The television in my living room was playing a looping stream of the breaking news that was covered on every channel. One of the apps on my phone had alerted me to the information, so I turned the TV on so I could have a constant update. Having the news alerts on my phone was one of my dad’s better ideas, even though his reasoning for it was different from my own. I watched in fascination as the looping video showed at least a dozen superhero’s flying through the air toward the same destination.

My dad wanted me to have the news alerts because he was an apocalypse prepper and a self-proclaimed “survivalist”. I, on the other hand, was just obsessed with superheroes and their exploits, both of which were covered constantly by the media. The particular news alert I was watching had woken me up hours earlier than I was planning, but I didn’t mind since it was about one of my favorite subjects; it was right up there with movies, pop culture and memes.

Since it was still hours before sunrise, my face was awash in the multi-colored glow of the television. The reports were that the supervillain, Chaos Stream had been reported to be attempting some nefarious scheme on an island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and that was where all the superheroes were heading. Chaos Stream was a relatively new villain, so there wasn’t a lot of information about him, but it was known that he was in the [Mad Scientist] classification and that he was known to employ other supervillains in his plans. The light in the hallway turned on and the shadow of my father entered.

“What the hell are you doing up?” He asked.

“Watching the news,” I replied. This was probably about the only thing I could say that would not make him go off in a rage.

“What’s going on?”

“Superheroes are going off to fight the villain Chaos Stream. Apparently, he was spotted somewhere in the Pacific. There isn’t any information as to what he is doing there though.”

“God damned villains and heroes. This is the shit I’m always talking about, there wouldn’t be one without the other, they’re both menaces if you ask me!” I didn’t, but he loved telling me. “If they just quit all that costumed bull crap, the world would be a better place. They need to be showing more programs about the people with powers who don’t run around with costumes trying to punch each other in the face.”

And with that, he started up his favorite argument. One he also defaulted to because of his substandard superpower – [Body Language]. His power worked great for his profession as a lawyer, he could really hold the attention of a courtroom since he always knew when they were bored and he could always tell when someone on the stand was lying. But against guys who could destroy a building with their eyes, or cause earthquakes with a punch, his power was weak.

He continued to rant and rave and cuss about not hiding his powers or his identity, and that he doesn’t run around in tight-fitting clothes being righteous. I’ve heard it all before and now that the news wasn’t giving out any new information, I decided it was time to go back to bed before his rant went where it usually did. I stood up, but it was too late.

“One day, one of those villains is going to succeed too. That’s why we need to be prepared. Go get changed and get your Go-bag.”

“Come on dad! I had a lot of schoolwork this week. I wanted to take it easy.” I hated when he got like this. He was already overbearing during the week, all my high school classes were AP (I wasn’t allowed to take regular classes, or get anything other than A’s), So I constantly had homework and I wanted to study for my driving permit test that was coming up, not to mention just relaxing with my friends.

“Don’t you dare talk back to me!” He yelled. "Go get your shit and hurry up.” I tried to stand up to him a few months ago, but it failed. Eventually, I’ll show him that he can’t treat me like that. It was something he never would have done when mom was alive, but now it was a common occurrence and I didn’t have the power to stop him. So, I just slumped my shoulders and went to go change.

About a half-hour later, we were on our way to a fun-filled weekend of survival training.

##

The sky ripped open with the sound of a chainsaw cutting steel. It slowly opened like flesh being torn with a sharp knife. It appeared over the snowcapped mountains to the East and I could see it reflected in the picturesque lake at the campground. A shockwave of sound drove me to one knee and I instinctively covered my ears. As scary as the sight of space and time being ripped asunder was, I could not look away. There was nothing but darkness behind the huge crevice splitting open the heavens and a wispy cloud of the same darkness seeped forth. The cloud quickly grew and spread, getting darker in color and larger in mass. Like a storm blotting out the sun, shadows lengthened and the world slowly turned grey.

In the corner of my vision, I saw my father’s body fall to the sandy ground, but the opening of the sky drowned out the sound. The pressure of the soundwave continued to beat down on me, but fearing for my father, I made a monumental attempt to stand against the onslaught. I yelled in pain and frustration at the invisible force pushed against me. My muscles bulged as I bellowed in frustrated rage against an overwhelming force, I took a step towards my father.

I collapsed from the soundwave as my foot reconnected with the ground. With my center of balance changed, I was unable to stand any longer and my body struck hard on the sand and pebble-strewn ground. As I lay there with the soundwave bombarding my body, I could see my dad lying on the ground covered in sand and blood. Darkness began to creep around my vision and I started to hope that this was all a dream. I hadn’t woken up in my bed. I hadn’t left with my dad to go camping. I wasn’t in the middle of a forest. The sky hadn’t just ripped open.

The pressure stopped and an eerie silence fell upon the world. I opened my eyes, I hadn’t even been aware that I closed them. Missing was the tear in the sky and the dark growing cloud. Instead, my vision was filled with a series of screens with words on them:

Welcome to th-zzzz-error.

Gathering information-zzzz -Unknown realm

Checking Universal info—zzzzz-Error

Combining….Please Wait….

Merge complete…

Welcome to the Game!

Who or what will you become?

Then, I passed out.