dimensions | original

Prologue: Shard Storms

Once upon a time, there was a storm.

Perhaps you have seen a few storms in your day, and think that there's nothing special about a storm. Well, you're wrong.

Storms are big and powerful and demanding, and most importantly, they're alive. They swirl and twist in powerful gusts, demanding respect of all living things. They are hungry, and so full of pain and desire that they'd rip everything apart to get what they want. They roar and rage constantly, nonstop till death. After all, have you ever seen a lazy storm? No, storms are driven, full of persistence and greed.

All of this is even more true when talking about a shard storm.

Shard storms are rare, and virtually unknown. They are spoken of only in the darkest portions of cities and the dusty pages of old books that have long since been forgotten. They are bundles of history and hate, for shard storms contain the wrecked souls of a million passed and broken.

And worst of all, shard storms are terribly unexpected. There is no relevance or pattern to their appearance, other than they form shortly after a dimension rips, and that most dimensions rarely rip at all (Nevermore has an oddly high ripping rate.)

It truly was a terrible coincidence that a ordinary mortal child was swept away in that shard storm, and even more unfortunate that it was particularly vicious. The child's hair swept back in russet-red colored wavy curls, and her dark green eyes widened in fear. Her voice was ripped away in a few shocked screams as she was splashed by the freezing ocean water and torn at by the hungry winds. Shard of glass spun continuously around her, and a slightly terrified gasp was ripped from her, causing even more glass pieces to spin towards her. It was like the storm was a hurricane and she was it's eye.

And she didn't notice, but one of the larger glass pieces struck her. The piece itself was a fiery red, mixed with brilliant yellow cold. Indigo, almost sticky ocean water dripped off of it, concealing some of the glass's brightest colors and giving the appearance that the girl was being cut by a piece of the ocean's rolling waves.

The glass shard cut her right ankle, the inside edge where no one would notice. A single drop of blood fell from her foot onto the log she was scrambling upon. She had finally got herself onto the log, and was clinging onto it like her life depended on it.

The ocean underneath her jerked suddenly, as though someone or something had jerked Luma across a barrier. Stars swirled in her eyes, glinting crimson and silver.

The girl did not know it (How could she? She knows nothing of shard storms nor Dimensions), but she was passing through her own human dimension into something much more sinister.

For there are many Dimensions- some well known, others so uninhabitable they might as well be forgotten. Some are full of light and magic, others are full of coal black soils and demented, wounded beasts and sad, lost people.

Luma fell into the last category, so it was only fit she passed into one of the oldest and perhaps saddest Dimensions.

Now, since you are reading a human-designed book that has given little background information as to the Dimensions themselves, I see fit that I provide. As your narrator, I have a professional obligation to inform my readers of such things.

So, we shall take a brief (and much-needed) break from this lost human girl, and focus on two very un-lost deities.

Once upon a before time...

There were two twin sisters, named Forever and Eternity. They lived among the emotionless and heartless stars in the land of past, present and future, which was both everything and nothing, for everything was nothing, for there was nothing but everything.

It may seem odd to you, as if I'm making things up, but I swear I speak the truth. This book is in fiction, but that does not mean it isn't real. It is however real that you see it to be. But I will not question if you do not believe my truths. A good, polite narrator doesn't judge, and while I am not always so, I do try my hardest.

In all due time, the stars aligned and Eternity became tired of the same old things, of repeating things from the past in the present and then continuing to do so in the future. All at once too, since Time didn't yet exist. Forever disagreed. Since they were siblings, and obligated to fight and try and prove the other wrong at some point, Eternity set off into the stars alone.

From the stars Eternity wove a boy. She named him Time, and she loved him as if he was her child.

Forever, not experienced in throwing tantrums and being angry, immediately forgave Eternity the moment she returned to their house of galaxies and suns, the two raised the boy together.

Time loved his mother and aunt, and was always wishing to please them, and for them to not ever be angry and bored again (although he secretly wished that Eternity would someday give him a brother).

It was quickly observed how odd he was, and that he was always creating something out of nothing and everything. This was the first time someone had ever beaten the system, broken the laws of nature or invented a measurement, for Time created time.

His first invention he clocked something he named 'seconds' and 'hours,' which he measured by his own gentle heartbeat (He now refers to it as his internal clock, a phrase that seems to have caught on in the modern era.) When he first presented his ideas to the twin goddesses, Eternity ruffled his starlit hair, and said: "We'll call this time." Time grinned at his creator, and nodded proudly.

Of course, things progressed. Many new star-peoples and original deities were formed or born, and things began to progress. Some of the most famous of this newer batch was Earth, Space, Magic, Elementional, Laughter, Death, Life, and Love.

When creating their Kingdom, they reached an issue: Who to be King? Eternity wished it, and so did Death. They all split into sides, more or less evenly. Forever and Time naturally supported Eternity, but they were opposed by other powerful forces.

They had a huge war of an unchartable scale. The universe was literally fighting, and even the stars took sides. (On a side note, the stars were all taught how to laugh and love and feel, and were no longer emotionless or cold-hearted. They are, in fact, quite enjoyable to talk to. But that is a story for another time.)

And Death had his way his way at last.

"NO!" Forever screamed. For Eternity had finally surrendered, to Death no less. She would never wake again. Before that, Death had been a concept, a vague idea of banishment. But not in the way that occurred. Eternity was gone forever, and no matter how hard they all tried, she could not be brought back. Death had won against Eternity, but he had not won in the end, for they created a second dimension called Nevermore that he was banished to.

Stewing there in his pain and doubt, a new wave of legends were born, some of them including Fear, Spirit, and Sacrifice.

Realizing the power they held in their hands and the destruction they caused when using it to fight, the remaining gods made a decision, a decision that would affect everything.

They chose to create the Dimensions that separate us all, the world we know and all the others too.

While you may not know it, we live in a world of Dimensions, all of them different and separate from each other unless you hold the key, or if you are unfortunate enough to Stumble or be Pulled through.

The poor girl in the shard storm did both.

A/N: I figure the best way to pull in readers is to have a decent intro (My chapter one from two years ago is terrible). So, I rewrote the first section of chapter one, and decided that it would be a decent prologue/intro. The actual chapter one will be split into two chapters, but since that complicates things, I have decided that that separation will come later as not to mess up my current system. This means I have decided to keep the second section of chapter one as the chapter one displayed here, but that is not my current writing skills or style, so beware. Things change.

Also this is up because I recently got my tablet fixed and will probably be entering in more contests and/or promotion books, so I kinda needed to rewrite the beginning as to hook the reader. Why am I telling my motives and secrets? I honestly don't know.

I apologize for the huge author's note, I only meant it to be a few sentences at most...