"I have always dreamt I was falling"
"Falling into the darkness of the abyss"
"Till I eventually fell to the bottom"
The teens foot touched the hard ground below him after endless falling and a strange sensation came over him as he opened his eyes.
He had fallen to the other side of that dark void, he thought with no small amount of relief. Looking around he took in the unfamiliar surroundings. It seemed like there were no walls or windows here at all, but rather a large open space full of white.
A blue translucent screen popped up before him making him look directly at what he presumed was his reflection. The boy he looked so much like, had brown hair and eyes as well.
"Greetings young hero!" A familiar voice rang out through the empty room.
The boy startled and quickly turned around to face its source. There stood a tall woman in an old fashioned dress and white hair with a golden ring on her right index finger and a green stone around her neck. She also wore some sort of cape made from what looked like feathers, she wore an unreadable smile, though.
"W…who are you?" the boy asked hesitantly. The woman laughed and clapped.
"What do you mean my child?" The woman's voice was deep and sounded almost amused, "Didn't the stories tell you? That your name would be 'Hero' in these lands?"
The boy blinked in confusion as he continued to stare at the screen in front of him.
"No, they didn't mention that…" he mumbled.
"Hmph!" His companion let out a scoffing noise "Those stories about you are nothing more than fairy tales! They'e not worth a second glance nowadays." The woman spoke, sounding slightly annoyed by this fact. However, her tone returned to something lighthearted once again.
"But even if you don't believe me, it doesn't change who you really are." The woman added cheerfully, "You're the child of fate, remember that!"
At this proclamation the boy finally noticed there was someone else in the room with him. Sitting beside the woman was another boy, who looked about the same age as him. The two boys stared at each other in surprise before turning their attention back to the screen which now displayed an image of a young man with pale blond hair tied into twin tails behind his back.
"His name is Adam. He is a half-blood. He can see the future…I ask you find him" The woman explained softly. The boy's brow furrowed confusedly.
"Yes, in exchange for one thing, of course. If you find him and bring him back here, I will grant you any wish that you may desire" The woman replied.
"I promise!" He exclaimed.
"Good, then we shall meet here, in seven days. Come then, I must be off! Farewell my dear little hero!" With those words the woman disappeared, leaving behind only the screen behind them. As if in response to the disappearance of the woman, a door suddenly appeared in between them
He wass jolted awake. His body shuddered violently as he gasped for breath trying to regain his composure. When his breathing steadied he sat up and reached for his phone on the nightstand to check the time.
11:00 AM
Groaning he flopped back onto his mattress, throwing one arm across his face to cover his eyes. It hadn't felt like he'd been asleep for very long, maybe thirty minutes or so, but the dream still remained fresh and vivid in his mind.
A part of him couldn' t believe it happened, the way the woman had talked about his power...what did that mean, could he do that too? Could he use his powers in order to reach a certain person? Was that how he got to the other dimension? If so, just how far away was the other universe? Or was it somewhere completely different altogether?
His phone began to ping when he noticed a message to install a new program. Rolling over onto his stomach he unlocked the screen and checked the newest notification.
After a few moments, the message loaded itself. A few seconds later the screen changed from black to white and read: Hello! This is your Telemessage! You will be able to receive messages whenever you choose! Your current Telemessage is labeled 'Received Messages.' If you want to view the messages, press this icon!
"This has to be fake..." He remarked scrolling down the menu until he found the option for Telemessage.
[Click on message]
"Uh yeah, why not"
[Title: Cyber Knight]
[Name: Galen Verlice]
[Weapon: Draughtbane]
[Level 1]
[Health 100/100]
[Mana 50/50]
"Wait, I dont get to pick my class?" He shouted.
[swipe left or right on class to change]
A few more options flashed by but he decided to select the former. He felt better knowing he'd chosen the class and not a random default one. Healer, dual sword, connect mage? He thought.
Sounds neat...He clicked on it with a grin.
The title faded away and he saw the first image appear.
The picture showed a young boy standing in front of a tall wooden box while holding a wand, which resembled a skewered brittle wand.
Next a video started playing showing the boy swinging his wand around, using some sort of weird weapon or spell to create holograms and attack robots. Then the scene cut to a video of the boy fighting another robot with his staff. The scene continued on with multiple images, sometimes showing the boy doing other things with the robot while occasionally the robots were attacking him.
[your phone is your wand you can use the magic weapon as long as you know its name]
Once it ended a new page filled with information appeared. The boy skimmed through the list of classes before reading what it said on the top:
A mage who uses spells as weapons.
[you must have learned basic spells and learn them again if you want to upgrade them]
He was overwhelmed by the information being fed to him as he read the list. all the sudden a screen popped up with dots to connect on the screen.
One by one the dots connected to letters and numbers and suddenly he was typing a message.
"How am I supposed to do that?!" He questioned himself as the machine beeped and the message appeared.
[You need your wand to tap into a spell book. Tap on the line that says 'spell']
[You can add anything you want to the lines that say 'book', as long as it's not a forbidden spell!]
He tapped on the line saying 'Book', then the machine beeped again.
[There is a limit on the number of books on the line. Only 3 books per row, so be careful to save every book]
"Damn." He breathed quietly. He pressed the line he wanted to save and after a few seconds the screen went back to normal showing no new messages.
He let out a heavy sigh. Well, that wasn't too bad, he supposed, it seemed the machine liked him at least somewhat. As for how to get around the limitations, he had no idea. What should he do if he accidentally got a forbidden spell or if he wanted to add something to the book?
[Almost forgot that data-points can be used to purchase upgrades and weapons]
[If you buy any special items, please be sure to make sure that item is approved by your professor.]
He raised his eyebrows at the last statement. Was that a rule of sorts? Suddenly his phone chimed.
[From: Unknown Number]
[Message sent from: Unknown Number]
[I hope you enjoy today. See you soon :) ]
A map popped up on the screen, which he quickly recognized to be near his home. He glanced at the screen briefly before returning his gaze towards the map.
"So what's my mission? Find a magical creature in the woods?" He muttered aloud as he began tapping at the map.
[Find Professor Unity]
"Hmm, that does sound pretty simple, actually…" He mumbled before pressing the line.
He sat up to get dressed, making sure to put on a shirt and jeans before putting on his shoes. By the time he had gotten dressed, he still wasn't entirely convinced that the system really would let him access anything useful.
He sighed, wondering whether he shouldn't have accepted the offer to help in the first place. After breakfast – consisting of bread and jam – he silently left the house , not bothering to grab his bag since he would have plenty of time later to do it anyways.
He had gone a short distance away from the house when he spotted his mother walking towards him from the gate. She smiled warmly as she approached her son.
"You are early today, aren't you?" His mother greeted him gently smiling. He nodded sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
"Yeah, guess I slept too late. But hey, what're you doing so early? You didn't even wake me up yesterday" He commented frowning slightly.
"It's the weekend Galen, and we don't work Saturdays so I had the chance to sleep in a bit." His mother explained "Besides you'll see eventually. We're going to go to your father's lab today, remember?" He nodded.
"Oh yeah, right. Okay then mom, see you later as I gotta meet a friend!" He smiled and waved goodbye, walking past her and heading the other way.
He made sure to avoid crossing paths with anyone on the way there. He hated having to talk to people unless it was absolutely necessary, which unfortunately wasn't often.
walking down the street he followed the arrows on his phone as they pointed in three directions. Following their advice, he headed in one direction, the arrows pointing left, right and ahead.
After several minutes of walking, he came to an intersection where his path split off.
Looking around to find any indication as to which direction to take, he noticed he wasn't alone anymore. He turned around and immediately regretted it.
A man with green hair wearing a tattered cape stood in front of him staring at him. His face was obscured by the hood of the cloak covering most of it except for his eyes, which were glowing bright blue with what looked like magic.
In response to seeing this stranger, he drew his phone holding it up in the air so he could hide behind it. After a moment the stranger's expression softened and took a step forward.
"Hey. My name is Aspen. Who might you be?"
Galan stared blankly at him as his brain refused to process the fact that someone was talking to him now. After a minute of silence he shook his head in response.
"Ah, okay then, uhm… just stay calm, alright?" Aspen spoke, taking another step closer.
Without giving him another chance to reply, Aspen lifted a hand and slammed it onto Galan's chest. A flash of light blinded him momentarily.
He blinked several times, trying to adjust his eyes to the darkening surroundings. When everything finally settled he glanced at his body. There were small cuts all over his torso and arms. His phone dropped to the ground.
No matter how many times he blinked the image was burned into his eyes.
He noticed a cabin about twenty meters to his right. He walked toward it without paying attention to his surroundings and stepped inside the cabin.
A table and a chair occupied the room which had several maps, notes, and a few scrolls on it. Galan grabbed one of the scrolls, opening it to reveal a diagram of the forest. It showed various animals as well as detailed maps of various places.
"Who might you be?"
The question came out of nowhere, catching Galan completely off guard. He almost dropped the scroll as a result. "Wh...who's asking?" He stuttered, hoping he sounded casual enough. He tried his best to ignore the feeling of dread creeping up his back as he slowly closed the scroll.
"Don't play dumb." The stranger scoffed. He stepped closer until he was face to face with Galan, making sure to look at eye level with him. He frowned deeply as his eyes scanned Galens body once more.
"Oh! Are you the professor I was supposed to meet?" He asked cheerfully.
At this point his smile felt unnatural on his lips. This girl was terrifying.
"Yes..yes, I am.."
She was dressed in a long dress and white coat,her red hair covered most of her face with only her brown hair peeking out. Her glasses were pushed up onto her forehead. She held a clipboard in her hands, her fingers lightly drumming against the surface.
She gave him a curt nod in return as a greeting. "Follow me, Mr. Galavant, I'll show you around the laboratory." She said, walking towards the door but paused, turning around to glance at the young boy. "Make sure to follow my instructions exactly, understood?"
"Okay, yes ma'am." He responded.