Beginning After the End

There is space, a seemingly boundless expanse punctuated with towering buildings and marvels of modern technology. Bright lights that cut through the darkness of night, illuminating the world around for all to see. They blind and bedazzle—walls, windows, and roads that stretch on and on to connect countless places and people—all revealed yet at the same time obscured by their brilliant glow. Too brilliant some might say. Scents of exhaust fumes, of lingering moisture within dank alleyways, and enticing foods sold by hardworking vendors along the city streets. A chaotic mixture of smells that both pleases and assaults the senses at once, yet it is familiar. It brings comfort and security. It stokes memories of times both good and bad, joyful and painful. All distant yet so very close in the instant one takes it in. Echoed sounds of cars and traffic, moving parts within a vast, bustling cityscape. Other sounds of chatter and far-off music, and even the occasional mouse or other rodent scurrying about for the sake of its continued survival. These sounds occupy the vast space—their very presence filling worlds that were otherwise empty and solitary with the resonating thrum of life. 

     All of these things amaze and inspire awe in all those that bear witness to them, causing them to feel so large at times and so very small otherwise. And yet, with just the smallest mistep—a single failure to look before crossing, and a momentary slip from a balcony on a dreary night—it all fades to nothing. The endless, empty white void.

     Experiencing such a thing is surely incredibly disorienting, just as it was for two individuals in particular. One young man, and one young woman. In fact, one can be certain they found the occurrence leagues more disorienting than normal, given their rather peculiar circumstances.

     Brought to the empty white void as a pair, they were each immediately met with the other as the only recognizable sight in the foreign space. Their voices rang out frantically through the void, echoing eerily as they both scanned their surroundings in a panic.

     “Wh-What is this?!” asked the young lady, visibly shaken.

     “Where am I?!” the young man shouted, his tone sharp and abrasive.

     Their joint attempts to make sense of their current worrying situation were abruptly cut short, not allowing them even the briefest of moments to collect their thoughts. A voice loud enough to shake the heavens themselves, booming like rolling thunder, called out to the pair in sequence. It resounded in their ears, forcefully grabbing their attention and causing their increasingly frantic thoughts to disappear as it prepared to speak. Their minds, previously racing with confusion and worry, then came to a halt at last, drawn in by the voice that seemed to originate from everywhere and nowhere all at once. After a brief pause in its preparation, the voice boomed.

     “Will Fauste…”

     The young man—Will Fauste was his name—looked about the space in a pointless attempt to locate the source of the voice. He was a boy of average height and build, not particularly strong yet not weak either, with eyes like a darkened kiln flame and hair like red desert sand. His hair was quite untamed for the most part, stopping just above his shoulders with bangs meticulously braided and tied back in a short ponytail while the rest settled to frame his face. The voice, unfazed by his hurried searching and lack of reply, spoke yet again.

     “Charlotte Bordeaux…”

     Now the young woman—Charlotte Bordeaux was her name—took a step back as her own name was called from the white void, her gaze remaining locked on the space ahead as if she were waiting for something. She was a girl standing at a height above the average for someone her age, with eyes the color of the deep ocean, and dark hair that shined like stars in the night sky. At sixteen years old, she was quite serious and seemed as though she were quite put together. And, with her long midnight hair tied back neatly in a prim and proper ponytail, she gave off an air of maturity uncharacteristic of her age. Her unique intuition told her to expect something in that direction, though how she could have possibly known and what she should have been expecting in the first place were entirely unknown. She couldn't have known. And yet…

     As suddenly as lightning strikes the earth, the source of the voice revealed itself at last. A powerful gust of wind accompanied their arrival, strong enough to blow a person off their feet should they have been off balance in the moment, and Will Fauste experienced exactly that as his search for the voice's source was interrupted by that incredible wind. Quite unfortunately for him, he happened to be looking in the opposite direction as the source of the booming voice arrived before the two of them, and he was thrown forward with great force. Thrust forward from the force of the winds, he faceplanted on the ground before tumbling into what could have been mistaken for a sloppily executed somersault, and ending in a seated position. His head spun from the motion and impact, lolling this way and that as he took a moment to recover from the shock. That was his first impression on whoever that booming voice had originated from, and it was one they surely would not forget for ages to come.

     There was silence, a long eerie silence, and then a sound was heard as the wind seemed to settle. It was laughter—a raucous, bellowing sound that made their surroundings tremble and pounded against their eardrums. The two covered their ears so as not to be rendered deaf from the sheer volume of this laughter. However, to their confusion, it seemed to grow softer after several seconds, more bearable. In fact, the deep and thunderous rumble the voice had before seemed to dissipate as time passed, gradually replaced by a gentler, more boyish lilt. Charlotte wore her confusion openly as the voice gradually shifted in tone and pitch, as did Will once he finally picked himself up off the ground. To their shared surprise, a figure seemed to fade in before them from nowhere at all, doubled over and holding their stomach as they laughed. It appeared to be a young boy, looking no older than twelve years old, with a shock of short white hair and crystal blue eyes that welled up with tears as he cackled almost maniacally. He seemed absolutely hysterical—doubled over as if he had just seen the most amusing thing he'd ever seen in his life, and though they most certainly weren't aware, that would have been saying quite a lot. After several more seconds, the pair conjured up the same thought at once, choosing to say something at last.

     “Excuse me. May I-” Charlotte began, but was immediately cut off as Will spoke over her with no consideration for her words.

     “Hey!” he shouted, his confusion shifting to evident irritation. “Who are you? And what's so damn funny?!”

     His words and harsh tone cut through the boy's jubilant laughter like a hot knife through butter, tension filling the immediate vicinity as he awaited an answer.

     As Will's words hung in the air, the boy seemed to at last deem the moment right for him to speak. He sighed softly, having gotten the laughter out of his system for the moment, before regarding the two young people with a look of warmth and amusement. A friendly and at least somewhat welcoming expression to be sure. Will, however, did not seem nearly as amused as the mysterious boy, his own expression saying as much quite clearly. The boy gave one last light chuckle before speaking.

     “Ah, I suppose that's enough joking around for the moment. You should have seen the look on your face, boy.”

     He seemed to nearly break into yet another fit of laughter as he said that, averting his gaze and covering his mouth with one hand as he took a brief moment to gather himself once again. He cleared his throat and went on.

     “Forgive me,” he said with a stifled chuckle. “Your face was simply priceless. I couldn't help myself.”

     Will's jaw visibly clenched as the strange and mysterious boy continued to find amusement at his expense, an almost hiss-like exhale escaping between his gritted teeth. He spoke in a low, aggressive tone, his words resembling a growl.

     “Oh, it was ‘priceless’, huh?” he asked, taking a step towards the boy. “Are you messing with me, kid? Am I some kinda joke to you?!”

     His body language came off as entirely combative. It was as if he were ready to engage in a fistfight that very moment, the possible repercussions not even occurring to him. The boy simply chuckled. It was hardly the reaction Will was expecting, and certainly not one he was satisfied with. He continued forward, walking toward the boy with fierce anger in his eyes, his movements exuding pure aggression. He thoughtlessly readied himself for a fight, regardless of how unfair or one-sided it should have seemed from his perspective. Charlotte, on the other hand, could no longer stand back and watch as events unfolded before her, choosing to step forward herself to stop Will before he could lay a hand on the seemingly defenseless young boy.

     “Stop it!” she said sternly, the disgust she felt toward his actions evident in her tone. “Are you really going to hurt a child, you brainless brute?! How immature can you be?!”

     Her words did nothing to halt Will's approach, hardly even registering as he neared the boy and clenched his fists. He was too close now. Even if she had sprinted, she could not have stopped him from throwing his first punch. Little did the pair know, the two of them had failed to realize who they were dealing with. They would come to find out just a moment later.

     The boy did not move, nor did he so much as blink as Will approached and wound up before throwing a punch in his direction. There he stood, and there he remained. Will's fist however, did not succeed at making contact with the boy's face. In fact, he could not manage to bring it even a ruler's length away from his cheek. Something was holding him back. An invisible force preventing his fist from drawing any closer, causing a sensation not unlike pushing against a large tarp or something similar. There was give, but only enough to allow him somewhat close. And, after allowing Will to fully soak in his own failure for a moment, the force sprung back, causing him to fall to the ground. Shock and fear were the only things present in his expression at that moment, the former the more pronounced of the two.

     “Well, you seem to have gotten that out of your system, eh?” asked the boy, looking amused as ever. “It was a good try. I'll give you that.”

     His smile hadn't faltered for an instant, and he offered Will the same welcoming expression he had before, even as he sat on the ground before him. Will was stunned, hardly able to process what just occurred. He swung at him, but… he couldn't hit him.

     “It didn't work,” he said, as if he were thinking back to a decade old memory. “H-How did you…”

     The boy simply chuckled for a moment, finding the current turn of events quite enjoyable. He leaned downward for a moment, before speaking, offering his hand to Will so he might help him off the ground. At the same time, Charlotte stepped up to examine Will and the boy, attempting to make sense of what just transpired between the two. Her own confusion had reached a fever pitch by this point.

     “Well, of course it didn't work,” he teased. “You’re not nearly strong enough to hurt me. You mortals really are hilarious!”

     That final word is what caused the two of them the most alarm of anything else that had occurred within the last few seconds. ‘Mortals’. Their eyes widened, and in that moment, they shared undeniable feelings of awe and dread. There were two questions in their minds as they turned to truly look at one another for the first time since arriving in the strange white void. First and foremost was the question of the boy's origins. Who, or rather what, could he possibly be? Following that was an even greater and possibly more terrifying question. What in the world had they gotten themselves into?