Chapter 1: The Mistake of Man

- - : Present thoughts are between dashes

- Name ~ : Change in POV

09 : 30 AM : 2/2/2026

*Beep* *Beep*

"Uuwaahh.."

Slowly waking up to the beeping of my alarm, I reluctantly turned over to look at the clock.

It was 9:30 but I decided to just lay in the warm embrace of the bed sheets for a bit.

After a few minutes, I finally got out of bed, my bedsheets falling off of me allowing for a wave of cold air gets blown across me.

"Brrrr.." As the chill ran up my spine I was immediately woken up fully. -Did the temperature really drop that much?!-

I looked over towards my window and saw snowflakes .

"What a rare sight.."

Finally jumping out of bed I quickly threw on some cold clothes and checked my phone to see if there was anything important and like usual there was nothing besides bots and spam.

"Haaah.." Letting out a sigh I made my way down the hallway and hopped on my computer to see if any of the manga or novels I was following had updated.

"Oh my.." -There's more than usual!- With a smile on my face I quickly got comfy and read through them.

After finishing the new chapters I realized it was time to go so I tossed on my shoes, grabbed my things, and left the house in a pretty decent mood.

-Maybe I should swing by my parents after class..-

Little did I know.. I wouldn't have that opportunity.

05 : 00 AM : 2/2/2026 : Darpa Labs

- Kevin J. ~

5 miles below the surface of the United States Pentagon were the Darpa Labs, the most secretive and advanced laboratory in the world.

We were completely out of the world's line of sight, doing experiments with technology that wouldn't be seen by the public for nearly 5 decades. Even the president of the United States doesn't have the authority to access some of our information.

"How long until everything is ready?" I looked down at our experiment programmer, Jack N.

Jack was fairly short but well built and pretty smart. "Everything is ready except for the capacitors. They are 7 hours from being fully charged, sir." His program controlled almost the entire experiment so he had the success of it solely on his shoulders.

"Good we are on time.." -After so many years we can finally peek into the 4th dimension..-

The experiment was simply an attempt to send a metal ball to the 4th dimension by crudely using electricity to rip a hole in space.

The metal ball also had several trackers in it in an attempt to gather as much information as possible about the dimension, the issue being that they didn't know how to get the ball back, or if the trackers would even function while it was there.

-But risk and failure are simply a part of science!-

As I accidentally showed a crazed smile, I looked up at the baseball sized steel ball floating in the middle of the sealed chamber.

My heart was beating out of my chest and my adrenaline was pumping. -Only 7 hours left..-

- Jack N. ~

"Sir, only 3 minutes remaining on the capacitors." I turned and looked at Kevin who was standing behind his desk not far from me.

Kevins face suddenly warped to a crazed smile. "Good, good."

A wave of anxiety washed over me seeing his smile. My stomach ached and my gut instinct was yelling at me. -Maybe we shouldn't be doing this experiment..-

After thinking for a minute, I turned back to my computer and looked at the countdown.

'2:05' *tick* '2:04' *tick* '2:03'

I watched the countdown in a trance for a moment as I got lost in my thoughts.

My gut was yelling at me to stop the experiment, I had the feeling that something would go horribly wrong if we went through with this experiment. -Maybe some things are better left untouched.-

Of all the things my code controlled in the experiment, the most important and simple to change was the exact coordinates the hole would be opened.

"Hahaha..." A muffled, psychotic laugh filled the room.

-The closer we get to this experiment being successful.. the crazier he gets..- I glanced over my shoulder at Kevin once again to see his insane look.

The sight of his insane smile made me grip my resolve. -Hooh.. I need to change it..- I quickly calmed my mind and turned back to my computer.

As soon as I started hastily scrolling through the thousands of lines of code, a robotic voice came across the intercom. "1 Minute till Experiment #4021 commences."

With the announcement, another crazed laugh echoed throughout the room. "HAHAHAHAHA, if this experiment works we will be able to make contact with higher beings! With GODS!" The maniacal laugh from Kevin made everyone in the room feel a sense of danger.. of premonition.

Several thoughts passed through everyone's heads.. some considering abandoning the experiment entirely while others were eaten away by curiosity.

I was completely focused though. -Where is it.. come on, come on!-

The robotic voice came back over the intercom again. "Commencing experiment in 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.."

*RUMBLE* *Crash*

A massive earthquake-like shaking occurred as the countdown ended.

Almost everyone in the lab fell over and several computers and papers were shaken off their desks..

"Huh?" Even Kevin couldn't hide his confusion as he stood back up.

A small amount of black mist started filling the room from where the ball was, liquifying the meter-thick reinforced glass of the testing chamber.

-What.. was that?- I slowly stood back up and noticed the otherworldly black mist floating towards them. -What.. the..-

It wasn't just me that was frozen, everyone in the room simply stared at it as it got closer, stunned from awe and fear.

"AHHHHH!!!" A woman across the room screamed as she ran across the lab to leave, knocking over everything in her path.

The woman's panic incited everyone else's as we all sprinted to the door, ignoring everything in our way.

As I ran to the door with everyone else, I noticed Kevin was in a daze while staring at the mist.

"That must be our GOD." He wore the face of a man who had lost his mind.

-F*cking psyco..-

I turned back to the door, but we couldnt get out. The door was locked.

As some of my colleagues tried to hack or break the max security lock, the mist finally made it through the glass and began to spread around the room, liquifying everything it touched.

Not long after, it finally reached us, we all slowly, one by one, layer by layer [1], started turning to dust as the cloud slowly absorbed us.

As an unfathomable pain rippled through my body, I heard Kevin yell out. "This is our Savior! Our Salvati-"

His head disintegrated before he could finish.

-Haah..- I calmed my thoughts as the pain started to disappear and memories played in my mind. -It was a good run..-

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[1] - Look up "halo 4 composer scene" for an example of what I mean

Chapter end