It was exactly 2:03 p.m. on the 10th floor of the Corporate Building. Ceiling lights buzzed faintly, printers hummed, and people worked as usual.
Then the air cracked.
A jagged spiral of purple energy tore through the air, slicing open a hole in space itself. Everyone ignored it or maybe they could not noticed it.
From the swirling portal, something stepped out. First, a tall, skeletal figure in a robe. Instead of eyes, two cold red flames flickered inside hollow sockets.
It said nothing.
Behind it came a thud. Then another. Then the ceiling tiles trembled as something massive ducked under the steel framework. Hunched forward, shoulders scraping ceiling panels, came a towering figure. Hulking. Dark green. Muscles like boulders, and two tusk-like teeth protruded from its jaw. eyes glinting red.
Someone had just looked up to adjust the flickering ceiling light above their cubicle, blinking, trying to file what they were seeing as a prank. Maybe a really expensive one. Maybe marketing was filming a viral video?
Before they could even process the thought, a giant axe swung, and their head was no longer on their shoulders.
A sickening spray of crimson splattered across the gray walls. Guy didn't even have time to process it--his eyes wide with horror.
Screams erupted. Desks flipped. Then--BOOM.
Something exploded.
The force shook the floor. Smoke belched from the hallway. People screamed, bolted for the stairwells.
The green giant--now splattered with blood--leapt through the office's glass window.
From the tenth floor window.
He crashed down at the main intersection outside the building, sending up a shockwave of blood-red energy that rippled across the pavement. Cars flipped. Glass cracked. People too close to the impact... didn't even get time to scream. Just... splashed. Like strawberries.
Those who were closer--after one person started running--began to stampede through the crowd. Those farther away? They stopped and pulled out their phones, believing it to be some movie shooting.
But that was wrong move.
The monster stood, stretching its back, cracking its knuckles, and turned toward the crowd.
He began slaughtering everyone in the area indiscriminately.
***
Three news choppers hovered in loose circles, cameras zoomed in tight. One got too close--too curious. The green monster threw a piece of a streetlight like a javelin. It struck the tail rotor with a sickening crunch. The helicopter spiraled into a nearby parking garage.
He spat on the ground, smearing the blood off his face and dragging it clean across his axe.
Below, the streets around the Midline Building were cleared--emptied by force or fear. Blood ran in the gutters. Bits of buildings littered the street. And then came the next wave.
From the base of the ruined skyscraper, the small black creatures poured out. Vaguely humanoid. Red eyes. Limbs too long. Pitch black skin. They moved in packs.
Then the robed figure stepped out.
His skeletal face emotionless, robes trailing behind like smoke. The small black creatures--his minions--surged around him. They carried something. No, things. Massive, curved metallic constructs.
Behind them, another massive portal erupted at the heart of the intersection--this time blazing red. It spewed forth another, even larger horde of monsters. These weren't like those small nightmarish creatures, these giants towered at nearly three stories tall.
Smaller monsters joined the initial black swarm, dispersing towards the city with a clear mission. But the giants--they were different. They locked formation like a disciplined army, a menagerie of colors and strange shapes straight out of ancient myths.
The reporters, their features contorted in fear. This felt more like a scene from a fantasy story.
The brute returned to his side, cracking pavement with each step. Blood still coated his body.
"How long till we light it up?" rumbled the brute.
The robed figure tilted his skull, as if listening to the silence around them.
"About..." he started, then paused.
He raised a hand and closed his fingers. His eyes dimmed for a second. Then he clicked his tongue. "Tsk. This world has no mana yet." His tone carried no worry--just mild annoyance.
"Then fix it, Voidus the Grand Lich. Should be an easy task for you," the green giant rumbled, cracking his knuckles.
Already moving, Voidus reached into his robes and pulled out a sphere--smooth and utterly black. A pitch-dark orb that seemed to devour the light around it. He held it aloft, muttering in a tongue older than time.
The orb twitched.
A thin stream of blue light began to leak from it. Threads of mana floated toward the massive contraption the minions had dragged into the center of the street. The runes etched into its sides pulsed in response, one by one igniting with a sickly purple hue.
The machine came alive. Then it exhaled.
Thick waves of violet-black miasma slowly poured into the air. It blanketed the ground, slithered across surfaces, and crept up buildings like mold. The sky began to dim unnaturally as the haze thickened, twisting sunlight.
Where the miasma touched, things changed. Stone softened. Metal corroded. Air soured.
The green-skinned brute stood with arms crossed, watching with grim satisfaction.
"This place will hold?" he asked.
"It will become our root," Voidus replied. "When mana returns and the dungeon gates begin to open, the strong will be born in this world too. And it will be ripe for conquest--just as you, Draka, one of the Dark Lord's Twelve Generals, conquered many other worlds."
Draka gave a slow, approving nod. "Then send your minions--across this world."
Voidus raised a skeletal hand. A swirling portal bloomed beside him, deep red and slow-turning.
He bowed.
With his giant axe on his shoulder, Draka stepped into the portal, a bellow of laughter echoing around him.
***
Portals began opening all over the world.
In a mountain village, one swirled to life above the rooftops--glowing red, spinning like a storm. Seconds later, it spewed out a wave of beasts. The entire village was wiped out in minutes. Smoke rose. Blood soaked the snow.
In the middle of a quiet forest, another portal formed between the trees. Something massive crawled out--stone-skinned and dragging a club the size of a car. It walked straight through the trees, leveling everything in its path. Birds fled. The ground cracked.
Near a highway on the edge of a town, violet light spun into the air. Figures stepped through, hunched and twitching. They moved in packs. The first car that passed didn't even have time to stop before it was torn apart. The others followed.
Across farmlands, suburbs, remote hills--one after another, the swirls opened. Some were small, some wide enough to swallow buildings.
Miasma leaked from the larger ones--thick, dark fog that turned the air cold and heavy. Crops withered. Rivers turned black. Machines failed. People choked.
Civilization wasn't ready.
Governments tried to respond. Troops deployed. Fighter jets scrambled.
None of it mattered.
The monsters kept coming.
And the world as people knew it--was ending.
Mana was pouring in through the portals. Dungeon gates had arrived.
The apocalypse had begun.