Dad always said that the world was resting upon the dream of a god. Good and evil, light and dark. These were things that were born when the sleeping god dreamed the first human. The elementals and eldritch horrors of the Before had no need for concepts, no way to recognize them or create them. Maybe that was why it had been so easy for humans to banish them to the other realms.

Humans were the pinnacle of the world. They were the giants upon whom the laurels of civilization rested. They were the titans that held up the heavens and controlled all that entered their domain. Their technology was unparalleled and alongside their mechanical innovations the study of the fundamental forces of the universe spiraled infinitely forward. Nations prospered and continents were conquered, one after the other. The greatest purge the planet had ever known sent ancient species into the deep woodland. Those that couldn’t flee above ground found themselves braving the monsters that roamed the underworld. Humanity looked upon its mighty achievements and wept for joy. Then the dream ended.

And the nightmare began.

****

Only moments ago he had been sleeping soundly on his bed without a care in the world.

“W-why are you doing this?”

The boy moaned as he stumbled through his room. Tears formed at the edges of his eyes as his hands grasped at the sword that lay on the floor. Trembling, he lifted the sword to face the vacant eyed woman that shuffled towards him.

“Elsa.” The boy shivered as the corpse brought itself closer towards him.

There was no sign of humanity left in its eyes. Its black hair billowed over its shoulders and the uniform was in tatters.

He lifted his sword in front of him threateningly, “Elsa stop. I command you. You stop immediately or I’ll… I’ll kill you.”

He nervously eyed the thing shuffling towards him unceasingly. It could hardly move across the floor but he wasn’t in a position to run from it. One moment he had been warm in his bed and the next he had been sent flying out of it by his emergency shielding. Even the sword that lay with him had been blasted away.

Stolen story; please report.

His eyes widened in horror as the woman’s corpse impaled itself onto his weapon. There was no reason to it, no human moans of pain or logic that any normal thing should have when being attacked. It simply continued to move forward. It had edged onto the blade and then past it.

“No, no, no.”

A pungent odor filled the air and he gagged. The unpleasant sensation of pushing flesh against his sword was too much for him to bear. This wasn't a human anymore. It didn't feel, it didn't have emotions, and there was no life in its eyes. He couldn’t stand up against this creature. He had never even used the sword in real combat. He took a step back and his hands shook as he let go of the sword.

Then he kicked it.

The sword impaled itself further into the corpse and there was a muffled bump as its body fell onto the carpeted flooring. He didn’t even spare the weapon a glance as the thing struggled to lift itself off of the ground. He needed to find help. He needed something that could help him against whatever that thing was.

‘Survival. Dad. Mom.”

He had to think of a way to live. His parents were somewhere inside the mansion. They had to be.

‘What was that thing?’

He ran through the long hallway that separated the rooms from each other. His parents slept in the furthest end of the corridor.

The sound of shuffling feet and a low moan reached his ears from behind him.

‘Oh gods.’

The thing had already gotten up. The sound echoed in his mind every time it slid across the ground. It was constant and he was already running out of breath.

“Dad. Mom.”

He had finally reached their room. Elation bloomed over his face and he pushed their door open. They would know what to do.

He saw his father’s silhouette stooped over the bed and gasped in relief, “Dad, there’s something chasing me.”

“Dad listen to me.” He moved towards his father with a scared expression, “Stop standing there and… Mom?”

Her form was barely visible underneath the sheets. His fathers long hair spread over his face. It looked as though his father was whispering something into her ear.

“Dad… what’s wrong with mom?”

“Yue…” Yue’s father turned towards him.

His eyes were vacant.

“I… So hungry… Yue… I couldn’t…”

Yue stifled a moan as his father began to shuffle towards him. Before he could turn around and run he felt a shiver run down his back. A shadow mingled with his from behind and he jumped to the side as a pair of hands grasped the air he had just occupied. Elsa’s body swung in confusion as the momentum carried it forward. Yue gagged at the dark liquid dripping from the sword wound in its stomach. The moment the liquid touched the carpet the carpet sizzled and shriveled into a deep black crisp.

“Yue… run…”

Yue’s eyes widened as the woman’s corpse was struck by his father. The two dead bodies entangling as they hit the floor and squirmed. His eyes flashed towards his mother’s prone body on the bed…

… and then he ran.