ZAP Guild

Night Terrors

Zak groaned and flopped in his bed. He kicked then pulled at his covers. His eyes moved rapidly under his eyelids.

***

Zak's dream was dark and terrifying, even his dreams of the Cube weren't this bad. The world seemed misty and floaty. It was as if the ground didn't exist. He saw the refugees going through the strange tube and being "recycled." But, now among his dreams, the events seemed more distant. Some voice within him told him it'd just been a dream. He'd been working too hard; he needed a vacation. The events of the tube began to fade as new ones came forward.

Dream Zak opened his eyes. His head rested against the window of a yellow school bus. Somehow he knew it was Halloween. In the distance someone sang "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys. His class was on a field trip to a "Halloween cave." It was supposed to be haunted. Legend said that people would go in and not come back—seemed like a perfectly logical place to take children.

Zak caught a glimpse of his reflection. He looked different. He had the same white hair and pale skin, but he had very blue eyes. He also wore thick, black "nerd" glasses. He wore an off-white jacket, purple T-Shirt, and blue jeans. His nails were also longer and his canine teeth sharper. He was also hairier. He remembered being teased over his appearance. His classmates called him "vampire" and "werewolf," and this was before they were considered cool. Zak remembered how he used to wonder if they were right. Maybe he was a vampire; his skin sunburned easily in the sunlight—he could get a tan just sitting in front of the TV. There had been that girl who everyone called a vampire...Had he been bitten?

Eventually, Zak turned this teasing into a positive. He became interested in werewolves. But he knew he wasn't a bad guy, a monster...so what if a werewolf could be good too? Like maybe a superhero.

"Zak," came a voice. "You're supposed to wait until the field trip begins before falling asleep." The young boy, about 7 or 8–maybe 10, sitting next to Zak looked a lot like the Zak in the reflection: same hair color, same nerd glasses, same height, same body shape. You'd think they were twins or at least brothers. The only difference was what they wore. The new boy wore clothes similar to Zak but they were black and red. The boy, somehow Zak knew his name was Mason, laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back into the bus seat. "This trip is going to be boring."

While this Dream Zak was interested in dogs and werewolves, Mason was interested in spiders.

The world around Zak once again swirled around him. Fear pounded in Zak's heart. Some part of him knew what happened next and some part of him had no idea. Images of sparkling dust appeared before Zak. They swirled and twirled around him like dust dancing in the wind. He saw the class arrive at the mountain that housed the cave. He saw the tour begin. One of the guides, dressed in what one could call a typical explorer costume, spoke to the a dust-mist version of Zak and Mason. He'd overheard their complaints (though Zak was mostly pretending because of Mason—Zak found the cave and the mountain fascinating). "I know of something really cool," he said.

The two broke off from the group to follow the guide. After squeezing through a hole that seemed to be made specifically for Mason and Zak, they soon arrived at a chamber. Zak distantly wondered how the guide got through the hole—he never saw him squeeze through. The chamber was massive and there were glowing crystal-like gems all over the place. They shined green, red, white, and blue. In the center of the chamber was what looked like a mirror. It looked like it was made out of dark stone and had strange, glowing writing on it. The gems seemed to be powering it somehow.

Awake Zak recognized the mirror. He'd seen it in the Company handbook; it was the original design for the ZAP Gates. The Gates now were built more into the building while the first ones were more free standing. Dream Zak had no clue what this strange mirror was. He also didn't know what the gems were, but Awake Zak did. They were the power source to Gate; but not just it, they powered virtually everything. It was phantasmic energy, but in its solid form. The Shadow Men, and others, called it Dark Matter. Others, such as religious institutes, called it Faith or the Soul. Some with less religious or scientific beliefs called it Love or Emotion. It wasn't until Zak became part of the Company that he learned its real name.

Phantasmic matter can't be forcibly mined (or harvested) without serious consequences, like the universe being torn apart kind of serious. It has to be willingly given. If it is freely given, it is a hundred times more powerful than if it is taken by force. Also, unlike other forms of energy, the more someone shares it, the more there is. This was the bases for the Company's purpose. They share their phantasmic energy with the world through stories, art, songs, sports, and other talents (even Internet videos) and the Fans share their phantasmic energy through likes, subscribes, reviews, fan-art, and social media posts. The Creator-Fan cycle creates a near-perpetual supply of phantasmic energy that keeps Creation running.

Both Dream Zak and Awake Zak stood in amazement. Dream Zak in amazement of the strange mirror and the beautiful gems. Awake Zak in amazement of the realization that he stood at the cusp of some deep meaning. For a moment, it was as if he understood the universe and his place within it.

It all then went away as strange figures came out of the shadows and grabbed Mason and Dream Zak.

"It's nothing personal kid," said the guide. "Upper Management wants you gone. You're too much of a threat. You can absorb and manipulate phantasmic energy. It allows you to 'copy' powers and create things. According to the Powers That Be, you'll grow more powerful than THEY and you'll dethrone THEM. Better to get rid of you now."

"Are you sure he's the right one?" asked one of the strangers.

The guide glared at him. "He passed the test and fit through the hole THEY created in order to find The One Who Can Fit."

"The other kid fit too," the stranger grumbled.

"What-what are you going to do?" Dream Zak asked.

"The only way to truly kill someone," said the guide. He nodded to the mirror. "We'll Shatter you. The Powers That Be learned that when you Shatter someone, their choices don't create parallel worlds. Also, the Mold is broken. There will be no more you. If I just stabbed you, there would be a parallel world where I decided not to stab you. Thus, you'd still be alive. But, if I Shatter you, you are gone. There is no more you, except for the Fragments that are scattered across the Omniverse. You'll never be whole and you'll never reach your full potential as the one to take over the—"

"Are you going to tell him the whole plot?" scoffed a stranger.

The guide nodded towards the mirror again. "Get going or we'll slice your friend."

"No, Zak!" shouted Mason. "Don't!"

Dream Zak didn't struggle as the strangers dragged him to the mirror. The strangers stepped back as Zak stood before the mirror.

"Behold! O, the Holy Knight," said the guide.

Suddenly, Zak's reflection reached out through the mirror and pulled him into it. Zak fell through a tunnel of light and sound. His reflection held him tight. It then slowly began to transform into a creature made of crystal and stain glass. Zak screamed and struggled against the monster.

The guide's voice came from the other side of the mirror. "Sorry, Kid," he said, lifting a sledgehammer. "Really...I am." He smashed the sledgehammer into the mirror.

***

Zak bolted upright in his bed. His covers and pillows were everywhere as a result of his nighttime struggle. In between his pants and cold sweats, he thought he saw a spider crawling along his bed. Zak blinked and the spider vanished. Just another night terror, thought Zak. He was thankful for that; he was terrified of spiders. He rubbed his face. "I really need a vacation."

Outside Zak's room the cybernetic spider uncloaked itself. It skittered its way down the drainpipe, across the lawn, and into the street where it vanished through a hole in reality. The spider-bot reappeared on the other side of the hole. After crossing the floor then climbing a tube, the spider crawled into a black covered hand.

"Was it him?" a voice asked the spider-bot.