I've never been one of them. Now, I am even further away from being them. I've always been the harbinger of change, and now of two worlds. This all started when I was invited to a science show.
I reached my hand into the mailbox, and grabbed three letters. One was for my father; the other two was for me. One from Albany, and one from Yale.
Yale? That piqued my interest. I've received a couple of letters from Albany already, but none from Yale. On the letter read: "WE'VE INVITED YOU!" and further describes that they have conducted some space research.
I went inside my house, gave the letter to my father, and opened the letter from Yale. They were researching in East Grand Rapids, and induction was free. Only twelve were invited, and it would be in seven days. I went to ask my parents if I could go, but in my heart, I mostly knew they'd say no.
"Mom, could you look at this?" I asked. I handed her the letter, which she promptly began to read.
She was nodding her head, but then replied; "I'm not feeling well enough to drive, and your father'll be in Afghanistan."
"I could drive," I suggested.
Sighing, she answered: "Alright." That one word sealed my fate.
When I parked my parents' van, I turned off the ignition and got out of the door. I looked over to the building, which was a small brick building that stood alone. I headed up to the building and went inside.
A woman behind the counter greeted me. "Welcome, Derek. You'll want to head into that door, Mr. Holmes." The secretary smiled and waved towards a door to the right of her desk. I thanked her and went inside the door.
Only to find a metallic arch occupying the center of the large room, with a domed ceiling. In front of me was a catwalk, made all of thick glass. Metal stairs to my right lead the way down.
A researcher in a white overcoat held out what looked like a thin white suit. "Here, put this on. It'll protect you from the radiation. The bathroom is over there." He pointed down the stairs.
I grabbed the suit and walked down the stairs. Sure enough, there was a door in the wall where the stairs let off. I opened the door and went into the stall. I changed into the radiation suit, and noticed it came with a hood, except it was loose, unlike the rest of the suit, which was skin-tight.
Although, I continued to go along with it, I questioned what this was all about. Another scientist, this time a female, came and directed me under the arch.
"Here we have been conducting our experiments. After analyzing millions of people around your age, we came up with twelve. Fortunately for you, you were of that twelve. However, five were not able to make it," she explained to us. Sure enough, six other adolescents near my age were standing next to me.
The researcher left, and the arch erupted in blinding white light. Pain surged through my body, worse than what I have ever felt before. It seared in my very blood, and I felt like I was about to implode.
It was over in mere seconds. Unluckily for me, those seconds stretched into minutes. However, it was all over, for now.
As my eyes peeled open, blinding white erupted into my irises, though not as bad as before. I looked around, and noticed that I was laying on my back, enveloped in an otherwise empty, white room.
I got up from the bed, and instantly fell over, onto the floor. I looked down at my legs, and noticed my left leg was gone. I closed my eyes, and opened them again. My leg had returned. Confuzzled, I rubbed my hands along the floor. The floor was made out of hardened clay, and seemed to have been painted white.
My palm began to tingle; I held it up, facing the ceiling. I moved my left hand to scratch it, but a pulse of bright yellow light bursted from my hand, and made a thunderous scream as it made contact with the white ceiling; leaving a black scorch mark.
I stared at my palm, deep in thought. I then looked around, and noticed there were neither doors nor windows. I grew frustrated, and walked around the room. Surprisingly, I felt an ancient anger awaken in me, and I let loose an earsplitting roar, and visible sound, circlets of yellow, erupted from my mouth.
When I opened my eyes, a wall was gone. The leftovers were small pebbles strewn about in the larger room; the one that contained the Arch.
Armed personal patrolled the room, wearing metallic armor completed with sinister metal helmets that encompassed their whole head. They were carrying two-pronged tridents, with a red bolt of electricity ever-flowing between the prongs.
One pointed towards me, and they all rushed towards me. Two in the front waved their weapons at me. I covered my head with my forearms, the instinctive defense that took.
An explosion filled my ears. I looked beyond my arms, my ears ringing. The once-white walls were seared black, and bodies were scattered about the Arch Room.
I stepped forward, my torso smoking. However, I looked down and noticed that I was still wearing the "radiation" suit. My hood was still attached, and still very much flexible.
I looked around, and saw quite a few cameras about. Pulling my hood up, I tilted my head down to aid in preventing my face from being seen. I grabbed one of the "Energy Bidents," for that was what was inscribed on the side, and looked it over. There was a mark of a hand gripping it, near the bottom, and placed my right hand over it. I felt a prick of pain, like a needle drawing blood. Looking down at my hand, I saw no mark. Further inspection of the bident showed me a switch, in which I flicked with my thumb. The device began to hum, and yellow energy danced to life between the two prongs.
Stalking, searching, I spotted a doctor in a corner to my right. I headed straight for him. He was trembling in his white overcoat, and seemed ready to let loose in his pants.
I held the bident close to his neck, so the yellow energy played right next to his unshaved hairs.
"What is going on here?" I demanded.
"I-it was an ex-experiment. W-we have d-d-discovered an alternate di-dimension. W-we c-call it the g-Ghost Zone. The Arch is the p-p-portal." He swallowed, his neck getting dangerously close to the energy. "W-whenever we t-turn i-it on, whomever l-lies inside of it, their DNA i-is a-altered.
"Y-you s-s-see, a s-sub-substance that is called 'ectoplasm', fuses into your DNA, and you are n-now half of a ghost, and half of a human, w-what 'they' call the ha-halfa."
"Who are 'they'?" I growled.
"Th-they are the p-pure g-ghosts, the n-Natives of the g-Ghost Zone. You a-aren't the first. You are the m-most powerful we have ever c-created. Due to being directly center of the Arch, you are perhaps the most powerful halfa of them all." The scientist started to get enthusiastic. "But we do not know who the first one is. The oldest one we do know of is Danny Fenton, aka Danny Phantom. He turned when he was fourteen, and now he's around sixteen. Yes, sixteen and four months old.
"One died after the Arch was turned on. Two are in critical condition, and three are still sleeping. You were mostly unscathed, and were only under for sixteen hours, a record for our records. The last shortest time was thirty-eight hours."
"Why did you do this to me?"
"F-for w-wa-war. W-we declared w-war on a f-faction that is d-dominant in the g-Ghost Zone. W-we wished y-you t-to b-b-be the acting c-commander in the field. Our one-sh-shot one-k-ill, one m-man army."
I pondered the circumstances. I came to a conclusion. "I'll need someone to help me run the portal," I said.
The scientist nodded vigorously, or, at least, as vigorously as he could without sustaining serious damage. I also had to pull the bident back a bit to avoid an accident. "I will be forever grateful. T-together, n-no one can stop us. Not even Twilight Research. They're the ones who's in control of all this." He gestured the whole room. "Oh, yes, I'm Jack Fenton."
I stared at him, this Jack Fenton. With a snap of gears in my head, in an instant I realized he was the oldest known halfa's father. "You are his father." I whispered.
He nodded. "Danny is my boy. I had hoped to cross upon him when I signed up for this. But," he gestured all around him, "I have only created the end."
"What do you mean, 'the end'?"
"When a corrupted gang of smart people have the ability to create halfas, a whole army of them, they can take over the world." Those words sealed my destiny. Not only was I about to get those responsible for vengeance, but also for saving the world. I lifted the bident from his neck, and stood it on its butt. "I know where to start. Go to a ghost named Clockwork, and tell him this: 'the new ultimate enemy is about to arrive.' He'll know what it means." He pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Here, this is the map to him. You'll have to go through the Arc. You'll come out here," Jack pointed into the map. "Good luck, and hurry. You'll have three days. That's when the other halfas will wake up, and you are the most powerful, so only you can calm them down."
Jack pointed to what looked like a silver alien spaceship. "Take the ecto-ship. It's much faster than flying." After reading the obviously confused look on my face, he responded: "Yes, you can fly. All in time, you'll know all about your powers."
I walked over to one of the corpses. At least, I assumed they were dead. I grabbed a holster for the bident, and slung it over my shoulder. I clasped the bident in, so that the prongs face down and angled to my right. Jack tossed me a pair of keys. I nodded and went to the ecto-ship.
After inserting the keys into the ignition, I turned the vehicle on. It was quiet, like a Prius. It hovered in midair, as I steered it toward the direction of the Arch. It flashed, though not nearly as bright as before, or maybe it was just perspective. I slammed on the gas, and I was flung backwards in my seat. A green flash filled my vision, and as it cleared, a dark green of emptiness lied outside the windshield. I pulled out the paper, and unfolded it. A black line, what looked like lead, lead from a portal, to a floating island with a waterfall, to an area called "The Void," and ended at an island with a clock tower. Gripping the steering wheel tightly, I slammed on the gas once more.