The Universe Rings (A Ringing Purpose)

Chapter One

"Are you awake?" Kenneth heard a soft-spoken voice ask. He opened his eyes to an unfamiliar sight.

He sat up—not at the dining room table—but on a small wooden bed in an enormous room lit by piles of glowing amber rocks. The ceiling and walls were clear, like huge windows. He looked out to a strange planet, gasses swirling over the surface. Hundreds of people were talking or lying on wooden beds like the one he found himself on.

Beside Kenneth sat a thin, pale girl with white hair tangled over her shoulders; she stared with alarmingly blue eyes. Despite her slim face appearing tired, she kept a kind smile. Her cotton skirt lay politely over her lap, falling to the floor. Though her polo shirt was worn and discolored, the collar lay neatly open and buttoned.

The girl gave a timid wave. "Hi," the girl said.

Kenneth stared at her puzzled. "Where am I?" he asked, hardly able to muster the words through the confusion and fear. Could he be dreaming? It felt too real. Maybe staring at his homework so late at night caused him to hallucinate.

"This is a shelter, there are thousands of these. These are sort of domes, orbiting planets in space," she replied. Kenneth detected an English accent blended with Scottish. "I'm Halo Evans. Halo means moonlight..." She said the last sentence under her breath as if merely reminding herself the meaning of her name.

Kenneth hugged himself, trembling although he wasn't sure why. "I'm Kenneth Davis. What is this place? Why am I here?" He rambled.

"Well, as I stated, this is a shelter," Halo replied. "You've been here seventeen hours—I'm awful at sleeping spells. This is one of the few times I could get the spell to work, but it lasted too long. I only meant for you to sleep for half an hour." She talked so quickly it was a wonder she didn't stumble over her words.

Thoughts swarmed Kenneth's foggy mind, he massaged his forehead."W-what? Seventeen hours? Magic? Spells?" Prior to this, he had been quite sure magic was only the thing of books and movies. Though now he wasn't sure what was real. What on earth is going on? Why am I here? Kenneth thought in confused alarm.

"I'm guessing you don't have magic in your universe?" Halo asked, an awkward smile.

"My universe?" Kenneth felt dizzy at this point. His brain hurt trying to wrap his head around what Halo had said.

"Yes, there are thousands of universes. There used to be billions..." Halo replied. She frowned. "Kenneth, I need to explain something to you."

"Um, you need to explain a lot of things to me," Kenneth muttered. Including how I can get home, he thought.

"So I'm not sure about your universe, but in most universes, magical people are Venenarius. Though many magical people are corrupted—Interitus—and they use magic to destroy universes. No one knows how they do it though," Halo explained, voice strained as if trying not to stutter.

A shiver ran down Kenneth's spine. None of this could actually be true...right? He felt as if he'd been thrown into one of his favorite films. "Okay, but why am I here?" Kenneth's eyes widened as he remembered his family. He lifted his gaze from the white-haired girl, glancing around the massive shelter. Anxiety weighed down his chest as he strained his eyes to find his little brothers. Where is my family?

Halo looked at her lap, an uneasy expression on her face. "Well, you see...well er..." Halo's nervousness was contagious, and Kenneth found himself fidgeting with his hands.

Halo finally said, "Yesterday the Venenarius found out through interrogating an Interitus that five universes were to be destroyed—they spread out to rescue people from these universes as always. I had sort of been eavesdropping on the interrogation and I had gathered that a sixth universe would be destroyed too—I don't believe the Venenarius had that impression. Either way, through 'chatting' with the captive Interitus, I got information about the sixth universe and I teleported to the only inhabited planet. I arrived at a random spot on the planet and went into the closest house, and I found...you."