Devyn stood frozen, the weight of the vision crashing into reality, paralyzing him.
He stared at the screen in his hand, the shaky camera feed showing exactly what he'd seen in his dreams, a nightmare unfolding in the daylight.
They were just shadows at first, vague and distorted shapes crawling out of the cracks in the earth. But when the camera zoomed in, the grotesque figures came into focus. Massive creatures, their twisted limbs dragging themselves up from the depths, their glowing eyes fixated on the terrified people running from them.
For a moment, his mind went blank. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think.
It's real. They're real.
His breath caught in his throat as the camera panned to people fleeing in terror. The monsters were here. And the world was unraveling just as he had seen it would. Every muscle in his body screamed at him to move, to do something, but fear held him in place.
The tremor beneath his feet jolted him back to the present. The ground buckled again, and this time a deafening crack split the air, followed by a rumble so deep it felt like the world itself was groaning in pain.
Devyn stumbled, catching himself on the doorframe as he bolted for the exit. His mind was a blur of panic and adrenaline, but one thought was crystal clear, he had to get out.
His phone buzzed violently in his hand with more alerts, but he ignored them. He didn't need the news to tell him what was happening. He'd known for months. The visions had been his warning, and he had spent every day preparing for this moment.
But no amount of planning could have prepared him for the sight of the creatures tearing their way out of the ground.
He sprinted down the hallway of his apartment building, the overhead lights flickering wildly as the tremors grew stronger. The building felt alive around him, groaning and shifting under the strain of the quakes. Doors flew open as tenants rushed out, their faces twisted in confusion and fear, their panicked voices echoing in the narrow corridor.
"What's happening?" someone screamed. "Is it an earthquake?"
"It's not just an earthquake!" another shouted back. "The news said the ground is splitting open all over the country!"
Devyn barely registered their words as he shoved his way through the crowd and burst out into the street.
The scene outside was pure chaos.
People were running in every direction, their screams blending into a deafening chorus of panic. Cars were stopped in the middle of the road, drivers abandoning them in a desperate bid to escape on foot. The ground was splintering beneath their feet, cracks spidering out from the massive fissure that had split the street in two.
And from the depths of that fissure, something was crawling.
A dark shape, massive and grotesque, its skin slick and wet as though it had just emerged from some nightmarish underground lair. Its limbs were twisted, its joints unnaturally elongated, and its eyes, those terrible glowing eyes, seemed to pulse with a feral hunger. The air around it shimmered with heat, distorting the space around it like a mirage.
Devyn's blood ran cold. He had seen this creature in his visions. Every grotesque detail was burned into his mind, and now, it was standing right in front of him.
People screamed as the creature hauled itself fully out of the fissure, its massive bulk sending tremors through the ground with every step. Devyn watched in horror as it swung one of its twisted limbs, sending cars flying through the air like toys. A group of people tried to run, but they weren't fast enough. The creature's glowing eyes locked onto them, and with a guttural roar, it lunged.
The screams that followed were cut short.
Devyn forced himself to look away, bile rising in his throat. He had to move. He had to get to safety. The old subway station, he had mapped it out months ago, a possible place to take shelter. It was only three blocks away. He could make it.
He pulled out his map with trembling hands, his eyes scanning the lines he had drawn in red.
The chaos around him blurred into the background as he focused on the escape route he had so meticulously planned. If he could just get to the station, maybe he could figure out what to do next. Maybe he could....
A sudden roar echoed from behind him, and Devyn spun around just in time to see another massive fissure split the street apart. The ground groaned, cars and lampposts teetered on the edge before toppling into the abyss below. People screamed, scrambling to get away, but the earth was swallowing them whole.
The chaos reigned. Buildings trembled, windows shattered, and everywhere, people were running, shouting, crying out in desperation. Their words were frantic, incomprehensible, blending together in the rising tide of panic.
"Oh my god! What are those things?"
"They're coming out of the ground! Run! RUN!"
"I can't... I can't find my kids! Help me! Please, someone..."
"Move! Get out of the way!"
Devyn's heart pounded in his chest as he wove through the chaos, his eyes darting from one horror to the next. The monsters, there were more of them now, crawling up from the cracks in the earth, their grotesque forms towering over the city. One by one, they emerged, their glowing eyes scanning the streets for prey.
He had to get to the subway station. That was the only thought that kept him moving. He didn't have time to think, didn't have time to feel. It was pure survival instinct, the culmination of months of preparation boiling down to this moment.
But before he could take another step, a hand gripped his arm.
Devyn spun around, his heart lurching in his chest as he came face to face with a man who looked completely out of place amidst the chaos. While everyone else around them was screaming, running, falling apart, this man stood calm, composed, as though the world wasn't ending right before their eyes.
"I wouldn't stare too long if I were you," the man said, his voice low and steady, completely unaffected by the chaos around them.
Devyn blinked, his mind racing to catch up. "Who the hell are you?"
The man's silver eyes gleamed as he released Devyn's arm. "Malakai," he said simply, his gaze steady. "And if you want to survive this, you'd better come with me."