#dd1chapter1

[elscarlet]

Divided Dimensions: The World of Elkanov Part 1 (Revised)

This is the first chapter of the novel. I’ve been writing and have a hard time not going back to edit everything. I really need to stop being a perfectionist when it comes to my writing. Anyway, hope you enjoy~ I’ll post the next chapter tomorrow.

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As smoke fills the room, the sound of the smoke alarm blaring reverberates throughout the house, waking me from my trance. I jolt up before sighing as I use my index finger to adjust my black-rimmed glasses, my other hand placing the book I had been reading down gently on my desk. 

Not this again. I cover my nose and mouth with my sleeve before walking out of my room. I travel down the now smoke-filled staircase and towards the open kitchen which was barely visible. Squinting my eyes, I thread carefully into the kitchen, making sure not to bump into anything. 

“Mum! You okay?” I call out, a cough leaving my lips as I search for some kind of movement. 

“I’m fine, Alistair! Just burned some pancakes.” 

“Burnt pancakes?” I mutter as I turn to face where the voice came from and made my way over. My mother, Bella, was fanning the smoke out of the kitchen from the back door with a magazine, coughing a few times. “Were you hurt?” I ask, adjusting my glasses before looking at her to make sure she wasn’t injured. 

“Apart from having a bit of smoke in my lungs, I’m pretty much alright.” She chuckles. “Oh, could you please turn off the alarm, Chip?” She says in between coughs. 

I nod before grabbing a broom from the storeroom to turn the smoke alarm off. The smoke had mostly dispersed from the kitchen which revealed the stove and what looked more like charcoal then pancakes. I sigh inwardly at the sorry sight of what was supposed to be breakfast. I throw the pancake that was on the pan and look at the batter on the kitchen counter. 

“Sorry about that, Chip. I got a little distracted with my work.” Mum apologises, lightly scratching her neck. 

“It’s fine mum. I was planning on making breakfast too but got distracted reading.” I dismiss, already putting an apron on. “I’ll finish up with the pancakes. School is in another hour or so anyway.” 

“You’ve been walking to school a lot more these days so how about I drive you today? To make up for the pancakes.” 

I hum in agreement as I flip another pancake. This has happened almost every week whenever she was the one to cook breakfast. It wasn’t that she was bad at cooking; it was just that she was a little bit of a mess sometimes. Balancing work and coming home to take care of a 14-year-old kid was not an easy task and I understand that. 

“Sorry about this. I’m such a terrible-” 

“Please don’t say that mum. I know you’re just doing your best to take care of me.” I shake my head.  

“Sigh. Thanks, sweetie. How about we cook some spaghetti for dinner tonight? Or maybe order some pizza? Since its Friday, we can even watch a movie if you’d like.” 

“Sure.” I place the pancake filled plate on the table and sit down across from her. We ate as we talked about mundane things before I got up to gather my stuff. I take a quick look at myself in the mirror and comb my dark brown hair into a side part. My eyes land on the green gemstone pendant that came out of my shirt, probably from running down the stairs earlier. I look at it as I held it in my palm, a sudden sense of longing forming in my heart. 

“You ready yet, Al?” Mum calls out from down the stairs, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Yeah, I’ll be down in a sec!” I shout back. I take one last look at the pendant before hiding it behind my shirt that was underneath my school uniform. I grab the book I was reading before rushing down the stairs. 

We rode in silence most of the way to school and stopped when the stop light turned red. I had unconsciously started to fiddle with my pendant part way during the ride and couldn’t stop my head from forming a question.  “Hey, mum?” 

“Hmm…?” She hums in response, mostly paying attention to the road ahead. “Where did you get this pendant? I know I’ve asked this a few times already but I really don’t understand why I have to wear it at all times.” I ask as I glance at her. 

“There’s no reason for you to ask where I got it from. Just know it’s for your protection.” She answers in a harsh tone, surprising me a little. She sighs. She glances at me briefly with a face I don’t see often. “We’ll talk about it at the right time, okay?” She turns back towards the road just as the light changes to green. 

I nod my head, opting to stay quiet. I certainly didn’t want to trouble her with it but I just don’t understand how some green gemstone is supposed to protect me.  What is it protecting me from? Sighing inwardly, I place the pendant back behind my shirt, the fabric making me feel stuffy. I decide to grab the book I had been reading earlier this morning to past the time as the car once again fills with silence.      

I shield myself from another punch with my arm; the force would no doubt cause a bruise. I grit my teeth to hold back another groan as a kick lands on my side. My glasses already chucked to the side. Shit. Just thinking of all the possible lies I’ll need to tell mum when I get home is giving me headaches.  I’m glad they’re avoiding any obvious places that would be hard to cover up or this will just be an even bigger pain. 

“You ready to tell the truth now, Al?” Jackson’s voice hisses as his hand grabs a fistful of my hair. 

“I have told you enough times… I did not—” I cough, my breathing ragged. “I did not do it!” I glare at the raven-haired boy that I used to call my friend. 

“Tch. Still ain’t gonna admit it, huh? That’s fine.” Jackson mocks, his eyes showing an almost animalistic bloodlust, shocking me for a second. “I just hope you’re ready to face the consequences.” He reaches for his back pocket and pulls out a pocket knife. 

“Woah, Jack! I thought you said we were just going to scare him a little.” The blonde guy that was holding onto me let go of my arms. “He’s already beaten up! Just forget about it! It was probably just a coincidence—” 

“Shut your fucking mouth, Elric. That don’t matter. I’ve been wanting to beat the shit out of him for a long time now anyway.” 

“What did I ever do to you?” I exclaim, annoyed, frustrated even, by him. “Does it even matter? I just don’t like that face of yours.” A sinister grin appears on his lips. 

“I ain’t stayin’ for this shit!” Another boy yelled before he walks off. A few of the other boys that were there left too, leaving Jackson, Elric, and I alone in the empty hallway of the school. 

“Heh, pussies,” Jackson mutters. “Now, I wonder where I should cut you first?” 

Damn it! Well, this certainly won’t end well for me. How did it get to this anyway? I would’ve escaped already if I didn’t feel so sick all of a sudden. Maybe I shouldn’t have stayed up reading. 

I could feel a cold sensation press against my cheek which brought me back from my meaningless complaints. It wasn’t enough to draw blood, though. But it definitely reminded me that one wrong move could be fatal. 

I look up and saw Jackson’s face. He didn’t look like himself, or at least not like the Jackson I knew. I could feel him applying more pressure on the knife against my cheek. I instinctively shut my eyes, just hoping someone saw them and called a teacher.  I was already giving up when I hear the sound of footsteps getting closer. 

“Tch.” I hear Elric click his tongue before the pressure on my cheek disappears. 

“Stop, someone’s called a teacher. We need to go.” Jackson lets go of my hair and I hear the sound of something metal fall onto the floor before another pair of footsteps pass me. The footsteps from earlier got closer as I slump onto the ground. I glance at where the footsteps came from but my eyes started losing focus as the world around me spirals. 

  “Stop, that’s enough. It’ll be harder for me to heal him if you hurt him too much.” A blonde boy exclaims as he places a hand on the shoulder of the woman standing beside the unconscious raven-haired boy on the infirmary bed.

“Oh, please. It’s not like I’ll kill the kid. Father’s orders were to make sure to drain him as much as possible so it’ll be easier to—” The voice cut off as if someone had stopped them from talking.

“Shut it, Veera. He’s waking up. You better block his memories now before he remembers any of this. And make sure to knock him out.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.”The purple-haired woman—Veera—places her hand above the boy’s head, her eyes glowing with a violet hue as she chants something under her breath. A dark mist covers the boy’s head as he stirs. The boy’s body slowly absorbs the dark mist and his movements stop.

“Don’t forget to deal with four-eyes over there. I think your spells are finally starting to work on him.” The blonde boy gestures towards another boy leaning on one of the chairs, barely conscious. “I’ve had enough of playing pretend with these kananai and I really don’t want to waste any more of my time and kana here. You know how long it takes to restore it all.”

“Tch. You’re not the only one suffering here. At least you don’t have to pretend to be some old nurse. Luckily those bastards that ran off already had their memories wiped.” Veera crosses her arms, annoyed. “Let’s just get this over with. I can’t wait to get started with that kid.”

“You better remember what father said. Even if only in name they’re still—”

“I get it, Veros! Geez, it’s not like I’m gonna kill the kid. It’s just a pain in the neck to break that protection charm.” She rolls her eyes. She flicks her wrist and a shadow-like arm emerges from her shadow which lifts the raven-haired boy and moves him onto another chair before placing the other boy on the bed. “I wonder how much longer this charm of yours is going to last? It really is a mystery how he’s still alive after so many years living here.”

“Just get to it. We don’t have much time left before he wakes up.”Veera rolls her eyes. She starts searching for something on the boy; the green gemstone pendant around his neck, and stores it in her pocket before doing what she did with the former boy. It took a little longer for the dark mist to be absorbed into his body and once it did, Veros lifts the other boy up by wrapping his arm around the boy’s torso and the boy’s arm on his shoulder. He walks out the door with Veera in tow.   

I hold the side of my head as a confused and pained grumble escapes my lips. My eyes flick open and slowly adjust to the light in the room. I dart my eyes around the room, trying to figure out where I am. Is this…the infirmary? 

“Oh, you’re awake.” I look towards where the voice had come from and see the school’s nurse, Ms Vivian with her arms crossed, walking towards her desk, her dark purple hair tied up in a bun. I hadn’t seen her earlier so she must have just come in. I slowly got up to sit, my body feeling lighter than usual. That’s…weird? Shouldn’t I be aching all over right now? I look at my arms in confusion; there weren’t any bruises on them. 

“I was surprised when they brought you in. You’ve never fainted during school before.” Ms Vivian says as she starts pouring water into a glass that was on the table and hands it to me. 

“Fainted?” I ask before taking a sip of the water. “Yes, the teacher that sent you here said you fainted in the hallway. I believe it was from lack of sleep.” 

“That’s… Wasn’t I…?” I stop myself. What happened? I reach up to adjust my glasses only to realize I wasn’t wearing them. 

“Oh, right!” The nurse grabs something from her desk and gives it to me. “We can’t forget about your glasses now can we?” She chuckles. I take my glasses from her, sighing in relief after making sure that it was okay. “Um… what time is it?” 

“It’s 11:09. You’ve been asleep for about 20 minutes.” She replies after glancing at her wristwatch. “You can go home now if you want since there’s only less than half an hour before school ends. I’ll tell the teacher.” I nod my head. I’ll get more time to read if I go now. Since it’s a Friday, mum won’t be home till late too. With such thoughts, I decide to go home early.

“Alright then, your things are right over there.” She points towards the door where my bag was leaning against a chair. “I’ll make sure the teachers know.” 

“By the way,” I say after taking a deep breath once more. “Has my mother been informed of this?” I ask as I adjust my glasses and slowly get out of the bed. 

“Mhnm? Oh, your mother? No, since it was just something caused by lack of sleep.” Ms Vivian answers while writing something on a piece of paper. I pay no mind to it and get up to take my bag. As I was about to leave, my hand went to fiddle with my pendant. It wasn’t on me. Just as I was about to ask if she had seen it, Ms Vivian dangles my pendant in front of me. 

“You dropped this when you fainted. I nearly forgot to give it back.” She explains with a smile on her face, her dark purple eyes staring at me. 

“O-oh! Thank you, Ms. Vivian.” I take the pendant, feeling a little uncomfortable for some reason. She smiles as she pats my back and opens the door to lead me out. I walk out of the infirmary as I sling my bag onto my shoulder. What on earth happened? I wonder as I trudge the silent halls of the school. I shrug, thinking it would benefit me more to just forget it rather than wrack my brain to try and remember. But I just can’t shake the feeling that something was off, especially with the nurse. 

Halfway through my walk, I stop after noticing an unfamiliar shop. It was a café. Not an ordinary one though, I could tell, from its name and the interior design I could see from the outside windows. Well, it’s not as if I have much to do at home anyway. Rather, this might work as a good distraction to get my mind off things. Mum isn’t coming home anytime soon either. 

I push open the black wooden door with a sign that said “Welcome to Timeless Café”, the light chime of a bell ringing reaches my ears as I take in the scene around me. The café exudes a calm and cosy atmosphere. The smell of fresh coffee and books instantly makes me relax and the sound of light chatter and soft jazz comforts me. I reach the line in front of the cashier and wait patiently to order. 

“Hello, and welcome to Timeless Café. What would you like to order?” The cashier, a man who seems to be around his forties, greets me when it was my turn to order. His smile was calm and gentle which contrasts from his large build and bearded face. I didn’t really have much of an appetite and thinking so I say, 

“I’ll have a black coffee and…” I stop to ponder as I adjust my glasses. Should I get something to eat? 

“How about a slice of a dark Oreo chocolate cheesecake? I’ would work well with the black coffee and won’t be too sweet.” The cashier grins. 

“Hmm… yeah, I’ll have that then. Thank you.” I nod, thinking it would be easier to just go with his suggestion rather than make the line wait any longer. 

“Okay, that will be 7.55. Will you be eating in?” I nod as the man punches in something into the cash register.  “Please hold on for a moment while I get your order ready.” He says and instructs another employee to get the coffee and cake ready. I hand over the money and take the change. "Please, find a seat and take this with you." The man gives me a button-like thing the size of my palm. "The button glows red when your order is ready and someone will give you your order." 

I nod again and take the button with me as I scan the café for the seat I had spotted from outside. When I saw the seat that was at the end of the café next to the outside window and a bookshelf, I hasten my footsteps to take the seat before anyone else could. I put the button on the table and slide off my bag and place it on top of my chair. I decide to grab an extra book from the bookshelf beside me while I wait since I was almost done with the book I was reading. I flip through a few of the books, briefly looking at its contents before deciding on what to read. A certain dark green coloured book catches my attention and without much thought, I take it out of the bookshelf. The book's cover was actually made of material close to leather and has two belt-like straps on it. 

“The World of Elkanov?” I murmur to myself. Curious, I look at the back of the book however there was no short synopsis at the back of it. Shrugging, I take the book back to my seat and sit down after placing my bag on the chair beside me. I flip open the book that looks as if it were a journal, the first page even stating the writer's name as the owner of the book. Even more intrigued, I quickly go to the first chapter of the book, the lights above me casting’ a yellow hue.

A few minutes in and I was already engrossed in the book. I almost didn't realise the button glowing red, signalling that my order would arrive in a moment. I make sure to remember where I left off before putting down the book as I wait for my food to arrive. The same man from before was now holding a tray and walking towards me, probably to give me my order. 

"Thank you," I say as he places my black coffee and the cake on the table. 

"You're welcome." He grins. "Oh, didn't think someone would pick that book to read." I hear him say as he points at the book on the table. 

"It caught my eye because of its unique design. I've never seen a book using faux leather as its cover before." I say as I adjust my glasses, a little flustered by the sudden conversation. 

"Ah, that's true. It’s the only book of its kind. I've never seen anyone read it though. Must be cause of it lookin' so old. Shame that there aren't any more of the books. Even though my friend took so long to finish it." He shakes his head with a sigh.

"Wait, your friend wrote this?!" I exclaim a little too loud. It's a good thing jazz music is playing in the background otherwise people would be staring at me right now. "I-I mean, you are a friend of the author of this book?" The man chuckles, 

"Yeah, he was a real weirdo, that guy. Always going on and on about his adventures." The man's face suddenly fell, as if recalling a sombre memory. "He passed away a long time ago though, 10 years to be exact." He sighs. "Well, I’m just glad someone's reading his book." 

A little surprised by the information, I adjust my glasses again before saying, "I'm sorry for prying." 

"Nah, you don't have to feel bad. It's not your fault. Besides, it's been so long already." He scratches his neck and averts his eyes. "The name's Edward by the way. Oh, and you can take that old book home too if ya like. It's just gonna gather dust if I leave it here." He says as he takes the button-like thing from the table before turning around to leave. 

"W-wait! Would the owner of the cafe be okay with that?" I stop him. 

"Course he would! I'm the boss after all!" He gives a hearty laugh as he waves it off and leaves to resume his work. 

Stunned at the sudden revelation, I shake my head softly as if to get rid of the shock. Who knew the owner of the cafe would be working right at the cashier. I adjust my glasses, opting to pay no mind to it and deciding to finally start eating. 

A pleased hum escapes my lips after taking a bite out of the cake. He wasn't lying when he said the cake would go well with the coffee. I continue to eat and drink occasionally as I read the book, already forgetting about the other novel inside my bag. My coffee and cake were finished by the time half an hour had passed however, I decided to stay and continue reading the book for a little longer. 

A few hours pass by and I was almost halfway done with the book. I glance at the clocks on the wall across from my seat and search for the clock with the name of my country under it. It was already 3:34. Realizing how long I have been staying here, I close the book and get up to leave. I grab my bag and with the book in my hand, I leave the café with a more relaxed and satisfied smile.

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How was it? Feel free to give me any comments or critiques so i can improve on the other chapters as well. Thanks for reading~