--Prologue

I sat there, starring at the ceiling, Waiting. My day was just as they always are. simple. I take no satisfaction in the mundane ins and outs of an ordinary day. I Autonomously function as if I didn't really exist. I feel as if this life I lead is just a pit stop. It is as if my real life is so exciting that I have to torture myself with mediocrity in order to survive. Still, at the end of every day, when I lay on my bed looking up at the brown water stain directly above my head. I feel as if something fantastic is about to happen.

--Chapter One

A sound of thunder falls from the sky, pouring over my apartment. I can feel it seeping through the cracks in the wall.

I find myself suddenly standing in my living room. I don't remember getting up and I don't remember changing into my favorite shirt but I'm awake and standing. I have a sudden surge of energy. My body feels weightless and powerful. I remember feeling like this before but when I try grasping at the memory it feels as if it isn't mine. I feel like I'm perceiving someone else's power that I'm not supposed to have. The more I try to remember, the more distant I feel from my own mind.

I feel a headache coming on.

There is something I'm supposed to do, somewhere I'm supposed to be, and someone I can't let down.

It's outside. That place I'm going is beyond my apartment doors. It's 2 degrees outside in the middle of the night and I don't have a car. Yet the only thing I can think about is that someone needs me. Not of, or from me. They just need me to be in the right place at the right time. Beyond reason I put my shoes on and step outside.

The winter air of the dark night brushes by me and what would have sent anyone into a fit of shivering has little effect on me. The wind is bitter, cold, and filled with ice dust. I feel every second of it. Somehow I understand that I am protected as long as I find this destined spot.

After just a few steps I find myself miles away in an what appears to be an adjacent town. The night is dead and dark. Only the light of a gas station illuminates the quiet streets. The edge of the light seems to cut a rift in dimensions. On one side lies the eerie glow of a neon sign and on the other side resides absolute oblivion.

I felt beckoned to the flickering fluorescent lights of the convenience store. It seemed like the only place I could go.

I swung the door open. A bell chimed and clanked against it as I walked through the threshold. It seemed normal. There was candy hanging by the register and a variety of vitamin and energy drinks littering the counter.

As my eyes scanned the room they were drawn to a cashier staring blankly off into space.

She was a tall young woman with pink hair and a pierced nose. She seemed like she had something to prove to the world and the only way to do it was to call attention to herself and then ignore existence.

Was she truly just starring off into space or could she not see me?

I stand there with a dumb look on my face gawking at her, expecting some snarky response but nothing changed. I waved my hand to no avail.

Off in the distance I hear the snap of two fingers pulling apart.

"Your new here, aren't you?" A voice called out from the other side of the store. I whirl my head around to catch sight of a woman start to approach me from the dark recesses of the store. Her long curly brown hair bounced as she walked. As her face peeled out of the shadows I saw that she was smiling. Her grin marked her face with deep lines and her eyes had a wisdom to them.

"You seem to have torn away from reality a little to far. It happens to people the first time they fall through." The woman spoke as she put out her hand to greet me. I reached out and and tried to take it but it seemed a lot farther that it was. The further I reached the more distant the hand became until she made a move. She grabbed my hand tightly and pulled hard and fast, yanking me forward though the impossible gap between us.

I fell flat on my face.

"What did you do that for" I grumbled as I pulled myself off the dirty laminate floor.

"You didn't want to fall off completely, did you?" The woman walked past me as she was talking. She acted like she knew exactly what was happening but worse, she acted like I knew too. I had no idea. But that feeling of fear that accompanies the unknown wasn't there. I felt like I was precisely where I was supposed to be. A feeling that I don't often get.

I had a tingling sensation all over my body. I felt both weak and strong at the same time. I watched the woman walk off into the next room behind me. I wasn't sure if she wanted me to follow but as I looked around the room I saw the cashier looking at me. I took this as a good sign and chased after the woman into the next room.

As I opened the door that had swung closed between us a suction had formed in the room. A burst of air rushed by me and I peered on through the door archway.

It was a sunny day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. The wind blew through the trees of what seemed to be a park. To my back was the cold abyss of night and in front of me their was an abundance of light and fresh air.

I saw the woman laying on a park bench with a bored look on her face. As she gazed at the sky she yelled out "you're not going to stand there for all eternity, are you?" She seemed cavalier but there was a hint in her voice that made it seem like I could stand here, on the precipice between two worlds for more than my life time.

I came to the decision that there was something going on that I may never understand but not letting on that I have no idea what I'm doing may be my best bet.

I walked with confidence past the threshold onto a carpet of perfectly manicured green grass. It felt soft beneath my feet like no one had ever set foot on it ever before. I walked over to the statue in the center of the park and saw a plaque set out. The dark bronze statue was clean and well kept but I had no idea who this stout old man was that it depicted.

I tried reading the plaque but it was in a strange font with no discernible characters.

"What have you brought me here for" I asked over my shoulder to the woman who was bathing in the soft, warm sunlight.

"I needed a quiet place to relax and this is my favorite one. There are no insects or birds and it always seems to be sunny." I looked back to her and she had her hand resting over her eyes and I could have sworn she was on the edge of exhaustion. "It seems to take more and more out of me every time I travel to this place. Sooner or later I may never be able to get back here." This must be one of the things I don't understand yet.

I walked over to this strange mysterious woman whom I have never met that somehow knows so many things I do not and said "hello, my name is Mark"

She pulled her hand away from her face and squinted in the bright sunlight looking up at me "Mark? No, just Mark will never do."

"What?" I was astonished. I've never been told my name wasn't good enough.

"You need something that defines you beyond your earthly confines. You need a title and a badge." She seemed like she was just having fun with me now. Playing on my lack of knowledge.

"You can call me omniscient" I said this so matter of factually she couldn't hold back a full smile.

"Well, Omni. My badge is Clara the ever daring, mistress of the king of the nine courts, master of the order of waves, bliss of the unknown. You can just call me Bliss then."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"What time are we to be home?" I asked putting her in complete charge of my fate.

"We can be home by morning if you would like. It all depends on how tired you feel tonight. First thing first though, we need to see the old king.

"Is he here?"

"No, we've only made it half way. You were on the edge of existence. Quite a long way to travel in one go. Give me an hour and we can go the rest of the distance. In the mean time you can look around and get used to your new title."

"I don't have any way of telling time right now, how will I know when we are ready to leave?"

"There is a clock tower just off in the distance there, when it strikes noon you can meet me back here." The woman pointed weakly over her shoulder to a clock tower peaking out over the trees. Her hand shook as she held it out. She seemed to be even more tired now then when she first arrived.

I wandered toward the tower. The sun was warm and soft. The humidity was perfect and a breeze blew quietly across the ground. This place seemed perfect. As I approach the clock tower a small town revealed itself through the trees. It was too quiet. The town was build in a modern brick construction with beautifully painted signs.

The town seemed untouched. There wasn't a single misplaced item. As I walked about the town and peered threw windows I noticed that the stores were fully stocked and the houses were well furnished with what seemed like expensive furniture.

I knocked on the door to a house at the far end of the town. I didn't expect an answer and I'm glad I didn't get one. What would I have said. "Hello, I'm going around house to house checking doors to make sure they open. thank you. Have a nice day." I checked the door lock. The knob twisted around and the mechanism clicked. It was unlocked. I walked across the street and knocked, waiting with my door check story and ready to dash.

The light flickered. Not the house lamps or the street lights, it was the world. It was black for a fraction of a second. I looked to the sky but there wasn't a cloud in sight. The sky was a brilliant shade of blue, cleaner than my sky back home. The sun was bright and warm.

I opened the door to the house. The hinges let out no noise and the door was just as smooth as it could have been when it was first installed. I noticed no magazines on the coffee table and no indent in the couch cushions. I concluded that this was a model home after I saw the kitchen. The refrigerator was clean and empty and the cupboards were bare. Was this a nuclear test town. Everything seemed staged.

I left for the stores I saw back in town. Why would someone have made such a perfect town just to leave it abandoned. I thought to myself all the horrible things that could have happened in order for this town to be left in this state.

Sure enough, the doors to all of the shops were left completely unlocked. There was food on all of the shelves of the grocery store there wasn't a single item out of full stock and every package was non perishable goods. All marked with that strange font in some other worldly language.

I was tempted to steal a candy bar from the counter but it seemed too conspicuous.

I left for the end of the city. How big was this place.

I checked the clock tower and had plenty of time. It seemed like no time had passed at all.

The streets all looked the same. Every house was identical. Every white picket fence intact with perfectly mowed lawns and pretty pink flowers in every garden.

I started running.

I ran as fast as I could straight to the edge of the suburbs. I felt like I could run forever. I ran until I reached a tall white wooden fence. It spanned as far as I could see both left and right. It was layered in such a way that I could not see past it or through it. All I saw was a large gate and a small door. This door was locked.

On the ground there was a set of ashen foot prints leading away from the door. Someone was here and they came from beyond the door.

I started to follow them but the ash faded and the trail stopped in front of the first house on the left.

The gate was left open.

I felt a shudder of fear sweep over me. There was something going on here that seem bad. I didn't want to open the door but I knew I had to. It had to happen now. I reached out and put my hand on the door knob and began to twist it slowly when I heard a voice speak directly into my right ear. I let out the most shrill and loud scream I could and when I ran out of breath, I screamed again.

"Clara" I yelped as I whipped around to the sight of her clutching her gut laughing in dry heaves. I didn't see her come up behind me, I didn't hear her. She stopped laughing and the smile faded from her face.

"Did you see it?" She asked without even a smirk on her face.

"See what?" I was paranoid at this point.

"The flicker of darkness" she stared past my head at the door behind me. "I've laid on that park bench about a hundred times and I have never witnessed the sun disappear before." And just as subtly as her emotional change from laughter to seriousness she changed the subject "What's behind door number one" she said, noting the house was in fact numbered one.

"Something from outside" it was hard for me to speak. My throat was raw. I was hoping she would open the door and lead on but she just stood there and waited.

"Aren't you going to check it out" she whispered, wanting me to lead. Great, it really does have to be me.

I boldly turned the knob and threw open the door. There was a loud thud that echoed for what seemed like forever.

I couldn't wait for that long.

I walked inside and saw a pair of very dirty red sneakers sitting next to the door. They were caked in black soot.

I lead on into the living room following a trail of dirt and blood. It drew me upstairs to the first door on the left of the hallway.

The door was ajar.

I knew that a gruesome sight waited for me inside the room by the amount of blood and the single trail that followed here.

I pushed the door open and the horror struck me.

The white sheets where stained a rusty brown with old blood. The corpse was curled into a fetal position on a once freshly made bed. The flesh was worn away into dust and the bones were black with mold. I turned away from the room and faced Clara. She was strong and seemed unmoved. Her face was stern and her mouth curved into a frown.

"She died crying. She was alone, bleeding and afraid. Just a young girl." Clara spoke softly and looked down to me. I never noticed how tall she was until now. She seemed to stand above the world.

"I thought it would smell" I said as a tear came to my eye. I struggled to form these words.

"It does. There isn't enough air left in the room." Clare still staring at the body still quietly not because she was whispering, but because the air was so thin. I didn't realize until now that I wasn't breathing. I gasped trying to inhale but my lungs were too weak. "Don't try to breath now you don't need to here." Another thing I tell myself I won't ever understand. Clara spun around and swiftly walked down the stairs. I struggled to keep up. She walked up to the fence and stood in front of the door.

"It's locked" I tried to say but nothing came out. The air was gone. Clara reached out and softly opened the door like nothing. She turned to me and mouthed something along the lines of "air pressure". she walked out into the blackness on the other side of the door.

I may be the only human to see or ever see the sight I saw on the other side of that door. The sky was black but the sun was out. It was huge and red. Like it was about to supernova. The atmosphere was gone and the world was seared. I pray I will never see anything like that ever again. But then I saw something strange. Something I know is rarer then the end of the world.

A lone tear fell from Clara's eye.

We stood there for a while. I contemplated how this could happen a bit but mostly I tried to figure out what Clara was thinking.

Clara turned and walked back into the shelter. She made a bee line for the house on the right. As we walked to house number two the lights flickered again. This time they were out for a full second. This place is dying. Possibly the last light on in this entire world, and it's about to go out.

Clara grabbed the door and closed her eyes. She bowed her head and mouthed something I couldn't make out. Then she opened the door.

There was a powerful burst of air that knocked me back. I pushed through the wind and tried to close the door behind me but it was too strong. I felt a tug my collar and was pulled out of the way. Clara held out her hand at the door way and the door slammed shut with such force that it snapped off its hinges.

My ears popped as I adjusted back to the pressure of the normal world. The now open archway that we came through led out to a hallway now. We were in a huge stone chamber carved out of exquisite marble. Everything shone with a perfect polish.

This must be the kings castle I thought as I peered around. The room was circular with a dark wooden door every fifteen feet. In the center of the room was a compass that had nine points all marked with a odd symbol. The room had ten doors and we broke the one that was not pointed to by the compass.

I took a long inhale that soothed my lungs. At least we had air. I smirked and Clara noticed.

"Don't get too excited." Clara spoke and her voice echoed across this great hall. "We will be meeting the king soon and you're tracking ash all over his sacred chamber." I looked down and noticed that I was the only one leaving black footprints on the ground even though we both stood on the burnt ground of that dead world.

"Extenuating circumstances" I said as I wipe my shoes against my pant legs.

"The king will be in his new home back on the zed plane. That's where your from you know. Earth prime, if you will. This is the nine corners of causality. A sacred chamber known only to those in the kings court. It looks like you're going to need to be inducted." Clara seemed very talkative all of a sudden. I wasn't sure if she was finally in the mood to reveal things to me or if she just wanted to steer the conversation away from what happened. "I'm going to need you to remember this next bit." She said, placing her hand on my forehead. "Starbucks, noon." As she removed her hand from my head I felt my body follow her, pulling my head forward.

I sat up. I was lying back in my own bed. I was panting and tired. The sun poked through the blinds next to my bed and hit my face, burning my eyes. There was something I was supposed to remember, something important. I sighed heavily. I can never remember my dreams. It was just a dream though.