asked after seeing her expression.

"Enough for 2-3 days. I would have asked you to bring some tomorrow." She answered.

My father fell silent and Dave and Emily also recovered from their excitement.

"It’s alright." I broke the tense silence, "We shouldn’t worry about that for now. What we need to do is secure the house so no one can break in."

My father nodded, giving me an impressed look. Then he looked at Dave and said, "Come, help them bring out those blocks of wood from the basement. I’ll reinforce the windows and door."

"Let me help too." Emily chimed in.

"Good. Mom, you go help them." I said, "I’ll take a look outside and see what’s happening."

"They can do it on their own. I’ll come with you. It’ll be safer that way." My mother said, her expression serious.

I wanted to refuse her, but seeing her expression, I held back and nodded.

"Alright, let’s go."

...

When we walked out of the house, the first thing we noticed was our neighbours looking up at the sky with panicked looks on their faces.

We also looked up and our breaths hitched—A massive, scary looking spaceship was hanging high in the sky and occasionally, it would shoot out beams of lights.

Right then, a beam of light shot toward us which made everyone freeze.

A moment later...

BOOM!

It fell in the city and a massive explosion sounded and the ground beneath our feet shook, causing everyone to stagger.

Immediately after, another beam of light, this one smaller, landed in the opposite direction but this one didn’t cause any explosion, nor did it give us the oppressive feeling the earlier beam of light had given.

My mind whirled with information, then my eyes flashed. ’It’s a Merchant Shop.’

Then, I looked in the direction the earlier beam of light fell and my expression became solemn.

If the latter was a Merchant Shop - hope for humanity - then the former was... the Gate.