Chapter 1 - Void Yet Bustling

Birds quietly chirped as they perched on the branches of the tall trees, in the east, dawn began as the first rays of sunshine shone through the horizon, the sun slowly rose to start a new day. Accompanying this is the gentle blowing of a breezy wind, as the city slowly came to life with the bustling sound of traffic in the streets and boulevards, and the hurried footsteps of pedestrians rushing along the streets to and fro across the futuristic metropolitan city. It was a normal city at first glance, but there was one eerie difference that would make one feel fear from the deepest depths of their mind.

Despite the sound of footsteps tapping across the pavement, the loud exchange of beeps and horns from cars stuck in traffic, and the cacophony of human conversations echoing from within restaurants, buildings, food stalls, and streets themselves, not one human could be found in the beautiful city of Sterling.

Not one human…except for one man, a male of short stature with black hair and sharp features, his dull blue eyes set atop a handsome nose. Around his neck is an I.D. on which the name, Neo was written. Murmuring over and over, Neo walked down the streets in a seemingly pointless manner, he walked on, without pattern or rhythm.

"Ninety-one, Ninety-two, Ninety-three…Ninety-four…" Neo muttered almost inaudibly, counting up with each step taken, he continued down the street, turning left and right occasionally. He then stopped at his hundredth step, taking a deep steadying breath, he looked up at the clear blue sky, the whole city continued to echo with activity, but then suddenly stopped. Holding his breath, Neo looked around frantically as if searching for something, his eyes darting around like crazed bees. Suddenly his once lifeless eyes lit up with hope, similar to a small imperceptible spark, to a blazing torch. Opening his mouth to speak, he instead let out a dry cough before speaking in a hoarse voice.

"S-system Register!! Cough!! N-Neo Pawnsworth!! Couch Cough"

Tears welling in his eyes, Neo looked around him as particles of light began to gather around him into humanoid forms. Then the light particles began to form intricate systems of root-like shapes, the human nervous system, after that the lights continued on, forming the bones, the muscle tissue, the skin, and then black particles of dust clustered together to form the clothing. Moments later the people who were walking by Neo stopped and stared at Neo with wide eyes, surprise evident in their shocked faces. Suddenly, one of them took out their phone and dialed to call someone, it didn't ring, but the pedestrians who saw Neo began to form an encirclement around him as they backed away. It was almost like they'd experienced it many times before, Neo opened his mouth and spoke in his hoarse voice.

"H-help me, P-please…I'm not going to hurt anyone, I- COUGH- just need some help…"

Before Neo could speak any further, however, two armor-plated troupe carriers arrived at a screeching halt, which was then followed by the pedestrians hurrying away from the area calmly. From the two carriers, out came a dozen armed and heavily armored men, all carrying weapons, which looked like a cross between a shotgun and a grenade launcher, the weapon was silver in color and had red lights glowing along its metal surface. They encircled Neo and aimed their weapons at him, which prompted him to raise his arms in defense.

"GET ON YOUR KNEES!"

Shouted one of the men, then he cocked his weapon which then made pulsating noises. Neo slowly knelt, he looked at the soldiers in fear. He knew he wasn't a criminal and that he had done nothing wrong, but being surrounded by these armed men made him feel like he was a terrorist. After they surrounded him guns aimed and ready, another person came out of the carriers, one wearing a black uniform with a silver emblem on his lapel, and a tag on his sleeve. He had tanned skin, and a shaved head, his eyes looked sharp and they gave off a lethal but restrained feeling.

"I am Sargent Stratholth of the Sterling Commission of Defense! State your name and affiliation!! Any hostile act will be met with defensive retaliation, we will open fire if you don't state your intentions!!"

Stratholth roared, his voice echoing in the now empty street, further down the block, barricades were being set up while the crowd watched the scene unfold, among them a girl with black hair and brown eyes watched, her face full of shock and astonishment as her lips trembled.

"It…I-It can't be…"

She whispered to no one. Neo's body shook with tension as he coughed violently, before responding in his hoarse voice

"I need help…please…I'm Neo Pawnsworth…I have no affiliation…nor are my intentions ill-conceived…please!! Help me…"

After another fit of violent coughing, the tall clean shaven officer gestured for his men to lower their weapons, then one of the men broke off from the encirclement to approach and cuff Neo. The restraints looked odd, they resembled two huge blocks with only a hole wide enough to fit one's arms, running through their center. After Neo put his arms into the holes, the holes suddenly shrank, tightening snugly around his bony wrists. The armed man then escorted Neo to the armored vehicle and they promptly drove off, Neo remained quiet within the vehicle as he recalled, his life before returning…from the Shatter Zone.

Neo was born into a beautiful family, one that was kind, loving, caring, and almost perfect, almost. He was the eldest child and only had one sister, who was younger than him by two years, named Arche, nicknamed Arcy. They were opposites of each other, Neo was slender and frail, while Arcy was healthy and energetic. Neo was a neat freak, while Arcy had trouble keeping clean when she was allowed to play outside.

They were opposites, in all things, except, for their love of their parents, which was why despite their opposing personalities, they were still the closest of siblings there ever could be, playing together at home or outside when Neo wasn't feeling too lethargic. This was a rare thing though, because Neo was often feeling lethargic because of his weak body, and thus had to stay at home reading books or studying with his parents who were both educators, in different subjects of course. His mother was a language teacher, and was proficient in many of them, like Japanese, Arabic, Cantonese and Mandarin, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and many others. She was able to both speak and read any language she taught, albeit she would need to refresh herself every now and then to keep her speaking skills sharp. While his mother was the bookish one, his father, on the other hand, was practical, and skilled in anything mechanical, technological, and functional. Basically, he was a mechanic, inventor, engineer, and programmer, which made him proficient with a wrench, keyboard, and calculator. He was smart and creative, often hunched over a desk either, drawing diagrams and blueprints for his inventions, twisting screws and testing machines or mechanisms, or tapping away on a computer keyboard to program a machine operating system or whatnot, Neo knew what his father does, but that didn't mean he understood what the machines do or how they work. But he loved both his mother and father and enjoyed learning things from them, like how to say I love you in 15 different ways, in 15 different languages or how to build a robot that can deliver butter from the other side of the table, and cut a slice of the chicken before serving it on your plate.

Neo grew up to be smart, sharp, creative, and decisive, but he also had flaws, which were evident as he grew up. Despite his sharp intellect, he was impulsive and rash, often letting his anger get the better of him, which made him a target of bullies and bullying. Neo wasn't athletic, so most of his fights ended with him having received an injury, like cuts and bruises.

He lived peacefully, with his parents and little sister…until he turned 12.

On a Sunday noon, underneath a beautiful oak tree sat a young boy, his long black hair fluttered about as the wind blew, and the pages of his book were swept up. Sighing softly, Neo turned the pages back a few and continued to read, the book was about an adventurous young lad who made amazing machines out of random trash to fight monsters and villains that sought to invade his world. Neo thought it was both cool and unreasonable. Machines built from trash not only sounded improbable, but even if it were possible to create, it would be impractical. Parts that can be scavenged from the trash were likely to be damaged, decaying, or disintegrating. As these thoughts continued to turn in his head, Neo heard his mother call for him.

"Neo! It's time for lunch!!"

"Okay, Mom!!"

Neo shouted back before he stood up and stretched. Book in hand, he walked back into the house. Before he could open the door, however. Neo thought heard someone shout his name which made him stop to take a look at who it was. After glancing back, Neo saw no one and decided it was just his imagination playing tricks on him.

With a shrug, Neo opened the door and went upstairs to wash his face and hands in the bathroom, after which he went to his room and put the book back in its place on the large tall shelf he had. There was a variety of books on the shelf, each with a unique design and title, most of the books were novels but there were also educational books that Neo read to learn from. After admiring his collection for a bit, he went downstairs.

As he was walking down the rickety creaking boards, however, he bumped into his father who seemed to pop out of nowhere. His father was carrying a pile of books in each hand, all of them thick enough to be used as a chopping block. They towered way above his father's head.

"Hey now, watch where you're going…these books are heavy enough to crush you to mush kid…" His father said with a rueful smile.

"Sorry Dad, I didn't see you walking up…"

"Huh, are you sick? If you are then eat some lunch, and get some sleep…you stayed up all night working on that...what was it called?... Lightsaber? Yeah…get some grub, and then some rest so your malfunctioning lenses can recover" His father scolded before continuing on his way upstairs.

Neo entered the dining room and plopped down unto a chair with a dazed look on his face. His mother noticed this and thought he was just hungry and placed a plateful of food in front of him. Not wishing to give his mother a reason to worry, ate the food slowly while his mind wandered.

Neo often found himself stuck in these moments of contemplation, finding it both mesmerizing and scary how one might get lost in their deepest thoughts. However, he soon snapped out of his reverie after his vision once again warped and the image of his family members began flickering out like a T.V. screen. Neo frantically stood up from his chair, dropping his spoon on his porcelain plate very loudly, which made his Dad glance at him.

"Neo? You okay bud?" His father asked with a worried tone.

"Neo honey? What's wrong? You look sick?" His mother's worried voice began to sound distorted like that of a broken radio news announcement.

"M-mom, I-I d-don't know what's wrong…somethings…happen-i-n-"

Just as Neo was about to respond to his mother, Neo's form began to flicker in the same way his parents were doing so in his eyes, only this time, It was he who was rapidly phasing in and out of existence in his family's point of view.

"Wh-what the hell!?" His father cried out in shock as the whole house began to shake and tremble. The items on the shelves rattled and slid off the edges before falling and shattering on the floor or producing loud thuds.

"E-earthquake! Rachel! Grab Lilly and get into the bunker!!" shouted Neo's father as he pushed the dinner table to the side and lifted a metallic trapdoor embedded into the wooden floor underneath the dining table.

"Ronald!! N-neo…He's! He's disappearing-", Neo's mother cried out, grief, panic, and alarm evident in her voice.

Ronald glanced at his son who was flickering in and out of existence before reaching out to grab him, only to watch his fingers and hands sink through his son's body. Seeing this made his mind go blank before he shut his tearful eyes and forced his wife and daughter into the bunker.

"NEO!!!" his mother's last cry echoed out before abruptly coming to a stop as a thunderous roar reverberated throughout the entire planet.