The first thing I felt was pain.
Not the sharp kind that screamed. No, this was the kind that whispered. The kind that dug into your bones and stayed there like it was part of you.
My back burned. My arms throbbed. My head pounded like someone was hammering a stake between my eyes. I was lying on the floor—wooden planks, cracked and warped beneath me. The smell of soot, rot, and burnt ozone filled the air.
I wasn't dead.
And that made no sense.
How long was I out?
I turned my head slowly, eyes struggling to focus.
The upstairs wall had more rot than before.
The window was shut, the dark skies outside still shifting violently.
The Mind Flayer—the cloud—was gone. But the blood crusted to my nose told me it hadn't been a dream.
Somehow, I was still here.
But... not untouched.
My limbs were slow to respond. My breathing was shallow. A tremor ran through my fingers when I tried to make a fist. I rolled onto my side with a groan, my body practically hollow. Not just from physical exhaustion...but mental.
That was the strangest part.
Everything I had seen—that black space, the visions, the man—the Architect. It all felt like an eternity. And yet, the window, the dust, the furniture...nothing had changed. The wind outside hadn't shifted. The air still carried the same weight.
Minutes, maybe. That was all that had passed.
And I knew how that was possible. The Upside Down wasn't normal. Time itself was broken here. But still…
It was jarring. Like climbing a mountain only to blink and find yourself back at the base.
I sat up slowly, dragging my back against the wall. My chest ached. There were dark bags under my eyes—I could feel them, the sagging weight in my face. My hands were pale. Amber eyes dulled.
The high was gone.
The storm within me—the fury that had lit the skies and leveled a hive—was a dying ember.
"Great," I muttered. My voice rasped against my throat.
Even that was an effort.
But I couldn't rest. I knew that much.
Whatever had happened—whatever that man was, wherever I had just been—it wasn't over.
I had questions now. More than before.
I pushed myself to my feet. My knees buckled slightly before locking in place. I stepped away from the wall, one hand on the windowsill. My reflection looked back at me. Hollow. Bloodied. But... there.
Still standing.
I'm still me.
I turned toward the hallway, ready to gather my things. I needed to rest, sure. But I could recover here. Patch up. Wait a few hours. Just enough to—
CRACK
I froze.
That wasn't thunder.
It was more like the wood of a chair leg snapping under pressure.
A snap that was close. It came from downstairs.
I waited. Strained to hear.
CREAAAK!
My heart skipped. That wasn't the wind. That was wood. Floorboards. Something shifting weight onto the living room floor.
No...no, not now. Not again.
Every muscle in my body tensed. I backed up slightly, my feet nearly silent against the warped floor.
I moved through the hallway, hugging the wall. The corner loomed ahead, leading to the staircase. I placed one hand on the railing and peered downward.
The living room was barely lit.
But I saw it.
The back door.
Wide open.
Cold air seeped in like fog, trailing across the floor.
And then I saw it.
A hulking, pale figure. Hunched low. Its limbs long and crooked. Its back was to me. Its head buried in a pile of collapsed furniture, digging through ash and debris like a scavenger.
No.
Like a predator.
My chest tightened. I'd seen this creature before. Not like the demodogs. Bigger. Taller. Sharper.
It wasn't just a monster.
It was the monster.
Like the one that first hunted me, maybe the same one.
The Maw.
It paused.
I didn't move. Didn't breathe.
And then, its maw twitched slightly open as it made a sound similar to a sniff.
Its body went rigid. The spines along its back shifted.
And slowly… it turned.
One twitching claw. The petal-mouth opening slowly as it saw me.
We locked eyes.
And then it charged.
I barely had time to raise my arm.
"Grahhh!!"
A blast of force erupted from me instinctively. The Maw flew backward, crashing into the far wall with a heavy THUD that rattled the windows.
I didn't wait.
I turned and bolted back down the hallway.
My legs screamed. My ribs protested. But I ran.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The Maw recovered fast, too fast, chasing, no, leaping at me with its maw wide. Its feet pounded the floor behind me like a thunderstorm made of claws.
I hit the stairs and launched upward, using a quick pulse of telekinesis to lighten my weight.
But it was still gaining, practically clearing the staircase in a single leap and raising its massive arm, claws outstretched upon coming within arms length of me.
I spun mid-air, facing it, crossing my arms just in time.
CRASH
The blow hit like a wrecking ball. I went flying.
SLAM.
A door behind me burst open and I crashed into the room, tumbling hard against the floor. The door slammed shut behind me, trapping me inside.
Pain exploded through both my forearms. The makeshift padding was torn. Blood was soaking through already.
'Shit…I was able to just about launch myself back but it still grazed me.'
It was a wound. Nothing big, but in this place, even something like this was a bother to deal with.
I groaned, rolling to one side. My whole body shook. The color in my eyes—amber, once glowing—was beginning to fade.
I looked toward the door.
BANG.
The Maw slammed into it.
BANG. BANG.
I placed one trembling hand forward, holding the door shut with my mind. My nose bled again. A stream now.
I scanned the room quickly.
Boarded windows.
Splintered walls.
An idea.
"Okay," I whispered. "Let's see if this works."
I pulled back.
Let go of the door.
SLAM.
The Maw stumbled inside.
Before it could find its footing—
I threw my arm forward.
The creature was launched sideways through the window.
CRASH.
Glass exploded. Wood cracked. A screech echoed down the street.
I dropped to my knees.
Panting. Shaking. Vision blurred.
I could barely feel my arms.
But I was alive.
For now.
I wiped the blood from my upper lip, smearing red across the back of my hand. My head swam.
'I can't stay here.'
The Maw had found me.
And if it had...
So had the hive.
More would come.
I forced myself to my feet. Wobbled down the stairs. Grabbed the brown bag from beneath the bookshelf. My compass. My needles. My notes. Everything.
I was at the back door. Holding it shut.
The Maw had returned.
It was pounding on the outside.
BOOM. BOOM.
I scrambled, eyes darting across the room. Supplies scattered. Furniture overturned. Everything disorganized.
I couldn't find half of it.
My hands trembled.
I stopped.
Paused.
Breathed.
Everything else fell silent except the crashcrashcrash behind me.
I whispered. "No... I can't keep doing this."
I turned.
Faced the door.
My voice was stronger now.
"Things are different now. I'm not weak. I am more."
I let the words sit. Let the truth take shape.
I wasn't the same boy that had been thrown into this place.
Sure, I was beaten down. My body was on the edge of collapse. My mind, stretched thin.
But I wasn't powerless.
Not anymore.
"Besides," I said quietly, amber eyes narrowing, "I can't escape the notified hive if this speedy bastard is chasing me across town."
My fists clenched.
"I need to deal with him. Right now. Right here."
With this, I raised my arms, ignoring the blood dripping from my knows and the pain in my body as the door finally cracked.