Mass Effect: Galaxy at War

Chapter 1

                                                     Remembrance

As my eyelids lifted in what seemed like slow motion, I took in my environment. A light fog surrounded me in what seemed like a small forest. The sky was an extremely pale blue and the dirt ground scattered with dead leaves seemed almost grey and ashy in color. Beyond me lying in the fog were black oily shadows whispering just outside my field of hearing. The silhouettes of trees seemed like black cut outs in the background as I approached their direction, but it never seemed like I got any closer to them. I could still hear the shadows whispering, still unclear of what they were saying, but finding a strange sense of familiarity in their voices. Then I finally noticed the small boy kneeling, almost hunched over, in front of me. Amongst the mercy scenery, the boy's silver hoodie seemed to almost glow, radiating the area around him like a ghostly illumination. I approached the boy rather quickly in what seemed like a slowed down version of a run. My legs just wouldn't allow me to go fast, almost like running in space or under water. The boy lifted his head and turned towards me. I met his brown eyes. His short brown hair and innocent yet curious look. It dawned on me that this young boy was me. Then, the flames beneath his feet started. I could almost feel what was going to happen as I tried running to him but wasn't allowed to by some invisible force slowing me down. I stared deep down into my eyes as the younger me became engulfed in flames.

I woke up in a cold sweat, panting as time was normal once more now that I had entered the real world once more. It was all a dream, but one that seemed so real that I was left shaking. As I frantically reached my hand out to turn on the lights, my hand swung over the nightstand and tipped over a picture. I quickly realized what happened and reached to grab the picture from the edge but I was too late as the picture began to fall. As my eyes tracked the plummeting picture, life seemed to slow down much more. The bronze frame, stained by the ash of that fateful day. The ever-so-slightly dusty glass that reflected a ray of light from my lamp. The old picture of in the frame, taking me back 4 years ago. Me and my dad sad-by-side in front of his shed. The summer sun above us made the apple tree behind us radiant and everything seemed to have a sense of life. The smell of fresh cut grass lingered in the air as we stood, smiling at my mother, as the flash of the camera went off. I was taken back to present time by the shattering of glass and an old worn picture frame. I got off my bed in my black T-shirt, grey pants, my white socks, with my brown hair darkly colored and my dad's dog tags around my neck. I reached my right hand down, delicately retrieving the picture from the debris of a picture frame. As my other arm rested at my side and I held the picture near my gut with 2 small fingers, I looked down staring at how happy a day it was when the picture was taken. The world never seemed so bright or lifelike since my father had been taken from us. My brown eyes stared into his almost like he was alive infront of me on the delicate paper. A single tear drop rolled down my cheek.

"I miss you Dad."

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Present Day: 2189 C.E.: 24 years later...

My eyes slowly opened to the sight of the metal wall in front of me. I moved my stiff arms to my chest, lifting myself up slightly. Once sitting up, I rotated my head and moved my arms back and forth a bit to stretch. I moved aside the covers, swung my feet over the side, and got out of bed. It was still early, too early to be up. I walked to the bathroom in my white T-shirt, grey combat jeans, and bare foot, my N7 dog tags swaying as I walked. I leaned over the sink, turned on the faucet, and splashed water in my eyes. I lifted my head up to meet my own reflection, staring me in the face from the mirror. My face had a scar on my chin, my right cheek, behind my right ear, near the edge of my left eye, and one just below my dark brown hair, cut in a standard Alliance Military crew cut. I had a very light beard over my face, barely more than a 5 o'clock shadow that was almost grey in color. My face may have looked the mostly the same, but the scars from reentry in the wreckage of the Citadel were still too fresh for me.

I squinted my eyes, staring deeper into my soul. What was wrong with me? I was a hero. Spacer, born to a family of Alliance service with 2 younger sisters. A war hero who managed to single-handedly hold off invading batarian slavers in the Skillian Blitz. A skilled infiltrator almost unmatched in combat skill. Leader of a team who saved the galaxy from extinction 3 times. A soldier that cheated death twice. All of these things are how people would describe me, John Shepard, even if my version of most of the stories were much less flattering or heroic from my point of view. But the one thing I couldn't seem to figure out was: Why can't I sleep at night? There was peace. The galaxy was starting an age of reconstruction, peace, and unity under the new Galactic Systems Alliance. I lived on an alien world with the women I love. Almost every species and government across the galaxy was in my debt and see me as a hero. The last time I'd seen any major trouble was 3 years ago when I united the galaxy to finish Cerberus and used the Crucible to destroy the reapers. So why did I still have this feeling in the back of my head that all of this would be suddenly taken from me? Was it just jitters from adjusting from the lifestyle of a constantly active duty soldier to a military advisor on a rebuilding alien planet? Was the pain of my injuries getting to me? Was my conscious guilty over the deaths of friends? Was regret for some of my actions beginning to manifest? Or was it just me, deep down inside not being ever able to accept that the galaxy didn't need Commander Shepard anymore? I walked out of the bathroom and went back to the bedroom to get some sleep.

Maybe things will be clearer in the morning.