Chapter 1: Prologue
Prologue
"Fear, Anger, Bargaining, Despair, and Acceptance, these are the 5 stages of grief. Right now... I wonder which stage you're in."
Lighting a cigarette, a man in his 30s smoked calmly in a dark and dimly lit room while looking at the young man seated in front of him.
The young man was completely naked, with his fingernails and toenails torn off. His fingers were twisted and broken. His body was covered in bruises, burn marks, and infected cuts. His left eye socket was empty, and many of his teeth were missing.
Listening to the man's words, the young man just stood there, trembling. He didn't know how long he had been there, a day, two? It didn't matter. He couldn't get out of this alive, he knew that. Struggling to lift his head, he looked at his captor in front of him.
He was a handsome man, with light brown skin, short hair, sharp eyes, a well-groomed beard, and a strong body. On his right arm, he had a very specific tattoo, a skull with a dagger stabbed into it and two pistols forming a cross.
The man looked at the young man and continued smoking his cigarette, pondering what had led him here.
His name was Marcus. He grew up in a relatively ordinary family. His father was American, and his mother was Brazilian. Although he grew up with certain difficulties, he was still happy. The problem arose when his father was killed in a robbery when he was 16 years old.
To make matters worse, at the time, whether by miracle or not, his mother, who was already in her 40s, was pregnant with his younger sister.
From then on, things tightened a bit, and they ended up going through some financial difficulties. When he turned 18, intending to ease the burden at home and help with finances, he decided to join the army.
It wasn't exactly a planned move; at the time, he just wanted to help his mother, so he did it. In the army, Marcus learned three fundamental things about himself.
First: he had ADHD, which made him a bit slow and had certain difficulties in learning some things. In his childhood, his father thought he was just lazy, and it was only after joining the army that he was diagnosed with it.
Although it was a bit of a hassle, it wasn't a real impediment. Besides being a bit slow, he compensated for it by being great at following orders precisely and efficiently.
Second: he was a natural shooter and had a remarkable ability to use weapons and explosives.
Third: he found out he was an excellent killing machine when he was thrown into the battlefield for the first time. The number of combat kills by Marcus may not have reached hundreds, but it certainly totaled several dozen.
After all that, Marcus spent 10 years serving in the armed forces. He ended up specializing in different fields, such as demolition and infiltration. Heck, he even visited BOPE in Rio de Janeiro to participate in joint training, and damn, that was tough. But he ended up graduating from one of the most difficult urban combat courses in the world.
After 10 years of service, Marcus "retired" and began living in a nice house near his mother and sister's home. Sometimes he would take a trip to do a job on orders from a certain organization here or there, which was good, it earned him some extra cash.
Marcus lived a good life; his sister was also his best friend, although he tried to act like an older brother, due to the alarming age difference of almost 20 years between them, he became more of a father figure in her eyes.
Of course, he always tried to get along with her, and although there wasn't much to talk about, something they both enjoyed was discussing movies and series together, a taste he acquired from his father and passed on to her. He liked some of the older ones, while she was more into modern series and movies.
Soon she would go to college, and her future would be bright, if it weren't for this little shit in front of him. Some damn daddy's boy thought it would be clever to get drunk and drive around. The bastard ended up taking his sister's life and indirectly caused a heart attack to his mother when she was informed of the news.
Marcus was devastated. At the time, he was on a mission and couldn't even attend his mother and sister's funeral. To make matters worse, the idiot was released after paying a fine because, according to the 'investigations,' it was just an accident, as the tests showed that he was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Thinking of his sister, Marcus took another drag on his cigarette and looked at the boy in front of him. Due to his condition and blood loss, he would die soon, but he didn't care. He looked at the camera beside him, which had filmed everything that had happened in the last 4 days, and he would send it to the boy's parents.
"I think I'm still in anger, you know," suddenly Marcus broke the silence, answering his own question and then looking at the boy. "Yes, anger. Without a doubt. When I'm done here, I believe I'll skip the other two stages straight to acceptance."
Stubbing the cigarette on the boy's forehead, Marcus stood up and drew his SIG, aiming it at the boy's head and pulling the trigger quickly, without giving him a chance to say anything or even react.
Looking at the body, Marcus looked around, finished recording, then poured gasoline all over the place and set fire to everything before leaving. Outside, he found himself in a vast desert area covered by the dark veil of night adorned with its beautiful and shining stars, the small shack behind him gradually being consumed by the flames, but he just got into his pickup truck and left the scene.
The night breeze was so liberating and peaceful. Marcus just stood there, driving in silence, when suddenly everything around him changed. He stepped out of his pickup truck into a well-organized and modern office.
Marcus instinctively drew his gun and pointed it at the woman who appeared in front of him. He didn't know what had happened.
"A dream? How? When did I sleep? Or did I die while driving?" questions came and went through his head, and his mind was starting to get a little out of control when the beautiful woman smiled at him and pointed to the chair in front of her, asking him to sit down.
Still holding the gun, Marcus looked around before slowly walking towards the woman and sitting in front of her. Up close, Marcus was a little enchanted with her. She was wearing an office suit and had straight brown hair cut shoulder-length, red lips, bright green eyes, and beautiful tan skin.
Marcus sat in front of her but kept the gun in hand in case it was necessary, but the woman just smiled at him before typing something on her computer.
"Marcus Alexander Foster, 35 years old, single, family - father: deceased, mother: deceased, sister: deceased. Served in the American army for 10 years – 57 confirmed combat deaths, wounded in combat 3 times. Served in a clandestine unit intended to resolve certain "inconveniences" in the last 7 years, confirmed deaths – 17."
Listening to this, Marcus remained calm. His information wasn't exactly confidential to really powerful people. If someone at the top decides to make all his actions public, he can do it quite easily.
The woman looked at Marcus after finishing his file and smiled at him. "First of all, allow me to say that I'm sorry for your loss-"
"Stop. Don't speak. I don't know who you are, so your words of comfort mean nothing." Marcus really got annoyed when someone tried to show empathy or solidarity towards him.
He hated when he had to attend funerals of friends who fell by his side and was obliged to socialize with those who only came out of obligation. In his view, if you have no connection or minimal care for the deceased, don't try to say you're sorry or understand what the person is going through; you... don't... understand.
Marcus didn't quite know how to deal with grief; he was still trying to move from his state of anger and trying to reach acceptance. He closed his eyes and took a few breaths to calm himself.
Upon opening his eyes, he saw the woman smile softly before getting up and grabbing a bottle of bourbon and two glasses. Returning to her seat, she poured herself a drink and set another for Marcus.
"I apologize. I forgot how you react to grief," she said as she took a sip. Marcus also drank a bit, although he was more into beer, he had to admit this whiskey was the best he had ever tasted.
Although he hadn't received spy training, Marcus wouldn't normally take a drink served by a stranger, taking care to check if the drink was poisoned or something. However, he knew, or rather felt, that the woman in front of him didn't intend to harm him.
In silence, they both stared at each other and drank a little more in silence, studying each other. Finally, a little impatient, Marcus decided to speak, but he was interrupted with a single sentence.
"What do you think about giving your sister another life?"
"What?" Marcus asked, a little confused.
"Another life, a new life to be more precise. In a place where she would grow up safe and live fully."
In silence, Marcus placed his gun on the table and picked up the bottle of whiskey to pour himself some more. The woman saw this and smiled a little.
"Explain," he said while taking a sip.
"Have you ever wondered why powerful beings from the 2nd dimension never invaded the real world? Powerful beings like Galactus, The Living Tribunal, Darkseid, Bills, and many others?"
"No. Who the hell would ask that question?"
"Well, indeed. No one really asks that question, at least not normally. Anyway, these powerful beings can't invade a higher reality due to some mitigating factors, but specifically, more powerful beings than they are."
"You mean... God?"
"It depends on your religion. For some, it may be God, Allah, Shiva, Buddha, or even the Big Bang," she said as she finished her drink and poured herself another.
"Actually, human belief is something that makes them unique for better or for worse. Anyway, we're getting off topic. As I was saying, these beings, although extremely powerful, cannot interfere with higher realities, which doesn't mean the opposite doesn't happen."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, more specifically, there are some entities from higher realities and dimensions that like to play and sometimes throw people into lower dimensions to alleviate the boredom of their almost eternal existence," she said as she took a sip of her drink and looked at Marcus with a smile.
"In that case... are you one of these supposed existences?"
"hmm... yes and no. Although I am from a higher dimension, I don't have the power to invade lower dimensions; after all, I am what you would describe as... an intern on probation."
"You seem very well for someone who's just an intern," he said, looking around.
"That? That's just a false reality created to keep your mind from shorting out. Nobody can perfectly see a higher existence without suffering serious consequences."
Hearing this, Marcus just nodded and finally asked, "What exactly do you want? Also... who are you?"
"Oh my God. We've been here so long, and I still haven't introduced myself. Well, my name is )!&#*%!#$@%¨&@HW@O!@, but in a language you can understand, I think it would be Vexalyn Syllivara."
"I'll just call you Vex if you don't mind."
"No problem, Marcus. Anyway, as for what I want from you... You see, although I am a personification of Chaos, one of the many that exist, I am still a newbie in terms of power, and I intend to change that. However, there's a little problem here. Due to the existence of many personifications of chaos, chaos in the place where I live is too scarce to allow me to evolve."
She paused for a bit and poured herself another drink before continuing.
"However, a few days ago, I met one of the personifications of luck and ended up getting into a little game with him. It was fun, but more importantly, this is it," she then showed Marcus a strange glowing blue orb while having a hopeful smile on her face.
"What is this?"
"This is what will allow me to grow. This is an ominiversal key, one of the few that exist. You see, when an entity wants to send someone to another dimension, they need a universal key for that. However, after that, the person will forever stay in that universe with no prospect of leaving. Ominiversal keys, however, are much more special because they allow the entity to send its chosen one to different worlds as they please."
"I see. And if we proceed down this path, you want me to be responsible for traveling through these worlds for you, right?"
"Yes. I want to send you to lower worlds to cause disorder in their natural order. Save people who should die, kill those who should live, create events that shouldn't exist, or prevent certain events, that kind of thing. This will make the world fall into a certain disorder, generating chaos and allowing me to invade them to feed off it."
"And in return..."
"In return, I reincarnate your sister into a good family, with good parents. And I allow you to see her in your dreams. Of course, I won't keep your past memories, so you can be at most a guardian figure for her."
"I accept."
Marcus didn't even think about the consequences of his actions. Although all of this seemed crazy, at this moment, he really didn't care anymore. A life where he could finally protect his sister... he would be crazy not to accept this opportunity.
So what if some people died? Didn't he kill for the sake of the country? For the sake of the people at the top? Killing a few more for the sake of his sister wouldn't hurt him at all.
"Well. First of all, let me tell you how this will work. The ominiversal key serves as an anchor that sends you to another world. It also serves as a kind of system. Almost like a game guide that issues missions according to how it was configured."
Vex then touched the sphere, and from her delicate hands, a strange dark purple energy entered the sphere, causing it to tremble for a while before stopping. She then looked at Marcus and continued.
"It has been configured to inform you of the stages the world is in, even to what level you have corrupted the world's central line. It will also inform you about other things, functions it possesses, and much more."
She then handed the sphere to Marcus, and before he could react, the sphere dissolved and entered his body, and then a strange vortex formed behind him, sucking him in. Marcus tried to hold on, but it was so fast that he only had time to grab his gun back and then disappeared.
"Good luck, Marcus. Don't fail," Vex said as she watched the vortex slowly begin to disappear. She then looked at the computer screen with a certain eagerness and expectation as she watched Marcus's journey through the lower worlds.
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