Isaac’s Apartment

  Isaac and Kate stepped out of the elevator, smiling, wrapped in each other’s arms. Isaac unlocked his door and gently pulled her inside.

  The moment the door clicked shut, the neighbor’s door opened. Amanda stepped out, still wearing her bartender uniform. She stared at Isaac’s closed door for a long second. Silent tears slipped down her cheeks. She turned, walked to the elevator, and disappeared without a sound.

  Inside, the mood was completely different.

  “Want a drink?” Isaac asked.

  “I’d love one,” Kate smiled.

  Isaac went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of wine. Kate sat on the sofa, watching Mia curl up on her cushion.

  “Mia… she’s so big and beautiful,” Kate cooed.

  “She is… and lazy too,” Isaac laughed, handing her a glass.

  They sat close together, sipping their drinks. The tension from the restaurant melted away, replaced by a warm, magnetic pull.

  “So… how are you feeling?” Isaac asked softly.

  Kate didn’t answer with words. She pushed him back onto the sofa cushions and kissed him intensely. Her fingers started unbuttoning her shirt.

  “Wait, Kate… Are you sure about this?”

  They locked eyes. Isaac looked vulnerable.

  “I don’t want to disappoint you… I’m not the be—”

  Kate placed a finger on his lips, silencing him.

  “I trust you… and I know you would never do anything to hurt me, Isaac.”

  They smiled at each other. Then they fell back into the cushions, making love as the city lights flickered outside the window.

  ( Some Time Later )

  Isaac lay in his bed, half-asleep. A soft laugh woke him.

  He sat up, groggy. Kate wasn’t beside him.

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  The laughter echoed again — cold, mocking, coming from the living room. He got up to check.

  “Kate? Are you there?”

  A woman stood by the window, long loose hair falling down her back, pale skin glowing in the moonlight. She was completely naked.

  “Kate, is that you?”

  “How did you do it?” the woman asked. Her voice sounded like grinding glass.

  She slowly turned around.

  Isaac stumbled back in terror. Her face was deformed — a glitching, twisting mess of flesh and static.

  “Who are you…? What are you?” he gasped.

  The front door burst open. Dr. Connors walked in, face completely emotionless.

  “You aren’t the one who asks questions here, little boy… Who are you? How did you escape the illusion?”

  “Dr. Connors… Illusion?”

  Behind the doctor, the two policemen from the beach appeared.

  “Hmm… wait, now I know who you are,” one of them sneered. “Doesn’t matter. I’m going to kill you right here and now.”

  The policemen, Dr. Connors, and the pale woman began to merge. Their bodies twisted and snapped, melting into black sludge that reformed into something monstrous.

  A Giant Spider.

  Isaac recognized it instantly from his vision. He scrambled backward, but the creature was too fast.

  “No point running, Fallen King… enough illusions… I’m going to devour every part of you,” the Spider laughed, its voice echoing inside his mind.

  The beast lunged, sinking its massive fangs into Isaac’s abdomen.

  “AAAAAAAAHHH!”

  Isaac screamed. But this time it wasn’t just fear. It was pure, burning rage.

  “LET ME GOOO!”

  His eyes flared with blinding crimson light. Two concentrated beams of energy erupted from them.

  BOOM.

  The lasers sliced through one of the Spider’s fangs, shattering it. The monster screeched in pain and retreated. Isaac didn’t stop. He unleashed the energy in all directions, destroying the apartment, the walls, reality itself.

  He struck the invisible figures hiding in the shadows — the Hierophants.

  The illusion shattered like glass.

  Isaac gasped, sucking in air that smelled of sulfur and rot.

  He wasn’t in an apartment anymore. He was inside a dark, cavernous structure. He looked at his hands — filthy. His hair was long and matted. A thick beard covered his face.

  Around him lay the dead bodies of strange, robed alien creatures — the Hierophants — and the broken remains of a bio-organic pod.

  He stumbled forward, weak and confused, and stepped out of the chamber. He found himself on the edge of a massive structure.

  The sky was a deep, unnatural purple. Above him floated the shattered remains of destroyed planets in the void.

  “Where am I?”

  ROAR.

  A giant monster spotted him from a walkway above and roared, alerting the entire castle.

  Isaac ran. He ran faster than any human should, bare feet slapping against cold alien metal. He reached a dead end — a ledge overlooking an infinite black abyss.

  He looked back. A horde of monsters was charging toward him. Behind them, crawling along the walls, was the Giant Spider, missing a fang, furious.

  Isaac looked at the monsters. He looked at the abyss.

  He closed his eyes.

  He jumped.

  The Spider stopped at the edge, watching in surprise as its prey plummeted into the darkness.

  Mundus – The Farm Location: Unknown

  A large man with bull horns and a tail — a Minotaur — was tending to his vegetable garden. He wiped sweat from his brow and smiled as a woman with cat ears and a tail approached, carrying a steaming bowl of food.

  “Lunch is ready, dear.”

  They hugged, looking out over their peaceful land.

  Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind knocked the bowl from the woman’s hands. She fell to her knees. The Minotaur helped her up, both of them staring at the sky in terror.

  A blue comet was streaking across the sky.

  CRASH.

  It slammed into the high cliff nearby. The ground shook violently.

  High up on the cliff, in the center of a smoking crater, lay a man.

  Unconscious. Injured.