New York, New York – March 17, 2019 (Sunday) 1pm
*
Isaac Fernandez set his eyes on the one-way avenue towards the building where they were called for their first ever gathering. All the pieces needed to complete the puzzle are now set. Their journey is about to begin.
When he got inside, everyone else seemed to become wary of his presence – like he's radiating death or something. Well, everyone, except for his friend, Adam Schmidt, who was sitting by the head of the table and only looked at him with cold indifference. They are weird that way. They don't really talk, but they understand each other since they've known each other ever since they were kids.
"Father already retrieved the portal." Adam said without any further ado after everyone has settled down. He raised a heavy-looking book from his hand and showed it to all who were present. "But there were no signs of the Son of Time. His current whereabouts are still unknown as of now."
When no one reacted, he continued. "However, we must not delay any further. The time is nigh. We must go and wait for the Son of Time to meet us there – if he isn't there, that is. The children of the Earth are waiting for us. Be prepared. Three hours from now, we shall go."
--
Boston, Massachusetts – March 17, 2019 (Sunday) 3pm
*
"….he's always, always, leaving his things behind! Leaving it for me to wash and keep! It's annoying! You tell him, Rex! I know it must be hard for him this time but I will not tolerate his behaviour anymore!" Sayo Sasaki, Springdale High School's volleyball club manager said as she shove the sports bag to another member of the team.
Rexis Jordan opened the bag and found a complete set of spare clothes, their tracksuit uniform, two towels, a water bottle, a pair of volleyball shoes and a volleyball itself. All of these belong to none other than their left wing spiker, Kairo Julius Andreas. He sighed as he picked up the ball which was signed by their country's best setter (Micah Christenson).
"That Kairo, leaving behind something as sick as this." He doesn't want to say it out loud, but he's so jealous of the signed ball for he was their team setter in their club. 'How does he have it?!' He clicked his tongue as he put the ball back in.
"….and if you ever see him, tell him that I won't allow him to lounge his lazy bum here in our house –"
"Come-ohhhn Sayo, cut the guy some slack, he just lost his dad." Rexis yawned as he said these words to their manager. "I mean, anyone can lose focus when their mourning."
This somehow silenced Sayo. But not a few moments thereafter, she said, "I told him to pick up his things here. Been calling him since yesterday but he won't answer."
"And that's why you want me to give this to him now? You know I hate going in their neighborhood, right?"
Oh yes, he hated to go there. Kairo's dad is – or was – fine, but the neighbors are just a pain in the ass. So what if he's hanging out sometimes at a white man's house? They really don't need to look at him that way.
"Say, you know what? What if you come with me to their house? That way, I won't be the only one who's looked at in a weird way. You sure he really isn't picking up since yesterday?"
"Don't know what's up with him. He really didn't pick up." She doesn't want to admit it, but she's worried about Kairo.
"Fine, let's go then. We'll gate crash and get his stupid ass outta there."
Rexis was successful in dragging Sayo with him to the Andreas' household. When they rang the doorbell, no one answered.
"Must be sleeping. Right, Imma do this." Rexis then moved towards the nearby potted plant beside the Doric column of the house's entrance and lifted it up. There, he found the two spare keys of the front door. Sayo shot him a disappointed look, to which he only replied, "Kairo always does this when he forgets his keys."
Soon, they were inside. They called out for their friend's name, yet no one answered. It also seemed like not a single soul was inside the house. Sayo averted her gaze at the cordoned room, but Rexis peeked inside to see if Kairo was there. Really, there's no one home.
"How about his room?" Sayo suggested.
"It's upstairs. Let's go." Rexis led the way to Kairo's bedroom and found it odd that the door was slightly ajar. He pushed it open and let out an audible sigh upon finding the room completely empty.
"Not here either." He was about to leave but something caught his eye – something in the room was emitting a faint light.
"He must've left somewhere. There he goes again, just disappearing without a word like in practices." Sayo said. Upon hearing no reply from her friend, she asked again. "Hey, is something the matter?"
"Just wanna check something out. Something's weird."
Sayo arched her brows. "Weird?" Now she got curious, and followed Rexis inside the room. Everything was inconspicuous – until it wasn't. They both looked at the source of the 'weirdness' from the room.
'A glowing book?' Both of them thought.
"Are my eyes playing with me or I'm normal?" Rexis asked.
"You're just as sane as I am, Rex." Sayo replied.
The two of them looked at each other, silently telling the other to take a closer look at the glowing thing. None of them batted an eyelash. A few more seconds and Rexis huffed, giving up at the contest.
"Come on, at least don't be such a bummer and see it with me."
Sayo rolled her eyes but stepped forward to see it better nonetheless.
The book was opened at a certain page. However, it was….."Blank?" they blurted out in unison. The only word that can be seen from the book was somewhat like a title at its upper left side portion.
"Pandora?" Just then, the moment Rexis touched the book, he felt an incredible amount of energy from it, and then the book itself was 'sucking him in.'
"Woahhhh!" Rexis shouted, much to Sayo's alarm. Before he was totally engulfed by the intense pulling force of the book, he grabbed on to Sayo's wrist and dragged her with him into that unknown oblivion.
They spun around in an almost endless black void, and the next thing they knew, they landed flat on their asses in front of an extremely hot room, full or what appeared to be old models of weaponry and steel armaments which are far too ancient for their style.
"The hell?" Rexis groaned quietly from that wild spinning they just experienced. He slowly opened his eyes as he tried to pat his bottom. Then he began his scan and said again, more forcefully this time, "What the hell?!"
"Owwww." Sayo was also just beginning to help herself up, and she too, immediately felt the hot environment that was surrounding them. Like Rexis, she was sweating profusely from the unbearable temperature. When her senses became clearer, Rexis' words finally made sense to her. She looked around and muttered, "Are you – are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I usually don't have any idea what you're thinking, but yep, I reckon you and I are literally on the same page."
Both of them stared at the book that Rexis was still holding. No one wanted to say it, but the same thing was on their minds. The realization that they were transported to another world – the world inside that very same book.
The two of them are also weebs, after all.