Chapter 2

Andre awoke in a daze, his eyes felt dry, most likely bloodshot. He tried to rise but promptly fell back down, a headache assaulting his mind.

"Not today," he muttered, feeling the pressure build behind his eyes.

He struggled to grab the phone that had somehow ended up on the pillow next to him. After fumbling for a bit, he finally picked it up.

He called into work, explaining his situation. Luckily, Mr. Thompson quickly understood once he heard the grogginess in Andre's voice. After all, it would be hard to lug bricks around if he could barely make it out of bed.

Andre decided to stay home, hoping rest would alleviate the headache. Laying back down, he covered his face with a pillow to block out the sunlight creeping through the curtains. As the hours ticked by, the headache intensified.

He couldn't even make it out of bed. He was parched, but even moving to the kitchen for water proved a challenge. All he could do was lie there as motionless as possible to avoid further aggravating his headache.

He couldn't concentrate on anything, not even the TV shows that usually helped him unwind. The pain was like a vise tightening around his skull. Around noon, the world began to tremble. Andre sat up, confused.

The shaking grew more violent, knocking books off shelves and sending dishes crashing to the floor. He staggered to his feet, bracing himself against a nearby wall as the earthquake roared through the city.

"Man, could this day get any worse?"

He glanced out the window and saw the cityscape swaying like a ship in a storm. Buildings cracked, streets split open, and car alarms blared in a chaotic symphony.

The earthquake seemed endless, each second stretching into an eternity. Suddenly, a sharp pain burned through his mind, sharper and more excruciating than before. Andre collapsed, clutching his temples, and the world went black.

…..

In the darkness, Andre found himself floating in a void. He could feel his body and not at the same time. It was extremely disorienting, and as if that wasn't enough, he could tell he wasn't alone.

He felt a presence, something was there, peering down on him; the pressure was almost unbearable. It was like drowning and not at the same time, made even worse by the silence.

'Huh, so this is what death feels like… heh, guess it never really mattered then. If I knew this was it, I would've actually tried to live more... what a waste,' he thought, a bitter chuckle echoing in the recesses of his mind.

Thankfully, before his thoughts could start to spiral, he was proven wrong.

{Congratulations, human. You are among the lucky few that survived the Ascension.}

A voice that seemed to resonate from all directions at once spoke. It sounded like a mismatch between a robot's and a human's, an uncanny blend that sent shivers down his spine.

{As such, you will be granted access to ##########, or as called by you lesser beings, the Arcane Nexus.}

The world around him turned a murky shade of reddish-brown. His sight had come back, and he could feel his body again, fully this time.

Now that he regained some feeling, he noticed the world around him had changed. He no longer felt like he was drowning, just submerged underwater, although not in regular water. Something denser.

It was like life had returned to him once again. He cherished the feeling. He flexed his fingers and toes, marveling at the sensation. Taking a look downwards, he saw his legs had no footing; he was floating.

'This can't be real,' he thought, trying to make sense of his surroundings. The reddish-brown hue gave everything an otherworldly glow, casting long shadows that danced and shifted in the strange light.

{Now, begone.}

The voice disappeared, and the pressure left with it, now replaced with a blinding light. Then he started to feel a suction force; the light was calling to him, drawing him closer.

He started to move or float towards it, the force tugging at him insistently.

'What's happening to me?' he wondered, panic rising in his chest. 

The force only grew stronger; he could barely think, his mind instinctively focused on resisting. He tried to fight it, flailing his limbs, but it was like struggling against a tide.

When his "body" reached a point where it could no longer endure, he was jerked towards the light at blinding speeds. The sensation was overwhelming, his senses bombarded by the intensity of the experience. 

As he hurtled through the void, fragments of light and color streaked past him, creating a kaleidoscope of images that made his head spin. He saw glimpses of strange landscapes, towering spires of crystal, and vast oceans of swirling mist. He heard whispers in languages he couldn't understand, felt emotions that weren't his own.

'Is this the Arcane Nexus?' he thought, trying to focus on the voice's words.

 But before he could make sense of anything, the light enveloped him completely, and he felt himself being pulled into its embrace.