Chương 1: Forged Through Failure - Book one of the Eternal Spark

It was a late, cloudy Sunday afternoon in London. Joseph Caldwell stood outside one of his local shops waiting for his good friend Kairos to return, with hopefully copious amounts of alcohol. Today was a day of celebration. Joe had just won the lottery, the lottery of jobs. He had been headhunted by a company known as Avo Garde and subsequently was offered his dream job as a choreographer for one of the most popular music bands currently in the world.

"When do you fly out?" Joe turned to the voice addressing him. He was about to reply when he was unexpectedly interrupted by a strange phenomenon that was about to change everything. Global System Message Beep, Beep, Beep, Ding.

"Integration complete." The strange sequence of beeps echoed inside Joe's skull, resonating like ripples in a still pond. The semi-robotic voice reverberated, leaving an uncanny trail of static that seemed to linger in his mind. Integration? Complete?

"What the fuck was that?" The words tumbled from his mouth, his voice slightly quivering in unease. His eyes darted to Hakeem, who stood a few feet away.

"You heard that?"

"Yes, I did. I.." Hakeem's words faltered as his gaze swept over their surroundings. Joe took in the scene around them. Everything, the bustling street, the cacophony of voices, the hum of engines, had come to a stop. The world around him stood frozen, an eerie tableau of suspended life. People pressed their hands to their heads, their expressions locked in mid-motion, eyes wide in frozen, silent peace. What in the world was going on?

It looked like invisible hands had reached down and gripped reality itself, holding everything hostage. A dense fog wrapped around his thoughts. He tried to shake it off, but the grogginess clung to him, unyielding. His mouth moved wordlessly. Something was very, very wrong. His gaze shifted to the nearby shop, where his other friend, Kairos, stared back at him through the glass. Wide-eyed confusion covered Kai's face as he tried to comprehend what was happening to them.

Then, as suddenly as it had all begun, the stillness dissolved. The oppressive fog lifted, and the world lurched back into motion. The hum of engines returned, footsteps resumed their rhythm, and the frozen expressions of the people around them melted away.

"Fuck that was weird," Hakeem muttered, his voice breaking the fragile silence that hung in the air. His words seemed to act as a catalyst, unleashing the pent-up confusion of the crowd around them. A cacophony of voices erupted, filling the street with noise and shouted questions.

"What was that!"

"Did you hear that?"

"Hey! What the hell was that?" Joe instinctively moved closer to the shop, his heart beating loudly. Kai emerged from the shop, a bag of canned drinks clutched in his hands. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Guys, what the hell is going on?" Kai's voice was low but urgent.

"No idea." Joe replied, "But we should go right now. People here are starting to freak out." He gestured sharply toward Hakeem's flat, just around the corner. Not needing any encouragement, his two friends quickly followed as they weaved through the crowd of people around them. It didn't take long for the trio to duck down a narrow alley, the noise growing quieter as they left the busy street behind them.

"What do you think Integration means?" Kai asked no one in particular. Joe exhaled sharply.

"I don't know, man. I don't even know what to think right now." He ran a hand through his short, curly hair. His mind drifted to some of the games he used to play back in college. He also remembered an… His thoughts were interrupted by the semi-robotic female voice. Global System Message"Welcome, inhabitants of World 43. Now that system designation Orion 281 has completed integration; we will commence with the system tutorial. Generating tutorial gates, please stand by." Beep"Shit!" Joe exclaimed.

"System? Um, guys, what the hell is going on?" Kai spun around in a panic.

"Why is there a voice? What is it talking about?" Joe extended a hand towards Kai, placing it firmly on his shoulder. Kai's confusion was quickly spiralling into a panic. But why wasn't he, Joe, panicking? That thought gnawed at him. Sure, he'd played games with systems like this and read stories of similar scenarios, but this wasn't a game. Or was it? Was he in a game?

"Kai, relax," Hakeem said calmly.

"I have no idea what is going on, but I think we just need to get to the flat, and then we can think about what to do next." Kai glanced at Hakeem, his breathing slowing slightly as he tried to steady himself.

"How can you be calm right now? Some crazy voice spoke into our heads!" Kai said, his voice trembling. Joe gave Kai a slight push in the direction of Hakeem's flat.

"It's fucking weird, but let's move on and get off the side of the road." He cast a weary glance at the people around them. The chaos was building fast. Shouting filled the air as the unease spread through the crowd, morphing into full-blown panic.

"Things are getting ugly," Joe muttered. The three quickened their pace toward Hakeem's flat, weaving through the growing disorder. But as they approached the entrance, their progress was abruptly halted once again. Global System Message"Generating Tutorial Gates, please prepare." It looked like the space before them started to warp. A circle of moving air formed in the centre of the warped area and gradually expanded out, leaving behind a green water-like substance in its place. But it was not water.

It stretched out before them vertically, reaching up to four or five metres in height. After about a minute, the circle of air stopped expanding, and they were left staring at the strange green gate that the voice said was being generated.

"What the hell is that?" Kai mumbled.

"I think that is a gate," Hakeem responded first.

"Shit, this can't be real, right?" Joe said, " Dude, is this happening right now?" He looked over at Hakeem and placed one hand on Kai's shoulder. Hakeem looked at him, then at his hand, then back at him. Then, down at his other hand that had suddenly appeared around his elbow. Horror suddenly written across his face.

"Don't you da…." He didn't have time to finish his sentence as Joe pushed with one hand and pulled with the other and dragged his two unfortunate friends into the green floating watery gate thing with a giant smile across his face.

*** Error, Error, 101 gates opened. Removal of extra gate advised…. Warning! Warning! Gate currently occupied by three entrants, Removal impossible… Error Error: Gate 101 is not a Tutorial gate…. Bloodline Gate registered to World 43…. Error Error gate difficulty not registered…. Re-calculating…. Warning! Warning! Gate is not at the advised difficulty for Tutorial World…. Assessing Difficulty… Warning! Warning! Gate registered as Black gate, difficulty unknown. Closing gate front; no other entrants are allowed.

All current entrants are designated as deceased. Registration on Tutorial scoreboards removed ***