"You know what man, this world is really messed up." A young man who seemed to be in his twenties said to his friend while drinking a coffee. They were both watching the sunset from the roof of their college's cafeteria.
"What are you on now, Nathan?" His friend answered, a sigh almost escaping her lips. This wasn't the first time Nathan had said something weird about the world. Ever since they were sixteen or so and they became friends, he had always had weird views on things. Alas, it was that weirdness of his that allowed them to become friends.
"You know what I'm talking about, Alexis." Nathan said while looking directly at the sun, its brightness having seemingly no effect on his eyes. "It's… so boring."
And there it was again, Nathan's spiel on how life in this mundane world was boring. Alexis had heard it at least fifty times before in the past year, and plenty more before that. At the age of twenty-one, she was already used to his ideas. However, that didn't take away from the fact that she found it amazing that he was able to share them so openly and seriously, without feeling any sort of apprehension. It was something she respected about him.
"When we are kids they teach us to dream big, to fly high… but they trap us in big cages, making us think we are able to do those things." He continued, his empty hand extending towards the orange and pink dyed sky. "And by the time you are able to actually fly and you are out of the cage, you have been there for so long that you don't know how to move further than it's confines once allowed you to."
Alexis stared at Nathan's face for a moment. He was handsome, with sharp features, blue eyes and short, messy, black hair. He had a neat style of dressing, nothing too out there, nothing too shabby. But above all else, there was a certainty in his eyes that not everyone had. It was something that Alexis had noticed ever since the first time she laid eyes on Nathan. He had sharp eyes, and was much more observant than most people. Whenever she was having a rough day, he would notice with the most minimal of looks, without her having uttered even a single word.
"There is so much wasted potential in this world that I just can't stand it. It's like we're birds of prey that had their feathers clipped." Nathan finished his speech, his hand dropping to his side. He had repeated those words to many people throughout his life, but the only one who listened to him without judgement or being weirded out was Alexis, his only friend.
"And~ that is the reason you don't have a girlfriend." Alexis said right after he was finished, hiding her thoughts behind a mocking smirk. 'And because I'm a coward.'
"Yeah, yeah, we've been over this a hundred times already." Nathan answered dismissively, also not being totally honest. 'As if you wanted me to get a girlfriend whose name doesn't start with 'A' and ends with 'lexis'.'
Nathan Holloway was a twenty-one year old young man who had no hopes of having a 'happy' future. Not what he thought was 'happy', at least. He hated the idea of living the corporate life, or having a regular 9-to-5 after studying a regular career, like everyone else. That was the only reason why Nathan was currently majoring in Performing Arts, pushed by his friend Alexis who had been a theatre kid back in high school. Extroverted, outspoken, and sometimes slightly too direct, Nathan was one of the best students in SCAD, which was the reason why he had already received many offers to appear in sitcoms, romcoms, a few action movies, and plenty of adds. Nathan was the mysterious and cold prince of SCAD.
Right next to him was Alexis McMorrow, a descendent of Irishmen and one of the campus beauties. Being a freckled ginger, Alexis' bright blue eyes, pale skin and curly red hair harmonised perfectly on her. She wasn't as extroverted as her friend, but her warm personality and approachable nature made her very popular. Also very successful in her career, Alexis had starred in a sitcom with Nathan, in which they played a couple who moved into a new city. People in college dubbed them the 'perfect couple', in spite of knowing that they weren't dating. The reason being that they spent every second in SCAD together, attending the same subjects, and their chemistry when acting together was out of this world.
"Hey, wanna hit up the arcade later?" Alexis asked Nathan, changing the topic of their conversation.
"Sorry Lexis, I am moving next week and I have to start packing everything up." Nathan answered before smiling. "But you're more than welcome to help me with that if you want."
"Sure! I'd love to help you!" Alexis answered.
*
Later that same day, Nathan sent Alexis home in an Uber, since his parents insisted she stayed over for dinner. With four people helping, he had gotten most of his things packed, only missing his bed and a few other things he would need for the week. Laying in his bed, Nathan grabbed his phone in order to continue reading a manga he had been into for the past month, called "Blue Period".
"Hm? What's this?" Alexis wondered upon seeing the strange app that had appeared on his phone. He didn't remember downloading any weird games or accidentally tapping on any adds, so he wasn't sure what it was. "Multiverse Chat Group?"
Originally planning on uninstalling the app, his curiosity won and he opened it. When the app finished loading, a series of messages appeared on his screen.
[Welcome to the Multiverse Chat Group!]
[The Multiverse Chat Group, as its name implies, is an app that connects many universes through a chat group. The objective of this chat group is to aid its users to achieve their goals through different missions, which will net a reward according to the users level of contribution.]
[You have been chosen to be the Administrator of the group, which means you have to take part of every single mission, or else they fail automatically. As compensation for the arduous task of being the Administrator, the rewards you earn will all have a 20% bonus.]
[The Multiverse Chat Group will now start to search for suitable members in nearby universes.]
"..." Nathan stood in utter silence, staring at his phone's screen while trying to process what he had just read. "What the fuck is this?"
While not really trusting anything of what he had just read, Nathan's boredom pushed him to wait for the app to find members. Simply put, it was the most interesting thing that had happened to him in his entire life, and he wanted to see how it evolved.
*
Two days had passed since the mysterious app appeared in Nathan's phone. He had been expectant to see if any changes happened, but the app seemed to be stuck in finding new members.
'Well, finding people from other universes can't take a short time.' He jokingly justified.
"Nate, you seem to be distracted lately." Alexis commented. She had known Nathan for long enough to know when something was preoccupying his mind. "You didn't hear a word I just said."
"Sorry Lexis, I'm just nervous about all the moving stuff." He lied, not really putting much effort into it. He knew Alexis would be able to tell anyway.
"As if..." She muttered, not really wanting to call him out. "You know, I've been thinking about your whole 'wasted potential' speech lately."
"Oh, really?" Nathan said, mildly surprised. It was very unusual for Alexis to bring up his views on life. "What part of it, exactly?"
"Something you said stuck to me for once..." She said, taking a short pause and looking him in the eyes before continuing. "It was something like 'we're birds of prey that had their feathers clipped', or something along those lines."
"Yeah, what about it?" He asked, honestly curious about what Alexis thought about it. After all, it would be the first time in their entire friendship were she gave him some feedback.
"Well... you're not entirely wrong about it... but there is a small detail you're missing." She said, trying to delay her words to increase his curiosity, which was working wonders.
"Come on, out with it already!" Nathan demanded, not really appreciating the fact that Alexis was trying to play mysterious this time.
"Feathers grow back, Nate." Alexis said cheerfully. It was a very stupid fact, but one Nathan had always overlooked. With a radiant smile, Alexis continued. "No matter how long it takes, feathers do grow back after being clipped... and birds can always learn how to fly again."
It was the first time in his entire life that someone had said those words to Nathan. Not just that, but the fact that Alexis even bothered saying that made him realise that the entire time, she had been taking his words seriously. For maybe the first time since they had known each other, Nathan looked at Alexis with different eyes. Her smile at that moment was radiant. So much so, he thought it looked even more beautiful than the sunset in the horizon.
Just then, as if resonating with Alexis' words, Nathan's phone received a notification.
[The Multiverse Chat Group has finished searching for members!]
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Welp, there it is... another story. NO promises this time though, I'll try to write as often as possible, but I can't force myself to write when I'm not feeling it. So there will not be "regular" updates. Anyway, what do you think of it??