Falling from a building in a futuristic city in a galaxy far far away was a man in his early twenties screaming at the top of his lungs. As he fell towards the metallic platforms below, he reflected on how weird and messed up things had gotten in the span of twenty four hours.
[To get things started I'm just going to begin with a brief origin of the events that lead up to me falling from a 80-90 story building in middle of the night. So bear with me on this ok? I was just your average African American guy going about his daily business of sitting around at home watching TV, doing some chores and going to work as usual.]
[Although on my Tuesday off I decided to hangout with a friend of mine that noon who I've been neglecting for awhile. The guy's name is Troy white, he is one of my coworkers I used to work with a couple months back. I was walking to a dollar general when he drove up to me.]
"Yo Kyle, what's up man you need a ride?" Troy asked as he pulled up beside me.
"No I'm fine, I was just going to dollar general to get some food and more soap." Kyle said as he was walking along side the vehicle.
"You know That is a long walk from here I don't mind giving you a ride." Troy offered while driving slowly beside his friend. Kyle took notice of the slight concern look on Troy's face. Only taking a few seconds to come to a decision.
"Alright thank you."Kyle said as he decides to take Troy up on his offer. Small talk was shared as they rode towards their destination. Afterwards the two of them hung out for quite some time into the late evening to early night. At this time they were watching a movie call Avengers: infinity war, at the part where the avengers and their forces were about to clash with Thanos' army Troy started smoking something that had a odd smell to it.
"Oh, hey you don't mind if I smoke this right? I know you don't like how these stuff smell." Troy said as he lit the blunt. In that moment curiosity got the better of Kyle, he wanted know what being high felt. Knowing this would be his first time the high was going to hit hard.
"No I don't mind actually I want to give it a try since I am a bit curious to see what it feels like." Kyle said as he gave him his full attention. Troy was surprised at the change of heart to smoking in general.
"You sure? This shit is really strong even for your first time used. When I first hit this it had me out for a while." Troy said as a way to caution the first time user.
"It's fine besides I'm not going to die if I smoke it right?" With that being said Troy pass the blunt over, Kyle take it and look at the weed in his fingertips. He was hesitating, seeing this Troy spoke up."Hey just don't hit it to hard now remember that."
After that was Kyle took a small puff of it. At first he didn't feel anything so he waited a moment later and felt a slight buzz. He took a couple more and the buzz became stronger as a result. The relaxing sensation washed over him with a dazed look in his eyes. Kyle Looked over to Troy with a lazy smile on his face, Troy snickered at." See Kyle told you that stuff was strong how do ya feel."
"Wasted and your voice sounds weird." Troy taking on a knowing look. "Yeah that's normal, so how do you feel?"
"I feel relaxed, daze, light headed and heavy am I supposed to feel heavy? This is so unreal,." That last part got Troy's attention which prompted him ask more questions. "Hey what else do you feel?" The first time user had trouble concentrating on finding an answer. As he was trying to focus the world around him begin to shake he just assumed it was the high effecting his mind. Kyle begin to eye the whole den and everything in it twist and turn out of proportions. He was seeing the colors change, the sound distorted, even his friend was changing along with the room. Troy was saying something, but his voice was so jumbled anything he said made little to no sense. Suddenly he felt wind rushing pass him from the back. The room was gone, falling down a bright multi colored tunnel he could see the room that he was in getting further away. As he was falling the tunnel kept changing from multiple colors to odd designs. During the fall he was losing consciousness and fast as the trip drew on. In Kyle's last bit of cognitive awareness he caught a glimpse of a object far away from him falling in the same direction. And finally he succumb to the darkness of his subconscious.
As Kyle started to wake up from the noises going on around him, he suddenly felt stiffness from laying on something hard with a headache coming on. His vision was blurred when he tried to look around the area, he slowly got to feet and used a wall to support himself. As he's vision started to return Kyle realized that he was outside due to the fact that it was bright and he could feel a soft cooling breeze brush pass him.
When his eyesight was getting better the area around seemed extremely off. He knew he was in a alleyway, but what really threw him for a loop was the way everything look so futuristic in tone and atmosphere. There were tall metallic buildings with flying vehicles passing by them. Even the people that roamed about in the streets. Aliens ranged from humanoid to bizarre sentient creatures with regular humans among them, there's a few he recognize. That's when realization sit in, the weed he smoke must have caused him to manifest a hallucination based on star wars. At this point he shook off the grogginess and ventured out into the streets. As he walked Kyle was taking in his surrounding, but couldn't enjoy it because he felt sick for some reason. 'Dealing with this headache is one thing, but it feels like I'm burning up. Am I even supposed to feel this way while being high?' It was odd for the guy to be sick which lead him to ponder about the situation he was in. While he was deep in thought he took a few glances to make sure not to bump into anyone by accident. Kyle noticed that he got a few odd glances from some of the people himself.
Most of the stares were direction at the clothes he was wearing. None of them have never seen a person wore black hoodie, gray t-shirt that has the Nintendo logo on it, baby blue jeans with black and white sneakers. As he kept on venturing hunger begin build up the more time went on. To him this sensation felt too real for his liking. After wandering for what felt like a couple of hours he discovered one of the lower market districts in the city.*Hungry!* The hunger was driving him a bit crazy and he started search for any food source within the area.
When he came to a part of town that sells food, he rush towards the nearest kiosk. Upon getting there he started grabbing and biting into anything that was in stock much to protests of a rodian vendor. As he tried to eat Kyle found out each time he took a bit of the food it immediately left a really bad taste in his mouth. He moved to the next one and the next one after repeating the process. As he kept on doing this, the vendors get extremely piss off and they either chased him off or threaten to call authorites to get him to stop. He wandered off away from the angry shop owners, he came across a seafood restaurant with a fish tank filled with crustaceans. He walk After Feeling hot for so long he couldn't take it anymore and climbed into the tank to cool off. Not realizing that his stunt was causing a scene.
He attracted the attention of a Pantoran Entourage with a woman walking up to him to see what was wrong. "Excuse me sir are you alright? You don't look so good." The stranger said, Upon closer examination she could tell he was ill do to the sickly look on his face. "I'm feeling much better now." He said, having calm down he recognize the person's face, but didn't remember the name. Things got a little bit uncomfortable for him when she placed her hand on his forehead. "You're burning up I think you might have a fever. Come on I'll take you to the emergency room." She told him as he was deep in thought about a the situation that is until he dove his hands into the water to snatch out what looked like a lobster and immediately bite into it several times. This disgusted the customers even the pantoran woman who approach him in the first place.
"Could you please stop eating the crustacean raw it is not a pleasant sight."that being said he saw most of the occupants were giving him odd looks. A waiter walked up to them to resolved the problem.
Kyle quickly got out of the tank and the waiter was about to say something to him, but was interrupted by the Pantoran woman who was dressed in a violet colored business suit like uniform with purple hair. "It's fine he's with me, I'll ... pay for the crab he was eating." This surprised him that she would go out of her way to help him.
"Hey you don't have to do that I wou-". But before he could finished the sentence he was cut off. "Like I said it's fine besides you're running a fever and getting you out of here seems like the best course of action. By the way I'm Riyo chuchi." "Kyle Brooks" After the statement was made and a brief moment of taking care of the bill, Kyle and the woman that helped him out left with the group she came with to the emergency room.
They got into the vehicle they came in and took off away from the lower market district. As he sat there taking in the sights of this part of this city he begin to wonder if all of this was just some hallucination or not. To him all of this felt too real, on one hand the whole thing was a bit to far fetch to be believable, but on the other how he felt ever since waking up this morning. 'This doesn't feel right, I wake up feeling stiff from supposedly sleeping on the ground. Then there's the headache I had plus I'm soaping wet." He would pondered his thoughts further, but he was interrupted. *Hmm interesting.* he looked around to figure out where that voice came from.
His actions didn't go unnoticed by one of the guards and Riyo herself, which lead her to ask a couple of questions. "Is everything alright you seem uneasy?" Breaking him out of his stupor he answered. "Yeah, I still have a headache, but it isn't as bad as it was beforehand."
"Well we're going to arrive at one of the medical stations in the next 30 minutes" Riyo said. As they flew through the air.
"Oh that's good to hear." After That was said, the silence lasted for a moment until Riyo decided to continue the conversation. "So where are you from?"
"Earth" He thought about lying for a second cause he knew that question would come sooner or later, but there wasn't any reason to do something like that. So he decided to be honest with her.
"I've never heard of that planet before which sector of the galaxy is it located at?" He wasn't sure if there was even an earth in the star wars universe. Even if there was he wasn't sure if it was as develop as the modern Society he was used to.
"I don't know somewhere beyond the outer rim." That answer he gave immediately arose their interests.
"That would explain a bit about the unique clothes your wearing. Wait if you don't know where your home world is beyond the outer rim then how did you get here in the first place?" Riyo ask feeling that the answer he gave raised more questions concerning how he ended up on coruscant.
"To be honest I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to." That reply earn him a few glances from most of the passengers in flying vehicle. See he tried to clarify. "What I mean is I can't remember how I ended up from earth to here on Coruscant."
"Well I'm sure you will figure this out eventually, but for now lets just you situated." She said as the ride became silent once more as they continued on.
About 30 minutes had pass since the conversation ended. They arrived at the medical station. During that time however he started to get worry as doubt entered his mind. He wasn't so sure if this was a drug induced fantasy or not, but he decided to just go along with it for now. They came to a stop at the front desk to make a quick checkup.
At first it a moment to sit up an appointment on short no6tice. Once Riyo was finished the nurse said that it will be twenty five minutes before they're ready. Now feeling the pressure on his head dissipate, but Kyle could still feel the heat in his body. As time ticked away the boredom started to put him to sleep. Although before he could take a nap the nurse at the front desk called for them. As they walked back to the desk a human doctor came in to escort his patient to the examination office. "Hello I'm Darso Selenium and you must be Kyle Brooks right?" Darso asked
"Yes." Kyle said as he stepped forward. "Ah well came this way and we'll have you all sit up." Darso said. Both him and Kyle made their way down the corridor. They arrived at his office, once the pair entered the room Darso asked a few routine questions. "Ok Kyle I just read that you were brought in for a simple checkup so do you have any discomfort?" It took a split second for Kyle to answer the question. "Yeah actually I still feel hot since this morning." Kyle replied
"Have you been feeling anything else up until now?" The doctor asked. "I did have a headache and for some reason I couldn't eat anything until I ate ... raw seafood." That cought Darso's attention while he pull out a device from one of the drawers in the office.
"Alright I'm going to scan you for just a second." He said as he waved the scanner pass over his patient. Kyle felt an odd sensation all over his body as the scan continued. After that was done, Darso checked the test results for the scan." Odd from these readings I'm getting you seem to have contracted some sort of parasite that caused the high fever in the first place."
Feeling both relieved and worried Kyle for his part listen to whatever else doc. Darso had to say. "I'm going to prescribed some medication that should help flush it out of your system." *That's never going to happen.* the voice said, Kyle jumped a little by the sudden statement made from within his mind. The doctor didn't notice what his patient did and concluded checkup as of now.
The two left out of the office and ventured back to the waiting room. The doctor told them the news and sit up a schedule to pick up the medication after that was done. They left the station and headed for one federal district that housed quite a few apartment complexes.
Kyle looked around at the beautiful architecture as they walked through corridors and feeling somewhat out of place here among the people. When their journey came to an end at Riyo's four Pantoran guards stationed themselves outside the door while two came into the room with Riyo and their guest. Kyle looked around the room taking in the surroundings. He had seen some appartment designs before, but this had a mix between an office and a alcove with the kitchen to the right of the entrance. He saw a couple of couches just pass the kitchen, a thought occurred to him. "Hey just out of curiosity why did you help me in the first place? It's not like I'm ungrateful or anything it left me wondering is all."
Riyo on her part thought about it for a brief moment. "Well you did catch something and getting to a doctor as soon as possible was a good decision on my part. Otherwise we never would have found out what was going on with you." She replied
"Yeah, but I'm a complete stranger. You don't seem like the type of person to just help some random guy out of nowhere." replied Kyle
"Your right this isn't something I normally would do, but I just felt like helping you. There is nothing wrong with doing a good deed once in awhile." She said, he appreciated the kind gesture. As it stands he feels weirded out how lucky that he crossed paths with her. 'Man I wonder what's going on with my body rig-' Before he could finish that thought the senator called out his name.
"Kyle you might want to wash yourself off and change, I'm sure you don't want to walk around smelling like raw fish do you? Don't worry we'll have some spare clothes ready when you finish cleaning up." She does have a point. Kyle knew that he needed one, after all even he could smell himself.
After he was done with the shower he put on a towel and walked over to the mirror. He wiped the fog off the glass to see his reflection. Kyle looked into the reflection of himself to check for any spots he missed. As he was looking he noticed something, his vision was alot clearer than usual, but he just shrugged it off. *Kyle*Then immediately his eyes turned completely white with a black outline spreading out like roots. He closed and rubbed his eyes then shook his head, but felt nothing there. When he looked into the mirror again his eyes were their normal dark brown selves and those black roots were gone. 'Man I'm losing mind here' he thought. Then he heard the door open and a guard called out his name. "Kyle I have a set of clothes ready for you to wear."
"Ok, thanks" He said. He walk over to the entrance and grabbed the spare clothes. Once Kyle was done getting dressed he made his way to the main room and lounged around on the couch. As time went on Kyle converse with one of the guards while Riyo was doing paperwork.
The two were talking about a game called pazaak, going over the rules and how it's played. "It amazes me that a game this old managed to survive tests of time this long." Kyle said as it
"Yeah, even with all the conflicts that occurred throughout the centuries people still kept it alive." As the two were talking the were unaware the commotion that was about to happen outside of the apartment.
A group of six was stealthily approaching the apartment door the Pantoran guards were stationed at. One of them was a rodian that carried a blaster pistol, two weequay carrying blaster rifles, a zabrak dual wielding heavy blaster pistols and the last two humans though one of them was wearing armor with markings over a tattered somewhat baggy tan jumpsuit. He was also had on a long cloth that wrapped around his head leaving his face exposed with most of the cloth forming a turban at the top.
As they got closer the team moved into position to take out the guards. Once they were ready with precision the group opened fire killing all four Pantorans standing guard.
The guard and human just got done talking. Then Kyle felt an odd sensation all over his body, like he was tensing up for some reason. *whatever you do don't open that door.* Came the warning within Kyle's head, he was confused and looked towards the door for a second then back to the senator who was finishing up the rest of her work.
The door open to reveal four individuals that stood over bodies of the men that were outside. This surprised everyone in the room. The two remaining guards got in front of the Riyo and Kyle trying to fight back against the intruders, but wound up getting shot in the process. *Who the hell are these guys!?* The one wearing the turban stepped forward. "Senator chuchi come with us quietly and you won't get hurt." The guy with Turban said not really caring about individual next to her. Kyle felt legitimately scared, especially since one of thugs was pointing his blaster rifle at him. On reflex Kyle put his hands in the air hoping they wouldn't shoot him. *what are you doing?* "I'm putting my hands up." He felt his arms being forced down. *Stop that your making us like bad.* Kyle was fighting to bring his hands back up, in the process he talked back to the voice again. "How am I making us like bad?"
Everyone turn their attention on him while he was talking to himself and throwing his arms up and down. *By acting like a helpless child.* The voice said forcing his arms back down again.
"That's because I am helpless!"
*WHAT?! No you're not!*
"Yes I am."
*No you're not.*
"Yes I am."
*No you're not, you got me to help you through this situation.* the voice reassured inside his head. Then Kyle snapped back at the voice. "Well incase you haven't noticed I'm being held up at gunpoint by a couple of thugs armed with laser guns so if you don't mind could you be a little bit more accommodating to the situation at hand here." Kyle said in a panicked tone not wanting to make matters even worse. *Hmmm...well when you put it that way.*
The rodian in the four man group spoke up. "Hey Dengar what do you want to do with the nutcase here?"
"We're only came here for the Senator anyone else is fair game." Dengar said. This gave the rodian the go ahead to take him out. Time seem to slow down as the thug was getting ready to kill him. Then he felt a wet sensation running down his right arm while in the process of losing control it. A black tentacle with a sharp end shot forward impaling the rodian through the chest at such a blinding speed that no one didn't see coming. The same thing happened with the left arm as well, but this time the tentacle latch onto the human thug on the far left of Kyle and throw him into the ceiling. These actions caught the bounty hunters off guard.
Dengar and the weequay that was with him tried to open fire on this unknown individual, but the tentacles shot out towards them before they could do anything. The right tentacle went for Dengar who was standing to left of Kyle while the other went for the weequay that was to the right. The tentacle that went for Dengar wrapped around his neck while the other latch onto the weequay's face and yanked him into the other tentacle clotheslining the guy.
Dengar was pulled closer to Kyle, he was trying to break free from the tentacle, but failed in the process. "I'm so sorry for this." Kyle said as he slammed Dengar onto the ground. The tentacles retracted only for another one to sprout out of the leg to grab the table and threw it at the second human bounty hunter. Strings of black tendrils sprouted out and linked up together with both hands. "What is this stuff? Kyle asked himself. *Not what, but who and you know exactly who and what I am.* the voice said, whatever it was took control. It turned Kyle's body around and wrapped its black tendrils around the throat of the weequay mercenary that tried to jump him from behind. In a swift motion Kyle flipped the wannabe thug over his shoulder and onto floor knocking out cold. The black tendrils seeped back under the skin, but the black biomass reappeared coating the entire right leg. Dengar managed to recover only to be kicked in the face as Kyle did a backflip with the black biomass covered leg knocking him out again. Kyle landed flat on his stomach after that feat and got back up on his knees and saw another weequay bounty hunter along with a zabrak man came into the room with their guns aimed at the ready. "Oh shit!" Kyle yelled
A tentacle spouted from his left shoulder, it immediately attach itself to the wall and yanked Kyle out of the way just in time to avoid being shot. He landed in the kitchen on his back, thinking quickly he went for any object he get his hands on. He found and pick up a frying pan and a knife, then threw the pan at the zabrak's head dazing him. Then he chucked the knife aiming for the weequay's face, but the bounty hunter dodge out of the way only to get tackled by Kyle. The mercenary manage to stay on his feet, but he was caught in a struggle over his weapon. Kyle held on to the blaster rifle as best he could, but he had to kick and elbow the weequay in order to rip the weapon from his hands.
Kyle was successful, but the mercenary knocked the weapon out of his hands and started punching him. The thug got three hits in before his arm got locked into Kyle's left arm. Kyle saw this opportunity and started punching back with his right. Each punch he threw got stronger noticing the black substance covering his arm growing thicker and more defined muscles. He looked at his arm for a second then grabed the man and instantly threw him into the wall. Kyle turn just time to see the zabrak had recovered from the blow he took and was getting ready to attack him. A black tentacle shot out of his right shoulder and latch onto the zabrak's arm pulling both of them together. Kyle felt like he wasn't in full control of his actions so he just went along with it as best as he could. When Kyle was close enough he was turned around with his back facing the zabrak. The tentacle broke his arm over Kyle's shoulder and the man let out a painful scream. Then Kyle hit the sixth bounty hunter in the groin, abdomen and face. The Tentacle released the battered thug and the black substance covered Kyle's right leg again. Then in a swift motion Kyle kicked the thug so hard he flew through the air hitting and shattering through the window. *Out standing work Kyle, now let's bite off all their heads and pile them up in the corner.* "Wait, why would we do that?" Kyle asked.
*For organization of course! We could make a pile for bodies and a pile for heads.* the voice said. When all the commotion settled down Riyo came out of hiding and looked at all the bounty hunters laid out on the floor. Even though she took cover when the fight started, Riyo saw the whole thing to its end, including the brutality of it. "Thank goodness Are there any more of them?" Asked Riyo feeling a little on edge.
Getting Kyle's full attention on her and he replied."I don't know." Kyle wasn't sure if there was more goons on the way or not.
"What exactly are you, I thought you were just a human being?" Riyo asked Kyle. He was trying to focused on how to respond, but his train of thought was interrupted when he felt a sensation in his back. He saw the shock expression on her face as a black tentacle emerge from the back and shot forward, spearing another human thug as he came in to investigate what went on here.
This made him look back at the person as he fell to the ground and see the tentacle retract back into his body. He took Riyo by the hand led her out of the apartment. "We need to leave." He said as they passed by the dead bodies and unconscious intruders. As they left they didn't notice that Dengar had recovered and call in to report what happened. Kyle and Riyo ran down the hallway they passed by a apartment room that was wide open. They made a left down a corridor that led to the elevator, but the doors to the elevator open up before they even got half way there. When this happen it revealed three more goons carrying blaster rifles. Kyle along with Riyo double back immediately just before they were shot at. Once they reach the corner where they came from blaster bolts flew pass them. They turned back down the same path just to avoid getting hit. As they were running through the corridor Dengar and the weequay were coming down the same direction and spotted them. The two bounty hunters raised their guns at them and started firing. They ran back towards the apartment room that was open. The creature that's inside Kyle's body took control again and pick up Riyo bridal style. He ran to the other end of the room. "Wait, what are you doing?" Riyo said in a panicked tone just before they reach the window Kyle was forcefully turned around as tendrils shot out of his back shattering the glass. They jumped through the broken window. They both screamed as they fell, in this process Kyle's arm was cover in black biomass and aimed at a balcony. Several tendrils shot out towards the railing and latching onto it. They swung two stories down and landed on another balcony with Kyle cushioning the fall for Riyo. After a second they noticed that they're not the only ones there. There was a small party going on all of them immediately noticed and a couple out of the crowd went over to the duo to see if they were alright. "Hey are ya'll ok?" The man asked.
"Wait, how were you able to do that?" A twi'lek woman said as she witnessed the tendril change back into a normal arm. "I'm not sure." Kyle said while him and Riyo were getting to their feet. The odd sensation from earlier came back stronger than before and in a quick motion Kyle turn around with his arm raised. Black biomass quickly covered the arm, stretching out and expanding taking the form of a shield just in time to protect them from blaster bolts. However the shield wasn't strong enough to withstand no more than a few shots and the shield was getting holes burned into it. *AAAHH!* Kyle felt pain arching across the shield as the bolts hit making him get out of the line of fire along with Riyo. This put everyone on alert. Everybody in the room along with Riyo and Kyle quickly got out of there. The biomass shield immediately retracted as they left. As the group went through the corridors Riyo and Kyle split off away from the crowd in a different direction. They came to another elevator and once they got inside Riyo press one of the buttons for it to go down to the lower levels.
The ride down was slow, but it gave them time to relax for the moment. "I'm so glad we got out of there in one piece, by the way you didn't answer my question earlier." Riyo stated, Kyle turned to her a little confused for a second until he realized what she meant.
"Oh I don't know exactly."Kyle said as he examine his arms and hands. Seeing the uncertainty he was displaying she press on. "Look I'm grateful that you protected me, but after seeing you do those things. It leaves me to wonder what else you're capable of." This made him think about everything that has happened over his short. 'Ok she has point, I'm not sure if there are any alien species that can do the things I just did in this universe. Wait, this isn't real it's all just some messed up dream I'm having.' "Hey I'll try to figure this out later, but for now lets just get as far away from here as possible." He replied
The elevator came to a stop and the doors open to a large parking lot filled with various vehicles. They were going to used same vehicle they arrived in earlier today. *Kyle* As they walked pass the vehicles Kyle heard the voice again, but it sounded like it was caming from his left. He stop to look at one of the futuristic cars.