A Different Kind of Paradise

“Show me sign of paradise, a place we all would like to go to.  Tell me what to sacrifice, so there's a chance for me to want you” –Center of the Universe, Kamelot.

Prologue

The bell rang and Gabriel’s eyes popped open.  He normally didn’t sleep in class, but because the substitute had no real lesson, so there was nothing to keep the stout brown-haired student awake.  After putting his glasses back on and wiping the drool away from his notebook he put it in his backpack and headed out the door.  However he wasn’t going towards the bus lane, or the carpool lane; today he was going to the club he ran.

He began his trek from the third floor to the basement as he felt someone finger-jab him in the back, and heard someone yell “SNEAK ATTACK!”

He turned around, rolled his eyes and sighed, “Michael.”

Sure enough as he turned around he saw his curly-haired friend.  Gabriel shook his head at him, and then sighed and said “I take it you’re ready for club.”

“Well yeah!”  Michael said enthusiastically.  The only thing he enjoyed was the table-top role-playing they did at club was his favorite video game Devil May Cry 4, which dubbed him the nickname “Nero.”

“Come on man, get excited.  Today were gonna take down that giant mecha-dwarf with the arm cannon!  Aren’t you amped?!?”  Nero said enthusiastically.

Gabriel chuckled a little bit, he adjusted his pack as he held a door for Nero and replied “If we have enough people to play, Amanda and Marcus took off early for their date, and Jeanne’s in Ohio for the week.”

The two began their descent into the basement where the benevolent, if not a little eccentric, Professor Rodney allowed them to host their games.  As they reached the room they heard something that made Gabriel cringe.  He opened the door, and sure enough it was their friend Daniel; as usual he was listening to music way too loud through his earphones as he set up their game.

“Danny.  Danny!  DAAAAAAAANNNNYY!!!” Gabe screamed to get Daniel’s attention.

At the last call Danny screamed and jumped on the table.  He took his earphones out, allowing the intensely loud Kamelot music to be heard clearly.  After pausing the music he stuck his fist out and said “hey guys, whatup? Brohoof?”

Nero bumped Danny’s fist but Gabe just rubbed his face and groaned.  Not long ago Daniel revealed himself as something called a “brony” an older male fan of the show “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.”  While years of abuse did make Danny self-conscious enough to not bring the topic of unicorns and rainbows up in most conversation, when he did Gabriel could not stand it. After letting out an audible sigh Gabe asked “Is anyone else here?”

Danny slowly put his fist down and responded “Sorry, haven’t seen anyone, not even Mr. Rodney.”

That last statement cut Gabe out of his “I’m surrounded by idiots” face and made him give a quick jump and he nervously said “B-but if Mr. Rodney isn’t here we can’t play.”

“We can’t play if we don’t have people Gabe.”  Nero said as he balanced an ogre figurine on his nose.  He put the mini down and continued “Last I recall Marcus was holding off a lava golem while Jeanne and I were picking the lock on the only exit to the sinking island.  If Marcus isn’t here then we are going to learn how to swim in lava the hard way.”

Nero was taking a breath to continue their story further when a door on the far side of the room swung open, each of the three turned to look at it.

After a few seconds Gabe stepped forward and nervously asked “Mr. Rodney?”

No response.

Eventually Danny started towards the mystery room and Nero followed suit.   Gabe ran in front of his friends, put his hands out and with a firm voice said “NO!”

Nero rolled his eyes and put Gabriel’s arm down and said “Chill out Gabe, Rodney’s old, for all we know he’s asleep in there.  There’s no harm in checking it out right?”

Despite Gabe’s efforts Nero dashed into the room; frustrated, Gabriel ran after him.  After a few moments Danny nervously fidgeted with his glasses and followed his friends in.  When he got in he saw that Gabe and Nero were staring at something, he turned to look at it.“Whoa.”  Was all that could escape his lips.

In the center of the room was a massive device from out of a sci-fi story.  It was tall, and at the bottom looked like a computer terminal, but towards the top several strange metal rods branched out in different directions.

Danny noticed the computer panel on the machine, he slowly and cautiously walked over to it and began to type on the keyboard.

Gabriel shook himself out of his trance and walked over to Danny and asked “are you crazy?  We have no idea what this thing is.”

“I’m trying to find out.  How hard can it be?”  Danny responded as he continued to type on the keyboard and occasionally slid the mouse around.

Gabriel was never very patient, especially not with Danny.  Once again he groaned and protested to his type-happy friend “You shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Yeah” Nero started to back Gabe up.  “And besides, if you wanted to find out what this thing does, you shouldn’t waste your time poking the keyboard; just pull this giant red switch.”  He motioned towards a large lever.  “Like this” he casually said as he pulled the switch down.

Gabriel and Danny just stared at Nero in shock.  Seconds ticked by as Nero slowly realized that he could have just activated a bomb, or something else horrifying and destructive.  He slowly took his hand away and smiled sheepishly.  He started to slowly move away towards the others and said “See?  Nothing to…”

He was interrupted when the machine began to whirr and groan.  The three looked as the nexus of metal rods began to emit a strange black aura.  The aura was horrifying, it was expanding and it sounded like dozens of disembodied voices were coming out of it, to make things worse tendrils began to extend from it, almost like it was reaching out for something.   The three boys began to back away, but before they could run for the door the dark cloud expanded and consumed them.

Gabriel and the others screamed as they fell through the void Rodney’s device dragged them into.  At first it was nothing but darkness, but soon they were greeted by a variety of colors as they felt a surge of energy course painfully through their bodies.   As the pain began to fade Gabe stared up at a clear blue sky, right before he passed out.

Gabriel had no idea where he was, and he didn’t like it.  Wherever he was it was cold, it wasn’t a natural cold though, it felt like it was piercing his soul.  He could also feel something else with him, and it was dark and domineering.   He tried to move but couldn’t.  He then heard a dark, foreboding voice that seemed to come from everywhere “Ahhh, this is very interesting.  I feel… free.  Free from his grasp.”  Gabriel felt the presence amplify itself, as if it was focusing on him.  “Well, what do we have here?”  The voice began to laugh maniacally as images of something horrible flashed in front of him.

Gabe’s eyes tore open, he was breathing heavily, his nightmare had taken an insurmountable toll on him.  He rubbed his sweat-covered forehead with the back of his hand.  But when he lifted his arm, he realized that the nightmare had only just begun.

What was once his hand was now a grey monochromatic hoof.