The Void.. Book 1 of the oblivion keys chronicles.

Part 1: A transformation through time

Chapter 1: A Transformation Through Time

BROTHER:

I am not normal. I have the ability to see what others take for granted. It's not invisible to them; if I point it out to them, they see it too. I just see it more easily. One of the things I see: we are teetering on a tightrope. ***** Our society is heading towards a climax. Puzzle pieces have been falling into place since the last century. Once the last piece falls into place, we will cease to exist. Religions have always spoken of a great Armageddon. But in each instance it was some celestial hand guiding the chaos. Man-made Armageddon will not discriminate between sinner and saint. It will wipe mankind off the planet as quickly as we appeared. In the blink of an eye. That is why I have been spending the last 15 years of my lifespan on an initiative called Project Knowhere, a program that takes the world's temperature and uses a set of algorithms I designed to predict when WWIII will occur. And preliminary findings aren't very encouraging. That is why I also built a lab for testing technologies the world doesn't understand yet. I need to find a way to either postpone our inevitable demise or allow some to escape it. And we found some stuff; it's highly experimental though, but the clock is ticking, so experimental may be just what we need.

????:

The world I watch is pretty boring. Nothing amazing happens there. Except today. Today the scientist I am watching is doing an experiment to create an escape. Little does he know he will destroy half the area he is from in a fiery catastrophe. Usually we just ignore this, but this scientist was of special interest to the gatekeeper so I am going to contact him to see what to do.

I open the holographic grid, the screen flashes to life. "Yes, Number 4?" the golden figure on the other end responds.

"Hey, gatekeeper, the scientist you were interested in?" I say.

"What about him?"

"Well, he's doing an experiment and about to get himself blown up, along with everyone in a 200 mile radius."

"Wait, what?!!"

"Yeah."

"How old was that scan?" asks the gatekeeper, seeming very anxious.

"It's two hours ahead so he should still be alive."

"Sir, if you are doing what i think you are, you know that engages the first oblivion key criteria," I remind the gatekeeper. ***

"Yeah, I read the history books, I know the rules, I also know how important he is to the future," the gatekeeper replies, "I will make my own judgement calls, thank you very much."

"OK good luck." I say before ending the call. I overhear the gatekeeper say to the systems to "activate transformative protocol" before the call disconnects.

Wow this scientist is really lucky.

BROTHER:

This will be my greatest scientific achievement, a wormhole to a pocket dimension of my own design. I walk towards the machine I built, ancient symbolism is visible all over the orange ring and the yellow base.

I have a partner but I sent her home early today because she was sick.

I pumped in some power I siphoned off a nearby nuclear power plant and turned on the device. The device started humming and a green tint could be seen in the ring.

"50% power"

70% power

80% power

Out of habit i look at the dials monitoring the experiment and something seems wrong..

"That can't be right," I say out loud. "This dial says there is something on the other side of the gateway, but the gate should be connecting to a literal void. An empty area of space-time for us to fill." I continue scanning the dials, "Uh oh, something is trying to enter from the other side." "Attention all involved we are about to have a space-time breach, this is not a drill! I repeat This is not a drill!!" I exclaimed over the intercom.

"Shut the machine off." I tell the people next to me, "What do you mean you can't???!!!" "It's internal energy source is keeping it online??!" Don't you just love redundancy?

I am currently arguing with the staff at the control panel when I notice a glowing bolt of yellow energy exiting the portal. Oh great here is the breach. The bolt seemingly intelligent maneuvered around our traps and headed towards the control panel. It seemed on a direct course for me?!? I try and contemplate why it would do that. I get through 3 ideas before it gains direct contact with my body and I go unconscious...