2 Right Man In The Wrong Place

The world was an inherently unfair place.

Levi had heard that quote somewhere or maybe he read it in a book, he wasn't sure.

Yesterday he got sentenced to life in prison without parole. All because he was at the wrong place and at the wrong time.

He didn't kill anyone, but the CCTV caught him at the crime scene and all of the evidence was somehow leading to him.

He was simply doing his part-time job delivering dishes to a customer that happened to be murdered at the same moment.

It was the boyfriend who did it, Levi saw the guy come out of the door with blood all over the clothes and was holding a butcher knife.

Apparently, the psychopath was in the middle of butchering the body of his girlfriend and gave up halfway because it was too messy and too hard to clean up. He just left.

The murder case angered the public so much, Levi still got letters with death threat almost daily.

He told the detectives and his lawyer, he told almost every single person who was willing to listen and help him. But look at him now, still got the life sentence.

His lawyer later told him that the psychopath was the son of someone with power. Levi didn't have to wonder too long why all of the evidence had led to him.

There were two options for his current situation. To stay in prison slash concentration camp for the rest of his life and work without any pay to death, or participate in The Union's expedition and get free from all of his sentence... if he could come back alive.

Both of them were equally awful for him.

He was only starting a new life after finishing paying off his deceased parents' debt. At twenty-six, Levi had barely got the taste of his own money.

He worked at four part-time jobs to save money for college. That's why he didn't report to the police immediately after seeing the psychopath and his butcher knife coming out of the apartment.

He was in a rush to make his daily quota deliveries and the thought of losing his precious part-time job made him decide to ignore the bizarre situation.

'Serves me right,' Levi thought bitterly while reading the conditions for his life-sentence. His useless lawyer was sitting in front of him in the detention room.

"I recommend you take the offer from The Union." His lawyer suddenly said.

"Why? So that psycho can live in peace after I die?" Levi snarled angrily. The chance to survive The Union's expedition was only fifty percent for a mercenary or soldier and almost none for a guy like Levi.

It's not like he couldn't fight. But the only position for prisoners who participated in the expedition was as porters. They only carried heavy baggage and were prohibited from carrying any weapon at all.

Going into those damned monolith gates without a weapon was the same as a suicidal attempt. Levi had read a biography of one of the expedition's survivors, and the first thing he thought after finishing the book was that he was glad he wasn't drafted. Yet.

"They offer to give you money if you comply," his lawyer murmured in a much lower voice.

Levi gritted his teeth furiously, the paper on his trembling hand was crumpled on one side. He stared at the sleazy man in front of him while trying to tone down his temper.

"So they did want me to die there."

His lawyer nodded slightly. "It's a lot of money, Levi. If you have any family member to take care of, this money can help them live comfortably."

'Fuck them!'

But a name suddenly popped into Levi's head.

Lux.

And his anger slowly disappeared as he let go of the tattered paper in his hand. Levi hung his head and thought for a moment.

There was a slim chance he could come back alive. He could run away and wait it out until the expedition was over and slipped back with the remaining survivors.

It was a veeeerrrrryyyy slim chance. But he thought it was better than to rot in prison, besides he needed the money for Lux — and himself IF he could come back alive.

"Okay." He let out a deep calm breath and looked up again. He had no choice from the start anyway. "I'll do it."

The lawyer's face turned bright instantly, his eyes were sparkling with greed.

"I'll do it if you tell me his name." Levi smiled when he saw the lawyer's face turn pale.

"I can't—"

"The deal is over then." He was only bluffing, but Levi was sure this sleazy rat received some money from the person who framed him. "I won't tell anyone. And you know I'm a dead man if I go inside that monolith, so tell me so I can die in peace."

The lawyer sighed and gave up instantly, money always won in the end. "Fine, I'll tell you."

***

It was almost thirty years ago when the first monolith gate appeared out of nowhere in the Grand Canyon. People thought the monolith was some kind of harmless prank or advertising.

The monolith was a long vertical slab of metal, about four meters tall. It looked sturdy and sleek. There was no speck of dust or dirt on the shiny metal, somehow it always stayed clean and looked like new, you could stare at your reflection clearly on the thing.

It was hailed as 'a clever way to attract attention' by the media. It indeed attracted lots of curiosity and attention. People came from all over the place to check the monolith themselves.

And then the second monolith appeared. And the third. And so on. The monoliths started to appear all over the world.

But people's attention was only short-lived.

That, until the first monolith suddenly slid open like a lift door and an endless thick, black smoke started to come out from the inside.

After that people's attention was back to the monolith, but it was accompanied by uneasiness.

What was that thing, who put it there, what was the purpose of those monoliths... For weeks the world was speculating.

The government tried to analyze, they invited scientists, engineers, and every professional in their fields to figure it out. The black smoke was harmless, and it was closer to vapor than smoke.

On the second day of investigation, the government sent two federal military forces into the monolith after they realized that there was some kind of narrow alleyway on the inside of that opened metal slab.

It was bizarre and seemed impossible because the monolith's width was only around one square meter, and yet the two federal soldiers vanished completely to the inside of the monolith. Almost like seeing a magic trick.

They never came back.

The government formed a search and rescue group, but before sending them inside the monolith again they tried to use robots.

It failed because any communication, radio waves, or transmitters died instantly after going into the monolith.

The pressure from the public forced the government to send the rescue team inside. For a whole month, a total of seventy-eight people went inside the monolith and never came back. Never heard again.

The world was watching in horror.

Many speculations and conspiracy theories emerged on the internet, from aliens, black magic, to a conspiracy of the government to start a war.

The nuts and wackies also emerged from their caves and started to worship the monolith; various cults even tried to claim the closest monolith in their area.

But there was no logical explanation. Nobody had any idea what the fuck was happening.

Until one day, a creature came out of the monolith.

And the chaos started.

The first monster was some kind of a terrifying animal crossbred between hyena and rat, but it was as big as a Great Dane. Its rat-like mouth was clacking furiously, spraying revolting spittle all over its face.

The creature slaughtered a small scientific research base near the monolith in under twenty four hour.

Humans after all were the weaker species, and in the midst of the catastrophe the government decided to bomb the base along with the monolith.

Everything died in that tragedy, but the monolith was still erected the same as before. There was no dent, no dirt, no speck of dust on the opened metal slate. Looked almost brand new like it had just appeared the day before, and still released thick black smoke from the inside.

It was only the start of the war. Humans versus whatever came out from the monolith.

The nations slowly crumbled one by one and then emerged again as four different nations. There was no America, Russia, China, India, or other countries no more. Humans finally acted as one, as a species, fighting for their own survival.

The world was divided into four separate nations; North, East, South, and West. In times of life and death, people didn't have time to muddle over race or power anymore.

In this war, people got drafted no matter their gender as long as they're of age. Everybody went through the same gruelling mandatory military service for eighteen months, usually right after they got out of high school.

The hardest creatures to be defeated were the ones with high intelligence. Blue Goblins, Orcus, Mirfin, and Drugar.

The last one almost conquered the North Nation completely.

Weaponry and technology advanced rapidly as time went by. They even used biological weapons to take down Blue Goblins and wipe them completely.

But in war, peace and freedom always came with a price.

Hundreds of millions of people died in vain in the first ten years, trying to defend what's left of their country.

And tens of millions of children lost their parents and became orphans in the first generation of the Great War. Levi was only one of them.

Nowadays, they didn't call it 'war' anymore.

The governments from four nations suggested changing it to 'an expedition' to make it less aggressive. And then the official organization that would be responsible for the expedition was born.

It's called The Union.

The leader was Julian Kaiser, the first mercenary who came back alive from the monolith.

There were two other private organizations or guilds that cooperate with The Union. There were Dorthmayer and Shanorak.

Dorthmayer was famous for its vicious mercenaries and soldiers, it was led by Grand Admiral Lars Seville.

As for Shanorak, there was little information about the hierarchy in the guild but the rumour said that the highest rank in Shanorak was called the Grand Inquisitor.

Shanorak was known for its advanced technologies and researches in medication and drugs. Their most famous invention was their blue and red pills.

Humans slowly regained their glory and civilization returned to the way it was before. Everything was moderately peaceful.

Or so they thought.