Bright flickering stars lit up the darkest night the world had ever seen, but of course the simpletons of humanity took no notice to this  beautiful phenomenon. Down below on the surface, in a city filled with neon lights, gambling, sex, drugs, and murder, an evil far greater lingered in the darkest shadows of the darkest alley on the darkest night. 

Two shadows made by figures clad in all black clothing lurk in this particularly dark alley conversing as they await an unlucky victim.

"I don't think we are gonna find anyone here, this street is dead," says one of the men dressed in a long hooded coat, dyed as dark as obsidian.

"They told us to stay here. We do what we are told," hisses the other, equally dark and hooded.

Their eyes are drawn to movement down the street. 

A young man, early 20's, staggers out of a bar, bottle in hand. His mind a blur, just as he had wished for even before the moment he had sauntered in several hours earlier. Now drunker than any man should ever be, he raises the bottle to take another gulp. 

The bottle connects with the man's forehead. He curses and throws the bottle in anger. It shatters against the dry pavement of the street, cheap 10 proof beer pours in thin streams, away from the impact, then later meeting in a thick stream as the liquid continues its way down the sloping street.

"Look there, can't you see it, his aura it's empty." One of the cultist says excitedly "His disappearance will never be noticed." The cultist continues.

The other cultist nods with a smile and whispers loudly "Yes, he will be a perfect sacrifice!" 

The drunk man pulls out his phone and wallet. With the phone he searches for the cheapest cab he could find with much difficulty due to his disorientating drunkenness. 

Upon finding the number of a cab company calling itself "Green Energy Cab" he presses the call button. He scoffs, "Green energy my ass!" He opens his wallet and sifts through its contents. 

Several receipts for beer and snacks bought at the corner market a block from his one room apartment were shoved in the back, along with some 20 pound notes next to them. 

There was a picture of a happy looking family hiding in the far back. The photo was well worn and the faces on it were nearly faded away. He pulls it out and stares blankly at it for a moment and then gently places it in the side pocket. In the other side sat his ID. On it his personal information is clearly printed:

Name: Kaulder Stark

DoB: 07.13.1995

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Green

ID #: STARKKR42959

Kaulder looks once again at his phone. His finger presses the button pending on his screen and raises the phone to his ear, completely unaware of the danger closing in only feet behind him.

And then blackness. The blackness of the sinister shadows of the eeriest alley on the darkest night surrounds him. His head hits the pavement. Dark nothingness. 

Kaulder awakes with blurred vision, unsure of how much time has passed. The smell of old blood and sulfur fill his nostrils.

Kaulder's head was spinning. Candle light danced on the high ceiling. As he came to, the pain in his head became real. He moved his right hand to rub his head, but was stopped short. Chains clashed against the side of the altar he lay upon. His eyes widened and adrenaline set in. He could feel the blood as it pumped through his veins. The chains were so tight around his wrists that he could barely feel the cold tips of his fingers. 

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

His eyes dart side to side. Surrounding him in bright red is a crudely painted circle, in what he could only imagine was the blood he had smelt. And a five point star touched its circumference in which he lay.

From the mist and blackness that surrounds him emerged four hooded figures humming and chanting strange sinister words. 

"What are you doing! Let me go!" Kaulder screamed out but the four hooded figures just ignored him and continued on with their ritual.

Above him the ceiling seemed to break apart and reveal what he could only describe as a portal. The portal seemed to be shrouded in a red mist, oozing out without stop. Whispers and screams echoed throughout the room from the portal and within this portal he saw creatures, so gruesome and horrible, it sent terror through every cell in his body.

Suddenly his body is lifted from the ground and was sucked upward toward the portal.

"No! Help! Someone help!" But his screams fell on deaf ears.

The chains that were bolted to the floor, began to rip up as if they were bolted to paper. He struggles to break free from the pull of the portal but to no avail. 

"Help me!" He screams once again. "Help me ple....."

Boom! 

An explosion goes off! 

The hooded men are blown off their feet. The incantations stop. The portal flickers and Kaulder starts to fall. 

Men from every direction rushed from the darkness. Swords slashed and sliced. The two hooded men nearest to the explosion were already dead. The other two jumped to their feet and from the darkness of their coats pulled out black mystic swords. The one on the right held out his hand upward toward Kaulder and continues to chant, while the other with sword in hand, flew with lightning speed, subduing the intruders.

Kaulder was once again being pushed upward. With one last thrust of energy Kaulder is thrown against the portal. His fingers clasp the side of the portal. The would-be sorcerer below drops his sword and with both hands sends a blast of energy that forces Kaulder to release his grip. He begins to fall into the portal. 

Out of the mist a large blood soaked man with sword drawn emerges behind this would-be sorcerer and plunges the blade through his heart. Blood bursts from the hooded man's lips, his body crumbles. But it is too late for Kaulder. The portal closes behind him. 

Falling.

Thud. 

Crack. 

He feels his ribs break on impact. He rolls on his side, still running off of adrenaline. The pain is unbearable but he pushes through it. His head is spinning.

'Is this a dream? Is this actually happening?' His mind races for someway to make sense of what has just happened.

He raises to his knees and looks around. He is surrounded by this thick red forest. In the distance he hears the yelling and shrieking of the beasts he had seen on the other side of the portal. Somehow he had not landed there. He didn't know how or why and honestly he didn't care. He just wanted out. 

Forcing his legs to stand, he peeks through a space in the bushes. There were hideous beasts that had a warped shape to them, horns digging out of strange areas, scales all over their body and the beasts looked angry. One of them, bigger than the rest and to Kaulder appearing to be the one in charge, grabs the smallest of the beasts, lifts it up by its neck, if it could even be called that, and begins to squeeze. The small creature fights and struggles, seemingly screeching and begging for its life. The large beast laughs with a demented devilish grin and with its other arm grabs the head of the small creature and rips its head off, spine and all. The beast consumed the body and grew bigger.  

Kaulder stumbles back in horror and trips over a stray branch. 

'Shit' Kaulder thought as he attempted to regain his balance, but fell anyway. 

The hellish creatures all turn toward the noise. The lead beast smirks a devilish grin and shrieks. 

Kaulder jumps to his feet ignoring the pain. With all his might and with all the energy he could muster, sprints in the opposite direction. The creatures take off after him.

Tree branches and shrubs filleted Kaulder's already maimed body but the adrenaline and fear rushing through his blood act as a natural pain suppressant. His body is jacked with energy. His feet and legs are what gods can only dream of. His mind is limitless and moving at a pace of a million miles a second.

Behind him he could hear the ear piercing howls and screeches from the hideous monsters chasing him, this made his blood pump even harder, kicking through any obstacle in his way in a panic as he ignored any and all pain, he was eventually met with two pathways.

Kaulder looks at both paths in repetition and worry, he chooses the right pathway and makes a run for it, shortly after he threw his shoe in the opposite pathway, causing the beasts to run to it. 

Kaulder sighs a sigh of relief. Then soon after, everything once more, goes black as Kaulder collapses.