Prologue: The Day the Sky Fell

 All I can remember from that day was rolling over as I heard my alarm blaring, urging me to get up. All I could think about was how tired I was; every day was the same grind and hustle with no end in sight. I pushed my thoughts away and forced myself to get up, looking around I saw the usual, John sitting with wide open eyes talking to the mole people in the walls, Sammy who was fast asleep in his corner of the room, I however did not see Alice who must have been out working late again. John was the oldest of us. He claims he is in his late 30s, but I suspect he is at least 50. His hair drooped down, and the sides were turning grey, his face full of wrinkles and sunken cheeks. He had the raspy voice of someone who smoked a pack a day for 20 years, and was constantly high on god knows what. With that being said, he was quite strong and knew his was around the underground and sewers which is why we dealt with all his bullshit. Sammy was a few years younger than me, the person I tolerated the most. He is tall and skinny, with ginger hair that was long enough to cover his eyes, but he swore he could still see. He also always had this cocky confidence in his smile that always made him look like he was scheming something but in reality he didn't have a single thought behind those eyes. Last was Alice, she had short hair, thin, but was very toned. She was always on her own, but after John saved her from a tight situation, she started staying around us more and more. Aside from Sammy trying to flirt with her at every opportunity, everyone gets along well with each other. 

John keeps our “base” protected from any rival groups trying to invade or steal our things. Alice was unofficially assigned to earn money as she felt this was the only way she could repay John for saving her. Usually, she would seduce younger, desperate people into following her into love hotels where she would drug and rob them. I took it upon myself to steal supplies for everyone since we never had the money to buy them. Technically, we were criminals; however, I saw it more as survivalists taking what we needed to live, plus I wasn't the biggest fan of stealing from other people, so I would normally target bigger corporations and chains. As for Sammy, he was still too young to go out on his own, so he would either lazily stay at home or attend free classes for the unwealthy. As I got up, I saw a glance of myself in a nearby puddle, my beard had grown out quite wildly, long gone were my hair’s glory days, and instead had been replaced with an uneven buzzcut. Instead of a young 26-year-old man, I looked like a 40-year-old homeless person on his last legs, which wasn't that far off, but I didn't like thinking about it too much. It was true that I was homeless, we all were, but we made a home from what little we had. Among the abandoned buildings, there is an overpass that has a hole in the wall that has since been covered with debris, leading into the sewer systems. This was once used for New York City’s waste management before everyone moved up to the floating islands hovering in the sky; now it's just empty chambers going all around the old city. As I walked out, Alice was coming back from working all night, and I could tell she did not have much luck.

“More and more people look at me like an ancient relic rather than a bright young woman; they don't know that I am planning on stealing from them.”

She muttered to herself as I walked past. As I walked out from under the overpass, the dim light of the sun barely reached me, and the pearly white platforms of the floating cities had created a layer of clouds near their bottom. Surprisingly, getting in and out of the floating cities was easy; sky lifts had been created that used a mix of magnetic pull and electricity to control the speed of ascent and descent. Upon reaching the top of the lift, I was met with a clear blue sky and the bright glare of the now much more visible, almost blinding sun. The streets were clean and even sparkled at certain angles, and the people were well dressed and maintained what seemed to be a glow. Someone like me always stood out, so I thought it best to try to shave my wild beard so it wasn't so obvious that I was a forgotten. I made my way to the closest supermarket chain and snuck a razor and a bar of chocolate into my bag, as well as small items into 3 other carts. I waited for them to get in line and got behind them. Each time the buzzer would ring, but seeing that crime was not common among the floaters, it was looked at as a glitch. When it came to my turn, I asked for the price of the chocolate bar, which was more expensive because I was not one of them. With that, I quietly told the cashier. 

"Never mind."

 I walked away in preparation for the alarm to ring, as it did, just that in a loud, confrontational voice, I loudly screeched,

 “First, you people jack up the prices on me, now you automatically assume I am stealing from you? Will this treacherous discrimination ever end?”

Everyone from customers to the cashiers looked at me with shock and confusion… I had clearly overplayed my part, and my cashier slowly approached me and awkwardly said, 

“No, sir, you just saw with the 2 previous people that the system is faulty; you are free to go.”

I slowly turned and walked away. That was a little embarrassing, but I still got what I needed, so who cares? I walked about 20 blocks while pick-pocketing little trinkets and supplies from mobile vendors or hacking into older machines to get free items until I arrived at my favorite spot to rest and relax. An isolated park on the outskirts of the city that overlooked what was left of the old city, I usually sat here and just thought about when it all went wrong for me, and when the world itself began to change. My mom always told me not to dwell on the past, but with her gone, how else could I remember? While deep in thought, I felt a violent shake in the ground, which wasn't unusual, but I noticed that the layer of clouds was much closer to the floating cities' ground level now. 

“Shit, is it time for lockdown already?”

I quickly shaved my beard off and started running back to the lift so I could get off the streets before the cleaners came. For any normal floater, this meant nothing, but anyone who looked even remotely like a forgotten one would be searched and taken in for questioning, which was just a way to deter us from coming up to the floating cities.  If any forgotten one was identified as a criminal or caused problems, they would be thrown off the edge, which is why the cities would be slightly lower to make it seem like people would survive, but from this height, that was not possible. While going down the lift, I noticed the infrequency in speed. Bursts of free fall, followed by hard breaks till almost a complete stop, ending with a slow descent that led back into a free-fall-like state, which repeated down. 

"For a perfect city, maybe their systems were really on the fritz." I chuckled to myself out loud

As I got to the bottom and finally touched solid ground again, I looked up to see a bright flash, followed by a boom so loud I heard nothing. It felt like only a moment had passed, but in that instant, I knew what had happened. I started running as fast as I could to the underpass, to everyone I had left at home to let them know the imminent danger falling on us. A forbidden weapon, an EMP, had blasted the entire electrical system of the area, which set into motion the collapse of the floating cities right on top of us. Buses, random items, and even people started to fall and splash on the ground around me. The floating cities weren't just falling straight down, but their heavy topside caused them to slowly flip over, sending everything and everyone not inside a building plummeting down below. I reached our overpass, the place I called home, only to watch a garbage truck crash into it, collapsing the landmark I associated with my home. The noise of the chaos attracted Alice and Sammy outside. With the little breath I had left, I screamed as loud as I could, 

“GET BACK INSIDE, WE HAVE TO GO DEEPER INTO THE TUNNELS”

The moment they had processed everything going on and what I said, they were gone, at least they were safer inside than I was out here. Before taking another step, another flash appeared above me; this time, it was silent, but the flash of light was mesmerizing. I caught myself stopping in place, watching as this blast grew ever closer, about to consume me. 

“I’m going to die,” I thought to myself.

I felt my heart slow, my thoughts calmed as I closed my eyes for what I thought for the final time. I took my final breath only to feel a heavy, almost suffocating feeling; this must be the heat of the blast. After what felt like an eternity, my heart beat returned to normal, my thoughts filled with panic as to why I wasn't dead or if I was, did I go up or down? My best bet was that I went down, which would explain the suffocating breaths that burned the back of my throat and lungs. Finally, I opened my eyes and saw a bright, starry night like never before. It was beautiful. I was lying down in what looked like a field somewhere, as I sat up, I looked around more to find I was on a hill by a rocky shore. The tall grass was soft and silky to touch, with a pleasant aroma. The waves crashing onto the nearby rocks brought back pleasant memories from my childhood. I tried to gain a better understanding of my surroundings until I noticed lights in the distance, as my vision regained its focus. I saw a village that was responsible for producing the light. I picked myself up, but other than my surroundings, something was off; the grass was so tall, and I was lighter than normal. Looking down at myself, I had shrunk. My face felt like a baby, and my hair had returned to its former glory. Maybe I did end up in heaven, and it reverts your physical form to when you were the happiest. Nothing made sense but being out here in a field bymyself wasn't going to help, As I took the first steps in my new body and world I headed straight for the village to try to figure out anything I could about where I was, how I got here, and how I got like this.