Loop 1

“Waffles aren’t part of the bed in breakfast menu.” A familiar voice said, shaking James’ shoulder.

Immediately he sat up straight and blinked.

I’m… not dead?

He was in his room. James blinked again, and then a third time as his brain slowly woke up. His eyes swept the four white walls, lined with shelves full of self-help books, dirty laundry, a cabinet far too big, and one freckly annoying younger brother. James remembered the last moments before waking… vividly.

Like his mind was covering them with a gentle blanket.

James recalled feeling a bundle of the most intense emotions he had ever felt in his life but now his heart beat slowly, and his spine was free of cold sweat. His eyes were unburdened by blurry unfocused hatred. He just felt the usual lethargy after waking.

“Didn’t you hear me?” Micheal asked, pulling at his shoulder and trying to drag him out of bed. “The waffles aren't coming to you so get out of bed already!”

Out of curiosity more than anything else James shoved his hand into the teen, pushing him into the pile of dirty laundry. Well, it feels the same. Pushing against his brother's shirt elicited the kind of resistance in his hand that James would’ve expected. Not wavey and incomplete like physical touch was in a dream.

While Micheal flourded in the pile of laundry trying to get himself unstuck James reached for his phone and started scrolling through the notifications. There was a message from Jake about a double date.

He scrolled further.

News was covering the meteor showers, talking about how amazing astrologists said they were going to look. It didn’t take him long to start getting recommended clips of morning breakfast show hosts gossiping about their plans for the magical evening experience. That was when he decided to put his phone down for the time being.

Micheal eventually got himself free of the laundry and looked strangely at James when he hadn’t moved from his bed.

“You gonna come eat or not?” He asked, clearly a little confused.

James wondered about that for a moment.

“Nope.”

Micheal held him in a stare for a moment.

“When did you get weird?” Micheal said before brisking bolting out the room and slamming the door behind him.

James instinctually went to cover his ears but then found that the sound seemed… softer. No, that wasn’t it. His fuzzy memories of what had happened before he’d awoken had just been so awfully loud that he couldn’t even hear his breathing anymore.

Did Micheal turn me into a weirdo?

James wondered.

Or have I just gone insane? Was it a dream?

James decided it had to be. In the spur of the moment, he tore off his pajama top and rubbed where he remembered being stabbed. The pain had felt so visceral. So real. Like magma had been dumped into his innards. James still remembered it clearly, despite the fogginess of the rest of the dream.

Now it was fine. No bruises. No mark. No scar. Just creme-colored skin.

Thoughts were spiraling in his head so fast it made him queasy. He did not like thinking about what had happened in the dream, which it obviously had to be. A sick morbid dream of today's events that was so life-like.

But some parts that weren’t “life-like” were there. James reminded himself, thinking about the burning azure sky.

The inky eye of hunger and those strange golden words that were etched into his retina. None of that could be real. But James struggled to deny that it felt real. Those feelings still existed vaguely in him.

That all-consuming fear that froze him looking into the depths of the sky’s eye. How could that not be real? How could a dream make up experiences he’d never experienced? How could it make the purple bruising around Jess’s strangled neck as she begged him for help feel so-

James blinked, as something in his eye started to burn.

When he tried to pull it away, he found only wetness.

He was taken aback.

I don’t feel sad. James knew he didn’t. But something about those memories, those dreams, brought tears.

There were many times in James' life when he had chosen to face pain head-on. To tame that which confused and hurt him. The unknown and the terrifying were not things he hadn’t faced before.

But for something like this?

James slumped and stuck his earbuds in, putting on whatever nice song he could find before pulling the covers over. Maybe it was better to take a mental health day today to sort through all this. He felt a little stupid doing it over a dream…

But he couldn’t shake the feeling that he really, really shouldn’t leave the house today.

So homebody James it was.

***********************

“Hey, Dad,” James said between sips of his coffee, lying across the couch and lazily flipping through channels. “Have you ever had a dream that felt real, but you knew it couldn’t be.”

He heard the big let out a grunt like he’d been forced to think about something he didn’t want. Hugh wasn’t good with emotions. James knew that. He paid his therapist to deal with them for him, which was probably the healthiest way someone like his father could cope with them.

Micheal had gone to school not twenty minutes ago after James had feigned a tipsy stomach to his dad to get out of going to university. That was the last thing he wanted to do with what was going through his head. He’d already texted Jake and bailed on the date through the excuse of anxiety. It wasn’t a lie, since he was anxious. Just not about meeting women, but rather having a recollection of the day that couldn’t have happened.

The way his father had brought up the meteor showers and his plans with Mindy was eerily similar to the dream.

Just gonna ignore it.

That was the attitude James had decided to take towards his dream. Ignoring it.

“Is this one of those questions where I’m supposed to assume we’re talking about your mum?” Hugh asked, sounding gruff and very unsure.

“No.” James snorted. He didn’t ask Hugh about his mum. He’d learned a very long time ago there was no point. Hugh had grieved his wife, but he’d never blamed James. James didn’t agree. There was no getting over that hurdle of misunderstanding.

“I’m just talking about like… in general. Have you ever had a dream that felt so real, you couldn’t forget it? Even when you woke up.”

Hugh leaned over the countertop and rubbed his mug, considering for a moment. James could swear he could see the gears slowly starting up behind his dad grey eyes.

“Nah.” He finally said, taking a sip of his coffee. “but if you want to talk about it, I’m all ears. Is this like those ‘lucid’ dreams that you need a journal for?”

His dad wasn’t perfect, but James could never fault Hugh for not trying. He thought about bringing up the strange… dream to his dad. But something about the way it felt so real made him not want to speak about it aloud. Like so long as he confined it to his thoughts nothing from them would come to pass.

That was half the reason he chose to stay inside.

“Not a lucid dream no. Just more like…” James waved his hands around before giving up. “I can’t explain it well.”

If I don’t even follow that stupid dream, the events can’t have any credence in reality. At least, that was his view of it. Some of the things he dreamed couldn’t possibly come to pass, but James was not one to tempt fate.

The man he had murdered was just that. A man. James still remembered the feeling of his knuckles breaking against the hard skull and covering them with the wetness of that man’s blood. Screams swirling in with the man’s hands clawing against James' face. Crying out to the universe for mercy.

Some part of that James still couldn’t bring himself to believe was a dream.

He hoped he didn’t have an imagination that could conjure something that terrible.

An alarm buzzed and pulled him from his thoughts.

“Well, work commands me. There’s panadol on the fridge if you need it.” Hugh said, making his way for the door.

“Wait.” James spouted almost reflexively.

“Yeah?” Hugh responded, stopping halfway out the door.

James swallowed for a second before thinking if he should even bother. It’s not real. There’s no reason to try and stop him from working, and I don’t think dad's taken a day off since Mum died. Still. Something in him couldn’t just not warn his dad.

“Be careful today, this meteor stuff might bring out the crazies.” He warned Hugh.

“Will do.” Hugh nodded, leaving James alone in the apartment.

He had hours before Michael would be back. James’ eyes slowly moved to leering at the playstation beneath the living room tv. He could hardly remember the last time he’d just sat down and enjoyed himself.

Maybe today won’t be so bad. James thought to himself, grabbing the controller.

****************************

“Get him up, Michael. Now.”

“But dad what if he-”

“Now Michael!”

Hugh’s shouts ripped James from his dreamless sleep and he blinked, trying to find himself. He found himself slobbering on the couch with a controller still loosely in his hands and God of War’s loading screen sitting on the tv. A melted bowl of ice cream was precariously close to tipping off the coffee table.

James yawned, stifling it as well as he could before he stretched off the couch, his back cursing at him for sleeping so awkwardly.

“What's go you two in a fuss?” He mumbled to himself trying to push away the lethargy. He had to blink a few more times before he got an actual clue of what was going on.

His father was packing. He had two duffle bags strewn across the countertop and was barking orders at Michael who looked like an anxious wreck. Hugh looked like he’d seen a ghost. His face was perhaps the closest thing to nervous James had ever seen.

“What's going on, what happened?” James asked, a little louder this time.

Something in him started sinking. He couldn’t tell if it was his heart or his stomach.

“It’s not what happened,” Hugh said dismissively. His eyes darted at the question. “It’s what’s happening. I.e, us, leaving now. Michael! We’re not bringing the PlayStation.”

“Okay!” Michael said, pulling his hands off the cables like he’d been caught with his hands in the cookie jar. He bolted into their shared room, throwing clothes near but not in another duffle bag outside their room.

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“James! If you don’t pack your stuff I’m only bringing your pajamas!” Michael shouted from his room, and James could sense the frustration in his voice.

Does he not know why we’re suddenly leaving either? Did Dad just spring this on him? The sinking feeling got a hell of a lot deeper. “Dad, what’s going on?”

Hugh threw the bag down onto the countertop and almost snarled at James before pulling himself into some composure. “We’re leaving.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”

James didn’t want to ask. He did anyway. “Did something happen at work-”

“No, nothing fucking happened at work, for the final time. We are leaving. I want to go camping, I’m sick of my job and Mindy. I’d leave you two here if I could.” Hugh said, and it almost sounded like he was reeling off every excuse he could think of rather than telling the truth.

Choosing to take none of it personally James was left with indecision inside of him. He hated confronting his father in the first place. He’d never not found Hugh to be an intimidating man, even as he grew bigger, fitter and stronger then him. His dad just had that much of a commanding presence and self-assured attitude.

But James didn’t think he had a choice. Not with how frantic his father was. He had to cut to the heart of the problem.

“You were attacked weren’t you?” James asked, praying Hugh was just having a manic episode.

Instead of answering Hugh’s jaw hung slack, a confused expression painted over his raised brows. The gears in his head were ticking again, at full motion this time. “How did you-”

He paused. Something in his gaze turned heavy. “You knew.” Hugh’s weighty gaze fell on James flooding with a mixture of confusion and paranoia. “How?”

“I’ll explain on the way,” James said. “But you were right. We have to leave. Now.”

The next minutes were a sort of blur for James. Maybe it was because he’d been sleeping moments before. All he knew was that he’d torn the cabinet down and snatched all the clothes he’d ever need along with anything of value, storing it in one of the three duffle bags they took with them.

Hugh didn’t ask how he had known. He just trusted that if both he and his son judged that they needed to leave then there was no time for questions. The big man damn near sprinted down the stairs with a duffle bag, basic food supplies and blankets for the road. James was almost amazed by his father’s instincts, as they mirrored his own when he’d first come into contact with that awful feeling.

That the world was about to turn upside down.

It still took them half an hour to load everything into Hugh’s pick up truck and almost all of that time was filled with his father either barking commands or leaving them both in nervous silence. Despite what he said, James didn’t try to explain his strange dream.

It can’t be anything but a dream. He refused to give even an inch of that understanding. Eventually, everything was packed in the car and they were allowed to breathe as Hugh drove them through the heavy traffic of Melbourne. If Hugh wasn’t frantically calling Mindy and begging her to stay inside, he was swearing at the traffic and trying to find a quicker way.

“We need to go northwest, away from the city. It’s quiet out there.” James said, flicking through his maps in the passenger seat. The sound of Michael's Nintendo switch was a constant hum in the background.

I could tell it was getting on Hugh’s nerves but he didn’t let it show. One look at Michael's face and it was easy enough to see the bravado had fallen away. James’ knew his brother well enough to know he was scared shitless. Likely because both he and Hugh were worried about something enough to want to leave the city.

Still, all he could do was try and get them out.

“We won’t make it out of the city before the meteors come,” Hugh said, his voice dripping with something like resignation. “Louie losing it and trying to maul everyone around him. That has to do with the meteor, doesn’t it?”

“Why would you think that?” James asked, biting back and looking stunned. How did Hugh piece that together? James found it a pretty far conclusion to draw considering everyone thought the meteor shower was just that.

A meteor shower.

“Because you warned me about Louie. You knew, and when I brought up the meteor shower you looked like…” Hugh didn’t continue that sentence, but James got his point. “Look, if you know what’s happening tell me. Because I’m as confused as a homeless man under house arrest.”

James grabbed onto the roof as Hugh preformed some rather aggressive driving, switching between lanes like they were different samples to try at cosco. He swallowed down the words that wanted to come out. Some part of him really wanted to tell others about the dream.

But he couldn’t.

A cold shudder went through him at the thought of believing any of it was real.

“I don’t know. Call premonition, but I was right about your work. Something awful could happen and we shouldn’t be near this many people when it does.” James advised. Hugh seemed to take it as a fair warning, and starting being more aggressive with his driving.

James checked his phone while they weaved through cars, cursing as the time to the meteor shower got closer and closer. It was minutes now until the sky woud… no, there was no certainly that would happen again. He kept checking in between guiding his father, praying they’d make it out of at least the CBD and knowing that wasn’t going to happen.

“James, what’s happening?” A shaky voice whispered behind his seat, tearing him out of his manic state.

James could see him in the rearview mirror. His normally annoying brother looked afraid. Terrified.

“Nothing, just focus on your game,” James said, gently. His brother was thirteen but he was still young. Trying to convey to him what might be the severity of his premonition, one he was starting to believe was very real, wouldn’t help the boy. “And don’t look up.”

The meteor shower was almost on them. They had their backs to the part of the horizon it had begun at, starting at 8:43 Pm.

“Dad, don’t take the tunnel,” James warned as they headed straight for it. The least convoluted way out of the center of Melbourne and also the most chaotic. It was already jammed full of cars.

We can’t get stuck there.

“There is no other way to go,” Hugh growled, beeping at the person in front of him as if it would calm him. It did not.

James knew that. They couldn’t turn back. He just knew what was coming, and it made driving into a tight tunnel underground seem like a death sentence. What if anarchy broke out there.

Slowly they made their way through the tunnel, going at a snails pace as the traffic slowed and and slowed further until they were on the lip of the tunnel, so close to it’s exit. James felt hopeful for as he could see the stars in the nightsky ahead of them.

Then the hope was stolen by washing streaks of azure that spelled doom.

“What is that?” Hugh murmured to himself as he gazed up into the azure skym crashing and colluding as bolts of light begun to fall. The emotions in his voice were much the same as the torrent James felt.

Awe at the majesty of the sight. Confusion at how something so real could be served before their eyes. Tension as the thick anxiety spread throughout the world full of people asking the same questions and finally something deeper.

The first emotion anyone felt, as old as the very sky that was falling before them.

Sheer, primal fear.

“What do we do?” Michael asked the question everyone in the car was thinking.

What do we do when the sky is falling? James’ hadn’t had much to think about in his premonition but honestly, he wasn’t sure. Run? Hide? Cry? Beg for mercy? Pray to any god that would listen?

He didn’t have a clue and that was terrifying in itself. The sinking feeling inside him grew a magnitude higher, then eclipsed when the familiar golden words carved themselves into his view.

Suddenly he realised what that sinking feeling was.

Like I’m heading off a cliff, only this time I can see it. But he couldn’t stop it. Like his brakes had burned out.

[Congratulations, you have been witnessed and your Spark has been deemed worthy of the System’s touch.]

James remembered those words, though he couldn’t say he understood them. What was a Spark? What did the “Systems touch” entail, exactly? He’d pieced together, now he thought about it, that Jess must’ve seen the same thing. The armored man to-

I didn’t warn them. The thought was an icy grip on James’ mind. Because he hadn’t wanted to pay the premonition credence, he hadn’t warned Jake. Were they all still there at the park? Amy, Jess and him.

Oh god. Oh no-

[Congratulations, you’ve defeated an Invited Spark and earned the rights associated]

[Congratulations, you’ve completed the first invitation {Defeat a Spark}]

[Quest reward for {Defeat a Spark} have been logged. The System has melded the branches of your potential and founded your Source]

The flurry of golden messages stole any concentration James had left, leaving him suspended. Frozen for a moment. He’d defeated a spark? He’d defeated an Invited Spark? What does any of this even mean?

The only thing he understood, ironically enough, was the invitation. It was simple, and he could sense it intrinsically as if the golden words put the concept of what it meant into his head. He had to defeat a Spark.

But I… am a Spark? He was a Spark, that’s what the golden words said. Did that mean people were Sparks? He felt like he was on the verge of realizing something, then Hugh’s shouting broke through his thoughts.

“Get out of the car!” Hugh screamed almost toppling him out of the car.

Michael had gone completely silent, standing under Hugh and keeping his head down. Like James had advised. The traffic had come to a standstill and a chaos almost identical to that of the park was playing out. Except, James couldn't see them. The cliff. People like the armored man he’d…

“Dammit James we’ve got to go!” Hugh shouted pushing past others and trying to shelter Michael at the same time.

James didn’t need to be told twice.

There was running, and there was screaming aplenty around James but he focused on his father and brother. They were the only ones he could spare attention to and from what he could tell, there weren’t any pychos here like there had been at the park. Which in itself was strange, but James didn’t have time to think about it.

He didn’t have time to think about anything. All the three of them could do was manuver themselves through the chaos as well as they could. Some people were huddling into groups around them, trying to decide what to do amongst themselves. James could see police sirens at the edge of the tunnel. They looked just as confused, with their guns at the ready.

Are they setting up a barricade? James wonder-

[System warning: Quadrant Timeline on the verge of collapse]

Timeline collapse? That sounded not good. Possibly worse then line of police with guns, not so gently ushering everyone back into the tunnels. But Timeline collapse was a lot less of a real threat then shrapnel and gunpowder to James, so he ignored it, pressing on into the crowd with Hugh and Michael.

“Let us through!”

“You can’t do this!”

“This isn’t what this country stands for?”

Voices shouted out randomly, voicing their fears and want to the row of police. In response, a well-armored one spoke into a megaphone.

“Do not be alarmed. Stay inside your vehicles. This tunnel has been cordoned off for the safety of the general public. Please abide by law enforcement-”

“Fuck that, let us through!” A particularly rough-looking teenager shouted.

“Yeah, you can’t do this!”

A certain air shifted in the mass of people at the front parts of the tunnel entrance and James got a creeping feeling the whole thing might turn sour fast. Mob mentality was a dangerous thing. He’d seen enough movies. Everyone knew where this might go. The police had guns, but they were hopelessly outnumbered by scared and angry people.

Fear did dangerous things.

“We should move back into the tunnel,” James said lightly to Hugh and he nodded stiffly.

Hugh had been managing construction crews for years. He could tell the same as James when a group of people were about to riot. They started edging their way back towards Hugh’s pickup, when a low steadying rumbling reverberated around them.

[System warning: Timeline collapse imminent]

Great! Thanks for the heads up. James wanted to scream in the system’s face but he was far more concerned with the steady rumbling around them. It had started low and far, but within seconds got louder and started to shake the concrete around them.

A small, almost imperceptible thrill ran up James’ spine as he looked into the tunnel and noticed how the sounds of chaos coming from the other side had been replaced with a low grinding to join the rumble. He felt his hands shiver as he saw the distant tunnel lights wink out on after the other, coming towards him.

“RU-” He flinched as he yelled feeling something dangerous rush towards them before the world just winked out of existence.

Very abruptly, James found himself suspended in… nothing.

Huh. weird. All the rushing emotion and adrenaline was gone. Suddenly James felt no fear, no anxiety, no worry. No nothing. Not even peace. Someone had just taken a clever to where his emotions had been and forgotten to put something in its place.

[System notice: Timeline collapse suspended]

Oh, that's good, right? James thought so. Timeline collapse sounded like not the best, so avoiding that by suspending it was going in the right direction.

[Congragulations your Source has been formed]

That's also good. James noted. Well, he didn’t know if that was good. The golden words did seem more inviting now though with the complete elapse of everything around him. Maybe now was a good time to think about their purpose, considering he wasn’t worried about anything.

[Source: ERROR]

There was a sharp cracking noise, like something in the void around them had collapsed on itself and then the golden words started to flicker violently. James tried to cover his ears from the overwhelming screech of the words crackling but they just kept coming. The golden words didn’t just form in front of him, they formed all around him.

[Source: ERROR]

All of the golden words fizzled out beside the one in front of James that had begun to twitch like it was alive.

[Source: I SEE YOU]

Then the world went dark.

*******************

Loop 2

“Waffles aren’t part of the bed in breakfast menu.” A familiar voice said, shaking James’ shoulder.

What?

James straightened himself like an arrow, blinking the sleep away at the familiar sight of his… room.

“What?” He said aloud, very confused and not enjoying it.

“The waffles,” Michael said, looking taken aback. “They’re ready.”

His brother looked at him oddly and seemed to back away slowly. James shoved him into the laundry. He felt real. It felt real.

The only words that escaped James' mouth summarised his complete and utter confusion

“WHAT?!”