8Thought I might give writing a shot, I've read on this site for years, about time I joined the community, eh? I am man in bold text. Hear me roar. Roar.
I slowly open my eyes to be greeted by endless darkness.
"Where...?" the rest goes unsaid to baffled to even bother finishing the sentence.
A moment of silent floating passes by as a thought occurs to me.
"Did I die?" I say to myself, trying to recall the events that led me here.
...
Looking down at my watch, I sigh as the cracked screen reads back to me 4:34 am.
"Yet again, sleep has managed to evade my grasp." I muttered with a long sigh.
I silently swear to myself that my next battle shan't be lost. Mark my words! you will rue the day you chose to reject me, Restfulness!
Satisfied with my declaration I begin to prepare for my day.
Throwing on a loosely fitting black hoodie and pair of shoes I decided to start the day with a run.
"Staying as fit as any aspiring failure should" I remark with all the enthusiasm of a dead fish
Though It's obvious I'm not a fan of exercise, I'm even less a fan of getting as fat as I am lazy. It's just a run anyway. no need for melodramatic complaining, it's hardly going to kill me.
I started to reconsider this decision after running down a few blocks, it was easier to go on jogs when I lived with my mother in a nice suburban neighborhood.
Now though? Well, as I'm waving to the third crack head off the side of the road, I'm not so sure this is as safe as it used to be.
Mama, didn't raise no wimp though, who cares if I'm broke? At least I'm self-sufficient. That gives me bonus points in the afterlife, y'know, after I inevitably get stabbed.
Running down a few more blocks I take a quick break in a nearby alley.
"Fuck, who knew exercise was such a pain in the ass? Not to mention thighs and lungs for that matter..." I panted out, absently gazing around the alleyway.
"Man, what a shithole. I should really move out of this area as soon as I can..." I mutter under my breath before spotting a crisp 5$ bill ripe for the taking.
"Lucky." I whisper with a fist pump.
Walking down the alley past the tasteful artistry ("me and the scuzz boys are gooning it up"? Who are the scuzz boys? Can I be a scuzz boy?')
I crouched down to pick up the cash, and at the same moment I heard the cocking of a gun.
"R-Raise your arms and turn around." A voice calls out sharply
'Just my luck.' bitterness oozing from me as I slowly do as they ask.
"E-Empty your pockets"
"L-Look can't we talk about this?" I ask them in hopes this can be resolved without me losing my stuff.
"I said empty your pockets!" They shout leveling their gun to my head
"I'm doing it! S-See?" I stammer out whipping out my wallet and phone from my hoodie pockets.
'No way I'm getting shot over an HTC explorer and a few fast-food coupons!'
"Look, this is all I have, take it!" I say holding out my worldly possessions. 'this could be a good opportunity to kickstart my journey to enlightenment at least?'
"How do I know you aren't lying to me?!" He shouts sounding increasingly insane by the second.
"W-What? You've got a gun pointed at me, I'm hardly in any position to lie!" I all but sputter out in utter fear and confusion.
"So now you're calling me crazy?!" He says his arm tensing in preparation to pull the trigger
'Oh, I'm going to die here.' I think to myself shutting my eyes in anticipation certain of my demise. desperately wishing I were anywhere but here.
And then...
...
"Then I found myself here..." I speak to an audience of none.
'In hindsight I should have back flipped over him and cut his head off with my sweet freaking ka-ta-na. Ugh, this no time for jokes, how do I get myself out of here?'
'I... don't think I'm dead. I can't remember any pain or even the sound of the gunshot. and I would have had to have died instantaneously to have died like that.'
'Maybe an anvil fell on my head? If that's true, then I can finally cross it off my bucket list at least.' I think with a hint of mirth in my tone
'In any case there isnt much I can do if I really did die, so let's work under the assumption that I'm not dead, how did I end up here?'
'I vaguely recall wishing I was anywhere but where I was, maybe I just need to do that again?'
Closing my eyes and doing my best to click my mental heels together I think, 'There's no place like home, there's no place like home!'
Opening my eyes once again, I find myself back in my apartment.
"Ha! It worked!" I say with elation clear in my voice
"Home sweet home! Er, well maybe not sweet. Honestly speaking, I think this place tastes more like moth balls and broken dreams than anything resembling the term 'sweet'."
Just as I'm beginning to process the implications of the situation I hear a click, as the door swings open to reveal none other than myself standing there in total bewilderment.
"What?" x2
In a panic I shut my eyes tight and attempt to will myself back into that endless void.
And in an instant, I open my eyes to an increasingly familiar darkness.
'Okay so that rules out teleportation at least... maybe it's the ability to jump across Schrodinger style timelines? Going to a timeline separate from my own wherein I either did or did not do something?'
'But that still leaves the teleportation aspect. If I am merely jumping timelines then how did I end up back in my apartment and for that matter, wouldn't I be fused with my alternate timeline self? Not to mention it hardly explains this void I find myself in...'
"Unless..."
'Maybe I am on the right track with the Schrodinger theory?'
"It's a shot in the dark, but I suppose that's the only shot I can take in here, isn't it?"
Focusing once again I find myself Imagining an alleyway in Japan but not my Japan.
And with a blink, I find myself once again in one of my beloved alleyways.
Stepping past the garbage littered around and into the light of the street, I nearly couldn't believe my eyes.
"Heheh..." in disbelief I stood there looking at the "people" passing by
As a man with a cactus for a head passed me by, my once quiet laughter started to grow louder and louder "Haha!"
Taking half a step back into the alleyway in utter befuddlement I trip over some loose garbage, my laughter growing to a boisterous cackle as I land staring up at the sky.
"Hahaha-HAHAHA!" my laughter now deranged and maniacal. "I can't believe it!" I struggle out the words in my laughing fit, shouting towards the heavens.
"Look out multiverse! Cause Nick Volta is coming for you!" Then with a blink, I'm gone once more, into the same nothingness from which I arrived.
And that's the introduction to the story! I haven't made it explicitly clear, but this will be a mainly technologically focused story. Going around the multiverse learning a variety of knowledge and techniques to try and reach the big leagues. The goal of this story is to try and avoid the instantaneous acquiring of absurd powers. Steady progress and a slow build-up of power is the key.