My clothes were dirty and full of dust. My laser gun shook as I held it upright. I could almost imagine myself in a battlefield, fighting for my life. I had seeker refuge behind a pile of tires. I covered my light to avoid being seen. People were getting out left and right, and it was becoming apparent that I was going to outlast everyone else. The only faulty thing about my plan was that I would have to phase my opponent when there were only 2 people left. I listened to people feet scurrying around the building, running from someone. We were all in it for ourselves. One life, that’s it. I covered my mouth. I watched someone walk past me, there red light shining in my eyes. “Where is he?” Someone asked. “I haven’t been able to see him this entire time. It still says he’s on the game board though,” someone responded. With that, they exited the small little room I was in. I could here they’re footsteps fade away into nothingness. The only people left were me, my dad, and two other people I didn’t know. I thought they would be able to find me by now. It was dark, but I swear people could see me peeking out from the tires. They had to. More times than not I thought I’ve been found but no, even when they glare at me, they don’t see me. How has no one cared to look behind the tires? “Player 11, you have been eliminated. Go to the lobby and return your things,” the announcer explained. Only 3 people were left now. I had gotten last in almost every other game. Apparently my strategy for this one was working. I was always a clever hider, and I was t the type of person to get physical with people. After all, there were no rules against me hiding until I had to defeat my opponent. I could hear the mechanical hum of the others laser guns. Whenever mine made noise I quickly covered the speaker I had found during the beginning of the match. I was only at my brothers birthday party, but I didn’t expect to go this far. Someone passed me, it was my dad. His blue light shined on the tires. Still, how did no one notice me? I was just behind tired, it was a fairly simple hiding place. Maybe no one expected me to be hiding. No one else even had a strategy. They all just mindlessly shot at people, expecting them to get eliminated. I had 10 health points, but once they were gone, I was done. My dad was understandably one of the best players. He was an adult and he also had lots of experience with these kinds of things. I found it unfair that they let the parents play. It just made it harder for the other kids. I could hear the other parents speaking. “Where are they?” One of them asked. I wasn’t the most coordinated person in the world either. I was good at reaction time but I wasn’t the best at attacking others. Half the time I didn’t even know where my scope was pointing at. Everything was too fast-paced to really pay any attention to it. I was decent at riding bikes but I had lots of experience. This—this was on a whole other level. It was like multitasking. People were teaming and just when you think you’re safe some other person you didn’t even know was there gets you. This was different. There were no revivals. People couldn’t team, it was against the rules. They had to play the game and betray their friends. I had no friends in this. It was all my brothers friends, so I wasn’t constantly distracted by them. I guess that helped in a way. Then I heard the words I didn’t want to hear. “There are only 2 people left,” the announcer said. It looks like I had to come out of hiding. I stood up from my hiding spot and anxiously walked over behind a wall, looking through a small window. There he was, my dad, looking in every which way. I started shooting at him with the laser. My dad immediately turned around and began firing shots right back at me. I ducked behind the window and then peeked out and fired a few more shots at him. My dad had one heart left. Then, popping out from the window, I hit him. A defeat noise played through his speakers. I had one. Then, from out of nowhere, my brother who I thought had recently been eliminated popped out from a corner. A target appeared on my chest, and I realized that I was his new target. He quickly shot at me, I fired a few shots back but I quickly ran out of ammo. Then, after what felt like a millisecond, I was defeated. My speaker blared the loud defending note pattern, signaling that I had been defeated. My brother patted my shoulder and said “ “Just wait till next round,” I said, a grin plastered on my face. He still didn’t know my hiding place. I may have lost the round, but the war was still far from over…

Cindy Lockwood went missing one morning. The last place she was seen was Pedalwood Lake. Pedalwood was a quiet town that was very remote from the rest of London. It was a very small town, away from most of the bustling streets in London. I got the news that she never came home after I woke up yesterday. The day previous we had grabbed our bathing suits and cannonballed into the misty waters. Cindy stayed longer then I did. I left an hour after we arrived, but Cindy never left. Soon, even I was getting increasingly worried. Cindy was my best friend, we did everything together. Knowing that she could be missing was something I couldn’t possibly get out of my mind.

After school I headed over to Pedalwood Lake. I looked out into the misty hills, stared at the pine trees towering over the houses. Birds chirped continuously. I couldn’t stop thinking about her, no matter how hard I tried. 
I remembered the last thing I ever heard her say, and I found myself daydreaming. 
“Don’t worry, I’ll just be here a couple more minutes,” Cindy said, resssuring me. 
“Ok, don’t stay out too long,” I advised.
“Don’t act like your my mother Pearl,” Cindy laughed. 

I laughed back. I was being a little protective pf her in the moment, but I didn’t want anything to happen to her. I walked away off the old wooden dock. The wood creaked under my weight. I was soaking wet, and still shivering even though I had my towel wrapped around my body. I glanced back at Cindy, she lifted out from the water, rearranging her hair back into the way she liked it. She got back on the dock and noticed me. I quickly turned away, walking back home.

Something caught my eye and I was immediately drawn out from my day dreaming. It was Cindy’s phone she had kept on the dock the entire time. It still had some water droplets in it from last nights rain storm. I tapped the screen, it miraculously turned on but it was on low battery. I pulled my phone out. We shared everything together. Even passwords. I quickly entered her passcode, trying not to waste too much time. I grabbed out my camera to record anything I had found. I pressed the camera option on Cindy’s phone, and I looked at the last video she took, recording it from my phone. 
Cindy was recording herself jumping into the water, not even worried about getting her phone destroyed. She jumped into the dirty musty water. You could barely see anything in the water. Cindy got out of the water and brushed away some water that got stuck on the camera. Out of the corner of her phone, was a man lifting out from the water, and what looked to be a weapon held in his left hand…Just as Cindy screamed, her phone turned back and the low battery screen flashed. I looked back into the murky waters, just to see if anything was there. There was nothing at all, just the occasional fish that jumped out of the water. I stopped the recording, trying to process what had just happened. Had I really just seen the murder of my own friend. Was this even real? 
I kept up from my sitting position and hurried home. Just wait until my parents see this…

My parents stared at the video from my phone I had took, just as shocked as I had been. 
“What should we do?” I asked, finally breaking the silence. 
“I think we should show the police, I mean, I she’s really missing, then we need all the evidence we can get,” my dad explained. 
“Does Cindy’s parents know about this?” my mom questioned.
“I don’t think so,” I added. 
“I think we should show them first,” my mom exclaimed. 
I was in bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering what had happened to my friend. I knew I needed to go back to Pedalwood Lake and find anything that could hint that she was killed. I have to find out what happened to my friend…

The letter came early in the morning, addressed to me. The letter was wrapped in a neat foil, not the usual envelope that was used nowadays. The sticker addressing it to me didn’t have any information of where it was sent from. I ripped apart the letter with my hands, still walking inside. It was a letter written on paper that was browning. It was a very thin sheet of paper that was almost crumpling up from age. I read the letter carefully.

To Hunter
From Ħűňťęř
——————————

I hope this letter finds you in good health. For there is something that has been compelling me to write this letter to you now. It has come to my attention about the unprecedented danger that urges me to write to you. 
This letter is from me, to you. You, evidently are my parallel self, from a parallel world. For you, I believe that it is the other way around. There is a grave danger that has been tormenting our world, and we need you to open the portal so we can find refuge in your world until it discovers our hiding place. If you don’t open the portal our world will be destroyed and our indispensable connection will be lost. There will be no Hunter, as there will be no me either. You will be gone as soon as I inevitabley fall victim to its evil. I cannot dispose of what it is, for that will only make it all worse. If you don’t open the portal, then you yourself will die. We are interconnected. If one of us dies, the other follows. This portal will save both of us from it. Then we can live on with our very different lives. 
Hello me from a parallel world, this is a call for help. I must get on and make this letter worthy of some decency. To open the portal you must precisely light 5 candles. Go to a woods

and blow them all out in the same order you lit the candles, then make an X out of small twigs, and the portal will open and all will be saved. Hunter, I have hope that you will understand the importance of this letter, and the future that depends on you.

Sincerely,
Ħűňťęř…
 ———————

My heart dropped. How could there be a parallel version of me living in a parallel world. I stared at the letter blankly, debating if it was really legit. 
“There’s no way,” I said through gritted teeth. 
I pulled on my coat, fitting it over my shoulders and pulling my arms through the arm holes. I grabbed 5 candles I had kept in the basement. I nervously flipped the light switch on. If I didn’t act now, who knows when it would be too late. I sprinted down the stairs. A dim light hung above, the light bulb hanging from 3 small wires that connected to it. The lightbulb swung back and forth gently. I was too lazy to fix it, I’m expecting to hear it crash to the ground any night now. My heart pounding in my chest, I rummage through the pile of stuff. Everything was out of order, like I had just tossed it in a corner and let it accumulate over time. The pile eventually gave away and spilled over onto the ground. Searching through the rubble that seemed to never end, I threw a random thing of glowsticks I was going to use for a party—then I got sick and couldn’t attend. 
I threw things into another corner, to occupied with finding candles to place them in indivuidual organized piles. I spotted a candle, put to use but still useable. I placed the candle behind me and continued to search through the debris frantically. I threw a book series called Mind Kind my high school forced me to read. It was some corny book about thinking and acting kindly. I remember the first page precisely from how horrible it was. 
I threw the other 2 books in the series away. The second one was Mind Kind: Kind Mind. Then the third one was Mind Kind: Kind Mind Kind Mind. The whole series felt like a joke that some 50 year old man wanted to do for the purpose of making a few bucks. I spotted the second candle, but this one was still in its wrapping. I ripped open the plastic covering it before stuffing it behind me with the first candle. Then, underneath a pile of painting I had drawn when I was 2, was candles 3 and 4. After that I found a plant pot that had no signs of use. I threw that with the other stuff. Then I slowly turned to look at it, broken in pieces. Apparently I didn’t think to gently set it down.

Right under 25 pieces of blank paper was the 5th and final candle. My eyes widened and I could almost hear the sound of glass—no, the light bulb fell down. I quickly gathered up the candles, stepping over the small glass shards. In my kitchen, I numbered the candles 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I grabbed my lighter and held down the switch. A flame gently turned in the thick air. I lit the candles based on their numbers. Then, carefully running out the house, candles in hand, I got in my car. 
Houses passed me as I turned the corner into the woods. People were walking their dogs without a care in the world. Squirrels did there normal acrobatics in the trees, and I parked into the parking lot. My car stopped and I opened the door, staring into the depths of the forest. I slammed the car door and sprinted into the woods, running through the trees and sitting kneeling down in the middle of a gravel pathway. 

I set each candle down in order. A cold wind blew. I watched leaves fly into the air gracefully. The wind howled on. I moved closer to the small flames, gently blowing them out individually. Smoke lifted into the air, waving around and dissipating. I blew out the final candle, and the wind howled louder. The trees shook and I had to hold the candles down. I quickly stood up and scanned the ground, searching for small twigs.

Finding a stick, I ripped it into two small pieces. I placed them in an X pattern and watched as nothing happened. For minutes on end I sat down in complete silence. I stood back up, contemplating if I should turn around or not. Suddenly, the wind blew quickly, sweeping up the twigs and lifting the candles in the air. Turning around, my eyes widened in hope. A big circular portal opened. In the middle was a small circle of white, and everything else was purple and blues. The candles were almost magnetized toward the portal, getting sucked into it. Leaves and twigs fell victim to the immense power of the portal. Trees shook side to side, entire branches hanging down by small threads. My hair flew up into the air, waving around. I could barely keep my eyes open in the intense wind. A person stepped out, almost identical to me. They had wavy brown hair, just like me. Their eyes were as dark as night and small circles acted like stars. They had ripped cloth as clothing, and their pants were a thin layer of silk. He had sandles that looked like that of the Romans sandles. His clothing looked almost completely different then mine, but his face and even his height were stingingly similar. “Hello, Hunter,” my parallel self proclaimed. “Hello, other Hunter,” I replied. My parallel self moved his hand up in the air, and for some reason that’s what happened to me. “See, we are intertwined. We’re close enough to where if one of us does a movement, the other follows without even actually doing it themselves,” my parallel self explained. The wind roared now. The portal began to dwindle out of existence, and my parallel self and I were left standing in the woods. “I believe you received my informative letter then?” My parallel self questioned. “How else would I have opened the portal?” I chuckled. “Right. Let me tell you what I had not mentioned in the initial letter,” he started. “After opening the portal, the candles and twigs were sucked into it. I didn’t think of this as I was writing the letter. It might be able to open its own portal to our world. Using those candles and twigs, it could create its own portal and cross over to our world. It’s highly unlikely, but if it does happen, humanity could go extinct…”

Salt. It might not seem like much but over the course of thousands of years. Established by the Roman Empire, they believed that salt was capable of warding off something that even them didn’t know of. Now that the waters are being drained frequently for filtration, and more humans populate the planet, the salt levels are rapidly decreasing. The salt was special, as it was not drinkable, but that was the purpose. To keep it contained the Roman’s had to go to great lengths to keep the water salty. Now as water seems to become salt free, who knows what evil could be unleashed. The water wasn’t supposed to be dranken. The Roman’s did they do we would drink lake water that was rid of salt. Humans quickly used up the lake water though, and it was a very meticulous process to filter the lakes. The oceans were much more diverse and the water would last longer, so humans began to filter ocean water. The process was much less tedious because the oceans were so clean. The reason the dinosaurs went extinct is because of the evil that lies at the bottom of the ocean. The dinosaurs didn’t have anything to stop it from taking out the dinosaur population, and when the meteor hit, it only finished the rest of them off. Maybe we should’ve all stuck to lake water.

Monday, July 7th, 2054. 
4:31 PM

The humans have a very unexpected waking. There is a constant rumble coming from the seas, and even people not close to the oceans can hear the waves violently crashing together as something awakes. The waves seem to get more intense. It almost feels like an earthquake.
The final salt water has been filtered in China. Their filtration machines quickly shut down. Just as the last bit of salt is filtered, a loud boom send shockwaves around the entire planet, causing a global power outage. 
People awake to pure darkness, finding themselves unable to turn anything on. Their thermostat has stopped, and the internet has ceased to exist…

The oceans are now completely salt free, but now everyone’s lives are in great danger. People look to the waters but it’s too dark to see anything. In the distance, a creature has just awoken from its thousand year rest. The creature trudges through the water. The water clears for him. The creatures eyes are wide and soulless. It’s jaw hangs open and sharp teeth protrude from its dark red gums. It’s fingers form 13 foot claws that are sharpened and hanging loosely. It’s body is scaly and ridged. It makes its way across the ocean, vengeance hanging in the cool winter air. With nothing to ward off and stop this creature, who knows what it could do. The creature stepped onto the shore, leaving a giant mark in the sand. The people of Florida, oblivious and confused, have no way of knowing the danger that is quickly approaching, and it won’t stop until everyone is gone…

I vigorously paddled across the river, my small kayak turning side to side. My pursuers, Randall, Jon, and Juan were quickly catching up to me. With a repeated motion, I quickly turned the paddle in the water before pulling it out. The water splashed and infiltrated my ship, but I didn’t let that stop me. Clouds moved across the sky above, and the overcast had me worried. I could smell the stench of fresh pine. I could feel the cold water soaking in between my toes. I looked ahead at the rapids. I took a deep breath and continued onward. I desperately paddled, picking up the pace in an attempt to outpaddle my friends. Randall laughed like a maniac as he passed Jon before he splashed water in his face. Jon drifted toward the side before hitting a rock and getting stuck. Juan quickly sped up toward me, starting to gain speed over me. Juan then passed Randall, still focused on passing me. I prepared for the worst before the kayak dropped down into the rapids. I quickly paddled on as the rapids shook and turned the ship. My body swayed side to side and from the drop, I was covered in water. Luckily, I had my raincoat on, and I was able to avoid getting too drenched. I tried to regain control of the ship, water almost blinding my view. Then with a jolt, my kayak turned over as it went over a rock. I was under the water now. I shivered before I quickly tried to flip the kayak over. Then I saw Juan. He quickly passed me. “So long Marcus!” He teased. I got back onto the kayak as Randall neared me. I immediately began paddling again through the rapids. Juan was already way ahead of me. Randall steered the kayak toward me and my kayak swayed to the side as he poked his paddle into my kayak. In retaliation, I quickly did the same, which resulted in Randall’s kayak to flip over. Now Jon was behind me. I paddled harder. Juan had already made it to the second round of rapids, while I was still in the middle of them. I grunted under my breath before paddling faster. I slammed the paddle into the water and quickly pulled it out before repeating the process. Randall was still getting back onto his kayak. Now, it was Jon I had to worry about. Jon lightly tapped his paddle into the back of my kayak. In response, I paddled harder. I stroked my smooth black hair just as I was beginning to feel a drop of water. I looked behind me to see if Jon was splashing anything on me. No, it was raining. The rain pelted onto my raincoat and quickly filling up the kayak. I knew I should’ve checked the forecast. Juan was slowing down from exhaustion now. With excitement and competitiveness, I steered my ship into Jon’s, knocking him off his kayak. Then I proceeded to stare into Juan’s eyes as he looked back to see what was happening. I could almost forget all about the rain as my mind was set on outpaddling Juan. The rain came down harder, and it started seeping through my raincoat. My face was dripping with rain and my hands were almost numb from the constant thud of rain hitting them. Even then, I was too determined to be stopped by some rain. I had to secure myself as the best paddler, and establish that I was the most athletic. At this point, I didn’t even worry about Jon and Randall, they were far behind now. All I had to focus on was paddling. That’s when I saw a flash of light, followed by a thunder boom that shook the entire ground. My heart dropped. I wasn’t going to let a thunderstorm stop me at this point. Pushing onward, I conquered the second round of rapids. I was rapidly approaching Juan now, and we were probability more than halfway through the river. The weather didn’t look very promising though, the sky was darkening and wind pushed my kayak to the side. I found myself paddling harder only for my effort to be futile in the essence of the fierce storm. No matter how much harder I tried, the storms winds prevented me from reaching my full potential. “Tired already?” Randall asked me, pushing his kayak into mine. “Not yet,” I exclaimed. Then I bumped my kayak into Randall’s with such force that the kayak fell into a rock and got stuck. Fog was starting to form, which made it harder to see Juan. I stormed toward Juan, picking up the pace. I had to get to him fast, before the storm started to limit me even more. Another loud boom of thunder shook my kayak. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I saw an eagle flying overhead. Then I continued to press onward, almost catching up with Juan before a sudddn gust of wind blew me backward. Then, I paddled harder. It looked that I was going to pass Juan.

Then I realized that we had already made it to the finish line, and I had come in second place…

I looked up at the sky, letting the sand sink in between my toes. Clouds were scattered across the sky, and the sun was beginning to set. Bright pinks and blues stretched across the horizon, making it even more beautiful.
My mom sat in her sunbathing chair with an umbrella attatched to it. She hated the water but she always came to the beach. I felt sweat drip down my forehead. It was still humid out. My sister, Veronica was getting very ansy from how long we’ve stayed. Veronica quietly used her small plastic bucket to pick up water. She made an indent in the sand and moved her hand around in a circle until there was a large enough hole. She poured the water in. The water crashed against the edge of the sand barrier before the water escaped from the sand. Seagulls sang in the skies, flying gracefully. Sometimes I just liked to close my eyes and listen to them. It was always interesting to hear them calling out to other seagulls. My body was all wrinkly from swimming. The water was very cool compared to the actual temperature (which soared over 100 degrees). “Mom, can we leave?” Veronica asked in her soft high-pitched voice. “Just wait a few more minutes, go swim or something,” mom suggested. Mom was horrified of the water. When we used to have a pool in our backyard, we always joked about pushing her in. Whenever we tried to help her get over her fear, as soon as her feet touched the water, she jolted backward and almost fell off the side of the pool. She said when she was younger she got stung by a jellyfish, which scared her for life. I don’t even know how long she’s avoided the oceans and pools, but it feels like my entire life at this point.

I got up off the sand and walked into the ocean. I coughed when some salt water infiltrated my mouth. I practiced my front crawl, trying to perfect it. I moved my arms around and then switched to my back, where I attempted the back crawl—my worst stroke. I struggled to stay afloat. I waved my arms around in a circular motion but I just found myself struggling even more. My face kept sinking down into the water. I gasped for air as I splashed my arms around. Then I started to tread water in an attempt to calm me down. My heart was still pounding. 
I closed my eyes and started to move back to the shore. That’s when I felt something rough and sharp scrape my leg. The sensation only lasted for about a couple seconds, but it felt like it lasted for an eternity. I frantically pulled my face under the water, trying to stop anything in sight, but the water was too shallow and too murky to see anything within 10 feet of me. 
“Mom,” I called out. 
“What?” She returned, taking off her sunglasses.
“I felt something touch me,” I answered, worry evident in my voice. 
 I shivered as I said it. All of a sudden, goosebumps crept down my spine. My body started shaking and with each second that Kim didn’t respond, I only got more nervous. 
“Don’t worry about it, it was probably just some old piece of trash,” mom said, trying to calm me down. 

“No, it was too rough to be trash. Why don’t you come in,” I exclaimed, smirking. “I don’t think so Amar,” she replied, chuckling. I stroked my dark hair as I tried to relax. I put my hand out toward my side, there was a cut. I looked around to my hip. Just above my swim pants, was a small gash that looked to be pretty deep. My heart dropped. I tried to stay calm, cause I knew whatever was in the water with me would only target me more if I didn’t. I put my face in the water, slowly moving toward the shore. I dove up to get more air then continued to slowly kick my feet and move my arms forward. I could swear I heard something behind me, creeping toward me. I glanced behind me, but there was nothing. No shark fin, no fish, just me…

When I finally made it back on the shore, I put my hands in the warm sand that almost burned me. I felt the water move up to my toes, then receded back. Waves crashed against me, and I started to feel relieved. Maybe what happened in the water was all just a freak accident, just maybe it was all my imagination and I was freaking out over nothing. I looked back to my side. The cut was still there. The more I stared at it, the more rational I thought. Maybe it was just a hook that fell off a fishing pull brushing against my side. That wouldn’t explain how rigid and roughy it felt though. 
What if a shark had brushed against me, and I just didn’t look in the water soon enough. That doesn’t really make much sense either. Almost all the sharks are in deeper waters than this. The only shark I could think of that would be closer to the shore is a lemon shark, and even then, they don’t really mess with humans. 


My mind raced around in circles. With each new thought, I felt like I just went in a loop. I’m sure that it was all just a coincidence. Maybe it was just a combination of fear and some small fish brushing against me. Maybe that made me think it was something much worse. Thinking about it now, why would a fish brush against a human? Fish mostly avoid humans, not come to them. 
My skin was dark red. My mom didn’t out enough sunscreen on. My neck was all red, and I felt some skin peeling. My arms were almost all red, snd they ached with a stinging sensation. 
“What’s that?” Veronica asked curiously as she pointed to something big that had washed up on the shore. 
I ran over to whatever it was, confused. It was huge, but whatever it was, it was ripped apart into two pieces. The first part seemed to be the head of the creature, and the other part, which was ajecent to the first, just slightly turned. My heart was pounding so I hard I could hear it. 
“What is this?” I mumbled under my breath.
I rubbed my hand against the creature. It had hard and bumpy skin that felt like sandpaper. It had a long, stretched out fin near the end of the first half. I looked into the creatures black eyes. Its mouth was open, revealing sharp teeth. It appeared to have more than 3 rows of the teeth too. My heart sank. I realized that this was a shark, a huge shark. The first half was almost as long as Veronica, and the second was almost as long as me… 
My mom hurried over, having the same clueless expression and me. She grabbed out her phone and dialed a number I didn’t know. 
“Um, I’m calling to report something washed up on the beach, could you send someone over?” Mom asked, fear hanging in her voice. 
Mom proceeded to tell them our location. She hung up. We just stared at the creature, marveling at its abnormal size. I’ve never seen anything like it. It didn’t look like a great white shark, it was darker and more menacing. It wasn’t long before someone showed up. 

A crew showed up, and an old man in a black suit came up to us. He just stared at the creature in pure awe. 
“This thing…” He started. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything quite like this. This is just…I mean, it’s huge.” 
The old man hesitated. He continued to stare blankly at the creature. 
“If I had to guess, you may have just found evidence of a megladon…” He exclaimed. 
My heart dropped. There was no way that it was a megladon. I only thought they existed in movies and fake YouTube videos that were almost always AI generated. 

The question was, if this was a megladon, then what could’ve done this to it???

It wasn’t that hard of a task. All I did was pass the bag. The figure peered at me with surprise. He was confused. The world seemed to spin around me, and the mere sight of the figure haunted me. His intent glare stared right at me, and he leaned in closer. His eyes bored into me.

“Where the hell did you find this!?” He asked with urgency, covering himself with his hands. “This is something that has not been discovered in over 1,000 years. It’s an Ancient piece of history that remained a mystery until now. It details the origins of our world. It details what lies beyond just the tip of the iceberg.” 
The figures eyes widened with each passing second. He stared at the piece of paper with uneven edges. It was wrinkling at the middle and it glowed with a bright dark brown color. It was visibly old and put to good use.
I stared at the paper with the same expression as him. I had only met him one other time before. He had asked me for a favor. I remember the moment like it was yesterday. 

“You need to find this. It’s been hidden for a very long time,” he explained, handing me an old photograph of a large bag with a zipper. “This was buried inside of a tree branch, and then the government hid it. They didn’t want anyone finding it, and for good reason. It detailed the creation of humanity, and that civilizations were far more advanced than we anticipated thousands of years ago.” 
“I’m confused,” I stated with a blank expression.
“Just find it. I don’t care how long it will take, just get it done,” he said. 
He was just some rando dude I found at a bar. He insisted I found it. Then he got up off the swivel chair and waved fair well to me. I never saw him again for 3 months after that. I never got his name either. He was just this mysterious guy in a black robe, concealing his face with his hood and covering his true identity. His robe was clearly very old. Small holes were scattered around the robe. He smelled of sweat and he had a strange bitter smell to him. 
I found myself back in the room. He looked at me as I sat blankly, still daydreaming about the night I met him. He finally broke the silence.
“How did you find this?” He asked.
“It was actually much simpler than I expected. I saw this strap hanging out from the ground, poorly positioned in a pile of leaves but the strap was identifiable,” I explained.
I remembered where I had found it. I don’t think I would’ve found it if I hadn’t stepped on the strap and heard the clack of a metal piece as I stepped over it. I imagined myself back in the woods, the crows screeching. I remembered how dark it was and how I found it. I felt the world closing in on me. The forest was big. I was just walking on the long gravel path, and I could feel the crunch of it as I walked. The trees were almost completely rid of their leaves. I could barely smell the stench of pine. After all, it was almost winter…He snapped me out of my imagination with a loud bang. 
His fist was on the table and he seemed to be getting anxious. 
“Hand the bag to me, now!” He screamed furiously. 
I jolted in the air. I almost fell out of my chair. I quickly handed him the bag, still covered in a thick layer of dirt. His eyes opened wider, and he moved his hands away from his face. His mouth opened to reveal several teeth that were missing. His grin opened wider and his gaze seemed to be fixated on the paper. He held out his hand. 
“Shake it,” he growled.
His hand was covered in a glove that had tiny holes all over, showing its use. His fingers were wrinkled with dust and cuts. His fingers were long and curving to the right slightly. Long black hair sprouted from the middle of his fingers, curling into a tangled ball of spaghetti. 
I slowly moved my hand out from under the table. My hand shakes and I could almost feel sweat dropping down from my palms. I clasped his hand with strength. Then he stuffed the paper into his pocket. 
“I’ll be taking this now,” he finished, zipping up the bag and then stuffing it in his other pocket. 
“What, I found it,” I returned.
He gave me a glare and then pulled out a small lighter. He lit it. Sparks ran off from the lighter before a small flame burst out. The flame waved around in a circular fashion. I peeled back my light brown hair, and felt my heart drop. 
He then proceeded to throw the lighter on the ground, the small flame touching the wooden floors. He got up off his swivel chair. His broad shoulder moved up and down. His face was covered in grime and he walked out. 
“You handed me the bag and paper without hesitation, you’re even dumber than the rest of them!” He exclaimed, waving goodbye.
I had just handed over the secrets of the world to him. I had handed him powerful information, and now I would pay the price. 
The bar erupted into flames. With every step, the floors creaked beneath him. Each step he took felt like a betrayal no one could predict. He turned around as he opened the door. He took off his hood. He was the recently escaped criminal, an assassin who turned against the government. His long black hair curled neatly behind his head and it gently waved back and forth. The light of the fire illuminated his face. The fire reflected from his eyes. What I saw was pure evil. Smoke drifted into the air and I coughed. His smile grew wider than his own face. 
Fear gripped my heart and I watched him slowly rise up into the air. He stared at me for a while. The once vibrant bar walls decorated with essentric gold framed paintings were now covered in a red substance. I looked at the unique stained glass windows, and I watched my world shatter around me. I stared at everyone’s mixed expressions. The bartender, frozen in fear, collapsed onto the ground in a swift motion. 
He pulled out a small blade. The sharp edge glimmered in the light of the flames. He gripped the handle, with paint that was peeling off. 
I realized that there was blood splattered on the blade, and it was only then that I realized that everyone else in the bar was dead…