The Chain Links (The Dark Side)

Mark was sitting at his usual table at the coffee shop. He went there often more for the people watching than anything else. He had a lot of free time since he took the part-time gig as a video editor for a popular YouTuber. The pay was decent and it allowed him to focus on other things in life. Unfortunately, as he found out very quickly, he didn’t have very many other things in life to focus on. As it turned out, being a single 19 year old guy in a big city was more lonely than he could have imagined. Still, Mark wasn’t the type of guy to care about his social life much anyway. He would much rather be crushing his opponents in the latest Call of Duty while calling them noobs. Coming in at an average 5 foot 8 inches and 120 pounds, he wasn’t much to look at, but he wasn’t your stereotypical boy in the basement cave either. He was lost in thought when a voice caught him off guard.

“Here’s your coffee, Mark. I assumed you wanted your usual.”

“Oh!” Mark jumped back to reality, “Yeah, thanks Carly”.

Carly. She was the real reason Mark always came to this particular coffee shop. She was 5 foot nothing and about 90 pounds. Dark red hair and freckles. She had just graduated a few months ago and was almost 19. What he wouldn’t do to be able to get her back to his room. He liked to think of himself as a decent guy, but of course, he still had that side of him that wanted to tie her to the table in front of them and…

“Mark, what are you staring at? Did someone spill coffee on me?” Carly looked extremely confused.

“Oh, no not at all. Sorry Carly, I kind of zoned out there for a second. I’m pretty tired today” Mark managed to get out.

“Well rest up tonight!” She quipped as she walked off to help another customer.

As she was walking away, Mark pulled out his tablet onto the table and switched the camera to front and snapped a picture of Carly as she walked away.

**bzz bzz**

Mark felt around in his jean pockets for his phone.

“Who the hell is texting me?” He muttered as he fished it out and pulled up his texts.

Would you like to register Carly Franklin to the Chronicle System? You will immediately receive Rank 1 benefits for this Soul Link.

“What the hell? What is this?”

The chronicle system allows you to form relationships more easily and can provide certain benefits to its user.

Mark jumped and slammed his knee on the table, “Did it just text me an answer to my question, what the hell is going on? Benefits? Chronicle system? That’s it, I’ve lost my damned mind.

Please respond yes or no. Would you like to utilize the chronicle link to register Carly Franklin as a soul link?

Mark thought about it for a good long time, long enough that Carly had since brought him 2 more cups of coffee. Finally, he pulled his phone back out and responded.

((NO, I don’t know who this is or why you’re screwing with me but I don’t need your help with relationships.))

Response Received

“Is that it?” Mark thought then suddenly his phone went off again.

The chronicle system has been given to another. You have instead been granted the ability to form Chain Links through the portal system. Whether you choose to use this or not is irrelevant to the project. Should you choose to explore it, you need only reply to this. You can use the system without explanation, but it can be dangerous. You have the power, whether you want it or not.

Mark’s phone went dark and he sat there, staring at it wondering what the hell just happened. He didn’t feel any different. He Googled “portal system” but only came up with results about a video game. He glanced up just in time to see Carly heading his way with the check…