Shonte swallowed hard, his throat suddenly feeling dry.
"I...I don't know."
The entities surrounding him began whispering again, though this time their voices were quieter, more controlled, like distant conversations carried through heavy fog.
A faceless entity tilted its head slowly.
"The book selected him, and the choice has already been made."
Shonte frowned in confusion.
"What are you talking about?"
The blue-flamed entity raised one hand, and the floating book drifted closer towards Shonte.
"This book is not merely an object." It explained. "It is a gate. A contract. A living will."
"The book chose you,just as it chose others."
"Others?" He repeated.
"Yes, child. Eleven others like you....though it seems like you're the ?#!e5%v@
"Wait....could you repeat that?"
"I said you are one of the twelve !@#?^%r selected for your world."
Shonte stared at the entities blankly. None of this made sense.
Luxor slowly extended a glowing hand towards him.
Around him, the others shifted slightly while some leaned forward with interest, and others just watched silently.
"You must now choose a benefactor."
"A benefactor?" Shonte asked carefully.
"One who shall guide your growth," the blue-flamed entity explained. "One whose power you will inherit."
A cold knot of panic tightened, cutting his air off shortly as he quickly shook his hair. "No...." It started as a whisper but built into a desperate plea. "I'm happy with my life as it is...now, and I don't even know what I'm meant to do!"
"Dear child, you can't refuse, the @!%^o* has already begun. Creatures beyond your understanding will descend upon Earth. Entire civilizations across countless worlds have already fallen to them. This will be in @!%#* years."
"But I didn't agree to any of th-"
SLAM.
The floating book snapped shut with a deafening crack. Into the center of his chest, as he barely had time to raise his arms before it slammed right into his chest and vanished inside him.
He gasped as pain exploded through his entire body.
Shonte screamed as burning heat spread beneath his skin, racing through his veins like fire. He collapsed onto the invisible floor beneath him while black markings flickered across his arms before disappearing again.
"No! GET IT OUT!"
He looked up, expecting one of the towering figures to do something, but none of them did. Each of them looked....frozen.
Suddenly, jarring confusion appeared across their divine faces. They didn't know the book could do that.
Then, the world began to fracture.
The edges of the void pixelated into raw, blinding static. The air whistled with a high-pitched, metallic whine that tore at his eardrums. Columns of light sheared sideways. The entities themselves began to tear apart, their forms flickering violently like dying holograms. They had stayed too long. A human mind could not sustain the weight of infinity, and the intrusion was collapsing the dream.
With a final, agonizing distortion of sound, the entities severed the connection and vanished.
GASP.
His eyes flew open. He bolted upright in his own bed, his chest heaving as he violently sucked in real air. Cold sweat drenched his sheets; the quiet, ordinary safety of his room surrounded him.
Sunlight peeked through his window as his eyes adjusted to his surroundings. For several seconds, he just sat there trying to steady his breathing.
The dream still clung to him. Every word the entity had spoken clearly inside his head.
Could it have been real?
Slowly, Shonte pushed the blanket aside and climbed off the mattress. The wooden floor creaked softly beneath his feet as he grabbed a towel and quietly made his way down the attic ladder.
He washed his face in the bathroom sink, staring tiredly at his reflection while cold water dripped from his chin. The dark circles beneath his eyes looked worse than usual. After brushing his teeth, he went downstairs.
The second he stepped into the hallway downstairs, his mother's irritated voice called out from the kitchen.
A thin trail of grey smoke curled up from between her fingers, wafting through the air before dissolving into the shadows of the ceiling.
"Since you're awake, make lunch for your brother and sister before you leave."
Shonte paused. "But...I still need to get ready for school."
"And?" she snapped without even looking at him. "You think food makes itself?, When I tell you to do something, you fucking do it."
Before he could react, she grabbed the front of his collar and pressed the burning tip of the cigarette against the fabric near his shoulder.
"If the government didn't give us money for taking care of trash like you, I would have thrown you out a long time ago. Now get moving."
Shonte lowered his head quickly. "....Okay."
He walked toward the counter silently while the burning sensation lingered against his collarbone. Upstairs, he could hear Cassandra moving around her room while Silas laughed loudly at something on his phone.
Behind the counter, the TV flickered on mute, casting a blue glow over his dad, who was dead to the world on the sofa. He was slumped in a heap, a sour smell of cheap beer hanging around him like a fog. His jaw hung open, emitting a wet, rattling snore with every breath.
As Shonte stared at his dad, he kept being reminded that he was just an adopted outcast.