The shadow monster quickly used his hand to grab Brian. "Holy shit!" shouted Brian, trying to stay calm. He struggled to escape and even punched the shadow monster in the face, but his punches went through it as if it were made of air. Meanwhile, Brian's parents were watching TV. The volume was so loud that they couldn't hear Brian's screams.
At the same moment, Darren started dreaming about the incident. In his dream, he saw the shadow monster grabbing Brian. The monster looked back and spoke in a low tone, "Meet me in the woods for Brian, or I will kill him." Darren suddenly woke up, panicking and unsure of what to do. He quickly called Janet. She picked up shortly after. "Janet! Brian has been kidnapped by the shadow monster," Darren said. Janet replied, "What? How?"
Realizing he didn't want Janet to get hurt, Darren quickly said, "Don't worry, I got this," and hung up. He quietly left his house and drove straight to the woods without his parents noticing. Just as he was about to enter the woods, he saw someone familiar standing in front of it. As he approached, he realized it was Janet. "Janet, what are you doing here?" asked Darren. "From our last conversation, I didn't catch everything, so I figured I should come here and team up with you to save Brian," Janet replied.
"No, I don't want you to get hurt. I don't know if I'm strong enough to protect you," answered Darren. Janet responded, "You are, Darren. Even if it's dangerous, I still want to help. That monster hurt my friend, and I don't think anyone else is going to deal with it except us." Darren took a deep breath and said, "Okay. Fine. Just stay with me, okay?" Then Darren and Janet walked into the woods together.
"You sure Brian is in these woods?" asked Janet. Darren replied, "Yeah, the monster told me to come here for Brian. If I don't, he said he'll kill him."
As they ventured deeper, they heard a sound like the wind. "Did you hear that?" asked Janet. "Yeah, I think we're getting closer," Darren replied. They kept walking and eventually saw a dark, swirling vortex.
"Oh my God, what's that?" asked Janet. Darren replied, "I'd assume that's the breach Dr. Deno was talking about. That's how the shadow monster got here."
"How do you know that?" Janet asked. "I had a dream. In it, I met the person who gave me this power. He told me what happened," Darren explained. At that moment, the shadow monster emerged from the ground. Darren saw him but tried to stay as calm as possible.
"Where is Brian?" shouted Darren. The shadow monster replied in a low tone, "He is inside that breach." "How do we get him out?" asked Darren. The monster responded, "You will have to go in there first." Janet whispered to Darren, "Why isn't he attacking us?" Darren replied, "Maybe he wants us to go into the breach." "Do you think Brian is in there?" asked Janet. Darren answered, "I don't know, but I'm willing to take the chance."
They slowly walked toward the breach. As they got close enough, the shadow monster rushed toward them to attack, but Darren instinctively used his hand to stop it. Blue energy emerged from his hand, hitting the shadow monster and making it disappear.
"Where did he go?" asked Janet. At that same moment, the breach started to pull them in. "Darren, what's happening?" asked Janet. Darren realized they were being sucked in and replied, "The breach!" But there was nothing they could do. In a second, both were pulled in.
A while later, They woke up on the ground. "Are you okay?" asked Darren. "Yeah, I'm okay," Janet replied. She continued, "Where are we?" They started looking around. It was so dark that they could barely see anything. "I can't see anything," said Darren. Janet quickly grabbed her backpack, which luckily was still there. She fumbled for a flashlight and found it.
Janet turned on the flashlight and aimed it around to see where they were. They saw woods similar to the ones they had seen before but darker. It was very dark that if they did not have a flashlight they wouldn't see anything. When they looked up, they saw many dark clouds in the sky. They are floating around in a distance they could see it, "I think I know where we are," said Darren. Janet asked, "Where?" Darren replied, "Yesterday, I had a vision where I met a wizard who gave me my powers. He told me the Shadow Monster was once a person, but dark magic corrupted his mind and body. He started to destroy his dimension. This place is full of dark magic, so I think this could be the dimension he mentioned. And perhaps these dark cloud are not actually cloud but are the dark magic."
"So, there are alternate realities with completely different things? And also magic things?" asked Janet. "I know it sounds crazy, but it makes sense with what Dr. Deno said," Darren explained.
Suddenly, they heard weird noises. "Do you hear that?" asked Janet. Darren started to hear it too and replied, "Yeah." "Maybe if we follow the noises, they'll lead us to Brian," said Darren.
They walked toward the noises and soon saw a small open space with some kind of building not too far away. They decided to check it out and walked there. "What is that?" asked Janet. Darren replied, "I don't know. It looks like some kind of estate?"
As they got closer, they saw the building was an abandoned estate. The estate looked ancient, with cobwebs and cracks all over it, making it very frightening. Darren asked, "Could Brian be up there?" "I don't know. It looks terrifying, but it could be a good place to hide something," Janet replied.
"Okay, you stay here; I will go in there and look for Brian," said Darren. Janet responded, "Wait, I'm coming with you." Darren replied, "But it could be dangerous." Janet answered, "Standing here could also be dangerous. I'm willing to take my chances in there. Besides, you have superpowers."
Darren replied, "Alright. Whatever happens, I promise I am going to protect you." Once Janet heard that her heart started to beat faster, Janet can felt Darren got closer so she got closer too. Just when they're about to kiss ,they heard a sound of glass shattering from the estate. They looked toward the sound. Darren actually thought Brian could be up there and said, "Brian?"
They walked toward the abandoned estate. Darren opened the door, and they slowly walked in. The inside was even more terrifying than the outside. It was dark but not as dark as outside. The inside looked messy, with many cobwebs and cracks around the building.
Janet aimed her flashlight around until she saw a skeleton. She instantly screamed. Darren tried to protect her but saw it was just a skeleton, so he said, "Don't worry, it's just a skeleton."
Janet sighed with relief, "Oh, this place is even scarier than it looks," replied Janet.
Darren looked around ,he saw a stairs and said, "There is nothing down here. Let's check upstairs."
They walked upstairs and looked around once again. It was a hallway with many rooms. Darren decided he wanted to check every single one of them ,he said, "Which room should we check first?"
Janet answered, "I don't know. Maybe this one? Its the closest room to us."
Darren replied, "Okay," They walked into the first room, the closest to them, and looked around. It was like a library of some sort. The candles in this room were still somehow lit, so they didn't need a flashlight right now. In fact, this room didn't look as damaged compared to the other rooms.
"I think I know where we are," said Darren. He continued speaking, "The wizard I met in my dream told me he learned magic here. His friend, who later became that shadow monster, learned dark magic in this place. That's why I met the wizard in my dream. It is just so damaged that I couldn't recognize it."
Janet replied, "If this is where he learned magic, then maybe these books might help you control your powers."
Darren replied, "Oh yeah ,maybe."
Darren realized this and started looking at the books. However, these books were guided by symbols they both couldn't understand so Darren said, "These books seem to be guided by symbols. I don't know what they mean."
"Just keep looking, okay? Maybe there will be one that you can understand," replied Janet.
Darren kept looking until he found one book different from the others. The other books were brown and had symbols, but this one was black with a big blue glowing orb on the front. Darren didn't know what it meant, so he took the book off the shelves. Just before Darren was about to open the book, they heard noises again. It sounded like something had fallen to the ground.
Janet asked, "Did you hear that?" Darren signaled Janet to stay quiet. They tried to stay as quiet as possible, and a few seconds later, they heard more sounds. It sounded like something moving, something breathing. They didn't know what it was, but they knew whatever it was, it was alive. Darren whispered to Janet, "We're not the only ones here."
Darren signaled Janet to stop moving and stay still. The sound was getting louder. Both Janet and Darren realized whatever the source of the sound was, it was moving closer to them. Not long after, they heard louder footsteps. Janet quickly closed her mouth, her heart beating fast. Darren could feel how scared Janet was, so he took her behind him, ready to protect her from any danger.
A second later, the thing stepped into the room. Darren handed the book he was holding to Janet and sneaked to take a look. What he saw looked like a monster but also human. It had sharp claws and scary teeth, no eyes, and some kind of black smoke coming out of its mouth. Its skin is gray and it has many skar. As soon as the monster got in, it started sniffing around. Suddenly The monster looked at Darren ,he quickly hid behind the shelf. It appeared that this monster couldn't see; it started walking around. It walked further away from Darren and Janet.
Darren saw that the way out was clear and saw an opportunity to escape, so he signaled Janet. He pointed to the way out, and Janet understood what Darren meant. They were slowly sneaking out of the room, but then Darren accidentally stepped on something, making a sound. Once the monster heard that, it quickly rushed toward Darren.
Darren saw it coming, so he shot the same blue energy out of his hand. However, the monster easily used its arm to block the energy. The energy barely did anything. The monster quickly rushed toward Darren. Realizing he couldn't hurt it, he quickly said, "Run run run," and they started running. There were a lot of bookshelves acting as obstacles, making it harder for the monster to catch Darren and Janet.
Even so, the monster was able to catch up with them. There was no way forward, and the monster was already blocking the only way out. Darren had no choice but to fight. He remembered what the wizard told him: he could do anything. Since Darren knew his energy move couldn't hurt the monster, he decided to do something different for the first time. He summoned a magic sword in his hand and ran straight at the monster.
He used the magic sword he summoned as a weapon, slashing at the monster. The monster tried to use its arm to block the attack and even tried to catch the sword. They were fighting for a while until the monster caught Darren's hand and threw him back to Janet. Luckily, Darren was able to land on his feet, so he didn't hit Janet.
With the distance between Darren and the monster, he decided to try throwing his sword at the monster instead of using it to slash. However, the sword he threw barely did anything either, not any different from his energy shooting move. Darren saw that and tried to summon a lead instead. He used the lead to lock up the monster's neck. However, the monster used its hand to catch the lead and pulled Darren toward it. Just before Darren hit the monster, it used its arm to hit Darren in the face, knocking him out.
Once Darren was knocked out, the monster heard Janet's breathing. The monster quickly rushed toward Janet.
In a brief moment, Janet didn't know what to do. Her hand was holding the book Darren handed her earlier, so she decided to use it to cover her face. However, once the monster started attacking Janet, it punched the orb on the front of the book. The orb instantly generated an energy that knocked the monster back. Janet was surprised by what the orb on the book could do. At the same time, Darren woke up. He saw that the monster was on the ground, powerless. He quickly went to get Janet, and they ran out. They escaped the room and ran out of the building.
They ran into the woods and, once Darren thought they were in a secure location, they took a break. Darren asked, "How did you hurt the monster back in the building?"
Janet replied, "The book. I put it in front of my face, and that's what it did." She handed Darren the book. Darren said, "Okay." He opened the book and saw that the text inside was made up of symbols he couldn't understand. He flipped through every page but couldn't decipher any of them. Darren started to give up and said, "They're all symbols. This isn't our language. To be honest it doesn't even look like a language. I can't read them."
"Well, maybe that's it," Janet said. Darren asked, "What?"
Janet answered, "You said it doesn't look like a language, so maybe it's not meant to be read. Maybe only a wizard can understand them."
Once Darren heard that, he suddenly remembered what the wizard had said in his dream: "Extract the symbols from the book, and you'll be able to understand them." As he thought of that ,Darren tried to use his power to extract the symbols from the book, and it worked. The symbols turned blue, started glowing, and floated out of the book. Darren quickly used his instinct and sent the symbols straight into his head. He was now able to understand what the book was trying to said. He did the same with every other page, and soon, he understood what the book said.
Janet asked, "What did the book say?" Darren replied, "It told me how to enhance my magic, making my spells more powerful. It also contains some important spells, which I'll learn later. It said this orb is a powerful ancient artifact that can help me enhance my magic. The book also said the orb is very powerful and that I need to be concentrated to maintain its power while using it to enhance my magic."
Janet asked, "Oh, did it mention anything that can help us find your friend?"
Darren answered, "I don't know. I don't think so, I haven't checked out the important spells section because it said it would take a lot of time. And I—"
Suddenly, Darren heard a sound of wind blowing. Soon the shadow monster appeared right in front of them with Brian, "I finally found you." said the Shadow monster.