"Alright I get it"
'Asshole'
A young man got up from the bench he was sleeping on, annoyed as he just awoke from a terrible nightmare. Solstice stared at the police officer who just uprooted him from his sleeping spot. The young man was of a short stature, tousled dark brown hair and spring green eyes, he was not lanky but also not thick, just average. He was unhappily thinking about the terrible sleep he's been getting recently, especially with the nap he just had today.
The policeman was tall, built pretty well, you can clearly see some muscle definition, with a blond crew cut and blue eyes, overall a good looking man. His lively body was a great contrast to the dull lifeless park they were standing in.
'If only I looked as good as this bastard'
No one really took the time to "enjoy" the park, in fact pretty much no one did. The park was located on the outer edges of the main city and no one really lived on the outer edges as there wasn't much to do. Most of the time the only people you'll find in the outskirts, are the dirt-poor hopeless individuals who live a nomadic lifestyle without really anywhere for them to go. Eventually they'll find somewhere to set up their "home", although it can't really be called a home, there aren't many resources outside of the main city, so it's usually a tent made of random street cloth that can be blown away from even the weakest storms.
It was a shame really, that these people could not be accepted back into the main city because of the one similarity they all shared....they were criminals.
It did not matter if they were proven innocent after their banishment to the outskirts, the prejudice of the city people was too harsh. Solstice was unfortunately one of the many people who were banished even though they were wrongly accused for something they never did. Solstice had been accused of a murder he never committed and even after he was proven innocent, the damage the accusation had caused could not be remedied. People of the city could not completely forget the image that had been falsely branded on him and foolishly kept spreading rumors and treated him like he was less than worthless.
He had been accused of murdering his little sister…..which of course he did not, but what was even worse was that the incompetence of the city police was more than frustrating. Even after he was proven innocent, to this day they still have not been able to pinpoint the true identity of the perpetrator.
'It's so damn unfair'
Solstice reached into his pocket and pulled out the remaining piece of his protein bar out of its wrapper. This would be the last bit of food he will eat for the rest of his life, afterall, he is going to die today. After stuffing his mouth with the last little bit of his protein bar and gracelessly chomping on it, he tossed the wrapper over his shoulder and it began to drift in the wind and landed in a puddle.
"Did you just litter in front of me you rat?"
Then a new thought came across his mind
'It's probably best that I tell him'
Scrunching up his messy hair awkwardly, he grabbed the attention of the policeman who had been staring at him with disdain.
"Hey, actually I need to tell you something"
The policeman looked at him with a curious expression on his face and an upward twist of his brow.
"Oh? Out with it then"
Solstice scratched his cheek and stared blankly for a second then, he recovered himself and spoke.
"I'm having madness visions"
The policeman looked visibly shaken then straightened himself, grabbed his temples and rubbed them with a somber expression on his face.
"How long?"
"Not long, you just woke me up from my 1st one"
"Ah, well that's great then, we can still prepare, you will need to come with me now, no exceptions, let's go"
As they walked on the cracked sidewalk that had been overgrown with grass, Solstice took this moment of peace to take in the surroundings. The outer edges of the city were really….dull with very little color. Here and there you can see remnants of a stop sign for what was once an intersection, leading off into a now empty neighborhood, the houses that were once there are now long gone. Solstice then turned his gaze left and noticed the ocean. Trash and debris drifted along the easygoing currents and waves. Solstice never learned how to swim and frankly, he had an irrational unearned fear of large bodies of water so he never tried to teach himself.
It is terrible how the world developed. After all of the countries' governments simultaneously announced the presence of the Wyrd and informed the world of what it was, all of a sudden all societal structure collapsed for a while. Eventually each countries' government banded together to form one big administration, and society recovered their stability although it was never the same. During those lawless years the world was pretty much on the brink of collapse and even now, societal norms have changed from how they were 70 years ago. There is a lot more prejudice and hierarchy in place than there used to be with the new social rankings, people treat their fellows more harshly than before.
During their walk, Solstice watched as the policeman pulled out a strange handheld device, similar to a smartphone, but with some added modifications. The policeman proceeded to point what seemed to be its camera to Solstice which made Solstice freeze in fear.
"What are you doing with that?"
"Relax, I'm scanning you to see what files we have on you in our database, your a criminal afterall, everyone living in the outer edges is"
The policeman paused for a moment and stared at the screen with focused eyes. After studying the screen for a couple of minutes, he proceeded to put the device back into his pocket and sighed deeply.
"Murder huh, and a gruesome one at that. I'm sorry for your loss….."
Solstice was taken aback by this. In fact no one really cared about his feelings about the whole situation and instead, just kept foolishly clinging onto the image that was casted onto him. His little sister was murdered in a vicious and violent manner. Those simple 5 words the policeman had told Solstice just now 'I'm sorry for your loss', were so foreign to him that he didn't know how to feel. Did he want to drop to his knees and start crying? Or did he want to lash out and call the policeman a hypocrite and tell him that he was a part of the problem because he is a part of the police force?
He did not know.
Not too long later, Solstice found himself standing in the entrance of a government run building. The front entrance was heavily reinforced with heavy alloy plates, with narrow slots where powerful turrets were peaking their barrel out, with the soldiers napping lazily in the gunner seats, not even bothering to hide the heavy weaponry and their indolence properly from random people that would walk by.
Why would they? The only people out here are the worthless criminals outcasted by their own people whether it was deserved or not, they did not deserve that decency, that was just the kind of world they lived in.
"This facility is on the smaller end, I'm sorry you will have to bear with it. Luckily, we still have one of the three confinement rooms available for you to use"
At some point on their walk to the facility, Solstice learned the name of the policeman. His name was Jest….he turned out to be a decent guy despite their first initial meeting at the park which could be said to be less than friendly.
The two of them stepped through the front door of the building, Solstice had to shield his eyes from the blinding ceiling lights. The buzzing of the lights and the dusty office smell proved to be nauseating.
The facility looked like it hadn't been properly taken care of for a few years. Trash cans were filled with coffee cups, old wrappers and used tissues. Solstice noticed cobwebs in the corners of the rooms they visited here and there, if there was one thing that was relatively clean, it was the floors and the bathroom he had to use when they first got there.
'I think I'm gonna get a headache if I stay here too long'
After rubbing his forehead as he felt a headache coming on, Solstice remembered something troubling that Jest had told him earlier.
"Wait, earlier you said that you only have one room available for me? Does that mean the other two are being used?"
Jest glanced at him then looked away, a distant expression found his face.
"Yes. There are two others currently chosen by the Wyrd being kept here while they undergo their trials. It is very strange that with you now, three people chosen by the Wyrd have shown up to a facility so far out in the outskirts which just so happens to have exactly three confinement rooms. I guess that's just the Wyrd having fun manipulating the chains of fate"
After a short moment, Jest seemed to have recollected himself and proceeded to guide him to a medium sized room and took a seat in a chair. The room was all in all practically empty, the only things that filled it was a small cot in the corner and the chair Jest was currently sitting on opposite of where the cot was.
What Solstice did notice though, was that the room was made of a more durable alloy then the outer defenses of the facility. The alloy itself, somehow Solstice could feel it emanating a foreign presence. This room was meant to confine, to keep something in, to keep something from escaping and causing havoc…..
Jest then gestured to Solstice to take a seat on the cot.
"You know, I never asked you for your name young man, may I ask for your name?"
"Yeah….well…uhm, my name is Solstice…."
Officer Jest looked at him with confusion and surprise written all over his face.
"Solstice? Like the Solstice God? You were named after a god?"
The young man, Solstice, blinked twice innocently and answered.
"Well my mom really liked The Solstice God I guess, I mean, enough to name me after him"
Solstice thought for a moment.
"Hold on, wouldn't you know that? Didn't you take a look at my file earlier on the way here?"
"I figured I would ask you when we had a moment to have a proper conversation so I didn't bother to look and only checked what you had been indicted for"
Jest stared at him for a few moments.
"Well alright then Solstice, how old are you"
"15"
"Oh. How unfortunate"
'What the hell!? C'mon have some faith in me!'
Solstice's mood turned gloomy as he had an idea of what would be happening to him very soon.
"The briefing process won't take long, it's pretty straightforward, let me start off by asking, what do you know of what's going to happen to you?"
"Yes, well…..what I do know is that at some point my mind will be dragged into the Wyrd and I'll end up having to face some crazy monster right?
Jest looked at Solstice intensely and sighed.
"If that is all you know, then I regretfully have to inform you that you don't even know the bare minimum, didn't you get a somewhat of a proper education? You lived in the main city for a while right?"
Solstice looked at Jest with pleading eyes.
"I mean isn't it that simple? How much more do I need to know to be prepared?"
Jest answered almost immediately with a strained voice.
"A lot more. There should be classes on the Wyrd implemented in the education system which is mandatory for every school all over what is left of the world, you...you attended a school when you lived in the main city right?"
"I did. Although it was only for a couple of years, I think I stopped attending when I was 8, then for the next 3 years I….."
Solstice went silent and his body fell backward onto the cot. The next thing he noticed was that he could not move, and he was starting to lose the feeling of his body rapidly.
Solstice could hear Jest yelling at him although he could not understand what he was saying and then eventually, he felt his consciousness separate from his body. It was extremely painful and indescribable but it only lasted for a moment before he began to descend from his body. He felt weightless and weighted at the same time, such a contradiction confused him.
It was weird to be looking at your own body from above you growing more and more distant as you get pulled into an endless oblivion below it. The speed at which he was being dragged rapidly grew and eventually, everything became dark.
Then, Solstice fluttered his eyes open.