"The Gathering"

||Monday, January 30, 2023, ||

||Before the diaster||

Asher, a 14-year-old with striking black hair and unique green and blue eyes, wakes up early on his birthday.

His unique green and blue eyes are called heterochromia which set him apart from the others.

Unlike other kids his age, he is not expecting toys or phones as birthday gifts but rather, daggers.

Asher grew up in a military family and was taught hand-to-hand combat from a young age, excelling in using daggers.

Despite not having a liking for violence, he did it for his father, Arthur, who was a Navy SEAL sniper and considered one of the elite.

Asher was aware of his father's profession but did not fully understand the gravity of being a Navy SEAL sniper.

It was considered the elite of the elite, and only a select few underwent the demanding training regimen.

His father's expertise in the killing had led to the possibility of him making enemies, and this thought often worried Asher.

His mother was a mystery to him as she had been killed by an unknown assailant.

With his father's dangerous line of work, Asher couldn't help but wonder if the killer was one of his father's enemies seeking revenge.

The memory of his mother's death haunted Asher, and he struggled to come to terms with her sudden loss.

One day, Arthur received information about a massive unknown object and hundreds of smaller objects heading toward Earth.

Arthur's stress levels rose when he received information about an unknown black spacecraft heading toward Earth with hundreds of smaller objects surrounding it.

The looming threat of the unknown weapons on the spacecraft weighed heavily on Arthur.

The huge object was confirmed to be a fully black spacecraft with unknown weapons that looked like Zeta-Class Imperial Shuttles from Star Wars.

Around it were tiny dots resembling TIE Strikers from Star Wars.

The knowledge of this impending threat weighed heavily on Arthur's mind, as he knew Earth would have no chance of survival if the ships decided to attack.

Asher was worried, he had never seen his father stressed out like this before.

His father, Arthur, a renowned sniper in the SEALs, always kept a cool mind.

But lately, Asher could tell that something was bothering him.

And then, one day, his father walked into his room and told him to follow him.

They got into a car and headed towards a helicopter, Nr.2 CH-53K King Stallion, that would take them to a secret military base.

Arthur put a blindfold and headset on Asher, blocking his sight and sound.

Asher arrived at the base and was stunned by what he saw.

There were hundreds of people, including children, teens, and adults like himself, along with fully geared soldiers.

He could see massive transport planes like Xian Y-20, Kawasaki C-2, Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, and others he didn't recognize.

He grew up in a military family, so he knew some of the names.

Asher didn't have time to ask his father what was going on. When he was immediately taken away by officers with a big bag his father had given him.

Asher was overwhelmed and scared, he had no idea what was happening.