TheresaMelania
New Member
Earth. Home to humans among various other creatures. Humans have spent their entire existence striving to understand their home. It began with understanding the area around them, then the area next to them, their continent, their hemisphere, the world, then out into space. Years and countless lives have been spent trying to understand the universe whether this is through philosophy, religion, or science. Many believe that they are alone, the only sentient species to live and study the world around them.
While some may guess and theorize, what people do not realize is that they are certainly not alone. There may not be sentient life elsewhere in the universe, but the human universe is not alone. Indeed there are countless other universes floating like bubbles through a "space" we will call the Ezer - the area between universes. The Ezer flows, twisting and turning, moving the universes. Sometimes these bubbles collide, causing an overlapping area which appears as portals which bridge the universe. These universes may not have the same rules at all - what may be a universal law in one is broken in the other. When they collide, the Ezer attempts to not only bridge the gap through the portals but also reconcile the rules. This causes myriad strange effects to happen to the inhabitants of each realm. People near the rifts "manifest" and develop abilities not normal for their universe although they may fit in better with the other universe. In cases where only small portals open briefly, this can go completely unnoticed.
Some species have learned to study the movements of these universes through the appearance of portals allowing them to predict how long they might be in contact with a particular universe and when it might next happen. Trade routes have even arisen between universes which collide often. Some scholars have noticed the portals opening more frequently particularly among their "neighbor" universes and have begun to predict a mass collision is on course. What no one knows is that Earth is at the center of it and the clock is ticking toward a mass collision concentrated on Earth and the humans who think they are alone.
~~~
** Harima and Eskal **
Deep in the jungle wilderness of Jaran, Harima and Eskal travel alone. It has been many moons since they left their tribe and home, outcast by those they had called friends and family. But they would return once they had gathered power. Harima's anger boiled inside her even boiling over to Eskal who growled low underneath her, vibrating his huge chest with the force of their rage. The only question remaining in their joined minds was how to obtain the power and allies necessary. It had been many years since the last portal opened to a strange land. Although their life-style was completely dependent on the portals, none of the Jaranae understood how they worked and they had taken on a pseudo-religious importance. The last portal had brought through short furry creatures which had only waged war on them for the decade that the portal remained open. No knowledge had been gained as the creatures seemed very similar in technology and completely lacked magic. The portal before that had brought the people of Harima's father, the Esquk, a bird-like species with wings and feathers who soared through a realm with mostly sky. The scales on her body so far were the only signs of her parentage she displayed, though she was still young. Her father's people had brought ideas of science and great magic with them as they were primarily scholars not warriors. Although her people had all but discounted it as unimportant, Harima knew better and waited for the chance to prove it with the next portal.
~~~
** Amana **
Amana... Awake
The voice echoed through her, a soft wordless whisper, although she understood it all the same. How long had it been since she was last awake? Amana opened her eyes to the flurries of snow all around her, half-buried in the icy flakes. Shifting underneath the mass, she rose and surveyed the sheets of white and blue around her. It was summer then, she thought. She could still see around her and the cold wasn't reaching her bones yet. This storm would soon end and the beasts would come out to find what didn't survive. Last time the voice had awoken her it had been winter. When was the last time she had stayed and adventured here? She didn't know. But it wasn't time yet.
Where do I go? she asked the voice.
Home, it whispered and she disappeared from the snowscape as if she had never been there.
~~~
** Kevin **
Kevin cursed at the Denver traffic, stuck once again at the intersection near Coors field. The light would turn green and the traffic would inch forward. Then red and he'd be stuck again. If he could just get past this light it might lighten up. It was 8:30 AM and he was definitely running late. He and Sarah had agreed to leave before traffic got bad but he had completely slept through his alarm. Hopefully Sarah would have gotten his quickly written text of "Slept in! So sorry!" and be waiting for him. If only traffic would move.
A short time later he finally pulled up in front of her apartment and shut off the car. His one bag and backpack were both on the back seat but he really didn't know how much she was bringing.
