Lost in the Multiverse
Chapter 1
By: Xan075
"Yo, Samus!" James greeted me. He was a big guy but his friend, standing next to him, was short. Both friend and lackey, Nathaniel was definitely backing him up.
James had always had it in for me, since he met me. It may have been fate, maybe bad luck, or possibly he was just a bastard by nature, but he had always made fun of my name.
"I don't want any trouble, James," I replied.
"Oh, really?" He asked sarcastically. "Well, you've got it. This is my street!"
I had to talk fast. James I could take, but him and Nathaniel at the same time? Not so much.
"Oh, come on. I'm just walking through. I don't want to do this."
"Too bad!" He shoved my shoulders. I stayed in place.
"Looks like there's a problem," My friend Jeremiah, who had just appeared from nowhere said.
James cracked his knuckles, Nathaniel copying him soon after.
"What a great way to start the week," Jeremiah said sarcastically.
"Not for most people," I responded. "We're just lucky."
Indeed it was, but not unexpectedly. The past week, there had been more fights between the students at the school, more anger between adults, and general tension among everyone than usual. Chaos was in the air, and this fight was just one byproduct.
"You want to go against the big one?" Jeremiah asked, talking about James.
"Sure. The bigger they are, the harder they fight."
"Right, then." Jeremiah immediately charged at Nathaniel, and James swung a punch at me.
I blocked his fist with my forearm, and delivered my strongest shovel-hook punch under his rib cage. He doubled over, jumping back. I allowed him to stand back up, and he tried to bring his knee into my crotch. I saw this, and brought my knee up, hitting him in the shin. The pain from this left James on the ground.
"James," I told him, while he was laying on the ground. "Remember my name: Ianus (like Yanus) Lepidus Maro."
"Fuck you," he groaned.
A kick to his side shut him up.
I joined Jeremiah, who had beaten Nathaniel first.
"You okay?" I asked.
He ignored my question.
"This week's been pretty weird, huh?" He asked.
"Yeah," I answered. "Something's going to happen. The air is filled with anticipation."
"Ain't that the truth, brother? Maybe it'll be something good."
He said goodbye when we got to his house, and I continued onto my apartment.
"Hello!" My little sister called.
Phaedra, my "sister," was actually just a girl that I had found on the street. Now fourteen, she had been eleven when I had found her, wandering on the street, stealing to live. She went to school like a normal girl now, but if child welfare ever heard of her living with me, I would be in prison for a while. They don't exactly like seventeen year-olds taking care of other teenagers.
"Did you have any dinner?" I asked.
"No. I was waiting for you," she said innocently.
"Good. I got you something on the way home."
I handed her a bag of some fast-food, bought on my way home. She looked at me closer.
"Were you in a fight?" She asked me.
"...Yeah. That idiot James finally decided to try something, and was backed up by Nathaniel."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Jeremiah turned up at the last moment, took on Nate."
"Well, that was good of him."
"Yeah. Sometimes, I don't know what I would do without him."
Later
"You know," Phaedra said, looking up from her manga, "I'm not sure about this new character Kyle. He's just too, well, crazy."
"Frankly, Phaedra, I'm not sure what you're talking about. He seems to be an okay addition to the cast."
"Oh, be quiet! You don't know what you're talking-What's that?"
I looked outside, where everything was covered in darkness.
"I don't know, but I don't think it could be anything good."
Suddenly, I heard a woman scream downstairs.
"What's going on?"
"Damn! Phaedra, stay here, and lock the door. I'm going to help her."
I left our apartment, and went to the apartment below ours'. The door was ajar and the lights were off, so I nudged the door open fully.
"You okay, Miss?"
I saw something moving across the room, and as I approached, I saw that it was something that looked like a small shadow, with glowing yellow eyes, sitting on top of the unconscious woman. It looked towards me, and faded into the ground.
"What the-"
A dark spot on the ground stopped moving beside me, and the shadow-creature raised out of the ground, where it was kicked in the face by Yours' Truly.
After picking itself off the ground, the little shadow was surrounded by two small black clouds, out of which two more identical shadow-beings appeared.
"So...who's first?" I asked.
They all three ran at me, but when I kicked at one, it grabbed onto my boot. The other two advanced on me, as I was held in place by the first shadow.
"No!" I shouted, and, in a blinding flash of light, a giant key appeared in my hand. "Well, okay."
The two shadows closed in, and I swung at one. As the giant key made contact, the shadow disappeared in a black cloud.
"Definitely cool," I remarked. I swung the key at the other two, destroying them with a mere touch also.
I checked on the woman: unconscious, but alive; then I went over to the light switch, and flipped it; the light switched on, and I saw the giant key properly for the first time.
It was more like a caricature of a key than an actual one, but it's hand-guard was crimson, and the rest of it had was black, except the ridge at the end, which was shining silver. A chain hanging off of the pommel had nothing on the other end.
"Well, that's awesome," I remarked unemotionally. "Now, Miss, I know that you can't hear me, but stay safe. I'll lock your door on the way out."
When I got back to my house, I turned saw that the door was open.
"Oh, hell no!" I said, and charged into my apartment.