DEFIANCE OF THE FALL: VOLUME ONE

Prologue – Welcome to the Multiverse Information is power. It can both be the sword with which you impale your enemy, or the sword you impale yourself upon. That was what was going through Zac’s head as he walked through the woods, a small hatchet in his hand and his face glowing with a sheen of perspiration and irritation. He was still unsure of how a short mention about spending time in his family’s cabin as a child turned into him being tasked with bringing firewood back to the campsite. He pushed some intrusive shrubbery out of the way as he ventured further into the woods. Maybe his friends were laughing it up as they stayed by the fire in their cozy chairs with a few beers while he was living the age-old scenario of man versus nature. Swinging his hatchet, he chopped off a small twig, but immediately saw that it would make terrible firewood due to how fresh it was. What the hell did he know about gathering firewood anyhow? It had always been his dad gathering it for their cabin, and Zac was pretty sure that he had actually bought it rather than cutting down trees. It was a sweltering day in May, with high humidity, even though not a cloud was in sight, probably from yesterday’s drizzle. This, along with it being spring, made Zac seriously doubt whether any of these trees made for a decent fire if chopped down. The humidity and moisture in the wood would turn the campsite into an inferno of tear-inducing smoke at the first lick of fire. If it was even possible to light the fire at all. Besides, this whole area was part of a nature reserve, and he was not really sure if there were legal ramifications to cutting anything down. Still, he trudged on, brushing his now sticky hair out of his face as he surveyed the surroundings. For exactly what, Zac still didn’t know. He was still half-hoping to run into a neatly stacked pile of firewood secured under a tarp, left behind by some more adroit forester. Zac had been walking around aimlessly now for fifteen minutes, and he wasn’t really cut out for this, so he could really use the backup. Which was sort of ironic, as his appearance would usually indicate someone who has a good command of the great outdoors. Standing at five feet eleven with a set of broad shoulders, sporting a flannel shirt with the arms rolled up to his elbows, he at least somewhat looked the part. But the slightly too even beard, the pudge at his belly, and the lack of wiry muscles coming from manual labor were signs of a far more sedentary lifestyle. He was actually just a marketing consultant who jumped onto the bandwagon and got the slightly grizzly look, as it seemed pretty popular at the moment. And it did actually pay dividends. This trip was arranged with his new girlfriend, Hannah, and three of her friends. Truth be told, had it not been for the heat and the humidity, he wouldn’t really have minded this solo trip into the woods. It is always a weird situation, being a new addition to a group that has years of history together. To figure out the dynamics and personalities of everyone while keeping up with conversations where half the content is inside jokes and stories from before you were in the picture. Of course, Hannah’s friends mostly seemed like decent people. David was open and cheerful, and the trip would likely have lost much of its energy had he not been there. Unfortunately, David’s interests diverged with Zac’s, him being into soccer and hockey, and Zac into video games and art. This made it a bit harder to find things to talk about during the long trip up into the woods. But he was still a guy Zac wouldn’t mind having a beer with. David’s girlfriend, Izzie, was a harder pill to swallow, with her unceasing grandstanding about whatever issue she could insert into the conversation, be it veganism, environmental conservation, or social issues. Of course, Zac generally agreed with her points of view, but it did get tiring to be constantly preached to. It’s ironic, he thought. It’s often the kids of the elite who get like this. He had heard from Hannah that Izzie’s father was some sort of manager at a hedge fund, and her mother was a partner at a high-end law firm. Apparently, a complete lack of supervision and unlimited funds leaves one with a surplus of energy that needs to be directed somewhere. And in her case, it was usually a crusade against “the Man” and the corporate machine. Still, it was hard to stay annoyed forever with her, as her bubbling energy was somewhat infectious. Which left Tyler. Or the Snake, as Zac renamed him in his head. He seemed like a charismatic enough guy and had those annoyingly clean-cut good looks. Had he been in a movie, he’d be cast as the good-looking jerk the heroine was dating before she found her true love, which was somewhat his situation here. Not that Tyler and Hannah had ever been a couple, but most people had probably expected them to sooner or later get together considering how often they hung out with David and Izzie in some sort of faux-double-date-fashion. Zac was not overly surprised with the hidden hostility he’d gotten from Tyler since the day they first met two months back. Tyler probably felt that I sabotaged the grand plan of the universe when I came along and inserted myself into Hannah’s, and by extension his, life, Zac thought with a snicker. “Maybe I should get back after all…” he mumbled, a slight unease at the situation lingering, adding to his general irritation of being stuck in the woods, waving around a hatchet like an i***t. He wasn’t really a jealous guy, but also not a huge fan of leaving his girlfriend with a vulture circling around. And it wasn’t like he would magically produce some firewood by walking around in this forest any longer. He adjusted his grip on the axe and once again readjusted his bangs, which by now were a walnut mess of wax and sweat, and started veering back towards camp. He had trekked in somewhat of a semicircle and should return back to the vicinity of the camp, or at least the road they took to get here, if he just kept veering right. After walking along for another five minutes, battling the constant threat of shrubbery and mosquitoes, Zac came up to a small clearing. Insidious shrubbery and intrusive twigs gave way to rustling grass and patches of bloodroot and cardinals. Somehow it felt like an oasis, with a noticeable lack of things to scratch him, and the sounds of wildlife felt somewhat subdued. Not a bad place for a camp should we decide to move it a bit further into the woods, he mused as he walked into the center of the glade, taking a last look around before turning toward the direction of his camp. But as he prepared to leave, all sounds suddenly stopped without notice, turning to an almost deafening form of silence he hadn’t really ever felt before. Just a breath later, the world was darkness. [Initiating System…] [Welcome to the Multiverse.] Roll for Survival [Initiating System…] [Welcome to the Multiverse.] A cold, detached voice echoed in Zac’s ears. Or in my head? he thought while looking around, confused. Nothing in his life had prepared him for his current circumstances, and for a second, he thought there was an extreme solar eclipse happening. All that greeted his eyes was complete and utter darkness. The only thing visible was himself, as if there was an invisible source of light shining just on him, leaving the rest of the world in black. “Heatstroke?” he muttered hesitantly even though this didn’t feel like some heat-induced delirium. But before he could further analyze these baffling events, the monotone voice interrupted his train of thought. [Planet Earth scanning complete. Low F-grade mass, ungraded energy.] [Adjusting…] [Due to insufficient energy and size, planet Earth will be merged with additional planets drafted for initiation. New values: Low D-grade mass, low D-grade energy. Topography readjusted. Spawn points randomized based by cohorts. Wildlife upgraded due to insufficient challenge. Link to the Multiverse System activated.] “What? Hello?” he shouted, or at least he thought he did, as the utter blackness seemed like a natural dampener, squelching all sound. But the voice seemed unaware or uncaring of his calls. This was starting to feel less like some extremely elaborate practical joke or heatstroke, as everything felt just too real. Zac pinched himself, and the sting told him he hadn’t passed out either. Trying to glean any meaning from the ramblings from the odd voice only made him more confused. It spoke about Earth, but also used some terms that felt like they came out of a sci-fi movie or a video game. However, the voice gave Zac no opportunity to figure the situation out as it heedlessly droned on. [Initiating Incursions. Spawning Heral–] [ERROR! Herald occupying same space as you! Adjusting…] A more blaring version of the same mechanical voice interrupted itself. The ominous voice and the message quickly accelerated Zac’s heartbeat, and he got a sinking feeling. This was all too real in its craziness, and if this was real, he was in deep s**t. He was told he occupied the same space as some herald, and no matter how he looked at it, it couldn’t be anything good. Erring on the side of caution, he jumped to the side to avoid whatever would happen, but it was as though he were in space. He made the motions of movement but remained exactly where he was. [Merge unfeasible. Protocol SL-34572 initiated.] “Phew.” At least he wouldn’t be turned into a half human, half herald, whatever that was. But the fact that the voice seemed to be ready to mash him together with another being was extremely unsettling, and his unease was quickly turning into panic. Zac mentally tried to force himself to awaken, and when that didn’t work, he even slapped himself hard in the face. But nothing worked, and he was still stuck in the darkness. [Roll for survival. Due to the massive power gap between Herald Ur’Khaz and you, odds heavily in his favor.] “s**t!” Zac screamed, or rather squeaked. The panic was now full-blown, and adrenaline coursed through his veins. “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” But again, the only thing greeting his inquiries was utter silence until there was a break in the darkness. Seemingly from nowhere, a screen popped up in front of him, hovering silently. The window looked like something taken out of an old video game, blue with white edges and text. The surreal situation made him blank out for a few seconds before registering what the screen actually said. Ur’Khaz | 1–100,000 | ROLL Zachary Atwood | 1–100 | ROLL It resembled a prompt from a video game, and the familiarity actually calmed him down for a second until he reread what it said and realized the implications. At that point his panic threatening to evolve into hysteria. It looked like the window was a prompt for rolls between him and this herald, but instead of loot, they were rolling for their survival. And the roll ranges were clearly skewed in his opponent’s favor, giving Zac abysmal odds for actually surviving. “Hello? This isn’t funny anymore. Let me out!” he screamed, hoping against hope that this was all some insane experiment. But the reality of the situation was starting to set in. Zac stared numbly at the screen in front of him for a few seconds as if to comprehend what he was seeing. “This is crazy. Wanting me to gamble with these odds? Why the hell would I roll?” Zac muttered. But the second he said “roll,” the screen changed, and the numbers next to his name started to rapidly change. [Protocol SL-34572 accepted by participant. Rolling…] “No, no, no, wait, wait. Stop. Let’s figure out a different solution!” he shouted, waving his arms in a panicked attempt to stop the proceedings. But no matter what he did, the numbers kept spinning. It was as though they were rapidly counting down his remainder of time on Earth. Terror was slowly turning into rage in Zac’s mind over the messed-up situation he was in. Rage over the complete and utter lack of answers. Rage over the obviously paltry assessment of him by the voice, seeing the obvious disparity in treatment between him and this Ur’Khaz guy. Rage over the scammy way the voice had started the roll, as though it looked for a loophole to proceed. With a red tint that suffused his otherwise blue eyes, Zac roared and smashed the hovering screen in an effort to vent his fraying emotions. The screen, however, did not acquiesce to his feelings and shatter in a million pieces, but only flickered slightly. Unheeding of any attempts at a physical catharsis, the numbers once again flashed intermittently, and the spinning started to slow down until it stopped at a final number. Almost as an afterthought, it also added an infuriating line instead of the roll button. Ur’Khaz | 1–100,000 | ROLL Zachary Atwood | 98 | Rerolls unavailable Something about the reroll message sucked the energy out of him. It really wasn’t a bad roll. If this were in a game, I’d definitely have won the loot, he thought with a morbid sense of humor. But by this point, he was quite aware that this was no game. He still held out some hope that he was still lying unconscious in the woods from massive heatstroke. But if that were true, he most likely was a goner as well. So, either he was about to be killed by the sun, or by a video-game god. Neither was an ending he had expected or hoped for. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, his face settled on a sickly grin as he blankly stared ahead. Of course, all hope wasn’t lost, as the other individual hadn’t rolled yet. But it didn’t really feel like it mattered when the game was rigged. He once again took a glance at the screen, and his eyes lingered for a second on the roll range of the other entity. The smile slowly shrank away from his face. A sigh escaped his mouth like a deflating balloon, and he closed his eyes and slumped down to a sitting position. All of Zac’s strength and energy were wrung out by the situation and a roller coaster of emotions. Only a bleak sense of despair remained as he realized that this was it. Dead alone in the woods, never being able to say goodbye to his family and loved ones. Zac had no epiphanies or huge regrets at this point, the likely end of his life. Except that he wished he had been closer and better to his family. His mind drifted to memories of his past as a solace and escape from the insanity he was experiencing. Hazy recollections of his mother hugging him, her long brown locks cascading around him in her embrace. His dad giving him a quiet smile as he opened the door of their apartment to head to work, his eyes sad and tired but full of love. Spending most of his youth plastered in front of the computer, largely ignoring his smaller sibling. College years drowned in alcohol and partying. First day at his job, and the humbling realization of how ill-prepared for adult life he was even after seventeen years of school and university. [Protocol SL-34572 accepted by Herald. Rolling…] The monotone voice again droned, like an executioner giving final rites. [Congratulations!] Zac didn’t bother with the voice anymore as memories flashed past in his mind one by one. Friends, family, and events both happy and sad. Not the most exciting of lives, but it was his… Wait, what, congratulations? His eyes snapped open and refocused on the monitor. Ur’Khaz | 91 | Rerolls Unavailable Zachary Atwood | 98 | Rerolls Unavailable Stunned, he stared blankly at the screen until the voice interrupted his lack of thought. [Protocol results in the continued existence of Zachary Atwood. Ur’Khaz vanquished. Resuming standard protocols.] A nauseating explosion of light, color, and sound took over, disorienting him and turning his insides to mush. His body suddenly felt like it was on fire, tearing and scorching him all over. The last things he saw before passing out was the small clearing he disappeared from and a huge red pillar reaching toward the sky.