A blank world

Lucian Kell

Luke sat on the back porch of his uncle's apartment balcony, watching as a school bus came to pick up high school kids who lived in the complex. As he watched he noted that this would be his first year having graduated high school and having failed out of college. At just nineteen years old, he had been suspended from his online tech school after just two semesters. Leaving him with the debt from the classes he had failed, and the feeling of being a failure.

Not that he wasn't used to the feeling, part of him had known he would not be able to get through college. It had been all he could do to graduate high school, while working a full-time night job. Now that he was over eighteen, his uncle had started charging him rent and stopped cooking him meals. That meant Luke had needed to get two jobs rather than one, which in turn meant he had very little free time for homework.

It wasn't that he hadn't tried, but with one day off per week and often working two shifts per day. Luke hadn't been able to find enough time to study, let alone enough time to join the class video calls that were held daily. None of it was fair, but that was just his life. Unfair.

Luke sighed as he watched the bus pull out of the apartment complex, remembering the days he was in high school. Of course, while they hadn't been much better than his life now, there had been a simplicity to school. Besides the bullying, the struggling to make it too class, the arguing with teachers, and the multiple detentions he had gotten for missing homework.

Frowning, Luke turned away from the edge of the balcony and made his way back inside his uncle's apartment. Wondering whether he truly did miss high school. After a moment he decided it didn't matter whether he missed it or not. It wasn't like he was going ever going to be able to go back.

Stepping inside the apartment, which was littered with his uncle's trash, dirty dishes, and even the occasional article of drywall covered clothing. Luke walked over to the coffee machine to pour more coffee into his mug.

Since he had forgotten to buy milk the last time he was at the store, he had to drink it black. Not bothering to add sugar, as he was never a fan of sweetened coffee. As he drank the coffee, he looked around the apartment.

It was a one bedroom, that his uncle had been living in for several years. There was only one bathroom, a small kitchen, a worn couch and an old tv with two ancient antennae poking out of its back. Luke had lived there for most of his life, after his uncle had taken him in after his aunt had died when he was five. He couldn't remember living with his aunt very well, and he his mom had died during his birth so that meant his uncle was the only family he had ever known. Not that the man was much of a family member due to his "habits".

Though his life wasn't all bad as he often reminded himself. While he had an obligation to work, and to pay rent, it wasn't like he had to deal with people too often. Which was a blessing as he had never really been a people person.

Even his uncle almost never spoke to him, unless to ask for money to feed his habits. Luke was essentially left alone by the world, and that was exactly how he liked his life to be. In his experience people were more often bad than good, and that meant he was better off avoiding them.

Glancing at the time displayed on the old stove, Luke decided it was time for him to leave for work. Walking out his front door he quickly made his way down to the street below, and began to walk up the sidewalk towards the nearest city bus stop.

Luke worked at an old, run down mma gym located just on the outskirts of the city, named Monty's gloves. The location wasn't far from his uncle's apartment, especially when one took the city bus. In fact it was due to his uncle he had gotten he job, as he had been friends with Monty, the owner when they were in high school.

The sign atop the gym was missing a letter, which had been blown over by the cities most recent storm. Leading the sign to say "Monty's Gy", rather than its actual name, Monty hadn't gotten around to getting the logo fixed, likely due to shortage of money. The front of the building had multiple glass panels allowing passersby's to look inside. Though two of the windows had been broken sometime in the past and were now replaced with plywood.

Luke stepped inside the building, which was left unlocked and immediately headed to his locker where his workout shorts and shirt were located. The gym was empty, as it usually was in the morning though Luke didn't mind. After changing, Luke clocked in and began to sweep the gym. As he did, he couldn't help but shoot the occasional glance as the ring that centered the gym. When he first started working here, he was often used as a sparring partner for Monty's new students. That meant a lot of nights of going home sore and battered, at least until it didn't.

Often Luke would find himself looking at the ring and imagining himself as an mma champion. Though those delusions often ended with Monty yelling at him to go clean the toilet or to sweep the floors.

Luke was staring at that ring just then when suddenly everything around him started to shake violently. Almost losing a step, Luke had to grab onto the nearest wall to prevent himself from falling over. The motion got so bad that one of the lights on the ceiling were dislodged from the surrounding panels and fell to the ground in shattering glass.

'An earthquake?', Luke wondered panicking.

As he was looking around for something he could hide under, the shaking suddenly stopped making him feel almost nauseous with the sudden stillness. Suddenly a loud shrieking sound resounded from all around him. The sound was so piercing that it seemed to send needles into his brain. Gasping in pain, Luke clamped his hands over his ears just as the sound grew to a climax of noise. Then all at once the sound stopped, leaving his ears ringing loudly.

Pulling his hands down, he looked at them and noticed a thick red liquid running down his palms. Blood.

"What the hell", he said aloud, his voice coming out dully to his injured eardrums.

Then a voice filled the space where the needles were, somehow speaking clearly over the blood gushing out of his ears.

"You have been chosen for eternity, prepare yourself for departure."

"What the hell?", Luke repeated, his eyes opening wide.

Then the world when white.

 ***

Luke blinked as he tried to comprehend what was happening to him. For a moment it seemed as though his brain had broken, unable to understand the sudden transition that overtook him. Yet a moment later he seemed to come too, and only then did he fully comprehend his surroundings.

Or rather he realized that there was no comprehending his surroundings. It was as if he was inside an unused piece of printer paper, all around him the world was completely while. There was nothing, the inside of the gym was gone, there was no smell, nothing to see, no objects. Everything was empty, as if the whole world had gone blank for as far as he could see.

Then there were voices speaking near him, their voices were muffled like his own but he found himself able to hear the words they spoke.

"What is this?", a male voice asked, his tone sounding both dignified and full of horror.

"Hello? Is someone there", Luke asked, turning his in the direction of the voices but seeing nothing.

"Kin of Herod, but how? It should not be possible, they have all gone extinct", another voice, a female voice said, ignoring Luke completely.

"Gods above", the first voice said, fearfully.

"Calm yourself", a third voice, deeper and more powerful than the other two barked. "He is not awakened, and therefore not truly of the blood."

"Yes, but once he is exposed to the infinite planes he will awaken, and then he will be a curse on the land", the first voice argued.

"It is not for us to decide what he will become, we have our duty", the second voice said.

"What's happening?", Luke asked desperately.

"We cannot allow another calamity to roam the planes, how many realms felt to the last of his kin", the first voice said speaking over him.

"We have no choice in the matter", the second voice snapped.

"Enough, now is not the time for arguments. We will do our duty, but we will take precautions", the third voice said, the one that seemed to be in charge.

"What precautions?", the first voice asked.

"We must place in into the infinite planes, but we have full choice as too which plane we send him. If we choose correctly then even if he survives the awakening, we can ensure that he will not live long afterwards", the third voice said.

"There are limits to which planes we can send the chosen, where will we send him", the second voice asked, sounding concerned.

"Where else, to the place of his kin", the third voice announced.

Silence followed the proclamation, filling Luke with a dread even though he didn't know what was going on.

"Don't send me anywhere, what is going on?", he spoke allowed, his dread driving his voice to be hard.

"Very well", the first voice said, sounding appeased. "Then shall we begin?", he asked.

There was a grunt, and then a second later a blue screen-like image appeared before Luke. At the top of which was an image of his face staring blankly at him.

Luke's long brown hair and plane brown eyes were motionless on the image. His solid, slim facial features were unmoving, giving his near handsome, though mainly average appearance a cold look about them. While his features were not overly strong, they did seem to possess something dark about them in the image, though what that darkness was Luke couldn't tell.

Below the image were a series of words like a video game stat sheet.

Lucian Kell

Race: Human

Rank: Unawakened.

Soul tempering until next rank: [None/None]

Bloodline: Dormant.

Affinity: Unknown

Eyes: Brown

Abilities:

Dormant ability

Bloodline powers:

Dormant power

Dormant curse

Master: None

Luke stared at the screen uncomprehendingly for a moment, before another prompt appeared above it.

"You have been chosen by eternity to enter the infinite planes, soon you will be placed in a plane of an angel's choosing. Once there it will be up to you to grow your survival and grow your strength. Upon reaching a high enough rank, you will receive the ability to go back to your home world, if that is what you wish. Soon you will be brought to your plane, where you will experience the natural flow of magic for the first time.

This will spark your awakening! This occurrence is rare and will change the fundamentals of your body.

WARNING! This process can be painful for those with dormant bloodlines. WARNING! This process may cause death in some cases.

After awakening you will be ready to start off on your venture. Good Luck!"

With that the world once again disappeared, and with it also went Lukes's consciousness.