I settled into Edward's house pretty well. I had a bedroom with a white queen-sized bed and blankets all to myself and some video games complemented with a video game console, which kinda reminded me of the video games my parents back in California used to give me whenever I did well in my tests or exams. Such was the sentimentality I had towards my former foster family, I guess. Anyway, I also discovered that a white metal spiral staircase that led to the upper floors had three rooms one of them my bedroom, and the other two a small gym room and bathroom. Edward also got me an iPhone, a very new phone to have though I had heard about it many times through gossip in my school and watching television. It had a touch screen and many applications shown on the home page that could be accessed by a touch of the screen. I was really quite surprised by the phone, if anything, as I never had a personal phone of my own before.
Overall, in the next two years I lived with my new friend and father, so to speak, we both really got along well. He told me a lot about his family and about their history, which was a bit strange. Sure, it was straightforward to me that his family was from Britain and had emigrated to North America in the 1700s to join the colonization efforts of the British, and remained mostly neutral during the years of the American Revolutionary War and Civil War, though nevertheless some of their men went to fight, though reluctantly. But something told me he was only tell half of the story of his family.
"Um, Edward, are you sure that's the entire story of your family that you are telling me?" I asked as we ate our dinner of lamb chops and mashed potato at his glass table covered with a white table cloth.
"Well,no,actually." He swallowed down his food and wiped his mouth with one of the white napkins placed near his plate. "You see, my family was Protestant,and yes, we were British, but we first went and settled into the Holy Roman Empire, in modern-day Germany. Our family was disgusted with the way the Catholic church was rife with corruption and avaricous in its practices during the mid 1500s, and when the Reformation began under Martin Luther, the head of our family during that time, John Donbell,along with many of our family members, joined a militant Christian group that was inspired by Luther's doctrine and bent on destroying Catholicism and replacing it with Protestant Christianity, not just in Germany but in all of Europe. To cut a long story short, that group failed and our family was forced to flee to England for sanctuary due to persecution of Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire."
"So, what was this group your ancestor joined exactly?" I asked.
"Well...that's something you will learn another time. I'll later give you the box containing the details, but promise me you will not open it until I am dead...I am not gonna live much longer anyway, considering I am like 76 years old. " He sighed and put down his cutlery on his plate, and leaning over to my side, ruffled my hair gently. "Sorry I can't spoil you the details ,lad, it's a promise that my family made to the leader of the group, Frederich Weiss, before he died: to never spread his story to anyone outside the family unless the family member who wants to tell it dies. Besides, our family is gonna go extinct anyway, my son is still a bachelor and I have not remarried since my wife's death. In addition most of my relatives are either dead or dying. In fact, just thought I would tell you this: my own parents died while I was still in college, so I had to support myself and pay for my needs through working odd jobs. Wasn't easy at first but I got used to it after a while."
My curiosity was plucked up by the origins of his family and I hoped to find out some day what group did he join. After dinner, he showed me the box in his bedroom on the first floor of his house, and it actually just a small, ordinary wooden box with a gold lock fastening the lid. He also gave me the key to open the box, and although I was tempted to unlock and explore the box's contents, I restrained myself.
In all, my years living with Edward were quite more or less normal, actually. He tutored me on my high school subjects since I wasn't in school anymore, and we actually did pretty normal stuff like watching television or just talking to one another. I never got bored of being with him as we always discussed about books, usually historical or political. His discussions on some books ,though maybe not making such a great impact on me, did implement this ideology in my mind: I must stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves against evil. He also taught me a little about playing the acoustic and electric guitar, and I was surprised I got used to playing it pretty quickly. I almost felt like I was in a family again.
But as always, good things must come to an end.
After two years of living with him, he one day suggested it was finally time for me to see the multiverse, and we started packing our belongings for the day before we headed to his remaining research facility in Kansas, after he had gotten permission from the government somehow by lying to them he needed to settle some things there. Very smart of him, I thought to myself. I brought the large blue bag Edward gave to me to carry my belongings and kept the key and box he had given to me in it, while he packed both of our clothes and his belongings into his luggage bags.
Anyway, it was really a long drive in his car from Missouri to Kansas and I slept a lot during the journey except during toilet breaks behind bushes or service stops and when we stopped to eat at nearby restaurants along our route. It took quite a number of days to get to our destination and we had to stop at motels to rest at night.
Eventually we reached our destination,and by that time we were both exhausted from driving on the road for so long.
The research facility was a large building with windows only at the top of the building , to my surprise. It was painted black and white in colour and had the American military logo on top of the wooden door leading into the building. It was pretty plain to me, though it looked like it had been abandoned for a while.
When we got into the facility, boy was I in for a shock. Inside there were numerous complex gadgets positioned on black tables at the sides of the building, like a metal sphere floating and spinning on top of a metal plate. I could not describe in words how amazing all the gadgets I saw were. They all looked so complex and advanced.
And of course, there was Edward's portal, suited right at the back of the building.
The portal consisted of a large hollow metal ring that looked large enough for any normal human to go into, and through a mess of wiring branching from one of its sides it was connected to a power source that I presumed was outside the facility, and the wiring also led to some sort of white rectangular control panel on another black table a distance away from the ring. The control panel, surprisingly, though looking very complex, actually only had three parts: a huge red button, a glass panel displaying some information I couldn't understand at first glance, and a metal keypad with number, letters and symbols. How does Edward function this thing?, I thought to myself, bewildered.
"Yeah, I know how you feel, I also had the same reaction when Bonnibel first showed me this portal," Edward said, clearly knowing what the expression on my face meant. "But it's actually quite simple to function, and although I wasn't really paying attention to how the portal functioned due to my shock at that time, I do know how to work with it." He ran a hand over the control panel and sighed. I guess he must really miss seeing his creation very deeply.
So Edward taught me, for like the next couple of minutes, briefly on how the portal worked, and it was pretty easy to get it down after that: type in the words "scan", a list of different named universes comes up, and when you go into one of the options by touching the screen, information would be given about the universe, like if there is life on any planet, along with other details. Of course, Edward told me we had to bring a few weapons along just to be safe, and in a short amount of time, we were armed with whatever was on the tables, with laser guns and more.
"Alright, we're ready to go," he said as he brought out a small blue box about the size of my palm, and when he opened it, it revealed a red button in the center of the box, and, when he closed it, he gave it to me. "This box will activate the portal that will lead you back here should you want to get out. Don't worry, I've one myself." He smiled and walked over to the control panel, and on pressing the red button, a whirring sound was produced and in the ring a blue glowing circle started to emerge and fill up the hole of the ring. I looked in awe at this for a few moments before Edward tapped my shoulder and said, "Let's go in, Michael. You won;t be disappointed!" We then walked into the blue portal, and I wondered what awaited me.
What I saw in the world that Edward described to me, however, was nothing like what he had described.
All I saw were buildings, both big and small, damaged and crumbling, and cars on the road that were badly in need of repairs. In addition the sky was really grey and gloomy, and smoke rose from small flames on both roads, vehicles and buildings. In fact everything I was seeing and what would be on our Earth was damaged, many of them dotted with fungi or black spots, probably ash. There were also some human skeletons draped all over the area, and lamp posts lay on the road. But that was not the most disturbing aspect: what was even more creepy was that there was a deafening silence all over the area. No animals making noises, no wind,no humans...just pure silence. I also noted that I was standing on a white-tiled floor surrounded by walls with cracks and that looked incomplete, implying that we were in the remains of a long-gone building. It felt that we were standing on the ruins of a past civilization. Both me and Edward looked at what was in front of us with shock and disbelief, though Edward has more of those feelings than me.
"No...this can't be...what happened to the world that I saw so many years ago...?" He went onto his knees and looked down in despair.
I had gotten my bearings back and went over to Edward, putting a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "Maybe..this is the wrong universe?"
"No, it is the right one...I selected the right universe Bonnibel was in...how did it.." He ran his hands through his hand and breathed in to try and relax.
I honestly could sympathize with him. After all, he wanted to show me a world where life was on another universe. Yes, there was, but now it was all gone, as far as I could see. I sighed and said, "Well, it won't do good now to despair. I mean, you were right, there is life on the universe that is technologically advanced as us, just that..maybe that life is mostly...wiped out." Honestly I really did not know what to say to comfort Edward.
At this, he got up and breathed in deeply, though perhaps resignedly. "Maybe we can search for Bonnibel in this area...I mean she should still be here...right? And maybe, just maybe, there are still traces of life on this world..."
So we continued walking through a city that had long been reduced to rubble and in a post-war world. As we continued walking through the city, I noticed something...off. On some of the damaged buildings I saw, there were lumps of pink stuff strewn on them like party streamers, looking really a lot like candy floss. That's strange...what exactly happened to this world? And why would candy be produced after such a war even? I thought. Being in this world both interested me and scared me.
"Actually, Edward, where are we going exactly?"
"Oh, we're actually heading to Bonnibel's house to see if she left any clues to where she might have went and also to find out more about what happened here...okay, we are almost-" He was cut short by a sudden shrill scream.
"HELP!"
My ears were ringing with pain after that, and my heart was pounding furiously as I had been startled. Edward looked as shocked as me and we both looked at each other, confused about what that was. It seemed like a girl's voice.
"DON'T TOUCH ME, YOU CREEPS! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
We both ran fast but as silently as possible in the direction where the scream was coming from, with our hands armed with guns to prepare for the worse, and with the cries for help ever growing more intense. Thank God for all those hunting sessions Edward and I used to go on, if not I would not be able to know how to use guns.
When we got to the place, we saw something really shocking. A girl with hair that flowed upwards like a flame and with glowing orange skin and in a white dress was being cornered into a wall of a building and surrounded by many weird-looking guards in with charcoal-black skin, about twenty or so. They looked really tall and muscular in build though their lower arms and legs were very thin,and had a number of spikes coming out of their heads and lighted at their tips with flames, making their heads look like chandeliers. Their eyes were red in colour and looked to have no mouth, though maybe I could be wrong, as they could speak. A red scar that looked like lightning was on their waist and they all held a spear, except that the tip of the spear was a candle lighted on fire.
"Please, princess Phoebe, your father is deeply worried-" One of the soldiers began.
"I don't care! My father hates me and never loved me! And now he's worried about me? What kind of father keeps his own daughter in a lantern like a prisoner?!" Her hands lit up and shot balls of fire at the soldiers, at which all of them ran for cover, spears pointed at her.
Edward, observing the whole situation, was as stunned as I was, but he said, "I think we should get out of here...", grabbing my arm. But inside, I could not just leave her to be bullied by her father. In fact, I felt really angry that Phoebe could be treated like this, and wanted to save her from the misery she was put through. I truly saw her like me, always being picked on. "No, Edward, we need to save her-"
"Are you serious now, Michael?!" he whispered, as we were close to the drama unfolding before us. "Look,we are gonna get killed! Look, I also wanna save her after hearing what she just said, but we are going to get into serious danger trying to save her!" He grasped my shoulder gently and sighed, obviously seeing that I was determined and not going back on my word. "Okay, are you sure you wanna do this?" I nodded. He sighed again and we prepared our laser guns. "Let's do this," he said.
And we started firing at the Fire soldiers, which were take aback by our presence. Our shots managed to pierce them and we killed quite a number of them. They eventually managed to get their bearings though and one of them shouted, "Boys, get them!" and as one they charged at us.
"Michael, get the girl! I'll hold them off," Edward said as he continuously fired into the guards. I ran quickly to where Phoebe was and seeing she was a bit dazed, said gently, "C'mon, we gotta go. Don't worry, we'll protect you." Actually I almost wanted to touch her arm but quickly realized she was made of fire. She nodded and in response." Yeah, sure, but why are you-"
"No time, we gotta go!" I shouted and we both ran to where Edward was, but unfortunately he paid a price for backing me up.
His shirt was stained red and burnt to tatters at his stomach, and he stood weakly as he fired at the guards nearing him, his face looking very pale. Blood coughed up out of his mouth. No, I can't let him die here, I thought as memories of us flashed in my mind. He was my friend and family, I couldn't let him down. Tears brimmed in my eyes and screaming, I shot my laser gun madly at the guards, and they immediately turned their attention to me. Phoebe also shot fire balls at them, and one of them got himself smashed into a building.
"I'll cover you!" Phoebe said to me as she unleashed her power on them. I rushed to Edward's side as he nursed his wound, on his knees. "Edward, are you okay? We can always-"
"No, it's too late now, Michael, I have been mortally wounded," he said as I helped him to lie down on the ground. He winced at the pain from his wound and smiled at me, holding my hand. "Hey, buddy, don't cry," he said as he wiped my tears on my cheek as they fell off my face. "It's okay, Mike, everything's okay...I'm fine..I am gonna die anyway..." He then coughed out blood violently and it streamed down his cheek.
"Edward, you've helped me all these years, you are like another family! I'm not gonna lose you now,not here,not again,not this time. Look, we'll get back to Earth and then-"
"No, Michael,I'm sorry, but you have to be strong on your own, and I believe you can make it through life pretty well without me.." He smiled again before continuing weakly."But, you have made so happy after so long of feeling depressed...I haven't been this happy ever since my wife's death, and now...now I can die with joy in the fact that I will see God and Melissa..every one of my family,soon..." He sighed with satisfaction and looked up at the sky."Thank you Michael, for everything, and for coming into my life...if only my son was here...with me..." His arms then went limp and his eyes closed. At this, I started to sob as my tears fell on Edward's lifeless body and screamed,looking up at the sky. Why? Why did I lose another family? Why do things always go so wrong for me? I thought to myself as I looked down at the ground, crying and sobbing. Everything was a blur and all I could think of was why these things were happening to me.
And then, a sharp pain came to my neck and I fell to the ground, darkness once again blotting out my sight.