This is the first chapter in what is basically Terry's backstory, how he came to be how he is and how he met Jolene. I don't think it's that bad, but I'll let you guys decide that.

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Chapter 1 - The Grey Abyss

This was bad. This was REALLY bad. Terry didn't know why this had happened but understood that someone had ordered that he be thrown him into the gap on purpose, probably with the intention to kill him. The project he had been assigned was the sort of thing espionage was meant for, after all. Terry sat on the ground and assessed what had happened to him.

Five days prior, his supervisor had handed him a file regarding a mysterious, seemingly bottomless crack in the world that was full of a strange grey slime. He was told that he was to study the gap and return his findings in a week's time. He took samples, he performed identity rituals, but was unable to find anything conclusive. Expecting today to be no different, he was surprised when strange men had shown up and attacked him in the middle of nowhere. He fought with all he could, and managed to force a few to flee with his magic, but one had grabbed him and thrown him into the crack. He swam up through the sludge as quickly as he could, but when he finally got out, he found that they had stolen his samples and notes on the crack and made off with them by using a Gate Brew to teleport away to their base.

It then dawned on him just how small he was, how clumsily he walked, how every step let out a crinkle from below his waist. He didn't need a mirror to understand what had happened to him. The gap had somehow regressed him to infancy. He sat there and cried for what seemed like an eternity. His entire life had practically been taken from him. What would he do now? What COULD he do now? There was no way he could return to his team, they were the kind of people who put science over human decency. The most likely scenario that would occur if he returned would be a series of highly invasive and painful tests. He could feel himself nearing a level of despair he had never felt before, not since his parents died. Terry willed himself to focus on what he should do to keep himself from becoming a lab rat... well, lab goat.

He ultimately decided that he would find the nearest city and hide out there. He would be in a place where no one would recognize him and he could set up a lab to do tests on himself that weren't nearly as invasive as the ones his colleagues would have in store for him. Grabbing the map from his tent in camp, he located the red X that marked the gap, then searched for the town closest to it. He found that said town was a major city called Goffriel, and that it was a little over 10 kilometers to the west, so he grabbed some supplies from his tent and ran off towards the city.

Meanwhile, nearly halfway across the world, the men who threw that researcher into the gap had completed their mission and delivered the research notes to their superiors. The R&D team was going over the notes at this very moment, so they went into the barracks to get ready for bed so they could be ready for the report on their findings tomorrow.

"Choice move there, throwing that egghead into the crack." one of them said. "What do you think happened to him in there?"

"He probably drowned in that slime, he would've come up sooner if he survived." another replied.

"Don't jinx it, guys, let's wait for OUR eggheads to figure out what that stuff does." the third added.

"Whatever, look, we're halfway across the world from that crack, what makes you think he could make it here if he survived?" the last one asked. The third one slapped him in the face.

"Idiot! I just said not to jinx it!" he yelled. "Next thing you know he's going to barrel down that door and shoot fireballs at us."

"Yeah, like that'll happen." The second one said. "I'm going to bed." The third one was still a bit upset, but knew he wouldn't get through to them, so they all said good night to eachother and fell asleep in their beds. Tomorrow the report would be finished and they would recieve their next mission, so they had to be ready.