It was the next morning, Michael had fallen asleep last night mainly due to the exhaustion from last night. Michael had woken up to a beam of sunlight shining in between his curtains, making him wince and slowly open his eyes, rolling over on his bed and facing the ceiling. He sighed as he stared at the bumps on the ceiling, doing what he did as a kid and trying to make shapes out of them. It brought a small smile to his face that faded when he remembered what had happened last night. Running his fingers through his hair, Michael sat up on his bed and slid his legs off, letting them hang off the edge.

Michael reached down and grabbed a pair of jeans off the floor, not really caring if he had already worn them or not. He stood up and slid them over his legs, feeling the fabric touch his skin as he buttoned the jeans and slid on his belt, reaching over for a shirt and putting it on. Michael had a lot to think about, starting with the whole distortion thing that he was just introduced to. He thought that if Jeff was still here, which he most likely was, he could get a more in-depth explanation as to what the fuck was going on.

He looked around his room, the walls were bare and there was a lack of decoration. All his room was decorated with was a dresser and a bed. Looking at it now, Michael felt like he was a sort of minimalist, striving to have the bare necessities. He scoffed as he walked up to his window, peeking through the black curtains and seeing all the tents posted up outside his home. Was this going to be the life he was going to live? Michael didn’t know, he just wanted to be able to live his life. He thought about what Lucifer had said before, that she wished for something interesting to happen, something to take her mind off of the mundane lifestyle of a rancher. Michael couldn’t wrap his head around it, he only ever wanted to follow his mother’s footsteps, become a rancher, and make a living off of the cattle.

Michael looked further into the distance, gazing at the land that he owned, that his mother was once the owner of. He let out a sigh, a wave of nostalgia coming over him as he began to reminisce about the past, playing with his siblings, where he had no responsibilities, no problems. Michael closed the curtains, letting the room return to its darkened state, lacking in light. He walked to the door and hesitated at the door knob, thinking to himself more about what he really wanted to do. Shaking the thoughts away, Michael opened the door and walked outside of his room, making his way down the hall and into the living room where he saw Lucifer sitting on the couch. They both looked at each other and stayed silent, not sure what to say or think at that very moment, until Lucifer spoke.

“How are you feeling Mikey?” She had a hint of something in her voice, not really anything that Michael could distinguish, just enough to let him know that she wasn't feeling herself.

“I’m feeling fine, I just have a lot to process at the moment.” Michael was trying to sound okay to make Lucifer feel okay. His sister had a lot of problems and Michael felt it was his responsibility to keep her happy and healthy.

“I know Mikey, I took a look outside and it all hit me like a truck. Our lives are never going to be the same are they?”

Michael nodded his head, sticking his hands into his pockets. “I’m not sure, it all happened so fast, like there was nothing to think about before it happened.”

Lucifer stayed silent, looking out the window, her face staying blank. “Well, I think the most we can do is just wait. We should talk to that Jeff guy to figure out some more.”

Michael nodded his head again, walking over to the front door and putting on his boots and a coat to keep himself warm in the cold environment. “Yeah, lemme go talk to him.”

Michael looked at Lucifer one last time, watching her gaze out of the window at the land. He wondered what she was thinking about, was it anything he thought about before he came downstairs or was it something entirely different? Michael exhaled as he opened the front door, feeling the cold air on his face and the sharp feeling of it entering his lungs with every breath. The sounds of all the people outside working felt different from what he was used to, the natural feeling and sounds of nature. He stepped out onto the porch, his boots thudding against the wood of the porch.

Closing the door behind him, Michael began to walk towards the tents in the distance, looking for one that felt like a leader would be present. Michael weaved his way through the tents, the snow crunching beneath his feet and the people walking all around him. With all the people around him, Micael felt suffocated, like he was back in high school.

“Mr. Keith?” Michael sharply turned around at the calling of his name, seeing Jeff standing right there. “What are you doing out here, looking for me?”

Michael turned his whole body to face Jeff, nodding his head. “Yeah, I was hoping we could talk, I feel as though I need a more in depth explanation as to what’s going on.”

Jeff put his hand on his chin, nodding his head and looking at the ground. “Yeah man, I can do that, just follow me to my tent and we can talk.” Jeff motioned for Michael to follow, guiding him to one of the tents and letting him inside. “So, what is it that you want to talk about?” Jeff took a seat behind a desk and turned to face Michael, motioning for him to sit down, which Michael did.

“I wanted to talk more about what’s going on, I’m sure you have the time to better explain what exactly I’m getting myself into.”

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

Jeff sighed, rubbing his brow. “Alright, let me start at the beginning, the cause of all this, MF. To better explain what it is, it’s a type of energy that the brain disperses according to thoughts and activity. Like say you had a bad day and you feel horrible, your brain would produce MF at a rapid rate in response to an extreme emotion.”

“And I’m assuming this energy is invisible to the naked eye?” Michael asked.

“Yes, it is. Now, when this MF gets dispersed at a rapid rate by hundreds of thousands of people, it builds up, creating an event called MF fluctuation and creating something called a distortion. Distortions are objects or organisms with properties that don’t conform to our laws of reality. Say a rock with the ability to teleport or a carnivorous plant with the ability to move air at will. These are the types of things me and my team at DART are trying to contain. We want to protect our way of life by containing and keeping these types of distortions at bay. Sure, some of them might be friendly but some of them may have malicious intent. Nonetheless, we exist to keep the world safe from these distortions.”

Michael nodded his head, getting a better understanding of what was going on. “You seem very willing to tell me about this stuff, why?”

Jeff smiled and softly chuckled. “Think I’m gonna kill you or something?”

“Possibly,” Michael said with a straight face.

Jeff sighed, leaning back in his chair and tapping a pen against the desk. “I’m not going to kill you, I’m telling you this because I want you on my team.”

Michael shrugged his shoulders. “Why do you want me? I’m just a rancher.”

“Because of the mass amounts of MF you produce from your head Michael. Remember what I said last night, that there are people who can produce more MF than the average human being. You are one of those people. When there are people like this, we are able to condense the MF they produce and create a small distortion, an object that has the same reality breaking properties as anything else.” Jeff raised up his hand and showed a ring on his finger. “See this, this is one of those items, made from the MF coming out of my head. It gives me the ability to control and see waves in the air, that’s how I am able to see the MF coming off of you.”

Michael was skeptical at first, not really sure if Jeff was telling the truth only to remember he had seen a dragon. Just to make sure, Michael wanted to see it in action. “Show me then.”

Jeff scoffed, like he couldn’t believe Michael said that. He looked at him and realized he was serious, sighing and nodding his head. “Don’t freak out, you won’t be able to hear for a bit.”

Right at that moment, Michael couldn’t hear anything. Not the wind, not the bugs, not the birds, not even that slight buzzing you hear when it gets too quiet. There was nothing but agonizing silence. It made Michael feel a little uncomfortable, making him cup his ears and furrow his brows, looking up at Jeff. He saw him snap his fingers and all the sounds flooded back into his ear like a 100 foot tsunami. Michael was taken aback and just stared at Jeff.

“What the fuck?!? That was- I don’t even know how to explain it.”

Jeff chuckled a little, rubbing the ring on his finger. “Told you it was all real. Here’s the thing Michael, you have two choices in my opinion, join me or join your parents 6 feet under.”

Michael was instantly shocked by Jeff’s words, pushing himself back in the chair he was sitting in and looking at Jeff with a mic of slight confusion and shock. “What the hell are you talking about man, I thought I had a choice.”

“I’m part of a secret government organization Michael, did you really think I was going to just let you go after finding out about all of this stuff? Why do you think I was so compliant with your questions and explaining what MF was and distortions. I already told you, you and your sister are very valuable. I don’t think you understand the amount of MF that radiates off of your fucking cranium. When I use my ability to see MF, it appears like a dark mist. When I try to look at it with you and your sister, I can’t see anything.”

Michael gave a confused look. “Well how do you know if you can’t see anything?”

“Because the amount of MF you produce blocks my vision. That or something is blocking me from seeing how much you really have.”

“And this means you're forcing me to join your circus crew of freaks?”

Jeff leaned forward and interlocked his fingers. “Yes Michael, you and your sister. Now, let’s put that MF to use and get you fully acquainted with the world you’re about to enter.”

———

Michael was now in a different tent. It seemed more laboratory like than the last one, making Michael feel a bit more anxious. Since Michael was good at hiding his emotions, he stayed stone cold to better prepare himself for what Jeff was about to force him to do. He turned to his right and looked at Lucifer. Michael had already filled her in on the details, witnessing as it made her react even worse to the situation around her.

“Hey Lucy,” Michael said, reaching his hand over to Lucifer’s, “How are you feeling?”

Lucifer looked up at Michael and gave a weak smile. “I’m trying my best to pull through.” She gave a weak laugh and looked back down at her feet. Just then, Jeff along with another man walked into the tent. Jeff was looking awfully cheery and the man was well, unamused to say the least. Michael watched the man’s brow furrow and change as Jeff spoke.

“Well, are you guys ready to have your minds blown?” Michael could feel Lucifer start to shiver when she heard Jeff, listening to his very enthusiastic tone. “Well, I’m also not going to wait on you so we are going to start with the barcode over here.” Jeff waved his finger at the other man, making him walk over to Lucifer who was now shaking like a jackhammer. The man pulled out a machine and stuck it against Lucifer’s head, pressing a button and causing her to immediately go unconscious.

Michael was about to stand up when he too had the machine shoved into his face, making everything goes black.