The only thing that remained dear to me was my brother. Four years my senior, he was handsome, with light brown hair kept in a middle part. Two scars on his upper left lip told a story of mystery and hardship. My brother, my role model - my Haru.
We were sparring in swordsmanship when catastrophe struck.
An alien invasion. Unbelievable.
From hundreds of thousands of light-years away, they came - discovered by pure chance, as if Fate itself had guided them to us. Three humanoid aliens positioned themselves over Europe, Asia, and America.
The one over America - a female Sulonian with four arms, blue skin, and white hair - commanded the seas to flood North and South America.
The male Elf, identical to humans except for pointed ears and an inability to grow facial hair, summoned the forests of Asia to devour everything in their path.
The Dwarf over Europe wrenched the continent toward Africa, smashing the landmasses together.
What remained was death, despair, destruction, and shock.
No one had warned us. The technology we relied on failed, blind to the anomalies in our solar system.
Why had this happened? Was the Fermi Paradox true? Was the Dark Forest Hypothesis the reason we'd never encountered aliens - or was it something else entirely?
***
Like a rug yanked from underfoot, the dojo where Haru and Niam sparred lurched southward. The wooden structure crumbled, support beams snapping like twigs.
"Heavens!" Niam yelled as he hurtled toward the northern wall.
Haru struck the dojo's wall without uttering a sound.
Anyone untrained would have died, but the brothers' dense muscles and hardened bones absorbed the impact. Still, the force knocked them unconscious.
Millions - if not billions - in Europe and Africa perished in the invasion's first minutes. The same happened in Asia. The same in the Americas.
Niam woke first, covered in his own blood. Wooden splinters had impaled his left hand, shearing off his middle and ring fingers.
A pain unlike anything he'd ever known seared through him.
"AGH!" He clutched his mangled hand, gasping until the agony dulled enough for him to survey the wreckage.
His brother lay motionless amid the rubble - no visible injuries, his chest still rising.
"Haru!" Niam shouted.
No response.
Dread coiled in Niam's gut. The worst wounds weren't always visible.
He rolled onto his stomach, only for fresh agony to erupt - his right ankle was twisted, ligaments torn, held together only by skin. It looked worse than it felt.
Good for our marked one.
Gritting his teeth, Niam pushed himself up with his right arm and left leg, dragging his broken body toward Haru. He collapsed just shy of reaching him.
"Brother-" Niam tugged weakly at Haru's sleeve.
A groan. Slowly, Haru opened bloodshot eyes. Concussion.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" Niam scanned his brother's body, finding no blood on his training robes.
"Headache," Haru slurred.
Dazed but sharp, Haru's gaze locked onto Niam's injuries - the mangled hand, the ruined ankle. He shot upright, grabbing Niam's wrist.
"Shit! Where else are you hurt?" Fear frayed his usual stern tone, stripping it raw.
"Just the ankle. Not fatal." Niam braced a hand on Haru's shoulder. "But I need help walking."
"Yeah... yeah, of course."
"We need to get home. Find our parents."
Niam slung an arm over Haru's shoulders, leaning into him as they picked through the wreckage. Blue light seeped through cracks in the ceiling.
Minutes later, they found an exit - two beams leaning together, forming a crawl space.
"You first," Haru ordered.
Niam crouched, ready to crawl -
"HARU! NIAM!" A voice bellowed.
"Dad!" Niam shouted back.
Footsteps pounded closer. Their father, Nahdi, fell to his knees at the sight of Niam's bloodied form, eyes glistening with relief and terror.
He hauled Niam free.
"Haru's still inside - he's okay," Niam rasped.
Disasters like this carved away everything but what mattered. Nahdi's relationship with his sons had been decent, but not perfect. Now, regret gnawed at him like a fresh wound.
Haru crawled out moments later.
Nahdi crushed them both in an embrace, voice breaking. "Your mother... she didn't make it. Hit her head on the kitchen counter."
A gentler version of the truth. He didn't describe the fractured skull, the pooling blood.
Above, the sky burned an eerie blue, as if the sun itself had turned cobalt.
Then - vibrations. Shockwaves. Again. Again. The planet heated. A crushing pressure descended. Breath turned leaden; minds fogged. Every living thing collapsed into unconsciousness.
***
One by one, humans awoke in a nightmare.
Metallic walls encircled the survivors. Fewer than a billion, if that.
Panic erupted. The unharmed and wounded alike slammed against the barriers, screaming for answers.
They couldn't see beyond their cages. Couldn't see the figures hovering in the crimson sky above - some disgusted, some furious, some disappointed. Only one wore pity.
"Human sinners!" A voice boomed from the heavens.
Heads jerked up.
Though the language was alien, the meaning seared into their minds as if by magic. They understood.
"Your ancestors committed the gravest transgression... Rebelling against Essence. Denying the Ruler - the Creator, the supreme Concept of all."
The figure descended, its form coming into focus. Some kowtowed, trembling under its divine aura. Others screamed. A few dropped dead from sheer terror.
But all felt the same thing: insignificance.