Chapter 1-Hell of a day

Liam opened his eyes slowly. But the darkness outside made it seem like his eyes were still closed, he could not see anything. He sat up while staggering slightly, his whole body was numb and his head throbbed making him ever so slightly dizzy.

In this eerily quietness, he could hear light snoring. It was faint but the person felt nearby. His heart started to pound rapidly, he wanted that person to be someone with whom he was familiar. He felt that he wouldn't mind even if that person was Walker.

After a few minutes, he could faintly make out the outline of the place. His eyes were fairly adjusted and the numbness he felt in his legs were gone. He saw that there was a rack filled with books. Maybe it was someone's study Liam thought but he was proved wrong since there was more than one rack, he concluded that it might be a library. He then held on to the shelf and stood up. He took one of the books from the shelf and turned slightly towards the direction where he heard the snoring.

He could see that someone was lying on the cold floor just two metres from him. He held his breath and walked towards the person ready to strike him if he made even the slightest movement.

As he came closer, he could see that it was a man who was older than him but relatively younger than an adult based on his build.

Seeing that the man was completely asleep as if he was knocked out, Liam moved away from him and started searching for any kind of door or perhaps a window that could serve him as a clue to where he was. He approached something that felt like a window and looked outside. He could see nothing except for an abyss of darkness. There was no moon but he could hear the sound of waves crashing. Maybe this a library built near the sea or perhaps he is in a lighthouse Liam pondered.

Next, he went to search for anything that man might have which could seem useful and when he kept his hand on his shirt to search if there was something in the man's pocket, he saw that the outline of his hand seemed longer. Liam dismissed the thought since he couldn't have grown overnight and when he went to touch his chin out of habit, there was hair, he had a beard and that proved that either that he had grown like crazy overnight or this is all just a dream.

As he was shocked he moved a few steps back and hit the rack, one of the books from the top shelf fell on the man lying on the ground. The man who was lying flinched as the book fell on him and slowly opened his eyes.

EARLIER THAT DAY,

"What a day, man. It is a relief that we are still in one piece", Ryan well known for his optimistic attitude sighed.

It was a rather misfortunate day indeed. Being ambushed by a herd of cows on the way to school and one of them taking a liking to them and following them all the way to school was not a normal occurrence. Trying to dodge a ball only to land on a mud pool and changing into sports uniform only to be caught by the disciplinary teacher who rarely even comes out to check out the dress code could indeed be called unlucky.

"I am sure the disciplinary teacher had a fight with his wife back home and is taking it out on me, Liam", Ryan wailed.

These unfortunate events were attacking them in pairs. Liam's bag zip ripped after being caught by a tree's branch and his homework book specifically fell out and the young calf which was following them ate it happily.

"Jeremy must have thought you were feeding it, Liam", Ryan chuckled remembering it.

"Jeremy?"Liam questioned.

"It is the name I gave to the calf. Isn't it cute?"

"Yes yes"

Liam always thought that he had to give it up for Ryan's skills of naming every animal and managing to remember them. But the most commendable thing would be his ability to separate animals of the same species which looked all the same to Liam.

"If you had helped me retrieve the notebook instead of laughing yourself to death that time maybe Jeremy could have had a delicious dinner of grasses instead. But unlike someone who was made to run four rounds in the ground, I was exempted from punishment".Liam smirked. Liam was well known for his diligence and to top it off he was a top ranker in school so the teacher excused him with just a warning. Ryan considered it unfair since he was punished for the same reason before.

"Now all hail, Liam", Ryan sarcastically said.

"But even the great Liam could not avoid our homeroom teacher's wrath and was asked to stand outside in the corridor along with the humble me", Ryan continued with his sarcasm. It couldn't be helped since they were late but Liam chose to play along with Ryan instead of arguing with him.

"But you were seen by Brian unlike me", Liam snickered.

Brian was Ryan's little brother who was always out for his brother's blood according to Ryan.

"It is a given that I am going to have a blast at home. But I have a feeling that today's events just won't end there. Maybe today is the day that judgement will fall on me, "Ryan laughed. Liam also smiled.

Ryan was fairly easy to read. But he was even easier to read for Liam who was his next-door neighbor for more than a decade.

Liam knew that the more jokes Ryan made, the more serious the problem was.

Well, today's events indeed did not end there. They were greeted by the herdsmen as they passed the farm and were asked about Jeremy which had followed them all the way to the school and so they ended up spending the entire evening searching for it.

But it was rather disturbing that Ryan known for his athletic body and had trained in defense techniques would fall not being able to dodge a ball. Even if he had made a mistake with the spelling of his own name, it would have been more believable than this Liam thought to himself.

Ryan's instincts were always on point. Liam even wondered whether Ryan was the reincarnation of an animal. So him telling him something worse will happen kept bothering him. Maybe he was just reading too much into it.

Liam was very good at hiding his emotions. Maybe it was because of how he grew up, he rarely shows emotions to other people and often puts up walls. Ryan was one of the few people Liam let inside of his wall.

So Ryan didn't want Liam to worry about anything. So Ryan brushed his ominous feelings as a joke. He tried hard not to show it. But the problem was he tried too hard and so Liam saw straight through him.

"Don't worry if anything happens I will protect you, Liam-as the knight who has pledged his life to you", Ryan kneeled and put his right hand on the left side of his chest and then bowed his head and then looked up and smiled at Liam.

Liam chucked at Ryan's cheesy words which were meant to be a comfort and told him to take care of himself and that that would be more than enough.

Contrary to Ryan, Liam was known for his intellect and has received many awards, and was regarded as a well-known young genius. He knew a bit of self-defense himself but he was easily stressed out about unscientific things and one of them was Ryan's instincts which always exceeded his probability theory.

Ryan had been Liam's next-door neighbour for 10 years. They sometimes even had dinner together, but today was not one of those days. The atmosphere in Ryan's house was tense, Ryan without enquiring about it knew the reason for it, his father was cheated out of money again. This has been going on all his life.

But still, his mom and dad had a thicker bond. His father was a very kind man and cannot say no when asked for help.

They were well off but not so much that his father can be generous with it. His father often tried to help others by lending money for their business or giving money when they say their children are sick and many a time they were only white lies. He was cheated of his kindness, but he never repents and continues to help others. Ryan's mom sighed and kept her hands on her head. She was exasperated with his behaviour but his kindness was one of the main reasons reason she fell in love with him.

Ryan continued to move into the house. He put the bag down, took a shower, changed his clothes and went to the dining room and his parents had already made up and were waiting for him. This was a normal occurrence, his father was very kind to everyone and his mother was particularly kind to his father and so things always end with the family motto being

"We can always earn the money back"

This was the reason for his always stay positive attitude. He wasn't born with it but learned it in his life.

But now that his brother was also at the dining table smiling like a devil. Ryan knew that the little weasel had ratted him out. The whole family's attention was on him, but he knew about his family.They would never argue with food on the table. So after dinner, his mom who refused to believe the day's events lectured him for an hour and Ryan's father ended the lecture with few words on his own

"Mom always thinks of you and says these things only for your sake. So listen to her well, Ryan"

Ryan nodded and left to his room.

As he closed the door behind,

"Nice, dad", Ryan blurted out from inside his room. If his father had not given his last words, his mom would've gone at him for another hour.

Liam's family circumstances were different. Being abandoned by his parents at a young age, he grew up with his grandparents. Money flew like water in his household. So taking care of Liam was not a big deal. They felt responsible for their son Walker's incompetence in taking care of his son and so spoiled him lots with all sorts of things.

Both Liam and Ryan went to their bed after bidding each other goodnight from their windows. Ryan slept instantly. Liam also slept after a few more minutes, today's events indeed had worn them out.

But in the middle of the night, Liam woke up and felt the earth shake. He switched on the light and opened his screen, Ryan also had his lights on. There had never been an earthquake here before so it was quite shocking. Quickly Liam leapt to wake his grandparents since it was not safe but they didn't flinch. Liam got out of the house and saw that Ryan was also out of his house.

"Liam, my parents and Brian won't wake up. What do I do?"

"Same here, Ryan. My grandparents didn't either."They both were panicking.

The ground began to break open and Liam was about to fall in when Ryan caught him and pulled him up. Everything around both of them started to fade and reappear. When they tried running into their homes. They couldn't open the door. Rather than saying that the door didn't open it was more like the house was just a mirage if that's what one would call it. One moment their house was there, the next moment it wasn't. Ryan and Liam ran back to each other. They felt someone's push and just like that fell inside the crack. That someone who pushed them uttered the words,

"The one who caused it should be the one to fix it"