Story Challenge 1: A man and his Fresca

After every 10 entries from my book, I like to take a bit more of a personal challenge. I'll ask my friends for suggestions of themes, objects, ideas, etc. that they'd like to see in a story, and I pick five of these suggestions to incoporate into a story. The more ridiculous, the better. Should you, my lovely reader, wish to contribute an idea that you think will make for an interesting story, feel free to send me an email with your thoughts! I'm always open to suggestions.

The following was the first story challenge I undertook, originally posted to Facebook on June 5th, 2013.

The suggestions I selected:
- Ducklings
- Fresca
- The "oh shit" feeling
- Below Abslute Zero
- Derpien

And so our story begins...

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Gorun walked casually through the wasteland that he called his home. Irradiated dust floated on the strong winds surrounding him, as if dancing to an unheard jaunty tune. What little of the trees remained creaked in protest as the dance pirhouetted through their charred branches, and the murky pool before him lay perfectly still.

It was all... typical. Unpleasant. In truth it had been a long time since there had been any joy in his life, but he supposed that not dying was some sort of accomplishment to be noted for the memoirs he never expected to write.

It hadn't always been this way, of course. His world (the name of which its inhabitants had never agreed upon) was a truly peculiar place. Every so often a rift would appear in the very fabric of space and time, and something would step, fall, or otherwise materialize through. Sometimes, these happenings were beneficial. They had received strange new foods, forms of entertainment, or even transdimensional travelers, each bringing new knowledge of the universe and making the chaos of their everyday lives somewhat more bearable. Sometimes, however, the results were more dire. Occassionally a monster or other unsavory type would come through the rift, terrorizing the population. Death snuck up on more than a few or those unlucky enough to call this planetoid their home.

On one partcularly sordid occasion, the visitor was of a more mechanical nature. A large nuclear warhead suddenly appeared and denotated, killing much of the population. A few people survived, but the fallout and radiation slowly consumed everyone.

All but one.

The second worst appearance was a nearly unlimited supply of Fresca. One taste of the stuff and the natives knew better than to try again. It did, however, survive the explosion, and for whatever reason it's the only thing not spoiled by the fallout.

Not even radiation likes Fresca.

Gorun cringed as he took another sip of the stuff. He hated himself fr it, but he needed the hydration, and all of the water was too dangerous to drink, now. He loked longingly at the still dark lake, a single tear rolling down his cheek. With a sigh, he began to walk away.

A buzzing in the air made him stop. He turned slowly to see a beam of pure energy pierce the air above the lake. It expanded outward with a thunderous crackling, ripping through the very fabric of space and time.

It was a rift.

He grudgingly took another sip of his drink and put his hand in his pocket, leaning back on his heels and calmly taking in the magical sight before him.

"This should be good," he thought. Whatever was coming through that portal would drop right into the middle of an irradiated lake, so he wouldn't be able to go and get it anyway. All he could do was wait.

There was a bright flash as the rift materialized and delivered its payload. A series of light splashes could be heard as both light and sound subsided. When all was said and done, he blinked several times to clear the dancing lights from his vision.

There, sitting calmly and confusedly in the middle of the dark water, was a family of adorable ducklings. One of the ducklings quacked in surprise. All things considered, they were taking it quite well.

A low, thoughtful hum escaped from the back of Gorun's throat. "Well," he mused aloud, "this won't end well."

He crouched before the lake and removed his hand from his pocket, holding it out in front of himself. With a snap and a waggle of his fingers, he broke the trance that seemed to fall over his new guests. "Here, ducky ducky!"

Delighted, the ducklings began to swim over to the shore, causing ripples to careen madly across the previously still surface of the dark lake. Gorun couldn't help but smile as he watched them cheerfully approach: little beacons of hope in a hopeless world. They nuzzled his outstretched finger when they arrived, quacking innocently. He held out his can of Fresca and let a gentle stream fall to the broken ground.

"Here you go, little duckies. The water's no good, so this will have to do." He felt kind of bad for the little guys, but he assumed that given the choice between Fresca and death, most creatures would choose Fresca.

Clearly, these ducklings were not most creatures. As soon as the green liquid touched their tongues, they began to writhe. The sudden flurry of movement was accompanied by a cacophony of angry squeaks and a strom of soft, yellow feathers. The ducklings before him began to lose their colour as they writhed.

"Oh, shit..."

Gorun backed away, and the ducklings began to grow. The cute, innocent creatures were transformed by their hatred of the putrid carbonated beverage. Their beaks went from soft, orange smiles to horrifying maws of terror, sprouting fangs and steam. Their fluffy yellow coat became a dark mass of whirling shadows. Their cute, button eyes began to glow with a sinister red.

A growl emitted from the duckbeasts, and a thunderous tremor shook the earth as one of them took a step toward their aggressor. The webbed and clawed appendage left a deep imprint in the dust, causing a huge cloud of radioactive dust to glow red with the sinister intent projected from duckbeast eyes.

Gorun dropped the nearly empty can of Fresca, which made a pathetic clink as it collided with a small stone. He shivered before the monstrsities he had inadvertently created. After everything he'd been through, this was the end.

Another great, thunderous step.

Gorun swallowed, trying desperately to find a drop of moisture in his dry mouth. Finding none, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, bracing for his inevitable doom.

Suddenly, he was filled with a tingling sensation. A blinding flash illuminated his eyes, his clenched eyelids doing nothing to protect the sensitive corneas underneath.

And then, silence.

He stood perfectly still. Exactly how long he stood it was impossible to tell. There was no noise, no sensation save for the solid ground beneath him passively resisting his weight and the vast pressure of the silence closing around him. Eventually, he brought himself to open his eyes.

A glowing being floated not 3 meters in front of him. "Hello."

Gorun blinked repeatedly. Each time the world went dark his disbelief resurfaced. He knew that there was no way that when he opened his eyes there would be a gwing alien floating comfortably in the void space before him. It was impossible. His life was strange, to be sure, but his current predicament transcended all reason, and he wouldn't have it. Each time, he was wrong.

The blinking eventually stopped, leaving a stunned Gorun to stare blankly, unblinking, at the creature who had materialized.

The being smirked. "Oh, don't stop on my account. You seemed to be enjoying yourself."

Gorun's jaw dropped.

The being wasn't particularly tall, or particularly short. He wasn't particularly fat, or thing, or strong. He floated lightly in the infinite blackness wearing a simple black t-shirt and equally plain pants, bobbing up and down ever so slightly. His head was covered with a short crop of dark hair, and his skin was dark like chocolate.

Physically speaking, he was strikingly average. What set him apart was a bight blue glow outlining his form against the negative space.

The salfsame smirk on the being's face remined intact as Gorun retrieved his jaw from the floor.

"Um, sorry," Gorun apologized. "This is all a little unexpected."

The being's soft laugh filled what Gorun could only define as the air. "That's an understatement if I've ever heard one." With a flourish, he bowed. "I, as i'm sure you are blissfully unaware, am Derpien."

Unsure of how to react, Gorun responded with an awkward curtsy, eliciting another easy laugh from the being. "Charmed."

He took a moment to take a deep breath and appraise his surroundings. Around him there was nothing. An empty void of blackness the likes of which he couldn't even imagine despite experiencing it firsthand. He looked down and saw more of the same, curiously shifting his weight between each foot. He wasn't sure what he was standing on, but whatever it was he couldn't see it. He took great pains to ensure that neither of his feet actually left the... whatever it was, lest they be unable to find it again.

His inspection was cut short by Derpien's casual voice putting to words what his mind was working furiously to compute. "I suppose you're wondering why your'e here."

Gorun crinkled his nose slightly and pondered. "Not really," he mused. "I think I've got a pretty good idea where I am, though I expected getting murdered by rampaging duckbeasts to hurt more than it did."

He ended with a nonchalant shrug, resigned to his fate. His resignation came to an abrupt halt as Derpien spoke once again: "Oh, you aren't dead."

"Could have fooled me."

"I expect death would be a touch more unpleasant than this.'

Gorun swayed his head a bit as he let that thought sink in, eventually nodding his acceptance. "Okay then, you've got my attention. Where am I."

"You, Gorun are everywhere, and nowhere. You are in the space beyond space, the time beyond time. Here where all worlds meet, the space between dimensions. Everything that is and has been."

There was a pause.

"I love what you've done with the place."

"Thanks," Derpien chuckled. "The Feng Shui is really amplified by negative space."

"So um, where are these worlds you speak of? Seems kind of... barren." He let his gaze wander around him, but having only a glowing alien as a point of reference the experience was a bit disorienting.

Derpien idly let his gaze do the same. "Oh they're around," he mused. "You just have to be willing to see."

Gorun's quizzical look turned to awe as one-by-one monchromatic pools of energy began to wink into existence all around them. Hundreds, thousands, millions, as far as the eye could see (which, lacking atmosphere, but a very, very long way). He looked into a few and saw movement: people walking through streets between tall buildings, trees blowing in the breeze, birds in flight.

One in particular elicited a gasp. To his immediately left was a portal looking over a small, irradiated pond. The duckbeasts wandered grumpily through a familiar terrain. From this angle they seemed immensely less terrifying, though Gorun suspected that was due largely in part to the lack of colour and the disparancy in perceived size.

"Pricks," he muttered.

Derpien smirked.

"So, why did you bring me here? Oh, and thanks, by the way."

A glowing wave of the hand dismissed his sentiment. "Oh, think nothing of it. Actually, I could use your help, if you don't mind."

"Go on."

Derpien gestured. "Look up."

Gorun craned his neck as he looked above him. Hovering there was a particularly large portal, though he could tell it was a great distance away. Nothing inside the portal was moving. He waited patiently for something to happen, but it remained perfectly still. Truth be told, it was a bit unnerving.

"Above you," Derpien explained, "is Absolute Zero."

Gorun's head swiveled back to level. "Ok..."

"-273.15 degrees celcius, or 0 degrees Kelvin, if you prefer."

"You gave me the temperature in Kelvin, but not in Farenheit?"

"Oh come now, Gorun, real people don't use Farenheit. It's idiotic." The assertion was accompanied by another dismissive wave. "In any case, that is the one and only instance of Absolute Zero in the entire history of the multiverse. In that particular dimension, there is not a single moving particle. Anyway. It's as cold as anything could possibly ever be. And it will remain that way forever." His eyes softened slightly as he paused. "Unless you do something about it."

Gorun's resigned face contorted into confusion. "Me? Why me?"

"Well..." The word was darwn out, as if he were searching for some way to finish his sentence that he couldn't quite find. Eventually it trailed off completely, only to be replaced by a heavy sigh. "The short of it is this: in all of these infinite worlds, you have the least to lose."

Gorun's eyes widened. "Duhhhhh, what?"

"Your world is dead. Aside from the duckbeasts, you are the only living thing. Aside from a limitless supply of Fresca, you have nothing, and you will continue to have nothing until the day you eventually die. You will live a sad, lonely life, full of squalor, and then there will be nothing."

As he spoke, Gorun's jaw slipped lower and lower. "This is the least motivating speech I've ever heard."

Derpien's face became apologetic as he shrugged and continued, "What I'm asking you to do is step through that portal. You will most assuredly die, but as the energy is ripped from your body, a chain reaction will occur that will end Absolute Zero forever."

The silence was defeaning. A burning in Goruns chest reminded him to breath, and his mouth snapped shut. His brow creased as he thought. "Why? I mean, it's not bothering anyone..."

"It's a cosmic sink," Derpien explained. "In that world, there is no energy at all. These portals," he swept his arm at the expanse of portals around them, "create their own energy in this transdimensional space. But because of Abslute Zero, no energy can enter that world in its pure form, and so the portal grows. Eventually, it will consume everything. Every world, every dimension: gone. Your sacrifice would save an infinite number of universes from inevitable destruction."

He looked tired as he continued. "I realize it's a lot to take in, and I won't force you to do anything. Should you desire it, truly, in the depths of your heart, I can return you to your world, but know that when you get there all you'd have to welcome you is Fresca."

Gorun shifted his gaze slowly between Absolute Zero and his modest home rift, deep in thought. "I guess I'm not most people either," he muttered.

Derpien's ears perked up as he titled in head in curiosity. "What was that?"

Gorun let out a deep sigh. "I'll do it." His back straightened as his eyes filled with determined resolve. "Saving the world is a a damn sight better than Fresca."