Prologue

Planet: Earth

Country: USA

Time: 16:05

"Now remember class." said Mrs. Smith.

"Your midterm projects are due this weekend, and if you don't cite your sources the highest grade I will be giving you is a 0."

"I will also be running your papers through an AI spotter, so don't even think about plagiarizing." She instructed.

Mrs. Smith was Michael's 9th period World Geography teacher and this weekend was the deadline for the project she had assigned to his class. Of course Michael being himself, he hadn't even started, let alone decided what he would do it on.

The only silver lining to this situation was that his "midterm project" wasn't exactly his final exam. Instead, it was only a test grade. Michael already had a 90% in Mrs. Smith's class so he was confident his grade could take it. If it couldn't? Well, that was a problem for future him to solve. Michael's present self was just a wee bit too lazy.

"Now, would any one like to tell the class about their project?" Mrs. Smith asked.

Not a soul raised their hands. In fact, Michael doubted anyone had made much progress on their midterm projects. At lunch he would hear his classmates joking about how little progress they made, saying that it wouldn't impact their grade too much. Most of them had the grades to back it up too. 

That's not to say nobody did it though. There was a bunch of kids who wanted to raise there grade, and they worked hard for it. The problem was that they were simply too shy to talk about it, which led to Michael's current situation.

"Fine" She said.

"We'll draw lots"

Mrs. Smith often picked a random student via drawing lots whenever nobody volunteered for something. As one could guess, this was something that happened often.

"Well, would you look at that." Mrs. Smith said.

Michael suddenly had a foreboding feeling. It was as if his ancestors were telling him to get the hell out of there.

"Michael, would you care to explain what you've been doing for your project?" 

He knew it!!! His ancestors would never lie to him!!!

"OH, uuuuhh" Michael said stalling for time. Nervously fiddling with the pencil he had in his hands.

He had to think of something quick, or else he would be put in a rather awkward situation.

"Well you see, the thing is I-."

RRRIIIIIINNNGGG~

Michael breathed in a sigh of relief. He was saved by the bell.

"Thank god it's a Friday." He muttered.

This moment would forever go in Michael's "Top 10 Times I Almost Died.".

***

Time: 17:00

"Finally, I'm home" Michael said as he fell into his bed. He missed the warm comfort his abode brought to him. It was a feeling he couldn't find anywhere else.

Michael's parents weren't home. They were usually very busy, so he never got to see them much. In fact, both of his parent's had recently taken up jobs abroad in another country. The country was a strange one he had never heard the name of. But it was fine, his parents had left him a ton of money while they were away.

Michael couldn't remember when the last time he sat down for a meal with his family was. After his brother Ryan had died, Michael's parents barely talked to him anymore. Ryan was always the favorite of the 2 children. He succeeded in everything he did whether it be sports or academics. Of course, Michael was no slouch either. Unfortunately, when it came to that type of stuff, he would always be compared to his brother. Forever living in Ryan's shadow.

Despite that, Michael loved his brother very much. Ryan was always looking out for him when their parents weren't around. Because of that, the two were very close. That's why Michael made a promise to himself. When he grew older he was gonna do his best to get rich and make sure his brother would never have to worry about anything ever again. 

That's why Michael had worked so hard to keep his grade high. Unfortunately, it would all be in vain. 2 weeks ago, Ryan was hit by a drunk driver on his way to his part-time job at a local coffee shop called the "Heavenly Cafe".

Michael really missed his brother, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Ryan was dead, and he had to accept it.

"Enough depressing thoughts!!" Michael said, brushing away a flurry of sad thoughts before he had yet another existential crisis.

Michael decided that he would play video games to escape the emotions he was feeling at the moment. After all, video games and books were the only escape he had from his thoughts at times like these. So, he played them often.

***

Planet: N/A

Country: N/A

Time: %ERROR% 

Somewhere in the infinite cosmos of the multiverse sat a small planet barely sizable enough to be called a "planet". What set this planet apart from the rest wasn't its size, but its nature. The planet was dead and on the verge of collapse, however no matter how much time had passed it withstood the tests of time. That wasn't the strangest thing about this planet though. In fact, the strangest thing about this small planet was that it appeared to be flickering in and out of existence, as if the universe was rejecting its very presence.

The only signs of a civilization ever living on this planet was an old ruin that looked as if it had been abandoned centuries ago.

Deep inside of these ruins was a statue of an old man sitting in a lotus position. The statue was covered in dust and gave off an aura that was near impossible to comprehend. Clearly someone hadn't been there for a long time as even the vegetation that spread throughout the ruins had withered.

CRAAACCKKKK~

Suddenly the statue began to form cracks all over, as the shell that it had seemingly been covered in was revealed to be the many layers of dust that had accumulated and solidified over the passage of time.

THUD~

As the final piece of the thick outer shell fell the statue stood up and stretched as if waking up from a longer than usual nap.

"Is it that time already?" The old man said opening his silver eyes

"The candidate selection should begin soon."

"I wonder which lucky soul will be chosen this time." The old man laughed.

The old man looked like someone who had seen everything the world had to offer and was content with just that. His eyes perpetuated a wiseness that the depths of time could not fathom and he wore a robe that fluttered even though there was no wind.

"I wonder if the candidate is prepared for what is to come." The old man muttered.

***

Time: 19:13

"That's enough for today." Michael said stretching his arms. Video games were fun, but he didn't want to spend all of his time on them. He'd rather spend the rest of his time reading a good book or studying.

Growll~

"I should get something to eat." Michael said as he got up heading for the kitchen. 

Michael walked up to the fridge and opened the door wondering what there was to eat.

"..."

Closing the door, Michael opened it again. Juuust in case he missed anything the first time around.

"Nope, nothin." he sighed.

Walking to the table Michael grabbed a chair and sat down to try and think up a solution. he looked around the house searching for something, anything that could satiate his hunger. Finally, his eyes settled on an old cracker that happened to be laying on the floor. Michael didn't know how it got there, but it didn't matter.

"Hmmmmm."

"Should I?" he said inspecting for bugs, making sure to be very thorough with his search. 

Before he could do anything Michael had suddenly remembered what a friend from school had told him.

"Didn't a new market open up near my house? I should probably go check it out before I do something I regret." He said.

Michael grabbed some money from kitchen counter. With a new destination In mind he quickly put on his coat and set forth onto his mystical journey.

Michael lived in a fairly small neighborhood, and at this time of day it wasn't very common to see another person. Because of this he was completely alone.

Michael always found the empty neighborhood fascinating whenever he went out at this time of day. It was cool to think that in every house he saw, a person lived there. They had a piece of land all to themselves that they could do whatever they wanted with.

Well, for the most part. Of course their were rules, but it's not like Michael wanted to do anything crazy. 

"Oh, how I wish for independence." he thought turning the corner.

Unfortunately, when he did so, he saw a truck hurtling towards him.

"You gotta be kidding m-"

VRROOOOMMM~

SKKRRTT~

CRASSHH~

Before Michael could react his mind went blank, and then he was surrounded by darkness.

Just like that, Michael was dead.