Chapter 1: The Boy from the Outside

"…"

"….."

"….."

"Where am I… is this a dream….? Am I still asleep? I have to be…"

"Hey."

"Whose voice is that…? It doesn't sound familiar. But why is she yelling so loudly…?"

"Hey, wake up already! Can you hear me?" She reached out and placed her hands on my shoulders. I could feel the warmth of her hands through my thin jacket, but it was too real- even for just a dream.

I slowly opened my dreary eyes to a building full of people and littered with shops- a mall maybe…? I yawned and stretched a bit, then looked her in the eyes and wiped away the tears forming at the ends of my eyes. I nudged off her hands and she gave me a look of annoyance.

"You're one of the newcomers, right?" She pointed at the set of doors behind me. I turned to peer out of it and saw a train pulling off. "That there is where you came from, so-" She put her hands on her hips and leaned closer to me in an intimidating way," What's your name? My name is Sarah. You?"

I thought about the question for a second, but couldn't find an answer. "…"

"Hello, can't you hear me?" She leaned in closer; I could smell her shampoo and feel her gaze, forcing me away. "H-hey, where are you goin'?" I stumbled into the set of doors. "Tell me your name! C'mon, do you know your name?"

I couldn't come up with a name so I looked away in shame. "I don't… have one…" I looked up at her to see what her reaction was. She had a relieved expression on her face, or, maybe a dumbfounded one, hard to tell. "Where are we?"

Sarah took a few steps back and turned to the shops and the people wondering about. She spoke in an understanding tone, but doesn't seem to fully relate, "We're in Cosmos, a dream reality for the existence of mankind…" A tear drop formed under her eye, but she quickly wiped it away.

"Cosmos? Existence of… Mankind? What are you talking about?"

Sarah sighed and turned to me with a slight smile. I could probably tell that she wasn't well informed, but was, nevertheless, as shakin' up as well as I am. "I don't know all the details- sorry."

"At least you knew that much, I don't know anything… Let alone, I can't remember my own name…" I walked beside her and looked around a bit. "Well, let's look around until we find some answers." I glanced over at her, and she immediately grabbed my hand and ran for the nearest shop. "I meant to a newsstand or something!"

She stopped and jerked my hand to the counter. "Look at the sign! Did you think I wanted to go shopping or something?"

"Yes." I looked at the sign. It read "PDI and Registration Center." The clerk stepped from around the corner and leaned on the counter. It was a medium aged guy, it was a little awkward, but I could tell he had an interest in Sarah. "So, what is this place for? What's a PDI, and why do we-"

He held up his hand, palm out, saying, "Can it." I could tell right away, this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation. "Look, I'm a busy guy –lots to do, not a lick of time to do it. If you're a newcomer then you best shut it and listen up, kid."

"Kid- who does he think he is? If only this wasn't a mall, I'd show you who's a kid- with a black eye…" I folded my arms and upheld a look as though his viperous didn't affect me. I caught a glimpse of Sarah looking at me out the corner of her eye, but she quickly turned to her attention to the clerk.

"So, what exactly do you do…. Mister-"

"Call me Nick, here at the registration center we, er, I put you into this thing," he pushed the air itself and a screen appeared out from nowhere. He scrolled through the screen and poked at something. A noise erupted in my ears and Sarah turned to me and checked if I was okay. "Oops, didn't mean to do that…" He pushed the button again and the noise went away. I was getting annoyed by his ignorance but didn't want to ruin Sarah's chance at getting the information we needed. "So, this here is the PDI, Personal Data Interspace. It will be your greatest asset in this world. You see, it does everything from holding your money and items to even communicating with nit-wits like him."

"Oh-" Sarah looked as though she was interest. Her expression looked much like the one she gave me when we first met. "So, you mean… it's like in the games…? They made this place to be a dream reality, but it's nothing more than a big game to them…" She shook her head and gave a final word to me before she continued. "We'll have to ask elsewhere to figure out the whole deal of this place, but for now we should finish registration." I nodded in agreement. If anything, this PDI might tell all we need to know. "Tell me, how do we register?"

He swiped the screen away and leaned forward, "this is how." Nick picked up a small item, a baton like object and told us to hold out our dominant arm, uncovered by clothing or accessories. I pulled back my sleeve on my left arm and Sarah took off her bracelet on her right arm. "Now, this might make you feel a little dizzy, but it's only temporary."

His smile was enough to drive me away, but if this is all it took, why not. "Hurry up, old man." I held out my arm and he slapped it with the baton. I jerked back and a red mark was left from the impact. Sarah held out her arm and he gently tapped her skin, while looking her genuinely in the eyes. "How come you hit me so hard? No wonder no one likes your shop, old man." I walked out from the registration shop and waited for Sarah, whom decided that a few extra details would be necessary before we go on our search. As she walked outside the door, I stopped her with a little small talk, "So, how's your boyfriend?"

She flushed and nearly slapped me, but stopped midway and jabbed my forehead with enough force to throw me off balance. "You know it wasn't like that, besides, I wanted to know what kinda limits we're set to in this world."

"Limits? Don't you sound smart…" that was my worst choice of words that whole day…

She leaned in close again, with that look of ignorance and little to no tolerance for what I said, "OOOOH! So, you think just because I'm a blonde I have to some ditz about everything and showing off everything I got, huh!" She continued her onslaught of rage all the way 'til she backed me up to the wall… again… "HMPH!"

"H-hey, I didn't mean it like that! I-I-" I choked up to the point that I couldn't even say a word. Luckily she let up her wrath and slowly stomped away to the escalator, leading up stairs. "Hey, wait! Where are you going?" I started my sprint to catch up to her but was suddenly stopped by a strange sensation erupting in my head. I couldn't bear the pain and fell to one knee. I could hear a voice, one that was unknown to anyone around me. (Beware of the shadows. Stray from the light, and the darkness will consume you.). "What are you, talking about? Who are you! ARGH!" Once I recovered from the sudden pain I was magically relieved of, I looked ahead to see if Sarah was waiting for me, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Great, now I've done it. She won't even listen to me since I- argh…" I stood up and initiated my pursuit for my only companion. I placed my hand on the rail and felt an immediate rapid shaking in the mechanisms under the rail- no the entire ground began to shake. With little time to react I ran up the escalator, stumbling but only made it halfway. The top of the escalator was ripped apart by a flood of dark fluid that I've never seen before. Everyone around me had the same I idea and began to run in an assortment of directions. The escalator whipped back and threw me downward, straight into the ground below.

I turned to see the situation as a whole, but everything was getting dark and I could barely move… I thought I was going to die… but then I could hear footsteps running to me. My body lifted up and I could feel my injuries being healed almost instantly. Someone was carrying me to a nearby shop that read "Steve's Meds." Whoever was helping me must have expected safety in a small compact…

"Hey, can you move?" The owner of the voice was a young male, maybe a year or two younger than me. "Listen, I'm as scared as you, so I know you can relate. I don't want to die- so… um… let's work together, please."

"Do I have much of a choice, partner?" I gained my strength and stood up. I leaned against the counter and a menu popped up before me, asking if I wished to buy medicine for my travels. "This must be the PDI, how do I close it?"

The young boy walked up beside me and swiped it away like the clerk did before. "The PDI responds to you and the environment, so it's, um, more comfortable and convenient for the user." He walked to the door and peered out of it; at that moment he jerked back his head and pulled me behind him. "T-there's something out there!"

"Huh? You mean, like, a monster?"

He shook his head in denial, "I can't tell that much, the lights are dimming out. I can barely see anything past the next shop…" He pulled up his PDI menu and selected, from what I could see, a pole. I couldn't believe it but a pole materialized in his hands. He handed it to me saying, "You're much stronger than I am. It would be best if you use it." He peered out the door again and this time signaled that we should move.

"You're a brave little guy, what's your name?"

He turned back at me and then back at the hall. His voice cracked a little but regained itself, "I- my name is Aaron. What's your name?"

"Sorry, but I can't remember much about myself."

"Well, can I call you anything?" Aaron leaned back to try and balance himself for a full auto sprint to freedom. "Well… I know this might be weird but, when I looked at on the ground before…. I saw a set of letters gathers around your head area. It looked like noir- Can I call you that? It sounds cool to me."

I nodded, but drew in fear as I saw a horrifying image of a rotten figure approaching us. I quickly yanked Aaron away from the door in enough time to avoid the monsters reach. "Dude, is THAT the thing you saw? It's like a thing from a nightmare or a horror movie!"

Aaron shushed me so the monster wouldn't detect us with our guard down. It paced to the door; its shadow loomed down the dimly lit floor of the medical shop. Aaron nudged me and pointed at the pole he gave me. I put two and two together and slowly stood up.

Aaron slid out the way, enough for me to move through and knock out the monster without being caught. As I readied my weapon, I noticed something jabbing me in the side. I leaned forward to try and get a look at it, but it held onto my jacket. Aaron reached out to catch it but the object rolled out of his hands and shattered on the ground. We froze in sheer terror of the events that were about to unfold. I grabbed my companion and rushed at the monster in front of us, shoving it aside. We ran down the mall to a store that led to the outside, but was as dark as night. In the darkness I could figures, tormented by their own sins, standing like monuments to others who stray into the abyss. The light shone in front of us, but it felt like we were being pulled back with every step.

"Noir, go on without me! I don't have much to live for anyway… Go!" Aaron grabbed my hand and pried it off his wrist. "This place won't allow both of us to escape… we must leave someone behind…" I could tell he was desperate, but couldn't take the effect of leaving the first person he befriended to die in this hell hole.

"Fine, I know how we can settle this," I placed my hand on his shoulder and stared at his face. He was definitely scared, I couldn't think of any way to calm him down so I tossed him toward the light. "I'll find you on the other side. I have a friend who might still be in there. I can't just leave her."

Aaron looked back at me, and then at the door. "I- I can't leave you, Noir…" He strode back to me and held out his hand for a bro-fist. "We're friends, aren't we? We'll save her together!"