It all just kind of happened.
My father created a machine that allowed its users to travel to other dimensions… well, that was what it was meant for. It didn't exactly work out. It's all vague in my head, but I feel like it's important.
So here begins my story…
GLITCH
I woke up in a hospital bed to the worried faces of my parents and my best friends, all in tears. I didn't understand why they looked so sad. It felt like something I should've remembered but every time I asked what had happened, they simply told me I'd been in an accident.
Everything felt robotic. The way they spoke. The way they answered my questions. It felt rehearsed, like a script. But I couldn't figure out what was wrong.
Ever since the day I woke up in that hospital, I've had the same dream over and over again. I can't fully describe it… it's like too much information flooding in at once. I could never grasp it all in one night, so I started taking notes every time I had it.
Each time I dreamed, I wouldn't be able to sleep for days afterward. And the longer the dream lasted, the longer I stayed awake. You could say I beat Randy Gardner's record, he stayed awake for eleven days. I went longer.
By the second month of the year, I finally pieced the dream together.
And I came to a sad realization.
Even though I had assembled it, I still didn't understand it.
My parents grew concerned about my health, so they took me to a specialist. It became mandatory for me to visit every day. It disrupted my school calendar and my perfect record but honestly, I didn't care. I was too smart for school anyway. It was just a formality.
The doctor seemed to help, at least a little. Day by day, I remembered more.
Until one night, I remembered everything.
In my dream...
I was alone in a dark room. Water covered the floor, yet I wasn't sinking. It was strange. Then I saw a light. As I moved toward it, the water disappeared and the ground became dry. I kept walking. And just as I was about to reach it ---
I woke up.
But this time was different. I felt less stressed. More refreshed than I had in months.
Yet as the dream became clearer, something else began headaches.
Sharp and unnatural.
They came with flashes of the dream… and things I couldn't explain. Before I knew it, I was back in that dark place.
My body felt disoriented, like I wasn't meant to be there. The closer I moved toward the light, the worse it became. It hurt but I kept going.
When I finally caught a glimpse of the light, I saw initials within it:
A.Y.D
I didn't understand.
And then I was back.
It only got worse after that. I began seeing things I wasn't meant to see like different versions of people, buildings, objects. Slight overlaps. Distortions. It was disturbing.
Eventually, I learned to control it by focusing intensely.
After about a month and two days away, moving from home, the hospital, and the specialist I was allowed to return to school.
Everything felt the same.
No one remembered me.
And strangely… I didn't care.
Just in case you're wondering my name is Xander Kontinuum. And no, before you assume anything, I'm not German. It's purely coincidence.
In the Void…
Voice One: "I think he is the one."
Voice Two: "Do you really think so?"
Voice Three: "I doubt it."
Voice Four: "Let us test him."
Voice Five: "That doesn't sound so bad. Let's try."
~ These are the Voices of the Void, the overseers of the multiverse. They possess no absolute power and are not omnipotent, but they can perceive the infinite dimensions. Each holds a limited authority over aspects of reality and spacetime. They are known as Continuum, Otherworld, Non-Space, Topology, Rift, Oubliette, Fissure, Reform, Orbital, Nodes, Time. In short: C.O.N.T.R.O.F.R.O.N.T. ~
Voice Seven: "Should we send it?"
Voice Ten: "Don't you think that's a bit much?"
Voice Five: "It is necessary."
In Xander's dimension…
School had just ended. Xander and his friends were on their way home when a sudden earthquake shook the city.
But the infrastructure didn't simply crack or collapse.
It glitched.
Buildings distorted. Streets shifted. The alignment of everything warped, as if reality itself was buffering.
Then ---
I woke up.
It seemed I was overlapping reality with my dreams. It became nearly impossible to tell what was real and what wasn't probably a side effect of the sleep deprivation.
I tried changing my routine as everything that happened in my dream had been happening on the same day. And so me and my friends took a different route home.
The earthquake followed me.
And with it came the glitch.
Everything in the city position, structure, alignment began distorting. From the chaos emerged something massive.
Horrifying.
Gigantic.
A creature so unsettling it could make you freeze on the spot.
A Dimension Eater.