7 Worlds: The 4th World Vol. 1

“Look Zy, it’s been nothing but excuses since we started dating, this just isn’t working out,” a tall dark woman said to Zypher.

She had loose curly shoulder length hair, tight jeans, a winter coat and a shirt which barely covered her stomach. She pushed her finger into Zypher’s chest, complaining. They were standing inside an apartment building lobby, avoiding the frigid air and the fresh blanket of snow outside.

“Maria, you have to understand, it’s my job!” Zypher protested.

“Yeah, a job that you apparently can’t tell me about? You’re always running off somewhere. I just don’t feel like I’m a priority here...I’ve tried Zy, I really appreciate your dedication to your work, I just wish you would apply the same dedication to me. This just isn’t going to work for me,” she said before walking out into the cold, disappearing down the snowy street.

“And there goes another one…” Zypher sighed heavily, blushing in embarrassment as he noticed the slew of onlookers.

As Zypher turned to continue heading towards the elevator up to his flat he noticed two gold cars zip down the street followed by several police cars.

“That’s an interesting amount of quanum I’m sensing,” Zypher’s Dratmana, Denko, said telepathically.

“Those cars- don’t lose their quanum signature, we’re going to follow them,” Zypher replied.

Zypher placed an obscuring seal over himself as he headed back out of the building and began flying after the two gold cars. FAs he caught up to them he noticed they were parking next to a school so he landed on top to get a better look. There were fire trucks, police cars, and an ambulance parked outside as well.

“I wonder what that’s all about. Any readings Denko?” Zypher asked.

“No, the strong quanum in this area has dissipated. I sense multiple quanum signatures however. Three of which seem to belong to Nicole, Cian and Alden. Several people inside those gold cars seem to have quite an amount of energy, but it's not entirely quanum from what I can tell,” Denko reported.

“Well, this is likely where they go to school so it’s not a surprise to sense them. Perhaps-” Zypher cut off as figures in suits exited the golden cars, six in silver robes and a seventh in a gold and white robe.

Suddenly a massive amount of energy enveloped him, permeating his body. Zypher froze– he felt as if a monster, one of nightmares, was peering down at him and feeling at his body for life. Sweat trickled down his back and brow as the energy continued to examine him before vanishing. It wasn’t a long moment, but it felt like forever. Zypher began breathing again, just now realizing he had held it.

“W-What was that…?” Zypher asked Denko.

“Invalid query, stability is compromised, recommended action is to vacate premises,” Denko responded dryly.

There was a flash of strong quanum that lasted for a few seconds before three quanum signatures belonging to his new friends vanished. With a quick observing glance, trying to find a hint of anything else, Zypher decided it was definitely time to leave. Just as he began to fly away he instead immediately fell back onto the roof after rising only twenty centimeters. As if in fear of being seen, Zypher could almost sense his quanum quivering, retreating into him. Feeling a prickle of energy against his skin Zypher spun his head around just in time to notice a golden arm, crafted from some sort of strange energy, raising itself over the roof from the other side of the building.

“It’s definitely time to go… Let's go Denko!” Zypher said, panicked, as he forced his quanum under control.

He managed to fly this time and bolted away just as the hand lunged for him. Fleeing as fast as he could, he kept checking behind him for any pursuers and was relieved to find none.

“Those were definitely from the Sundals faction and even some Graff? I need to get back home and contact HQ,” Zypher thought to himself as he quickly made his way to his apartment.

Landing on the roof, Zypher made use of the roof access to enter the building, his apartment was on the top floor and he didn’t like to waste time with the elevator. Inside, his place was a mess, there were engineering books everywhere– gadgets and random half finished electronic projects laying about. He carefully waded through his mess until he reached a table that had a strange antenna looking device sitting on it. Zypher flicked a switch and it began to buzz loudly like the static on a radio with a bad signal.

“This is officer Zypher Garlden, identification code 774-896-32F, please patch me through to Commander Kite,” Zypher said into a receiver.

“Transferring,” a soft voice responded.

Then the audio stopped buzzing and instead clicked a couple times before turning to static again.

“This is Commander Kite, what do you need Zypher?” A gruff but polite voice spoke.

“Sir, there seems to have been an incident on the island. There were strange energy readings…the Sundals and possibly even the Graff showed up,” Zypher reported.

“You’re sure it was the Sundals and the Graff?” Kite asked.

“Yes sir, I’m positive. Gold cars with their insignia’s inscribed on them. One of their priests even attempted to apprehend me– there is no mistaking that golden aura,” Zypher replied confidently.

“Interesting, thank you for the report, I’ll see what I can find out on my end. Carry on with your observation,” the audio clicked again and then reverted back to the static buzz from earlier.

“Typical,” Zypher said, shutting off the device. “Little to no communication and I’m just to continue my observation,” he complained. “If this keeps up, I wonder how far it will escalate…? Honestly, what the heck am I even doing here…”

After a moment of silent contemplation, Zypher decided it was time to act. He took a moment to clean up and gather his thoughts before heading out once more to the school.

“Orders are orders I guess. If I’m lucky, the school will be empty by now and I can investigate,” he said to Denko as he once again made use of the roof access to take flight.

“Perhaps. It has been quite some time. It is unlikely we’ll find anything of use,” Denko replied.

“Worth taking a look anyways,” Zypher said, as he reached the perimeter around the school.

This time, he decided to go by foot so as to not reveal himself. Zypher approached from the rear of the school, his seal masking his presence, and came upon a crudely patched hole in the wall.

“Looks like something did happen. Let's go take a look,” Zypher said telepathically to Denko.

Zypher carefully made his way towards the hole. It had been covered with a piece of plywood and surrounded with orange pylons that had yellow caution tape wrapped around them. Stepping over the tape and carefully pushing the plywood board aside, Zypher immediately noticed something was wrong.

“It’s just a hole in the wall…why does it seem so…off,” he asked.

“The hole seems to contain an odd energy signature,” Denko noted.

Zypher carefully observed the hole, noticing that the portion of wall that existed here seemed to have simply stopped existing. There were no marks to indicate it had been cut or smashed, or damaged in any way. It just seemed like the wall just stopped existing in that spot in particular.

“Odd energy? Are you saying this wasn’t made by quanum?” Zypher asked.

“Inconclusive. It does, however, appear to be something else with some quanum mixed in,” Dekno stated simply.

“Well, perhaps we’ll figure out more once we go through the hole, let’s go,” Zypher said as he slid through the hole in the wall and then down through the hole in the ground.

Slowly, he descended downward until he reached the bottom– it was empty.

“Well, this matches our expectations,” Zypher said, strolling through the basement.

There were support beams, lights and nothing else– not even any dirt. Regardless, he kept searching for anything they may have missed.

“Denko, activate the search grid,” Zypher commanded.

Suddenly, semi-transparent intersecting lines appeared, covering all the surfaces with a grid. The grid was something Zypher had developed to help in his engineering work. It made it easier to see any deviations or abnormalities in objects.

“Abnormality detected,” Denko said, as an orange diamond marker appeared in a spot above the floor.

Zypher impatiently moved over to it, kneeling down to feel what looked like a gash in the ground.

“That’s a deep cut…doesn’t seem old either and it’s still wet as well…Scan for lingering traces of quanum,” Zypher commanded, as he glanced around thoughtfully.

“Traces found, quanum signature of Alden,” Denko responded.

“So there must have been a fight? It’s still hard to say based on the evidence but given the arrival of the Sundals and Graff I can’t imagine it being anything else,” Zypher said, observing the area around the spot and recognizing more gashes- some in the ceiling, walls, pillars and floor within the same area.

With Denko’s help, Zypher slowly recreated a holographic representation from the lingering quanum and physical evidence that remained. It wasn’t a very clear picture but it was enough to show there was a fight involving a strong opponent that, presumably, Alden, Cian and Nicole had somehow defeated.

“No need to overstay our welcome,” Zypher said, satisfied with his findings.

As Zypher headed back towards the hole, he felt an odd sensation in the air.

“High density energy detected!” Denko yelled, alarmed, while transmitting coordinates into Zypher’s head.

Without pause, Zypher’s body began to crackle as electricity started to arch around his body. Quickly he flew upwards and out of the hole, forgetting even to cover it. As he made his way up he saw street lights start to darken, turning off in succession down the street he was hovering over. Zypher flew further upwards into the air in an attempt to get a better view of the situation. Block by block he could see that the entire island was quickly going dark. Several seconds later, it was followed by a flash from the south side of the island, a surreal vermillion pillar of light rose into the sky. The pillar started widening at its base, almost as if a sci-fi movie was playing out—it looked like a portal to another dimension was tearing open in the sky. Wordlessly, Zypher sped up, flying towards the south end of the island, only to be met with a more incredible sight up close. Hundreds of glowing birds swarmed around the pillar in graceful wave-like patterns, weaving in and out.

“Unknown energy. Detected,” Denko said as everything around him started to distort and warp.

“What the hell is this?!” Zypher yelled in shock as he felt his body being torn apart until suddenly, he felt his own existence vanish.