CHAPTER 1

(revised edition)

Michael stared at the twinkling stars in the night sky. Every single one of them cast a dim glow that could barely be seen. Although they weren’t real, they still looked beautiful. 

Living in a pocket dimension wasn’t always the most fun thing. Not having real stars, or a real sun, felt very weird. That didn’t stop Michael from trying to better himself though.

Reaching over Michael picked up a piece of paper that was sitting on a table. The table sat right beside the couch that Michael was sitting on. 

Brushing against the glass Michael noted that it felt cool to the touch. It was much too cool for his liking. Perhaps he would need to turn the air conditioning up.

Bracing the paper against his leg Michael noted the different patterns of the stars. Constellations still lined their false sky, albeit different from the ones in the Known world.

When Michael finished writing down his findings on the paper Michael put the paper back down and started to look across the room.

On the other side was an identical couch to the one that he was sitting on. His sister, Harmony, loved to sit on that couch as well as take naps on it throughout the day. At times she could be so laid back that it was annoying.

When they were roughly seven years old their parents had bought these couches as a pair. This was much like all of the other furniture that they had in their house. Nearly everything was bought in sets. One of the main exceptions were the electrical appliances.

Currently one of those appliances was right next to Michael, being the lamp that was supplying light to the room. 

Michael reached over and to the lamp and turned it up one setting. Now that he wasn’t looking outside he didn’t need it that low. Before all he was using was the dim light emanating from the hallway.

The light that the lamp brought to the room was comforting to Michael, but also saddening. Although the furniture was still there, their parents were not.

The current Shrine War had a habit of drawing people in and not returning them. Then again most of the wars they had did that, which was greatly saddening. 

Anytime that Michael looked at anything that they bought or made with their parents it brought back painful memories. Especially the grandfather clock in the corner of their room.

That grandfather clock was the last thing that he and Harmony had made with their parents before they went on their last mission. A mission they never came back from.

In fact it was just before they had left on their mission. A few years ago a large box had ended up on their porch. At the time their parents were at work and Michael had no clue what the box could contain. 

Of course, he was no child so he kept a hold on his curiosity. Harmony, on the other hand, was very bad at keeping her curiosity in check. It was up to Michael to keep Harmony from trying to peek into the box while their parents were still at work.

A long sibling versus sibling battle followed the arrival of the box. Epic clashes of words and convincing arguments lasted until eight at night when their parents finally came home. 

Their parents finally managed to alleviate Harmony’s curiosity by saying that it was a family project. 

Next thing Michael knew it was the next thing and they were opening the box to build a grandfather's clock. It took them roughly two hours to build, but they thought that it was well worth it. Michael didn’t think that it looked that good, but at least it was functional.

Now Michael didn’t care about how well the clock looked or functioned. Even if it were to break the next day Michael wouldn’t move or fix the clock. After their parents left he didn’t want to touch that clock ever again.

Watching the pendulum swing on the clock, Michael noticed that the light in the kitchen was on as the hallway was now brighter. Harmony was most likely going to try and retrieve him for dinner soon. It was getting late after all.

However, Michael didn’t really feel like eating. He just felt tired. On one hand Harmony’s food did taste exquisite. Yet on the other hand he could get another hour of sleep. The problem of the century.

Grabbing the assignment that he had just finished Michael put it into a folder and got up. Best to leave the room before Harmony found him.

Michael tried to make his way out of the room after turning the lamp off. Instead of being greeted with an empty doorway he found Harmony standing there. She was leaning against the door frame and slightly smiling at him.

“Trying to escape dinner for the third day in a row?” Harmony asked, still smiling.

Currently she was wearing a blue hoodie and jeans, which was classic Harmony. Michael didn’t know how she could feel comfortable wearing those clothes, especially after cooking dinner.

“No, I’m just not hungry at the moment,” Michael tried to explain.

“I’ve heard your spiel before, and I don’t particularly want to hear it again,” Harmony said before he could say anything else, “so instead I’m just going to drag you to the dinner table, and this time it’s going to be non negotiable.”

Michael grumbled. Looks like he was stuck in this situation. At least he wouldn’t be going to bed on an empty stomach. 

Walking through the hallway to the kitchen allowed Michael to see all the pictures that their parents had taken. Some of them were from when they were just five years old. Others were taken from when they had just entered their teenage years.

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In each of the pictures they looked happy as can be. Some even displayed Michael wearing the biggest smile that a child could have. How the times have changed.

On the other hand there was Harmony, who looked the exact same in the pictures as she did now. Always laid back and enjoying the moment. This was explicated by one of the pictures of Harmony in the kitchen.She had batter all over her face and was smiling at the camera with mom. A wholesome picture to be sure.

Entering the kitchen Michael smelled the food. His mouth started to water, but he still didn’t want to sit down at the dinner table. 

“Let’s eat, then we can go to bed,” Harmony said.

“I still have a little school work that I need to finish. Maybe after that I will go to bed,” Michael elucidated.

“Fine, I’ll do my work as well,” Harmony huffed.

Michael opened the cupboard and grabbed out a bowl. Time to eat dinner.

***

Dinner had been excellent. Once they had finished Michael put all the dishes into the dishwasher and turned it on.

Now it was time to do some homework. Most of which was going to be online. There were a few paper assignments, but Michael usually finished them at school during lunch.

Unlocking the door to their office, which was next to the entrance of their house, Michael stepped in and sat down at his desk.

The desks were yet another piece of furniture that they had built with their parents. 

Reaching to the corner of the desk Michael pulled out a laptop and turned it on. The word “Donair” appeared on the screen as it powered on.

Their reliance on technology was something that Michael hated deeply. If something happened that made all the technology they had obsolete, nothing could help them get back on their feet.

This was the reason that the Unity kept copies of their files on paper.

As though his computer knew that he was thinking about the Unity, his computer immediately spat a news article named, “The Unity stops yet another raid attempt.”

Yet another failure on the Eclipse’s part. Of course, the Unity had much more experience than the Eclipse. After all, the Eclipse had been around for a lesser period of time.

Closing the tab Michael opened up the website that held all of his assignments and clicked on the first one. Time to get to work.

“Michael, have you heard that the Unity is starting to push us back?” Harmony asked, walking into the room, popsicle in hand.

“They’re always pushing us back, it’s nothing new,” Michael responded, going back to the news article.

For the past year the Eclipse hasn’t been faring too well. Most of the attacks that they had been orchestrating didn’t do much to the machine that was the Unity. 

The Eclipse wasn’t big enough to fight the Unity properly, but technology they were making would change that very soon. Technology always had a habit of evening out the scales.

It also helped that they had a couple of the top researchers defect from the Unity’s Lunar Lance branch. They would be able to help the Eclipse make the technology needed to breach the shrines.

Reading into the article more it had appeared that they did indeed manage to make something that could pierce through one of the shrines defenses, and that they would be using it to attack one of the shrines.

The article didn’t say which one of the shrines that would be attacked, probably for security reasons. They didn’t need the Unity finding out their plans to attack the shrines. It would only make it more difficult to bring them down.

Backing out of the article brought Michael back to the assignments that he needed to do. This was going to be a long hour.

***

Michael woke up with a start. He had managed to finish his homework and went to bed after cleaning up his work space. 

Loud bangs were going off and a red glow came from outside of the window, flickering as though something was on fire. Was something on fire?

Jumping out of bed Michael raced to the window, throwing the window drapes open. Flames burned outside the window. People outside were running away from what looked like soldier’s marching down the street.

The soldiers weren’t wearing the normal armor of the Eclipse. They were wearing the armor of the Oathsworn, a branch of the Unity.

Michael ran to the door and grabbed his battle coat hanging on a coat hanger. He threw it on quickly. Speed was of the utmost importance. 

Grabbing a sword that was in a sheath that was beside the coat hanger, he hung it at his side. Michael would trust his life to this weapon. It was the last gift that his parents had given him before they left on their last mission. It had served him well so far, and he would rely on it.

Flinging open the door Michael raced down the hallway to find his sister. The loud bang that he had heard before came from the front of the house. It was possible that the Oathsworn had already broken into the house.

A hazy feeling overcame Michael as he ran through a patch of smoke, almost like he was going to get high. That didn’t matter, he had to make it to Harmony at all costs.

Pushing through the haze Michael made it to the front of their house. Getting ready Michael pulled his sword from his sheath. The ring of metal filled his ears as he did so.

At first the only blurred images filled Michael’s vision. Two figures were in front of him. One was laying on the ground, and the other was standing over it, with what appeared to be a sword.

Horror filled Michael’s eyes as he saw what had unfolded in front of him. It was almost too hard to believe.

At his feet Harmony laid on the ground, lifeless. Blood pooled out from beneath her body. The bright light that was once in her eyes had left, and was never going to be seen again.

Standing above the dead body of his sister was a person clad in golden armor. Armor that was quite the opposite of the dull gray that the Eclipse wore. This soldier was a member of the Unity.

Looking up, the opaque glass mask of the soldier seemed to stare directly into Michael, but he didn’t care. Even if he did escape, what was the point in trying to continue anymore?

The figure walked over to Michael as he collapsed on the floor. Raising their sword the soldier prepared to slash down on Michael’s neck.

Before the blade made contact Michael felt the intense feeling of falling. The falling persisted for only a couple seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

Suddenly Michael jolted up, his surroundings looking completely different. Looking around in a panic Michael realized that he was laying in bed.

It took a moment for Michael to understand what was going on. Had it all been a dream? Swinging his legs onto the floor Michael walked over to the window and opened the drapes just like before.

This time there was no fire outside, and no soldiers marching down the streets. It had been a dream indeed.