Chapter 1 - Normal Day of Life

The bustling streets of a big city never appealed to Jeremy. He grew up in a small town that nobody has heard of in the southern states. He only moved away for the opportunity that was supposedly given to those who sought it. He's tried as hard as he could, though, but to no avail. He's worked a bartending job since he moved and gotten nowhere with it. It's a hole-in-the-wall type joint that no one has heard of, and hardly anyone comes in.

It was one of the slow days when Jeremy noticed strange things happening outside. Everything seemed louder than normal, he had a constant influx of customers, albeit still a small number, and his head was hurting. He hasn't had a migraine in years. Last time he did, bad things happened.

One time, a girlfriend of his by two years ended things abruptly. No call, no text, no anything. She even moved states. Another time he broke an arm and couldn't play state for baseball his senior year for first place. They lost miserably. Still got second place, though.

He wondered what would happen today. It already started off bad when he dropped a glass in his first ten minutes of washing and drying glassware. He came in early today just to make sure everything was ready to open, and he was glad. He'd somehow gone through half the glassware, and it was still considered slow. This place must've not had as much as he thought.

To kill some time and lighten the silence, he turned on the television that hung behind him. He put on a mostly neutral news channel and just let the noise fill the air. People came and went about their day to have a shot or two. Some decided to have a few drinks before heading on their merry way. That's when strange things started to happen more often.

Someone tried to rob him, but he convinced them otherwise. A cop came in looking for someone and he told the officer he hadn't seen the person in question. Although, thinking back on it soon after the cop left, it was the guy who tried to rob the bar. Oh well. It had been a strange day for Jeremy. The hours passed with nothing of note happening after the police officer showed up. He thinks potential patrons were scared off by the sudden appearance of a cop and robber. Soon midnight came along, and he was out of the bar. He took the last working hour, knowing no one was going to appear, and did all the closing procedures. The lock clicked into place and Jeremy was heading to his motorcycle.

It was nothing fancy. He was unsure of the brand as he bought it at an auction. It was trashed from a wreck, basically totaled, and he loved the idea of making it his own. He rebuilt the engine over a year, chopped parts to fit a look he was going for, and soon had a motorcycle that rumbled down the streets and made heads turn. It was a mix between classic and modern, almost like what one company was trying to do with their newer lines of motorcycles.

He took off down the street. He weaved between the steel traps called cars, or cages, as other motorcycle riders call them. There was something about feeling the wind fly across one's body when riding a motorcycle. The thrill of the speed, feeling faster than what you're actually going. He pushed up to sixty miles per hour on the straightaway of the main road. Seventy. Eighty. Ninety. One hundred.

His bike only had five gears, meant to just cruise around town. The rpms on his speedometer were nearing red as he traveled across the blacktopped road. The exhaust pipes roared loudly as he sped down the road towards his little apartment. It took all but a few minutes to get to his studio apartment when he arrived at the complex. He lived on the fourth floor of the building and all the way down the corridor. A small key opened the door and he was in.

Then his phone rang in his pocket. More like buzzed in his pocket. He removed it and looked to see an unknown number. Jeremy never answered numbers he didn't recognize, but he decided to, that time. When the phone rested on his ear, the world went black around Jeremy.

His senses seemed dulled as it felt like he was floating in an oily substance. The sensation was the same as when he stuck his hand in the oil pan to grab a piece of his motorcycle that fell. That was the best thing he could compare it to. The weird, liquid-like substance that was thin yet thick.

His eyes opened to see nothing. The darkness surrounded and confused him. He had no idea how he'd gotten here, only that he was here now.

"Hello?" he tried to call out.

Not even an echo replied. His voice didn't travel, and he wasn't sure he even spoke out loud. He was pretty sure the abyss swallowed his question.

Then a light began to shine in the distance. It was hard, but he eventually maneuvered himself upright to begin swimming towards it. It had to be better than this inky goo. It took him only a few moments to get to the shining light. When he got closer, he saw it was a small orb generating heat. Like a star, almost. A small gaseous orb of fire.

For some reason, he reached out to the light. It seemed like the natural thing to do, even though it was literal fire he'd be touching. Surprisingly, it was cold to the touch. The cold was almost cold enough to burn, but not so cold he couldn't keep his palm against the surface. The metal surface. It wasn't a gaseous orb, like he originally thought. It was a metal orb that shrunk to fit in his hand.

Then it began to dim. The bright light that guided him darkened into a blackish, purple light that he almost couldn't make out. The metal ball then softened the longer it remained in contact with Jeremy. It began to change shapes between bladed instruments and firearms, shields and armors. Jeremy stared in awe as the object moved on its own. He'd never seen anything like it.

Suddenly, he lurched forward into the darkness. An invisible force was pulling a string that seemed connected to his chest as his arms and legs trailed slightly behind him. Jeremy screamed in slight terror at what was happening. The metal ball behind him grew smaller the further away he got.

Suddenly, a bright light appeared around him. Clouds began to form, and the chirping of birds and the chittering of animals filled his ears. The smell of salt filled his senses as a sheet of cobalt blue rapidly approached Nathan. His arms flailed as the thought of splatting against water filled his thoughts. As he tumbled through the air, he took his shoes off at the last second and threw them in the water to break the surface tension so he wouldn't go splat.

Water rushed around his body as he was enveloped by whatever he fell in. He struggled to breathe as the shock of impact knocked whatever air he had out of him. The salty taste of the ocean filled his mouth as he tumbled downwards into the dark abyss of the deep ocean. The light faded before him as he struggled to remain conscious. He reached out to try and grab at the surface, but it kept going farther and farther away. He could swear he felt someone pull at his hand, but he soon passed out as the darkness swallowed him whole.