Sometimes, as Aric Blackveil had discovered time and time again, the largest events in one's life happened silently. The death of a close family member, the sundering of relationships that were once thought to be eternal. The destruction of his home? Not so much.

Fire rained from the sky, tearing through the heavens with a cacophony of metal and fabric ripping, punctuated by booms that seemed to shake the very atoms in the air. The world shattered, its pieces scattering beyond the curtain of his realm's border—a cosmic tapestry that Aric would scarcely understand for a long time to come.

In that moment though? In that moment, survival was all that mattered.

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Aric's eyes snapped open in the pitch-dark interior of his small shelter. An indescribable sound filled the air, like metal creaking and cloth tearing. Each definitive snapping of the tear was punctuated by sub-sonic booms that caused the world to shudder. "What the actual hell?" he said, his voice tinged with both confusion and fear as he scrambled to his feet.

The air inside the shelter was musty, mingling with the smoke that still clung to Aric's clothing from the campfire the night before. His eyes adjusted to the darkness, making out the simple furnishings - a pile of furs for a bed, a rough-hewn chest containing his meager possessions, the rack on the wall where his sword and rifle lay. The familiar sights anchored him even as his heart hammered.

With practiced fingers, Aric quickly belted on his sword belt, the worn leather soft and supple from long use. The sword's hilt molded to his grip, channeling memories of his father teaching him to fight as a boy. He had spent countless hours practicing his footwork and technique until the forms were second nature. Though he tried not to dwell on it, this heirloom was one of the few things connecting him to his past.

Beside the sword lay his rifle, an advanced piece of weaponry that felt absurdly out of place next to the blade. Every bullet in its magazine was a commitment to violence that he didn't make lightly; each round was a treasure in a world where supplies were dwindling. Throwing the rifle's sling over his shoulder, he made sure to double check that his belt pouch and scabbard were utterly secure.

Fully armed, he cautiously ventured out of his makeshift shelter, every sense on high alert. As his eyes attempted to adjust to the darkness of the canyon, another terrible tearing sound reverberated through the canyon, so intense he felt his bones vibrate within his flesh. He gazed upwards, his eyes widening as he saw the sky crack open.

Gone were the stars that had so often guided him through the wilds, replaced by malevolent arcs of plasma and fire, streaking through the sky like lightning in incomprehensible patterns. world around him was now a canvas of fluctuating dark and light, lit only by the streaks from above and flickering iridescent bursts of light that seemed to shift in and out of existence erratically.

Movement caught his eye. Heart hammering, he swung his rifle towards the shadows. To Aric's horror, an unexpected flash illuminated the scene, revealing creatures so grotesque they defied categorization. A mishmash of tentacles, scales, and a chaotic scattering of eyes that seemed to float on their misshapen faces. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," he muttered, his voice barely a whisper.

One creature broke formation, its myriad eyes locked onto him as it slithered closer.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, he steadied his aim. He could not afford to miss, not with the limited number of rounds left in this magazine. Squeezing the trigger three times in rapid succession, the rifle erupted, the sharp report of the triple-tap shattering the tension of the night. The creature went down, a lifeless heap in the flickering light.

However, where one fell, two more emerged, advancing steadily towards him, their many eyes focused in unsettling unity. Rifle still trained on the abominations; he squeezed the trigger once more. In lieu of the resounding report he had expected, a hollow "click" greeted him.

"Damn, this just isn't my night," he grumbled. Hastily, he released the empty magazine from his rifle and roughly shoved it back into his belt pouch. Letting his rifle fall on its sling, he shifted it to rest behind him. The shifting weight would burden him, but abandonment was not an option. With an audacious flourish, and a familiar ringing sound, he unsheathed his sword, its blade catching errant beams of the otherworldly light.

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He met one of the creatures as they lunged for him, tentacles flailing, and eyes a hypnotic dance of malevolence. By a stroke of luck, the second creature flew past them both. With a series of quick parrying slashes, Aric severed several of the creature's tentacles as it lashed out at him. Its whip-like motions whistling through the air with a disturbing speed. Its companion creature seized the opportunity, launching itself towards Aric. However, it miscalculated and soared past him, missing both him and the creature he was already grappling with.

Undeterred by the second creature's attempt, Aric lunged for the injured beast, grunting with exertion as his blade briefly struggled to pierce the monstrosities' skin. Fortunately his greater mass seemed to win out in the end, as his blade finally slipped through one of the thing's many shifting eyes and out the other side. With a guttural scream, the creature went slack, along his blade. Grunting, Aric kicked the creature as he pulled his sword out of the limp body.

Before Aric could locate the second abomination, he heard the sound of rocks as they skittered across the ground behind him. Whirling around, he found himself eye to eyeballs with the missing creature, already airborne as it lunged at him. It slammed into him with an improbable speed, the force of the lunge dragging Aric to the ground. Tentacles lashed around his arms pinning him down, while an overpowering stench permeated the air.

He hadn't previously considered where the things' mouths were, but as the eyes shifted to either side of the thing's face, he got the answer. The slimy, scaled, skin split, revealing a nightmarish mouth teeming with needle-like fangs. Putrid strands of saliva slipped from the mouth as it tried to inhale his scent, leaving Aric covered in the disgusting goop.

As the mouth closed the distance with Aric, he gave a desperate heave, shifting his weight back to focus it on his prone shoulders. For a moment, the creature's grip loosened. Seizing the opportunity, he slammed a powerful punch into the creature's side sending it careening off of him.

Rolling to his feet, Aric brought his sword to bear on the still-reeling monster. With two swift slashes, the creature let out a high-pitched scream and fell to the ground, suddenly off balance due to the missing tentacles. Not willing to take any chances with this thing getting back up, Aric roughly slammed his blade into the center of the creature's head in a powerful downward chop. With a sickening slosh, the body gave way and split in half. Within the pooling blood, Aric could swear he saw the halves begin withering and turning to ash.

Panting, Aric took a moment to collect himself and assess his surroundings. He specifically made sure to check that his rifle was still secured on his back after that tumble. It would definitely need maintenance, and soon, given its recent exposure to an ungodly amount of foreign substances. But his brief reprieve was cut short when another blinding flash revealed an even greater nightmare—a legion of grotesque beings, all shapes and sizes, all advancing in a coordinated, horrifying tide. Among them, he noticed some had wings. "Oh, perfect. Flying nightmares," he muttered under his breath, feeling the weight of the impending onslaught.

"Shit, they're pouring in from the mouth of the canyon," Aric muttered, spinning on his heel and sprinting away. He could hear them behind him, a cacophony of skittering legs, flapping wings, and unintelligible screeching that seemed to grow louder with every passing second.

Adrenaline surged through him as the world blurred by, every muscle, every fiber of his being focused solely on outrunning the oncoming tidal wave and escaping. His eyes scanned the rapidly passing landscape until his eyes latched onto a crack in the canyon wall. "There!" he thought, desperation giving his feet an extra burst of speed.

Reaching the crevice, he hurled himself inside, landing with a jarring thud against the rock. A split second later, the mass of creatures surged past, so close he could feel the gust of wind they left in their wake, along with the lingering stench of their slimy bodies. Fortunately, it seemed, the force of the mass pushed the leading abominations onward before they could reorient and try to close in on his hiding place.

Heart pounding, Aric took a few moments to catch his breath and consider his situation. "Is this a nightmare?" he wondered aloud, half-expecting no answer, half-hoping for some kind of divine intervention. "Am I dreaming? What the fuck just happened?"

To add to the absurdity of the night, the air between him and the opening in the wall began to shimmer. Then with a blast of concussive force and a sound similar to the the roaring booms that were rumbling through the canyon earlier, the very air ripped apart. In its place, a shifting tear hovered, an ethereal light emanating from it to light his surroundings.

Before he could even scream, a force yanked him off his feet and pulled him into the void.