[ WP ] A tattoo of earth suddenly appears on every living thing on earth . A rival planet declares war on earth and a voice is heard from the ground `` you have lived on me for a long time , now fight for your home '' .

I woke with a start. I looked to my right. The clock read 7:46AM, Saturday. I looked to my left, where Jenny was. The peace in her face was so satisfying when she was sleeping. What a beautiful woman. 
 
 With a muffled groan, I climbed out from my bed and slowly stood up. I made my way to the bathroom without bothering to put on anything over my boxers. I turned the shower on, and stood leaned over the sink, waiting for the water to warm up. 
 
 Then I looked up. 
 
 My jaw dropped, as in the mirror I noticed a large impression of Earth covering the majority of my chest. The detail was remarkable, and it seemed almost alive. Like if you took a magnifying glass you could see millions of people living there lives. 
 
 Who the hell would tattoo someone in their sleep? And how the hell did I not wake up? I was furious! 
 
 I walked back into my bedroom, forgetting the running shower, started to wake Jenny up. But as I reached for her shoulder, I noticed the edge of a foreign marking peeking out from her covers residing on her chest. 
 
 I gently rubbed her shoulder, and whispered to her. “ Jenny, wake up. ” 
 
 She squinted without opening her eyes. “ Mhmm. What ’ s up? ” 
 
 “ Look at my chest. ” I said. 
 
 She opened her eyes a little, and raised her eyebrows. “ What the hell, James? When did you get that? ” 
 
 “ Look at your chest. ” I motioned down. 
 
 She looked down, and jumped up. “ What the fuck?! ” She had the same tattoo I had. 
 
 “ I don ’ t know! I just woke up with this shit! ” I put my hand on my mouth in frustration. 
 
 She got up and made her way to the bathroom mirror and a look of anger and confusion on her face. 
 
 I reached for my phone. “ I ’ m going to call my dad. ” 
 
 My dad was a tattoo artist in his younger years, but his life took a different turn and he ended up in med school. He might know how to explain this. 
 
 I opened my phone to an unread text message, sent twenty minutes ago. One was from my best friend/business partner, Sam. It was a picture of his chest with the same damn tattoo, captioned “ I woke up with this, but I didn ’ t put it there ” 
 
 I shook my head, and switched over to call my dad. The phone rang for a second before he answered. 
 
 “ Son, I ’ m having a rough morning. What do you need? ” He said, clearly flustered. 
 
 “ Dad, Jenny and I woke up with weird tattoos we didn ’ t have done. We ’ re freaking out. ” I said. 
 
 He paused, and sighed. “ You too, huh? Your mother and I woke up to the same thing. ” 
 
 I furrowed my eyebrows, and looked over to Jenny, who overheard the phone. She looked at me, baffled. 
 
 After almost two hours of talking about it, we threw on clothing and decided we should take it to the police. Some crazy psycho must have targeted me and my loved ones. 
 
 We drove to the station, and arrived to find a line reaching out the door. 
 We parked on the side of the road, and got out to join the line. 
 
 A middle-aged woman turned to us from the end of the line. “ You got tattoos? ” 
 
 My eyes, widened, and nodded. It suddenly hit me. Everyone in this line was here for the same reason we were. They all had the tattoo. 
 
 I looked over to Jenny and it was clear she figured it out too. Her face was written with confusion. 
 
 An officer walked out. “ May I have your attention, please? If you are here in regards to a tattoo from an unknown source, we are looking into it as a high priority. The only thing we can confirm at this time is that a large percentage, potentially 100 %, of the population has received said markings. We are doing all we can to seek justice for this violation of person. There is nothing more we can do for you here, so please, if you are here in regards to these tattoos, please write your name and number on this board and exit the premises. ” 
 
 Frustrated, we did as asked, and decided to go to a local diner for breakfast. 
 “ It could be worse. If everyone has it, no one will judge us for having it. ” Jenny said, forking up a piece of waffle. 
 
 “ I guess. It just feels so weird. Like, there ’ s no way someone snuck into everyone ’ s bedroom and tattooed everyone. A large group of people couldn ’ t even do that, especially since you would have to probably drug everyone to keep them asleep. It just….it just doesn ’ t make any sense. ” I expounded while sliding a fried egg back and forth on my plate. 
 
 I looked to Jenny, expecting a reply. But I noticed her expression was strange. She seemed vacant. 
 
 “ Jenny? ” I asked. 
 
 Not a moment after that time froze around me, and the walls and floors melted away, as if buckets of paint had been spilt over them. However instead of paint, the walls vanished into an abyss. It was strange, the space seemed as if it was empty and filled at the same time. I genuinely couldn ’ t tell if I reached my hand out whether I would feel anything or not. 
 
 I yelled in shock. Terrified, I looked around me. 
 
 Suddenly, blue lights faded into existence all around me. There were millions, perhaps billions. They started rotating, and clustering, as if they were a galaxy. I looked closer, caught glimpses of images in the lights. It was a story in each light. I saw babies, I saw weddings and I saw people holding their children for the first time. I saw loved one ’ s dying, I saw new couples dancing in childlike joy….and much, much more. 
 
 Despite my terror, I was overwhelmed with emotion. It was as if I could feel the stories and lives of millions of people. 
 
 And I looked at myself….and realized, I was a blue light. I was part of the galaxy, one spec in the greater picture. I looked next to me, and in the light next to me, I saw myself. I saw my wedding, I saw my first date with Jenny…and then I saw a little girl, and younger versions of my in-laws….and it hit me. 
 
 The light was Jenny. 
 
 I reached out, but I had no hand. I just wanted to hold her and be with her, to ignore how terrified I was. 
 
 But at that moment, I was distracted by a growing, larger blue light in the center of the galaxy. I watched as it grew to a massive size, as if a planet in comparison. The galaxy I was part of no longer felt sizeless, and suddenly I felt like tiny, as if a comet passing by a star. 
 
 The huge light suddenly took shape, and formed into a planet. I looked closer, and recognized the land patterns on it. It was Earth. 
 
 The planet glowed, and was translucent as if it were holographic. Inside it, the silhouette of a person appeared. So vague, I couldn ’ t tell if it was male or female, or any other detail, but its presence was somehow strong and demanding of respect. 
 
 And suddenly, the whole galaxy froze. A moment in time, paused. 
 
 A toneless voice appeared in my head. Almost as if a thought, but not my own. It wasn ’ t said in English, but I understood it perfectly anyways. 
 
 “ I am Earth. I am home. I come to you in a moment of need. I have been your home for as long as you and your oldest ancestors have drawn breath. I have given you life. I have loved you, despite your neglect. You are mine, and I treasure you. 
 
 Now, a selfish race seeks to take you from me. They seek to take your place, and use me for their selfish purposes. They are from an alien world, one which has been abused and destroyed by such a lost civilization that seeks to take me. 
 
 I come to you, because I love you. I want you to fight for what we have. So rare across the universe is it to have what we have. These invaders must be silenced for their crimes. The abuse of the gift they ’ ve received should be punished. Their gull to think themselves worthy of taking what we have deserves a remorseless genocide on their people. Not one of them doubts their right to take me. 
 
 I come to you, because they are coming. You are the only thing that can save what we have together. I love you. I trust you. If you love me, fight for me. ” 
 And with that, the figure in the middle collapsed within itself and the blue lights around me faded into darkness. 
 
 I opened my eyes, and stared into Jenny ’ s. We sat, in the diner, wide eyed and stunned. I heard a crash, and turned to see the waitress had dropped a dish. Everyone stood stunned. 
 
 “ So….what do we do? ” Jenny whispered. 
 
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 Thanks for reading! If this gets enough upvotes I will write more, but I spent an hour and a half on this as it is haha. 

