• Chapter 1: the beginning

    "Why are we here again?" Cody asked. "We are here to learn the layout of this place before we carry "it" out" Will replied "now stop talking so much or "they" will hear us." a bell rang and everyone was in there own seat ready to learn. "Now let’s take roll" a female teacher walks in the door carrying a clipboard and a pen. "lets see . . . John is here, Patrick is here, Cody is here, Ali is here, Karin is here, Bill, Marcy, Grace, Will, Sam . . . everyone is here now lets begin today’s lesson!"

    * * * * * *

    The year is 2012 bce. International peace has transpired. But in the state of Virginia, in the little city of Newport News, at the new school of Obama high, that peace will be shattered. Today is November 4th, election day. Everything is fairly normal. People lined up to vote and kids have a nice day off. The candidate everyone is voting for is Polar. It will be a historic moment in history that a non-American-born will be voted into office. The other candidate, who has no chance of winning, is Orpheus. Polar will soon win in a landslide victory and will be the 56th president of the United States. Then, in a small voting booth in the center of all the silent commotion and concentration, a voting machine stalls ands starts to click and whir after a few seconds it stops completely and explodes. A few seconds later, more voting machines blow up and there is total panic on this lovely day of November 4th 2012 bce.

    The end is near . . .


    * * * * * *

    "An explosion rocked the new developing neighborhood circling Obama high today after a Series of bombs went off that were apparently hidden inside the voting machines scattered in the Gymnasium of Obama high. The human toll is still rising as more reports of dead and injured are still coming in --" the buzz of the TV died as he pressed the mute button.

    "Well now they did it. They destroy my masters now they destroy my learning facility. Just wait. They will pay with the lives of their loved ones and then, their own." a cloaked figure sitting in front of a TV in a dark and empty room yelled. His bug familiars gathered sensing the rage building in their master. "What should we do master?" one familiar spoke up. It was incinerated instantly. "You can help by tracking "them" down and finding who they are close to. Then report back to me for further orders. Can you handle that?" said the cloaked figure having regained some composure. The troop of bugs of all assortments responded in a chorus "yes master" they scurried out of the room leaving the figure alone with a muted TV and an empty chair "they will pay"

    * * * * * *

    The above passage is from a latter part in the story of Armageddon. All this is happening in the not-so-distant future for our young hero Cody.

    Cody is a boy of eighteen who attends the new school. He is six foot two and a half and weighs one hundred and sixty five pounds. He has black eyes which is not unusual with the friends he hangs out with. His hair is short and spiky with a nice milk chocolate brown color to it. His skin tone is a nice sandy color with nice tan arms. Cody’s favorite color is green and likes to read manga and shoot archery targets in his spare time. He will eat pretty much anything and is studying to be a culinary artist

    Cody, it seems, is a magnet for trouble. For him though it is all a part of life. This is because he lost his mother, his father, and lastly his older brother, mark, while he was still a young boy.

    His mother was an innocent, not knowing anything can’t be let to know anything. She was killed by a drunk driver while he was at the age of five. His father was a retired hit man who, knowing nothing about the world of magic, was easily overtaken and killed by a renegade wizard. He was murdered on the day after Cody’s seventh birthday. Mark on the other hand was always there for Cody. He always looked after him, protected him from bullies and always taught Cody to stand up for himself. The two of them worked the nights away and went to school during the day. But no matter how hard their life was they took comfort in the fact that they had each other. That was until Cody’s fifteenth birthday.

    This person, that was ordinary in every way, came up to Mark one night as he and Cody where going to work. Mark realizing who he was after started to run. Seeing the boy run away the man gave chase. After catching up to mark, the man got out a smoking gun and shot mark in the forehead between the eyes. Mark died on the spot. The man uttered a few unrecognizable words and marks body burst into flames then disappeared. This person was only recognizable by a tattoo on his arm. It was an image of two swords crossed above a flame that looked so real that you thought you could burn yourself by just being near it.

    Our story begins in this young man’s dream . . .

    * * * * * *

    I saw him. I saw him get killed. I don’t know if saw me. If he did see me I'm in big trouble. But why did he not come after me? Why did Mark run? Why did he burst into flames? Why did he have to be killed in the first place? Why was nobody else around to see what happened? Who would want to kill him anyway? We where always good kids . . . Why was I so weak? Why did I not do anything? Why did he have that weird tattoo? What does this all mean? Why him? . . . Why me? . . . Why then? . . . That time? . . . Why . . .

    "NNOOOOOOOO! . . . Huff . . . huff" He woke himself with his yelling. He was in a cold sweat ". . . phew. It was all a dream. Or was it? It felt so real that time . . ." He paused. It felt like he was being watched. Cody looked around the dirty and cluttered room. The computer in the corner was still on from last night’s ‘research’ and was glowing a faint blue color from lack of a screen saver. The dresser by the bed had old pictures and mementos he had gotten over the years. A stack of ‘shonen jump’ magazines piled on the other side of the bed. The collection was piled higher than the bed now in five unorganized stacks. There was a bookcase next to the far wall and was crammed full of miscellaneous books. The only light sources in the room were coming from behind the curtains, the computer, and the alarm clock.

    “What time is it?” Cody whispers to himself. He turns over to look at the clock. The clock shows the time with robotic apathy. Then he jumps out of bed and runs over to the clock. “Something isn’t right here” Cody says picking up the clock. His eyes widen as he realizes what it is. The clock is not only heavier, but the name of the company has been changed. Then a shiver runs down his spine. There next to the company logo is the image of that tattoo on Mark’s killer.

    Throw it out the window. The words just appear in Cody’s head. He didn’t think them so who? The clock starts to glow and whir. Without knowing what he was doing his hand acts on its own and throws it out the window with a strength that was not his. The clock breaks through the window and clears it by a good forty feet. The alarm clock starts to ring and explodes in a huge fireball.

    “Good job. I didn’t think you would see it in time.” A dark, cold voice said with almost no emotion “We will be watching and we will be back. We will not stop until you are dead and gone, FOR GOOD. . .” The voice came from the hallway outside the room. Outraged Cody yelled “Who are you?!” The voice replied to him I am the harbinger of the apocalypse and . . . you will . . . all . . . die . . .” Cody hearing this stormed out of the room into the hallway only to find nothing. No person, no machine, nothing other than his own hallway and the morning light.

    “CRAP!” Cody yelled “now they are after me! What is with me that they want me dead for?” Cody got dressed, deep in thought. He put on a pair of camo cargo jeans and a green ‘Fairfax’ T – shirt. Cody then proceeded to put on his grey Velcro tennis shoes he had just bought. “At least I think it was all a dream . . .” He grabbed his backpack and glasses and walked out the door. A glint of metal caught his eye. He ducked knowing, from too many action movies, that a bullet would whiz by his head. But the bullet never came. As he stood up and took a step forward his foot caught something. He heard a snap and napalm started to spray at him. A hand grabbed Cody and pulled him back into the house.

    Safely inside he veered around about to beat the crap out of the man who talked to him earlier, but instead found himself looking into the face of his friend. “WILL?!?! What are you doing here?” It was indeed William.

    William was an eighteen year old boy also attending the same school as Cody. Will was about six feet tall and about one hundred fifty pounds. He had reddish orange color hair and also liked to keep it short. He was standing there in his normal green trench coat and had a weird design on his black shirt. He had on black jeans with black shoes. Will was wearing a weird glowing crystal tied around his neck by a small chain of small metal beads.

    “Shut up and listen to what I say . . .” Will looked around, nervously. “If you ever come back to this house again get in trough the upstairs window. The third room to the right second to the left.” Will took a glance around the room and laid eyes on the new painting Cody had just bought a few weeks ago. It burst into flames instantly and then was instantly extinguished. ”There now they can’t watch ---“Cody burst into a rage and yelled “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?! NOW I’VE TRIED TO HAVE BEEN KILLED!!!!!!! TWICE!!!!!!!!!! TELL M---umph” Just as Cody grabbed Will by the collar, Will grabbed Cody’s arms. Cody’s arms let Will go and wrapped around Cody instead.

    “Follow me if you want to know what I mean.” Will beckoned for Cody to follow. After a moment of struggling, Cody’s feet started to move on their own too. They eventually came to the back door of the house. Very coolly Will opened the door and then slammed it shut in one fluid motion. There was a sound of something coming out of pipes. A moment later another sound, this time knives hitting wood. Then a crash made a fissure in the back of the door. “That is why you need to stay away from the doors . . . “ Will said with annoyance as he waved his hand freeing Cody. “Can we go now?”

    Now free Cody was in a fit. “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?!?! WHY DO THEY WANT ME DEAD? AND HOW DID HE FIND ME?!?!?” Will was taken aback by what had been said “who is “he”? How did he find you? And what have you been doing all this time? “THAT IS WHAT I AM ASKING YOU!!!! AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN “WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING?” Will, regaining his composure said “I know this is going to sound clichéd but you are the only one who can save the planet from utter annihilation. Now follow me." "Ya' know . . . that really is clichéd and used to death in soooooo many books and movies and stuff, but if you haven’t noticed, uh, THIS IS NOT A MOIVE!!!!!

    “Before we go out of this deathtrap of a house, tell me a few things first . . . One, who is after me? Two, why? Three, where are we going? Four, how did you get in here? And five, HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ALL THIS?!?!” Cody asked this all in a sarcastic tone, exploding at the end.
    “Ok, I‘ll tell you if you promise to just shut up. Deal?” Will sighed. Cody was now reluctant to hear the answers to his own questions. “Deal . . .” “Ok, let’s see . . . One, polar I think . . . Anyway, two, you are the only one who can stop him. Three to the training center slash hideout. Four, I am a teleporting doppelganger. I check in on you from time to time. But today when I did looks like I got here just in time. Five, you told us this would happen. You weren’t too specific on the details ‘cause you were dieing. Any more questions?” Will answered all five in quick secession.

    “In fact I do but –“ Cody’s lips sealed as if they had been locked by a vice. Will had done something to him again. Will caught him just in time “Ah! You promised now let’s go before they blow this joint.” Will muttered something unrecognizable. “Mumph! Umph!” Cody was trying to talk with no success. Explosions erupted all around them. The house crumpled under the fire and shrapnel. But nothing so much as came close to the two trying to escape. Will was still mumbling but it now sounded more like a chant. There was a sound of a million jets passing by Cody’s ear. The house dissolved all around them. Cody looked at his arms and they were dissolving too! “Mummmm---AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” Cody’s lips were somehow torn apart as he was now screaming. Cody was in agonizing pain.

    The person in front of him was no longer a person. He was like a jumbled mass of pixels. And Cody could see he was becoming a mass of pixels too! Everything went so slow, fast, and normal speed at the same time. He was mad, sad, happy, apathetic, all emotions that he had ever had and some he didn’t know he were all felt at the same time. Everything he was seeing, thinking, hearing, smelling, and feeling was all overloading his head. Then everything was gone. There was nothing of anything any more.

    Everything went black . . .