"3... 2... 1... start," said the scientist as he flipped the switch to turn on the particle accelerator.
"Vroom"
The Particle accelerator came to life, and just like that, the room of students was looking at a beam of blue energy shooting down a metal tube at a speed too fast to truly perceive. Everyone had their own thoughts, but Dr. Grey and Alexander both knew how hard it was to even reach this step. The machine was running perfectly fine according to Alexander's calculations which was hopefully very telling of the kind of success that might be instore for Alexander today.
Alexander's thesis was an experiment broken into seven main parts, and three of those had already succeeded. Alexander was frozen to the spot, unblinking as he took in everything that had happened so far.
"Starting the first initiation, titled - step 4," said the operator as he moved onto the next step. As the operator added new electrical currents and radioactive matter to the accelerator, the beam of energy turned from blue to purple just briefly and then back to blue. At first, Alexander was worried that something had gone wrong, but later he contented himself with the fact that the beam was once again blue, and it was also reasonable that the color would change when new materials were introduced.
After a few more seconds had passed and the scientists realized that the accelerator was still stable, they moved on to step five. Step five involved adding small amounts of every element of the periodic table to the accelerator. This process was more delicate, but these scientists were not to be underestimated. They were all leading researchers in their fields and would execute the experiment flawlessly.
"Starting the second initiation, titled - step 5," the operator once again said.
When the elements and the next set of currents were added, the beam of light changed from a pale blue color to a shining gold. This time, not only did Alexander think something was wrong, but so did the director. However, the researchers assured him that the reactor was stable and the particle accelerator would adapt soon enough.
And soon enough, just like the researchers said, the color changed back to the original pale blue.
"I didn't know you were trying to create a light show for us, Alex," laughed James.
Dr. Grey and Carmen both sent James chilling gazes that said, 'Shut up before I kill you.' Or at least that was what Carmen meant to say.
Alexander ignored them and continued watching with rapt attention.
With the fifth step completed, the operation was moved onto step six. Step six was the most dangerous for sure because it would involve adding dark matter into the particle accelerator. Dark matter was only officially created, not discovered, two years ago, and this would be the third time it has ever made a presence in the world. A separate particle accelerator that had been smoothly running and producing dark matter was located directly beneath this one.
"Starting the third initiation, titled - step 6." This announcement was once again heard by the class and made them hold their breaths in anticipation.
As the process began, many components on the particle accelerator began to melt, but this didn't affect the process. The pieces that melted off were used only for the previous initiations and wouldn't be a problem aside from the material costs. Everyone watched as dark matter changed the color of the energy once again, only this time the color wasn't one color but was a mixture of purple, red, and black, with a mix of white dots that looked like stars. Everyone, even the researchers, looked on at the strange yet beautiful mixture of energy that seemed to be its own cosmos.
Alexander watched on with complicated feelings. 'Had he done a miscalculation?' Too many things went differently than he thought they would, but at the same time, he was excited. Excited for the unknown to occur and to witness something incredible that would be his own creation.
'This feeling... it's... incredible!' In his mind, Alexander was realizing that even though his goal was to create mana, he was overjoyed to succeed in something as incredible as this. Even if it was by accident.
"The third initiation, titled - step 6, has stabilized," said the operator once again.
The fantastic colors once again had died down, only this time, the color of the energy within the accelerator turned into a deep sky blue. This blue had a texture that shimmered like diamonds and left the viewers breathless.
"Now moving onto the last initiation, titled - step 7," said the operator.
Alexander was breathless. He didn't even know what to feel. He was just watching. Hoping that something good would happen, because even though he wrote what he thought would happen at this step in his thesis, he also knew that his hypothesis was completely theoretical.
Step seven was known as 'the stripping away' in his project's precis. It was the act of attempting to strip everything away from the blue beam of energy until it was just that, energy. There would be no more dark matter. No more radioactive material. No more elements. And no longer would forces such as space and time be prevalent to the energy.
It started. The energy was now moving even faster than the speed of light, which made time become relative. The energy did not have mass and so did not have gravity, which made space non-existent to the energy. The color was now gone from the particle accelerator. The only indication that the energy still existed was the supernatural pressure that pushed against the walls of the interior tubes. Slowly but surely, the energy once more stabilized, but this time remained as a completely transparent force. The low hum of the machine echoed through the silent class until...
"Well, that was a letdown. It didn't even blow up," said James sarcastically. "it's not even pretty anymore," he continued.
"What happened," started Alexander, "was exactly what I hoped would happen. The fusion of the energy of all kinds of existence created a new form of energy that should encompass all forms of existence within the universe. Through that last step, we should have made a stable form of this energy, and now all that's left is to research it."
"If I am right, the next step would be to..."
Just as Alexander was talking, the director ordered the project to shut down since the results were already in, and Alexander's thesis had also said that the project only needed to last until the energy was stable. At this very same time, as if to mock his confidence, the research facility was bathed in a red light.
"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" The alarms in the research facility started to go off, and red lights began to flash all around, changing the once excited atmosphere of anticipation into one of fear.
What no one knew, not even Alexander, was that the energy wasn't going to just disappear after its' food supply was cut off. It was the energy of existence and everything around it was it's family.
With that, out of nowhere came the last noise the people of Earth would hear for the next few days.
"Swoosh!" Like an invisible wave faster than the speed of light, the energy, which had now re-fused with the matter of existence and returned to a deep sky blue color, spread out from the research lab, which was instantly reduced to rubble. However, even though the energy covered the entire planet instantly, only the research lab was destroyed. What happened to the people and every living thing? Well... they were knocked out. Cold.
Alexander's mind was blank. At one moment, he was watching his dreams become reality, and the next, he was all alone in the emptiness of his own mind, and no feeling at all.
What Alexander didn't know was that the energy entered the matter of everything on Earth, which included humans. And right now, they were paying for it. Out of the billions of people on Earth, over one thousand simply exploded from the internal pressure. However, most people had simple results, such as light bleeding from their eyes, nostrils, and ears. On top of being knocked unconscious, of course. This was the result that met Carmen, James, Dr. Grey, and the rest of Alexander's classmates.
Alexander's body, however, was in a more extreme state at the moment. His eyes had been reduced to mush, and it was clear he would never see again, but what was even worse was the fact that Alexander's blood was seeping out of every pore in his body.
He should have been dead. His body should have been pulverized, and it was, but he still stayed alive because the strange new energy that would come to be known as mana was slowly healing him and piecing back together the organs and internal structure of what was once Alexander Moore.