September 29th, 2017, Frank was sitting at a local restaurant in Hong Kong, discussing the whereabouts of something he was looking for as it stormed outside. The woman that sat across from him, who would not give out her name, wore a business attire. Yet despite her professional garb, she had silver hair. Frank wasn't sure if she was getting the most stares, or if his vagrant like appearance with his unkempt hair and beard, coupled with his dark snow coat, pants, boots, and a backpack was what caught everyone's attention. The attention of the restaurant patrons didn't distract Frank, he knew what he wanted, and after several dead leads, he was willing to take anything that resembled a semblance of a clue.
"So it's, here?"
Frank pointed at the information on the paper presented to him.
"Yes"
"And you're sure the building's closed down?"
"I would not be sitting here if I wasn't positive about the state of the building"
Frank felt like this was the lead he needed, but he still had questions.
"Why did you come to me? Have you been following me? What are you like the Illuminati or something? You know I also have friends in high places"
The woman chuckled.
"No nothing like that Mr. Williams. Although I will say for how high up your friends are, they would have to reach even higher to find us. To answer your question we have been keeping tabs on you, only because you caught the eye of my employer"
Frank felt a chill go down his back, the idea of people following him without knowing about it.
"So why does your employer want me to have this…what I'm seeking?"
"Unfortunately that is classified. But, we are interested in seeing how this plays out. I must be leaving, good luck to you and your future Mr. Williams. We'll be seeing you"
As the woman got up to leave, Frank shot her one more question.
"Will I be seeing you?"
The woman smiled before turning around and leaving.
As the woman left, Frank thought to himself that he had no idea what her lack of an answer was about, but it wasn't important. He paid for his meal and headed out; it was time to see if what that woman said was true.
Hours later, Frank was at the closed-down facility. The woman was correct, it looked like it had been abandoned long ago, the grass and plant life had grown wildly in certain areas. Venturing forward, he hopped the gate and broke the lock to the front door, heading inside to explore. This was it, it had to be it, he could feel it, why else would that woman have directed him here. It looked fancy enough, but the lights being out and dust accumulating everywhere gave off that the facility hadn't been habitable for a long time. He continued further down into the dark corridors, where no light was visible, pitch black. Most security doors seemed to have rotted away at the hinges, it was almost as if Frank was meant to be the one that traversed this forgotten building. Finally, he came across an old science lab. After following all of the leads he had obtained in his travels, and all the research he had done, hopefully, his determination and drive would finally pay off.
Frank looked inside, an old glass cabinet was in the center of the room, held up by a podium. He felt like he hit the lottery, it was like when Indian Jones found the golden idol in the beginning of Lost Ark, he only hoped that it wasn't booby trapped with a giant boulder. Inside of the glass cabinet was some kind of bulky metal wristband with what looked like a miniature computer on it. It didn't look exactly comfortable or stylish, but fashion was not the reason he was looking for this particular thing. Frank looked through notes scattered throughout the lab containing information about what was in front of him; it was an inter-dimensional portable travel device.
Frank took a nearby microscope and smashed it open, sending glass everywhere. He cleared it out and picked up the device, observing it. Although he did find documents relating to it, none of them had any form of something resembling an instruction manual. The people who had been researching this miraculous piece of technology hadn't even invented it, and yet any form of documentation of its origins appeared nowhere to be found. It truly was a mystery, but they obviously got it working to be able to determine its functions. Frank wasn't a man of science, but he had come this far, maybe he could figure it out. He figured the best place to start was by opening the bracelet portion of the device. Frank pulled and pried, but it was stuck, was it the mechanism, or years of neglect and rust that held it in place. Finally, after one big pull, the bracelet was released. Frank snapped it to his wrist and closed it, and almost immediately it lit up as if it recognized that someone was wearing it. A boot up screen of random code and diagrams came on, unintelligible stuff to someone like Frank. Then, the screen turned red, and Frank felt a rush of energy go in and around his body. It wasn't painful, it was prickly, going straight from his arm to his brain, where he began to hear a monotone male voice in his head.
"Hello"
"Uh…hello? Am I hearing things?"
"You cannot hear me, your brain is comprehending signals I am producing. These signals trigger the portion of your brain that allows you to hear, giving me the ability to communicate with you"
"Wait are you…this is you. You can talk?"
"I cannot speak, your brain is comprehending signals…"
Frank interrupted the devices technical jargon.
"Yeah yeah yeah I get it, so, you can't talk you're just, communicating with me in my head?"
"That is correct"
Frank wasn't experiencing auditory hallucinations, he was telepathically communicating with the device.
"What are you exactly?"
"I am an inter-dimensional travel unit"
"You can, can you travel to other universes? Can you bring me to other universes?"
Frank held his breath in anticipation for the devices answer.
"That is correct"
"You're real; I found you"
Frank couldn't believe it, after almost a year of searching; he found what he was looking for.
"I, I can't find anything that says you were developed here, where they just researching you?"
"That is correct"
"Why did they just up and leave? If you are what you say you are, then I'm sitting on the most advanced piece of technology on the planet, maybe even the universe"
"Searching: I cannot find any information in my archives about why the research team abandoned me"
"Well then, who made you?"
"Searching: I cannot find information on who created me"
"I mean, if you had a rough idea like, I mean you had to come from somewhere. Was it aliens? A scientist? Maybe, someone from the future who sent you back to the past? Was it…god? Or something like god?"
"I can only ask questions and obtain facts based on the information programmed into me, or the information provided after my functions first started, as well as information on different dimensions throughout time and space; I am not capable of speculation"
"Well, how about you search through time and what not and see if you can find yourself"
"Searching: I cannot find information on who created me"
"Nothing? Well, isn't there an infinite number of worlds? There must be something"
"I can gather information on quintillions of universes in a matter of seconds, none of them show a point of origin. If there is a point of origin, it is most likely hidden beyond what I can comprehend"
Frank knew he wasn't going to get an answer about where the device came from or why the people researching it decided to up and leave.
"Well, what should I call you? I can't call you inter-dimensional travel unit"
"What do you wish to call me?"
Frank thought about what he could call his new, friend, for lack of a better word, when a name popped into his head.
"Todd, I'll call you Todd"
"Very well"
"I'm Frank, by the way, Frank Williams"
"I know, I was able to collect information about you when we connected"
It was kind of eerie, but not too much of a surprise that the device, now named Todd, could pick up information from Frank considering how they were communicating.
"So you know what I want?"
"That is correct, do you have a specific destination you would like to go to?"
Frank had spent so much time looking for Todd, that he didn't even contemplate where he would go when he found him.
"Are there any, unique, locations we can go to? Ones that are not too similar to where we currently are? I want to find places and things that are really different compared to this world, not just, mild changes"
"Very well, please stand by"
Todd projected images in the air, worlds, universes, there were so many, and Frank could only see an incredibly small portion of them as Todd listed them off.
"This world contains a species of evolved animals, each with their own unique and special abilities. They're called Pokémon, people capture and train them to combat each other for sport"
"Sounds interesting, but not really what I want"
"This world has a small town that does not exist in your timeline called Arcadia Bay. In it, there are a few people who have special abilities, such as a young senior high school student who possesses the ability to control time. Would you be interested in exploring one of the timelines of this world?"
"What else is there?"
"This world has a yearly contest, a demolition derby to the death called Twisted Metal, where the winner is granted a single wish. There appear to be multiple variations of this world, each with a different variation of the man who created the contest, as well as different variations of contestants"
"That sounds dangerous and complicated. I'll pass, next"
"This world contains a city in the year 850, surrounded by three walls designed to keep out giant humanoids known as Titans, whose sole purpose is to consume smaller humans"
"That sounds, horrifying. How about something that doesn't have giants"
"This world has technological advancements in the year 1850, known as the Empire of the Isles. It contains four islands, Gristol, Morley, Serkonos, and Tyvia.
Gristol, something was drawing Frank to that name.
"What cities are there in the state of Gristol?"
"Searching: Baleton, Driscol, Dunwall, Old Lamprow, Poolwick, Potterstead, Redmoor, and Whitecliff"
One name caught his ear, Dunwall. He remembered Elizabeth mentioning a city called Dunwall that her and her friend Dr. Stephen Wright discovered and observed through a tear during her time in the apocalyptic wasteland, perhaps that was the place to start.
"Dunwall, take me there"
"Before we depart, please hold still"
"Hold still for wh…"
Frank's sentence was caught off when he felt a sharp prick in his wrist.
"Ow! What the hell was that!?"
"That was a memory agent"
"Memory agent?"
"Yes, when traveling to other worlds, the human mind will often create memories to compensate for occupying different realities. The memory agent is to ensure your mind holds itself together upon entering another reality"
"Oh, I see. So let's go; take me to Dunwall"
"Very well, please stand by"
Todd made some beeps and whirring noises, what should have been an exciting moment was actually extremely terrifying. Frank was about to step out of his world and into another one, he had no idea what to expect. But he had come too far, this is what he wanted, what he spent so much time looking for. People had a better chance of achieving big dreams like becoming big in Hollywood, winning the power ball lottery, even going to the moon. But this, this was considered impossible. And yet, after a year's worth of searching, Frank found what he needed to make his dream a reality.
Frank took a deep breath, a white light surrounded him and obscured his vision. In the blink of an eye, the laboratory was pitch black. Frank was gone; truly gone.
Authors Note: None of the references I made to other video games or anime are expanded upon in the story. I just thought it would be fun to use the concept of alternate universes to reference some of my favorite things.