Queens, New York – Spring, 2015
The morning sun slanted through the blinds, catching dust in sharp golden lines across the modest living room. Zak yawned, rubbing the back of his neck, and glanced around the small house he now called his own. Not huge, not grand, just enough. Just enough to survive.
He poured himself a bowl of cereal, the clink of the spoon against the ceramic loud in the quiet house. Weeks after Grandma passed, he thought, and now it's just me… broke, hungry, and completely alone.
A memory came unbidden - a flash of metal, screeching tires, the deafening thud that had ended his first life. A truck. A life gone in an instant. And now… this.
Zak blinked and shook his head, staring at his reflection in the window. Same face. Same body. But different. Something deep inside him stirred as memories flooded in - not his own, yet familiar. The original Zak of this world.
He remembered everything. Every Marvel hero, every fight, every moment he had watched as a fan in his past life. He knew the world's timeline now…Avengers assembled, battles fought, sacrifices made. And he was here, in the middle of it.
Wait… this isn't just another reality. This is the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
His heart skipped. "Robert Downey Jr. isn't just an actor here… he's Iron Man. Chris Evans… Captain America. And… wow." He paused, cheeks heating at the thought. "Scarlett Johansson… Natasha Romanoff. Black Widow. She's… unbelievably beautiful."
Reality pressed down on him. Zak was powerless in a world of gods, aliens, and super-soldiers. He knew the dangers..the battles, the villains, the destruction that could sweep him away without a second thought. He was just… a normal college student.
"Okay," he muttered, pacing the kitchen. "First priority: survive. Second priority… figure out how to make money."
⸻
Zak's thoughts drifted to his family history. His grandmother's passing was recent, but memories of his grandfather surfaced vividly. He could almost hear the old man's voice, full of pride and mystery.
"Your great-great-grandfather," his grandfather had said when Zak was barely old enough to reach the kitchen counter, "was an archaeologist, a tomb raider… a man of adventure. He found treasures and relics the world had forgotten.
"There's one… one he could never truly understand. A locket, its purpose, its power… it remained a mystery. They say it will only reveal itself fully to the one destined to awaken it."
Zak had spent countless childhood evenings listening to those stories, eyes wide, heart pounding at tales of hidden tombs, booby traps, and ancient secrets. His grandfather's eyes would twinkle as he spoke of the relic's mystery, and even then, Zak had felt a strange pull toward adventure.
But then tragedy struck. His parents died, leaving him in the care of his grandmother. And now she was gone too. Zak swallowed the lump in his throat, feeling the familiar ache of loneliness.
The walk to college was quiet, streets bustling with students and commuters. Zak observed everything - the news trucks reporting on Tony Stark's latest peacekeeping initiative, posters for campus events, snippets of conversation about Avengers rumors. Everything he knew from movies was real here. And it's all dangerous, he thought, a shiver running down his spine.
His first class of the day was Economics 101. As he entered the room…
Zak's stomach twisted, his heart skipping a beat. Standing in the hall, books clutched to her chest, completely absorbed in her own world was Julia Cornwall.
Sydney Sweeney? Wow… and she's real? She's… hot. Really hot even with those nerdy glasses.
Before he could gather his thoughts, his gaze shifted across the classroom. Another figure caught his attention — sitting near the back, casually flipping through a notebook, exuding effortless elegance. Ester Exposito… Felicia Hardy… Black Cat. His mind raced, the knowledge from his past life colliding with the reality before him. She's stunning. I can't believe she's here.
A sudden collision jolted Zak back to reality, pulling him out of his daze. He stumbled as Julia's books went flying, papers fluttering across the floor.
"Oh! Sorry, I wasn't looking!" she exclaimed, cheeks red.
Zak crouched to help her gather the pages. "No, my fault. I—uh…name's Zak Sins," he said, holding out a hand.
She laughed softly, shaking his hand. "Julia Cornwall. Nice to meet you."
That brief moment left Zak flushed, not just from embarrassment, but from the surreal realization: he knew more about these people than they knew about themselves.
——-
The next few days blended into a rhythm: college lectures, part-time work at a local bar, and surviving on a tight budget. Zak's life was mundane, yet dangerous in its own quiet way—because he knew what could happen if he slipped up.
One evening, while tidying the basement, Zak stumbled across a dusty, old wooden box tucked behind a stack of crates. The basement smelled of mildew and old wood, and cobwebs brushed his arms as he reached for the box. Curiosity pried it open, revealing a small, ornate locket and a crumpled sheet of paper covered in letters he didn't recognize.
Zak traced the intricate carvings of the locket with his fingers, marveling at the craftsmanship. The sheet of text was like nothing he had seen, symbols curling elegantly across brittle parchment.
He remembered his grandfather's words vividly: "It only awakens for the chosen one." He chuckled softly. I don't even know what this is… but maybe it'll be worth a few bucks, at least. With a shrug, he placed it around his neck and went to bed.
The room was silent, the kind of quiet that pressed against your eardrums. Moonlight slanted through the window, shadows dancing across the walls. Then, suddenly, the locket glowed, a piercing blue-white light filling the room. Zak jolted upright, heart racing. A sharp, tingling electric shock shot across his chest, making him scream.
"Ahhh!" he yelped, clutching his chest, hair standing on end. He gasped for breath, eyes wide as the glow dimmed, his fingers tingling from the residual energy.
He placed the locket on the bedside table, still trembling. But the glow returned, more intense this time. His eyes flickered, electric blue for a heartbeat, and then a translucent screen appeared before him, hovering in midair. Words scrolled across it:
SYSTEM ACTIVATING…
A moment later, the words changed:
WELCOME, CHOSEN ONE.
Zak froze, chest hammering. Fear, awe, and excitement surged through him simultaneously. "This… this can't be real," he whispered, voice shaking. But deep down, he knew….the relic had chosen him. His life, his future, his very existence had just changed forever.