World of Elestia: Seasons of War

(Spring) Chapter 1: End of The Old World

July 16, 2069, day of the Invasion.

An old man with a face sagging with age walked hurriedly into the labotary. He wore a white coat almost too big for him. Under the coat he had a red shirt, he also wore a pair of jeans worn down with age. He had long white spiky hairs that almost made him look like an old lion, the image was further helped by how confidently he walked throught the lab as if he owned it, which to be fair he did.

The old man turned toward one of his loyal employer who was looking around the lab nervously. ''How are things going? Are we ready for the first test?'' He asked the younger man with a booming voice that could be heard in all the lab.

''U-um Professor Dogwood our preparation are almost ready, the first test should begin in about two minutes.'' The younger man responded shakily.

Benjamin Dogwood nodded with a satisfied expression plastered on his face. ''I can't believe it's finally close to completition, my life's work. With this we will change the world of space travel. You should be proud Professor Wilden!'' Professor Dogwood said before slapping the man on the back with a loud guffaw.

At that moment a woman with a no-nonsense expression came toward both of them holding a clipboard in her hands. ''Professor Dogwood? Please take your place. We're about to open the portal.''

The old scientist walked quickly toward a room full of chairs facing a complex machine humming with barely contained raw energy. The Professor sat in the front row keeping his eyes fixed on the machine as if he was scared it would vanish out of thin air at any moments.

They had to wait around five more minutes for the seat to fill in. When the seats were finally all filled, the same younger scientist from before came on stage. He looked just as nervous as before maybe even more. ''Hello everyone my name is Professor Franklin Wilden. I work here as both a scientist and the chief engineer of Balsam Wood labotary.'' The man took a pause to take a sip of a glass of water and then took a deep breath to continue his speech.

''Today is a historic day for both science and humanity. Our team of scientists worked tirelessly for almost a decade now to advance space travel technology to the point where we can send humans to other galaxies. Something most people thought would take another century at least. But we decided to think outside the box. We always thought we wouldn't be able to reach other galaxies until we managed to travel at the speed of light. But thanks to the revolutionary invention of the D.T. Starleap we won't need to. This invention will allow astronauts to teleport their ship anywhere with a precision of around one thousand kilometers. Rendering the need for light speed completely moot.'' The nervous man stopped talking as the crowd started clapping politely at his speech.

''And with that I'm happy to let Professor Benjamin Dogwood take the stage.'' The man sighed in relief as he exited the stage, he never was any good with crowds. Before he could retreat any further a young boy ran toward him and grabbed him by the leg.

''Daddy! Are you done with your boring speech? I'm hungry!'' Franklin rosed an eyebrow at that.

''Boring? This invention could change our world forever! It will be like all those movies you always love to watch.'' Judging by the bored looks on his face the boy wasn't interested.

''Sure it will, you always say that and then only a handful of people ever get to touch your inventions.'' He said with a pout.

The man rolled his eyes evidently this wasn't the first time this conversation had came up. ''Listen teleportation is not a toy, we can't give it to just anyone. We need to give it to people who will use it responsibly.'' He said in a lecturing tone.

''Boring! I'm hungry, can we go eat?'' The boy asked restlessly.

The man sighed in barely conceiled annoyance. ''Professor Dogwood is about to open the portal for the first time, I can't miss that for-'' He was interrupted as he noticed the growl in his own stomach. ''Ugh, fine I guess I'm hungry too and the first test won't be that interesting anyway. After all for the first test we will only open the Starleap at a random locations in space to begin with. We'll probably see nothing but empty space for the first few tests. So let's go eat.''