Nate never expected his Tuesday night to start with a bang—literally. The sound of shattering glass echoed through his dingy apartment as a sphere of pulsating light burst into existence in the middle of his living room.
He froze mid-bite of his leftover pizza, the cheese stretching comically toward his open mouth. "Okay," he muttered, placing the slice back on the greasy plate. "I've officially watched too much sci-fi."
The sphere hovered, about the size of a beach ball, radiating a faint hum. Wisps of electric blue energy sparked and swirled around it like tiny fireworks. Nate squinted, unsure whether to approach it or call the landlord. Knowing Mr. Jenkins, he'd just blame it on "the weird wiring."
Then the voice spoke.
"Designation: Nathaniel Ashcroft. Stand by for dimensional recalibration."
Nate blinked. "Uh… what?"
The sphere crackled louder, and a strange symbol—a glowing, triangular glyph—burned itself into the air beside it. Nate stumbled backward, his heart pounding. He fumbled for his phone, only to realize it was on the other side of the room. Great. No witnesses to his alien abduction.
"Hold up, recalibration?" he said, hands raised in mock surrender. "Look, if this is about that weird Reddit thread I commented on, I swear I didn't mean anything by it!"
The sphere responded by growing brighter, its hum escalating to a low roar. A gust of wind erupted from nowhere, scattering his overdue utility bills across the floor. And then—because of course this was happening—a rift tore open in the air.
It wasn't like in the movies. No sleek, CGI-perfect portal. This thing was jagged, edges crackling with unstable energy. Through the tear, Nate glimpsed another world. Or, more accurately, a slice of chaos: glowing cities that defied gravity, creatures with impossible anatomy, and skies that shimmered between shades of violet and gold.
Nate's brain couldn't decide whether to be amazed or terrified. It settled on both.
A figure emerged from the rift—a woman in sleek armor that gleamed like liquid metal. Her eyes glowed faintly, a stark contrast to her expression, which read as one part annoyed, two parts bored.
"Nathaniel Ashcroft?" she asked, her voice sharp and commanding.
Nate nodded slowly. "That's… me?"
"Good. You're coming with me." She reached for him, but Nate instinctively stumbled back.
"Whoa, whoa, wait! Coming where? Who are you? What is this?!" His words tumbled out in a frantic rush.
The woman sighed, clearly unimpressed with his panic. "You've been flagged as a critical anomaly. Time is collapsing. Dimensions are unraveling. And somehow—don't ask me how—you're the key to fixing it."
Nate stared at her. Then at the rift. Then at the glowing sphere that had apparently summoned her. "Yeah, okay," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Sure. Let me just grab my toothbrush, and we'll save the universe together."
Before she could respond, the sphere flared again. This time, Nate felt a strange pull—a magnetic force yanking him toward the rift.
"Wait! I didn't agree to this!" he shouted, flailing as the void swallowed him whole.
The last thing he saw before everything went dark was the armored woman rolling her eyes.