Heroes of the Tesseract

Tuesday, August 29th, 2090

90 minutes before the tesseract’s arrival...

(Continuous alarm sound and followed by a thud on the alarm clock)

Ugh, what time is it?

I rubbed my eyes as I hit the alarm button to shut it off, trying to regain my vision as it was the beginning of the day where I'll become a college student at Columbia University, the prestigious university I've aimed for the last two years while working to save for the tuition fee, which is almost priced the same as a car. Maybe comparable to a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, I guess.

I'm currently going to enroll for the Computer Science undergraduate program, and I must say, it's my best decision I've ever made. Not many people had the luxury of enrolling into said university, and I'm sure I cannot waste the opportunity to be one of the best.

Anyways, my name is Justin Mercer. I'm originally from Albany, and I'm working as a cashier in a local convenience store in Long Island—and actually still working there. I always wanted to be a programmer, and maybe delved into game development in the foreseeable future. My love for games is so big that it kinda disappoints me to see how far the game industry in my country has fallen. We used to have fun games, rivaling those from Japan, but now... eh, it's getting stale, and I don't like it. Call me unreasonable or whatever, but I don't like how games continue to drain my wallet through microtransactions and insignificant downloadable contents like some girl character, something dressing as a clown or whatever that is...

Anyways, enough rambling. It's almost the end of August, and my dad told me to buy myself a new laptop since my previous one was already on life support, or I guess that's what people said on the internet.

I took a cab from my rented house in Long Island to Lower Manhattan, or what some people said Downtown Manhattan, and later walked my way to find a nearby computer store. My dad told me to just go to Brooklyn and head to the Micro Center, but I remember that I had high-school friends who also got accepted into Columbia University that goes to downtown, though they're at a different major, so I insisted on going there instead and maybe having some fun before the semester finally began.

Right after I got out of the cab, I saw one of my friends, whose name was DeShawn Reed, standing next to a building, hands crossing on his chest. Sounds like he's waiting for me.

"Hey, DS! How long have you been waiting there!?" I shouted to him. He then looked at me with a smile creeping on his face.

"Ah, Justin Time. I'm almost disappointed at ya for being late." He replied. I can hear his tone that he slightly mocked me for being "Just-in Time"—word play, that kind of thing, referring to me always making myself on time when it comes to being arrived at one place.

"What, you're angry at it? Anyways, are you gonna recommend some laptop I can use for, well, almost anything?"

"Oh, for sure. Though why don't you ask your dad to send your PC to your dorm?

My expression went iffy as he asked me that question. "...eh, I don't think I wanna trouble my old pop to carry my stuff out after like, what, two years? He helped me move out on my own accord and, well, he's been there to carry out stuff I want to bring to Long Island."

"Ah, I see now. Your old pop is so old you might think he's gonna break your PC accidentally, along with his back." He said to me half-jokingly.

"Hey, he's not that old, but I just need him to take a long rest while my somewhat deadbeat brother is taking care of him." I said, along with the realization of my voice being a little sinister when I'm referring to my older brother, Brandon.

"Oh right, I haven't heard anything about Brandon. How's he now?"

"Why are you asking me? He never said anything other than—oh, I haven't seen you in a while." I quickly cut my words and changed the topic as I saw a girl I have known since middle school.

"What are you talking about? You live three and a half blocks away from me in Long Island."

I laughed at her retort after indirectly saying I kinda missed her. She's Helena Sinclair and she has lived around my neighborhood since last year. She's not a university student, due to her parents forbidding her from advancing her educational progress. I almost felt bad when I heard that her parents didn't allow her to enter college. Dunno what's the reason, but I'm not gonna stick my head into her affair for sure.

"Oh Helen, you're trying to buy sum'n?" DeShawn hopped in.

"Nah, I'm probably gonna wait for my grandmother to get out of one of these buildings here. She has some talks with other people of her caliber, God knows what that would be."

I can see her rolling her eyes, as if she wasn't being paid enough for tending an elderly person. I chuckled before jesting around on her. "You'll get used to it. I did that with my pop and it's as normal as you would expect."

"You're lucky you're not growing up in a particular culture."

I quickly shrugged it and let out a rather bitter grin on my face. I see DeShawn trying to suppress his snicker at my unfunny joke, that is if that's even considered one.

"(cough) Anyway, let's just move on, since it's time for me to help you buy a laptop. That way we could test it out and maybe game it out until midnight."

"Yeah, you're just trying so hard to beat me in that game. I'll always be unbeatable, even if my hardware is slightly downgraded." I said to him confidently with a smirk.

"Ha! Let's see if you can hold it on!" DeShawn challenged me.

"Alright, have fun, boys!" she waved and left both of us before we also moved to buy a laptop for myself.

It's been 20 or so minutes since we strolled to look for a laptop that I can buy for my college life, as well as a piece of entertainment for myself. My dad did send me a couple thousand dollars to buy one, even though I only need like 900 or less. DeShawn immediately instigated me to buy one of those top-of-the-line "gaming" laptops. That guy's really desperate for beating me up in that new PvE game that got released not-so recently.

We got out of the shop, already bought the device until we saw people suddenly slowing down their walking pace and looking up. Some managed to come to a halt, as if they're frozen at whatever that's floating above the sky. My curiosity took over myself and directed my gaze, also to the sky. There was an enormous luminescent cube that had all the colors surging inside it. I admit it looks really beautiful, but my gut tells me something big and I'd say wrong is about to happen. My buddy DeShawn also looked up, but his feelings were way grimmer than mine.

"That thing. I don't know when it lingers above our sky, but I don't like what's gonna happen."

"What do you think it'll do? Shooting lasers?" I said, slightly joking albeit knowing that it can cause massive destruction above the sky.

"Could be." He replied. I looked at him, as if he'd just go along with my not-so in-the-correct-time joke.

"Maybe we should get out of here quickly. That thing could explode in a hot minute."

I waved my hand, trying to get a cab so we could get out of Lower Manhattan. My gut feeling is starting to get worse as I constantly look up, seeing the thing fluctuate. The frequency of the fluctuations starts to increase, as if it's about to go boom in mere seconds.

And I was right. At the time when I finally got a cab in front of us, I heard a relatively audible growl out of nowhere. I already assumed it was from the enormous luminescent cube way above the sky, but seeing how the light inside the cube goes crazy, as if it wants to burst out of the transparent barrier.

But then I hear a crack, as in like a cracking glass. I looked around, seeing if that cube caused other glasses at the building to get damaged by the vibration of the growl, but there was no sign of cracks around the building. I looked around one more time carefully, only to realize the barriers that couldn't hold the fluctuations and starts to break, causing the lights bursting out of the cube, sending what seems to be a colorful mist, but in reality, it was a bunch of smaller cubes—though "smaller" here is relative. It has the same size as a baseball as a bunch of them are raining down Lower Manhattan.

"Sir! Drive ahead! It's not safe here!" I yelled at the cab driver as the storm of the cube's pieces poured down, causing people to suddenly scramble around, looking for shelter so their heads weren't smashed by them. Although not all people were as lucky as me and DeShawn as some are trapped inside their cars as well as in the buses. Some had to stay still and prayed that they don't get injured or possibly killed inside.

The "raining" only lasted like a minute or a bit more, but I can assure you, it felt like forever. The downtown went into chaos just by the pieces of... was it like metallic boxes? I don't know, I can't tell. We eventually got out to see the aftermath of the situation, seeing the streets now filled with iridescent box-shaped objects, damaging the roads as well as almost all the buildings, probably not just in Lower Manhattan.

Many people already had their phones to dial 911, reporting on the situation that many people would've thought it's a world-ending event. I don't blame them, it was really scary to imagine there was rain, but instead of water droplets, it was raining metals the size of a baseball. Who in the world wouldn't get scared to death when that kind of event happened right in front of their eyes?

Though many people were just standing still in their respective shelters—cafes, clothing shops, hotels, anywhere—others decided to go to the streets and looked at the cube pieces very closely. And among those crowds, I'm one of those who approached it.

"Hey Justin, what are you doing? You shouldn't go near there."

I ignored DeShawn's warning and then proceeded to touch the object. It's quite warm. "It looks like a normal cube crystal. I admit I wanna keep one as my dorm decoration."

"Come on, man, you shouldn't pick strange things from the streets, especially if it's from outside of this world." He warned me again. I looked at the inside of the cube, seeing the colors inside flow smoothly, unlike the gigantic one earlier.

"Eh, I think it's fine now. Look, it even has a smoother and calmer flow. I'm sure it won't be a danger anymore."

I hear DeShawn sighed at my insistence. "Here. Just touch it, or better yet, carry it." I placed it in his hand, making him actually carry the cube.

He was a little reluctant and seemingly wanted to drop it in an instant, but I can see his eyes locking on what's inside the cube. Though, he immediately handed it back to me, as if he feared something bad would happen to him. "Here. I don't wanna hold it any longer."

I shrugged at him before opening my backpack. "Alright then."

As I stored it inside the backpack that I carried to put my newly bought laptop in, I overheard some of the folks talking of selling the object to the market, thinking that it might be worth millions if not billions of dollars. I could do the same, but I'm not interested in getting huge bucks in my bank account. Admittedly, I have little financial literacy, so I won't do the same as these guys did.

"So, what are you gonna do after this?" I asked him.

"I think I'mma head home, telling my mom about what happened."

I nodded at his intention on reporting the situation we got earlier. "Yeah, I guess that's better. Though how long haven't you talked to her?"

DeShawn rubbed his chin, remembering about the last time he contacted his mom. "Two days, I guess?"

I looked at him, bewildered with how long he hasn't talked to his own mother. "Two?! Are you nuts?! What the heck happened between you and your mom?"

"...it's a complicated matter, I don't wanna tell you that." He said, effectively evading my question. I let out a sigh before placing my hand on his shoulder.

"I understand. Anyways, let's find another cab so we can get outta here."

Both of us then managed to find another one and eventually headed down southeast back to Long Island.

It took both of us roughly an hour due to the blockade done by the NYPD about the earlier incident at the Queensboro Bridge. Looks like they're pretty late at the whole neigh-catastrophe that happened in almost all Lower Manhattan. I also saw some of the first responders carrying several patients who are far more unfortunate than those who got trapped inside their car. I see part of their body as well as their heads heavily bleed from the cube piece's impact. I wish them nothing but a quick recovery.

As we're still on our way, heading to DeShawn's apartment block, I was suddenly contacted by Helena. Sounds like she wants to know about our wellbeing after that incident.

I picked up the call and immediately I heard her raising her voice in concern, as if we didn't make it out of there. "Justin! DeShawn! Where are you two exactly?!"

"Helen, relax, we're fine. We're already outside of downtown now. I'm currently heading to DS's house," I said, reassuring her as well as letting her know about my position.

"Oh, thank God you're fine! I was worried that you two got caught in the storm earlier. I saw people severely injured by whatever those things are, but I'm glad you made it out safely."

“Thanks for worrying about us. We appreciate it. Oh right, how are you right there?” I asked back, wanting to know about her condition.

“I'm fine as well. We're already indoors, quite far away from the entrance, so there are no injuries.”

“Good to hear. Alright, I'll see you around again sometimes. Stay safe.” I said as a closure.

“You too, Justin. I'll see you around.”

She hung up as our communication ended. I can only smile to see that she contacted me all the way through just to ask about our condition after the incident.

“Sounds like she likes you.” DeShawn suddenly blurted. I looked at him with a flat stare before retorted.

“Maybe that's just your imagination." I replied back, earning his snickers. “Anyway, looks like we're almost there—”

All of the sudden the cab we're currently riding is hitting a bump before coming to a full stop. Me, DeShawn as well as the driver got out of the car in sync, wanting to know what caused the bump, and it turns out the car had just ran over the same cube that was lying on the road.

“Aww come one!” the driver complained as he checked on the tires. DeShawn and I looked at each other before I managed to also pick the cube out of the street.

“Looks like it wasn't just Lower Manhattan that got hit. Queens also had its impact as well.” I said, somewhat half-murmuring.

I handed the payment to the driver before excusing ourselves to walk to DeShawn's apartment. I also decided to put the second cube inside my backpack, which earns me the stare from DeShawn.

“You really love collecting alien artifacts, aren't you?”

I looked back before grinning at him like a dummy. “That means more decorations. Unless you really want one, then I'll give this one to you.”

“Err, no thanks. I don't want it to kill me in my sleep.”

I gave him a weak laugh, though soon I realized that the cube suddenly shines brighter. “Oh hey, it wasn't this bright before.”

I immediately took out both of them while still being on my both hands. The lights inside the cube got brighter and brighter, almost causing both DeShawn and I to get blinded by it. The moment the light dissipated, there's nothing on both my hands except a gauntlet that latched onto my left hand, and strangely also on DeShawn's.

We were dumbfounded at the development of the situation, as well as the fact that a random gauntlet was attached to my left hand. I grabbed the already attached gauntlet, trying to get a feel on it before thinking of taking it off from my hand.

But just before I traced the gauntlet’s edges so I could find its latch to take it off from my hand, a decent sized hologram with a rectangular shape appeared in front of us, and circles appeared in the middle of it.

[GREETINGS USER]

We looked at each other, surprised with the mixed voices that is originated from the hologram.

[CONGRATULATIONS ON BECOMING THE CHOSEN OF THE TESSERACT. WE ARE THE CREATOR OF THE TESSERACT YOU SAW ABOVE THE SKY OF YOUR COLONY. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCES WE HAVE CAUSED, BUT WE COME WITH A WARNING THAT INTERDIMENSIONAL THREATS ARE HEADING TO THIS PLANET AND ITS INHABITANTS]

Both DeShawn and I still looked at each other after listening to it, digesting what the voices that came from the hologram were saying.

“What do you mean by interdimensional threats? Are you saying that aliens are going to invade Earth?” I asked as I gathered my bravery to give it the question.

[CORRECT. HOWEVER, KEEP IN MIND THAT THEY WILL COME NOT FROM THE SKIES, BUT FROM THE TEARING OF SPACE-TIME. THAT IS WHY WE ARRIVE TO ASSIST THE CHOSEN ONE TO FIGHT AGAINST THE THREAT AND GUARDING YOUR HOME PLANET FROM THEM]

“Are we going to get rewarded by doing that? We're just college freshmen and we definitely shouldn't play as heroes.” DeShawn said. Somehow, I agree with him about posing as heroes of this planet, since it's usually the United States military that'll do the job instead.

“Right. We just got accepted at Columbia University but we probably don't deserve this kind of treatment.” I added.

[WE UNDERSTAND YOUR CONCERN, BUT THOSE WHO HAD BEEN CHOSEN CANNOT RESIGN FROM THEIR DUTY AS THE USER OF THE TESSERACT. DO NOT WORRY, WE WILL REWARD YOU SOLELY FROM YOUR ACTION AS DEFENDERS OF YOUR COLONY, AND YOUR PLANET, AND WE CAN ASSURE YOU, YOU WILL BE SATISFIED]

I looked at the gauntlet, contemplating on what's going to come in my life as I got “forced” to accept that I’ve become the chosen of the cube—or the Tesseract, as it is called. “Very well." I looked back to the hologram. "But I have one more question. Are there more users out there who were chosen just like us?”

[THERE ARE 82759208 USERS WHO ALSO HAVE BEEN CHOSEN AS THE DEFENDER OF THIS PLANET, SO REST ASSURED, YOU ARE NOT ALONE]

I mentally nodded with the seemingly large numbers of the Tesseract users, though it seems like that number definitely didn't just belong in New York City alone, so I decided to ask about the amount of users exclusively in NYC.

“That’s surprisingly an astronomical number, but how many users do those who reside in this “colony” called New York City?” I asked again.

[THERE ARE 1510 USERS WHO RESIDES IN THE COLONY NAMED NEW YORK CITY. YOU ARE NOT ALONE ON DEFENDING YOUR COLONY AS WELL]

“That's a lotta people. I wonder if those folks are also enrolling at Columbia as well?” DeShawn said as he rubbed his chin.

“Let's save that question for ourselves. For now we gotta go to your apartment." I said to DeShawn, preventing the Tesseract from continuing talking. "Alright, I still have so many questions, but I'll save it until we arrive at our “shelter”. I'll call you up later.”

[AFFIRMATIVE. YOU CAN SUMMON US ANYTIME]

The rectangular hologram vanished and at the same time, we finally got picked up by Miss Ayesha, DeShawn's mother, who happened to pass by on our way to the apartment.

I don't know what will happen onwards, how am I gonna get through my college life, as well as what my future would look like. I hope everything will be okay, even after all the things that have happened in Lower Manhattan.

And someday… I will get the answers to everything the Tesseract has said. As well as their motives...