Voidbound

1 - A Forest Beyond Worlds

Devon hadn't had a good life. His parents and younger sister died when he was fourteen, casualties of what the government conveniently labeled a terrorist attack. He knew the truth: the government used that label to silence anyone opposing their "laws" which kept the rich above everyone else. Left with nothing, Devon found no helping hand. No surviving family could take him in, the government didn't care, and no citizen was generous enough to shelter a suddenly homeless teenager. For years, he scraped by, drifting between temporary shelters and the streets, quickly mastering the necessities of stealing, scavenging, and fighting just to survive another day.

By age eighteen, he had finally carved out a sliver of stability, landing a job cleaning rooms at a worn-down motel on the city's edge. It wasn't a great life, but the steady money and a roof were treasures he hadn't known for years. That fragile security shattered one night when shouting erupted from one of the rooms. An angry man's voice was followed by the sound of repeated slaps. Devon hesitated. He had no illusions about being a hero, but the violence left him unable to stand aside. He had to act. Pounding his fist on the door, he yelled, "What's going on in there? I work for the motel and I'm coming in!" He used his master key and pushed the door open, his eyes immediately locking onto an older man poised to strike the young woman again.

"Who are you? Mind your business and get out of here," the old man demanded.

"I'm an employee, and you're assaulting a guest. Get away from her!" Devon shouted, lunging forward to seize the old man's arm.

The old man was fast. A backhand struck Devon hard across the face, making him tumble backward, the momentum slamming the back of his head into the sharp edge of a small table. He tried to push himself up, but his legs wouldn't respond. He felt a warm, sticky wetness dripping down the back of his neck.

Reaching behind his head, Devon brought his hand into view. It was entirely covered in blood.

"Oh fuck," the old man whispered, his fury replaced by panic. "Look what you made me do you bitch," he hissed at the woman before bolting out of the room.

Devon's legs would not move, and his vision was blurring, the room dissolving into hazy light. He tried to speak, but no words came. His thoughts became fuzzy, disjointed. He realized he was dying. After such a terrible life, this was how it ended: knocked out trying to do the one thing no one had ever done for him. What a terrible life, he thought before slipping into death.

When Devon opened his eyes again, he was lying on soft moss beneath towering trees. He blinked several times, unsure if he was still unconscious or dreaming.

Devon sat up slowly, looking around in confusion. There was no city skyline, no familiar streets, no trace of the motel or the man who had killed him. Nothing looked familiar. The forest stretched endlessly, with colossal trees whose trunks were wide enough to fit a small house inside. His mind raced. Had he died? Was this some hallucination from his head injury? Or had he somehow been transported to another world?

A translucent blue panel suddenly appeared in front of him.

[[Welcome, Transdimensional Entity #00001]
Title Gained: First Transdimensional Entity
Class Available: VoidBound (Exclusive)]

"What is this screen and why is it saying I am a transdimensional entity?"

[A transdimensional entity is a being that exists across, moves between, or originates from multiple dimensions, universes, or planes of existence.]

Devon froze. "Where did that voice come from?"

The words echoed inside his head, flat and without emotion.