I awoke to the buzzing of my phone, giving my brain the most cursed message that it was in fact, time to get up. I threw the thick blanket off my skinny frame and sat up the fog crouched upon my brain like an Angry god demanding its tribute of Caffeine and sugar. Rubbing my eyes, releasing them from the grip of sleep. Slowly ripping myself from the warm sheets of my much-beloved bed like an ancient titan rumbling from a millennia-long sleep. Trying not to be too loud as I stumbled my way slowly to the door. The house was on the older side, made mostly of old-growth wood and bricks. It had been in the family for a few generations; it sat along Mulberry Avenue just beside the local Cemetery.
Cave City, despite its name, was not a true city, barely cracking 2000 people. As I stumbled past the pictures of me and my brothers through various stages of life I made my way to the Kitchen, my eyes locking on the cupboard where we kept the coffee grounds. I reached and grabbed the small electrical kettle, walked over to the sink, began to fill up halfway, and placed it on the small stand; reaching out, I grabbed the French Press. By the weight, I knew there were still coffee grounds returning to the sink.
As I was waiting for the water to finish boiling I began to wash the coffee grounds from the French Press. The water washed over my hands as I rinsed off the coffee grounds. I knew I wasn't supposed to put them down the sink but any other way was too much of a pain early in the morning. Finishing it up, I returned to the counter where the kettle sat and began scooping the grounds out of the Red Container of Coffee grounds; after putting in three times the recommended amount, I put away the coffee grounds as I waited for the switch to go off. Finally, I heard the small click of the Switch going upwards, signifying its singular task was completed. Grabbing the handle of the kettle, I gently tipped the spout into the open face of the French Press as I poured it in a circular motion, making sure all of the Cheap Coffee Grounds were hit by the boiled water.
After placing the kettle back on its stand, I set a timer on my phone; typing the four-digit password, I flicked over to Timer App and set a 30-minute timer before I turned around and walked into the empty Living Room and flopped down onto the empty couch. Opening up my favorite doomscrolling app, I began to flick through the various short-form videos as I waited impatiently for the exiler of the gods to finish brewing.
Finally, the Timer went off; I quickly made a swiping motion, turning off the sound. As I made my way back to the kitchen, I stopped, grabbed a clean mug from the Dishwasher,, and returned to the countertop where the French Press sat. Pressing down on, slowly separating the grounds from the heavenly concoction. Grabbing the small black handle I slowly poured the steaming black liquid into the mug, putting the French Press down I opened the cupboard and grabbed the small bag of brown sugar I poured the sugar eyeballing the amount as it fell into small clumps, letting one more medium size clump plop into the open mouth of the mug I put the small bag away in the cupboard closed the small door and turned and navigated my way to the white refrigerator opening it, I scanned through its selves finding my quarry I grabbed the slender bottle of store brand coffee creamer. Turning around letting the refrigerator door close on its own. As I made my way there I heard the familiar but subtle sound of the Refrigerator closing behind me. Popping the cap of the hazelnut Creamer, I bent it slightly over the mug watching the white liquid crescendo down the shoot of the lid into the air and pour downwards, pulled by gravity to the mouth of my mug, the liquid fighting the black liquid in a hopeless battle, swallowed completely by the Dark exile. Placing the creamer down on the counter, I turned to my right, reached the silverware drawer, and opened the drawer, scanning the huge-pog of different styles of Silverware that had accumulated over the years. I grabbed one of the smaller spoons and closed the drawer. Turning to my left and returning to my mug, dipping the small spoon, I began to mix the Dark liquid; slowly, the influence of the creamer began to show, turning the liquid from a dark black into a medium brown color. A small smile spread across my face as I tapped the spoon on the rim of the mug three times. I picked up the mug, the warmth from the cup permeating my hand. Turning Right again, I placed the spoon into the sink as I began to walk to the Living room, passing through it and to the Front door, grasping the handle. I slowly turned it and opened the door, and into the sun, its golden rays shining on my face. I walked over to a small bench situated outside and sat down carefully, watching my coffee to make sure it didn't go up past the rim. Sitting down I brought the cup up to my mouth and began to sip the Divine Liquid. The caffeine acted like a beam breaking through the bulwark of fog looming over my mind as I overlooked the neighboring houses and the street, opened up my phone, and started to poke through the various apps.
My morning continued as normal, I texted a few of my friends and soon I pressed on the White Triangle app and began to watch a video on Cave Wildlife, the guy on the video had a similar passion to me, Wildlife Biology, right next to my town was the Mammoth Cave National Park the largest known Cave system on the planet with 426 miles of caves being known and many more theorized to exist. I wanted to be one of the people exploring those depths. I continued to watch as the guy continued to explain how ferns tended to live at the mouth of caves as many prefer shade or indirect light.
I was planning on going to Colorado State to get my degree, and It looked like it was going to shake out. Although I just finished my Junior Year I hadn't applied yet.
Three missing calls from (Dad)
Wtf? I swiped over to my dad's contact and pressed it open.
'Ring', 'Ring', 'Ring'
After the third Ring, my Dad picked up his voice, sounding confused and eerily uncertain.
"Son why haven't you picked up the Pho- you know what that doesn't matter now"
The steady cadence of his voice seemed off. "What's Wrong?" I asked, the uncertainty seeping through the cracks of my voice.
"Have you seen the news, Kien?" He stated some of his voice returned to normal but I could tell he was uncertain.
"No, I haven't, what happened?" I asked worry, possibilities flashed through my mind, a family member had an accident, WW3, North Korean Nukes, a Pandemic, the slow, steady march of infinite possibilities, each more unrealistic than the previous as the few seconds stretched onwards.
Until my Father finally responded, "There's A Crack in the Sky, a great gaping void. It just ap-" Then a snap crackle, and my father's Voice went silent. Checking to see if I had hung up by accident, just to see my Phone begin to smoke; throwing it away quickly, I watched as my phone began to melt on itself. Then a small window appeared in front of me
....
Name: Kien Noble
Level 1
Race: Lower Human
-Rank One Sapient
Health:(100/100)
Mana:(0/0)
Primary Class: [Press Here]
Secondary Class: Empty
Trinary Class: Empty
Body Status:1
Strength:1
Agility:1
Regeneration:1
Endurance:1
Durability:1
Mind Status:
Wisdom:1
Intellect:1.6
Memory:1
Perception:1
Intuition:1.2
Soul Stats: 1
Willpower:1.5
Mana:1
Luck:2
Titles:N/A
Achievements:N/A
....
The Window knew my Name, Kien Noble. How in the Flippty Fuck did it know my name? I mean, to be fair, it wouldn't be too hard; it is the age of Information.
What did it mean by [Low Human] though?
That seems purposely insulting; what constitutes [Low Human] from, say, something like [High Human]? If there's a [Low Human], then it tracks that there should be a High One, right? Or was that Human logic, it was possible this was completely Alien.
Looking at the smoking puddle that was my phone, I had the feeling that the crack in the Sky had something to do with this.
I tried to blink away the Screen, and to my surprise, it disappeared into a small corner of my vision. Shakely, I reached up and Plugged my Cup of Coffee; little did I know how long until my next one. I stood up and slammed open the front door just to get wafted in the face by smoke as I looked around. All of our electric stuff had melted like my phone and had set the stuff next to it on fire. Rushing forward, I saw the electric kettle had melted and had ignited the wood around it, burning the coffee and other foodstuff. Quickly I dashed past the heaps of slagged electronics and into the hallway grabbed the of kind photos and ran into my Room quickly I grabbed my old bag packed the other a burning heap and quickly stuffed a few things of clothes before rushing through the now quickly burning Family Home of the Nobles for the last 4 generations. Quickly I dashed out the backdoor and into the backyard.