It's been about a week since we entered the basement, it's taken me this long to understand what happened down there. I'll recount it exactly as I remember.
We didn't die in the elevator. It sure felt like we would during the entire descent, but that wasn't the issue.
At first, the room wasn't anything of note. It was a mixture of various pipes and wires and control boards that all looked like they were barely ever touched even when the building was open. But, there was a large storage room filled with empty bookcases. That was the first time it happened.
I saw a flash of an image. It was a different room. The same room, but different. The bookcases were filled with various files and papers and textbooks, there was a computer on a long wooden desk. There were these tall glass display cases with brightly colored clothing in them. Then the flags ended.
"Did anyone see that?"
Both Damian and Terri both replied "No.", but I heard a slight sigh from one of them right after.
"It felt so real."
"What did you see?" Terri asked.
"It was this room, except everything was different."
"Yuri, remember when I asked you if you ever see things that other people don't see?"
"I'm not crazy. I wasn't crazy last time and I'm not crazy again."
As I got to the back of the room, I saw another flash. This time, there was a white moped leaned against the back wall; it looked like it had seen a lot of use. It was adorned with colorful stickers. Suddenly, the moped was gone.
"A moped?"
"So it's gonna be this future, huh?"
"Damian, do you know what this is?"
"Unfortunate. I thought we had more time, but in this timeline, the fun stops here."
I didn't understand what Damian was saying, and I still wish I didn't have to come to understand it in such a painful way.
Another flash, but this time it was a person. It was Damian.
"Damian, it's you."
I saw him fighting me. It wasn't me exactly. While it resembled me, the Yuri I was watching had some differences to her appearance.
"Why are we fighting?"
"It isn't too late, Yuri; there are a few versions of this where you look away and live in ignorance."
"I'm sorry, Damian, but this isn't one of them."
At first, I thought it was some kind of training session between the two of us, but it was really intense. The two of us were fighting at our peak performance, and I could read the anger and hate on our faces. The flash ends.
"Damian, what the hell was that? Tell me we were just training."
"I won't lie to you, not anymore."
Not anymore. I never even considered that anything Damian told me could be a lie, but, I didn't really know him that well, did I?
Another flash and-
I don't want to remember what I saw.
Damian- he- he stabbed me, right in the chest. It wasn't training or roleplay or anything of the sort; I literally saw the life drain from my eyes and my hollow corpse fall to the ground. Damian throws the knife to the ground, then there's just fire. Fire everywhere.
"Why, Damian? Why did I have to see that?"
"I'm sorry, Yuri. I'm sorry it had to be this future. I was planning on hiding it from you until the absolute last minute, but your powers are developing unpredictably and- I'm sorry."
"What is this? What did I just see?"
"You saw the future. It's not like my power. It's an extension of the true power that's behind your teleportations."
"The true power- what are you talking about? One minute everything's fine, and the next I'm having these flashes and now you're telling me you're going to murder me in the future?"
"I'm sorry. I would advise you to continue your training in preparation for our battle."
"Our battle? This doesn't make any sense."
I didn't get answers, I wasn't allowed to understand it, not yet. Damian bolted from the room. I didn't chase after him. I didn't want to hear any more of his twisted explanation.
But, now, a week later, I'm ready to face the truth and him.
I had a few realizations over the past week, in between the intense training I forced myself into.
"Pretty much everything unrealistic you encounter since opening that rift will be the fictional plot taking over."
I remember Damian telling me that. I realize now, that Damian was talking about himself too.
The evil force that came from outside our universe to destroy the world was Damian.