EYE

“Message received” 

“…” 

“After millennia of mining and destruction of our planets caused by humans, we present an ultimatum. On behalf of Terrestrial 102, we request that humans provide us with full control over Earth and its resources. If no response is heard within the next 24 hours, we will destroy Earth.” 

Iris looked at the message. She was alone, cleaning out the desk of the messaging room of the Extraterrestrial Engineering Head Building, when the message appeared in red on the main screen. Fear took over her. Her father was the head of Extraterrestrial Engineering, a company in charge of mining precious metals found on alien planets. Worried, she frantically dialled her father, asking about the message. 

Before the first ring, Iris’s father had already picked up. Her father informed her that discussions were being made in The Meeting Room to make a bargain with the robot aliens. 

“There is nothing to be worried about, my precious Iris,” assured her father. 

Iris was not convinced. In the span of the next twenty-four hours, the legacy of her father's company, the painstaking dedication and countless hours, was going to disappear in front of her eyes. Her world was going to be gone! 

As the weight of this impending loss looked down upon her, Iris knew what had to be done. 

“I’ll have to take matters into my own hands!” Iris exclaimed, determination burning in her eyes like fiery pits. 

She wanted to be the one in power. The main character in her own story. This was her chance to prove herself worthy, like her father. But how was she going to save Earth? Iris decided to look towards Buddha, a symbol of wisdom and enlightenment, for guidance. 

“Buddha, what can I do to save our planet?” 

“Travel to another realm and seek aid” 

“Which realm?” 

“Iris, it is up to you to decide.” 

Iris, confused, thanks Buddha for the help and heads over to her father’s spaceship.

This spaceship was her father’s prized possession, capable of traversing across vast distances and even different realms. She hopped in and examined the buttons. There was a large red button labelled “Home” and six other smaller buttons in various colours indicating the different realms the spaceship was capable of travelling to. 

Hell Beings 

“This must be it. I must travel to the realm of hell beings!” Iris remarked. 

WHOOSH 

In an instant, Iris was taken away into the land of hell beings. A fiery landscape appeared outside the window of her spaceship. The air shimmered from the intense heat, distorting the scenery beyond. 

Carefully, Iris navigated the blazing atmosphere, searching for a hell being. Alas, she finds one. 

With a deep breath, Iris addressed the hell being with the microphones aboard the spaceship. She details the dire situation she is in and her quest to vanquish the robotic aliens of Terrestrial 102. Her words rang through the hellish void, carrying the weight of her desperation and hope. 

After a moment, the hell being makes an offer. It will use black magic to transform Iris into a mighty demigod, however, in return, Iris must give up her eyes. 

Iris couldn’t believe it. The prospect of leaving her mortal limitations and ascending to the stature of a demigod was an opportunity she couldn’t miss. She would become undefeatable. Without hesitation, she gladly accepted the offer. 

The demigod reached out his hands and sucked the eyeballs right out of Iris’s eye sockets. Pain pierced through her head. This was soon shut down by the adrenaline inside her body as she felt the black magic transforming her. A surge of energy passed through her and Iris began to feel more powerful with every passing second. 

Though she couldn’t see anymore, Iris could feel and hear just fine. After the transformation, Iris thanked the hell being. She felt around the spaceship for the large red button and pressed on it. She felt herself getting dizzy as the spaceship whisked her back to the human realm. 

WHOOSH 

Iris climbed out of the spaceship and slowly navigated around the corridors of the Extraterrestrial Engineering Head Building that she had walked through countless times in her life, only this time without her eyes. 

Eventually, Iris arrives at The Meeting Room. She effortlessly opens the heavy, solid steel doors. The conversations—both human and alien—abruptly hushed upon the opening of the

door. They sat in a semi-circle facing the door, fixing their gaze on Iris, waiting to hear what this intruder had to say. 

“I will not give you control of Earth. I will not let you destroy my home!” screams Iris with unwavering determination. As her voice rang through the ears of the board members, her father, and the aliens, Irish lifted her hands. 

A bolt of lightning escaped from her palms, hitting the ceiling. The lights crackled. Then, the room was filled with a flash of pure white. As the light became brighter, the humans and aliens covered their eyes with their palms, shielding themselves from the blinding singularity. 

Suddenly, Iris heard the sound of falling sand and the room died down to a chilling silence. “Hello?”, Iris asked, her voice frail. 

There was no response. 

Iris felt along the curved table, towards her father’s seat. As she reached her hands out, she felt nothing. A sense of dread rushed through her veins. She frantically searched around for her father. When she touched the chair cushion, she felt only a pile of sand. 

Her breath caught in her throat as she sifted through the particles, her fingertips registering the truth. This was not sand. This was ashes. 

She had underestimated her powers. Iris had saved Earth, her home, from being claimed by robot aliens but at the same time lost her other home, her father. 

Iris’s knees faltered and she crumbled to the ground, her body filled with grief. She whimpered as her mind confronted the devastating scenario that had occurred. The price of her victory was etched in ashes, reminding her of how blinded she was by her desire for power.