(The first part of this prologue presents many characters at once and this can be kinda confusing, but don't worry about memorizing each of them. It's just a reference to another book I am fond of.)
Steps sounded in a long and quiet corridor. Corpses of soldiers lay across the place, blood coated the white tiled floor. In the background, but very far away, a sirene echoed, signaling that danger was coming... or, rather, that it was there already.
"You know, you will end up killing all of us sometime", a man carrying a robust high-tech shotgun said while kicking one of the corpses to the side, so he could pass. He was hurt, but certainly not as much as the other guys lying on the ground.
"Yeah... and I thought I was the crazy battle-addicted guy of the group", another man, this time shouldering a long sword, butted in. He didn't have a scratch, but the blade of his weapon was thoroughly crimson...
"Seems like he is trying to take my position. Right, Ari?" he elbowed his friend carrying the shotgun.
"Well, I don't die, anyways... That's not a problem to me", a crimson-haired guy wearing a white coat sighed, walking behind both. He didn't seem much proud of that statement.
"Don't worry guys. I predicted everything that would happen today. No deaths to anyone, unless something against all odds happens. Trust in your cute oracle, please", a petite girl with a wise and calm look stated, walking ahead of them.
"If it's this white-haired idiot we are talking about, everything can happen. I lost count of how many times he went against your predictions, Brenna", this black-haired woman that walked beside the oracle stepped in front, then kicked the butt of the person that led the group.
"Y-You bastard! I am concentrating here! And I said to all of you that we all might die in this mission, didn't I!? You came because you wanted to."
"Why are you so cool and calm during harsh times but can't take a single joke? I don't know whether I should feel ashamed or proud of being in the same group as you..." a man carrying a map and a strange backpack said. He walked beside the white-haired leader, helping him to guide the group across the maze-like corridors of that place.
"Don't start something, Freygar. Wanna fight again? ...Besides, where is Canute? Wasn't he together with Ivar?" the leader pointed to the man carrying the bloody sword.
"He said he needed to check something in one of the rooms along the way. I forgot to tell you guys because I was too busy playing around with the guards", the swordsman shrugged.
The white-haired man groaned as if in pain, but decided to pretend that nothing happened.
'If it's Canute, I can trust he will be back in time. But I needed him, damn it. He is the only person here that knows about teleport science. I need his help to activate that thing.'
"Ah, there it is. The silver door!" the man carrying the map pointed to their left, where they saw a shining silver door.
"It looks so simple... Are you sure that it is this door?" Ivar distractedly spun his sword around, making blood fly all over the place.
"Yes, it is..." Ari wiped the blood stains on his face, glaring at Ivar. I saw it two or three times before. They said it was near the main energy supplier of this base. Am I right, Freygar?"
"Yeah. Going straight through this corridor instead of turning left, we would find the main energy supplier, according to the map."
"Well, this makes sense. After all, they wouldn't be able to use such absurd technology otherwise. I bet it spends enough energy to maintain an entire city for days," the black-haired woman nodded.
The group approached the door. The white-haired leader crouched beside it.
"They put in a lot of work to make the digital lock of this door. Still, that's not enough to stop us", he observed as he took a device from his backpack. The group sighed in relief. The security of the famous silver door of that base was something that worried them deeply.
In a few minutes, their leader opened the door with a pretentious smile on his face.
The black-haired woman rolled her eyes and signaled for him to enter once and for all.
"Hmph. You aren't funny, as always, Camilla."
"Wanna receive another kick?"
The group entered the room, greeted with a long white corridor. The corridor was spacious enough for them to walk beside each other, but its illumination was scarce. There was only one source of light a few meters in front of them. It shone in a bluish, blinding light.
"A sphere? This is what they did? Why such a strange design?" Freygar squinted his eye, being able to distinguish the shape of that... thing.
"I thought we would find a huge machine or weapon, but..." Ivar scratched the back of his head with his sword. Brenna slapped his hand, making him stop before he beheaded himself.
Their leader didn't say anything. As if mesmerized by that light, he kept on walking. The group was about to follow him, but they heard hurried steps coming from behind. Since they were distracted, they couldn't notice it before. The person coming their way was dangerously near.
They turned to the entrance and prepared themselves. Meanwhile, their leader kept going.
He stood near the sphere and noticed that it was floating.
"There is no technology around it to make it float and yet..."
He passed his hand under the sphere. He didn't feel any disturbance there. Gravity was the same as in any other corner of that room. He felt no wind or invisible surface too.
The steps were getting louder, but he didn't care in the least. His group was behind him and he trusted in all of them. He didn't need to worry.
"Huh? Hey, it's Canute!" Ivar exclaimed, pointing at a man wearing glasses and carrying a strange staff.
"What is it, Canute? Enemies?" Ari titled his head.
Canute ignored all of them and went past the group without sparring them a glance.
"We don't have time! I need to tell him!" he yelled as he pushed Ari to the side.
Brenna's heart throbbed and her face got pale once Canute got past her.
"Oh, no..." she muttered. Camilla cast a curious look at her, knowing that she had another prediction... a bad one.
"Where is...?" Canute swallowed his question once he saw his leader standing in front of the sphere. Both his hands were beside it as if he was about to touch that thing.
Canute rushed forward, but tripped in something he couldn't see due to the poor illumination.
"No! Don't do it! That's no technology to play with, that's...!"
The white-haired man touched the sphere with both hands before Canute's words reached him.
"That's magic..." he said under his breath.
The sphere's shape got distorted as if its energy went unstable. It looked like the sphere was going to explode.
The entire room trembled, the floor cracked, and the roof began to fall. Nobody in the group except Ivar could stand still.
"That sphere... it's getting brighter!" Ari warned.
"What did that idiot do!?" Camilla shouted.
The sphere reached its peak in brightness, the room got increasingly hot, and the air pressure got too high, so much so that they couldn't breathe or move.
"CASPER!" Canute shouted with the last bit of strength in his body.
Casper seemed to wake up from a profound sleep. He jumped away from the sphere as fast as possible, diving to the ground and waiting for the explosion.
A second after... no explosion came. The sphere quickly shrunk as if it was eating itself. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared.
"D-did I mess up?" Casper's voice broke the silence of the collapsing room.
Canute stared at the spot where the sphere previously was. He had an appalled face.
"Yes. You messed up cosmically, man. And I am not even exaggerating... Though I can't tell the dimension of the trouble your idiocy could cause. It will depend on how lucky we are."
"How big can this mess be?" Camilla asked. "Hypothetically, I mean."
"Well... it depends on how much power this sphere has but... it could teleport an entire solar system to a dimension it doesn't belong. Or just one person, if we are lucky enough."
The group went silent. Everyone was lying on the ground, looking at the ceiling.
"You will kill us some time, Casper", Ari sighed. "And I meant it."
****
He slowly opened his eyes, blinking several times in the process as they were too sensible to the light. A clean blue sky greeted him, which made him giggle.
'This scenario doesn't fit my situation at all. A rainy day would be better.'
But the world would never adjust to him. Not to someone so weak. Only the powerful could operate in the world, the ones below them were operated.
That's why the sky was blue and bright, and the people around were cheerful and excited, while he was at his lowest point. The sorrow of someone with so little importance as him wouldn't change anything. His struggles were as insignificant and pathetic as an ant struggling to carry food to its home.
'Just go home, man. Just go home...', he prompted himself, striving to get up, but it was not so easy. Not only because he was feeling like trash, but he actually was inside a dumpster.
"How long am I here?" he muttered while trying to find a solid surface to help him get up.
"The whole afternoon", a voice came from his left, startling him. It was a man wearing a white uniform and a toque blanche.
As he said that, he threw some trash inside the dumpster. It smelled like food.
"So, you saw me here... the entire afternoon?"
"Exactly."
"...While bringing the trash, I suppose?"
"Yes."
"...And... And you threw the trash here and went away?"
"Hmm... y-yes, boy. What's the matter?"
"Why didn't you help me?"
The seemingly head chef furrowed his brows. He was stupefied with such a question.
"Well, I don't know... Maybe because I have a freaking restaurant with all tables occupied by people I should serve? Maybe because I have a group of morons who call themselves cooks, but need babysitting to keep working as they should? Oh, no, it might be because I was too worried thinking whether my wife is cheating on me with the handsome mailman that passes by every afternoon and, according to my neighbors, spend three to four hours inside my house 'delivering the letters'. Which one do you pick?"
The boy's blood boiled and his face went red. He was about to say something. However, he barely opened his mouth before he hesitated when seeing the irritated face of the head chef. His heart throbbed and the anger got replaced by fear instantly.
"Oh... I see. Sorry", he lowered his head.
"Do me a favor and help yourself, ok? If you depend on other people to get out of dumpsters, you better get used to the smell and wait a loooong time."
The chef turned his back to him and walked to the backdoor of his restaurant. However, he interrupted himself before he entered.
"And get out of my dumpster once and for all. People are starting to think that I killed you, y'know?"
"Hmm, I am sorry for your wife. That's really..."
"Don't worry. That's life, boy. I could go catch them right now if I wanted to. I could confront her, ask for divorce... anything like this. But I don't because I am still too weak to stop being an idiot and live without her."
After a few minutes of trying, the boy finally freed himself from that trap of smelly trash. His clothes were all dirty and so were his hands.
'That's disgusting, but I will need to walk home in this state.'
He left the dark alley, facing the busy streets of his city. The sun was hidden by the several buildings in the distance and around him. Even so, the streets were not dark in the least and the sky was as bright as it was at noon.
He turned right and began to walk, only to stop and place his hand on his sides. He coughed a few times, which made his entire trunk scream in pain.
'Did they beat me so badly today? I don't remember at all.'
He pulled his shirt, revealing his trunk, not caring about the people around him. It was covered in purple spots.
"Shit..." he pursed his lips.
'I just hope they didn't break anything here.'
He covered himself again and resumed his walk, this time being more careful.
On the way home, he stopped by a pet shop, staring at its facade.
'Thankfully, it's closed. I wouldn't want her to see me in this state... I still have food at home, so I don't need to worry. Tomorrow I come here.'
It took about ten minutes to get home from there. A small house in a not-so-busy part of the city. It was simple, but good-looking.
He opened the door and entered, only to be greeted by a sweet and melodic...
"Meow... Meow..."
His heart melted like butter and he crouched.
"Good afternoon, Felix", he smiled for the first time since he woke up. Maybe the first time in the entire week. He gently caressed his friend's white, silky fur with his fingers.
He hurried to the kitchen and took a can of cat food, quickly opening it and placing it on the ground.
"I am sorry to make you eat directly on the can every time. I swear that, if there is a single day that those guys don't get my money, I will buy a new plate just for you."
"Meow", Felix didn't seem to care. On the contrary, he quickly reached for the can and started eating frenetically.
As he ate, the boy sat on the ground and gently caressed his back.
He sighed.
"I got a strange feeling, you know? Something different might happen soon. What do you think, Felix?"
"Meow."
"...Yeah. Thought so."