Chapter 1
In the Beginning
:NOWHERE:
“Greetings”
“…”
“Aren’t you a sociable one?”
“…”
“Do you have a name, stranger?”
“… No”
“I see… It’s going to see you finally talking, I suspect you will find a name… soon enough” the large figure trailed off.
“Soon” the smaller figure laughed as if those final hushed words were some kind of joke “fool… there is no time this place”.
“Perhaps not… But the winds of fate still flow through here” the larger figure glanced sideways.
“Fate…” a small figure sighed.
“Indeed… But your fate is greater still… than this non-existence you have resigned yourself to”
“My fate is regrettable but… Inevitable”
A Grin began to spread across the face of the large figure.
“Isn’t it?” The small figure replied, the embers of hope flickering into existence.
“Not as inevitable as you seem to believe”
“…”
“How about I give you a choice, between this sword and this book, symbolising hidden power and hidden knowledge respectively”
“B-book” stuttered the small figure with some hesitance
“Perfect~” announced the large figure whilst snapping the fingers it didn’t seem to have
What followed those words was a strange sensation, the world turned from a never-ending black abyss to a face full of hot grey rock, “OW” the small figure screamed into the ground. Rolling onto his back, he grasped his nose in pain before moving his hands back and staring at them.
“Hands” he thought “I have hands again” he Continued with a twinge of puzzled glee creeping into his thoughts.
He quickly moved his newly rediscovered hands to his head “and hair” he thought as the puzzled glee turned into regular glee.
“and… wait” is hand shot down the crudely made pair of trousers he was suddenly wearing…
“Oh thank god” he sighed.
The boy finally opted to stand up “on the subject of my trouser compartment, who made these trousers they are a bit crude” he thought looking at his trousers which seemed to be composed of a sheet of tattered black fabric with the piece of rope as a makeshift belt “suppose I made them before I… Died… wait when I die, am I in hell?” The boy thought to himself whilst glancing around the Rocky Inferno he found himself in, “sure as hell looks like it”
A glimmer of daylight caught the boy’s eye; he amused himself by thinking “well I know where I’m going”
: OUTSIDE:
Emerging into the daylight the boy was met only with a forest, he turns to face the recently vacated cave and spotted a sign reading:-
TARTARUS
ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE
DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS
“That’s encouraging” he mentally snarked.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” the peaceful silence of the forest was shattered by a noticeably feminine scream.
The boy clutched his ears and span around to try and catch a glimpse of who or what just tried to perforate his eardrums, nothing, well nothing except a strange pulsing ball of light with the faintest of purple tints. The boy hesitantly approached the ball, simultaneously extending a single cautious hand.
*Rip*
In that instant the surroundings were torn away revealing a torrent of purple energy, then not a second later an entirely new set of surroundings was stitched together, this time, buildings… “Where the hell am I?, what the hell just happened?… did I teleport, I think I did, oh my god that’s so cool, no no no… calm, calm down, back to the questions, where am I?, hmmm a town, maybe a village, I wonder if I can find tourist information, wait… no this place looks waaaay to rustic to have tourists never mind tourist information. Is this place abandoned, I haven’t seen anyone and its like…” he cast a glance upward “midday” looking around however yielded a different conclusion, several pairs of curtains in windows seemingly drew themselves closed when met with his gaze.
“Hmm”
“Stop right there foul monster,” commanded an unknown if slightly raspy voice from… up? The boy looked up to see an expanding rainbow ring and a small cyan blur hurtling towards him at a frankly irresponsible speed. The boy managed only to cross his arms above his head before a cyan bullet turned him into a fresh stain on the Cobblestone…
Except it didn’t…
Everything stopped. All the colour bled out of the world, the boy looked around to attempt to make sense of what happened… nothing happened but it’s not that nothing happened, it’s more akin to nothing happened. It was like time at stopped the breeze was silent, the clouds were unmoving, leaves rested stagnant in the air and the cyan bullet had become a small cyan horse-like creature a pony maybe sporting a rainbow coloured mane and a look of grim determination. With his first action he decided not to stand directly under the creature in question as when time started it was sure to carry on its previous path. Those small few steps to the side became small comfort when the world overcompensated for its previous lack of colour by engulfing the entire town Square in a rainbow coloured mushroom cloud,
*KABOOOOOM*
The shockwave threw him off his feet and into the first floor window of what appeared to be a fairground carousel.
At this point consciousness was not the easiest thing to hold onto…
: HOSPITAL:
The boy awoke gently.
“Ow my head”
Sort of…
“Everything is painful”
OK, not at all.
“Water” He finally vocalised looking directly at a glass of water on the bedside table. He rolled over to reach it only to discover that he could not as he had been strapped to the bed with a series of large leather belts, “what the… how did I end up here? I remember flying and then a lot of glass and a lot of pain, alright calm down breathe in… out… okay I’m in a hospital in a room and is no one else here, how on earth am I supposed to get attention in hospital. Wait… This is a blood pressure cuff… hmm~. I know”
The boy then bit quickly into the blood pressure cuff wire and tore it straight out, the room erupted into a chorus of beeps that was not helping anyone’s headache.
“Now come to me, my little medical staff”