His eyes snapped open, his chest heaving with ragged breaths. He was drenched in sweet, his sheets tangled around his legs. It was just a dream, he told himself as he remember his past horrors, but the memory of it lingered, seared into his mind like a branding iron. In the dream, Travis had found himself standing in a desolate, twilight realm. The sky was deep bloody red, and the air was thick with other worldly energy. Before him stood a figure shrouded in shadows, its presence seeming to warp the very fabric of reality.
Travis's form had shifted, his body contorting into that of a majestic, crimson humanoid beast. His skin pulsing with a soft, ethereal glow. Soon the two entities rushed each other, clashing fists, each determined to overcome the latter. Knocking Travis back, the figure spoke in a voice that was that was both ancient and eternal, its words dripping with contempt.
"You are weak, boy", it sneered. "You don't deserve to rule over this world".
Travis's fists were clenched, and he charged forward with a fierce battle cry. The two clashed in a flurry of punches and kicks, their movement lightening-fast as they exchanged blows. Despite his valiant efforts, he had been no much for the mysterious entity. It had toyed with him, its power overwhelming, and Travis felt himself being slowly, inexorably pushed back.
The entities fists rained down on Travis, each blow landing with precision and force. He stumbled backwards, his defenses crumbling, and the entity had seized the opportunity to deliver a crushing blow. As Travis consciousness slipped away, the entity's parting words had echoed in his mind.
"You not worthy of this world. You'll never be worth".
He threw off his covers and swung his legs over to the side of the bed, his heart still racing from the vivid dream. What did it mean? And who was the mysterious entity who bested him so thoroughly? And why did he look like a beast? All this he wondered. As he stood up and begun to pace around the room, Travis couldn't shake the feeling that the dream had been more than a product of his subconscious. It felt...real. Finally, he walked to his window and opened it, he could see that the sky was dark, the weather was cold, and a strong breeze could be felt.
"Looks like a storm's approaching", he muttered to himself as he stared into space.
The entities words still lingered in his mind, a constant reminder that Travis's destiny was intertwined with the mysterious world of beings known as Yokai and Kage, a world that existed beyond the veil of the mundane, linked to the human world by the mystical gates of Nirvana.
The neon lights of the casino cast a gaudy glow over the narrow alley, where three figures stumbled and laughed together. The air was thick with the smell of cheap booze and desperation. Lucas, a burly man with a scruffy beard, leaned against the wall, his eyes fixed on the woman, Foxy who was giggling and playfully pushing him away, "let me go, we can't do it here, it's too open", she said. The third member their little group, a skinny man named Kenny, was busy rummaging through his pockets, searching for a pack of cigarettes .
As they laughed and joked, the space around them begun to distort, like the surface of a pond on a windy day. The air seemed to ripple and bend, and a faint, pungent smell wafted through the alley. Lucas's eyes narrowed, his gaze fixed on the distorted space.
"What is going on?", he muttered, his voice low and uneasy. Foxy's laughter faltered and she took a step back, her eyes widened with fear. "I don't know", she whispered.
Kenny, still rummaging through his pockets looked up at Lucas when he finally heard the eerie silence. "Dude what's---". Lucas jerked his heard towards the distorted space. "Go check check it out", he ordered.
Kenny hesitated for a moment, then shrugged and stumbled towards the distorted space. As he approached, the ripple grew more pronounced, and the air seemed to vibrate with an otherworldly energy. Kenny peered into the distorted space, his eyes scanning the void. "I don't see anything", he called back to his friends, his voice laced with relief.
As he turned to walk back to Lucas and Foxy, a monstrous creature burst from the distorted space, its teeth sank into his upper torso, ripping him apart with sickening crunch. Lucas and Foxy froze in horror, their screams trapped in their throats as they watched their friend being torn apart. The creature's eyes glowed with an unnatural, bloodshot light, and its jaws were still open, ready to devour its next victim.
Lucas, enraged and saddened, fumbled for the rifle hidden in his pants, his eyes fixed on the creature and his hands shaking as he tried to aim at it. Before he could even fire a shot, the creature turned its attention to him. Its eyes seemed to burn with an inner fire as it charged towards Lucas, its jaws wide open. He tried to scram but his voice was frozen stiff in his throat. He tried to run but the intense fear had his legs rooted to the spot.
The creature's teeth sank into Lucas chest chest, and he felt his life force ebbing away. "Huh...so this is how I die. Is this...divine punishment? All I wanted was to have fun and indulge myself in pleasure. Is that really too much to ask", he thought as his life force kept on fading. He saw Foxy's face, terrified and trembling, her eyes wide with fear as she turned to run but it was too late.
The creature quickly quickly finished off with Lucas and launched at her, catching up to her mid-stride. Its jaws reaching through her skin, deeper and deeper as is claws ripped through her cloths and into her flesh. She let out a blood-curdling scream as she was dragged back into the darkness.