Chapter 1
Nicholas was a good kid; he was smart, kind to friends and foes alike and also went to church regularly though he wasn't super pious by any extent but he was a true believer and believed with all of his heart. But little did he know that his life was about to be changed and ended at the same time, he pushed the old lady on to the pavement and then time slowed for him, his life flashed before his eyes even though he thought that was just a myth, he wondered why the ambulance kept getting bigger, then it hit him. It felt like hell itself rubbed it fiery terrain all over him, twice. "Uugh where in the name of my ancestors am I?" he said to no one in particular as he had awoken in a dark place, no scratch that he had awoken in what seemed to be a room painted entirely black with no visible light source,
"You're very lucky you know", his head flared up again in pain upon hearing that disembodied voice,
"Is this Heaven? If it is then it's pretty dark and are you God? ",
"Oh dear me no actually I'm not the God that guy's great he gave me and made me into everything I am".
Nicholas tried to soak in the new information he had just been granted, so far he found out that he was dead; his soul had left his body apparently and was in a dark abyss with a being which had power over souls,
"Great, Thank you for that information. I don't want to appear rude but WHAT THE FRIK AM I DOING HERE?"
his voice echoed through the random darkness they were in, his eyes scanned around the place and saw a woman sitting on at a table with a white sheet on the top with all types of treats and she drinking from a white porcelain cup, gathering his strength he got up and walked towards the woman even though all his instincts were shouting at him not to. The closer he went the more details were revealed to him. She looked like a stereotypical Goth or Emo woman, she looked to be somewhere in her mid 20's but then again that must have been the one superpower they had, eternal youth. Her hair was jet black, skin paler than the moon, a choker on her neck, and black dress with frilly ends as for her footwear it looked a lot like a cross between sandals that you'd see in ancient paintings and high heels minus the heels she would win the attractive category in his opinion by a landslide. He walked closer and he could finally see her eyes, they were grey which made her more repulsive and attractive at the same time and there was also a raven on her shoulder staring at him with its beady black eyes, he opened his mouth to speak but she beat him,
"Hello there" he recognized the voice it was the same one that spoke to him on his arrival, "
I didn't take you for a Star Wars fan you know", she smiled at him,
"Let's get to the point, why am I here aside from the fact that I died?", her raven cawed at him as if it reprimanding him,
"Well I am here to answer all your prayers for adventure, that thing you've craved for so long", she smiled again and took a sip from her cup, the scent told him it was tea but what sort he didn't know,
"But.. I didn't..." the raven cawed again,
"I know what you're thinking about: I killed you to fulfil your wish but I didn't, your time had come, The One above all had stated to me clearly", he was angry but couldn't remain angry for long as this thing, woman, creature, Ethereal being or whatever it was, was certainly speaking the truth.
He opened his mouth to speak but he beat her to it again "Before you ask I look like this only because it is easier for you to comprehend my existence when you see me in this form and yes The One above all is the one true God even though you humans tend to worship him in many different ways and using different names". He too k the information in for a minute and then he sat down on the chair opposite to her, she took out a cup and skilfully poured tea into it,
"One or two lumps of sugar?" "Two", he just replied dumbly as he was lost in his thoughts, he would never see his family or friends again his mother, father, brother, and his two younger sisters even though they were brats, he never thought those little prayers of his would result in something like this, but then again he knew the risks when he rushed to push that old lady out of the way. A cup was placed in his hands, it looked delicate and expensive. He took a sip, it was sweet and at the same time it had a tangy taste, he then ran his mind over the facts again, he did not want to accept them but had no choice in the matter.
"So when do we begin this 'adventure' as you put it", the woman pouted immediately which resulted in her looking a tad bit cute,
"Aww, leaving so soon? I thought that we could get to know each other better before you go" she put her hand on his, red flags sprang up in his mind but she removed her hand and laughed immediately,
"Don't worry kid I was just joking with you".
She got up from her seat and clapped her hands and everything went white, his head was throbbing in pain again he saw battle tactics, strategies, the directions of using complicated weaponry and the like flash through his mind and get branded into it, his bones and muscles snapped and grew over and over, new organs formed in his body and added their secretions to it and all that happened in the flash of a second.
He opened his eyes again, everything looked much clearer than before as if his eyes had been injected with something brewed in a super secret government facilities, he saw the woman standing in front of him wearing a lab coat, some glasses and writing in little black book and she looked a lot shorter, he looked at his body, it was packed with muscles not in an overcompensating way like that of body builders but in the practical 'I can punch a hole in the wall' kind there also seemed to be holes which horrified him first but then he realized they must serve some kind of purpose , he flexed them then wiggled his fingers and toes which had also grown in size and that too a lot which led him to the conclusion that he had become a giant,
"Good, looks like all parts are functional and stable, now let's move to your gear shall we?"
, she pulled out some sort of stick from her coat but then she grabbed onto both of its sides and pulled them and it opened up like a scroll and instead of paper there was some sort of hologram, she tapped on it and swiped right, she walked closer to him and showed him its contents. He looked at the armour on the projection; it looked a lot like the armour that the Terran marines from Starcraft use, except that it was a bit sleeker and more flexible, she passed the tablet to him,
"You see that palette there? Just pick a colour and apply it on the component that you want to colour, if you want to draw designs or heraldry just use the pen like thing there", he spent five minutes thinking about his choice and then set on to colouring his new suit of armour, by the time he was done his armour was a combination of mostly red with white around the edges and a few snowflakes painted here and there. The woman took the tablet from him and giggled,
"What?",
"Are you going for a Christmas theme ?" she giggled again, by this point Nicolas was blushing so much that he looked like a tomato,
"Fine" he gave a sigh of defeat
"I am trying to personify the spirit Christmas so what? "
"Nothing it's just kind of funny and adorable at the same time" she tapped a few times on the device and then clapped her hands again and everything went white for the second time.
Nicolas now felt different, he couldn't point it out but the moment he opened his eyes he saw the difference, the world or abyss was now seen through a tint of red, he looked for the woman and found her standing beside a plane or was that a spaceship?, and in front of her was a another armoured giant with the same colour scheme as him, they looked as if they were talking to one another and then the armoured giant nodded as if in agreement , he saw numbers running across the inside of his helmet and saw a secondary screen appear in which details, threat level of both the woman and giant appeared but he paid it no heed. "Nicky come and meet your partner", she appeared suddenly and took his hand and dragged him towards said partner,
"ALEX I BROUGHT YOUR PARTNER!" her voice boomed across the darkness catching the attention of the armoured giant, Nicolas wished he could see the person's armour more clearly and his helmet suddenly zoomed in giving him a clear picture, the armour was much more slimmer and sleeker than his,
"Geez how thin is this guy" he muttered under his breath, there also seemed to be some sort of arms protruding from the person's back. The screen in front of his eyes revealed that those were mechanical arms with inbuilt plasma cutters, wielding tools, micro dendrites for use in extensive repair work, the other arms had various tools attached like buzz saws and screwdrivers and there seemed to metallic tentacles on the lower back, his memory acted up he had seen such things before but where exactly?, the more he tried to remember where he saw them the more foggier his mind got.
"Alex meet Nicolas your new partner" the warrior opposite him took off the helmet and revealed that he was actually a girl with blonde hair and pretty blue eyes,
"Hi I'm Alexandra or Alex", he extended his hand, "Nicholas" they shook hands briefly, "
I'm gonna be your pilot, air support and chief engineer for the foreseeable future and I guess you're my boss as well" Nick nodded in response, a question was gnawing the back of his mind and his curiosity got the better of him
"So you died too huh?" she simply smiled and replied, "At a funeral, snapped my neck on a gravestone after I slipped ",
"slipped?", his voice was full of disbelief, "Yeah, I know it's sounds ridiculous but it was raining and there are worse ways to go.
"How about you how did you die?" Nicholas gave a short laugh and told him what happened, "That's pretty ironic", "A woman once told me that there are worse ways to go" she gave a smile in response to his statement. They chatted for a while telling each other about their lives when they were interrupted coughing, they turned around and faced their mysterious 'benefactor', she was visibly annoyed,
"If you two lovebirds are done talking can I send you on your way now? There's a whole galaxy that needs your help" she then pushed them towards the plane spaceship hybrid; nick was surprised by her strength once again. The vessel's door immediately opened up on its own and they both climbed inside it, the ship seemed to have been built for two people only as there were only two seats inside and an umpteen number of triggers, knobs and switches on the panels. Alex turned two knobs and flicked three switches underneath the seat and the ship's engines roared to life, Nick's brain absorbed everything about the ship and he swore underneath that it looked oddly familiar though it seemed as if something was blocking his memory,
"Why does your helmet have a face carved on it?" Nick turned towards her, "What do you mean?" she held out her hand and a hologram showed his helmet with what looked a lot like a face and a beard,
"I guess she must have went full Santa Clause on me",
"What do you mean?"
"Her, she changed it up a bit I guess" he pointed at the woman who was busy feeding her raven.
"Nick look at the screen, our first task seems to be on this planet Bromida-IV",
"We are to assist in its defence, am I right?" "Yeah and If the reports are accurate the defenders are losing ground fast, firing thrusters and activating Slipspace drive in 5, 4, 3", Nick opened the door suddenly and shouted,
"Where are exactly are you sending us?!", the woman just smiled and replied,
"To the grim darkness of the far future" and with that they went into the space between spaces and were gone.
{A/N} – This idea had been floating around in my head for a while and I decided to write it down and post here and it's also my first time posting on fanfiction