The Invasion

The ignorant mind, with its infinite afflictions, passions and evils, is rooted in the three poisons. 

"This just in. You're looking at a very disturbing live shot right there. That is the Petronas Twin Towers and we have unconfirmed reports this morning that what is identified as a space ship has crashed into one of the twin towers. CNN centre has just-"

"We are coming to you live in Bogota, Colombia where what looks like an invasion is happening in-"

"The President of the United States has issued a state of emergency and that everyone should remain calm  and-"

"The Eiffel Tower has collapsed-"

"We are coming to you live in St. Petersburg, Russia-" 

"Sheikh Ibn Abdullah Jalil Al-Sarak has released an official statement that Abu Dhabi-" 

Richard smiled when he saw one by one nations were falling. He flipped through the channels of each news station and watched the Great Wall of China crumbled, the Taj Mahal fell to the ground in shambles, the Empire State building destroyed. Even Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Jeneiro split into half when Zlavik invaded. 

The world as they know it was in chaos. 

Greed

Richard wore a silver ring with a deep blood red ruby adorned to it on his bony ring finger. He buttoned down his freshly ironed white shirt as he slowly walked across the room to fix his tie. He nonchalantly picked up a sleek black tie and put it up to his collar while his other hand picked up a metallic blue tie. He quizically scrutinized his reflection to see which one will fit nicely to his already pale skin.

As he tucked away the black tie away in his drawer, he stopped when his eyes caught a familiar picture frame. Gently, he picked up the 6x4 inch photo frame and his breath hitched in his throat. 

He remembered he threw this photo frame away. 

He swore he did when he gave up his human life, sold his soul to the Zlavik in exchange for immortality. 

He remembered where and when this photo was taken: Autumn when they went to the States for a holiday. Richard was standing proud and tall. He was still skinny but his face was fuller, his cheeks were tinted pink from the cold and his lips were blood red. He had life in his eyes and his golden locks shone under the sunlight. His daughter, Morgan who was 14 at the time was on his right, her golden locks tied into a ponytail and her hands were on trying to hold back her laughter to whoever took a photo of them. His wife was on his left, also with blonde hair and green eyes had her arms wrapped around her husband and her head resting on his chest. 

He used to call them his favourite girls, back when he was still human.

But that all changed when he joined the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). 

"They are a bunch of lunatics, darling. You remember my friend, John in Texas. He worked for NASA and the people there are crazy! They are still so caught up over the whole Rosewell thing that happened eons ago." Clara told him over dinner one night. 

"I am a clinical doctor not a mad scientist. They are starting up a youth space program and I am taking the position as their doctor." he reasoned with his wife. 'And also the money.' he added but he never told her that. 

Richard never believed in other life forms till the third month on the job at KARI. He was on the 4th floor in the West Wing where they supposedly, according to the staff members, keep fossils of alien life forms, plants and other crazy things. 

Then, he saw it. The corpse of a Zlavik.  

He couldn't believe his eyes either when he first saw it either. It was like looking at a human skeleton except that it was much taller and its bones were not white or have any white powder when pounded from calcium. It was black like charcoal and reeked of sulphur. 

"We do not know what it is." Professor Greyson was a man in his 60s and was balding. If Morgan met him, she would have called him Santa Claus due to his size and his friendliness. 

"How did it... you know-" Richard found it a struggle to say the word but the professor caught on.

"Died?" the professor shrugged as it took measurements of a the corpse. "Can't say but looking at the corpse, we can say that it died about a month ago? We found it in a pod like thing along with this." He points at the table next to the corpse where there were tons of things lined up on it. Richard went over to the table to have a closer look at them when his eyes caught a shiny object. 

The ring had a clear stone that shone under the bright lighting of the laboratory. For some odd reason, he just couldn't pull away from the silver ring. 

He turned around to see the professor was busying himself, humming a tune while he worked at his work station. Rick quickly took the ring from the table and slipped it in his pocket. When he turned around, he nearly died from shock to see Professor Greyson behind him. 

"God, you scared me." he said letting out an awkward laugh but the Professor didn't laugh back. Instead he pulled him away from the work table and his hand on his shoulder in a friendly manner.

"A little word of advice, Rick my boy." he said patting the younger's back as they walked away from the table. But, Richard had a hard