Goblins versus Seers
Aiman awoke suddenly, breaking out in cold sweat. He was in his room and it was still dark outside. It was just a nightmare. He had dreamed of a terrible earthquake occurring in his town. With unnerving clarity, he had seen how everyone was dying. It took him a long time to go back to sleep.
School was uneventful the next day but late in the afternoon, when he and his best friend, Zahid, were walking towards the park, a violent earthquake occurred.
Struggling to maintain balance, he saw a tree break cleanly in half. It fell straight towards a mother and her child who had been standing beneath it, in the same way as Aiman had seen in his nightmare. He rushed forward and pulled the mother and child away, saving them.
More people cried out in terror. Aiman suddenly realized that everything in his nightmare was coming true. He hurried over to save everyone, racing from one victim to the other; thwarting destiny itself. He was the only one who knew when someone would fall into trouble before they actually did.
At last, when all was silent, Aiman waited at the park’s center. He knew that a final aftershock will rip open the ground and a boy will fall in. But where was that boy? He looked around. Although he hadn’t seen the boy’s face in his dream, he remembered the boy’s outfit; a blue T-shirt and jeans. ‘Wait, I’m also wearing a blue T-shirt and jeans’, he thought. Horrified, he tried to run away but the ground shook violently again. A loud crack rang in his ears and he felt the ground beneath him give way. Darkness swallowed everything as he fell deep into the earth.
* * * * *
When he opened his eyes, his heart skipped a beat. Crowding around him were creatures that looked like human beings with a shambolic mix of animal parts; snouts, horns, claws and more disfigurations that Aiman didn’t want to see. He jumped up and cowered against the wall behind him. They were in a vast underground cave, dimly lit by flaming torches. All of the creatures wielded weapons, half-hidden in the flickering firelight.
“Thought you could fool us, Seer!” one of the creatures scoffed. It had ram’s horns, snake’s fangs and a hedgehog’s paws. “Thought you were very clever, huh?”
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Aiman said. “Please, let me go. I’m not trying to trick you or anything.”
“Liar!” a creature with tiger’s teeth shouted. “Do you think we are blind? Do you think we cannot see, cannot feel what you filthy humans do to our home? How you destroy our forests, poison our rivers and drive our kind to extinction? That’s why we send earthquakes. To kill as many of you as we can. But no, you insolent fool had to save everyone! But you won’t ruin our plans for long, little Seer. No. Just see what we do to you.” 
They drew their weapons; blades glinting evilly in the firelight. Aiman swallowed hard.
The ceiling exploded. Showers of earth and rock came raining down on the creatures. A man in a white suit fell through the hole in the ceiling and landed on his feet. ‘Am I being rescued by an astronaut?’ The man began to fight the creatures. His strength was incredible. In the midst of the battle, he tossed another white suit at Aiman.
“Put it on and let’s get out of here!”
Aiman recognized that voice.
“Zahid?”
“What? Just put the suit on!”
Aiman was shocked. Zahid, his best friend, was fighting creatures and rescuing him.
Dazed, Aiman put on the suit. Immediately he felt energized. He punched a creature and it flew twenty feet away.
Aiman grinned.
“Wow! I feel like I’m Iron Man!”
He and Zahid fought the creatures until all were unconscious.
“Is that all of them?” said Aiman.
Zahid frowned as he scanned the area.
“No. It’s actually a small group.”
“Small? There are like a hundred here.”
“Yeah. We should go before reinforcements arrive.”
They did so by climbing back the way Zahid had come. The special suits allowed them to climb at superhuman speed. In less than an hour, they reached the surface. They were in a grassy plain and Aiman could see their town in a distance.
“Wow,” said Aiman, panting heavily. Although the suits made it easier, it was still tiring climbing up several hundred meters. “What did we just do, man?”
When Zahid caught his breath, he explained everything to Aiman. The creatures were goblins and they called him a Seer because that was his special power: he could get brief glimpses of the future in his dreams.
“And there are a few people like us,” continued Zahid. “We work together to help save people. And that suit you’re wearing, it’s from the future. We managed to create it before the scientists. We use these special technologies from the future to save people in the present. So what do say? Want to join our group? Want to fight those goblins and save the world?”
Aiman smiled.
“Bring it on.”