Now, for a moment, let's turn away from this gloomy setting to one less so.

Zachary Andrew Parsons (Zak to his friends) was a Zapper, a member of the ZAP Guild. His job, like all Zappers, was to protect the Balance of the Omniverse. His goal was to make sure that Darkness didn't overtake Light. They acted as a "security force" and "temp agency." If an Actor for a story, for whatever reason, could not fulfill their role, a Zapper was called in to be their "understudy."

The Zappers worked for the Company (aka BLT International). The Company long ago discovered the power of stories. They discovered that every "fictional" story was true. These stories just existed in realities separate from theirs.

The Company soon learned that a person's belief in a given reality/universe is what kept it alive. The thing that kept people believing were stories. BLT went to work on gathering up stories to share with the people of the Omniverse. These people's (aka Fans) belief would in turn sustain the Omniverse, thus giving rise to more stories. The Company soon hired Actors, Authors, Painters, and more in order to gather more stories.

Over the course of his career, Zak dealt with many strange things. He'd avoided Cleaners, stopped a rebellion, and foiled many plots constructed by the Shadow Men. Zak truly believed he was doing the right thing; but after watching a world fall into the Void, things changed.

One day the team was alerted to the appearance of a Dark Star—it's like a normal star; but instead of radiating light and heat, it radiates darkness. A Dark Star is formed when there is no more Light in that universe. That world was falling into the Void. The Zappers' responsibility was to show up and rescue as many people as they could. While there, Zak got separated and found himself lost in the Wastelands.

The Wastelands is where any surviving person or piece of land ends up after a Fall. This realm is also known as the Post-Apocalyptic realm.

Eventually, Zak ran into an older man who taught him how to create his own ZAP Gate, which would allow Zak to escape the Wastelands and return to the Company.

Upon his return, Zak spied what happens to the refugees from the Fallen Worlds. They are recycled. Some kind of machine transforms them into different beings. He saw an old woman suddenly become a ten-year-old boy. He also saw his fellow Zappers strapped into strange machines. Some of the refugees were pixilated and sucked into a tube and fed to the unconscious Zappers. Zak went into a panic; but the next thing he knew, it was a new day and the event seemed more like a dream. He went back to work.

Eventually, Zak ran into the old man again. This time he called himself Mentor. Mentor told Zak he was not who he thought he was.

"Ages ago," said Mentor, "some of the BLT Upper Management sent their hit squad, The Strangers, after a young boy." Mentor inhaled a deep breath then lowered his eyes in respect. "They Shattered him."

Every Zapper knew what that meant: a Gate was destroyed with someone still in it. The victim's soul would then break apart and be scattered across the Omniverse, never to be whole again. It was a fate worse than death. Due to the near-infinite possibilities of the Omniverse, if someone is killed, there is a universe where they aren't. But, that doesn't happen with a Shattering. The Soul Fragments fuse with the person's quantum counterparts (or Reflections) and becomes that person but also staying somewhat themselves. It is like they become two people but also one. They become a completely different person.

Eventually—mostly by accident—it was discovered that the Shattering of people began the formation of a new sector within the Omniverse. This new sector had an odd frequency to it; one that was picked up by Fans instead of Creators. It was dubbed "Fanfiction."

As Mentor recounted the events, Zak slumped his shoulders and lowered his head out of respect for the Shattered person. Finally, Mentor pointed at Zak. "You are one of those Fragments, and only you can travel the realms and find yourself."

So Zak began his quest to find the other pieces of his soul. He scoured the sectors of Mystery, Fantasy, Horror, Adventure, Era, Non-Fiction, and Fanfiction.

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