Chapter 1: It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane!

PROLOGUE

Levin Mueller

Rainfall usually brought out my better moods—today was an exception. A silence like no other filled the void in the graveyard, my ears tuning out the clapping thunder strikes and the pummeling shower above me. My black umbrella casted a shadow over me as I stood with a crowd of over two dozen people, hiding the solemn expression on my face while I mourned quietly. Doctor Eldon Hues was more than a lunatic archeologist, or an over-obsessed and unrefined geezer who lost his touch with reality. He was my mentor, and more importantly, the man was like a father to me.

I couldn’t expect any of our colleagues to understand that. Not even Gwen Hathaway, one of the doctor’s senior associates. I was his other senior partner in a small community of archeologist working in Roe University, a few miles from Watch Square. Two nights ago, he lost his life, ending his eighty-six year streak, with a promise that his project would become a reality.

He’d passed the baton to me, and I reassured him that I’d continue his research so his legacy could live on.

Looking down at his casket now, I started having some doubts. I’d been quick to give him a peace of mind. I could tell the man was struggling, the visions he was getting from the crystal he’d found in our exhibition to Abydos, Egypt two years ago trickling little by little. And with the good doctor gone, the visions with all of the hints and clues were gone too. Which meant all I had to go off of were his notes in his journal, and the data he’d collected from his previous failures.

A thousand civilians lost the first year, and a thousand more the next…

The two thousand people who’d vanished never came back, however, Dr. Hues confirmed that the crystal’s spell hadn’t been successful…

“A heart attack,” Gwen pouted as she stood to my left, startling me. I must have been deep in thought for the shapely five-foot-eight upscale girl to make me jump like that. I stared at her from the corner of my eyes, noticing Gwen paying Eldon little respect while she huffed cigarette fumes from her rosy lips. I rolled my eyes away from her once I realized where she was headed with the conversation, the blond bob-haired girl wearing her sarcasm like a second skin. Even her posture was revealing, Gwen caring for the good doctor, but not in the same way I did. She lacked grace and humility in any venue we were in, and Dr. Hues’ funeral was no different. “That’s some way to go, huh? Can’t say I didn’t see that coming.”

She flicked the butt of her cigarette casually, the ashes fluttering in the wind.

“We are on a time constraint. He was straining himself, the light at the end of the tunnel pulling further and further away from him the less he succeeded.”

She stifled a snicker. “Levin, I hope you’re not making jokes at a time like this.”

I scoffed. “Of course you’d mince my words around.”

“Hues was crippled with finding the three pieces of the Coregion in Cietera. The problem was that he couldn’t execute the spell flawlessly to retrieve those artifacts to make the crystal core whole again. It would have been a whole lot easier if the damn thing came with a manual for these spells when he found it in Osireion. That way, two-thousand people wouldn’t have had to die.”

I snapped her a glare. “Can you lower your voice?”

She chuckled. “What? None of these schmucks even know what we are talking about, Levin. He only entrusted us with this intel. Just us. Like, two peas in a pod?” She wrapped her arm around mine, Gwen leaning in closer to me with those starry eyes, and whispered, “When we get this spell to work, and we will get it to work, we can reap in the rewards. We will be the heroes of humanity.”

The smell of cigarettes and whiskey poured all over me. Gwen might have been deplorable sometimes, but at least she was committed. Just as long as she set her mind on something, and she had her muse around.

Evidently, I was her muse.

The cemetery started to clear out after they buried the good doctor, leaving only Gwen and I in the pouring rain. I took a minute more to consider what she was saying to me—while the doctor might have passed on the challenge of opening this portal to Cietera to me, he’d also passed on the unyielding burden of responsibility by seeking out this ultimate power.

My only hope was that I could execute this spell in time, before the apocalypse fell upon us…

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CHAPTER ONE

-Three Weeks Later-

Codey Travers

All right, this was the last time I was going to hustle down these steps with more of Paige’s wardrobe boxes over my back! She was giving me a hernia! Despite the struggle of moving day, I’d promised Jake that I’d help him and his girl take the last bit of her things. Gutting her apartment out seemed easy on text, but when I stepped inside of her pink paradise in the sky, I realized just how fucked I was.

Mind you, she was sitting pretty on the crown of the apartment complex, on the seventh floor.

Once I bulldozed the foyer’s double doors, I rushed across the sidewalk to my truck, ignoring my cramping knee along the way. I bucked my shoulder up as I leaned to the side, tossing the last of her heavier boxes on the corner of the bed. It was a tight squeeze, but I rammed my arm into it. And with a little elbow grease, I packed the bad boy up, then slammed the door shut.

“Ugh, shit,” I sighed, with my hand to my waist and the other rubbing along my nape. I stretched as I caught my breath, the ache in my bones and the grumbling in my stomach keeping me away from marching up to the queen’s castle again. “I should have taken more than just that dinner coupon and fifty bucks for all of this.”

I heard scrapping and I turned to my left, noticing Jake stammering toward me with a leaning tower of kitchenware. He must have been nuts if he thought any of that was fitting in my truck. My Ram was packed to the brim, and Jake knew that. He was hoping that the belt to my baby would give way to all the shit his pack rat of a girlfriend had.

“Whoa, whoa, wait. I’m gonna have to stop you here, Jethro,” I said, reaching my hand out to Jake and prompting him to stop. “You’re gonna have to bring those back. This haul is as good as gone.”

“Come on! This is the last of it!” he said, his voice straining behind those boxes.

“Jake, you said that two hours ago, before I had to strap all of this down to keep it from tipping over! We are done here. It’s already two pm, and my stomach is killing me. Also, I think I took my back out in that last trip.”

He rested the edge of the boxes along my car and sighed at me. “You should have taken the elevator.”

“You mean the same elevator you promised wasn’t down for maintenance, AGAIN?!”

He snickered sheepishly. “Hehe, right. But listen, this was her last day to move. We couldn’t wait it out any longer.”

“Listen, I’m more than ecstatic about your girl moving in with you after five years of dating. Really, I am. But I’d like to get lucky one day, too. And rocking a cane and a busted lumbar isn’t exactly a deal sealer.”

“Yeah? I could have sworn that girls nowadays were into the whole older guy look.”

I punched him across the arm for that smart remark, Jake laughing it off.

“All right, all right. We’ll take this last one in the backseat and do one more run.”

I grunted. “Jake.”

“I promise! Seriously. One last run! You can mark my word. And to make it up to you, I’ll have Paige talk to Amy for ya. Maybe toss in a good word to sweeten up the deal?”

“Sweeten up what deal?” Paige said as she walked out of the apartment complex with a duffle bag on her shoulder. She was a petite curly-haired ginger, with freckles and thick framed glasses over her green eyes. Paige might have been into designer clothes and expensive accessories, but she was a real nerd at heart, down to her board game collection and her binder of Magic cards.

“Nothing, buttercup! I was just thanking Codey here for all the help he’s given us.” Jake said nearly stumbling with the boxes, his persona around his girlfriend nebbish and somewhat sheepish, too. My best friend was confident in everything else but his girlfriend, which still struck me as odd till this day. They’ve been dating for years, even so, his charisma was shot whenever she was around, from self-esteem issues with girls stemming from his younger days.

Personally, I’d say he was overthinking it. Paige was head over heels for the guy, no matter how lanky and socially ascetic he looked.

“Thanks for everything Codey! You’re such a sweetheart! We couldn’t have done this without you!” she beamed, her dimpled smile changing my sour mood already. “Here, take this. There’s only one more trip left inside, and we are done for the day.” She strapped the duffle bag around my arm, where I nearly keeled over.

Oh, did I forget to mention? The girl was as strong as a fucking ox…

“I gotta run back inside! Hurry and make it back, all right? Love you, pumpkin!” She gave him a wet kiss on his cheek, and then waved us good bye while she walked back inside.

“You’re lucky that smile of hers is contagious,” I grumbled, taking her heavy ass duffle bag to the front, where Jake was expected to carry it on his lap.

“Yeah… isn’t she the best?” he swooned, gawking at her hips sashaying into the lobby.

“Come on, you had all day to stare at her ass with all of that bending.” I sat in the driver’s seat and started the engine, while Jake packed the backseat even more with Paige’s kitchen stuff. Once he took his seat, I dropped her duffle bag on his lap, the look on his face still star struck. “Dude. Seriously?” I chuckled. “I can’t imagine you not passing out whenever you see her naked, if that’s how you act seeing her in some tights.”

He edged his eyes at me, giving me a playful dead-pan look. “Are you picturing my girl naked?”

I smiled. “N-no, well, now I am.” I teased. I put my car in reverse, and pulled off the curb, heading for his new home. “Look, you’ve known Paige since you were, what, ten? And the both of you have been dating since you two were eighteen. This is an awesome first step, but you have to stop seeing her as a girl you’d just asked out. You know, the clammy hands, that half crooked smile. The double and triple checking everything you say before you say it. You’re being overly cautious, and might I add, paranoid, with a girl who is already yours. You took her heart, Jake. Stop doubting yourself now, or hell, it’s gonna be a nightmare once you move in together.”

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“Yeah, I know, but, have you seen me? Shit, have you seen her?!” Jake wasn’t giving himself enough credit. Sure, he had the slack posture, the lanky build, and the dorky glasses, but he had nice blond hair, a straight jawline, and a white smile. He also had the height, matching me at 6’3. He’d always compare the both of us whenever he mentioned Paige, of how guys like us being with a 10 made no sense. Granted, I wasn’t terrible looking—the dark hair, the kind grey eyes, the approachable physique. But I was simple. I had no special features that sparked any attention.

And I was fine with that. I’d made my peace with being simple. Sort of. I mean, the pain of being alone would creep up on me from time to time, but it was nothing pushing extra hours at my job in Intra-Tech as a tech support specialist couldn’t fix. Or volunteering at Roe’s Animal Adoption Center as a care taker. Not only that, I found other ways to distract myself from my mundane lifestyle, like game tournaments or conventions, and maybe a little cam time in the high hours. Whatever the poison, I kept busy. And ever since my last living relative died last year, I had a talent of making do with the little I had for entertainment.

As for Jake, he was the epitome of the American dream. He was the assistant supervisor at his job fresh out of college, he had the girl, the money, and now he had his own space at the Heights. I couldn’t be more excited for him. Not only did it mean that I’d be a best man soon, it also meant that there was hope for me out there. I just had to find the right girl.

So I looked at him like a hopeless romantic would, and pumped my best friend’s spirits up. “Yeah, I’ve seen her,” I said, continuing off our conversation, “The same girl you told me you were going to marry one day. And if I remember correctly, this moving out is the first step to popping the big question, right? Sure, she’s a knock out, but she’s your knock out. And the both of you are perfect for each other. Show her more of the quality that she likes about you. The confidence she sees when we hang out gets her all goo-goo eyed.”

“She told you that?”

“Yeah, she did. She also said that she likes that gross shit you do with your nose.” I shuddered. “See? That’s how I know you two are meant to be. That stunt usually scares people away, me included.”

He laughed.

“You got the passion, the leadership, and the independence. Bring it all home with a drizzle of confidence. You can do that, right? Baby steps.”

“Yeah… baby steps,” he repeated, Jake convincing himself. “Man, I know I don’t say this enough, but, thanks, you know, for everything.”

I chuckled. “You getting all sentimental with me, Jake?”

“No, seriously, dude. We’ve been through a lot of shit together. You more than me, honestly. Your folks died when you were nine in a car accident, and your big sister stepped up. She was all you had, and then last year she went missing, about the same time my dad went missing, too.”

“She’s not missing, Jake. She’s dead,” I said bluntly, making Jake look at me like I’d just stabbed him in the chest.

“I can’t say that,” he said, almost on the verge of tears. “If I say that then that means that my pops is dead, too. And I refuse to believe it.”

“You’re more optimistic than I am, Jake. But telling myself that lie isn’t going to help me sleep at night.”

“You’re strong, Codey. The strongest guy I know. You stare adversity in her eyes and tell her to fuck off! I know the struggle you’ve been through. You’ve told me the stories. The hardships you and your sister had faced. Between living in the streets and her depression and drug addiction, the fight for that sickness. And how you stood up against everything…” He sighed. “I’m telling you, if it were me, I wouldn’t have made it. You got that something in you, man. Something real special. A primal instinct only a certain number of people are born with. Survival first, above all else. You break down walls, making no room for all of this nasty shit in your life. You’re a fighter, brother. A warrior. And if you set your mind on something, you go after it like a god damn hawk.”

I snickered. “Listen dude, I know you love me, too, but I don’t think there’s enough room for me to move in with you.”

He snorted.

“Hey, don’t get me wrong, the offer is tempting. However, I’m sure Paige considers her alone time with you precious. You know how I hate being a third wheel. Remember Twister night?”

“Shut up, dude,” he laughed and I did too.

“I appreciate the words, but I’m no warrior. I’m just afraid of regret. If I didn’t do what I had to, when given the chance, then it’d haunt me, you know? It might even drive me insane…” Jake was the closest to family I had now after Catherine died. He was also the only person I’d told my entire life story to. I trusted him, and I could tell he looked up to me like a big brother. Jake was twenty-two, and I was twenty-five. Somehow, he felt like he was indebted to me, as if my trails made him more appreciative for what he had.

Whatever the reason, I was fortunate to have some type of family. Jake wasn’t my blood relative, but I’d known him for years, and the fact that we had something in common made us grow even closer.

“Don’t forget the next right coming up after this light,” Jake reminded me, though my eyes weren’t fixated on the road. Something in the sky caught my attention… something huge in the clouds.

As a matter of fact, it wasn’t only me staring up toward the afternoon sun. Pedestrians along the crossing stopped in the middle of the street, and when the light turned, I heard a barrage of honking from behind me. Whatever the hell was up there, it was dropping fucking fast. It looked like a black meteor, shaped like an oblong egg.

“What the hell are they doing?” Jake said. And then he caught on when he turned to look at me, before his eyes pointing upward too. “Holy shit… What is that? It’s colossal!”

Not soon after, calamity struck. Everyone was stirred up in a hot panic. The object picked up speed, and before I could bat an eye, it dropped.

Was I dead? How the hell were we still alive?

The impact of its fall struck my body in waves. In a moment, everything went dark, the Earth shaking, the temperature dropping. I tuned out the screams and the cries for help, watching as a black fog roll in. I squinted, barely able to see this object of celestial rock and crevices of red like lava, running veins up the apex of its shape. It was putting off fumes, and even at a distance, it seemed overwhelmingly dangerous. I heard tire screeches behind and in front of me, the cracks along the pavement running up lines towards my car. Roe City was crumbling right before my very eyes, and everyone was trying to get the fuck out of dodge.

“Fuck, Codey! We need to get the hell out of here, now!” Jake cried, shaking my arm urgently. I wanted to escape, but I couldn’t, my body paralyzed from the horrific scene.

And then something cataclysmic happened. The earth quaked violently underneath the foundation of this massive rock, causing buildings and structures to sink into a definite ground zero. I pulled my car in reverse, my tires burning hot rubber while I swung it around, and peeled off at the speed of light.

Whatever the hell was going on, I wasn’t about to die here!

I weaved in and out of traffic down the median like a mad man, all while Jake screaming inside my ear to move faster. The shit behind me was just getting started, and according to him, people were being lifted off their feet. Zero gravity, with zero idea what the hell was going on.

My heart was thundering inside my chest, this sudden vacuum and void overpowering my truck.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” Jake wailed. “IT’S PULLING US IN!”

“Hang tight!” I cried, slamming my feet on the gas.

“Shit Codey we aren’t gonna make it!”

The pull was incredibly strong, strong enough to strip Paige’s boxes from the bed of my truck. The violent torrent began pulling pieces of my car apart, and soon, there’d be nothing I could do to keep this rock from sucking us in too.

“Everything’s disappearing into it!” Jake whimpered. “Fuck Codey, I don’t want to die!”

If we stepped out of the truck, we were done for! If we stayed in the truck, we were just as fucked!

That didn’t mean that we had to give up and stop trying!

“Jake, get out of the car!”

“Are you suicidal?!”

“By the looks of it, this vacuum is selective. It’s only taking people in,” I confirmed, looking over my shoulder as those boxes dropped flat on the ground before it got too close to the meteor. “We’re risking getting hurt if we stay inside.”

“But, Codey—”

“DO IT!”

We were screwed either way, but as I looked around at the collateral damage, the people getting hurt and killed were the ones holding onto street poles and benches. The intense vacuum was pulling flying objects towards them. However, the ones who were closest to the meteor and had nothing to hold onto were vanishing in thin air. If we were going to die regardless, I rather die with a chance in knowing what the hell for!

So I cranked the lever and put my truck in emergency park, Jake and I stepping out of the truck, where the torrent felt much stronger. In an instant, we were swept, like loose paper in hurricane. We were drawing close to the eye of this freak storm, Jake pulling further and further away from me as we flew.

“CODEY!” I heard him cry out, his voice fading fast. The fog was thick, and after a second more, I couldn’t see him.

I called his name out just the same, the pressure from the vacuum feeling like it was ripping me apart. The oxygen here was also fading, my head growing numb, and my chest closing up. Until the suffocation, the pressure, and the whipping winds were too much to handle, a spark at the apex of the meteor the last thing I saw before I passed out.

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AN: Apologies for the grammar errors up front. This is the first draft of a side project I'm working on while juggling a few other novels. Either way, I hope you enjoy! Please leave comments and tell me what you think; feedback is an excellent motivator for writers :)

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