His heart was pounding in his chest. His breathing was heavy. With every breath he took he could feel the oxygen coursing through his body and filling each cell with a raging fire. He could feel his nerves tingling and his muscles tense with anticipation. The adrenaline was gushing into him.
They called him the Slasher. He was the only one on the First Tetra, who had the ability to leave it. The First Tetra was the name given to the original four dimensions that the Humans had inhabited. Before the other seven dimensions were discovered, the Humans had played around with mathematical notions about vibrations in eleven dimensions, but had tried and failed to pierce through the inter-dimensional membranes. They had failed, until the Slasher was born into the First Tetra. He was one of the Travelers, who were not bound to the four dimensions of their birth, and could enter and leave the other dimensions at their will. The Slasher and the 329 other Travelers were the guardians of the Dimensional Gates, and were both feared and respected by the inhabitants of all the dimensions.
In the beginning he had been unable to control and understand his own will. But now, he had conquered his rage, and strangely that victory had crowned him with an even greater strength and power. He burst through the galaxy like a cannon, with a single-minded purpose and ferocity. His mere gaze could have pierced a thousand stars.
He had been known by a more pleasant name before this age. But since then a lot of things had changed. He was called the Slasher because of the sword he carried as his weapon of choice. In the beginning he had used the sword as more of a tool than a weapon. Each Traveler needed an object from his Tetra of birth to be able to cross the Dimensional Gates. The sword had always been a symbol of honor and power on Earth, and he had chosen a magnificent blade to be his companion. A blade with a glorious and ancient history, whose shining edges had been unblemished by the passage of Time. For, the Slasher was not tied to the thread of Time.
The Slasher relished the speed and the thrill of travelling through the Dimensional Gates. It was a rush he would never get tired of. Knowing his limits gave him a sense of calm and humility, a humility that showed him that he was a mere atom of energy in the ocean of the Universe. And pushing those limits gave him a strange kind of freedom, a freedom that made anything possible, a freedom that extended to infinity.
The day the Gates to the 5th dimension had been opened was beyond doubt the most significant moment in the Humans' short history. That day was celebrated every year as the Day of Open Light, for it was the day that had opened not just the Gates, but also the Human mind -- to possibilities and wonders that till then had been barely even fathomed. Indeed, it had united the Humans in a way no other event had done before, and had imparted them with an even greater curiosity than before the revelation. But curiosity causes curious things itself. And the curiosity emanating from the First Tetra had led to several events in all the Dimensions, including the current journey of the Slasher.
The Slasher tore his way across the Gates, using every inch of his force and endurance. He had to reach the Diamond Star.
(To be continued...)
