They were following him. Archie would feel like someone was watching him, and turn around but nobody would be there. He would think he had seen movement or shadows but dismissed it as paranoia. He thought it wasn’t important. He couldn’t be more wrong.
They had been watching him, following him around. After searching for so long they had finally found him. The Orbs slowly floated toward his room. They caused his window to slowly lift itself up and the slipped inside causing the window to close itself. They slowly floated over to the boy. They stayed there levitating over his body, watching him. “Is he The One?” one asked. “Yes” the other one responded” though he doesn’t know it yet.” The boy stirred in his sleep and The Orbs faded away as though they had blinked out of existence.
Archie woke up the next morning. He had had a weird dream but he could not remember what it was.
When he went downstairs to the dining room he found that nobody was there. That was strange, his mom and dad were always up early to cook breakfast. He went back upstairs and to his parents’ room. It was empty. He checked his sister’s room. It was empty too. He checked all around the house and no one was there. That was odd, it was a Saturday, and his parents were both off. The cars were in the driveway. Their cars were both in the driveway. Every time his parents went somewhere they left a note on the refrigerator door. There was no note. He was scared now. A hundred different possibilities went through Archie’s mind. Right then he felt like there was something behind him. He froze and acted like he didn’t notice because he knew that is he acted the burglar or whatever what been following him would run away like it had been doing. He quickly spun around and saw it. It was a glowing orb. It just floated there like it was watching him. It looked to be about one foot in diameter. It slowly floated forward and Archie slowly inched backward away from it. Then in a voice without gender or tine it said” Archie Smith come with us.” Archie, who was frozen in fear, was surprised that he could speak “W-what h-have y-you d-done w-with m-my p-parents?” “We did what was necessary,” it answered back “Now again, come with us.” After that Archie bolted from the room, took all the money from the vase where his mom hid it, and ran outside, grabbed his bike, and rode away as fast as he could.
Without even realizing it, he found himself at the bus station. He hopped on a bus, not caring where it was going. About half way there he realized that it was going to New York City. Oh well, he thought to himself, can’t turn back now, I can probably hide in the crowd or get help. The ride didn’t take too long, for he lived in a rural part of the state of New York. A few times on the way he thought that he saw orbs out of the corner of his eye, but most of them he realized were just headlights, signs, or street lights, but other times he wasn’t so sure.
The bus went trough most of New York City; the Bronx, Queens, Long Island, Manhattan.
Eventually he got off the bus, paid the driver, and roamed around the city. Eventually he stopped, tired of the walking, in an alley. He looked at the clock on top of the building across the street to find that it was late in the evening. He turned back around, not wanting to be noticed. But he was too late.
He felt like someone was watching him. He turned round slowly to find a dozen Orbs placed in an evenly spaced “u” shape cutting him off so he couldn’t escape. Archie thought for sure that someone would notice them so he called for help, but the street was eerily empty. Suddenly he felt strong arms grab him from behind and pull him into a doorway that had appeared out of nowhere.
He couldn’t see in the nearly pitch darkness. He heard the sounds of multiple locks locking. Suddenly the lights turned on. He was in a room that looked old and abandoned but full of people. In the building was a ragtag bunch of people. Some people wore torn, ripped, and frayed clothing, while others dressed normally, and others looked high class and important. He heard a deep, booming voice beside him say,” Well that was close.” Archie turned to his side a tall, muscular man standing beside him. He had short, black hair, blue-green eyes, and a huge scar running from his temple, past the side of his eye, down his cheek, past the side of his mouth, to his chin, Archie also noticed that the man wore all black: a black T-shirt, black jeans, and black Vans. “My name is Scar, for obvious reasons,” said the man named Scar in his deep gruff voice. “I’m Archie,” Archie answered. “I guess the Orbs must like you a lot”, said Scar smiling. “What are those things?” asked Archie. Suddenly everybody in the room grew serious and grim. “The Orbs” Scar answered”are just probes, they are the drones sent by a race called The Ravaged, to Earth, they are here to keep us unaware of their upcoming invasion and to keep us fighting each other” “Why are they invading?” Archie asked. “We believe that The Ravaged want to take Earth for our resources or for a new home because their planet was destroyed or they destroyed it” said Scar. “So the Orbs are alien robots sent by an alien species who wants to invade Earth, I knew it wasn’t important, it sounds like a cheesy 1950’s movie. Hey do they wear tin-foil hats and jumpsuits?” Archie joked. “This isn’t a joke! They are after us too! We will give you a room and keep you safe here if you want” Scar said. “Okay, sure” said Archie.
That night the door to Archie’s room opened slowly but with the slightest sound that alerted Archie. Archie opened his eyes just enough to see. Archie hadn’t slept, he had tried to but the knowledge of what was going on kept him up. In the dim light Archie saw someone holding something slowly creep toward him. When the person got close enough to see the man’s thin, angular face he noticed that the thing in his hand was a knife. The man raised his arm. Before he could bring it down Archie leapt up, surprising the man, and knocked the knife out of the assassin’s hand, grabbed his arm, spun him around, and pushed him onto the ground. Archie, thankful for having taken mixed martial arts lessons ran as fast as he could for the door. He pressed the button that open the door and locks and bolted out of there into the alley and froze as the door closed behind him.
The Orbs were still there. They quickly surrounded him. “Archie Smith if you will not come with us on your own accord then we will take you by force!” came a voice from all around him. The Orbs suddenly glowed brighter and started spinning around him faster and faster until it was nothing but a blur. Archie felt himself lift into the air, stay there for a second, then with a flash of light he was moving upward at a speed that felt like trillions of miles and hour. He was surprised that the force didn’t kill him. He was surrounded by swirling colors and then nothing.
He was in some kind of room. He saw no light fixtures or windows but it was lit as though the walls were glowing. On the walls and ceiling were all sorts of markings, and symbols, and machinery. And he was standing in the middle of a ring decorated with more symbols. Out of nowhere a section of door disappeared and four man-shaped creatures walked over to him.
They were similar to humans but yet completely different. They wore clothing with similar markings to the ones on the walls. Their faces were angular, had slits for nostrils, and large and slanted green eyes, but just enough for Archie to notice. They were all at least seven feet tall. They had arms that were longer than their long and powerful legs, long fingers, a wide upper body, and ears similar to a human’s but pointed at the tips, and long gossamer hair.
The tallest one stepped forward “Archie Smith I am deeply sorry but we had to take drastic measures, you were in danger.” “Why am I here, what’s going on?” Archie demanded. “Come, follow us, we will explain everything to you” said the female one. Not even thinking about what he was doing. They led him down a corridor with long tubes of light about shoulder height parallel to the floor. “We, as you know, call ourselves The Ravaged, but, do you know why?” said the female. “Ravaged by time and space, we are the forgotten race, war and time have nearly destroyed us, the first intelligent race. The reason why we want you is because you are The One, The One in the prophecy, The One to destroy or save the universe. ““You see”, said the female” many eons ago we were nearly destroyed in an all-out war between all of the intelligent races, keep in mind this was long before humans evolved. We, the most powerful were nearly destroyed. So we retreated to live in peace and harmony were no one could find us, but before we did that one of our own, Vaelra, said that in a dream many many years from now a child would be born from a race that doesn’t yet exist. She told us that the next race to make it to sentient intelligence would be the species of the prophecy. She said that a boy named Archie Smith would either save or destroy the universe before he was an adult. She said that he would have a birthmark shaped like your letter “v”.” Archie looked at the birthmark on his shoulder. “So” said the lead male” we monitored the universe in secret with our probes until you were born. You see, even though you may not know it, a war is going on, even worse than the one that nearly destroyed us those many years ago, one that threatens to destroy us all. It is your choice, will you go with us to prepare you and try to make good out of you, or will you stay on Earth with your parents until the time comes?” “Before I answer, what have you done with my parents?” Archie asked. “We kept them safe here on our ship. The people you were with were people who want to kill you. Many years ago a group of people heard of what was going on and they formed a secret society. They recruited people to kill every One so they couldn’t destroy the universe. They are not evil, only misguided. We want to keep you alive so you can save the universe. You are our last hope, so, will you come with us?” “Yes, I believe it’s the only thing I can do, but, will you bring my parents with us, or if it’s too dangerous keep them safe and informed if they are not already. “It is done.” Said the female smiling “now please come with us.” They led him down a corridor into a room with seats and a window all around. The lead male pressed a few buttons on a control panel and spoke to someone in their language. Then he pressed a few buttons, pulled a few levers, flipped a few switches and typed something, and they were off. They moved seemingly slowly away, out of Earth’s orbit. Archie looked back, wondering if this was the last time he would ever see Earth. Then in a flash of light and a sudden jolt of movement, they were off.