"Wow!" Wyatt whispered to himself. He stood staring in awe at the massive dark blue tear in space. The day he had been preparing for had finally arrived. He had recently turned 18 and was allowed to pass through the gate without a parent. It was hilarious to him that he had lived alone and supported himself for a few years now but that apparently didn't make him mature enough to choose for himself. He was broken out of his thoughts by a security guard who was there to make sure people underage were not able to access the gate. "Hey kid, you goin' or you givin' up your spot? Other people are waitin' on you." The guard ended his sentence by spitting on the ground a nasty brown from the tobacco tucked in his mouth. Wyatt looked behind him seeing an entire two people that were "waitin'" on him. He also noted those two people were staring in awe at the gate as well. Clearly, they were not bothered by him taking a moment. 10 years of study without any answers had made the gates a thing of legend. As weather across the world got worse, food got more expensive, and jobs that paid a living wage became more difficult to find, travel through the gates seemed more and more reasonable. Wyatt took a deep breath to steady himself, cinched the straps on his bag a little tighter, and rested the wooden staff he was bringing on his shoulder. His bag was a lot heavier than he wanted, but that was because on advice of a friend he had attached several water bottles to the outside. "Now or never kid," the security guard said as he once again spit on the ground. With a final glance around, he stepped through. His first, and only thought for a time was 'I screwed up' stepping through he felt like a giant hand had grabbed him, and squeezed before pulling him along at a breakneck speed that made him feel like he was going to puke and pass out at the same time.

Wyatt lost track of time as he was dragged along to wherever it was this gate would take him. He contemplated his life, and realized that even if this gate killed him, it was the right choice. Earth truly had nothing left to offer him. Jobs were hard to come by, paid little, and were always labor intensive. He would know, he had worked 2-3 jobs at a time since he was 15. His body ached just thinking about some of the jobs moving heavy cargo, running messages that people didn't want sent out over digital means, being a sparring partner for people much better than him at fighting, and how could he forget cleaning fish. He let that thought go and started thinking about the trip. He had used all of the money he could save over the past few years to prepare for this. He viewed the gate like a life raft. If he stayed on earth, he was going to drown, it was a matter of when, not if. His life hadn't always been that way. In fact, up until 14 he would say that he had lived a pretty good life by most people's standards. At 14 his dad died in an accident loading cargo onto a freight train His dad dying while tragic wasn't the worst of it though. HIs mom retreated from reality after it happened. She was still alive, but she no longer interacted with anyone including Wyatt. Wyatt tried reconnecting with her for a year, but at 15 when she stopped feeding herself, he was at a loss for how to help. He dropped out of school, and took care of her for a little while, but he knew the money was about to run out. He called the police as he wasn't really sure what else to do for his mother. He needed to work, or he would have no money for food or a place to live, and he couldn't leave his mom when she wouldn't eat. The government took her away, and seemed to have no issue with him living by himself if he was able to pay the bills. They even gave him some money each month to help pay for food. Wyatt tried to visit his mom in the facility they put her in, but sitting in silence with a husk of a human that used to be his mom was too much for him.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Lost in thought about how he had gotten to this point in his life, time slipped away from him. It could have been a few hours, or it could have been a few weeks it was truly impossible to tell. Considering he didn't feel thirsty Wyatt wanted to lean towards hours, but who knew what traveling through a rift in space meant for his body. His trip through the gate ended abruptly with a flash of light followed by Wyatt falling to his knees, and vomiting. He wasn't really sure how he expected the trip to end, but it surely wasn't this. After taking a moment to gather himself he looked around. There was a huge stone arch that appeared to be in a state of disrepair as huge chunks of it were missing. All around the arch for quite a distance was faded yellow grass that looked like it was dying. In the distance he could see trees, but other than that he was alone in a huge field of dying grass. He stood up and took stock of his supplies. He still had his bag, and his staff was lying next to him so that was a win as far as he was concerned. He grabbed one of his water bottles and used a little to rinse out his mouth before drinking the rest of that bottle. He was curious to see why people hadn't found a way to communicate with earth. He took his bag off, and looked for the radio he brought with him, finding it missing. As he looked through his bag, he realized that all of his electronics were gone, including the cheap digital watch that had been on his wrist. He couldn't help it when a laugh escaped him. 'Travel through space for an unknown amount of time without the need to eat or drink, and I apparently get robbed during the process. I should get a t-shirt', he thought to himself. “I guess it's time to start figuring out what to do next,” he said as he sat down to consider his options.