Lights.
Darkness
Light again. Brighter and brighter. Then nothing. Silence.
That was tbe prelude to the events that became the change. In one day all the teenagers from eighteen to fifteen suddenly disappeared from earth. Not even one was missed, or left behind. Every last one of them gone.
******
Snow peaks sprawled out visible in the distance, hills, and mountains towering in different directions. Plains, streams, and gardens everywhere and sights that gave an adventurous spirit.
A grand forest stretched as far as the eye could go, far to the North and west. At its edge, a huge plain of gray sand and stones littered the ground. To the east far off in the distance only visible by use of a long-range telescope was the Urlag mountain range the only cut-off point for the forest that stretched from its mountainous walls to the far west and North.
Located in the center of this domain of gray sand the city of Hwimdor stood. White walls forged from Ertberum stones cut from the many caves littered around Hwimdor.
The walls were as tall as they were grand. Thicker than a normal house it had few surveillance posts built into it. The walls extended around the city like a cage but in honesty, it kept a whole lot of things out as best as possible
The walls didn't carve out any specific noted design as it ran around the city from one end and connected back to the other end. Three gates placed securely on three fronts stood out.
One facing the forest, another facing the Urlag mountains. Finally was the one facing South. A direction that for some weird reason didn't have any definite descriptions. Those who would come to look at this part would never have a way to describe it try as they may.
When asked the netizens of Hwimdor had one answer. It wasn't words just a look, a look of pure and unadulterated fear.
In the south, a few hundred meters of gray sand after the walls were obscured. No one could pinpoint what it was exactly. If it had been mist it would have been noted but it seemed that gazing in that direction seemed off.
Almost like something just took the sight one saw and threw back misleading information to the brain. Whatever was there was something that no one knew or wanted to speak of.
The city itself was large, there were more houses than needed for the people. A second wall that cut off the masses from the inner city and then a third wall that kept the castle separate.
It was in this city that over a thousand teenagers appeared all within the inner city.
Eyes wide, jaws open with various expressions of disbelief, shock, and the rare excitement on some who were quick to realize what was going on.
But all the teenagers had one common thing though. They were all naked as the day they were born. A fact that came to their attention after only a scream from a female rang out.
With shocked looks and bewildered gazes everyone took off in different directions of the city. One thought in mind.
Clothes.
The adventure had begun already without these teenagers knowing it. Their first quest already set. Their various decisions already paving and writing the path for their fates and destinies in a new world not known to them.
*****
Bang.
Michael shut the door behind him hurriedly a look of urgency on his face. The same look of urgency that the other teenager had gotten once the sight of various nude bodies and exposed privates had been noted.
Right now his brain refused to process the situation around him. The first thing important thought he had was gaining a cloth and hiding the horrid scar on his back.
Yes. Unlike the rest, Michael didn't care about being seen naked what he did care for was his back. The back, marred with several marks told a sad and gruesome story which the sixteen-year-old wasn't very interested in reminiscing about.
'Bingo'. After rummaging through the little but slightly good and expensive house he found the gold. Cloth. He found the cloth in the tall wooden wardrobe that screamed class.
His eyes roamed through the outfits as he sorted through every one of them looking for something comfortable.
Finally, his eyes landed on a black shirt and pants which were quickly donned after a mental tussle off using the briefs he found in a different cupboard. Pulling on some boots he stood and tightened the belt on his waist even though he realized he didn't need it.
Somehow with a trace of luck, he had found the room of someone his size.
Done clothing himself his brain finally had room to process other things and the one question on thousands of minds resounded in his head finally.
'Where am I?'
The very room he'd picked within the house was large, probably not the biggest in the house but still larger than his room by a lot. His former room could fit in one corner of the room and still have enough space to throw one of those high school parties he always heard of.
Gold and blue curtains lined the walls, and a bed very well made sat at the center of the room. He finally noted some things around him.
One was the cobwebs and dust lingering at certain places telling him that it had been a while since someone lived here. The dirt on surfaces were apparent too, looking at his cloth could see the dust and smell the dirt in them.
"abandoned house or what?" he pondered as his eyes took in tbe fact that everything was where it should be. Not that he knew if certain things were gone. But for a house with missing people, it felt full.
"Strange place, likely abandoned. What next? Monsters?" he asked his face still bland.
Turning he exited the room and began accessing the house. The house itself was big something he ignored in the mad dash for clothes.
A living room and a large hallway leading down the side where a kitchen was. Several doors leading to different rooms were spotted on different sides.
The house and a blend of medieval and near-modern tastes almost like the owner hadn't been decisive enough on the decorating.
Walking about he began moving through the rooms one by one. There were four rooms in total. The first he had changed in obviously belonged to a bit his age. The second was a girl's if the gowns hanging on the wardrobe had anything to say about it.
The next room belonged to a man probably the father. There was no sign of a wife maybe dead or whatever. The last room though cemented his thoughts on one grand possibility.
'I can't come to any conclusions yet' he pondered. Leaving the room he shut the door behind him and just as he made to leave he noted tbe key stuck in the keyhole. Thinking he turned it locking the door and then slid it out. With the key grasped in his palm, he exited the house.