The Curse

After the situation in the police station died down, Alex could be seen sitting calmly in a heavily reinforced room with nothing but the chair beneath his legs inhabiting the room. Opposite him stood a window with many curious and concerned faces conversing and looking in at Alex, almost like he was a zoo animal.

He was fastened to the chair with heavy metal restraints made from an alloy even an experienced miner like himself didn't recognise.

The room he was in was situated in the most heavily armoured building on the backwater moon he lived on.

Eventually, a voice hummed over the intercom, putting a stop to all the chatter on the other side of the window and grabbing Alex's attention.

"Why are you so calm, kid?"

Alex blinked with a little surprise, clearly not expecting this to be the first question he was asked.

"Would panicking do me any good?"

The middle aged man on the other side of the window merely nodded in acceptance of his answer.

"What's your name, kid?" 

Alex hurried his answers as his feeling of impending doom grew stronger and stronger every minute.

"Name's Alex, no last name, no family."

"Alright Alex, when did your Marks first appear?"

The man seemed to have understood his attempt to rush the interrogation along and complied with Alex.

"Are you talking about these black lines? Since this morning."

Pity could be seen in the eyes of the men on the other side of the window as they looked at Alex. It seemed he was one of the unlucky ones.

"It seems we don't have much time for the full procedure then. Try to answer as many questions of mine as you can then. Okay?"

Alex gave a nod as the man continued.

"How much do you know about the Primordial Expanse? Not the stories you hear on the internet or TV, but the real Primordial Expanse."

This question confused Alex as he answered the question with another question.

"Don't I just get transported somewhere, kill a few creatures, receive mystical powers beyond my wildest dreams and come back as an awakened?"

His tone was filled with sarcasm, as if what he answered was common knowledge. Because it was.

But on the other side of the screen, the man shook his head and cursed the education system of the Federation for not educating the youth properly.

"Listen carefully because your life will depend on it. Once those two black lines reach the top of your head, you will be transported to the Primordial Expanse. Once inside you will meet and need to kill a few creatures like you said, sure, but there are also other people just like you, all competing for more power. You can choose whether to work with and trust these people or not, but remember that some of them may even try to kill you."

"Most importantly, you can only come back here after you become an Evolver, and if you wish for extra safety and security when you do, I suggest you head to a human shelter before you decide to come back."

Alex merely nodded his head in a daze as he listened to the man behind the window. All this information was new to him.

"A lot of things about the your first time are down to luck. Your measly skills and experiences can only take you so far. Whatever situation you are dropped into should be within your range of abilities to overcome. After all, the Primordial Expanse is unbiased and fair. Kids from the mines like you are usually a bit better off compared to others, so don't lose hope just yet."

Alex could barely hear the man anymore as his heart beat faster, with the two black lines nearing closer to the top of his head.

The man took note of this and raised his voice to speak to the young man one last time.

"Remember kid, as soon as you arrive check your details. You'll know what I mean when you arrive."

By this point Alex had only barely registered what the man said thanks to his raised voice and the lines had reached his eyes, slowly clouding his vision.

The room was growing dimmer as all of his senses were blocked out by this point.

"Try not to die. It would be nice if we didn't have to deal with a monster for a change…"

With those last words, Alex finally disappeared from his seat, the room completely still as if he had never even been there in the first place.

Everything became dark for Alex. Weightlessness came shortly after.

***

[Welcome to the Primordial Expanse.]

Alex was stunned by the sudden voice in his brain, hardly believing that he was hearing things right until those very same words appeared in front of his eyes too.

'What the hell is going on?'

His first thought revealed his true feelings.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall any information about a mysterious voice and floating words when he searched about the Primordial Expanse.

Time started flowing properly again as his thinking slowed down back to normal.

A numb feeling started spreading through Alex's back and legs as the occasional bump knocked him around his seat every now and then. The utterly thin padding on the seat was useless against the relentless rocky path. 

'Is this supposed to be the scenario I'm dropped into?'

Alex looked all around him at the unfamiliar environment, noticing the ancient looking wooden carriage that he and two other people occupied. Ahead of them, dozens of other carriages identical to his own occupied the thin gravel path, all headed by creatures he could only dream of laying eyes on back at the mining colony.

In front of Alex sat a man who clearly frequents the gym with his bulky physique, wearing clothes similar to his own. On his left, a lady of a small stature with sharp eyes sat silently taking in the view from the tiny window, clearly unfazed by the two men in her carriage.

Things didn't look too bad so far compared to the horror stories the policemen and the internet fed him.

From time to time, clearly well armoured men would come riding by sitting atop those same creatures leading the carriages.

'Let's see…. I think I remember they are called…. Horses?'

Alex tried his best to suppress his surprise and bewilderment from showing on his face, luckily it seemed the two other occupants of his carriage didn't seem too interested in him.

Though these circumstances were not like the first times were supposed to be, according to the stories he read in his pastime. 

He had never heard of anyone being dropped straight into the action. Usually, fresh Aspects would find themselves alone, in the middle of nowhere with little to no information from the mysterious voice that dropped them here in the first place.

This was clearly more than a little different than what he expected.