Joe and Carli were driving in his Toyota along Second Street. Joe was just crossing the intersection of Second and Gilspring when Carli saw the BP gas station on the side of the road.

"Let's pull over." She asked. "I need to use the bathroom. You don't mind do you?"

Joe shook his head. "I want to refuel anyway."

"Maybe grab some snacks too?" Carli suggested.

Joe nodded in agreement.

Joe pulled the car over and stopped in front of pump 12. Carli entered the station. The clerk was on the phone while helping a short line of customers. Carli approached the register from the side.

"Bathroom?" She asked.

The clerk pointed in response while continuing to multitask.

"Thank you." She appreciated, before walking to the back corner.

Carli entered the woman's bathroom and looked down at the toilet. Upon gasping, she pulled out her cell phone and punched in a number.

Outside of the station, Joe entered his card and it declined. He continued and tried again without any luck. He then reached inside of his pocket for his cellphone just as it began to vibrate with a new call.

"I was just about to call you." Joe answered, holding the phone to is ear. "My card isn't working for some reason, could you ask for 20 on 12 while you're in there?"

"You need to come in and check this out." Carli said. "Now."

"Why, what is it?" Joe asked.

"There's something in the women's bathroom." Carli explained. "Just hurry up, I'll let you in."

Joe proceeded into the gas station, turning to the clerk on the phone.

"Bathroom?" He asked.

The clerk pointed to the back corner. Joe proceeded, then gave the woman's bathroom a good knock. Carli let him in.

"If you want me to come in and do dabs with you again, I'm not..."Joe paused, immediately shutting the door. "What the hell is that?"

In the corner of the bathroom just behind the toilet, a whirlpool was forming, its waters swirling as if to mimick the object right next to it. The only difference being the distinct, bright red glow emanating from it.

"That's what I was going to ask you." Carli finished.

"How am I going to know?"

"Supreme intuition?" Carli guessed.

"No." Joe shook his head.

"I dare you to touch it." Carli beckoned.

"Excuse me?" Joe arched a brow.

"Go on." Carli pointed.

"You want to touch the swirling vortex?"

Carli nodded.

"I don't need my intuition to know that's a dumb idea."

"Don't you want to know what'll happen?"

"Yeah, it could burn my finger off."

"Or it could give you superpowers."

"Or infect me with an unknown disease."

"Or make you see a vision."

"Or permanently blind me."

"Or make you lose 20 pounds."

"Are you calling me fat?"

"I didn't say that." Carli deflected. "You said that."

Joe squinted at her in response.

"Don't get so insecure, love." Carli said, lightly prodding Joe's arm. "It's a shock that no one at this gas station has flirted with you yet."

"Does this not count as flirting?" Joe teased.

"You know what I mean." Carli said, slugging his arm.

The swirling red vortex appeared to wane in size.

"Look." Carli said, pointing to the portal. "It looks like its getting smaller. Do something before it goes away."

"You know if you're so curious, why don't you do it?"

Carli stepped torwards it.

"No, no, no." Joe said, pulling her back immediately, "I wasn't serious. Ugh. If you're going to actually try and do it, just let me instead." Carli smiled.

Joe approached the swirling vortex, staring down at it hesitantly before inevitably taking in a deep sigh and bending over. With a single finger he touched it.

Joe vanished in the blink of an eye, seemingly sucked into the swirling energy of the vortex. He was suddenly surrounded by dazzling streaks of red light so bright they forced his eyes closed. When he opened them again he was in a completely different world. He appeared to be in some kind of vast desert, stretching on as far as he could see. Everything around him was as red as the vortex that came before. Red rocky plains of dirt, stretching on for what seemed like miles. Red lightning streaking across the sky. It was like being inside of a volcano. The air carried a particular stench about it. Purple clouds polluted the sky, accentuating the red lightning flashing on indefinitely behind it. And in the distance along the horizon, at the center of it all was a long vertical line of even more crimson red light connecting all of the way to the heavens.

Joe blinked, likely in disbelief of everything he had just witnessed. His ear twitched as a noise went off. Joe turned instinctively towards it. In the distance he could see figures, several of them running in his direction. And then suddenly, he winced sharply in pain as if stung by something. He quickly pulled up the sleeve of his jacket and looked down to see a red glowing shape singeing his flesh. A closer look revealed the image of a circle with a diamond surrounded by another diamond. Joe pulled his sleeve down again and focused ahead at the incoming crowd. As they got closer to his position their appearences became more apparent. Tall, murky brown creatures with thin and wiry limbs, glowing red eyes and rotting flesh.

Joe's eyes widened upon seeing their true forms as he turned, breaking into a dead sprint. His eyes darted in every direction, as if to search for anything at all along the horizon that could help. His gaze fixated on a rock formation in the distance, a large plateau with bright, pale, moon-like light emitting from the top of it. Joe ran towards it. With the creatures hot on his tail he made it to the valley of the plateau but not before taking a wrong step onto some loose gravel and tumbling to the ground. The wet growling of the mud-colored creatures was not far behind him. Joe turned around and saw them gaining even more ground and winced once more as the diamond-shaped brand on his arm began to glow red again.

"Joe!" A voice called out in front of him. He turned his head back forwards to see a human hand extended towards him. He reached forward and took it. When he got to his feet he got a better glance at who it was.

"Carli?" He said with a puzzled expression.

"Of course it's me!" She exclaimed. "Who else would it be?"

"I don't know," Joe began. "Maybe you were one of those ugly things that's chasing me right now. How did you get here?"

"Run now." Carli said. "Talk later."

"Good plan." Joe agreed.

The two bolted off towards the valley of the plateau.

"What should we do?" Carli said as they ran.

"Let's just try and get to the top of this mountain." Joe urged. "I've got a feeling it might be something important."

"Alright then." Carli responded. "Let's get there soon and-"

Before Carli could finish her sentence Joe fell to the ground once again. Carli turned around; One of the mud-colored fiends had its hand firmly wrapped around Joe's leg. Joe kicked at it with his other foot.

"Get the hell off of my friend!" Carli screamed, kicking and grabbing at the creature. A moment later the other fiends caught up to them, forcibly grabbing Carli and dragging her away from Joe. Joe wrestled against the mud creature, dirt caking onto his clothes as he did so in any attempt to distance himself from it. The mud creature bared its teeth, attempting to close in on Joe's neck.

"I said..." Carli began. "Get off of him!"

Suddenly, a bright flash of light emitted in the area, causing the mud creatures to recoil in an instant. Some of them screamed in pain as it washed over them. Joe looked over to the source of the light after the mud creature took a step back. The light waned to reveal Carli again.

"How the heck did you-" Joe began.

"No time!" Carli said, grabbing his hand again. "We've got to go."

Carli helped Joe get to his feet. The pair took advantage of their headstart, clearing some distance between them and the dazed mud fiends. Moments later they were about halfway up the plateau, the top of its white evalescent light shining brightly towards the sky. The fiends recovered from Carli's light attack quickly and were making their way towards the plateau.

"Come on." Carli beckoned. "Just a little bit further."

There it was. A few more steps and they would be upon it. Joe crossed the threshold first. The closest creature pounced as Carli made her way towards the white grounds at the top of the plateau. Joe pulled her across as she did. The mud fiend leaped into the air; Carli cried out in fear as it did, but the moment the creature landed on the white threshold, it dissapated in an instant, exploding into particles of golden dust. A sizzling sound occurred as the other mud creatures suddenly got close to the border of the white rocks. As smoke began to rise from the creatures, they took several steps back from the border between the plateau and the path leading back down.

Carli stood behind the border line and looked over at Joe.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm good." Joe said.

"What happened to them?" Carli asked, gesturing towards the mud creatures.

"I don't know." Joe said. "I guess this must be a safe area. Come on, let's get away from the edge."

Joe and Carli traveled further towards the center of the plateau, instantly collasping in fatigue onto a set of rocks near the center, where they took several moments to catch their breaths.

"When did you get here?" Joe asked, breathing heavily as he sat down.

"I touched whatever that swirling red vortex was right after you did. You had completely disappeared and so I wanted to follow you in." Carli explained.

"I see." Joe affirmed. "Do you know what the heck that flash was from earlier? You know, the one you used to get whatever those mud things were off of me?"

"That I don't know." Carli admitted. "But while it was happening I felt something burning on my arm."

Carli rolled up the sleeve of her jacket and showed Joe. His eyes lit upon seeing the red sigil branded onto her arm. A circle with a line running through it, connecting to an arch at the bottom of it. Joe did the same with his sleeve, revealing the rune on his arm.

"You have one too!" Carli said, pointing at Joe's arm. "What do you think it is?"

"It looks like some kind of rune. Or sigil." Joe guessed, analyzing the mark on his arm. "Judging by that little lightshow you put on earlier, I'm going to assume it grants abilities of some sort."

"HAH!" Carli exclaimed, practically jumping out of her seat on the rock. "I told you that touching that thing would give us superpowers."

Joe's face produced an impatient expression. "Seriously? That's what you're thinking about right now?"

"Sorry." Carli deflated. "Got a little excited. So what does yours do anyway?"

"No idea." Joe said. "Mine hasn't activated yet."

"Hm." Carli regarded.

"Any idea how you got yours to work?"

Carli shugged. "Beats me. Maybe it was just fight or flight kicking in. Afterall, it did happen right when those mud things were about to eat us."

"Eat us?" Joe questioned.

"What else would describe what they were trying to do to us?" Carli asked.

Joe shrugged. "I don't know maybe they were trying to capture us."

"To take us where?"

"To some random cave in the middle of the plains where their queen is." Joe said.

"What makes you think it's a queen?" Carli questioned.

"What do you mean?" Joe asked in confusion. "Why wouldn't it be a queen?"

"It could be a king." Carli suggested.

"What hive has a king?"

"Maybe the Muddy Buddies' hive has a king."

"Sorry, come again...Muddy Buddies?"

"Yeah." Carli said. "Judging by their looks it seems like they like to get dirty and they're all friends so why not?"

"Sorry, Muddy Buddies isn't what I had in mind when looking at those things."

"Well, what do you suggest we call them?" Carli shot back.

"Zombies?"

"That's lame." Carli regarded.

Joe scratched his chin, for a moment he sat up as if to suggest something but then leaned back down in defeat. "Yeah, I've got nothing."

Joe looked downward at the shadows emerging on the ground, then diverted his gaze towards the plains and the darkness stretching across them. He then looked to the big red line of light in the distance that he had spotted earlier.

"Is it just me or does that light seem to be getting dimmer and dimmer?" He said, pointing towards it in the distance.

"Yeah." Carli agreed before looking down at the ground as well. "And come to think of it the ground's losing some of its luster too."

"Something tells me that we should probably get out of here before that light goes out." Joe said.

Carli nodded and then pointed over to the mud demons "That and we've still got those to worry about. What are you thinking?"

"I think our next move is getting to that beacon of light over there and figuring out what is." Joe said. "It's the only thing other than this plateau that's stood out so far."

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"How do you propose we get there?"

"I think we should take some time to figure out how we can use these runes. The..." Joe paused before continuing. "...Muddy Buddies, didn't seem to like that light that you cast earlier. Looks like that's our edge."

Carli nodded again. "Let's try it out then."

Carli and Joe got to their feet, positioning themselves next to each other.

"How about you start since you have a bit more experience with this." Joe prompted.

"Alright." Carli said, while spreading her legs shoulder-width apart and thrusting her hand out in front of her. Closing her eyes she took in a deep breath then opened them. Nothing happened. Carli groaned in frustration and then punched outwards with her fist once more.

"It's no use." Carli said. "I don't know how I did it before. But there has to be someway to use it manually without engaging in fight or flight."

"Describe to me what was going through your head at the time." Joe said, looking at the ground as the lights grew dimmer.

"I was scared for both of us." Carli answered. "The mud creatures had already caught up with us and I thought you were going to die."

"But it wasn't just fear was it?" Joe said. "Surely some other emotions must have been going through your head as well other than just survival."

"Yeah, I guess I was pissed off too." Carli said.

"Let's work with that one." Joe said. "Get angry."

"Um...I can't."

"What?" Joe leered confusingly at her. "What do you mean you can't?"

"I don't know, I just don't feel mad."

"Okay we both know that your temper is almost as short as you are." Joe said.

"I am not that short." Carli remarked.

"Oh yeah?" Joe said. "Is that why they didn't let you on that roller coaster yesterday?"

"I told you hundred times, that wasn't because of my height! I left because I ate some bad nachos and I wasn't feeling well." Carli said sharply, before taking a soothing breath and crossing her arms. "You're going to have to try alot harder than that cause I'm far from pissed."

"Well that's good, cause then you won't be upset when I admit that I was the one who puked on the floor of your old apartment during that party you held."

"You what!?" Carli exclaimed.

"Oh boy..." Joe said, taking several steps back.

The rune on Carli's arm began to glow brighter.

"God damn it, Joe!" Carli seethed as the light around her began to expand. "Thanks to you I lost my entire security deposit!"

Joe ducked behind the rock as the flash of light when off. Moments later, Joe poked his head out from cover. "Great. Well now we know how that works."

Carli leered at him for a long moment before taking a deep breath to cool off. "Alright then." she said. "Your turn. I think your eyebrows are crooked-"

Joe held up a hand. "I don't need any help getting angry."

Joe exhaled slowly and mimicked Carli's mannerisms. He tried to use the rune to no avail.

"It's no use." Joe concluded. "It's not working."

"Maybe you didn't get angry enough." Carli suggested.

"Trust me I was."

"What were you thinking about?"

"When you lost the hard drive with all of my pirated movies on it."

Carli sharply inhaled through bared teeth. "Tsss. Yeah, I'm still sorry about that..."

Joe waved a dismissive hand. "It's whatever. Maybe the trigger for my rune isn't anger."

"Hmm." Carli pondered, before suddenly jumping with glee. "Oh, I know!"

Joe scanned the environment again. The shadows stretched even further. Very little light was left on the plateau.

"Maybe its when you're pressed to find an answer." Carli said. "You always find creative solutions to things, maybe the answer's there."

"I think if that were it I would have used it already." Joe said pointing to the dimming light of the plateau. "Cause I'm pretty pressed now. Let's get ready."

"Right." Carli nodded. "So what's the plan?"

"When the light finally gives out on the plateau, we're going to wait for the Muddy Buddies to try and swarm us. You're going to blast em' with a beam of light and then we're going to make a break for that Beacon over there."

"Sounds like a plan." Carli said. "You ready?"

Joe nodded.

The light shining from the plateau finally gave out. The Mud Creatures suddenly began to run towards them. Joe and Carli prepared themselves.

"Alright, close your eyes." Carli said. "I'll shout go when you can open them."

Joe nodded and closed his eyes. Carli stared ahead; the rune on her arm began to glow brighter. Yellow light poured out of her eye sockets; she clenched both fists and crossed them over her chest. As the Mud Creatures began to circle them she released both arms, unleashing a flash of light stunning the Mud Creatures. The light subsided shortly afterwards.

"GO!" Carli yelled.

Joe opened his eyes and the two of them bolted down the alley. By the time the Mud Creatures had recovered from the blast, Joe and Carli were already halfway down to the ground.

Carli looked behind her. "We've got the lead on them."

"Let's hope we can get a lead on that next." Joe said between breaths as he pointed to the waning Beacon in the distance.

"It shouldn't be that much farther. Come on, Joe." Carli encouraged. "You can make it."

"Unlike you I didn't run cross-country in high school." Joe panted.

"That was middle school." Carli corrected. "And I was only on the track team, not cross-country. Besides we're almost halfway there. We'll make it."

"Oh no." Joe began. "I take back what I said earlier."

"What is it?" Carli said.

Joe pointed. "Near the Beacon, to the left."

Onwards behind the Beacon was another rock formation leading into a cave. Out of the cave emerged an enormous figure with 6 spider-like legs, along with a body entirely caked in dirt surrounded by an entire flock of Mud Creatures. The enormous creature leaped out onto the plains at an immense speed headed towards Carli and Joe.

"WHOA!" Carli screamed in awe. "I told you they have a king!"

"Ugh, Carli please."

"Sorry." Carli apologized immediately. "What do we do, Joe?"

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking." Joe repeated.

The King was approaching closer and closer. Carli clenched a single fist as her eyes glowed again before throwing another bolt of blinding light at the creature.

"Joe!" Carli called out again. "It's not working!

"I know!" Joe said.

The King took another step towards the pair. Joe's entire body froze the moment the leg of the giant monster hit the ground. Reality began to bend around him in an instant. Golden light completely flooded his vision and time slowed into a blur. But while time slowed, he didn't, his presence began to ascend rapidly. Before he knew it he was in the sky looking down upon everything. He tried to move his head around but it was as if his body wasn't there. As if he was a transparent entity or maybe not even an entity at all. He turned his attention downward, and as he did, his presence focused in on it, like a camera entering zoom. He saw Carli along with everything else. The Mud Creatures tailing the King, the ones behind him and Carli, and even himself. He looked at the King and took a moment to analyze all of its body parts. He shifted his perspective underneath it and noticed a black, jewel-like object beneath its stomach. After seeing it, Joe heard a loud voice echoing across the area calling his name. He turned his awareness back to his body and attempted to syncronize with it. In a mere moment he was back. Time sped back to its normal cadence. Joe was standing back on the ground of the world filled with red skies. He looked down at his arm. The diamond-patterned rune on his arm was glowing a bright red before its shine began to fade away once again. Joe turned his attention back onwards.

"Joe?" Carli said, waving a hand in front of his face. "You good?"

Joe turned to Carli. "Get beneath it."

"What?" Carli questioned.

"You heard me. Just do it." Joe said. "Trust me."

Carli produced a reluctant sigh before running straight forwards and diving directly under the creature's stomach.

"Shoot the black gem under its stomach!" Joe instructed.

Carli obeyed, closing her eyes for a long moment before opening them again and blasting a shot of light directly into the black gem. Upon making contact with the underbelly the King let out an ear-deafening schreech and then began to tilt to the side before collapsing onto the ground next to Carli. Joe ran over and extended a hand to her, hoisting her up to her feet. They both broke into a sprint again. The entire world became enveloped in darkness, all but the faint light of the Beacon as it dimmed nearly to the size of a pedestal. Though it was hard to see anything in the darkness, the sounds of the hellish fiends surrounding them were still apparent, like the voices of a thousand demons calling out from the shadows of hell.

"Carli!" Joe called out in peril. The Beacon diminished to the size of an apple.

Admist the darkness suddenly there was light as Carli activated her rune again. The flash revealed everything for the briefest of moments. She looked back. Joe was on the ground surrounded by Mud People with Carli standing within arm's reach of the Beacon as it continued to evaporate. In a split second, Carli extended her foot back. The moment Joe grabbed hold of it, Carli immediately made contact with the Beacon, sucking them both into the vortex as it vanished into nothing.

***

The two fell several feet from the air onto the filthy ground of the gas station bathroom.

Joe looked around him, touching his chest and other parts of his body as if to assure himself that they were real. He then turned to Carli.

"You alright?" He asked.

Carli nodded to him then pushed air out of her cheeks. "I never thought I'd feel so happy to be back in this dingy gas station bathroom again."

Joe nodded back to her. "Me either."

"Is your rune still there?" Carli asked.

Joe rolled up his sleeve for both of them to see. Nothing there but his own skin.

"What about you?" Joe asked rolling his sleeve back down.

Carli extended her arm forward. Nothing.

"Interesting." Joe commented.

A banging occurred on the door catching the pair unaware.

"What's taking so long?" The voice on the other end "Other people have to piss too you know?"

"Come on." Joe said. "Let's get out of here."

Carli and Joe opened the door and exited. A woman waited outside.

"Oh." The woman smiled upon seeing them. "That's why."

"Up yours." Carli said, extending her middle finger at the other woman as she entered the bathroom. Then she swore. "Damn it."

"What?" Joe asked.

"I never got the chance to actually use the restroom."

***

Joe and Carli walked down the gas station aisles. Joe produced a sigh of relief and then removed the baseball cap from his head. Carli pulled out her ponytail, allowing her frazzled hair to fall down wildly over her face.

"Joe..." Carli beckoned, tugging on Joe's arm.

"What?" He asked.

"See that woman over there whose getting her stuff checked out at the cash register?"

Joe nodded.

"When I first walked in, she was at the end of the line."

"What?"Joe asked. "Are you sure?"

Carli nodded.

"Then that means its only been 5...maybe 10 minutes absolute max. In that world it felt more like 30." Joe said, grabbing a plastic basket and reaching for a big package of flavored tortilla chips.

"Explains what?" Carli asked, grabbing a pair of Twinkies, tossing them into Joe's basket.

"When I went in, there was a bit of a delay before you got there. Time must run a bit faster in that world."

The two walked over to the refridgerated section. Joe grabbed a few 16 oz water bottles but Carli stopped him.

"Don't get Ice Mountain." Carli said, replacing the bottles.

"Why not?"

Carli shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno, something about spring water just doesn't taste good."

"Okay." Joe shrugged and grabbed two bottles of Dasani instead, then made his way towards the cash register.

"I'm going to grab a slushie real quick." Carli said. "I'll meet you in the car."

"Okay." Joe said to her before approaching the counter.

"Pump 12?" The cashier confirmed.

Joe nodded, handing him the card. "And a 24oz slushie too. I tried using card, but it kept on declining."

"Yeah, that pump's been acting up recently." The clerk said. handing him his receipt and debt card. "Here you go."

"Thank you." Joe said, accepting the bag of snacks and exiting the store.

Joe returned to the car, placing the bag of snacks in the passenger seat.

"What was that anyway?" Carli said, leaning against the car side.

"No idea." Joe said, selecting mid-grade before grabbing the gas nozzle. "Maybe a pocket dimension or something."

"Pocket dimension?" Carli questioned, taking a sip from her slushie.

"It's like another dimension only smaller." Joe said, making a tiny space between the fingers of his free hand as he placed the nozzle into the gas tank of the Toyota. "My question is what was one doing in the middle of the woman's bathroom?"

"Maybe an eldritch demigoddess really needed to shit and decided to see what it was like to use a normal toliet." Carli suggested.

Joe arched an eyebrow at her. "So you know about Lovecraft nomenclature but don't know about pocket dimensions?"

Carli shrugged. "I had to read Lovecraft for a class."

The gas nozzle clicked. Joe removed it from the tank of the car and returned it to the dispenser.

"What I'm really trying to wrap my head around is those monsters though." Joe said, opening the door to the Toyota and entering the driver's seat. "What were they?"

"I told you." Carli said, entering into the passenger seat. "They're Muddy Buddies."

"You know what I mean." Joe said, reaching into the snack bag for a Dasani.

"I have a theory about it." Carli said, taking another sip from her slushie.

"Go on." Joe said, doing the same with his water bottle.

"Well what if that dimension was an abstract manifestation of the environment."

"Come again?" Joe asked.

"Think about it." Carli said. "We were in a filthy gas station bathroom and what was one of the first things we found in that world?"

"Filthy monsters." Joe answered.

"Correct." Carli said before continuing. "And those creatures were allergic to whatever that plateau was made of."

"Wait, are you saying that the plateau was a manifestation of the bar soap that was on the sink?"

Carli nodded.

"Huh." Joe said, opening the bag of chips. "Now that I think about it that does make a little sense. And it explains the runes as well."

Carli nodded as she reached for a chip. "That was what I was thinking too. By the way, how did you know about the weak spot on the King?"

"It was when I activated my rune." Joe said.

"You actually managed to activate it?" Carli said.

Joe nodded. "For a brief moment yeah, and I think you were right about the whole "being under pressure" thing because it happened right as we were facing the King."

"What was it like?" Carli asked.

"It felt strange." Joe began. "Like time had frozen and I was in the third person looking down at everything. My body was completely gone too. The whole time it felt alot like I was inside of a camera to be honest. But it wasn't just viewing. I felt that I had somewhat of an insight onto everything I was looking at too. And that's how I knew that damaging the gem would work."

"Whoa." Carli said, opening the Twinkie package. She extended one to Joe. "I never felt any of that while I was using the light magic. The whole time I was just trying to blast everything to bits."

"Sounds like you." Joe said as he bit into the Twinkie. "And I'm glad for it. Honestly you did most of the work out there."

"I wouldn't sell yourself short." Carli said biting into her own Twinkie. "You helped me figure out how to use my rune afterall."

Joe smirked. "By making you positively livid."

A smile bloomed on Carli's lips. "And with strategizing."

"Well, I think I'll have a chance to showcase my supreme strategizing skills out on the road today."Joe gathered up the trash from the snacks into the plastic bag. "Ready to go?"

Carli nodded. "Yeah, I feel better now."

"Not for long." Joe smirked. "I'm positive that slushie's going to make you have to piss again later."

"Just shut up and drive."