Chapter one

Authors note:  Thank you for taking your time to read Versions, I hope this will settle well with you.

Warning: there will be mistakes (lots of em) and confusing parts I hope you can forgive me for this. If you do happen to see any errors please tell in the comment section. Thank you.

Also please  leave a vote or a comment, this author would love to know what you think!

     *************

Jolezya felt pain shoot through his head and then the thunder-like crack sound reverberated in his mind.

His eyes snapped open only to see nothing but darkness surrounding him.

Painfully, he stood up and stretched. He reached up and pressed his palm against his head remembering the pain of it crashing against something hard, extremely hard like concrete.

A crack and a splat sound were the last thing he heard as pain shot through him from his head to his toes then everything went dark.

"Uh..." he groaned, "what the heck is this?" He turned his head side to side but all that his eyes could see was black. He couldn't even make out his own fingers when he tried to look at his hands.

"Have I gone blind?" He thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Let's walk around for a bit.." at that he began walking in a random direction, when he realised that nothing changed he stopped and sat on the black 'floor'.

Jolezya tried to remember what happened before he found himself in this dark room but his mind was muddled and the embers of his past seemed to be flittering away from him.

He held his head as the start of a migraine assaulted him again, the pain spread out through his head, cracklings and pulsing. He groaned, feeling as though his head would break open but then after a moment the migraine quickly left and he dropped his hands, wrapping them around his raised knees.

The puzzle pieces came together slowly in his mind and he finally remembered. It was a sensation, the feeling of falling... fast. Then being rammed by something as he was falling. Without knowing he fell back into the black floor, unconscious.

Jolezya suddenly relived the incident that took place before he woke up in the black nothingness.

The scenes vivid in his mind as he recalled running from three shadowy figures. Rain pouring heavily on him and the sky dark a grey giving off a gloomy feeling. Jolezya's legs carried him as far as they could in his weakened state which wasn't far in all honesty.

He regretted leaving the safety of the academy once he realised he might have to fight them off.

The rain grew heavier gradually turning into a storm with lightening falling rapidly from the sky illuminating the area if only for a few seconds. The flash of light allowed him to see that the way was closed off ahead so he decided to get to higher ground. He climbed the fire escape of a building that looked to be about twenty stories with his assailants still dangerously close, practically snapping at his heels till they got to the roof.

He tried desperately to gather his Excer and use it to block them off but nothing formed in his hand and he instead coughed up blood. Jolezya could feel his core spinning, slower than it should and the amount of Excer circulating his body was terrifyingly weak.

Why was he so weak at that moment?

Unfortunately, because of his delay in trying to muster his power, his enemies caught up to him and surrounded him.

Feeble as he was, he raised his fists ready to defend himself but he understood no matter how skilled he was there was no way he could win.

The three were obviously well trained and out for blood, their weapons glowed with a dark blue tinge, proof that they'd coated them with Excer.

They lunged to attack and Jolezya immediately went on defence. His foot collided with the closest assailants face sending him flying far back. Jolezya ducked avoiding the blade that swung over his head. His fist met the stomach of the blade wielder and sent him flying back too.

The next assailant was thrown over his shoulder, slamming him into the ground Jolezya twisted his wrist and a loud snap was heard, the man screamed but Jolezya paid no mind as the other two were already rushing towards him.

"Who sent you?" He asked but got no response, "why are you attacking me?!"

Before he knew it, a thin blade plunged into his shoulder and he stumbled back. As he did three consecutive kicks met his head chest and stomach before he could've even catch himself.

He wretched coughing up blood as he picked himself up. Jolezya yanked the knife out of his shoulder and turned to face his attackers.

"I don't have time for this!" He said catching the dagger that was aiming for his eye then he rammed his fist into the mans face continuously, brute strength battering the man till he fell back helplessly.

The other two froze at the sight. As simple as those moves seemed, the speed at which they were executed was  impossible, especially for someone in his state.

Shivers ran down their spines when Jolezya turned to face them the gold flakes glowing furiously.

He was pissed.

"G-gg..GET HIM!" One shouted as he gathered in his hand what looked like a  ball of glowing blue Excer. He sounded much like a girl actually and was in fact shorter than the other two.

"Dammit he can still fight!" Long curved blades formed in the other ones hands.

"He sure is stubborn," the taller one said.

They both approached him. The blade wielder ahead of the shorter one who was steadily walking towards Jolezya while the density of sphere in his hand increased.

Despite the terrifying look in his eyes, Jolezya could feel his power draining away. But he was much too angry to care so he fought back and gave up on asking them questions.

His movements had slowed and they took advantage of this. The blade wielder cut and stabbed him multiple times, not given him a chance to react.  Just as he was staggering the short one threw the sphere of Excer at him and it exploded upon contact.

Like compressed air suddenly released, the power from the sphere ruptured, throwing him into the air whilst slicing at him. When his feet hit the roof he backed up close to the edge, panting and clutching his abdomen with both arms. Blood gushing out from the various wounds on his body.

He was dazed and his vision unfocused as blood  poured out of the gash on his head down into his eyes. He swayed unable to steady himself, the pain overwhelming him.

"Wait! Miata don't! The core! We need him alive!"

Just as Jolezya looked up he was met with a roundhouse kick that sent him off the edge.

The same voice shouted again, "he's falling!"

"Idiot! That's not enough to kill him!"

As his body was falling, he looked to the side with his blood filled eyes and saw light rushing toward him.

Someone screamed his name as the light drew dangerously close.

- it sure as hell wasn't the light at the end of the tunnel was what he thought and

BAAM!!

As if wanting the kill for itself, the massive truck crashed into him.

He was thrown toward the pavement and he met it head first.

CRACK!

Like a light that's blown out, his fading consciousness was engulfed in blackness. He stayed like that, sinking deeper into the murky black waters.

What was I doing outside the academy? Past curfew?

Eh...wait...aren't I.... doesn't that mean

He's dead?

His conscious seemed to have revived once more as he felt his body ache. He found himself lying on the cold black 'floor'.

For a moment he wondered if the scenes he'd just seen were truly real then was he really dead?

It didn't seem possible but then where was he? Was this the after life?

His thoughts spinning wildly in his head, he couldn't come to a proper conclusion, nothing made sense. Finally he gave up.

"Dammit! What is this?" Jolezya raised his fist to punch the floor, he mumbled, "I'm hungry..."

Just as his fist met the hard cold blackness a small white crack followed suit and he immediately saw it.

Jolezya punched again, harder than before and the crack grew, branching out into a variation of smaller and bigger cracks.

Seeing this, he began ruthlessly beating at the floor with his fists, adding more strength than the last to each blow. The cracks kept growing until the floor shattered like glass and beautiful white light burst out. The black dissipated as the pure white light subdued it.

It was only then that he realised his foolishness.

He broke the floor....then what was he going to sit on?

And as if to justify his statement, he began descending at an alarming speed. Jolezya's eyes hurt from the sudden change of black to white but he was more focused on the air that began wrapping itself around him like a blanket slowing his fall.

At last, his feet met something hard and white and he immediately collapsed onto his hands and knees as the wave of  impact travelled through his body.

Jolezya soon realised that he was now inside a completely white room, he could tell where the floor ended and where the wall began. In fact when he looked up, there wasn't a ceiling, instead it stretched endlessly like a tower of white reaching far above.

Jolezya still felt as though he'd gone blind as he examined the 'room'.

The only other thing (besides the colour) different about this room was that it had a mirror which was long and slender, standing in what could be the centre of the room like a pillar, it too stretched upward to infinity.

A silver like glow was quietly leaking off it.

Jolezya looked at the mirror pondering whether to approach or not. It was only a few steps away from him and seeing as there was nothing else he made his decision.

He took one step towards it then froze, eyes wide.

           **********************

Authors note: I hope you liked the prologue 😃😃 thank you for reading!