Mortis (8-bitRyan, Dawko, DAGames, Razzbowski, Baz fanfiction)

Chapter 1

Coffee. What a beautiful, delicious thing. A bitter dark drink made from beans, the present of our planet Earth. And the fantastic smell and warm feeling it brings. Ryan loved it.

He took a smaller white cup from the top cupboard and put it in the coffee maker. He took the portafilter and cleaned it. After taking and throwing the coffee beans into the grinder, he waited for them to grind. He filled the now-cleaned portafilter with the ground goods and clicked it back into the machine. After infusing another cup with the milk, he pushed the button and let the flavor-stained water pour into the empty cup. Making sure the milk was steamed under a steam wand, he mixed the two and brought the finished drink onto the wooden table. If he should be honest, he didn't mind his kettle-made coffee, but there was something about getting your hands at it, piece by piece, seeing and feeling the process. He was always glad when he got a chance to use Nate's and John's coffee maker. It always made him feel better that he was the one who had the power to choose when and how it would be made. It somehow... calmed him.

He sat down on the sofa, cuddling the warm cup closer to himself. Nate was humming softly, sitting at his piano with a pencil behind his ear, his face peaceful. John had his cup of hot chocolate and book in hand, but it was unclear if he was reading. Now and then, he glanced at Ryan, his excitement hard to hide.

It was morning, a cold one. Ryan joined his neighbors around 9 a.m. after he woke up and forced himself to shower. Matthew was currently at his house with Stephanie and their son. He planned to be here, but life happened, and he had to cancel.

Ryan left a little better than yesterday. He enjoyed listening to the soft and sharp tones of the piano as well as Nate's humming. He drank his drink while it was still warm and then put the empty cup on the table. There were only a few seconds before John took it to himself to start talking.
"So, wanna hear what Matt and I found?" He said, nearly vibrating. Ryan chuckled and nodded, deciding he let the other wait long enough.
"Okay, alright - Listen - Hear me out - No- Wait-" He stumbled on his words, making both Ryan and Nate laugh.

"You need to breathe, mate." Said Ryan, a tint of worry coloring his words. "He's not going to run away from you, John, slow down." Added Nate, rolling his eyes at his younger friend.

John smiled sheepishly and took a deep breath, structuring his thoughts. "We've... tried to look into one of those mysteries surrounding the murder of Gloria Ramirez, and we've found something else... but interesting nonetheless." He started, "In the files, it's written as D. Z!fL0W. It took me, and Matthew longer than we would have liked, but after reading and decoding some more, the closest explanation is that the D means Dimension-"

"Dimension? John, are you sure you know what you're talking about? That sounds like a lot of theoretical and sci-fi stuff-"

"It was at the start, but it's real! There's a bunch of stuff on something like Entities of some sort and-"

"-Are you sure it was not some kind of SCP or Creepypasta?"

"Yes! I'm sure. There are real corporations, and even though, as I said, a lot of it is coded there are existing names that work in the government who are in on the thing!"

...

...

...

...It was quiet for a while. Quiet filled with awkward silence, where the other two contemplated whether or not to feed in on the obsession of real or fake mystery.

"...Is there some kind of place?"

"Yes!" John said happily, "It's about a 3-4 hours drive and is guarded and secured, but Matt and I found a way to get in."