From the Beginning of Time

Prelude 1: The Beginning

(Miklaus POV)

I awoke to nothing but a dark, black void. I couldn’t feel anything, I couldn’t hear anything, and I couldn’t see anything.

‘What happened to me? Was this a nightmare? Am I dead? Is any of this even real?’

I tried to remember something, anything that could explain this current situation, but nothing came to mind. I continued to think harder and harder.

‘What was the last thing I was doing?’

As my thoughts began to clear up, I remembered meeting my three childhood friends. We were driving back up to our dorms right before Christmas break was ending.

Bits and pieces of memories started flowing into my mind as the events of my last moments fell into place.

We were driving, laughing, singing along with music when, suddenly, as we were approaching a cliff, the loud pop of a tire blowing cut through the happy moment like a knife. The exposed rim dug into the unkempt mountain road forcing us to swerve towards the drop off. The railing might as well have been tissue paper with how easily we sheared through.

An indescribable fear overtook me. Time seemed to slow to a standstill as we plummeted towards the rocks below. I managed to look at my friends’ faces, my terror reflected on their faces. We all instantly knew what was about to happen and all we could do was wait, no time for last words, prayers, or regrets.

‘So, where am I now? I must be dead, right? What happened to my friends?’

Too many questions ran through my mind with no real answers to be found. Then, as if the void was reading my thoughts, a light appeared in the distance.

‘The proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel”’

I had always wondered what passing on would feel like, but I never expected it to feel this calming. I could feel every fiber of my being telling me to go towards that light. Without another option and a growing need to reach the light, I took off.

I ran towards the light and, as I got closer, it grew warmer and brighter. As I neared the light, it felt as if I was embraced by it.

‘Am I going to heaven?’ were my last thoughts before the light overtook my senses.

My eyes shot open and immediately closed again because of the blinding sunlight, as if the pitch black darkness that had surrounded me never existed.

‘Wait, sunlight?’

I shielded my eyes with my hand and slowly opened them. An ocean of cloudless sky stretched far into the horizon meeting up with the expanse of grass all around me.

The slight difference in my hand drew my attention. This was definitely my hand, I was the one moving it, but it was different. No, everything was different, unfamiliar as if I was in another person’s skin. I quickly twisted my arm to find my birthmark but it was also gone, replaced by an unblemished and toned arm.

‘Was this… even my body?’

An avalanche of questions started to pop into my mind, threatening to consume me. I slapped my cheeks and forced myself to take a deep breath.

‘I need to focus on what I can answer, right now.’

There’s nothing around me but trees and grass.

‘What is this place? Is this even Earth?’

A sudden shout from behind caused me to jump in surprise. I turned around to find three people quickly making their way towards me.

“I…is that you, Miklaus?” A familiar voice called out to me.

As the voice of the person who said my name got closer, I could finally make out their face. To say this person was the embodiment of beauty would be an understatement.

From the beautiful, silky silver hair to the gorgeous, greenish blue eyes that could seemingly see into my soul, I was almost left speechless.

“Who is asking?” I barely managed to say as a warmth began to spread from my cheeks.

“It’s me, Heaven.” She said as if it should be common knowledge.

“That’s impossible, you're way too beautiful to be her!” I suddenly blurted out, unable to hide my surprise.

A slight frown appeared on her face as she looked at me before smirking.

“You know you still have no idea how to talk to women, right?” she breathed.

I allowed myself to relax, realizing it really was Heaven. Then does that mean the two behind her…

“So, it really is you, huh? Then who are the other two?” I asked looking past her and at the other two.

“Reiji” and “Hikarus” they both said in unison, unable to hide their excitement.

I couldn't help but marvel in my head. These three used the names of my friends that I had known since childhood, but everyone looked completely different. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that these three were the most attractive people I had ever seen.

“So you’re telling me that, not only are we still alive, but that you all got makeovers” I finally said as I looked back and forth from the three.

“You’ve changed as well, Miklaus. Now I can look at you without my eyes bleeding,” Heaven shot back as she looked over me.

“Oh whatever”

“So we’re all here together, but where exactly is “here”?” Reiji interrupted as he looked around our surroundings.

“I’m not sure myself to be honest. It looks like Earth, but everything feels different, even the air feels off.” Hikarus added.

“What do you all remember last?” I asked the three of them.

After some time of us piecing together our thoughts and memories, we concluded that we had, indeed, died. The next thing we knew, however, was that we were waking up one by one in this grassy field. None of us knew what happened or why we looked the way we did.

“So it seems the four of us remember the same events, but that doesn’t answer where we are now!” Reiji said clearly, still confused as to our current situation.

After some brief time, I was the first to speak as I decided to voice the only conclusion I could think of. “Is it possible we’ve all been reincarnated?” I asked the three with a serious expression.

”Because it checks out: different body: check, supposedly dying: check, unfamiliar place: check.”

“At this point, I’d believe this was the afterlife for all I know. This world seems almost exactly like Earth, but entirely different at the same time.” Heaven stated deep in thought.

“Well, we aren’t going to get anywhere if we just continue standing here all day, right?” I asked the three, nodding their heads in response.

“I saw a hill on our way over here. We should head that way to get a vantage point to try and better grasp our current situation.” Hikarus said as he pointed back towards where I had first seen them coming from.

We all wordlessly agreed and began to walk towards the hill when, suddenly, I felt the most intense, burning pain I had ever felt in my entire life. I couldn’t even bear to stand for a moment as I tried to look around, barely being able to see past the pain blurring my vision.

The sky had begun to flicker in and out, seemingly being replaced by the cosmos.

From what I could tell, however, was that the other three were feeling the same thing as screams of pain rang out among the four of us. I felt as all the bones in my body were simultaneously breaking and reforming all at once as something was being forcefully implanted in my skull.

‘What’s… happening to me? Am I feeling the pain I was supposed to feel when we died?’

I was barely able to think through my screams of pain as they overpowered me. I felt myself drift back into the darkness as I lost consciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke with a sudden jolt and looked around.

‘Judging from my surroundings, it looks like I’m still in this new world.’ I thought as I took a deep breath in and then released it.

‘So…. it definitely wasn’t a dream, then, but what was that pain I felt before passing out?’

Suddenly I remembered the other three and stood up to look around.

I was able to spot them not far off in the distance, but they were still asleep. Then a thought occurred to me, ‘How am I able to move?’

Not only that, there were no signs of stiffness in my body at all. It felt almost weightless. That was not the only strange thing, however. I also wasn’t hungry or thirsty at all after passing out for who knows how long and I could see as clear as day.

‘The longer we’re here, the more confusing this new world becomes. Am I even human anymore?’

I decided to check my body over again to see if anything had changed. I looked all over myself again, but nothing had changed, or that was what I thought until I checked my left arm.

A symbol I had never seen before was there. It looked like the symbol for infinity but with a… Dragon?

I decided to touch the symbol or try wiping it off, but as soon as my fingers came in contact with the symbol, my entire body started to overflow with an indescribable feeling. I could feel the power coursing through every fiber in my body: a power that felt so unfamiliar, yet nostalgic at the same time.

I tried to look around, but I couldn’t see anything…no it’s not that I couldn't see anything. It’s more like I could see… everything. Not just everything, but then I realized what was happening. I'm seeing the entire past of Earth through my own eyes all at once, but also at different times.

‘This isn’t possible’ was all I could think to myself. The moment that felt like an entire lifetime, and yet also seconds, ended in a flash.

I stood there completely in shock as I looked down at the symbol that was now glowing a bright purple on my skin.

I could remember everything, not just from the life I lived, but the entire past of earth from even before the first human had taken its first breath. It was too much for me and I dropped down to my knees.

I felt tears flow down my face, but I couldn’t feel anything. There was no sadness, no pain, no fear, nothing. The only semblance of feeling I had that showed me I wasn’t dreaming and that I was still alive, was the overwhelming sensation of power begging me to be used.

I stood back up and looked around, but everyone else was still asleep. I decided to give in to these otherworldly urges that I could feel welling up inside me and use my newfound powers.

I decided I would first test out my strength and walked up to the nearest tree I could find to try punching it.

‘If I’m wrong about this, this is going to hurt.’

I closed my eyes and threw the punch, but when my eyes opened I couldn’t help but be shocked.

The tree that had just been standing there was gone as if It had never existed in the first place, but what was the real shocking part was not only was the tree gone but the entire forest that had been standing behind it.

I was finally knocked out of my shock when I heard movement from behind me. The others were finally waking up. I stared at them as they all seemed to be going through the exact thought process I had been when I awoke.

“Nice to see you’ve finally decided to wake up,” I said with a booming voice that caused the others to jump

“Mi…Miklaus what’s going on with your eyes? Heaven was the first to answer, though she looked like she was afraid of me.

“What do you mean by my eyes?” I asked, confused as to the question.

“They are the same purple eyes you had when we first arrived, but now they’re… glowing. Not just that, but they look exactly like the dragon eyes you’d see in anime.” She answered me, still looking slightly afraid at what she was seeing.

“…dragon eyes?” I said, shocked.

This only confirmed what I’d been thinking, however. Everything I heard and saw in those visions was real. All the visions of the past, of my powers, of me being able to turn into a dragon, and the final message my mind had played over and over again in my head. A single word that I never thought I’d use to describe myself: “god.”

The others were still looking at me as I was lost deep in thought, still wondering what had happened.

“So it's true then, we aren’t humans” I said as I turned to them and showed them the glowing rune-like mark that had appeared on my arm, explaining to them everything that had happened after I woke up.

“So, you mean to tell me these symbols on our arms all mean something?” Reiji asked, clearly in shock at everything he had heard.

“With the knowledge I’m somehow managing to fully retain in my head, I’ve come up with a theory for what this world is. We are on a planet similar to Earth, but more like we are at the beginning of time. I’m sure even now you can all feel it. There are no animals, no humans, no sounds, no anything. All that’s present is… the land.”

“I believe we’ve been transported here and, not only are we meant to start a new civilization, I believe with the power of these rune-like symbols that have been placed on us, we are supposed to become the true gods of this new world.” I stated with a serious tone in my voice.

The others looked completely shocked by what I had said, but who could blame them.

“If… If this is true, and you touching that rune has given you the knowledge of the worlds, then do you know what ours and yours mean?” Hikarus finally asked after we all stood there in silence for what felt like hours.

“I believe there’s only one way to find out. Hold out your arms and let me take a look.” I bent down as I looked closer at the symbols in my friend's arms. As soon as I saw them I could tell instantly what each one meant and what language they were from.

“Hikarus, yours means Light, while Heaven is Sky, Reiji is Life and mine is Infinite,” I said, continuing to look over the four different rune-like symbols.

“So you said by touching yours, you were able to gain knowledge of basically everything, whether it be your power, our previous world, or this new world, right?”

I nodded in confirmation to Heaven’s question.

“So what happens if we don’t touch them?” She asked with a serious expression.

“I believe if you don’t touch them, you’ll remain as you are and probably eventually pass away in this world. With that being said, I guess you guys have a decision to make. What will you guys decide?”

They all seemed to be trying to weigh in on every pro and con that could result from both choices. The first to answer was Hikarus.

“I still don’t fully understand what’s going on here, but I feel like we’ve been given a chance to create a new world in our image and a second chance at life. I feel like this opportunity shouldn’t be wasted.” he said with utter determination

“So then, what about you two?” I asked, turning towards Reiji and Heaven.

They both looked at each other and nodded their heads at the same time before turning back to look at me.

“I agree,” they both said in unison.

With that, they all touched their runes as well. I watched with a smirk on my face, as I got to watch my friends take their first steps with me into the realm of divinity.