Esae was already baffled by the fact that there was another boy with the same name and face as his, and now this?

He looked at the boy with purple highlights and back at the two strangers.

Is this a dream? 

Did he fall asleep from boredom? 

Yeah, it was probably that. 

His uncle would come here in no time and wake him up.

Right..?

He pinched the back of his hand only to feel a slight sting.

 Yeah, no this is definitely real.

He stared at their ship, bewildered and mildly amused. He always wanted some thrill in his life, but nevertheless, he was startled that it was today of all days.

"We don't have much time—" The girl began speaking when the man cut her off.

"We'll explain on the way.”

"What's going on?" The two strangers turned to face a middle-aged man who had a confused look on his face. He was dressed in an off-white sweater and beige jeans.

His hair was bristly, dirt-blond and he wore a muddled expression.

“What’s going on?" The man said, slowly inching towards his nephew. “Esae...?"

He couldn't begin to fathom the current situation when he saw a copy of his nephew gaping back at him. His face went white. 

The boy with the leather jacket stared back at him, holding a pained expression. He muttered something but it wasn't audible.

The girl looked like she was about to facepalm. In fact, her whole face was already red like a cherry on a sundae ice cream.

"Alright listen up, we're from an undisclosed organisation. We know things like about these earthquakes that have been taking place. You two," she pointed at Esae and the boy in the black leather jacket, "play a very important role. We need you both to come with us—”

Esae looked at his uncle panicked.

“Now!” She called out.

“I’m sorry but—” Esae’s Uncle was about to speak when the man beside the girl sighed in annoyance and walked towards them. 

He folded the sleeves of his shirt, which tightly fit around his built body, to reveal his arms covered in tattoos. One prominent one was of a dragon. 

He clenched his fists, flexing his forearm muscles. His companion grumbled as she knew exactly what was about to happen.

“Not the taser…” the girl muttered under her breath. 

The man shook his head and replied back, telling her to butt out of his business.

His palm had a device affixed to it. A small patch of cloth-like substance was attached to the tip of his fingers. From each of the patches, a wire traced back to the base of his fingers, all the way to his palm, and finally ending at his wrist. 

He put his hand on Esae's forehead, giving out a small amount of spark. Esae collapsed immediately. 

Reina ran to assist his fall.

“Hey, what do you think—” Esae’s uncle tried coming to his defence but before he could strike, the man slapped his hand on his forehead and he too met the same fate.

“Hey! Urgh-” Reina left Esae on the ground and rushed to hold the middle-aged man. She struggled to catch his weight.

The boy in the leather jacket was about to run when the man exclaimed, "You can try but you can't really get out.”

“Ayeesh so cliche…” the girl chimed in.

The man turned around to face the girl, with eyes as wide as marbles.

“I would really appreciate it if you made efforts to help me instead of passing side comments.” He hissed.

“…Hm look at that,” she turned away from him, “pretty butterflies.” 

The man groaned and focused on the boy.

The boy tried running seeing that his pursuer was distracted but he could feel an invisible force repelling him back. He grunted and tried pushing against it. 

He knew all of his efforts were in vain. He mentally prepared himself for a game of tag.

“Why don’t you make this easy for me so that I don’t have to use this device and waste its energy eh?”

The boy wasn’t listening at all—his mind was running at a tremendous speed trying to calculate his remaining options.

He mentally cursed at himself— he should’ve argued with his dad. He should’ve come here in the evening then none of this would’ve happened. 

He did not trust them at all, the man and the girl, especially when they were using devices to make people pass out. 

Who knew if they were actually dead? He felt sorry for the other Esae and his uncle lying on the ground.

But this was no time to be feeling sorry as he had to first get out, to get any help.

“This area is covered with a forcefield. People can enter but they can't leave. They can neither see the ship nor us. You might as well just give in, save me the trouble of using this." The man continued, walking towards the boy.

He banged his fist on the invisible forcefield, yelling for help. It wasn’t doing anything as the cars kept whizzing past them. 

The boy looked up at the highway bridge and then down at the road. 

Was there really no hope?

He noticed a woman with a child crossing the road. She was walking in his direction.

He tried calling out to them.

However, no matter how hard he tried, his efforts were futile. All the pedestrians ignored him and headed towards their predestined fates.

His luck really was bad.

“Did I mention that they can’t hear us as well?” 

The man looked weary, considering the fact that he had only spoken a few words. Still, he looked tired and annoyed to even utter that much.

After all, time is of the essence, they couldn’t afford to throw it away by calmly persuading a mere citizen.

God knows how much time would go into that.

The boy prepared to run. Turning around with lightning speed as he mapped out his entire course of action for the next minute but the only thing he saw was the man's palm and soon the darkness devoured him.

The man turned around and looked at the girl, "I told you it was useless, I know my planet. We shouldn’t have wasted time talking to them.”

The girl reluctantly said, "Fine! I get it! Let's take them back to HQ." 

The man rolled his eyes and proceeded to pick them up one by one.

“Kidnapping isn’t fine either, just so you know- that’ll be going on your report.” She murmured back defeatedly.