1 The Summoning

Sunshine, lollipops, and fucking rainbows, that's how I've felt all day! Actually, scratch that; I've been like this all week! Ever since that all-encompassing disk of Light showed up in the skyline, my whole world has been flipped over on my head, and honestly, I've never felt happier!

This is a sentiment shared by the vast majority of people I have talked to, and I'm not so sure what the cause is, but if I had to bet, I would put my money on the mysterious Light looming over our heads.

Oh! Speaking of "The Light," as it had been dubbed, I can't help but think that it may be some kind of test conducted by the U.S government. They claim to have had nothing to do with it, and apparently, it's a worldwide phenomenon, which, by the way, has been proven to be factual; Still, I can't shake off the feeling that there is some greater purpose for its existence other than to 'brighten our day.'

Currently, I'm walking down one of the numerous streets of Lower Manhattan after finishing a five-hour shift at the coffee shop I work at. My home is a fair bit away from my job, so the daily commute takes a little while, but it's not too terribly long. Usually, it's only around forty minutes of walking, give or take, so I tend to get home around eleven.

I look down at my electronic watch to see it read, [10:22]. Since I work in the afternoon, my walk home would usually be dark and lonesome, only illuminated by shop signs, street lamps, and stoplights, but not today, obviously. Everything is as bright as it was yesterday and the day before that! It's really been messing with my sleep schedule...

Smiling, I shake my head as I muse over my thoughts. I notice a posse of 3 girls pass me by. Two of them are on their phones, and the third girl on the left appears to be talking enthusiastically to the group.

The mention of serotonin comes out of the third girl's mouth as I walk by. They inadvertently remind me that I possess my own phone, and I proceed by pulling it out of my pocket. Unlocking it brings me to my home screen with a wallpaper depiction of a baby griffin with a comically oversized head. Subconsciously, my thumb moves to open the search engine as I pay attention to where I am going. I don't want to cause an accident after all.

Instantly, I see why they were talking about serotonin, as the first news article I see says, "Scientists Discover That Hormone Levels Are On The Rise." Directly underneath the feature on hormones is a documentary on a famous chip brand. Now that's what I want to see!

"Legit," I whisper out loud sarcastically, barely hearable to my own ears.

Scrolling through the webpage, I continue towards my destination. I hear the sound of a car passing by while I look at what shows up on my phone. Articles like "What is The Light?" "Are Aliens Responsible for The Mysterious Light?" and "42-Year-Old Woman Believes That She Is Pregnant With The Light's Child." are just a few notable mentions while I search. Most of what I find are directly on The Light, what other people have to say about it, or both.

I know that researchers have been free to, uh, well... research The Light since there hasn't been a discovery of any threats related to it as of yet. Nothing has come of it, unsurprisingly, but there have been a few noted changes in our bodies, such as increased serotonin levels, for example. But, there have also been sharp decreases in violence and crime, and most surprisingly, the complete absence of death amongst humans. That is something which I find very interesting.

Not one death has been recorded following the appearance of The Light, and it's known that notorious criminals have been randomly vanishing into thin air. I wouldn't have believed it if I did not see it, but I did, multiple times, in fact, on live television. A few days ago, there was an armed robbery being broadcast live. Right before the armed gunman was about to shoot a victim taken hostage, he vanished out of existence. Ultimately, no one was hurt, but it did cause a scare.

It was Monday when The Light suddenly emerged out of seemingly nothing causing quite the stir. You would think that the whole world would be going crazy right now, with the amount of political unrest and religious division, which would only be exacerbated by an unknown thing appearing in the atmosphere, but all that happened was us losing a casual seventeen percent of the human population... and those were only the trouble makers for the most part!

It's a known fact that only the criminals disappear, but it doesn't seem to be based on the laws of the nation they disappear from. Murder, rape, theft, arson, all these hefty crimes seem to be punishable, but crimes like lying under oath or disregarding a gambling limit don't seem to be an offense.

To be honest, the only problem is that there is no discrimination. It's already known that children and the mentally handicapped are no exception and that they will also 'disappear' for committing crimes. So if they steal a piece of candy or something, they'll also fall victim to the same rules.

Parents have already been warned to keep an extra watchful eye on their children to ensure they behave unless they want problems to occur. For the most part, it's widely acknowledged that it's best to follow a level of common sense based on the law to avoid the strange punishment. Which I've been doing, but it's a little demanding on my thought processes due to not exactly knowing what counts as theft or not. Will grabbing an item left by a customer and moving it to a safe place count as thievery? I don't know, and I don't really want to test my luck, so my co-workers and I have just been leaving things lying around if they get left behind.

Still lost in thought, I continue to meander my way home while distracted by my phone. I encounter another article on The Light with the title, "The Light; Who; What; When; Where; and Why?" I already know that they probably don't know why it exists and will probably only address speculations, but I open the page anyway, not expecting much.

My eyes scan the page as I read. To sum it up, according to scientists, the disk of Light randomly appeared exactly midnight, my time, on Monday, which I already knew... I think, and quickly spread around the world faster than any software could process precisely. The exact starting location is unknown, and the cause is unknown.

Multiple samples of The Light have been taken, and researchers concluded that The Light is literally just air, or rather, there is no difference to be seen when collecting samples of The Light compared to the surrounding area when it previously did not exist, which has scientists baffled.

There are many speculations as to what caused it, many of which being a failed experiment gone wrong... Or right, depending on who you ask. Many fingers are being pointed at various national powers and even at wealthy individuals or even God. Still, there is no end to the discussion of The Light in sight. Hey, that rhymes!

I smile and turn off my phone after looking at the time. [10:37 PM Sunday, September 5th] it reads. Still feeling a high due to the hormone imbalance I'm experiencing, I hum a couple of tunes on my walk back home.

---

Walking up multiple flights of carpeted stairs to reach my apartment, I finally arrive at a familiar wooden door and a big welcome mat underneath my feet. I open the door, find it unlocked, and step inside.

I yell, "I'm home!" as I enter.

It only takes a couple of seconds before I hear, "Welcome home!" The sound of a woman reaching my ears.

I take off my shoes and backpack before I head further into the house and down the hall. At the end of the passage, I enter my family's spacious kitchen/dining room. To the left of the dining room is the living room, where I see my mother in a pink dress sitting on the sofa with her tablet on her lap. She appears engrossed by whatever she is looking at.

"Hey, Mom. Dad?" I ask while looking in her direction

"Trying to sleep." Mom replies, her long brown hair falling from her shoulder as she turns to glance at me before looking back down.

I nod my head and turn around. I walk to open the fridge in the kitchen. Inside, I see multiple different foods and drink items. I look around a bit before noticing my prize. I reach in and grab some yogurt to take to my room.

"How was your day?" My mother asks while I'm closing the fridge.

"Good," I respond while grabbing a short silver spoon. "The same as it's been this whole week," I add before placing the spoon in my mouth.

With the lacking taste of stainless steel in my mouth, I move to grab a cup out of the cup drawer. I don't have much to talk about with mom. Ultimately, I just want to head back to my room and relax for a little bit, maybe play some video games and talk with my friends.

"That's good." Mom once again responds, seemingly distracted by whatever she is doing.

I quickly grab a cup and fill it with cold water before heading off to my room with my new snack. Reaching my door, I manage to open it with little difficulty despite my hands being full.

Now, inside my room, I spot my computer to the left of my bed, located in the upper-right corner. I move to sit on my chair while placing down my yogurt and cup. Turning on the monitor and logging in, I see that the time is 10:58 PM.

I haven't felt tired or slept all week, probably due to The Light messing me up or something. I will try to get some sleep before 3, but I can't make promises to myself. Not that I can't, just that I don't respect them.

Despite keeping my bedroom light off, It's still bright in my room, as if it was midday. This makes getting sleep difficult, even if I close the window curtains to block The Light. Not that it would make much of a difference; trust me, I know I've tired.

While I wait for everything to boot up on my computer, I open my yogurt and get to eating. Strawberry flavor... Not my favorite, but I still like it.

A little while passes while I try to munch on the non-chewable yogurt, and I hear someone passing by my room.

It's probably just mom.

A few seconds later, I hear a door open and close. Which I suspect to be my mother, entering her and dad's room. She always stays up late at night until I get back home.

I love her.

A little while passes as I finish my yogurt and water.

Honestly, I don't really feel all that motivated to play games or do anything right now. I stare at the home screen of my monitor for a tiny bit and watch different apps update themselves before deciding to instead just hit the hay. For whatever reason, I now feel tired, despite just prior being as awake as a fruitfly tripping on acid.

Getting up from my desk, I close my window curtains to get a modicum of darkness permeating through my room. It instantly becomes a little darker.

Ahh, that's better! It's not much, but it should work.

Undressing until I'm in nothing but my underwear, I throw my clothes into the hamper I keep in my room and launch myself onto my comfortable bed. I dive under my blankets and rest my head on my pillow.

---

Some time passes as I stare at the dark wall, away from any window. My mind is still a little too restless to sleep right now. I can always just look at my phone until I get tired, but I decide not to as it will only prolong the wait.

Not too much time passes before I notice my breathing getting heavier, and I feel the urge to remind myself to breathe every now and then. This indicates to me that I'm getting close to falling asleep. I turn in my bed to look at the clock on the wall. It's hard to see, but the big hand points to the Eleven, while the little hand is between the five and the six.

11:29? I'm not sure.

The clock is not very visible at all, so I can't really tell. Some time passes, and I visibly witness the small hand reach the six. I feel my eyelids grow heavy, and before I know it...

(POV/Tense Switch:)

Unbeknownst to our new young hero, billions of people succumbed to deep tiredness as the entirety of human existence on earth fell into a state of unconsciousness, some sooner than others. Once his clock struck midnight, The bright, bright Light in the sky shone even brighter than before. The disk of Light expanded and contracted while small strands of Light began to emerge from the central body. Suddenly, billions of ribbons, looking much like The Light, fell from the sky and entangled upon whoever they landed.

Immaterial, they passed through objects and obstacles, leaving not one soul untouched. Each ribbon, once entangled, began to ascend its chosen into the sky to continue wrapping them up in their gentle grapples.

Our Hero, Marcus Griff, an eighteen-year-old boy, was grabbed by one of these ribbons. This ribbon looked just the same as the next one. His mother and father were also both entangled in Light but by just one ribbon alone. Not once did anyone wake up from the happenings.

Some of the more intelligent animals watched in awe as bodies upon bodies of humans were dragged into the sky to meet their unclear fate. Once a great race of predators, or maybe even friends, now set upon by a terrifying force from above.

Once the wrappening was complete, each ribbon brought forth its champion up and into the Light. Each being engulfed by the Light and disappearing from view.

And upon the removal of every remaining human left, the disk collapsed in on itself and then exploded in a bright flash. Trillions of shards of Light shot down from the sky, and they rained upon the earth, leaving it glittering in gold.

It's unclear to the humans transported as to what transpired in their rest, but while each was blissful in their dreams, two distinct voices spoke to them upon their entry into the Light. Some remember the voices better than others.

It is widely agreed upon by those that remember; the voices said...

"Hero, now, more than ever, we desperately need your aid. We call upon your chosen few in our most dire time of need. A Mad God has come into power and threatens the very fabric of our reality. We are poised to seek out the Mad God and destroy him once and for all. On behalf of the Realm, will you take up the sword?" A soft feminine voice whispered.

And

"YOU DARE ENTER MY REALM, MORTAL!" The deep roar of a mad god.