Dr. Euclid Higgins was old, and while he wasn't the fool he pretended to be, he was very much insane. He wore a long white lab coat and large glasses, combined with black leather gloves and grey sweatpants. His shoulder-length hair was steel-grey, and looked like he had just rolled out of bed. But even that wasn't what gave him his famous aura of madness.
It was his eyes that completed the look: magnified by his glasses, always dashing about, and tracking shadows only he could see. It took his subordinates many years to grow accustomed to his strange behavior, and it was anyone's guess as to his true motives for managing the HDSF facility.
The Human Dimensional Security Force was created with the purpose of policing the various dimensions. They arrested would-be dimension hoppers looking to steal powerful artifacts and magical relics from other worlds for nefarious purposes. The facility Dr. Higgins oversaw was a high security prison in a pocket dimension that housed many of these criminals.
Dr. Higgins had witnessed many worlds and dimensions disappear from the survey list as they were consumed by time, but a new one stood out from the rest. It lacked the typical signs of temporal decay. There was no burst of energy when it vanished, and there were no stray ruins left behind to mark its passing. Strangest of all, there were survivors.
"Dr. Faust!" he called sharply to his assistant, who strode wordlessly to his side. "I want an analysis of these eight signals."
The heavyset assistant took the offered screen and stepped away, suppressing a shudder at his superior's mad grin. He returned a few minutes later with his report.
"Eight souls were ejected from Alpha-Zero-Theta-Two, all originating from within the same two-mile area at precisely seven-thirty-six local time. Six of them separated into two groups of three and arrived within known dimensions, while two vanished in-between."
Dr. Higgins swatted at the holographic readout before him as though trying to snatch from it the fleeing survivors. "All at the same instant their world was consumed," he said in a rattling voice. "Here's a bit of deduction, Dr. Faust: no one fleeing destruction waits until the last moment, which tells me that these eight were rescued. That takes immense power."
Dr. Faust nodded silently, choosing to ignore the fresh mad glint in Dr. Higgins's eyes.
"And the unusual way this world was destroyed may lead us to the very god I've been searching for these nine years." As he spoke, Dr. Higgins's over-sized glasses tingled with anticipation, but he resisted the urge to scratch his nose.
"I'll organize teams to go retrieve the six we can track then," said the reticent Dr. Faust. He turned sharply and marched from Dr. Higgins's office.
When he was gone, Dr. Higgins held up his clenched fist and opened it slowly. In his gloved palm glowed the six holographic lights he had snatched from the display. He blew sharply on them, and they dissipated. "Six out of eight is a good start."
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Eight of Hearts: The Rift Blade - Book 1
Science FictionDid you know that it is illegal to jump between dimensions? Even if you are escaping the destruction of your world, you'll be hunted down and captured. Even if you are summoned by powers beyond your control and tasked with saving the world, you cann...