AN: And, I proudly present to you, my lovely fic of epic proportions. And yes, it's Sci-Fi. Oh yeah, I went there.

'I'm dead.' were the only two words going through the girl's mind, as she sat hunched under what was left of the flimsy poker table. The few lights still illuminated after the blast left the cramped room a fluorescent white color, devoid of life and sole person in the stuffy shelter peeked out from under the table, temporarily blinded by the brights lamps hanging down from the earthen ceiling.

"Hello...?" was the weak call that escaped her dust covered lips, though she truly knew there couldn't possibly be a reply.

Perhaps it was the piece of cheap plastic that had fallen on her head, or it was simply a response to the trauma, but her memory was muddled for some reason. Though, the more she waned on it, the more the pieces came together. She had been in her house, (Which, if she was right, should be located right outside of this shelter.), and her mother suddenly started screaming something about 'Terratage', and how it was coming. Nothing but 'Jane, get in the shelter!' But, why had her mother neglected to mention her sister, Petra? Where were they now?

Jane stood up, and shook her brunette haired head. This resulted in some splinters of wood falling out of her hair, along with sawdust and dirt. Her hair was left feeling greasy and tangled, and her head felt like it had been bludgeoned by a baseball bat. Her sandal straps had torn, so they hung limply on her feet and threatened to fall off when she took a step to where the shelter's steps were. She frowned and bit her lip upon seeing her shirt had also torn, and her jeans were soiled from where the knees had rubbed in the dirt.

Jane treaded lightly over the shattered glass and busted planks until she reached the steps ascending to the outside world. One by one, she climbed slowly until she had conquered the staircase and came to stand in front of the door to the world. She cringed slightly, thinking of what may lie behind it. The 'Terratage', as her mother called it, had sounded as if it had split the very earth itself.

Jane softly closed her hazel colored eyes, and placed her hand on the door's handle. She slowly began to turn it, only to find she needn't had at all. Someone else was turning from the outside. As the door swung open viciously from the outside, Jane sidestepped to avoid a confrontation with the hard wood planks and instead slipped her way to the outside-only to be nose-to-nose with a strangely dressed cyclops.

Jane immediately sidestepped again so as not be so close to the stranger, and so that she could study him from a safe distance.

The man's auburn hair looked windswept, as it stood up in a smarmy flick. His hair style reminded Jane of a volcano for some reason-perhaps it was the way the colors crimson and brown raged war against each other atop his head. Plus, its upswept position gave one the image of a cone or a mountain range. He was somewhat pale-cherry china would be a wonderful adjective to use-and his visible eye was of a greenish color. The other eye was well concealed behind a crudely fashioned eyepatch.

He held himself the way a prince would-dignified and tall. His right hand clutched his left side, while his left hand was held up to his chin in considerate thought. But, there was something quite wrong with his arms. They were not of flesh and bone, they were of...metal. The metallic limbs glinted in the sunlight when he moved them, and appeared to be made up of different segments. Jane managed a small gasp, and took a sudden step back.

He jerked his head up from studying her ripped sandals to look sharply at her, his expression one of annoyance. He then resumed that cool and collected look, and remarked, "Name?"

'Wow. Formal. Who does this guy think he is?' Jane thought, before replying wryly, "The question is, who are you, and how did you survive the blast?"

He brought his metal fist up to his mouth, and chuckled lightly into it. He looked up, his eyebrows quirked in an amused way. "And, I suppose, you believed you were the sole survivor, then?" He laughed again, and it sounded somewhat hollow. Naturally, a mocking smile followed.

Jane didn't know what to say to that, so she settled with a small shrug and gained a rather cheesy grin.

"If you think it, then." he said, with a casual nod of the head. Jane still had no idea what the guy was going on about, so she proceeded with losing that smile and putting on an expression of confusion. "...?"

"Ah!" he breathed, before clasping his metallic hands together in understanding. "You shall have to report to the headquarters for registration."

Jane had so many questions rolling through her head that she attempted to ask all at once. "What...? What's this 'headquarters'? Who are you? Where are my parents? Where's Petra? What is happening?"

The man responded calmly, "First, I said you need to register at the H.Q. What headquarters stands for is confidential and will not be exposed to you, my name truly doesn't matter at the moment, and I know nothing of your family or this 'Petra' girl." His one eye glinted as he continued, "And, your final question shall be answered once you register."

"I'm still not getting this. Register for what? Where? Why? I remember being at home, and my mom suddenly screaming 'Into the shelter, Jane, into the shelter!' and..." Jane paused, looking for the right words, "...and she said something like, 'The Terratage has come, the Terratage has come.' She didn't tell Petra or anyone else to get into the shelter, just me..." Jane snapped her head up to look at the man head on. "I want to know, what has happened? Tell me. I'm not waiting to register, or whatever the hell you keep going on about." Jane glared daggers at the strange man, and clenched her fists.

He closed his eyes and smirked, before remarking, "So, your parents were Kitoxees, hm?"

Jane unclenched her fists, and murmured "Huh?"

He laughed softly, before dismissing the subject by saying, "Tell me, where was your house?" Jane suddenly turned her attention to look in the direction of where her house was. But...it wasn't there. She whirled quickly to glance at the shelter, and then in the direction of where her house had always been. Right...there.

She looked back at the man, terror apparent in her eyes. "Where is it?" she asked faintly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I know what you thought, and it's not true. This isn't a dream, it's pure reality." Jane retained her horror struck expression, as he lifted one of his clunky black boots and brought it back down with a resounding 'boom'. The result was hard to believe, even though Jane had just seen it with her own eyes. The very ground, the supposed stable ground, she stood on rippled as if it were water. The wave traveled to her in a matter of moments, toppling her to her knees.

With a proud smirk, the strange man declared, "And it's about to get virtual."

AN: Chapter two will be up soon. Oh man, I love this.

And you'll just LOVE the man's name. I thought about it long and hard, and I think I've created something just perfect.