Ch 1: The Opportunity to Be a Hero

It seemed as though heaven itself was trying to reach him, the way the light flooded his vision and swallowed the surroundings.

Is it my time already? I’m not ready. Not yet.

‘Life flashing before your eyes’

That was the common phrase. Vivid moments scattering to the edges of your consciousness, shuffling, murmuring, unravelling. It was the brain's final attempt at grasping for a way to survive. You’d think that one would look upon a replay of their life with bittersweet tears and a sprinkle of nostalgia. Yet the carousel that Ace saw was one he looked at with distaste.

Ace-Bartholomew Fluffington had lived a relatively short life, and a quite unfulfilling one at that, but his one saving grace was his girlfriend. Being with her in that moment, he would have accepted his fate if that had been the last of their breaths, but it wasn’t.

"What's happening?” Cecilia squealed.

The light subsided, giving way to emerging gusts of wind.

The gentle shade of the trees they were strolling under had become the harsh shadows of towering buildings, plastered with broken windows and neon lights. The heavy reek of smoke replaced the sweet scent of lavender, like a colour filter, it shrouded the world in grey, from the cracks in the concrete to the clouds in the sky. The signs flickered like ghosts, illuminating a decaying light. It was as if the hum of the city had died, leaving behind the crackling of static.

“Over here!” a commanding voice called out. Ace turned his head sharply as a shadowy figure adorned in strange symbols drew near, clutching a pistol in hand.

“Identify yourself!”

Whoa, whoa, what kinda movie setup is this?

A device on their wrist opened, briefly pulsing a stream of light up and down the two bewildered faces.

ERROR 404: NO IDENTITY FOUND

“Two unidentified in Sector 5V. But they’re not on the system.” The shadowy figure paused for a moment, seemingly waiting for a response before pointing the nozzle of their weapon directly at the two bewildered faces. “You’re coming with me.”

Cecilia looked towards Ace with a look of uncertainty. “We’re going to be okay…right?” she told herself with teary glints appearing in the corners of her ocean blue eyes. It was the look of lost hope and desperation.

“HURRY UP!” The man scowled, butting the barrel of the gun right into their faces. Dread washed over the pair like freezing cold water, the dread that they’re lives were hanging by a thread. Cecilia’s hand rattled in Ace’s grasp, causing his fingers to tighten.

Having had everything handed to him on a silver platter, growing up, he always felt somewhat detached. When you could afford anything and everything in the world, what was it that truly mattered? Was it friends? Family? For Ace, it was Cecilia. In all the memories they’d spent together, he felt like he’d never be able to make her happier than she made him.

But Ace was only an ordinary person. For him, life was about making small progress towards long-term goals, waiting for the weekends, and thinking about what to eat for dinner.

Now suddenly, he’d been launched into a predicament. Into a crucial moment that would eternally shift the projection of his life from here onward.

It was one of those moments that people daydreamed of.

The opportunity to be a hero.

Ace turned to catch a glimpse of Cecilia’s face just in case it was the last. Her blonde hair was glistening while her usual soft features were drawn and tense.

This is it. Maybe, just for once in my life, I can make a real difference.

Launching forward, he tackled the man off his feet and attempted to wrestle the weapon out of his hand.

BANG!

A shimmering bolt of blue light seared into the sky from its chamber, like lightning, the fractured light refracted through the clouds.

“CECILIA! RUN!” he screamed, fingers scraping on the metallic grip as more silhouettes peered out from the smoke in the distance.

Please. Please get away in time.

Wrestling for control of the weapon, Ace thrusted his elbow straight into the stranger’s head. A rippling impact. Pins and needles shot up his arm as he finally released the gun from the stranger’s grasp.

He turned his gaze upwards as silver streaked through the air—a bird. Coated in chrome, its shiny silver wings sliced through the air, soaring right towards Cecilia.

Pressing the gun into his shoulder, Ace peered down the sights.

There. I see it. The lineup for the shot. The break.

BANG!

The bolt of electric blue pierced the sky, emitting a white flash as it collided with the flying bird. Then, sintered metal scraps began raining down.

“Stop there!” Ace turned to face the figures now closing in on him. He brandished the weapon in his hand like a new toy, still humming with energy from the last shot.

Whose next, huh? Three more…but with no weapons?

Ace was never a person with a grand passion; he had hobbies and interests, but there was never something he wanted to dedicate his life to. Now, in this very moment
Ace thought that things were starting to work out differently, and finally, his life was going to be greater than simply waiting for the vibrancy of life to hit him. That maybe the adventure story that he’d always been waiting for was about to start. Except that hope was quickly swept away from him.

One of the cloaked figures lifted their arm, their sleeve flapping in the howling breeze as a ring of pale light materialized from thin air, shooting a beam of ivory blue.

Ace stumbled as the world tilted sideways, his vision succumbing to the darkness. 

                                                                             ***

The Realm of Shadows. Infinite, stretching and expanding outwards like the edge of the universe, Ace stared into the abyss, and it stared right back.

Where am I?

Faintly, he could hear muffled voices and dampened footsteps, but as he tried to move, he couldn’t feel any of his body. Not his arms, legs, or hands. Was this what it felt like to be dead? Emptiness. No kinds of sensations. At least the bodily ones.

The pervading shadows shifted, contorting outlines watching through the void.

“So, it's you then. You're finally here."

                                                                            ***

OW!!

With a deafening crash, Ace was violently pulled back to consciousness.

The surroundings spun around him, different shapes bleeding into one another.

Upon trying to move his hands, he felt a sharp, grating surface dig into his skin—a metal device carved with strange symbols.

The air carried a quiet tension, and the pungent smell of ash and dust. Ace squinted his eyes, attempting to discern the figures in front of him through blurred vision.

Six? No seven people.

The elusive armed men stood at attention, encircling him like an animal in a cage. Their eyes were veiled behind masks, yet Ace could still feel the mockery, leering and smirking beneath.

“What do you think you’re doing? Do you have any idea who my father i- “

A quick strike, and the air was forcefully expelled from his lungs. Ace’s wretched, choking on the air he couldn’t quite grasp.

“I'll get you sued for thi-”

“You only speak when you’re told to.” The stern voice spoke abruptly from behind, pressing cold metal against the back of his skull.

“Who do you work for?”

A strange-looking being stood proudly in front of him, its huge stomach comically jutting out from its frame.

What is this…monster.

Smirking with its disjointed rows of yellowed teeth, the green hunk seemed pleased, savouring Ace’s torment.

“I’m … unemployed,” Ace replied in a flat tone.

The question was surprisingly painful. Being able to afford everything he needed to with dad’s money, what was the point in doing anything himself?

“Cut the bullsh*t.” The hum of the gun began winding up. “What are you doing here?”

“There was a flash of light, and then the next thing I knew, I was there and-“

The humming accelerated. Then a streak of lightning whipped past his ear, indenting the concrete floor.

“I SWEAR I SWEAR!”

Even though the strike narrowly missed him, Ace’s heart clattered against his ribcage, acknowledging that today may very well be his last.

“He’s lying,” the cloaked man replied, “there was a rune circuit engraved into the ground where we found him.”

The green ogre scoffed, its repulsive, protruding belly bouncing as it laughed.

“I don’t belong here, that’s why!” Ace frantically pleaded with the sadistic monster.
”I was taken here by a flash of light, I swear! I get it; it's one of those 'taken into another world' things, right? It must be!”

“He must be one of those psychos addicted to Witch Dust,” a cloaked man replied, charging up the gun. “I’ll dispose of him…”

No. Please. Give me one more chance.

Ace shut his eyes. He wasn’t religious, but even he would start believing in a greater power if it could save him. Yet, what flashed in his mind wasn’t some omnipotent deity; it was a girl with luscious blonde hair and glistening blue eyes.

“Wait,” the ogre snarled. “If he’s not on the system, it would be a waste to just dispose of him.”

A hand from behind gripped Ace’s hair, forcing him to acknowledge the hideous green hunk.

“Listen here, you see this bird. It’s just like you.” Perched on his finger was a small chrome bird with blue eyes. It flew softly in a loop before landing back on his hand. “It does what it's told, and everything is… fine. But the second you misbehave…” The bird landed on the ground, pecking at the concrete.

THOOM!

With a thunderous stomp, he crumpled the bird like an empty can. Even the concrete around his foot had caved inwards. But despite that, the bird's head kept twitching as if desperately clinging to life.

“Now listen carefully, in 3 hours we have a job to do. A potion shop on the west side of town. I want their stock of poison. All of it. And if you don’t get them for me?”

Grinding his foot on the crushed metal, he snuffed out the blue, glistening hope in the birds’ eyes like a candle.

Ace drew in a deep breath, the air pressing heavy against his lungs.

You ugly green piece of shit. I’ll escape this place and wipe that fat smirk off your face.

In his mind, he struggled to process the severity of what he was getting into. It was all happening too fast. In a mere 30 seconds, his idle life of comfort was turned into a spectacle only seen in films.

Having grown up with no one even daring to lay a hand on him, to being threatened at gunpoint, Ace was like a fish out of water. He was the sort of individual to sleep in on the weekends, approaching anything that required a threshold of effort with a sigh. Yet in this moment, he felt something alien to him. A source of determination fuelled his racing thoughts—the human spirit fighting for survival.

There was no other choice. He had to survive to see Cecilia again.

She must be out there. Lonely. Scared. Hiding.

Ace raised his gaze, locking eyes with the hideous monster in front of him.

There was only one thought burning in his mind.

I will do whatever it takes.

Even if it means crawling through the darkest depths of hell.