1: The End and The Beginning

In a dark room with the dim light of movie credits illuminating the surroundings lay, Ryder, his midnight black hair soaking wet as his body shook uncontrollably, drenched in sweat as if suffering through extreme agony. Deep in the recesses of Ryders' mind, he treads through darkness, filled with dread.

"H-hello? Is there anyone there?" He cautiously asked as he tried to find signs of anything other than darkness. He walked through emptiness for hours before he saw a speck of light far off in the distance. He ran towards the light, hoping for a way out.

As Ryder approached the light, he realized that it was the shape of a person, but he wasn't close enough to make out who it was. As he approached the figure, he saw someone he recognized. It was his childhood friend Samantha, who he had planned to ask out.

As he was about to reach her, he felt the ground beneath his feet tremble and the air vibrate. He looked around to find the cause of the phenomenon when he noticed tiny fractures in the air.

"What the hell is going on?!" He said in confusion. Worried about Samantha's safety and calling out to her, "Samantha, hurry up and run to me. I don't know what's happening, but it'll be better if we are together."

Samantha looked at Ryder and slowly shook her head as the fractures widened around her. Ryder couldn't understand why she wasn't moving while the fractures kept growing in number, becoming more dangerous the longer they stayed there. He started dodging the fractures trying to reach her before they spread too much between them.

He had just gotten close to her when a fracture opened up before them, creating a twenty-foot gorge separating them. He could only look hopelessly at Samantha as she gazed at him with pity pointing at the fracture. Confused, he peered inside the fracture only to see a space that didn't end.

Inside that space were endless orbs that dotted it like stars in the sky. The closest sphere looked pearlescent black and was a few dozen feet across in diameter, but as Ryder looked into one, he felt like there was an infinite amount of space, filled with millions of galaxies and stars.

As he was losing himself staring into the orb, he saw a thousand sharp iridescent objects that looked similar to a canine tooth coming through each fracture and covering his view of the orbs on the other side of the fracture. Panicking, he looks around only to see the teeth closing in on him, his view of Samantha already being obscured by the number of teeth coming through the fractures.

Ryder looked at the teeth in horror as they drew closer to him from all directions. Sweat dripped down his face as the teeth closed any escape routes he had. Ryder could only look in pure terror as all the teeth simultaneously closed as if all the teeth were part of a singular creature that took a bite out of the world he was in.

Ryder screamed as his mind felt as if it was splitting and jolted up from his bed. His phone ringing nearby distracted him from his dream and the pain in his head. He looked at the time as panic washed over his face and saw seven missed calls.

"Crap, how'd I sleep so late? Samantha is going to kill me for not being on time." He said as he quickly threw his clothes on, momentarily forgetting about the dream, and ran downstairs to grab a drink before leaving.

As Ryder opened the fridge to grab a cold water bottle when he heard his mother behind him, "Where are you off to in such a hurry on your day off? Going to go see Samantha?" she asked with a knowing smirk.

Ryder started getting red with embarrassment as he replied, "Yeah, but it's not like that, Mom, besides I'm only going to be gone for a few hours at most I will make sure to be back for dinner, I promise."

"You better be back soon. Remember you said you would help me with the hard part of my game." Asked his younger brother Cameron as he entered the kitchen.

"I know I'll be back soon. We will play together when I get back." Ryder said as he hugged his brother and said his goodbyes, leaving the house shortly afterward.

Knowing that he was supposed to already be at the park with Samantha, he kicked himself mentally for the twentieth time and started sprinting to try and get there as soon as possible. By the time he reached the entrance to the park, he had to take a moment to catch his breath so that he wouldn't further embarrass himself.

After catching his breath, he walked briskly toward the center, looking around for any sign of Samantha. He finally spotted her curly red hair sitting under a tree off one of the paths near the park center. As she saw Ryder approaching, she stood up and crossed her arms with a very annoyed look.

"You were supposed to have been here thirty minutes ago. Where were you?" She angrily asked Ryder, who could only look down at the ground in shame.

"I know I accidentally fell asleep while watching a movie. I rushed over here when I woke up and saw the time and your missed calls, but I'm glad you're still here. I wanted to talk to you about something on my mind lately." Ryder said as he looked into her blue eyes.

"I half expected you to be late since you always are, because you decided to stay up late playing games all night. But what did you want to talk to me about?" Samantha asked as she stared into his green eyes. The Ryder she knew was usually carefree and tried not to take anything as seriously as others.

"Um, well, you see about that," Ryder started stuttering as his cheeks flushed with embarrassment, " I wanted to tell you that I like you, Samantha, and have for a while now. With work taking a lot of my time and us hanging out less because of it, I didn't want to lose the friendship we had. I also didn't want you to end up with someone else because I was too scared to act on my feelings, so I decided to be honest with you and hope for the best." Ryder rushed out as his cheeks grew redder.

"A-are you serious?" Samantha stuttered out, not believing her ears. She had liked him for the longest time and thought he had just been clueless and that it would have to be her who asked him.

"Of course, I would never lie about something like this, especially to you,"

Ryder replied with his eyes full of hope.

"I was beginning to think you would never ask," Samantha said as she rushed toward Ryder to embrace him, pressing her lips against his in their first kiss.

Ryder was surprised by the sudden feeling of her lips on his as she kissed him, breaking out in a smile as he kissed her back and held her in his arms. Feeling like he could burst with happiness and joy, he looked up towards the sky, pleading that this wasn't a dream.

He gazed at the sky, his smile disappearing immediately. Fear clouded Ryders' eyes as a look of horror and confusion replaced the smile on Ryders' face as he asked, "H-how is that possible?"

As he looked at the sun that had numerous fractures identical to the ones in his dream, it all came rushing back to him. The fear he felt before flooded him as he could only watch the fractures spread as they did in his dream.

He felt a hand clench his and looked down to see Samantha frozen in shock as she saw the fractures spreading everywhere the eye could see. "W-what's happening?" She finally managed to squeeze out in almost a whisper.

Grabbing her hand and running back towards the exit, dragging her with him, "We have to hurry away from here and outrun the fractures before they start to open up. I know it's crazy and how I must sound, but you have to trust me." Ryder replied as his dark foreboding dream came to life before him.

"What do you mean 'trust you'? Do you know what's going on?" Samantha asked while being pulled by him, trying to keep up with his pace.

"There's no time to explain. There's not much time before the next phase happens," Ryder replied, out of breath as they sprinted towards his home, his mind filled with thoughts of his family and what was about to happen.

As they exited the park, Ryder saw the fractures beginning to open. Luckily his house was just a few streets away from them. The fractures continued to open up the closer he got to his house. As they approached his road, he could see the tip of the iridescent teeth poking through the fractures.

As he approached his house, the iridescent teeth were fully out and started closing around him just as they did in his dream. "Mom!! Cameron!!" Ryder screamed as he dodged the teeth in his yard with Samantha close behind him.

Ryder could hear the screams of his mother and brother from inside his house as he rushed forward, bypassing the teeth as he screamed for his family. As he reached the steps, the teeth were about to close as they did in his dream when something odd happened. It was as if there were a ripple throughout the universe; at the same time as the wave passed Ryder, one of the teeth in front of him by his front door retracted as the fracture widened, showing the pearlescent orb-filled space from before.

Surprised and shocked by the scene before him, Ryders' foot slipped on the top step causing him to fall towards the fracture when he felt Samantha grab his hand, attempting to prevent him from falling into the endless expanse.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to stop his momentum as he fell into the fracture, hanging on only by her hand. He looked up at her with desperation, "Pull me up. I have to help my mother and brother." He pleaded with her, his eyes filling with tears.

"I'm trying, but these spikes are getting too close," She cried as tears started falling down her face.

Ryder realized what was about to happen, and as tears fell down his face, he said, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you how I felt sooner. I couldn't save you, Samantha. I'm sorry, Mom and Cameron. I wasn't able to save any of you. I love you all."

Samantha looked at Ryder as she struggled to hold on to him, "It's okay, I love-" Before she could finish, Ryder saw the teeth fully close, and with them, the fracture close up as well, forcing their hands apart and leaving him drifting away from the sphere that contained his universe. Stranded in the pearlescent expanse, Ryder could only despair as he watched his dimension get devoured before him.