Blinding light.
Penelope slapped herself in the throat with the plastic soda bottle in her right hand. She doubled over as she fell to her knees, choking while the bottle spun away into the crowd. The bag of peanuts fell out of her hand as she covered her very much intact neck.
What…?
Her mind couldn’t formulate the rest of the question. There were too many things that she wanted to know and too many questions about what had just happened.
“UGH!”
She felt a heavy weight slide over her back.
The three hundred-and-something-pound man who had yelled at her earlier had just backed over her and fallen into the scrawny man on the other side of her.
“HEY!” The scrawny man got knocked over too but was the first one on his feet. “What are you doing!?” He angrily brushed the dust from his oil-stained coveralls.
“SHE TRIPPED ME!!!” The mountain of a man rolled over so he could push himself up. “SHE TRIED TO KILL ME!”
Penelope stood up and started to back away. The noise of the crowd grew louder as people turned to watch this drama unfold instead of the other pockets of fighting that they couldn’t see.
“I didn’t mean to…” She looked around for anyone who might be sympathetic, but everyone seemed more eager to watch the situation unfold rather than cross the huge man. She did the only safe thing her overwhelmed mind screamed.
Penelope bolted.
“Somebody grab her!” The big man sliced his hand through the air at the fleeing woman.
Penelope twisted her way through the crowd as she ran for all she was worth, bouncing off of people in her way more often than she was able to force her way through them. She looked over her shoulder every few seconds, but soon there was nothing but a crowd.
Then she passed the last person in the group.
She’d been so focused on getting away that she hadn’t looked where she was running. This time, she was on the opposite end from where she’d watched everything happen earlier.
Except there was no big blue Elf floating above the rubble.
From the front of the crowd, Penelope could see why the building on the northern side was smoking. An ominous black door was in the middle of the building. Everything that had been part of the building had gotten thrown to the side, with some of the debris still on fire. It was like the door had risen out of the ground and split the building in half. Above the door was a blue banner, the same color as the Elf’s skin had been. On the banner were numbers.
4:00:00:00
There were a few courageous people who had walked towards the door. A blonde woman in a tennis skirt with a racket in her hand. A red-bearded man in hip waders in his mid-forties. His hands were empty, but the callouses told the story of how much he worked with his hands. Last was a teenage gamer who had headphones on over his neck and a Superman t-shirt.
Penelope backed away from the curious people. There was no way that she was going to walk into a set of double doors with a countdown over it without some type of explanation. Plus, there was a killer out there somewhere. She smirked as she hurried towards the side street.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Every time? Try to find me this time, weirdo!
The thin woman had read enough books and seen enough shows to know that she’d gone back in time to before she’d been killed. The problem was that she didn’t know who else had come back too. Until she knew more about what triggered the reset and what the time limit on it was, she wanted to get as far away from the crowd as possible.
“GREETING HUMANS!”
Penelope jumped as the upper half of the same blue Elf appeared above her. She ran to the end of the square and put her back against the cool concrete. Once she was clear of the crowd and the ruined building, that same minty hint in the air filled her nostrils.
She’d been too preoccupied last time, but the crowd had stopped talking, then she heard someone yell something, then another. She couldn’t make out the questions, but she could tell by the tone that they weren’t pleasant.The group of three backed away from the portal and looked up at the image of the Elf.
“You may be wondering why you are here.”
The Elf looked sad as he scanned the crowd.
“Allow me to tell you a story. In the future, the Universe is attacked by Demons. Brave beings from all races fought bravely, but we were no match for their power or numbers. Before we could be defeated, all of our remaining mages gave their magic to me so that I could go back in time and find out how to stop this scourge.”
There were rumbles in the crowd and a few loud curses.The blue Elf continued, oblivious to anything that they were saying.
“After decades of combing the timeline, I finally found the first place that they broke into our world. I attempted to close it off, but they still broke through. I alone wasn’t enough to hold back the army that is about to invade this world and then the rest of the universe, so I used the last of my power to summon you. Humans are known to be the most adaptable and the most resourceful of all the races in the universe. My hope is that you will be able to succeed where I could not.”
Penelope’s eyes widened. Her mind was trying to absorb everything.
Even with the ability to reset, it’s not like we have any weapons.
“I know that humans cannot use magic yet, so I found a loophole. Each of you has been implanted with a Mantle, which will allow you to use magic as well as increase your physical abilities. Whenever you kill a Demon, your Mantle will absorb their essence, allowing it to grow more powerful. In time, I hope powerful enough.”
People cheered, others screamed, and some cried. A small person in a red hoodie ran down the alley beside Penelope while the entire crowd was buzzing with noise.
“It’s not just you that this power has been gifted to. Under this dome are Elves, Mebope, Sively, Goblins, Centaurs, and Unktehila. These allies may seem strange to you, but if you all work together, I believe you will be able to stop this evil from destroying our world.”
Images flashed in front of the projection. Another Elf, this one with golden skin and brown hair with white pupils that made him look blind. He wore a black suit, giving him an air of authority. Next was a silver-skinned, pointy-eared woman with black hair and blue eyes in a scaley dress on a dock. She dove into the water, and her legs transformed into a dolphin tail. A hairless orange man with black, leathery wings flew above her. He was dressed in coveralls and carrying a wooden crate in his arms as he flew.
A yellow Goblin with short, black hair and beady yellow eyes wearing a black suit replaced the image. The short man stood in front of an extravagant building, the words CASINO stamped on the arch above him.
Centaurs in overalls worked in a cornfield in the next image, with the last one cutting to an underground mine filled with lizardmen, tearing into the ground with shovels and pickaxes.
The Elf took a deep breath as the images vanished.
“Those are the races that you share this city with, though I caution you to wait before venturing into the city.”
The Elf scanned the crowd, ignoring their loud questions. He pointed below him at the numbers.
“Over the gateway is a clock. Every time you clear a floor, the timer will gain time. If you fail to clear the floor in time, the Demons will break free.”
The Elf swallowed.
“The dome around you will stop the Demons from getting into the rest of the universe. It will hold for five years, which is all the time you have until the Archdemon breaks free. Know that I am truly sorry, but your world will be destroyed eventually if you fail. May the light keep you.”
The crowd erupted in chaos when the Elf vanished.