"Ahhh, this is the life."
Ludo whispered to himself as he sat comfortably, watching his pot noodles simmer over the campfire.
This place was quite remote, with not a single sign of human civilisation for tens of miles in every direction, surrounded by flora and fauna — with nothing but the occasional whisper of the wind and chirping of birds to accompany him, Ludo felt right at home.
As work was quite stressful, thanks in no small part to his immature and nosy coworkers. So when his rare paid time off arrived, he did what he always did — vanished from the face of the earth and ventured into the wilderness to escape the endless hustle and bustle of city life.
Of course, he was alone, like usual. His lifelong search for a girlfriend bore no fruit, as always, leaving him to enjoy the wonders of nature all by himself.
But Ludo wasn't all that bothered by that; in fact, he rather preferred it.
Some people's biggest fear was loneliness, but Ludo had long accustomed himself to that.
Besides, being lonely and feeling lonely were two very different things.
Loneliness? That was for people who couldn't stand their own company. Ludo, the man he was, loved his own company.
Even at work, he kept to himself, declining the umpteenth invitation to go drinking after hours just the previous day.
This was something he still couldn't understand. Why did they keep inviting him despite him declining every invitation to date? Did they not get the memo?
If he could barely tolerate these people while getting paid to be there, why on earth would he join them for free?
"Ptui!"
He spat in the fire in mild irritation, shaking his head.
'Hahh, lets just forget about them. Can't let the thought of those idiots spoil my time here.'
Glancing at his noodles and seeing they still weren't done, Ludo leaned back and tilted his head upward, toward the vast night sky.
Now this was what he came for!
Aside from the nature, this was 50% his reason for heading so far out to camp alone in the night.
Being tens of miles away from any other humans, there naturally weren't any buildings around to pollute the skies with light.
Right here was the best, most convenient spot for stargazing.
"Ohhh! A shooting star!"
And as if to make his night even better, a rare occurrence unfolded itself before his eyes.
A grin tugged at his lips as a bright streak of like cut across the darkness
'They say you should make a wish when you see a shooting star so…. I wish for a great fortune to fall upon me!' He thought playfully.
With that, he wouldn't have to suffer at his current corporate prison any longer.
Oh, how he hoped and prayed that could happen.
But still, Ludo wasn't naive. His luck was mediocre at best. The most he'd ever won was twenty bucks from a scratch card that cost half that.
Although he followed the common practice of making a wish upon seeing a shooting star, that was just harmless fun, a brief moment for him to return to childish whimsy under the open night sky.
But then…
"Hmm?"
Ludo noticed something peculiar.
The streak of light hadn't yet faded.
Normally, they should only last barely even a moment, right? A blink and you miss it event. Yet this one still burnt brightly, carving a neat line across the heavens.
Intrigued, Ludo kept his eyes trained on the trailing light in the sky, his earlier surprise giving way to excitement and fascination.
He wasn't clueless; he knew that what he was seeing now was likely a large enough meteoroid originating from outer space, burning up in the earth's atmosphere.
This was also what shooting stars were most of the time, but the fact that this one's light still hadn't faded indicated that this one was bigger than usual — big enough that some fragments might survive the fall.
'Too bad it'll probably land a few hundred miles away.' He thought, sighing. 'No chance I'll ever find it.'
However, his facial expression quickly washed away as shock quickly took over, barely able to believe what he had just seen.
"I-it turned!" He scrambled to his feet, nearly kicking over the pot of boiling noodles. "What the hell?!"
It wasn't falling straight anymore. The neat, straight line cutting across the sky quickly made a complete right-angle turn!
This couldn't possibly be a meteor!
The light screamed across the sky, leaving a long, burning trail in its wake. A high-pitched hum began to vibrate in the air — starting low at first, then rising fast, even rattling his teeth!
The fire at his feet flickered violently, flattened by a sudden rush of wind.
Ludo's mind went blank.
"Oh sh—"
He never had the chance to finish his sentence.
The night erupted. A deafening roar tore through the surrounding tens of miles, even alerting some livestock and wild animals awake from their slumber. What followed was a blinding flash that seemed to turn the world white.
The ground trembled, with the air seemingly vanishing, turning the surroundings into a vacuum.
For a moment, Ludo felt weightless, like all of his senses had been drowned out.
For a split second, he thought he saw something in the light, but it was far too fast for his mind to comprehend.
Then he blacked out.