The Final Shard

Chapter 1

The forest was dense and silent. With the soft whisper of wind through the branches. The air is thick with the scent of moss and decay. The daylight, struggling to pierce the canopy, casts faint and fractured beams on the ground.
     Aerglo treads cautiously, his boots crunching over the underbrush, each step a rhythmic beat and the steady beeping of his locator in the otherwise quiet wilderness.
He had come here with a purpose, to find that strange surge that his machines had picked up. He traced the source to somewhere deep in the heart of these woods.
        Then he spots something.
    A figure, lying in a small clearing, half buried beneath the underbrush. At first, he thought it was some kind of animal, curled up in the undergrowth. But as he drew closer, the shape formed into something unmistakably human—a person.
    The figure was a man, dressed in ragged garbs that drape over his form, his skin pale as if drained of color. There was no sign of life, no rise and fall of his chest, no breath, no pulse—just the unnatural stillness of a body that seemed suspended between life and death.
    The forest felt tense now, as if the trees themselves had drawn in closer, watching. He put away his locator and knelt beside the comatose figure. The man's face was gaunt, his eyes closed, but there was something unsettling about the way he lay—too perfectly arranged, as if placed there deliberately. Aerglo leans over the ghastly figure, inspecting his condition and presuming the man dead. But as he went to stand, he fell back onto the figure.
It was as if the forest shook awake, birds could be heard chirping, the trees dancing to the wind's now eager tune. Aerglo holds himself steady, watching the newly awakened forest in awe, unaware of the figure now standing behind him.
        "Hello?" The mysterious man asks, his piercing blue eyes study Aerglo's every action.
    Aerglo's stares at the man, stunned by the bizarre situation. His gaze stumbles over the man's appearance—pale skin, a baggy, white hoodie embroidered with strange blue and white symbols surrounding a grey crystal seemingly woven into the fabric with a baggy pair of black pants to add to his disheveled look.
        "Do you speak?" The man asks, carefully approaching Aerglo. The man's words snap Aerglo out of his baffled trance.
    "Yes, I do." He subconsciously crawls back from the man. "Who are you?"
        "Hmm, well this is inconvenient. I was about to ask you that same question, I thought you might know since you woke me." The man speaks calmly, looking around at the greenery around them, "What is your name?"
    "I don't think I want to tell a strange man from the woods, my name."
        "Strange man? Where?"
    The genuine curiosity from the man takes Aerglo off guard. He lets out a laugh at the man. The man sits on the ground in front of Aerglo, enjoying the new sound.
        "You're serious aren't you? You don't find any of this odd? According to you, you woke up in the forest with no clue who you are, next to a stranger, and don't think any of this is strange?"
    "Now that you point it out, it does feel odd," The man agrees.
        "Wait then do you know why everything picked up when you woke? Was it a coincidence?" Aerglo leans in towards the man, inspecting the man further.
    "I assure you, I do not know what you are talking about. Though your staring is starting to make me feel like an animal of sorts."  The man scoots back from Aerglo.
        "You were dead in the forest, suddenly you're up and about like nothing happened. Where did you even come from?"
    "I cannot remember that either, I'm sorry."
        Aerglo narrows his eyes at the man feeling his pocket for the locator. When he feels that his device is no longer in his pocket. He looks around, trying to listen for the beeping, but all that's heard are the singing birds and lively winds.
    "Looking for something?" The man asks.
        "I had a device, it's actually how I found you. I was looking for a strange surge with it until I spotted you, half buried in the underbrush and leaves. I thought you were dead." Aerglo explains.
    "Oh, is it a box like thing?" The man asks, picking up a crushed black box with wires hanging out.
        "No! Ugh, it took hours to get the sensors right!" Aerglo huffs, holding out his hand for the box.
    The man scoots forward and hands it to Aerglo, "So why were you looking for that surge?"
        "Well my dad encouraged me, the surge supercharged a lot of my devices, and if it were possible to use this surge, I could use whatever caused it to power the house or make super computers or I don't know, but I could think of more later. But guess that'll have to wait until I fix this," He sighs looking at the broken box, "But by then, I'm betting officials would find it first."
    "Officials?" The man asks.
        "You know, like the police." He answers.
    "Oh, well maybe I can help you? It's the least I could do for scaring you!" The man stands and offers a hand to help Aerglo up.
Aerglo look at his locator then at the man.
        "Sure."

    Aerglo leads the man to the edge of the forest where his well worn, silver pickup truck sits in a ditch, waiting.
         "So what exactly were you doing in the forest?" His tone betraying his suspicion of the man.
    "I don't know. My last memory is of a temple, not a forest." The man answers, "Though I feel my answers are not satisfactory to you."
        "You're right, but you're in luck. You might just be exactly the mystery I need to figure out," Aerglo unlocks the truck and walks over to the driver's side, "So hop in Mr. Mystery, let's get you back to my place."
    The man looks at the door handle, "How did you enter this thing?"
        "You can't figure out a door handle?" Aerglo asks in disbelief, "You're just that dumb you can't pull it?"
    "That's not nice. It's not my fault I've never seen one of these things." The man huffs, pulling the handle like Aerglo said. The door opens with a pop and a groan. He hops into the truck, looking at Aerglo.
        "You wanna close that, bud?" Aerglo asks, his suspicion of the man's nature only growing.
    "Is it another pull thing?" The man asks, receiving a nod from Aerglo. The man pulls the door to him, slamming it shut. Aerglo starts the truck, grimacing at the slam of the door, but deciding not to push it.