Paracosm

Prologue: Wake up

"No!" The woman yelled, in a panic, "No! You're lying!" The woman jabbed her finger out at a boy lying unconscious in a Eastern Florida hospital bed. The boy was about eight years old, with brown hair and tan skin. If his eyes were open you would see startlingly blue eyes. He was wearing the traditional blue hospital garb.

A heart monitor beeped steadily in a corner and the sound of air being pumped into the boy's lungs was apparent. Everything in the room, from the chairs to the tables, to the water dispenser, to the bed and bed sheets, was a startling, irritable white.

A man -her husband- was trying to comfort the woman. Her hair, the same color as her sons was in a disheveled bun and her clothes were wrinkled, showing how long and nervously she had been waiting at the wretched hospital for her son.

"Darcey..."

"No!" She screeched, "see the monitor! You're wrong! He's just sleeping!"

"I'm sorry ma'am." A doctor in an (equally annoying) white coat said.

"Don't you start on that! You were supposed to bring him back healthy and well!" Her eyes narrowed on the doctor.

The doctor pursed her lips. She had clearly dealt with this sort of thing before.

"We tried our best. There was an unexpected occurrence."

"An unexpected occurrence! Unexpected occurrence?" The mother rambled, "You are supposed to be the best hospital in Florida! In all of the US! You wake my son up this instant!"

"Honey..." the man said, tears running down his cheeks.

The woman-Darcey whipped around and silenced her husband with an icy stare. Then she strode over to the boy and clasped his small hands. Her expression softened.

"Come on baby, wake up."

The doctor shook her head sadly. Though she was only in her late twenties, she felt like she was getting too old for this job. Too much heartache, too much death and despair.

"Wake up dear!"

Darcey was getting more frantic, more hopeless, by the minute.

"Wake up Simon! Wake up!"

The doctor put her hand on the mothers shoulder and Darcey wailed in despair.

"I'm sorry Miss." she said, "It's true. He's fallen into a coma. No one can say if he'll wake up."

Chapter One: Chaos and Confusion

David, nineteen years old, tall with brown hair and deep brown eyes, walked out of the institute, -a large old fashioned building over three stories tall- at around 4pm like he always did.

David had been working at the institute for a good two years now. He and his closest friends had opened it up with a very important purpose in mind.

The institute was a safe haven for all the Crystalized. It was a place where they could seek shelter and where the young ones could learn to control their power.

David spent most of his time there, teaching engineering skills and self defense and stuff like that.

By habit, he scanned the nearby buildings and looked up and down the streets. Seeing no immediate danger, or hitmen, he continued down the institute's grand steps to the sidewalk.

It was dangerous harboring the Crystalized. With their immense power and unexplainably good hearts, they made great targets for greedy, immoral villains. There was always someone after them. And so, there was no letting your guard down. One slip and you could end up locked in some basement.