The light filtered through the velvet cream curtains , casting a shadow across the cramped apartment . The light seemed to settle on a young man , his face buried in a book on his black matt desk .

He seemed to shun away from the light for a moment attempting to stay in his deep sleep .However after 5 minutes , he slowly arose from his hunched position , barely managing to lift his head from the book , as if he was glued to the page.

He began to stretch his long slender arms and wipe the drool of his face , and finally after what seemed to be an eternity he sluggishly opened his eyes .

"Morning already , I must have passed out while reading again"

He slowly unfurled his legs from the chair he was sitting in , and spun around getting up in a slow lethargic movement .Before putting on his glasses and beginning to trudge across the old mahogany apartment , towards the bathroom .

Each weary stride, his feet dragged across the old wood floor. He slowly opened the bathroom door and began to brush his teeth . After he finished, he stared at himself in the mirror , contemplating his appearance .

He had short blonde hair , unkempt from his many days of sleeping in a book. He was pale from the many day's he had spent without sunlight , traversing the readable realms . Upon his nose perched a pair of round , brown glasses which framed his pale face and lent an intelligent air to him. In addition he was naturally lean and slender , however his back had a slight arch to it , probably from the many days he spent hauling heavy books .

"I should really exercise at some point" He muttered to himself almost unconvinced by his own words.Before stepping out of the bathroom and towards the apartment door however not before grabbing his bag filled with books ranging from Ap physics and maths , to fantasy and detective novels.

Before stepping out the door and into the city. He stared at the rug that welcomed him every day , to his wonderfully cramped apartment.

The only thing which welcomed him anywhere.

It read 'Welcome home , Rhys '

The city was busling with activity , men and women rushed from building to building with urgency . Streets filled with the familiar sounds of cars , phonecalls and the occasional cries of children , which acted as anthem to the busy city. Skyscrapers dominated the skyline , illuminating the cityscape with neon advertisements and billboards which only shone brighter in the night .

In the centre of this city rhys stood at a crosswalk nervously , he had never liked the city , it was too loud for his taste . You see he was quite an introvert , he would go out of his way to avoid people . In an ideal world he would never have to leave his apartment.

Just the thought of this made rhys let out a slight smile , it was at this moment that the sounds of the city began to cease ; The cars , the people , the cries gone , nothing but silence.

After the silence followed a distant rumble , like thousands of lightning bolts striking the ground. Which lasted for only two seconds ; However in these seconds it felt as if the entire world had shook .

But just as quickly the shaking had started it had stopped and the world seemed to return to normal . Nethertheless even if Rhys was bad at picking up on social queues he could tell that everyone was tense .But after 15-20 minutes that tension had subsided and people carried on with thier day and the anthem of the city returned .

However Rhys could not help but have a sense of uneasiness after listening to the rumble. For some reason he felt a sense of impending danger.

'What in the hell just happened. It's like everything stopped'

(*1 hour later*)

Rhys now sits in his classroom , at the back of his class , endulging in one of the novels he brought along titled 'The Hero's return' . His face shone brightly at the thought of the main characters antics.

However that happiness was abruptly stopped when a large hand reached over and grabbed the book from the table

"What you reading , nerd" Mocked the voice.

Rhys slowly looked up at the person who stole his book . To his dread it was the usual suspect Connor , upon seeing this he instinctively began to withdraw and his once-happy smile turned to a weak frown.

Connor had a large , stature unbecoming to that of an 18 year old. A dragon tattoo covered his arms that soared to his neck . He had black , oily hair slicked back with thick gel . His face was that of a 25 year old man , his nose was crooked and grotesque , his lips burly and plump and finally his face was completed by a small brown goatee.

"Hero's return eh , are you a child ,you f**cking trash , you got middle school syndrome or somet" He viscously mocked Rhys , garnering laughter and snickers from the others in the room .

Rhys withdrew back even more at his words , feeling an instinctive drive to curl up into a shell . His instinct had been forcefully driven into him oth physically and mentally, as Conor harassed him everyday .

Rhys constantly question what he had done to deserve Connors wrath.He had a suspicion that Connor was jealous of him , although he would never say that to his face. I was good at studying , and always placed first in tests . While Connor had placed last every single time withought fail

However even with Connors violent and horrific bullying . Rhys did not break , he tried to stay happy by escaping into the world of books .

Therefore even in his fear , he felt a colpusion.He wanted his book back.

"Give ...Give it back" Rhys sheepishly muttered under his breath.

"What the f**k did you just say to me"

Rhys was shaken and scared by his tone and the thought of giving up on his book crossed his mind. But in that moment , he began to remember the Hero's antics in his book and with the tiny amount of courage he could muster he timidly shouted "Give it back"

Upon hearing this Connor was quite taken aback . His once arrogant smile began to warp into a twisted frown and his face began to turn a crimson red with anger .

'This mouse dares , HE dares talk back to me '

"You f**cking rat you want it eh , here have it " Upon saying this he ripped it apart and threw the scattered pages at Rhys's face gaining gasps from the newly formed crowd .

Rhys had lost his frown and his once scared and sheepish demeaner had been transformed into an unshakable anger. It was in this anger that he forgot how weak he truly was and charged at Connor arms flailing .

This prompted Connor to launch a right hook to Rhys's face crushing his nose in one strike launching his tempered glasses of his face. Blood began to run like a faucet from his nostril and his confidence and anger quickly turned back into fear as he desperately tried to back up from the approaching Connor .

As Connor got closer his blood soaked fist , looming over his face . Only one thought could prevail .

'Help me '

As if in response , just before Connors fist would hit Rhys . He was knocked of balance and that familiar rumbling began to shake the classroom , however this time it was much , much stronger . This caused everyone , even Connor to panic as they quickly fled the classroom leaving rhys behind in a puddle of his own blood.

Suddenly as he lay there , Rhys heard a violent thundering sound , so loud that it shattered the windows next to him. Rhys in all his pain , picked his glasses up from the ground and settled them on his face before turning to look at the direction of the sound .

As soon as he turned his head he saw something beyond his comprehension , a tree .It was so large and colossal that it covered the sky in its branches , blocking out the sunlight , towering over skyscrapers like they where nothing but ants . The leaves glistened a magnificent green luster and the bark was light and looked full of life .

At first he thought it was a hallucination caused by his lack of blood and delirium. Then he began to think it was a dream , but that was quickly proven false by the searing pain of his broken nose.

Rhys slowly got up and walked towards the open window and stared at the ground below looking at the his fellow students and back up to the tree. At this moment a blue screen popped in front of his face.

It read *Yggdrasil has appeared *

He didn't know it then , but that message would be the beggining of his very own story .