Meeting the Cast!

In a world very similar to our own, mysterious forces play the strings of fate like a fiddle. Worlds are dying by the day, and in a last ditch effort to keep them alive, the Dimensional Masters sacrificed their lives to tie them into the fate of the last thriving world. It is there in that world that we find our unlikely heroes in the midst of a life or death showdown.

"Jackson Murphy lines up the shot. Eyes focused, fingers trembling, his tongue hanging out of his mouth like a damn dog! This man is in it to win it folks!"

Sitting around a metal table are three young men. The youth with sandy blonde hair is lining up his shot, ready to flick it into the taller young man's waiting finger-goal. A smaller young hispanic boy sits off to the side, narrating the scene. Sweat can be seen on the sandy blonde's forehead. He's tense. This is the game to end all paper football games. After months and months of ties and losses, Jackson Murphy had finally managed to play on even ground.

Rayne Summers, the tallest and bulkiest out of the three had a nervous look on his face. If Jackson makes this shot, his 6 month long streak of wins will be buried along with his pride as a man.

Larry Rodriguez, the youth on the sidelines, was smiling in excitement. While not much of a player himself, he had kept up with the two's history of games for as long as he's been working with the two knuckleheads. He found the two to be quite fun, and unlike the other two people in the room, they didn't make him nervous.

Sindy Langston and Alex Augustus. These were the names of the two people left to acknowledge in the room. Sindy was a beautiful natural blonde with piercing blue eyes. She had a face that would make any man or woman want to give her roses, but a personality that would make the flowers wilt. Since Larry was still kinda new to working with her, her beauty often made him stammer. He had the same reaction to her in highschool. This feeling he was used to

The feeling Alex gave to him though was completely unfamiliar. It was like looking at a beast. He felt, if given the chance, Alex would tear him apart. But looking at him, you would never think that. No, he was polite and proper, occasionally he had a sharp tongue, but that was only when one of the guys was fucking around too much. Not only that, but he was handsome, with a face that would make many men think about playing for the other team.

He sat in one corner reading a book, Sindy in another corner earbuds in and ignoring the world, which includes the three idiots at the table. All they were waiting on was for one more member, the most important member actually, to get here so they can start the work day.

And just as Jackson is about to shoot, after feeling the breeze and adjusting the angle, plotting the trajectory of his paper football and running it through his head countless times. He flicks his finger and-

"Everyone there's a slight change of plans!"

The door bursts open, startling the players and causing the shot to go wild, landing in Alex's frizzy brown hair!

Eyes wide and mouth agape, Jackson falls to his knees in defeat cursing the old bastard that ruined his chance at redemption.

The old bastard in question was Roger Williams, A.K.A. their boss. He stood at about 5 ft 3 inches, or 1.6 meters for the metric folk.His tanned leathery skin gave quite a contrast to his striking blue eyes, the same blue eyes that Sidney herself looked through. Only difference is, these eyes were much more kind and full of laughs. His salt and pepper hair betrayed his age, and the short goatee was neatly trimmed and groomed. Roger was a man that loved life and loved living. But most importantly of all, he loved money. Loved to have it, hated to spend it and do almost anything to earn it. Keyword ALMOST, for you perverts out there.

Roger walked into the room and sat down in his armchair at the head of the table. He took one look at the defeated Jackson, then looked away. He was already used Jackson's dramatics.

"Originally, I had planned for us to put in a privacy fence around the Montgomery's yard, but then, well, its kinda hard to explain. So instead of explaining it, we're going back to my place to look at the weird thing I found!"

At the mention of a 'weird thing', Jackson was all ears, his crushing defeat forgotten. "What kind of weird thing? Like, 'creepy' weird, 'odd' weird, or 'just pretty fucking weird' weird?"

Roger stroked his goatee as he thought for a moment. "'Pretty fucking weird' weird I'd say."

Jackson's eyes shone with a fanatical brilliance. "What are we waiting for then? Let's go!"

"You're driving."

"Dammit"

The group of six left the makeshift office and piled into the repurposed church van lovingly called 'Old Betsie'. She had two seats up front, two rows of seats, and back where a third row was before it was taken out were tools galore. Everything from tool bags full of hand tools like screwdrivers, hammers and pliers to power tools like saws and drills. Old Betsie was the only vehicle they had that could carry all of them and the tools for work. Roger got every penny he paid for her and then some.

They pulled out of the three-bay garage and onto the street, leaving Roger's workshop behind. It was an old fire station that Roger bought when he first moved to the area. That's where he started his business, Yes-Men Services, LLC. Roger lived by a motto, which was 'If there's money involved, the answer is YES.' Which he applied to almost (ALMOST) everything. He took in any and every kind of job, no matter how dirty, laborious or odd. Eventually he became a well-known individual, and even people from out of town were asking him to do work. He preached quality and professionalism, and its those traits that allowed his business to grow.

The crew of six made it through town, down the twists and turns and going through traffic to finally make it to the less populated country roads, the ones that take you home to the place you belong. A few more turns, a U-turn that was so sharp it made Larry hit the floor and a close call with a state trooper, they finally made it to Roger's cabin in the woods. It was a beautiful place, full of vibrant trees as far as the eye can see. At the end of the dirt path they took to get here laid a log cabin, and behind that cozy cabin was a pond with a pier going out towards the middle. And at the end of that pier, was a shimmer.

It was Jackson who at first noticed the shimmer as they all climbed out of the dingy white van. And that's all it was at this distance, a shimmer, a simple trick of the light, just barely enough to be noticed.

"I am never riding with you again, you drive like a fucking lunati-Hey, what's that over there?" Rayne, who was shook and jarred all around just noticed the shimmer in the distance. The crew gathered around, looking off into the distance. Larry took a look at Roger, his face tightened into a grimace. It looked so unnatural on the usually smiling man. Was it fear, maybe anxiety, the same things Larry was feeling himself?

Without saying anything, Jackson took the first step to the Shimmer. He was trembling, but from excitement. Jackson felt it, the shimmer calling to him and he was ready to pick the phone.

Roger, who was a few steps behind him though, wasn't prepared at all. He had seen it earlier, felt the pull on his heart and almost succumbed to it. But he wasn't able to make that final step earlier. Now, however, he found it odd why he roped in the others. He felt strange as the anxiety in his heart rose.

The cold and silent Alex wasn't far behind him. He felt the pull too, something tugging him from the inside, coaxing him, welcoming him. It felt like an embrace from a stranger.

Rayne, who didn't want to be seen as a punk, hurried to the front and walked beside Jackson. The muscular giant standing next to the shorter youth would have made for a hilarious contrast in another time. But now, all Rayne felt was regret for coming this far and regret for not going farther.

Larry and Sindy were the last two left. They locked eyes and Sindy saw the tremble in the young Hispanic boy. She gingerly took him by the hand and began leading him to the others. Larry was taken aback by the turn of events, so taken aback he forgot to be nervous! That didn't last long however, although the anxiety caused by the shimmer was soon replaced by the fear of the woman's hand he held. Blush slowly crept up his neck.

"I'm not doing this for you! Get that out of your head. I'm just nervous and the actual men left us behind."

The crew of six slowly walked towards the shimmer. And the closer they got, the more they noticed. The first thing was the total lack of noise. In the latter half of summer, out in the woods and not a bird chirped or bug buzzed. Even their footsteps were starting to sound muffled. Next they noticed that the closer they got, the more solid that shimmer became, as if its coming alive just by their presence. It took on a shape, like one would imagine a black hole, except clear with a myriad of multi-colored specs swirling into an unknown abyss.And the closer they got, the more specs there were, until finally when their feet touched the pier all of colors of the world were swirling around and around in a multicolored spiral leading into a pure black dot. It was beautiful, it was horrifying, it was, it was...

"Its an adventure," mumbled Jackson as he took a few hurried steps with his outstretched hand. And before anybody had time to react, he touched it. And soon, their world was replaced with black.