Roger fell to his knees in the auburn tufts of grass, fingertips landing in the soft ground. He had veered off the path of white limestone and was looking for something. The thick mist was rolling in and soon he wouldn’t be able to see his hand in front of his face. He wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t know how to keep it from happening. All he knew was he had to help stop it.
Over the course of the last year he had been burdened with an inconceivable notion: his brother, and the rest of his squadron, who were long dead, would rise and become ghosts at midnight tonight. Roger didn’t believe it- it was absurd. Ridiculous. The supernatural didn’t exist, much less that his brother would be stuck as a ghost instead of moving on.
But then things started happening that Roger couldn’t deny… things that defied explanation, unless they were indeed supernatural.
It started with a raven. Every time he would leave his apartment, a raven flew toward him and landed on his porch railing. It was weird, but Roger shrugged it off.
Then came the insects. They started following him when he was walking. Initially a few at a time but then it became more and more. Large groups of ants and beetles and other creepy crawlies would amass behind him.
Then, he started noticing things being displaced in his apartment. Living alone and no one else having a key, he checked into a hotel for a few weeks.
When he finally returned home, he saw smoke coming from the top of his apartment like it would come out of a chimney.
He didn’t have a chimney.
He checked back into the hotel after that but even there he saw things. A golden light coming off of certain objects. A hand made of mist coming through the desk in his room.
Then, after work one day, he came back to his hotel room and a black cat was sitting on his bed, staring at him. The cat had no collar and seemed to stare Roger up and down, then spoke, saying, “So, do you believe the prophecy now?”
That was Roger’s introduction to the magical world and sometimes he still wasn’t sure he believed it. But he knew- otherwise he wouldn’t be in this field right now- that he had to help his brother and his fellow soldiers so they weren’t stuck in this world as ghosts.
“I’m just saying that I’m confused. She told me not to be at school at night. It doesn’t make sense. It’s not like she ever gave me a chance to apologize for that other thing either.”
Derek sighed. “Yeah, but…”
I interceded. “No buts! I can’t read her mind. Yes, I need to ask more questions and that’s on me. But there are two sides of this.”
As our discussion went on, we were unaware that two shadows had been following us since we left the college. We had gotten a little distracted.
I hate drama.
“So what do you think I should do, Derek?”
“I dunno, man. Maybe give her some space to chill?”
Completely oblivious to the black tendrils reaching out to us in the darkness of the night, we were at the shadows’ mercy.
Because leave it to me to get so entirely focused on a conversation that I don’t notice anything going on around me.
All of a sudden, we were grabbed. It was nothing like I had ever seen- or not seen on this case- in my life. I didn’t even have time to panic. Shocked, I just stayed there like a limp rag not knowing what to do. We were both held in the air with these whatever they are dangling us like mice. To my horror, the cement beneath is starting cracking wide open. Looking around, I tried to find anything that could help. I looked over at Derek and his head was sideways. It was too dark to make out if he was still alive. Thrashing about, I tried to wiggle out of this thing’s grasp.
Then, out of nowhere, there came a bright light buzzing past me right at the creature, knocking it back and releasing it’s grip on me and Derek. The ground closed up just in time for me to fall down- hard- on the cement.
In front of me was my girlfriend with a very annoyed look on her face. She crossed her arms in front of her and her hip tilted to the side. “Maybe next time you’ll listen to me when I tell you not to walk here at night.”
I was just sitting at my desk. I think it was all a dream but… I’m not sure. It seemed so real.
I’m a computer programmer. And since AI has been introduced into the company, I haven’t had to do as much. And while my pay has stayed the same, it means that I’m often just sitting at my desk doing nothing. Because I’m still on the clock and I’m limited in the things I can do during business hours.
I had a late night last night and while I tried to stay awake- because a nap certainly isn’t one of those activities that’s allowed- my eyes kept closing and I must’ve dozed off.
It all started in an empty field. There was no one around- I was all alone. I didn’t recognize where I was. I started walking, trying to figure out where I was. There was nothing in any direction. After a while, I found some footprints. They looked kind of human- except for an extra imprint where the toes are. Like the person had 6 toes on each foot. Hoping that they would lead me to something that would lead me to answers, I hesitantly followed them. Being unfamiliar with my surroundings had me unnerved; how did I know that whoever was at the end of this path wasn’t out to hurt me?
After a long while, I though I saw something - and someone- out in the distance. I wish there was a place to hide and figure out what’s going on, I thought to myself.
The figure in the distance saw me and stared at me the entire time I walked toward them. His hand clutched the side of his leg like there was something secret there. As I got closer, I realized his skin was an unusual color: it was a pale white and green, but it seemed to change to a Caucasian color depending on the angle you looked at him. He was dressed strangely, too. The loincloth he was wearing was made of black scales that shimmered in the sun and he wore no shirt. He wore a strip of tanned leather across his chest like sash- it had animal fangs hanging from it. He had 6 toes on each foot.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped up to him and said, “who are you? Where are we?”
He looked at me strangely, with big yellowish gray eyes and let out a deep growl and incoherent sounds. There was a distinct reply from what sounded like 30 feet away. He stated in that direction for a few moments then looked back at me. Raising his hand, he touched my forehead and I heard a voice in my head.
“You’re not supposed to be here. Leave.”
The black tattoos on his right arm glowed brightly and all of a sudden I woke up back at my desk.
I shook it off, thinking it was just a dream.
But when I got home and I looked in the mirror, there was a symbol on my forehead that I could only see at certain angles.
Am I still dreaming?
“Hey Chels, look over here!” Sabrina called me over to where she was standing. There was a rack of clothes and next to it, a basket of purses and bags.
Holding one up to me, Sabrina stood back analyzing how it looked from every angle. “I think this would go with your costume perfectly,” she said.
“Hmm. Maybe. It’s missing something… I don’t know.” I looked through the rest of the bags and didn’t really find one that clicked. I started walking around to other parts of the store. I was still looking for something else- something that would tie together my costume. I couldn’t put my finger on it. I swear, this used to come a lot more easily to me.
I’m planning on going to this costume party thing. I’ve been trying to get myself out and about with other people my age and I love dressing up, so why not? Well I can think of several reasons but I’m not gonna go there right now. I’ll convince myself not to go at all.
Usually I’d go all out for a costume but I’ve been really tired lately and I’m having some trouble drumming up my normal level of excitement. I kinda feel like the Scrooge of Halloween this year. But I finally decided that I’m going to be an old zombie Taylor Swift for my costume. I can’t take the credit- I saw someone dress their parents up as old-timer Taylor Swifts or something which inspired the idea. Not sure what inspired the zombie bit though. I think I saw Taylor do a zombie thing before. Idk. I like a couple of her songs but I don’t follow her or anything… so I hear and see bits and pieces of her on Instagram and stuff.
“Aha! This is the kind of thing I was looking for!” In my hands was a shirt saying “1989.” It was perfect. Now all I had to decide was whether I was going to bejewel it or glitter-ify it or something. I mean, that would really give Taylor vibes, right? …Honestly the icing on the cake would be finding cat earrings. But back to the handbag. Now that I had the 1989 shirt I had a better idea of what kind of bag would go with it. Maybe I’ll bejewel it, too!
I walked around the store again. Thinking I struck out, I was about to call Sabrina to see where she had gotten off to. I decided to try the basket with all those bags in it one more time. Maybe the perfect bag slipped my notice since I didn’t have a complete idea of what I was looking for at the time.
“No. Not this one. No. No…maybe? Eh, no,” I muttered to myself as I kneeled to the floor, reaching all the way into the bag. I felt like Mary Poppins. Giving up I put all the bags back into the basket, picked up the shirt and the cat earrings I had indeed found, and I was staring at the bag that I knew was the right fit for my outfit. It was a black tote bag with a bejeweled cat on it. But it was also stylish and cute somehow. Like it was a tote bag that had been leveled up a few times. I immediately grabbed it and headed toward the cashiers.
Sabrina was there perusing the candy and stuff. She loves Swedish Fish.
“Look what I found!” I said.
“The cat? Spot-on! I can’t believe you found one like that!”
“Honestly, neither can I. The costume’s probably not going to win me any awards, but at least people should be able to guess who I am.”
“For sure,” she replied. “Okay, let’s check-out. You might be okay being late to everything -“ I frowned at her. “Chill, chill I know you’re not really- but time-wise we gotta get going so we can get to the party on time…ish.”
Rolling my eyes, I set my stuff on the conveyor belt. When I put the handbag down, I noticed a piece of paper sticking out. I grabbed it, intending to read it then and there.
“Paper or plastic, ma’am?” The cashier asked.
“Uhm, make it paper, please.” I stuck the note on my back pocket to read it later and fiddle around on my purse to get out my credit card. I paid them we left, bags in tow. We put the bags in Sabrina’s car then hopped in ourselves.
As Sabrina started the car and got on the highway, I opened the piece of paper.
Andreas, my love,
I hope this note finds you well. I’ve been doing well, but I’ve been missing you.
Everything’s crazy here as it always is.
I hope you’ll come back soon.
You are my forever. I love you.
Awh. So cute! Also- so short. I would never be able to send such a short note- even if it was to Sabrina, asking her to get me a Diet Coke! How do people in love keep their letters so short? Ah, whatever.
“Hey Sabrina- check this out. I found this note in the handbag earlier! We should totally see if we can find the owner of this bag and the person she wrote this letter to!”
“Bet. That would be really cool. Hey can you read it out loud to me?”
I read it.
Then all of a sudden we weren’t on the highway anymore. Suddenly we were in the middle of a forest. Sabrina’s car was gone and all we had was the handbag and the note I had just read. Too stunned to speak, we looked around.
“We’re not on drugs, right Chels?”
“Pretty sure, Sab. I mean, two people can’t see the same thing on drugs or in a hallucination anyway…”
“So where. Are. We,” asked Sabrina.
“I have no freaking clue,” I said.
He’s here. Again. Like clockwork. Every year. I don’t know what’s so special about today, nor why he comes here, nor why he just stares without saying anything. He just sits there. And somehow… it’s always, eerily, raining. Every. Year. Like clockwork. He comes with his umbrella and stares and somehow even if it was light and sunny 10 minutes prior, when he showed up it’s raining. I don’t get it.
I’m 24 now and still living with my parents. It’s a struggle. On one hand I enjoy hanging out with my parents, on the other hand… I’m 24 and I’m tired of the nagging, the controlling, and the misunderstandings. I want to live my own life. But, well, I guess I just haven’t figured out exactly what I want to do. I have so many ideas. It’s complicated. But it’s not the “I’m a nerd who plays video games in the basement” kinda trope- just a “haven’t found my way, being proactive about finding it but nothing coming to fruition yet and helping my parents out” kinda thing.
… hmm I think I just got an idea. So that whole proactive thing? Well it doesn’t necessarily come easy to me. But what if I talked to the dude in the rain? He’s creepy. For sure. But I also can’t stop thinking about why he’s here. So maybe it’s high time I figured it out instead of waiting around. It’s not like my parents notice him. EVER. I’ve asked. Maybe I’m starting to see things. Idk.
I looked out the window and saw him still standing there. Before I could talk myself out of it, I grabbed my hoodie and put it on. I grabbed my cell phone and my pocket knife, too. Cuz who knows what’ll happen, right? I reached for the door and as I opened it, the guy appeared on my front porch. Thinking about how that’s impossible and how it must just all be in my head, I opened the door all the way when he takes his bony hand in a fist and starts to open his hand as he raises his arm. One by one his fingers unclench from his palm and suddenly a blue butterfly appears out of nowhere. My gaze it drawn to it. Mesmerized, I can’t take my eyes off of it as it flutters it’s wings and comes toward me. It stopped in midair right in front of my face- then vanished. So did the guy.
But there was a note on the ground.
“Your future awaits. Don’t dawdle. Meet us at 234 Dracon Boulevard in 3 hours.”
At this point I was both intrigued and freakishly creeped out. Realizing I was still standing like a complete idiot with the door open, I closed it.
I read and reread the note again.
This is stupid. I mean, come on. Helloooo stranger danger. From a creep that has stood outside your house the same time every year. It felt like a prank. Or my mind conjuring things up because of my love of Harry Potter as a kid. Only this wasn’t a lovable Hagrid.
The picture of this guy’s long, pale face stayed in my head. None of this felt quite right but it didn’t feel quite wrong either.
“Hand it over, now!”
“I can’t. You know I can’t,” she said, gasping for air. She was hanging on for dear life. There was no one there who could- or would- help her. The only way she could keep it safe from them is to let go of the rusty metal scaffolding while keeping her grip tight on the box.
Alice knelt down slowly, bracing herself with her fingers. She looked down at Nicole who’s fingers were sliding more and more… “I never wanted this, Nicole. Give me the box and I’ll pull you up. It doesn’t have to be like this. I don’t want you to leave.”
Tears coming down her face now, Nicole said in a firm, but strained voice, “You know that’s not possible. If I give up this box, everything changes.” Seconds after those tear-marked words, her hand fell away from the scaffolding, down into the chasm. Nicole closed her eyes, not knowing what would come next.
“Sarah!” I yelled from across the nearly deserted area. “You’ve got to find the stone!”
Dang it, I thought to myself. I don’t think she heard me. Of all the times to not hear me, she didn’t hear me now?
There’s debris flying this way and that way as the battle continues to rage. Only Sarah, myself, and the dudes in what looked like cloaks are in the area. The cloaked dudes are simultaneously fighting our magic and looking for the same thing we are: the Stone of Eldren.
We’re outnumbered. Every moment we waste increases the chances of them finding the stone first and that can. not. happen.
The guys we’re fighting have to belong to the sect of valkyries that have been sabotaging us for months. Of course, the guys are the underlings- the real force to be reckoned with are the enchanting, haunting, death-soaked valkyries themselves. I hope we don’t meet them any time soon. These guys are bad enough.
Their magic is powerful. Sarah and I make a pretty good team and our magic isn’t too shabby - if I do say so myself- but their magic is known as something called “Chaos.” It’s dark magic and it’s highly unpredictable.
Even now, their magic is taking on life of its own, entertaining with each other’s like fast-growing vines in the forest- fusing together to develop spells that have never been seen before.
After a few moment’s reprieve from the magic thrown by both sides- for spells can only last for so long- Sarah came running over to me.
“Abby, we’ve got to find a way around them. I think I was able to get a glimpse of the stone, but one of us will have to get around that guy- you see, the one all the way on the left?”
Once, this was a house where everyone came together. It was lively, entertaining, bold. The house itself, while being just a building, seemed to exude the same level of excellence and compassion as its inhabitants and their guests.
Now, however, it seems to be doing the same thing but for a very different reason; no one comes and goes anymore. There are no more parties, no statesmen arriving with messages from the King. Nothing that would ever suggest such a life was ever lived here.
I don’t know what happened during my departure but even the trees seem sullen and decrepit. Though they still do stand. There is an eerieness, a presence, that was not here before.
My house seems as rundown as I do re-emerging from my well-worn travels. I lost so much and now I reclaim a place that mirrors my own dismal state.
I wonder what awaits.
It came. We knew it was coming. We had prepared for this.
We gathered everything we needed: food, water, guns…toilet paper. Lots of toilet paper.
The last battle has begun. Over the last few years, we had been bombarded with attacks from otherworldly creatures, but we all knew those were just leading up to something bigger. This is that bigger moment.
The creature that is coming has the power to decimate not just our forces, but our world.
He’s not as big as you would expect but he is immensely powerful. His jaw opens, emitting a reddish purplish glow that sends out an EMP pulse. We have to fight using basic technology because of it. We don’t know much about him aside from that; there aren’t many accounts of creatures escaping him and even less about what his other powers are.
We have one picture of this happening. A brave photographer captured it while it was attacking his home world. He got away, but barely. But not unscathed. While opening a portal to get away, something sharp stabbed his leg, which tore open his leg from his thigh to his foot. He passed out from the pain, and shock and blood. He’s still unconscious in our healer’s wing. The only reason we know anything about what happened is that a teenager from our world happened to see the portal being opened here. The poor kid stood there, shocked at the sight of this man falling through the the greenish blue and yellow light- the portal also cutting off the tip of whatever pierced the man’s leg as it closed. The kid called for help and we managed to - just barely- keep the man alive. He’s still touch and go despite being in a coma. For right now, we looked through the pictures he had and only one cam out clearly: the last one he took of the monster that we recognized as the creature that wanted to destroy our entire world.
