Magic was real, and I found out through Twitter.

Or X, if you want to be pedantic. Look, the important thing was that magic was real, it was tangible and it was trending all over, worldwide. Videos of people conjuring fire on their palms, shards of ice being shot at mach speeds. I also soon found out that monsters were also real, and that they just suddenly appeared across the globe, causing havoc everywhere, but that could wait. The novelty of magic had yet to wear off.

Wait, give it a few seconds. Let it settle in.

Nope, magic is still cool. Alright, compartmentalize that thought for now, let’s focus on the more urgent things. Like the monsters. Specifically, the ones outside my window.

The condominium I was staying in was pretty high up, the twenty-third floor. I had a good vantage point to see the highway and my college, Blue Bird University, across. There was a traffic jam, cars were strewn across the roads, unmoving. Some were parked in a way which blocked everyone else who wanted to get through, which was unfortunate for them, considering the amount of monstrosities out for blood. I could barely get any detail on them from this distance, but they looked like bunches of small green humanoids, attempting to maim anyone they could get their hands on. At that point it’d be better to get out of your car and run, but I guess I couldn’t blame them when the security of a metal box on wheels was too valuable to pass up.

Security I didn’t have, with what looked like large eagles with the faces of human women flying around the cityscape. I could see them barge into the windows and shatter glass, what they did inside I couldn’t see, but my imagination could fill in the blanks.

I closed the curtains of my window.

So what was that? Two fantasy creatures? Things that looked like harpies, green guys which I assumed were goblins. A weird mix of excitement and dread took over me. For all the horror that was happening around me, I just couldn’t shake off the wonder I had in the back of my head. Magic, fantasy monsters, things I could only have dreamed of coming into our world. Shit, maybe this was the start of a takeover or an apocalypse, human psyche manifesting into reality to end us all, some lovecraftian horror using our fiction as a frame of reference to end us, I didn’t know.

I didn’t know.

It’s terrifying and exciting, and-

I’m getting distracted.

Alright, monsters, magic, death on your doorstep. Survive now, think later. Lock the fuck in.

I rummaged through my closet. Not much in the way of protection. I just put on two pairs of pants, multiple layers of shirts, and a thick enough jacket that I could pretend like I had armor. A bike helmet was all I had for head protection.

It wouldn’t be enough. I had old art supplies somewhere. Five minutes of searching had me get a couple of tools and materials that I never bothered to use past a mandatory arts subject I had in college. Hands shaking, I duct taped a kitchen knife to a broom. Again, not much, but better than nothing.

One look at the mirror made me realize I was way overdressed for the weather, a second made me cringe despite the severity of the situation. I tried smiling to myself in the mirror. A face covered by faint acne scars smiled back at me. My hair was straight-ish, unstyled as if left on default, complexion somewhere in-between mestizo and morena. I wouldn’t call myself attractive, but that just might be the lack of a positive body image speaking. I would say I didn’t look bad, if it wasn’t for the amount of layers I was wearing looking silly.

Not my best fit, I’ll be honest.

Reality still had yet to set in. A pinch and a punch to my leg served to remind me that I could still feel pain, and unless this was all a sensory hallucination - in which case I’d be really fucked but in a different way - this was all happening and legit, and my little human brain had yet to adapt to it. Rationality was still present, I wouldn’t be doing anything without it, but nothing had really clicked yet.

I needed to root myself. Remind myself that this was real. I needed people to talk to. I opened my phone to see how everyone else was doing.

-

Angelo: im safe for now, i dont think there’s any of em in my barangay yet

Princess: my family is actually going crazy rn

Princess: everyone’s shouting on if we should leave the house rn or not

Lionel: huh

You: GUYS DID YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED

Angelo: YES

Princess: yes

Lionel: yeah

You: ARE YOU GUYS SAFE???? FUCK IS GOING ON

Jasmine: what kind of isekai ass shit is happenign wtf

Jasmine: oh thats a bang on the door alright let me lock in

Angelo: oh well i sure hope jasmine survives that

Princess: its so over actually

You: okay guys lets actually concentrate are you guys okay, any of yall get magic powers or something, encounter a monster??

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Angelo: no not yet, just saw them outside

Angelo: how abt u jayme

You: saw them outside my window, flying harpy things and goblins in the streets or something

You: keeping my distance rn

Lionel: oh i killed one of the goblins already

You: holy shit

Angelo: damn bro wasted no time

Princess: i am NOT going outside

Lionel: fuck happened after i killed the goblin

Lionel: so like

-

My texting was interrupted when a harpy decided to blast through the glass doors of my balcony. Shards scattered everywhere, the worst of it being deflected by my numerous layers of clothing. The thing looked worse closer in person. It was dazed from the impact, slowly gaining its balance back. The feathers on it were a gradient, shifting from white at the base to black at the head. The head itself was of a human woman’s, as if it were grafted on the base of an eagle’s body. It cried out in pain, allowing me to see the teeth for the sharp jagged things it was.

I would love to say that I valiantly charged into battle, grabbing my makeshift spear with a sudden sense of purpose and valor, gutting the thing in a swift triumphant victory. But then I noticed the talons. Sharp, almost reflective. There was blood on them.

It was one thing to watch from a distance. It was scary, but there was a level of disconnect there between you and the monster. Your brain is still adjusting, just enough danger to be afraid, not enough urgency to take action. But when it was right in front of you? At the moment? Something more primal than rationality takes over, base instincts over the mind.

“Holy fucking shit-”

That is to say I ran out the moment she made eye contact with me, slamming the door. I crashed onto the wall in front of me, catching my breath watching my condo’s door. Wise decision it’d seem, as the talons burst out of the door moments later, the claws seemingly stuck, wiggling slightly as if desperate to grab onto something. The talons retracted and punctured new holes in the door.

“Huh.”

Alright. Condominium isn’t safe. Then again, I mean, the insides of a building had to be safer than-

The door was banging, the talons were slowly making punctures big enough where the claws could leverage and rip a bigger gap in the wood.

A new plan was made, I’d be going downstairs.

I wasn’t risking the elevator in times like these. You don’t take the elevator in a fire or an earthquake, you don’t take it in an otherworldly invasion. That left the fire exit. I slowly opened the fire exit door, pushing on the block of a doorknob it had, trying to make as little noise as possible. I let the door close behind me with an audible click, and that was when I realized my first big mistake of the day.

“Fuck, these doors are one-way.”

I don’t know who decided making fire-exit doors one-way, or making the only way of getting around this building without any elevators through the fire exit was a good idea, but if the internet was still working if I eventually reached safety then I was about to drop the biggest rant about it online later.

I sighed, readying my makeshift spear for anything that might lurk down in my descent. The power hasn’t gone off yet, that was a good sign. Visibility was on my side here, and as luck would have it, I wasn’t jumped by any goblins or harpies or whatever. Still, it didn’t make the walk any less stressful.

I was halfway down the stairs when I felt my phone vibrate. It looked safe enough so far, and god knew I needed human connection right now. I answered my phone, my friend’s voice calling back.

“Jayme, you there?” My friend asked, voice worried.

“Yes, I’m here. Luis, where the fuck are you right now? Are you safe?”

“Still on the third floor. Nothing happened to me. How about you?” Luis lived way closer to the ground floor than I did. Made for less of a target for the harpies, I guess.

“Safe enough, one of the flying things broke into my room but I’m out and safe. Locked it in there.”

“Shit, you met one? Are you on your way downstairs?”

“Yeah, on my way to the ground floor right now. Taking the fire exit, hoping none of the monsters are in here yet.”

“Should I be calling, aren’t you sneaking aro-”

“At this point I’m more desperate for a voice to listen to right now. If I get into trouble I’ll just hang up anyway.”

“Fair enough.”

“Hey, can I go to your roo-”

“Yes, you can go to my room.” He cut off. “Can you imagine how much of an asshole I’d be if I didn’t let you in right now?”

I laughed, it was a lot more genuine than I expected it to be.

“Sure. Reconvene and we’ll figure out a plan out of here.”

“Get out? What do you mean-”

“If they broke into my window they can probably break into yours, it’s just a matter of time. We need somewhere safer.”

“Do you know anywhere safer?” Admittedly I didn’t really, and there was an argument to be made for staying inside. But staying here felt like a ticking time bomb somehow, and I couldn’t trust how almost every room had a weak spot with a balcony with a glass door.

“Anywhere with glass that doesn’t break easily or something. Somewhere that isn’t here, we’ll figure it out later.”

“Couldn’t we just board up the windows?”

“We’re delaying this conversation until I get there.”

“Ah, it’s like you’re still group leader.”

“Oh shut up.” I replied, not unfriendly.

I was about to continue my sentence, then I caught a glimpse of something green right around the corner of the staircase. I couldn’t see what it looked like from here beyond the color, I just knew it was there. I hung up immediately, pocketing my phone. I readied my spear, taking in a deep breath.

It was now or never. Every second that thing is alive and fighting is a risk. I knew nothing about it, and my vantage point was too far away for me to get an exact estimate on height or build. Around four feet tall? I knew almost nothing about my enemy aside from it being humanoid. I’d worry about the details later. All I knew was that it was vaguely human-like and would most likely attempt to murder me on sight. With that repertoire of knowledge I concocted a plan worthy of a grandmaster, which consisted of running at it with my spear and killing it.

Breathe in, breathe out. Disassociate, compartmentalize. Whatever moral quandary I had I could delay, survival took precedence. I just had to win.

I ran down the stairs, thrusting the end of my spear with all my might towards the vague silhouette of green. A shriek pierced my ears as the knife plunged itself into the goblin’s shoulder. I pushed down harder, letting gravity and the position of the stairs do it’s thing, the goblin falling down the stairs.

Its head hit the ground with an audible thunk, the monster dazed. I didn’t give it a chance to recover. I pulled out the spear, some green substance oozing from the wound instead of red blood. I thrusted again, going for the throat. The knife went down easier than I expected. It tried to shake itself off, fend for its life. I didn’t let it. I pushed down, twisting for good measure. A moment passed, and it stopped convulsing.

It was then a voice rang in my head, and floating text appeared in front of me.

[5 EXP Gained!]

[5/10 EXP until player finalization.]

What the fuck?