Invaders

"Too bright!"

She repeatedly took on and off the blanket until she finally decided to wake up. Still feeling drowsy, she looked around the room to find Kim who was already out of bed. And there on the sofa, Kim was sitting crossed leg with his eyes shut tight.

"Master, are you still sleeping?"

No response, she shrugged her shoulder. She got out of the bed and walked towards the bathroom in a relaxed manner. After washing her face, she went to the refrigerator and grabbed herself bottled water and took several gulps. She then turned towards Kim and saw he was still in the same state.

"I wonder if I can meet grandmaster too someday."

She then opened the refrigerator again to take a bar of chocolate called Snackers. She then took the remote control and sat on the bed. While munching the chocolate, she browsed through the television trying to find anything could catch her interest. But alas, none of it worth the mention. Finishing her last bite, she took one last glance toward Kim and then went back to sleep.

No matter where she looked, there was only darkness. It was not that the place was dark since she could see herself, but more like it was empty. Within that dark and empty s.p.a.ce, she was standing there alone. There was no sound nor the breeze. She could still breathe normally, but when she tried to say some words, there was only silence. Even her mana sense was not working that time.

Unable to make sense of what was going on, Momo decided to brave through the infinite, endless void. She walked and walked and walked, but nothing change. The darkness slowly eating her up, and the emptiness was slowly depressing her down.

"When will this end?"

After more walking, finally, she saw a man and a woman holding hands were walking toward the opposite of her direction. She knew who they were, so she dashed toward them as fast as she could. But, no matter how hard she tried, she never could get close. So near, yet so far.

Still, she did not give up. She was more fired up than ever. She has been longing to see the two people in front of her. After much struggle, she finally within the reach of holding their hands that were clasping together.

"Mama, papa, I finally found you!"

No matter how she called them, not once had they turned their head around. Instead, they continued to walk into the endless void. Momo felt like if they walked more, they would get buried into the emptiness, leaving her behind all alone. With all her strength, she ran. She ran as far as her leg could bring her. Her legs were soring, but she gritted her teeth and run. She shouted at the top of her lungs, but none of her voice was reaching them.

"No. At this point, mama and papa will leave me all alone again. No!"

As she shouted with all her might, her parents stopped abruptly. Just stood still without moving a budge with their backs facing Momo. Momo took this chance the get closer until they were only a few steps in front of her.

"Just a bit more. Mama, papa!"

Her fragile hands slowly tried to reach her parents. Before she could even have the slightest touch of them, her whole body went numb. Her heartbeat beats faster until the point she could hear it directly with her ears. No matter how hard she tried, she could not move. She tried to call out to her parents, but no voice was coming out from her throat.

That moment, slowly within the void, a giant silhouette resembled a snake looking sea serpent was approaching them. The closer it got, the larger it became until it was as huge as a whole building. It has nine heads with each one of them having a twenty metres long neck.

The moment she saw the monster, extreme fear overwhelmed her entire soul. Never again she wanted to see the monster who killed the one that she loved, that monster who almost killed her, and made her fall into despair. It was non-other than King Hydra.

She wanted to tell her parents to run away, but her voice was still stuck in her throat. Even though her mana sense went crazy, she could not release a tiny bit of her strength at all.

"No. I"m not letting you get them again!"

The heads of King Hydra slowly approached her parents. One of its head pa.s.sed through between her parents and went directly into her face. When her parents turned around, it caused her to almost fainted out of shock! Her pupils enlarged when she saw the horrifying face of her parents melted away from the poisonous purple breaths exuded out from King Hydra mouth. Then its other heads chomp her parents apart, leaving only their legs on the floor.

Again she felt the hopelessness as when she was waiting for her death. Not when she had trained for years to gain her power. Not when her parents were there in front of her! She wanted to smash herself on the floor over and over again until her head crushes to bits.

Now only she and King Hydra remained in this endless void. King Hydra opened its mouth wide to swallow her whole. As what happened to her parents, she too started to decay from the poisonous breath. Her body was rapidly rotting, as her hairs and both of her eyeb.a.l.l.s fell on the ground. Her flesh, bones and teeth were showing as her skins started to melt. All she could see, hear, smell, and feel was the endless void.

Once she got eaten, she will be alone again in the darkness.

"Momo! Momo, wake up! Momo!"

Her face was wet from the tears that dripping out of her eyes. Out of nowhere, Kim hugged her tightly while she was still in a drowsy state.

"Master? What"s wrong? Why is your body shaking?"

She did not know what happened, but the hug was unusually soothing to her heart that day, so she let Kim hugged her longer as she enjoyed the warmness of his body.

Kim told her that she was crying and shaking all over her body in her sleep. Her mana even went uncontrollably mad, so he had to end his mental domain to contain her mana. He got backlashes after forcing himself out, but if he hesitated for a second, the whole hotel building crashing down might be the minimum event that could occur.

After getting themselves ready, they went to the dining room of the hotel to eat the prepared breakfast. Even though there were no one else there beside them, the hotel still provided a buffet-style with all you can eat breakfast. Seeing all these foods made their eyes teary.

The breakfast consisted of a typical Malaysian breakfast that you could find anywhere. There were nasi lemak, roti canai with curry and dhal, fried kuay teow with oysters, toats with b.u.t.ter and kaya spreading and also traditional kuih and tropical fruits as desserts. For drinks, they could ask the hotel manager to prepare anything that was on the menu.

"This is heaven!"

They both thought in their heads while filling their plates with varieties of dishes.

During breakfast, Momo told Kim about her nightmares, but she could only vaguely remember them. Noticed that Kim was being confused made her ask him "If there"s something wrong?"

"No. It"s just I also had a bad night. That"s why I woke up early."

Coincidence? When they thought that the night would be peaceful, a terrible dream haunted them. Nightmares in a night of sleep are like a curse hiding in a blessing. Or maybe it was a curse of feeling the burden being the only person alive while others are dead.

Teng and Ling already were waiting outside for them. They were both wearing some casual clothing with shirts and shorts. Seeing Wong was not around, Kim asked them out of curiosity.

"Wong is not coming today?"

Teng already expected that Kim would ask that question. He looked at Ling as if asking for permissions, and after a moment of thought, he finally told Kim that "Wong is visiting his wife and daughter. He always visits them after he comes back from a job request."

"Uncle Wong has a wife and daughter?" Momo asked him with a surprised voice. Teng was a bit hesitant to answer, so he looked toward Ling again. Since they thought they could not hide anything from them, Ling told them "Wong...he had a wife and daughter."

Facing a similar experience before, Kim and Momo understood what he meant. It was the reason for their nightmares haunting them. Whether in Borneo, other parts of Malaysia or anywhere in the world, the calamity brought nothing but sorrows and despairs.

After that short conversation, not a single word muttered until they reached the marketplace.

---

Wong was walking on a pathway that has hundreds and thousands of stones lining up at the sides. He was carrying a bunch of flowers with one hand and a paper bag filled with snacks on the other. After he walked for some length, he stopped near a particular stone and kneeled on the ground. Thirty minutes have pa.s.sed. He then left what he brought and walked away from the place

---

The marketplace was full of the hustle and bustle. With only the two of them living in Borneo, being in this crowded place was quite overwhelming. People are shouting everywhere, trying to promote their sells. Kim was never been good with people. His social life was only with his four friends. Momo, on the other hand, was quite excited to see the lively place.

"So even our young master has his weakness."

"Shut up. Just quickly show us around."

"Alright. We know all the best shops in the city. Just ask, and we will bring you straight to the place in no time."

"Oh! Oh!"
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"Yes, Miss Momo?"

"I want to buy some new clothes! And food! And those armour thingy! And food!"

The marketplace sells varieties of tools and materials for both ordinary people and mana users. They sell weapons, armours, mana stones, clothing and of course, food. It is at utmost importance for mana users to prepare themselves before going out of the city. Just having a lack of resource is a matter of life and death.

For non-mana users, they usually come to buy daily necessities and anything related to work. These kinds of people are crafters. They make weapons, armours, medicines and even food. Their profession name depends on what kind of items they craft, but they are generally known as crafters.

Some works in the business guild, which consist of both mana users and non-mana users. Their main job is to buy a bundle of items and resell it at another place to gain profits. These people are who we called businessman in the modern era. However, the job has become riskier since the supplies are not always sustainable and having to move around from one place to another means they could end up getting eaten by monsters. But profits are undeniably tempting even with the risk. Amazing and Elibaby Express are the two biggest business guild in the world. One is called the dragon of the east, and another is the tiger of the west. They can deliver items even at the day it was ordered depending on the place.

There is also another group of people in the marketplace called street performers, which mostly made up of mana users. Even among mana users, some people are not suitable for fighting. They combined their skills with mana to do flashy acts to gain points. Enchanting singing voice, real-looking illusionary acts, extreme acrobatics, there are varieties of performance to look for while walking around the marketplace.

One by one has been introduced by Teng even though Kim and Momo did not ask about it. He also mentioned that other cities have their speciality and cultures. However, in general, these are what people could expect from a marketplace nowadays.

Today, their goals were to get one thing for both Kim and Momo. One of humanity greatest invention that has changed how people lives. A technology which was considered a luxury that has turned into a tool of necessity. The smartphone, a brilliant innovation which combined three main ingredients, GPS, phone and the internet.

When Mango company founder Paul Jobs introduced the first-ever smartphones, people thought it was a waste of money. Little do they know, smartphones have become one of the most sought gadgets in the world. Rival companies had to fight their way, trying to compete with Mango for this unexpected innovation.

Unfortunately, the calamity had crushed the Mango company to the ground. Not only they lost Paul Jobs, but they were also unable to recover since their smartphones are not practical in this age anymore. Function-wise, it was still outstanding, but it breaks too easily! Mana users are unable to bring them to the field when they are hunting for monsters. Then, an old phone company has resurfaced into the business out of nowhere. Nokea.

Not only their phones are durable, as time goes by, but the phones functions have also been on par with Mango company even before the calamity. Combining these two factors, it is one of the biggest trends in technology in this era. Both non-mana users and mana users would use it. Even the otherworlder are impressed by the fact that it could use to communicate with others at a faraway distance. Also having access to any information with a touch of a finger, the thought of smartphones existing was inconceivable.

On how Nokea was able to produce this feat? It remained a mystery. Some rumours were laying around saying that the previous founder of Nokea has awakened his mana sense, and become a mana user. Even if it was true, no one could guess what kind of capability it could be to make a dead company returned to life.

A big signboard saying "Nokea" is hanging on one of its branch in Kuala Terengganu. Their main headquarter is in Finland, but having the support of every governing kingdom in the Earth has made this company spread widely. It would be preposterous if a country without Nokea exists. Same like not having rice for breakfast!

The moment they step inside the shop, a man wearing a collared shirt tucked inside his pant approached them with a smile. His black hair was neatly combed. His eyes are slightly squinted as he greets them while rubbing his hands together "How can I help you, sir?"

Kim knew the man was going to approach them even before they entered the place, but the manner he approached them still caught Kim off guard and made him flinched. Ling was about to say something before Teng grabbed his shoulder to interrupt. "Have fun, young master. We will wait outside. Take your time!"

Teng gave him and thumbs-up and dragged Ling out of the shop which made Kim cursed them in his heart. He wanted to turn to Momo, but she was already in her world, wandering around the shop.

Now that even Momo has betrayed him, he became a vulnerable target inside the shop. Without him noticing, the man who greeted them was already so close Kim would accidentally b.u.mp into him by moving even the slightest bit.

"What can I do for you, sir?"

"I-I"ll look around first."

When he walked, the man would walk when he stopped the man would also stop. He was following Kim every little step. Not only him, but the whole shop atmosphere was also awkward. Every staff who was working in each corner was watching Kim with full attention. Whenever Kim looked at one of them, they would smile brightly and gave him a slight nod. It felt like in this giant shop, he and Momo were the only customer, and they were!

"Today out of all times I"m the only one here. Well Momo too, but she"s not helping! What is she even doing?"

After a while, Momo got bored so one of the staff offered here to play some games wearing a VR set.

Kim has already given up on Momo so he could only let out a sigh and continued to browse some more smartphones. Whenever Kim stops to look at one phone, the man would immediately the details and offers that the shop provides. The man was like a machine programmed to say every word of their products.

Not long afterwards, Kim realized another staff has approached to follow him as well. Amazingly, both of them sync extremely well when explaining the details of their products. It was clear that they have been trained to do this for so many years!

As Kim went deeper into the store, the presence of people gathering. From two, comes four then eight, then dozens of them have gathered. They all dressed the same way and smiled the same way. Succ.u.mbed with the pressure of them constantly asking him what he would buy, finally, Kim told them "Just give me the best one you have!!!"

"It would be Nokea 3310 then. How many would you like sir?"

"Two!"

Kim let out a sigh relieved, thinking it was over. However, he only pa.s.sed the first stage.

"We also provide some accessory for your phones, sir!"

"If you add 100 more points, we will give you can choose between these three accessories."

"Would like to buy phone case as well, sir?"

"How about a laptop?"

"Which do you prefer? Earphones or headset?"

"Do you want to buy our Nokea shirt, sir?"

"Ice cream, get your ice cream!"

"Just give me the smartphone!"

"Thank you for buying our product sir. Please wait while we prepare everything."

Kim was finally able to breathe some air after the staffs went back to their positions. He then sat down on a sofa for customers to take a break. Suddenly, his mana sense went tingling. He looked right and left but nothing was there.

"I"m seriously getting paranoid now. It must be because I haven"t talked to anyone else besides Momo for these past few years ."

That was what he thought until he heard a cry of a familiar voice. Momo was getting chased by several other staff of the shop.

"Master, help me!!!"

He quickly went to the man who greeted him at the door to ask him to finish the purchasing, but as soon as the man turned around, he saw again that awfully bright smile. The same smile every staff had. The smile that was supposed to give comfort to customers. But to Kim, it was an evil smile with a lot of hidden agenda behind it.

"No need to rush, sir. You can have all the time you want. How about we show you some of our other products"

--

"Young master, Miss Momo, both of you finally out. How did it go?"

It has been less than an hour since Kim and Momo were inside the shop. However, they already looked exhausted as if they have been working out non-stop for the entire day. Wong was also there waiting and he was shocked to see the condition Kim and Momo were.

"Teng, Ling how could you left those two inside?"

"It was Teng"

"I thought young master could handle it."

That was when Kim had a realization. They both knew all along what was going to happen.

All matter aside, at least Kim managed to buy only two smartphones without falling for other tricks. It took him a lot of willpower overcoming the pressure from buying other stuff. Today, he learned how scary society could be. They then go to make their numbers and exchanged their contact information. Kim also added Larc private phone number which he got yesterday.

As they planned yesterday, they continued to walk until they reach the section with stalls selling street food. Kim and Momo did not have any interest with any weapons or armours. They thought it was annoying to carry them around while fighting. Furthermore, the hooded robe they were always wearing was made from King Hydra"s skin when it was shedding. It is light and as strong as durable as how King Hydra was.

The heavenly flavour was lingering in the air making it impossible to pa.s.s through the street empty-handed. Everything from cucur, to roti john, and burgers were available. There were also heavier dishes like nasi kerabu, fried noodle and rice, a variety of naan. For those who have their preference can visit stalls that offer nasi campur. For desserts, different kind of kuih was sold and there was also ABC to cool oneself from the warm weather of Malaysia.

Momo eyes went spinning unable to choose which food to try first. It has been a whole 6 years since she gets to eat genuinely good food. Since they have a lot of points to spare after making their guild card yesterday, they just going to eat everything they put their eyes onto.

After walking and eating for a while, then they realized Kim was gone.

"Where"s the young master? Don"t tell me he got lost in the crowd?"

"Did he saw something caught his interest and went to get it by himself?"

"Don"t worry about master. Look, he even left us his card so we can use as much as we want. So let"s grab some more food!!!"

--

"It seems they are moving again."

"How much food are these people going to eat? It"s making me hungry!"

Two men wearing sungla.s.ses and baseball caps were trying to blend themselves within the crowd. It has been hours since they keep trail of Kim"s group. Ever since Kim and Momo exited the hotel, they have started to follow them. Both of them are good at stealth skills with amazing observing eyes. Combining the two made them an incomparable duo to spy on others without getting detected. They were ordered to follow the group to get as much information they could. Usually, anything that their eyes set on will never pa.s.s them by. Usually. But today, something was amiss.

"Wait a minute. One, two, three, there"s only four of them! Where"s the othe-"

Before they managed to recollect their thoughts, a frightening mana pressure has already immobilized them in their spots. They knew they need to run as far as they could, but not even their toes were listening to them. It felt like the demon lord himself was standing behind them. If they turned their head around it would mean death.

"P-p-please spare us"

There was no reply. Only silence. Nothing change, including the pressure that was exerted upon them. They can feel the death reaper was already hanging on both of their shoulders. "What should we do?" Both of them. Unfortunately, nothing came out to their mind. The mana pressure was so powerful that they could not even put up a mana barrier to protect themselves.

"F-forgive us." With a crying and trembling voice, they desperately ask for forgiveness, in the hope that the person who was behind them would spare their lives. Alas, not a single word could be heard. At this point, they might p.i.s.s their pants and die in the middle of the street. That was something they could not live knowing!

"W-we will t-tell you e-everything. Please, spare us our lives!"

They could not still move, but the pressure has become less now. And a finally, a voice came out from behind them.

"Bring me to him"

A single sentence but they understood it completely what he wanted. They comply and lead the man behind them from the street. They forced their shaking legs to move as far as they could until they reach a huge mansion that was a bit far from the centre of the city. There was a garden in front of the mansion and surrounding it were iron fences. They head toward the main gate where several guards wearing black suit were standing by. Since they knew each other, the guards let them in with their "guest" to meet the Minister of Kuala Terengganu.