Night, what a horrible night for a curse to befall the land. The castle, had erupted from the ruins of cities, jutting up from the earth itself, fissures like a purple-to-red storm aurora in the sky lit it along with the stars and moon. Monsters had gathered, naturally, transfixed somehow by an unknown pull that likely came from Yam Suph himself, a feat to make even the Pied Piper jealous. Gathered at the great doors of the fortress, they made their way in, little by little, pulled in and seemingly disappearing, some even fighting amongst themselves.

At the gates, a lone man watched, riddled in bandages, mostly around his right arm, itching at it in agitation. The man was Anselm, a young man, mutated into a partial monster, his left eye, surrounded by scars has turned more bestial, yellow, while the other is blue and more human.

"Damn... damn... damn... so many, damn it aw to hell! Can't sort 'em out!" he muttered, gritting his teeth displaying their sharpened appearance as he itched with more fury. "Don't tell me its already inside, aw screw it, I'm tearin' through!" With his bandaged arm he squeezed the bars causing them to bend.

"If you alert the horde this whole thing's a bust," a voice crackled through a headset he was wearing. He grumbled something about ruining his fun under his breath before loosing his grip.

"Fine, sneaky peeky like, then, but how you s'pose one sneaks into Castle Transdimensionvania 'ere?" he responded with no hiding of sarcasm in his voice.

"Why are you asking me? You're the great slayer, you figure it out, we certainly hope to see results, would hate to have spent all that money for nothing," the voice said, before the com went silent. Anselm growled, taking off the earpiece, throwing it on the ground, and stomping it into a fine powder.

"Fine, never needed nobody anyways."

Jack watched the mighty castle from afar, despite his lack of eye holes in his mask. But he didn't need eyes, for his sixth sense was far greater than any human sense. Perched up on a tree branch, he watched in complete silence. After a moment he hunched over to look down below him, which was a good a good forty foot drop to the bottom. Slowy, in his eerie grace, he jumped down from the tree branched and landed on his feet. The strange, tall man took a few steps, towards the castle. Jack yearned for a master to serve his evil. It had been so long since his last master had been eradicated by the Kura. Jack cracked his knuckles and disappeared into the shadows.

Today is the day... Daphne muttered as she peered out of her fifth story apartment window, petting a white cat in her lap gently. Before the view used to bring her peace and tranquility. She loved watching the canopy of trees blow in the wind in the park below, and she could hear the faint lapping of waves on the shore in the distance. She would sit on her porch and sip her tea as the sun rose. Now the sky is dark. The trees below droop with bare branches as black clouds linger endlessly above. They flow toward the water to swirl around the source of pure evil that calls to them, the Red Tide. The vicious serpent that exudes chaos and death by its very existence.
From the moment the serpent rose from the waters Daphne and her team have been working endlessly to write the perfect enchantment, racing against the clock to finish their work before the arcane blacksmiths could finish transforming the seal into a perfect weapon. The enchantment ended up being 789 lines long; Daphne wrote 452 herself.

Taking a sip from her mug, she glanced over at the photo on the wall and smiled, You would have been proud of my work. They said it was the spitting image of watching you at the desk. Her phone vibrates on the table. A message flashed across the screen, and she sets her mug down, gently placing the cat on the counter, and slinging her bag over her shoulder. As she slips her shoes on, she turns to the cat who stretches deeply and gives her a long drawn out *meow*. It's time Chia. Momma is going to go help save the world.

---

The lab is bristling with anxiety as she swipes her entry card through the door and pushes through a crowd of scattered scientists. They move with intention throughout the building all checking and double checking everything they can in the last moments. She drops her bag onto her desk and slips on a crisp white lab coat.
"Alright, give me an update. Where are we?"
A man approaches her with a clipboard running his finger nervously across the page and sputtering, "Richard and the team are approaching the serpent now, the commander is waiting for you." he reaches into his pocket and hands her an earpiece. Commander Flick's voice fills her ears as he finishes relaying an update to the PR representative.
"The team is preparing to engage with Red Tide; evacuations are not optional within the surrounding area. Ensure that everyone is outside of the red zone."
Daphne presses the button on the side of the comlink to turn on her microphone, "Commander Flick, I am here." She reaches over to take the clipboard as the Commander responds, "Dr.Elysia, tell me everything went smoothly on your end, please."
She chuckles, "Calm down, Teddy, the enchantment is going to work. The weapon is going to work. We couldn't have picked a better hero to give it to."
The commander hushed her, "Dr.Elysia, please don't call me Teddy on this channel. This is serious. Give me an update."
Daphne rolled her eyes and glanced at the clipboard, scanning the readings, "Everything looks good here. The enchantment was applied last night using a poultice of amethyst and a selection of herbs to enhance both the duration and strength of the enchantment, and it was charged under the full moon. That enchantment should remain at its peak strength for the next twenty-eight days."
"Good, very good," he replied, his voice trailing off, "I'll check back in later to give you an update."
Daphne pulled the earbud from her ear and dropped it into the assistant's hand with the clipboard, "There isn't much we can do now but wait, someone put the body cam stream on the projector."
Flopping down at her desk, she pulls her phone from her pocket, selecting her favorite contact. A picture of Commander Flick appears with the label Teddy Bear and a smiling stuffed bear emoji next to it. She types a message and sends it off.
Don't take that tone with me Theodore Flick, or I will steal the good blankets tonight and leave you with a cold sheet.
He responds within seconds.
I'm sorry, Daph, but this is important. I am THE COMMANDER assigned to the destruction of the Red Tide.
This could skyrocket my career. We can finally get out of that apartment and get a house.
She chuckles to herself, Oh, yeah. Because I long for a nice big, dead yard.
You know what I mean Daph, I have to go, the battle is in full swing. Turn on the stream.

She looks up as the projector slides down, and she motions for the volume to be raised. The body cam belongs to one of the associates of Richard Piedmont who was standing behind, providing cover fire for the hero. There were so much water and debris flying around that Daphne could barely tell what was going on. She heard Commander Flick's voice talking to the team over the radio, "The lab says it needs to be a perfect shot, Richard, straight through the heart. Do you think you can do it?"
"For Glory," Richard replied as he lunged himself toward the beast. Those were the last words heard from him as a loud explosion erupted from the site, shaking the building and Daphne's desks. The bodycams went out. The com system went down. The Commander's voice sputtered over the system, "Richard, Alpha, Echo, Somebody check-in. What's going on? What was that explosion?"
A response barely broke through the static, "Wha- is that thi- holy- man down-"then the com went silent. Daphne ran to the window to see what was going on but was met with a blinding flash of light that erupted from the site. It felt as if a million hands were tugging at her skin. She screamed in agony and collapsed into nothing.

---

She woke abruptly as she landed on hard ground, her glasses thrown from her face as her nose contact a rock. Ouch, she muttered as she rose, reaching out blindly in front of her. The ground was hot, much warmer than usual. It felt like she was sitting on hot gravel, her hands grazing rocks where a tile floor was only moments ago. She touches her glasses, then lifts them in enough time to see a mass of small, sharp tooth beasts swarm her. They crawled over her skin and ripped at her clothes, leaving large holes in her lab coat and skirt. She screamed as one bit into her shoulder; it's razor fangs tearing deep into the muscle.
The crack of a whip cut through the air and the beasts scattered. She peered up to thank her savor to see a gruesome creature with twisted horns and a whip reaching down to grab her arm. She pulled away, but its grip was like a vice. He cracked the whip once more and grumbled, "Not this one...this is one of the brains... she goes to the magic room..."
With clumsy heavy steps, he begins to drag her behind him toward a massive castle with dark spires as high as she could see. The beasts parted, as the slave master approached cracking his whip with authority. The most foolish monsters would reach out and tear at her clothes or prick her for a taste of her blood; it was worth the chance of a lashing in their eyes. Daphne shook in terror, recoiling from the beasts and shrieking at the top of her lungs, "TEDDY? COMMANDER FLICK? RICHARD? HELP ME! SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP ME!" No one came to her aid. The beast dragged her into the castle and up countless flights of stairs before tossing her into a room. She slid across the cold floor, her body rolling to a stop. She lay there for a moment, grateful that the pain was over, before lifting her head to see a table full of beakers, a wall of herbs and samples, computers, and machines even she didn't recognize. Her blouse is stained with blood from her bite wound, and her skirt is in ribbons. Her shoes and lab coat are long gone. She pulls her knees to her chest and begins to sob, "What is going on?

As she wipes her nose on her sleeve the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The soft sound of breath reaches her ears and she jumps up, scrambling to hide under the closest table leaving a trail of tears and blood behind her. With her body pulled close she mumbles to herself, "It's just a dream... I'll wake up any minute now...

"Hey, y... hey, hold on," a rather weary sounding man's voice was heard calling out. The voice, belonging to a fairly tall and rather disheveled pale looking man. Despite the bags under his eyes, and the gray of his hair, he was not particularly old in his face, around his early 30s at most, his overall scrawny appearance though showed more a less-than-ideal self upkeep. By his clothes, he appeared to be a doctor of some sort. It was apparent his entry into the castle was no less elegant than the young elf, the left lens of his glasses cracked and a few claw tears in his coat. "You... l-look familiar."

The man approached Daphne slowly then stopped, kneeling down to get a better look at her, obviously having trouble with his sight. After a moment of observation he grunted with some mild frustration. "D-damn, h-hold on... Lumina! G-get the antiseptic!" he cried out, looking back behind him as various equipment was heard clattering, there were other utterances as well, an indication that they weren't the only ones there. After a brief moment, another figure charged up from across the large and strange laboratory, their footsteps barely audible as small taps. It was a tall figure, almost human on two feet, dressed in a zipped light-blue jumper and a white cloak, face obscured by a triangular visor that gave only the vague impression of a face, leaving their body nearly fully obscured, the only impression left was that they were some form of female. The figure handed a glass flask of fluid and some sterile bandages. To the observant, one would catch that the being, referred to as Lumina, clawed, yet delicate, long pink hands.

"I wouldn't trust that man if I were you. He's mad you know, a criminal, Dr. Addler, monster doctor," another man spoke in warning, a tone more robust and confident. There was a subtle twitch in the doctor's eye as he spoke, yet he still carefully dabbed the cloth in antiseptic, trying to ignore it. A man walked up somewhat carefully, stopping and gasping as Lumina turned to look at him. He was a more dapper and healthy looking fellow, standing out in a gray business suit, black hair slicked back, groomed moustache, shiny black shoes and brown pants, a bit dirty from the trip and signs of a bloody nose but otherwise in good shape. The man was a well-respected figure, magazines published with him looking proud on the cover, Leonard Hulson, who was quite involved in the development of the Adrichal Spike himself, having translated a portion of the original artifact inscriptions recovered from ocean floor, as well as his continued work towards a form of holy grail wonder cure. "Him and his Genesis Project, as he calls it, injecting his black goo into corpses, creating monsters like this... thing here. He's probably in league with those... things out there. Maybe even sabotaged the project for all we know. I'd check what is in that bottle if I were you."

"I-If you are so c-concerned, then why d-didn't you rush to h-h-help?" Addler muttered under his breath, clearly becoming irritated. The doctor then edged closer, holding out the cloth. "I-I assure, is only a tincture of iodine and alcohol, if you don't trust your eyes, then trust your nose. We got to make sure that bite doesn't get i-infected," as he got closer, he finally got a good look at Daphne, a slight tick in his throat. "H-hey... aren't you..?"

"Daphne!? They got you too!?" Leonard exclaimed. His excitement would soon turn to disappointment as he flopped down in a chair by the table in defeat. "Well, there goes any chance of a counter-spell from outside," he grumbled, his robust tone having faded. He then looked over at Addler. "Well, make yourself useful, heathen, treat the poor girl already! Owe us that much for your monsters almost getting us killed!"

"Wha- is that thi- holy- man down-" then the com went silent.
"Echo, Echo. Come in! Echo, what is it? Commander Flick shouted through his headset, but no response came through. He slammed his fists down on the table, "What's going on out there?

Through the windows an intense white light filled the room, so bright that everyone in the control room raised their arms and shielded their faces until it had passed, "What the fuck was that? The commander asked, glancing around the room at his team. They frantically scanned their equipment searching for an answer.
"Sir," one man replied, standing at his computer and waving the commander over, "You need to see this." Flick crossed the room and stared at the screen. It was footage from one of the bodycams before they went out. He watched as the sky ripped open and a fortress emerged, the intense light erupting from the opening and filling the screen before the footage cut. He raced over to the window to see the massive structure standing where the Red Tide once stood. Swarms of monster surrounded the building and flowed from its doors.
"I need a surveillance unit on site immediately. Orders: Keep your distance and Report back with images and details of the fortress. Do Not Engage. Repeat Do Not Engage." One of the soldiers repeated the message through the com. The commander turned to the rest of the room, "Status update, does anyone see Richard or the team? Do we have any contact?"
A woman spun in her chair, her face wrought with worry, "No, sir. All the coms are down, and the body cams all fried when that light hit their lenses. All vitals are flat. Either those were fried to or..."
" Or they are all dead." he continued for her. She dropped her gaze back to the keyboard, unsure of what to do next.
"Get me the Lieutenant, he needs to know what's going on." Flick watched as his soldier dialed the phone, requesting the Lieutenant. His face dropped as he glanced up, "Actually, Commander, General Fawkes wants to speak to you." At that moment, the largest com screen in the room flicked to life, the General peering over the team. Commander Flick saluted stiffly.
"At ease, what's going on?" he asked sternly.
"We're not sure yet General, the Red Tide is gone, but a fortress has appeared on site that seems to be teeming with monsters. The footage looked like the sky tore open, and there was a flash of light."
"What about the A-team?"
"No signs of life from any of the team. All of the coms are down; we have no contact.I've rallied a surveillance team to gather more information."

A man in a lab coat bursts into the room, gasping for breath, "Commander, commander," he heaves.
"What is it, update the General and I. Have you spotted Richard?"
"No, commander, a bunch of the scientist have disappeared!"
"What do you mean disappeared?"
"One second they were there and the next there was a flash of light, and they're gone. Vanished!"
Flick's eyes widened with horror, "Which Scientists?" he asked, but before the man could answer, he was opening his comlink to the lab, "Daphne, Daphne, are you there? No response. He pulled his phone from his pocket and pressed the speed dial to her cell. No answer.
"Dr.Elysia is one of the missing, sirs," the man muttered.
"What's going on, Commander?" General Fawkes demanded.
"General, I'm sorry... I have to go!" the commander replied as he bolted from the room.

Daphne shuttered under the desk as a man approached her and knelt. She peered over her bloodied arm to look into the broken frames of his glasses, tears rolling down her face. She sighed in relief at the sight of his human face.
Lumina! G-get the antiseptic!" he cried upon seeing her wounds. He was pretty beat up himself. Broken glasses, torn lab coat.
She cried out softly at the sight of his creature companion. Daphne could tell that it is female, but there are no other distinguishing features that she recognizes. Never has she seen a creature like this, yet it extends its clawed hands toward the doctor to hand over a bottle of iodine and some bandages with human-like compassion.

"Than- she starts, when a familiar voice interrupts her. "I wouldn't trust that man if I were you. He's mad you know, a criminal, Dr. Addler, monster doctor," it was Leonard, an acquaintance from the lab. He was one of the team members who translated the script on the artifact. Daphne had spoken to him a handful of times while writing the enchantment for the weapon, " "Him and his Genesis Project, as he calls it, injecting his black goo into corpses, creating monsters like this... thing here. He's probably in league with those... things out there. Maybe even sabotaged the project for all we know. I'd check what is in that bottle if I were you."

Dr.Addler muttered under his breath, "I-If you are so c-concerned, then why d-didn't you rush to h-h-help? I-I assure, is only a tincture of iodine and alcohol, if you don't trust your eyes, then trust your nose. We got to make sure that bite doesn't get i-infected."

Daphne looked over the doctor for a moment. He seemed so plain, nothing like she had envisioned the monstrous doctor Adler to be. For a moment she hesitated, pulling herself further beneath the desk. Leonard peeked over and recognized her small frame and large glasses from the shadows, "Daphne!? They got you too!? ... Well, there goes any chance of a counter-spell from outside," he sighed as he plopped into one of the lab chairs. Glancing over at the doctor, he snapped, "Well, make yourself useful, heathen, treat the poor girl already! Owe us that much for your monsters almost getting us killed!"

Daphne had heard many stories about the alleged monster doctor and his bastard project. They told tales of monsters that he had created. Things that belonged only in nightmares. He was a pariah of the scientific community, but brilliant nonetheless. Until now, he seemed more like a vague character from a horror movie than a living, breathing person.

Still shaking, she pulled herself out from under the desk and hopped on top, using her right arm to lift her tiny frame sloppily, until she was sitting upright. She glanced at the doctor, then over to Leonard, and back to the doctor. His creature loomed over her and tilted her head. With only a slight distrustful nod, she gestured for the doctor to continue his work on her arm. The alcohol and iodine burned. She watched him quietly as he picked debris from the wound and wrapped it, her blood soon staining the bandages, but the bleeding was slowing. She felt dizzy and sick to her stomach. As the doctor finished, she felt her stomach lurch and leaned over the side of the desk where, thankfully, what appeared to be a wastebasket sat, and emptied its contents.
Wiping her face with her sleeve, she peered over her glasses at the doctor, "Th-thank you... I'm sorry... I just don't know what's going on..." She turned to Leonard, "Where are we? What are those things?!" as she spoke she began to hyperventilate, "I can't die here, I have to get out of here," she began to rock back and forth, "I'm just a scientist, I am not meant to be in places like this. I am not supposed to be near the monsters."

She stood at the precipice of the castle that had risen in the wake of Yam Suph. Her name was Judith Frost, a foremost expert on the occult and supernatural. As she came she had noticed she was not the only one gathered here, not surprising given the spontaneous nature of the event. "So, this is the sanctuary I've heard tell of? Sounds to me like a pleasant romp." She spoke in a surprisingly calm and snarky tone despite her gentle demeanor.

---

Anselm stared at the front doors, observing the movements of every monster surrounding the doors. In his own head he had to admit that this was far more than he could handle alone, but stubbornly he wasn't ready to give up. He scanned the walls of the castle, and found its structure infuriatingly resilient against infiltration, windows, what few that were, were barred, likely difficult to remove, and there was little signs of an alternate entry from this side. He was assigned to slay Yam Suph, and rescue the captives, but a burning thought kept itself in his mind, and it made his arm itch more. She's gotta be here.

It was then he picked up a slight sound like the rustling of leaves, and another, a voice nearby.

"So, this is the sanctuary I've heard tell of? Sounds to me like a pleasant romp."

He heard a woman speak. He turned, looking over in her direction, a disgruntled look on his face. "I told em I dun need backup," he grumbled, itching the back of his head. "Th'hell ya supposed t'be anyway? A secretary? Eh, whatever, I'm handlin' this, so you can just-"

As he began to wave his arm to shoo off the woman a strong breeze like a wave rushed through the trees and over them both, his hair and clothes blew violently against the rush and the gates rattled and groaned. All the monsters in the front of the castle were alerted, some of their hair going on ends, and even Anselm's body tingled. Instinct was telling him to move but instead he turned to the woods as they were suddenly lit with floating blue sprites of some sort, a hollow chirping heard in a slowly rising crescendo, heralding a lone figure. What appeared was something that seemed to be a man, black hair, head down, wounded and limping, but aside from the running of blood from his dangling right arm were black feathers molting from him.

"M-me," he hoarsely muttered as he dragged himself by a perplexed Anselm, paying him no mind at all as he went straight to the gate. The man raised his head, grunting as he did so, and opened his mouth like he was readying to scream. There was a strange crackling, as his jaw extended further, the skin of his cheeks seeming to rip in a jagged pattern and the chirping got even louder as the crescendo increased, ghostly blue light gathering around the figure. Anselm, as if by instinct leapt back, moments before a loud sound erupted, and a surge of blue light erupted from the figure's mouth, ripping open the gates and mercilessly plowing through the monsters unfortunate enough to be in the way of the blast, and it slammed into the door cracking it open and causing the structure to shudder under the sheer force. As the beam dissipated, a blue fire lingered on the door, bits of various creatures littered at its steps. The figure continued forward, dragging himself, the various monsters watching him with bated anticipation. "Should have been me," he muttered, as he continued to limp in through the door, the monsters that survived followed him in and soon the front area was cleared.

"Th'ell was that!?" Anselm yelled when things had turned dead quiet, clasping his human hand over his mouth. Noticing the silence, he crept towards the door and looked inside to find no lasting trace of the figure or the hoard. Well, whatever, never look a gift horse in the mouth, I guess, he thought, as he snuck in through the door, arm ready to take on anything that lingered.

---

Hayden shrunk back a little as Daphne broke down. He was trying to keep it together despite the situation he was placed in. It probably helped too that this wasn't the only time he's dealt with the unknown, that much is true of his accusations. Lumina nudged the doctor, giving him a look, then pointed at Daphne, insisting he say something. He sighed, and, trying to hide his own trembling, he leaned over, placing his hands on his knees.

"I, uh, I d-don't believe they intend to kill us, at least not for a good while," he said, his tone at least sounding more confident. "This behavior is aberrant to typical monsters, and from my... research, that isn't often a bad thing. The fact we were placed in some kind of research facility within the castle means they want something from us, so our talents to them is valuable."

"Sound theory for a madman, I admit, but why are you here?" Hulson asked, Hayden lowering his head in response. "You weren't part of the project, and you seem to know quite a bit behind their motives... I wou-"

"He is here, just as you, as for all of you, for your brilliance and commendable contributions," a voice broke out among them, bringing everything back to silence. Hulson turned to the direction of the voice and fell from his chair, the various researchers in the room moved away. The source of their fear, the form of Yam-Suph could be seen, hanging upside-down, dripping down from the ceiling above, his masked face twisting around as his body flops down, reforming itself into a massive yet almost man-like form, the slime of his body forming what appeared as robes. He looked around at all of them, his glowing eyes sizing them all, before his eyes rested on Daphne. "Why do you- ah... some of my herd have been unkind. Unacceptable. Would you like to have them executed?" the great creature asked, leaning inwards casting a shadow over her, Hayden, and Lumina. The question he posed was cold, yet earnest. "I owe you so much, to lose any of you would be beyond tragic. I knew of your intent, to slay the Red Tide, and with noble sacrifice, it is no more. By the labor of your work, the storm was quelled, the dark waters were parted, and I was reborn."

"B-ut I- why... why... all this?" Hayden timidly questioned. Yam Suph turned to look at him, Lumina immediately moving in front of him to defend him. Yam Suph was somewhat taken aback by this behavior.

"Why? Would you not want to do the same for others? You have seen them out there, haven't you? Chaos driven, minds clouded, souls lost. You are on the verge of ending this tired cycle, to stop now would be... wrong."

She watched as a man who looked closed to deaths door fired a beam of what looked to be raw mana from his mouth, obliterating the gate before them. "Well, that's certainly one way to get in that's for sure." she said in that bright tone of hers. In no time at all she was following Anselm through the hole that was formed. As a precaution, she swept her arms above her head while closing her eyes, then forming between her hands was a bright flame to light their way.