John P.
Crimson Skies: The Crack In Reality
Prologue: The Wall in Reality

He stood there, calmly. He looked at his surroundings, he was standing tall on the top of a building, the sky was a crimson color and he noticed fires crackling on many buildings around him. He felt the heat beating at his face like a thousand sharp needles. Below him, he could hear the roaring of sirens, gunshots, and screams, many screams. Then he heard something bizarre, one of these screams was shouting his name. He listened intently.

"Teir!" The voice screamed, barely audible over the noises below. But the screams grew louder. "Teir! Teir!" He felt his body step over the building's edge, it swung down, the air beating his face, and then…

Teir's eyes shot open, he was panting heavily, and almost screamed as a face popped up in front of his own. Teir Zyon had dirty blond hair, which went down to his eyes and covered his ears. His eyes were a light shade of brown with a strange spark in them which made people know there was something fiery in him, something that he kept locked inside. His skin was a light brown, mostly because of suntan. He was about 5 feet tall and was 13 years old. He had a muscular build and a broad shoulders. His hair swung wildly as he stared at the face opposite to him. Jennifer Zyon was a small girl with a lighter skin color then him. She also had long, straight blonde hair, but it went to her mid-back. She also had her father's wild blue eyes. She seemed to be about 8 years old and 4 feet tall. She held a broad smile as her brother's face darkened.

"Jenny! Why are jumping on my bed?" Teir yelled, enraged at being awoken by his little sister at 8:00 A.M.

"You be sleepy head. Dumbo!" Jenny said, looking at Teir with innocent eyes. "But don't worry Teir, no need to go cry."

Teir, hateful of the prospect that his name was pronounced just like the word "tear" almost gagged his sister. Instead, he jerked her down, and started tickling her. She squealed and giggled, pleading for him to stop. He ignored her cries for help until large footsteps pounding up the stairs announced his mother was coming to see what was happening. She stepped into the room, a warm smile crossing her lips as she saw her children playing happily.

Lisa Zyon was about 5'5 feet. She has the same skin color as Teir and the same light brown eyes, with the mysterious glance on them. She had long, straight brown hair and a warm aura about her. She whispered fondly

"Today's Daddy's birthday. Let's not wake him up yet. Quick, grab your presents and then we'll wake him up together!"

Before either mother or brother could stop her, Jennifer jumped off the bed and stormed into her room, excited to wake her father by singing Happy Birthday and jumping on his bed. Teir sighed

"Mom, I'll go wake Nicole and Bryan up before we have Dad waking up just with the racket Jenny's making." Lisa smiled at her son, nodding quietly. She then retrieved herself to quieting her daughter by whispering some make-believe story about what Captain. Fluffy (A Rabbit with powers of making evil men turn into good men.) did on his father's birthday. Jenny quieted down, listening intently, wide-eyed at hearing another story about her favorite super-hero.

Teir walked to his brother's room, noticing that he was already awake. He barged in just enough time to see his brother talking on the phone. At that, the door flew closed on his face. He heard the key turn, and the door lock. "Brothers…" he thought.

Teir's oldest brother, Bryan Zyon, was 15 years old. He had short, brown, spiky hair, and green mysterious eyes. His skin was slightly lighter then Teirs' and he was about 5'9. He usually kept to himself and recently was developing quite a grumpy attitude when at home. When he was with his girlfriend, Kate, he was nice, sweet, and always smiling. "She's probably the one he's on the phone with. Should've known." Teir once again pondered through his head – annoyed at the door flying at his face. Now-a-days it seemed no one had any manners.

Teir ignored the fact that his brother was talking on the phone and screamed "It's Dad's birthday you idiot!" At that, Teir whirled around and stomped around the corner to his sister, Nicole's room.

Teir opened the door violently, and managed to hold it back from hitting the wall just in time. He sighed; he was a bit too violent at times. Noticing that the room was still dark, and small puffs of air escaped from under a bundle in the covers, he guessed Nicole was sleeping. He made his way to her bed and shook her gently, whispering in her ear

"Nicole, wake up. It's Dad's birthday. Come on, wake up."

His sister shrugged, and with a groan, slid off her bed and stood there a moment, rubbing her eyes with her fists. Nicole Zyon was 12 years old. She had long, silky blonde hair, and beautiful, radiant blue eyes. She had skin the same color as Teirs' and the same facial expression. Her body was starting to change; she had medium sized breasts by now, and her hips were starting to change too. Most boys were quite attracted to her, but she ignored most of them – since she had a "secret" crush on her best friend – who she dated an year ago but they broke up after a while.

"Bro, is Jenny awake yet?" Nicole said, glancing at the alarm clock. "Oh, wait, of course. It's a record you waking up at 8:00 A.M. Your usual timing is 1:00 P.M." She then mocked.

Teir glared at her a bit, but then smiled softly. He knew only too well that this was the person he best got along with in the family. They both talked endlessly about what was happening in each other's lives. Teir had always known that this sister would always be his best friend. He smiled gently

"You hold a record yourself, so I wouldn't be mumbling about me if I were you." He said, as a giggle escaped her lips.

She moved towards the closet from where she took 2 presents out and handed one to Teir.

"I saw dad searching your room, so I slipped it out of your closet. Sorry about not telling you earlier. Sometimes Dad acts so childish. Only Jenny searches for her presents before her birthday. Fathers…" Nicole said, rolling her eyes up.

Teir smiled, signaling for them to go to Dad's room. Jenny had already started another racket, and in no time their father would be awake. Teir sighed, if only Jenny wasn't so talkative…

As he made his way to his Father's room, Teir looked out the window. What he saw blew all the wind out of him. Down on the street, a tall girl was standing still, she was Mia, Bryan's (brother of Teir) girlfriend. She was walking on a leisurely pace, probably to her yoga class. But as she made her way, there was a sharp screeching of wheels, and Teir saw a black Honda Civic spin in circles, sliding along the street. The car hit the sidewalk, and in a blurry scene, the car had spun around, crashing down on Bryan's girlfriend, it spun over her, crashing loudly, and finally stopped, toppled upside down.

Bryan's girlfriend's body was sprawled on the floor, a large puddle of blood forming around her. Broken glass shards were spread all over the sidewalk and people were gathering quickly around her. It seemed many people were calling paramedics and police, for cell-phones were buzzing all around the accident.

Teir was stunned, he had never seen a person be run-over, and seeing a person he knew being run-over made him feel even worse. He wanted to scream, but no voice came out of his mouth. Behind him he heard his sister's voice

"Oh my…my…holy shit…god…my…oh…my…" Nicole said, her voice a barely audible whisper. She was holding her face, and all color had been rapped out of her. Both Teir and Nicole were fighting tears and screams of despair. They both knew telling Bryan would worsen the situation, but they couldn't just ignore the fact they saw his girlfriend be run-over…what could they do?

Before they could do anything though, Bryan threw his door open and stormed outside, outraged

"Hanging up on me…how could she?!" He said indignantly, when he noticed both his siblings staring at him, petrified. "What are you two staring at, what's so interesting about there win-…" He stopped on his own words as he noticed what they were staring at.

"Oh my…Mia…no…no, no, no…oh my…" Bryan was trembling all over, his body seemed to go limp, as he fell to the ground on his knees, tears were rolling down his face. "Mia…Mia…" He kept repeating to himself.

Teir looked at his despaired brother, then at his bewildered sister, and tried to acknowledge the situation, but how could he? He had just seen the marks of death stamp right across a person he knew, his brother's girlfriend. He didn't know what to say, it was then that he heard the sirens…sirens meant trouble…sirens meant death…