Genesis

1.

Tony.

I remember that night. So vividly as if it was just yesterday.

The boys and I were just coming back from the bonfire. “Guy....you reek of alcohol, your dad’s gonna kill you!”, my friends shouted. We were all drunk and high. I was more worried about how I’d lie to my dad and make sure he doesn’t notice the smell.

As they said their goodbyes I was left alone walking down the street. Some of the street lights flickered.

Then I noticed him, walking briskly behind me.

He was tall......and very huge he was unrecognisable but I sensed that he wasn’t walking towards me just to ask directions. So I ran and as expected he gave chase....my heart started pounding...not out of fear.. God no...I was still high...I started laughing silently as I jumped over bushes and gutters. The adrenaline rush was exhilarating and I kept on running until I didn’t see him anymore. I stuck out a finger in his direction and decided to go through the stadium to avoid any more encounters.

Then I heard it.

The boom. And a blinding flash.

A low resonating hum followed the flash as a shining crystal, blue in colour came through what seemed to be a crack in thin air.

Ah, God. What did these boys give me to drink?

The ‘crystal' was completely out of the crack now, and I felt a powerful blast of air engulf the field as the shard began pulsing with energy.

Then it broke apart, the pieces flying toward me.

“Hey wait, this isn’t real eh?” I start backing out slowly but the pieces are already too close and enter my chest. I scream in pain as I’m lifted up into the air, my consciousness fading rapidly. I fall to the ground with a thud and stand up.

“Need...to...get...home”

I might’ve imagined it, but I felt myself fall through a hole and land on something soft. I gave out at this point and passed out.

 I woke the next morning with a slight headache. I was in my room.

“How did.....”, I started, but shut up when I saw my clothes and bags floating.

“The f-“,I started again, as everything fell to the floor.

I rubbed my eyes and stood up. My clothes were scattered everywhere and my bags were in unnatural places. It couldn’t have been my imagination. I decided to tell someone about what happened and started preparing to leave the house when I heard my dad call me. I knew it would spell trouble but I went to see him anyway. He was already stern faced waiting for me.

“Where were you last night?”, came the question I’ve been preparing for.

“I went to read in night class”, came the obvious lie.

“Since when did you start going for night class”

“We have this important course that we have night class for and-“, I started, trying to end this conversation as soon as possible but I was cut off.

“Your math lecturer called, she said you’ve been missing classes”, he said, still stern faced.

I wasn’t even surprised. My dad is the Dean of a pretty important department in school: Pharmacy, so he knew a lot of lecturers that keep tabs on me for him. It was one of the major reasons why I decided to study Engineering instead. So I kept quiet and avoided eye contact. The silence that followed was mostly just awkward, but he eventually spoke.

“You weren’t like this in secondary school”

Oh boy, here we go again

I’ve heard this speech over and over both In Igbo and English. It mostly involved reminding me of how I was a “model” student and always read and blah blah blah. Anyways when he was done, he left and I continued as if nothing happened. I took my bath and dressed and left the house without eating. I headed to the boys hostel where my friend X stayed. I called him as I was going.

“Yo Tony!”

“ I’m coming to the hostel, meet me downstairs”

“Yeah sure”

I cut the call and put on my headphones. The morning was peaceful and normal for a Sunday.

Until the bike driver came along.

He tried making a sharp turn at the corner and the bike’s tyre burst. The out of control bike was now barrelling towards me from behind. I felt the bike hit my spine and I that moment I felt annoyed at all the random stuff that had been happening all morning. Then the annoyance changed to anger and I felt it surge through me.

Power. Incredible, overwhelming power.

The bike was a charred mess, but I was unscathed. Even my clothes were fine.

I broke into a run and didn’t stop until I got to the hostel. I called X again. He didn’t pick this time. I was about to call him again when the network went dead. I started going to his hostel when I noticed that everyone was gone. Literally. There was no human sound whatsoever that I could discern.

Even the cars were quiet too.

And then I heard him speak.

“Who are you, and how do you have a shard?”

Floating in front of me was a person wearing a black hoodie. He held a single object, black all through, it was long and smooth. He gave off an aura that felt oddly familiar but totally different at the same time.

I decided to try talking to him.

“Who are you?”

“What is a shard?”

Nothing.

I started walking towards him. The hood concealed his face completely, so I couldn’t make out any of his features.

He moved.

I couldn’t even call it movement. One moment he was mid air in front of me, the next a sword was at my throat. It was almost as if he teleported.

Ah, so that’s what it was.

The cold blade pressed against my throat broke my train of thought.

He spoke again.

“What are you?”

I kept quiet, trying not to shake out of fear. I turn and look at the hood for the first time and see two white burning eyes looking at me. I clearly see the wariness dissipate into disbelief and shock as I hear something I wasn’t expecting.

“Tony?”, the edge in the voice was gone and the white eyes faded. Then he took off his hood. It was X.

________________________________________________

"So...this blue shard entered you and all this weird stuff has been happening ever since?"

"Yup, pretty much"

He bit into his burger again, chewing slowly while staring intently at me. He mumbled something that sounded like “What did he do this time...”

"You seem completely normal now, I can't sense that inhuman energy from you anymore"

"Inhuman?", I felt more and more confused as he kept talking. Me? Inhuman? I was just a normal boy last night!

I clenched my fists and looked at him.

"So, what are you gonna do with me now?” I asked, expecting the worst. Images of being used for gruesome experiments flashed in my head over and over as I fought to suppress the urge to run. Not too long ago, X would’ve killed me without hesitation if I wasn’t his best friend.

"I could turn you back to normal"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, I could", he started. " The shard- yes, it’s called a shard, is bonded to your essence, you soul. I know a few tricks that could make it completely dormant and drained of it’s power.”

I felt my hopes rising. I could be normal again!

But, the process is not perfect, you might die or, worse, be transformed into a harbinger”

“What’s that?”

“Corrupted souls, powered by chaos, dogs of a very ancient evil that threatens the multiverse as we know it.”

“They were all corrupted by shards?”

“No, a certain one corrupts beings, the shard of Chaos. It’s the source of the harbinger’s powers, but that’s different from the one you use. That is the shard of Ente, the protector. Each universe has one, to repel the chaotic energy that the harbingers carry. Naturally, the shards of chaos are generally weaker than the shards of Ente, mostly because they aren’t real shards, just mimics, fakes, created by the same evil I told you about, Zoi. However, the shards of Ente are formed from the being of Lord Ente. You have one of those shards in you now, and so do I.

“What?” I suddenly felt my body get enveloped in a light tingling sensation, like pins and needles. It lingered for a while, before disappearing. “You feel that?” X asked suddenly, jolting me. I nodded shakily, my body still recovering from the sudden sensation. “That” He straightened up, “Was resonance you just felt, between our shards.” My head was swimming with questions, but I could only think of one. “How did you get a shard?” I asked, almost whispering.

He stiffened. X was usually always cheerful, so it was strange to see his face darken. I could only imagine what had happened to him.

“All I can say is that I’m not from this universe”

Whoa, that’s new.

Made your mind up yet?

"I’m.....not sure”

“In that case, you can’t stay on earth for too long, it’ll attract them. We’re going to Nirvana”

I look at him with unknowing eyes. “What?”

“You humans call it heaven”

He said it so casually.

"Heaven?"

"Yes, the heaven you know, gods, spirits...the usual. Well, at least, one of the Heavens you know.” He paused and sipped again. “We’ll get to the seven heavens and circles later.”

I looked at him in shock, he was too deep in thought to notice me..

this can't be happening..... gods, spirits, what next? Vampires?

"Oh don't worry, vampires are completely cool to hang with"

"How did you....."

I actually didn't say that out loud, how did he know?

"Dude, your mind's an open book", he said as he took the last of his drink.

"Okay then, let's go"

"To heaven", I said and stood up

"To heaven"

He waved his hand and time stopped. X created a sigil and it pulsed and I heard that resonating hum again. More runes appeared and moved around in a circular motion, finally settling into a pentagram shape. It gave off a green glow.

"In you go" he shoved me in and then jumped after me.

I'll never forget the first time I rode a portal. Different colours attacked my eyes, though it was awfully quiet, I couldn't see X again. I was falling and screaming for what seemed like an eternity and I don't know when I passed out.

"Wake up princess, we have a problem"

It’s felt someone shake my shoulder. My legs felt wobbly, I threw up, twice.

"We're here?" I asked. He didn't answer me. He was looking up

I followed his gaze. It was massive. There was an eye in the sky and massive, black, faceless things poured out of it.

"Harbingers?”

"Yeah, the worst kind, Divine ones”

"Step back a little, please"

A huge white sigil appeared under his feet. Another sigil, a much larger one appeared in the sky. His eyes turned white and his voice changed.

"Be gone, foul spawn of chaos"

The sigil in the air fired a huge blast of energy. It was blinding, but I still looked. It fired through the air and obliterated every single one of them. Then it wiped away the eye like it was never there.

"Let's go, then", he said as he pulled me up. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw something formless fall out of the sky.

Another harbinger, badly damaged was lumbering toward me

"Tony! Look out!" I saw X's eyes glow and he started dashing towards me, but everything felt much slower. That rising annoyance I felt in the morning came back. I felt out of place, out of control. The harbinger was dangerously close now, but I felt fearless as I swung my fist at it, and in that split second I knew.

I was going to win.

A wave of blue light coursed through my hand, and connected with its face, if I could call it a face. It blew off clean and disintegrated in mid-air. I turned back to X, he was obviously shocked.

“You controlled it, you’re fully synced with the shard”

"Is that good or bad?" I could already feel myself getting dizzy. The darkness closed in over me.

Then silence.