Rings of the Realms

Chapter 1: AMONG USMany Millenia ago, there existed two forces. Two co-dependent forces. The light…and the darkness. The energy formed by the inter-relationship between these two created the world as we know it. You call that the big bang, right? Well, our ancient language termed it ‘principium’, meaning… ‘the beginning’. Everything we see and feel and touch and hear was a product of their ‘relationship’. Everything…except us, Humans. The only beings capable of harnessing just the tiniest bit of energy the ancient forces emitted. They failed, many times, to create that one, perfect, being. Many prototypes otherwise known as errata, ‘The mistakes’, were forsaken almost as quickly as they emerged. But finally, we were formed. And to spice things up just a little, the forces bestowed on us certain gifts. The light gave us monsters. Of every shape, being and form. Pretty dark for a force that was termed ‘the light’ don’t you think? But with those monsters, he also gifted us the power to

Chapter 3: MY FAULTPresent Day"Lisa come on, don't let go. Don't let go" he pleaded as tears ran down his sandy face. "I'll pull you up on three. One, two, three. Ahhhhhh" he screamed, using the last piece of decent energy his battered body could muster. All to no avail. "Come on. Don't— Help! Somebody help! Please" he screamed, his cracked voice echoing throughout the canyon. "Please" he whispered, trying to clean the tears off his face, but only succeeding in getting specks of sand all over himself. "Baby" she finally spoke up, her feet dangling treacherously under her. "It's okay" she sniffed, trying to conceal her tears. "It'll be fine. We'll be fine. Just let me go.""What?""You can't hold me up forever" she mustered a weak smile. "Just let go.""Are you crazy? No. No. We can do this. On three. One, two, three. Ahhhhhh!" As he pulled this time, the scar under his belly scratched the rough floor, making him grunt in pain and causing his grip to gradually loosen. "No no no no n

Chapter 5: I WANT TO KNOW. CAN YOU SHOW ME“It’s really very surprising Robert. I’ve actually been waiting for you for a while now. You’re the last piece we’ve all been waiting to meet.”“Okay, first off, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. Secondly, if you could stop the thing you’re doing with the lights… however you’re doing it” he pointed to the flashing light bulb over him, “…yeah I’d really, really appreciate it. And thirdly, what exactly do you mean by “’we’ve’ been waiting”? Who’s we?”"Here" she said, pointing to the book on the table that definitely didn't catch the eye till this moment. She picked it up and flipped it open. Elizabeth Garner and Taylor Carlyle, your sisters… foster sisters, attended her funeral. They were the first ones here, and the first of the eight of you guys to be cleared on what's actually going on here.""What do you mean by 'what's actually going…""Makayla Fackler was here two years ago, similar predicament. Only difference is she aske

Chapter 7: If You’re Reading This…“Come on Robert, you can do this. Two, Zero, Zero, zero”, he mumbled to himself, inputting the code into the space made for it on the box. “Yeah. That’s got to be the right one. Right?” He tried opening the box, but still, it was locked tighter than the wardrobe a black mother would hide candy. “Fuck!” he yelled, throwing the box from his bed to the thin walls of his apartment, echoing with a loud thud. “Robert!” His upstairs neighbor yelled. “Sorry Miss Crawford. It won’t happen again”, he shakily said, walking towards the box and picking it up as carefully as he could. “It better not. You know what happened the last time.”“Yes Ma’am, and I’m sorry” he repeated, sounding a little more frustrated now. Now, he began to pay more attention to the details of the mysterious ‘pandora-like’ box. Its indecisive patterns had to tell a message, right? Slowly caressing the box with his hands, he tried the more mental approach to opening this rather annoyin

Chapter 9: Pandora’s Box“You’ve got to be fucking with me. I hate my life”, He said standing on the wrong end of a bungalow’s prison-like gate, the spaces between the bars giving him enough room to peep through. “You have now reached your…”“Shut up, would you?” he said, switching off his phone and slipping it into his jean pocket. He assessed the gate, trying to calculate how far and high he would need to job to get over it. Could’ve just knocked or rattled the padlock to get attention from whoever was in the house though. “I mean, it’s doable but I haven’t parkoured in a long long time.” He added, stretching out and watching the passerby’s around to see if anyone was paying too much attention the stunt he was about to pull. Turns out when your weekend’s cut short and you’re back in town attending meetings, filing reports and going for appointments, nobody really gives a shit. “Ok then, let’s give it a shot, shall we?” He took off his backpack and flung it over the gate, landing w