Worlds.

Nobody really knows how many there are. In fact, nobody normal should ever know. Most of the existing worlds cannot even be comprehended by the human mind... all but the smallest percent of them would kill instantly should somebody be foolish enough to try and enter them. The environments themselves would shatter one's mind and soul before that poor person could even process what was in front of his eyes.

Many of these worlds exist for only one purpose: to balance out the never-ending clash of events and surprises that happen in other worlds. Why this must happen is unknown, but the ones who are aware of these worlds agree that this is simply how the "system" must always be.

One small tan-colored light flickered in these series of worlds. It was at this point that something happened which shouldn't have...

At this same point on the familiar world of Earth, a normal guy named Alan curiously raised his head after hours of a long car ride.

"So are we there yet?"

"It's not that much further. Did you need to stop somewhere?"

"No thanks, Dad, I'm good." Alan once again leaned his head to the side and watched the scenery pass by.

He wasn't exactly sure why his father had claimed a small house in a distant town, away from the rest of the family. He also wasn't sure why he was the only one recommended to come with his father to this location. After several guarantees that it would be easy to contact family and friends from before, he calmly decided "alright, this'll be worth it".

There wasn't anything wrong before that he was going away from. However, things seemed... boring and incomplete to him. He had always been fairly strong and knew a decent amount about the world around him. He was waiting for something exciting to happen, for some new possibilities and whatever might come with them. This new scenery made him slightly more curious and, although he didn't express it much, quite confident he should be sitting in this car. Alan stared blankly for a couple seconds and wondered if he should draw some of this scenery he was passing by. Unfortunately, when he opened his pack of colored pencils, he found the brown one had snapped. Damn.

The car passed a sign saying how close they were to their destination... and it was at this point somewhere else that an unknown apparition started to watch Alan. A bird flying above the sign made a small flinch for no apparent reason, as if suddenly disturbed by something, but quickly regained its balance and continued casually gliding along.