Hyper Reality

Prologue

"Do you honestly think you can keep the Shard away from me forever, boy?" The monster of a man loomed menacingly.

"Not forever, but long enough." The boy stood defiantly against this monster, clutching the Shard closer, as if that could protect it from this monster. He couldn't let him have it, that would lead only to disaster.

"You fool!" The monster roared in anger, "Do you really think you can stop me?"

"It won't stop you, but it will stall you long enough," the boy said, resigning himself to his fate, "The Light will be the one to find it before anyone else can even touch it."

"Don't be so sure, boy," the monster hissed, "Your so called Light is past her limits. She has no power that can stand up to me."

"That's where you're wrong," the boy said, "The Light shall return as it always does, and in the process she will destroy all that is dark and evil."

"You should keep in mind that there cannot be Light without Dark."

The boy faltered at this. Would Light be able to survive an encounter with this monster? Even at full power? It didn't matter.

"The fate of those involved is of no consequence, as long as the outcome remains the same," the boy said. What was important now was that he keep the Shard away from this monster, no matter the cost.

"Even if your fate is included with those who die?" The monster growled with an amused smile.

The boy didn't answer right away. He looked over the edge where he was precariously perched on and down into the swirling mass of energy and chaos that made up the Hyper Vacuum, the one location in all the universe that connected everything; galaxies, dimensions, time, even souls . . . Where will the Shard ended up? Where would he end up? He could only trust that the Light would guide him to the right time and place, and that he would be in a condition where he could guard it until Light found him.

The boy smiled sadly as images of all he would be leaving behind passed through his mind; his family, his friends . . . his love. He didn't kid himself in thinking that he would return from this endeavour. He would be lucky if he even survived it.

With one last look at the monster looming over him, the boy smirked, "Don't count me out just yet."

The boy jumped off the edge and plummeted towards the Hyper Vacuum, disappearing into its swirling mass of chaos with the Shard in tow.

"No!" The monster yelled, reaching for the boy even though he knew he wouldn't reach him in time. "Not again!" He hadn't thought that the boy would dare enter the Hyper Vacuum. He surely wouldn't survive. It was unlikely that he would even end up in the same reality that the Shard had landed in. But if he knew from past experiences, these brats always found a way to ruin his plans. No, the boy would find the Shard. That was an inevitable fact. Either the Light or the Shard itself will draw the boy towards it. The only question is what state the boy will be in when he finds it.

The monster chuckled to himself, "You fool. You will fail, and lose yourself in the process."

Oo-oO

The Shard felt itself fall through the Hyper Vacuum and get sucked into the warped chaos and space. It watched as it passed by planets of varying sizes, different times from different civilizations, different lives that seemed to thrive only to be snuffed out in the blink of an eye. The Shard watched as it passed them by and kept falling.

Falling . . . falling . . . falling. . .

Then all was still.

There was no crash, no explosion, no freak meteor that came out of no where. It just appeared, like it was always there. Maybe it was always there. Maybe it was never anywhere else.

The Shard sat where it was, feeling warm as it cuddled in the soft soil, buried deep below the surface of whatever planet it was currently on. And that's where it rested, finally at peace. There was no fighting, no wars, no death. Just silence. For once, it seemed like everything was at peace. And that's the way it stayed for a long, long time.

Or so it seemed.

The Shard knew that the peace would soon end when the boy arrived, like he always would have, no matter where the Shard had ended up. But that peace ended a little sooner than expected.

A shift. The ground shifted, the pressure lessened, and something warmly familiar fell across the surface of the Shard. It was light. And the Shard knew that the light marked the end of the peace.

A hand reached out and wrapped its fingers around it. After a moment of straining and pulling, the Shard felt itself being dislodged from it's warm, peaceful place in the soil. The hand gently passed over its surface, wiping away some of the dirt that clung to it.

"What is it?" The Shard heard voice asked.

"I don't know, but it's definitely what was giving off the signal." Another voice?

"Oh oh, can I touch it?" This one sounded overly happy. "Ow!" He cried out as a fourth person hit him.

"Moron," the fourth person said.

"Do you think it's something the Kraang brought with them," the fist voice spoke again.

"I don't know, it's possible," the second voice said, "or it could be something totally new. I've never gotten readings like this before."

"Let's get it back to the lair," the first voice said. "Then we can decide what to do with it."

And so the Shard found itself a new home in this new land on a new planet in a new dimension. Now that the peace has ended, chaos is sure to follow, as it always does. Hopefully the boy had made it here safely and he finds the Shard soon. Otherwise, untold disasters are sure to follow.