Arrival

On a warm summer day, a young man was sitting under a tree and chatting with his friend.

"So what's the latest book you picked up, Damon?" The man sitting on the bench asked.

"Well. You know how I was into a few sci-fi books over the past couple months?" Damon responded.

"How could I forget! You wouldn't stop drawling on about dark forest theory or whatever you call it. You were still going on about it once we left class to grab a drink." He exclaimed.

"You know how mind blowing that book was! I still think of it every day in the shower." Damon reminisced.

"But the book I am reading now is a pretty cool mix of sci-fi and fantasy. It even has some Lovecraftian elements sprinkled in. I only wish that there were more chapters." Damon sighed as he continued.

"Really?" Varian asked in surprise. "Such a mix seems like it'd be too chaotic or complicated for any reader to understand!"

Damon looked at his friend with pity. "You poor pagan, so lost to the light. You have yet to experience the masterful weaving that the lord can achieve. He weaves words like the gods weave fate."

Varian looked at his friend's wild gestures in feint disgust. "You really don't have to rub in the fact that I don't have enough time to read."

"Anyway, let's go to the cafeteria and eat. At least then I won't have to deal with your dramatic rants by my lonesome." Varian said as he got up.

"At least I can actually read, you barbarian." Damon muttered under his breath as he got up.

Suddenly, a bright golden light appeared in Damon's peripheral vision.

Turning around, Damon saw a immense wall of golden light fill the heavens and shadow the earth.

Damon was shocked. He had never seen anything like this.

When the once distant wall began growing larger, Damon snapped out of it.

"Varian do you-

SHEEN

A bright gold flash blinded Damon.

'What the hell is happening today!' Damon thought as he covered his eyes.

After a moment, the light began fading and Damon no longer felt like his eyes were burning.

Damon opened his eyes and looked towards Varian but all he saw was a great blanket of gold covering a humanoid body.

WHOOSH

The light disappeared. All that was left was a splatter of red, stuck to the grass.

"Varian? Where are you? You know I don't enjoy pranks." Damon yelled.

After a few moments of silence, Damon frowned.

'He was just here. Did the golden light take him away?' Damon thought.

Damon was looking around to see just where Varian could have gone when...

WHOOSH

A great golden sphere formed around Damon and instantly carried him into the heavens above.

As he approached the golden wall of light, Damon was forced to close his eyes. Even then, his entire body momentarily felt like it was lit ablaze before the feeling quickly faded away.

Damon was left gasping on his knees as he opened his eyes. What he saw, was something completely alien.

A vast expanse of light surrounded him. Through this golden shroud, Damon could see a blue planet become engulfed by tides of golden light.

The golden light delved into the planet in a cyclical flow. Each cycle would cause vast areas of the Earth to disappear and then suddenly reappear.

As he observed this, Damon noticed that the new areas were much more vibrant. This could be noticed even from space itself.

Soon the entire planet was changed into a new and vibrant coloring. If an alien were to see Earth now, they might even believe it was always like this...

WHOOSH

The golden light began rapidly retracting from the Earth.

Damon flinched as the golden light approached him.

After a few seconds, however, Damon realized that nothing had happened.

He was even in an entirely different environment.

"Where am I?" Damon asked as he grasped a bunch of yellow grass.

Everything in this world seemed to be colored a tint of gold; Whether it was the lustrous sky, shimmering waves, or daunting mountains.

He was not alone either. The surrounding plains were littered with sunken bodies, struggling to hoist themselves up. The sound of quiet sobbing and maddening laughter resounded.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Former citizens of Earth! I welcome you to your new reality." A voice boomed.

A figure shrouded in gold then appeared above them.

"I am a representative of the Almighty One. He is the divine being who has benevolently given your world the gift of divinity." It exclaimed as a golden screen appeared below it.

The being clapped and the loud sound shook everyone awake.

"I know some of you are shocked and confused so I will create a visual demonstration." On the golden screen, three symbols appeared. An anvil, a sword, and a balance. "Divinity holds three key tenets. The power of creation, destruction, and the balance held in between. It is your responsibility to uphold these tenets in the world you will be sent to. Your very life depends on it." It explained.

Suddenly, a voice rang out.

"Was this, Almighty One, the one who killed all of our friends?" A young man with brown hair yelled out as tears raced down his face.

"I apologize for the inconvenience. My liege simply needed to harvest some energy in order to help transition all of you to gods. You'll understand in the future that this was simply the cost of doing business." The golden being explained casually.

'Wha-What?' Damon felt like the universe had turned on it's axis.

"You emotionless bastard! He killed all of our friends and family and yet you find it appropriate to say that it was simply the 'cost of doing business.' Did nobody teach you basic manners you stupid swine?" The man screamed.

In response, the golden light slightly darkened.

"You should understand that my master is the trend, not the exception. This is a cruel universe, human. An ignorant knight believes himself superior to the wise monk." The representative lectured.

"You can keep your rhetoric to yourself, you self-righteous bastard." The brave man yelled as he gave the representative a grand middle finger.

"Anyway! It is not my duty to babysit some petulant children. Your supervisors will explain everything once they arrive. Good luck!" The golden figure yelled as he clapped his hands.

Damon's vision spun as he saw the golden plains shrink. Shimmering galaxies and radiant suns appeared and disappeared as his speed increased exponentially. After only a few seconds, the speed increased to such a point that he couldn't even focus on one thing it disappeared from sight.

Gargantuan nebulas passed by like leaves in a storm as he continued moving.

Damon felt like he was being pulled somewhere. Anytime he tried moving himself, he felt like he was suctioned in a particular direction.

Over and over, the man's words repeated in his mind.

'Killed all of our friends.'

'Killed all of our friends!'

"Killed all of our friends?"

"Varian is dead?" Damon's face paled and his eyes opened wide.

'No. No way! I was just talking to him. Varian...can't be dead. Right?'

Tears began silently running down Damon's face as the weight of reality descend upon him.

Indifferent to Damon's woes, time kept moving.

He was quickly nearing a massive green planet that dwarfed the Earth in every way possible.

Even it's purple moon that spun around it screamed alien.

Damon, however, would soon have much more to worry about than just strangely colored moons.