Down In Ohio - Chapter 1

It was hard to explain exactly what the awakening was. It was simply a part of Earth. In the same way that the Earth had seasons, the moon had lunar cycles, and the sun had solar cycles, this was simply another cycle, although one that scientists never predicted until it happened. To put it simply, the Earth wasn’t solid in the middle, but hollow. We lived in one world facing the heavens, and then there was the other side of the crust, another world that instead of facing heaven, faced hell.

At the center of our world was pure energy, something we’d eventually start to call aether. This is what sustained the hollow side of the world. It was true that the crust of our world was assembled in tectonic plates. However, what we failed to realize was that every 20,000 years, the Earth would start to expand. The aether would push out on the crust, causing it to thin and widen, and Earth would drastically grow in the span of only a few months. This was known as the Awakening.

The earth would become a hundred times its original size. This expansion occurred everywhere, but it was most exaggerated at the tectonic plate boundaries. Mountains grew taller, oceans became deeper, and the land became more stretched out and exaggerated. This created catastrophic weather patterns, world-ending tsunamis, city-devouring earthquakes, and devilish volcanic eruptions. If this was all that happened, perhaps humanity might have somehow pulled through, but at the same time, aether spread across the earth and began to mutate every living thing.

The cracks created by the expansion vented aether. At first, while humans were desperately trying to survive the apocalypse, animals that lived near such vents were slowly turned into abominations. Of course, it didn’t end there. Once we got used to animals becoming monsters, the creatures living on the other side of the crust began to emerge. These intelligent beings sought to replace humanity. Except, even they were merely servants to a stronger master. There were rumors of these stronger beings, those too large to make it through the cracks so they could only send underlings. If any of them had managed to break to our side, it would be the end of humanity outright.

However, this wasn’t our world’s only awakening. Humanity had likely risen and fallen countless times on account of these cycles. Perhaps there were cycles where we were trapped on the inside, giving us our concepts of demons and hell. For at least the last two cycles, humanity had prospered on the surface. This was confirmed by the nether races, a name given by the races on the other side. It was believed the lost continents of Atlantis and Mu were the major powers of the last conflict twenty thousand years prior. They had been technologically advanced countries that had fallen when the Earth awakened back then. They fought for human supremacy, and they won, although only stories of their once-great nations remained in the aftermath.

Eventually, the Earth settled and shrunk back down again, preparing for its next awakening. Those that survived would spread the stories of what happened, but they’d eventually become myths and legends, taking the form of battles between gods and demigods, and humanity would rebuild from scratch. This cycle would repeat. Like a great beast taking deep breaths, the Earth would eject aether every twenty thousand years, creating a great cataclysm before settling and leaving whatever species survived the battle royal to rebuild. At least, this was the theory behind the Awakening, although Tony couldn’t know if these theories were true or just the mad ramblings of passing scientists still trying to be relevant in a world that had already debunked most of their theories about history and evolution of the species.

All Tony knew was that the awakening occurred early on in his life. When he absorbed aether for the first time, he, like every other human, was also changed. They were granted access to the system, a type of leveling system along with one special skill, which they had to utilize to survive in the apocalypse. Tony managed to survive for ten years, but he ultimately met his fate on the battlefield outside the Ohio State Penitentiary. Or did he?

Tony jumped out of his bed, nearly stumbling over his sheets as he crossed the room until his back slammed into the far wall. His breath was coming out in staggered breaths, and he looked around quickly, trying to assess the environment he found myself in. After the awakening, it was very important to be able to quickly acclimate to things, or death was assured. The room was dark, but the parts he could see felt strangely familiar, like a place Tony had seen in a dream from long ago.

Tony had just been on a battlefield, or was the battlefield the dream? He recalled what the flame princess had spoken to him right before she died. Regression? Going into the past? How far in the past was she talking about here? If it put him back a few years ago, then there wasn’t much that would differ from his prior life.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

He nearly jumped when the blaring sound came from the nightstand. It was a clock that had just struck an alarm. It was 7 am according to the clock. Was it the morning of the battle? He hadn’t been paying attention to the date. However, there was something else that caught his attention first.

“There is… still electricity?” He reached out to the wall mostly on instinct, and then he flipped a switch, causing a bulb to flicker on filling the room with light.

Tony stared up at the bulb for too long and ended up having to blink a few times as his eyes adjusted. It wasn’t that electricity didn’t exist after the awakening. There had even been powered cities for years. However, electricity had become increasingly rarer the longer things continued, and especially someone of Tony’s status was rarely allowed to make use of it for anything involved with convenience. Even crank-powered flashlights were considered too valuable to hand to someone of his level.

He walked over to the alarm which was still blaring and hit the button to silence it. As soon as he did so, he noticed movement to his side, causing him to spin. However, he quickly realized there was a mirror in the corner, and that mirror was showing his reflection. As soon as he saw himself, his body couldn’t help but shudder. A young man was standing there. He was tall with somewhat short-cut hair. He liked to wear his hair longer these days, but back when was young, he always cut it so that people could see his face.

He reached up and touched the face that was staring back at him. He was tall and lean. His face was symmetrical with chiseled cheekbones and a strong jawline. These were the only features that made him look manly, as the rest of him had a delicate appearance that appealed to women. He had intense piercing deep blue eyes, thick, dark lashes, and smooth, flawless skin. This was a face he had nearly forgotten, and at some times had even despised.

“Anthony! Emilia!” A female voice cried out. “Breakfast is ready!”

Tony’s heart clenched as soon as he heard that voice. Was it his mother? He raced to the door and opened it. Memories of his childhood home were flooding back and he remembered how to reach the kitchen quickly. As soon as he ran in, he saw a young woman standing there with an apron on. It wasn’t his mother, but his oldest sister.

He couldn’t help but take a deep breath. That was right. After his mother died, his older sister took over the cooking. His oldest sister had started acting like his mother too, something he despised back then. This did allow him to narrow down the time though. His mother died a year before the awakening, so if the awakening hadn’t begun and his mother was dead, it had to be within that period.

That meant that Tony had to be seventeen, or sixteen close to when his mother died. The house was relatively clean, so he had to believe it was later. Either way, he had been too old to be mothered by his big sister. Well, at the time, he was too obsessed with himself to even care that much about his suffering family.  He did recall that his little sister wasn’t handling it well, and his father was a wreck too.

“Ah! You came?” My sister spun around as she realized he was there, surprised to see him come at her call.

His big sister could have been called a beautiful woman, although compared to Tony, she was only average. She had a gentle smile on her face and her eyes were warm and nurturing, radiating an innate kindness. She had long flowing brown hair, and her eyes were a pale light blue. She was tall for a girl, with a large chest and curvy body that caught many guy’s eyes. However, she had never dated anyone for as long as Tony knew her.  She originally went to college to become a nurse, but she dropped out to take care of the family after their mom’s death.

As soon as Tony’s eyes fell on hers, emotions he had never even known he had came flooding to the surface. Back then, or Tony supposed it was now the future, he had seen her dead body. She was the only family member whose death Tony had confirmed post-awakening. The sight of her lifeless, beaten, and bruised body was a sight that had been burned into his retinas and haunted his dreams. To see her still alive and smiling, it all came crashing back at once.

“Kate…” Tony mumbled, tears welling up in his ears.

She closed her lips, puffing her cheeks. “I told you to call me by my full name, Katerina.”

“And I preferred Tony,” Tony remembered, chuckling softly.

“I’m surprised you’re eating. You’re not still on one of your fasts?”  She crossed her arms. “You know those aren’t healthy for you. You should eat what I cook…”

Part of being narcissistic and vapid, Tony was always on one kind of diet fad or another. As more and more memories flooded his mind, he no longer could hold back. Tony ran forward and threw his arms around her.

“I’m sorry!” he cried out, grabbing her and pulling her into a hug.

“Wh-what are you doing?” she squeaked in panic, but even though she was stunned, he held onto her tightly.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” Tony mumbled, his face pressed into her neck so she couldn’t see the tears running down his cheeks.

“This… Tony…” She trembled in his grip like his touch was sapping away all of her life force.

That was when he remembered another part of his sister. She hated being touched. She was mysophobic and didn’t want anyone to touch her. It made her extremely uncomfortable, and any time Tony touched her she’d get really upset and would even attack him to make him let go. Tony quickly let go of his sister and then took a step back.

Her face was red, panting slightly, but when she saw the tears on his face. Her legs were trembling and she even had to put her hand on the oven to support herself. However, when she noticed tears on Tony’s face, the upset expression on her face dissipated.

“Wh-what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” She demanded.

“It’s fine,” Tony told her, quickly wiping his cheeks. “I’m fine. Sorry, I forgot…”

“No! It’s okay. Y-you can…” She bit her lip and then shook her head, taking a step back. “I’m sorry.”

Before Tony could say anything else, he had a sudden feeling like he was being watched. This was an instinct trained from surviving in the wild for all those years. He turned his head, and Kate’s eyes followed his. A young girl was standing there in the doorway of the kitchen, silently observing them.

“Em…” Tony couldn’t help but mumble, although he was able to keep himself under better control this time.

Emilia was his youngest sister. She was currently fifteen. She had bright green eyes and lighter hair like her mother. However, unlike her mother, Emilia liked to keep her hair short. Her body was slim and while she wasn’t short, she had a delicate feel to her. Her eyes were cold, and Tony recalled that she hadn’t spoken much since her mother’s death, at least to her family. She would still talk to her friends at school, but when around Tony, she was mute.

“You need to get ready for school.” Kate seemed to recover from her thoughts quickly, dishing up two plates of food and handing them to each of us. “I need to go take a shower.”

Kate had made eggs, bacon, and toast. Those were the kinds of foods Tony would have avoided back before the Awakening, but for the current Tony hadn’t had anything that wasn’t expired in a can for the last half-decade. The smell immediately entrapped him. Tony sat at the table and immediately began to dig into the plate like he was starving. In some ways, he had been. Tony almost cried when he put the crispy bacon in his mouth.

“Use a fork, will you?” Kate put a fork on his plate, giving him a concerned look before retreating to the bathroom.

Tony used the fork, but it felt awkward. It had been a long time since he had needed such civility. Still, he scarfed the entire meal down like he was starving. It was a bit surprised that his younger sister had decided to sit at the table across from him. However, she wasn’t eating her food. She was just watching him silently. The meal was delicious, but it was gone just like that. He couldn’t help but feel a bit unfulfilled. As he was poking at his empty plate, he noticed his sister’s plate was still full.

“Are you going to eat that?” Tony asked, his eyes moving to her uneaten bacon and eggs.

She shook her head, and that’s all he needed to lunge across the table and snag her plate. He started to devour it too. He made sure to go a little slower this time and savor the taste. It was incredible how something so simple could taste so good. He never realized how much he’d miss pigs and chickens. When he was finally done, he felt more satisfied than he had been in years.

He heard the water turn on in the bathroom. That would probably be Kate starting her shower. When Tony heard her, he couldn’t help but wince. Tony knew she was taking a shower because he had touched her. It was his mistake. It seems like even after regressing, Tony still couldn’t get things right when his family was involved.

Was that really what this was? Had he regressed? If there was one thing Tony was confident in, it was his memory. He could remember the post-awakening world clearly. He remembered it so clearly that the world before the awakening was the part that seemed like a blur. This was because he didn’t have his gift at the time. Insight gave him the ability to remember everything he’d ever seen, but he didn’t get that ability until after the Awakening. Although, since he could still remember everything clearly, then it had to mean he still had some traces of that ability.

While Tony was idly picking crumbs off the plates, he noticed that his little sister was still watching him. “What? Are you hungry?”

She shook her head in refusal.

“Amelia…” Tony wasn’t sure what he wanted to say to her.

Unlike Kate whose body he had seen, Amelia had just vanished one day. After Kate died, Tony was in no state to watch over Amelia, so he didn’t. He just focused on taking care of himself. They were living in survival camps at the time, and every day they had to go out and hope they could get enough food and water from the soldiers and other survivors to live one more day. Thanks to his good looks, Tony was pretty good at it, but because he was useless in every other respect, he was barely able to take care of himself.

Every night, Emelia would return to the tent, but he wouldn’t share any of the food he had gotten with her. Then, one night, she never returned. Tony never bothered to go looking either. Disappearances were very common at the time, and he only cared about himself. At the time, Tony didn’t even feel guilty. It was only years later, when he became less self-absorbed, that Tony began to wonder what happened to her. Most likely, a gang took Amelia, used her for pleasure, and then dumped her when she was no longer fun. Such practices were common.

“Come on, Emilia! We need to go!” Kate appeared at the entrance, clothed and drying her hair with a towel.

Tony jumped slightly, still on edge, and Amelia nodded before getting up and running off to her room.

“You’re taking her?” he asked.

She looked at him as if surprised he was still there. “Yeah. Dad’s shift keeps him at the fire station. I always take her to school. I could take you as well…”

“Not needed.” At this point in his life, Tony had already dropped out of school. At the time, he believed his looks were at a level that he’d be able to head through life without struggle.

Kate gave a tight smile. “Well, not all of us can stay at home all day. Will you be able to take care of yourself?”

Tony had never focused on his family back then. He had been so self-absorbed, that he never noticed even the most obvious things. For example, Tony never noticed the disappointment in his big sister’s eyes as she spoke of him dropping out.

“I’ll be fine.” Tony felt a bit guilty for perhaps the first time.

“I suppose you’re just… going to do what you do?” She asked, looking at him with melancholy eyes.

“That’s the plan,” he answered her honestly.

She made a bitter expression. “I see.”

“Sorry…” Tony apologized.

He was starting to remember more about his life back then. After his Mom died, he had no one to pressure him to work hard. Kate tried at first, but it only made him angry at her, so she eventually gave up. He ended up dropping out of high school, and then he spent his days flirting with girls and manipulating them to pay for his stuff.

Kate was watching Tony very carefully. “You know, you need to pick a place for your birthday.”

Tony froze slightly. “My birthday?”

“Mm… it’s not every day you turn eighteen. Dad’s even getting off from the station so we can take you someplace nice. It’s only six weeks away.”

“Six weeks.” His body went cold.

“Yeah?”

Before they could speak more, Emilia returned with her backpack. Kate gave Tony a nod before she guided her out the door front door, but Tony was lost in thought and barely acknowledged them. They were soon pulling out of the driveway and heading off. Tony watched the old beat-up truck she was driving, slightly amazed he was seeing a truck running once again. This was a world before the awakening, but only just before the awakening.

Kate had said that Tony’s birthday was in six weeks. That date was particularly meaningful to Tony. That was because his eighteenth birthday was also the day of the awakening. It was the day the world ended.