-4 weeks ago-
Sei stood there on the balcony of the hospital building, breathing heavily. Her life was in the making right now…and she was about to make an important choice. She stood there holding the papers in her hands, clenching onto them for dear life. All she had to do was look and then the pain would be either over or just beginning, but it weighed down her hands just like a tank of water. She couldn’t even glance at it.
“So…Sei how did you do?” Behind Sei she heard the voice of her boyfriend. “I don’t know mike” Sei sighed slowly looking at her boyfriend. In his eyes she saw a creamy smile, it looked faked. She knew he was also worried but kept an optimistic view which could be easily layered back to not seem patronizing.
“I…trie- “Sei was abruptly cut off by Mike “No…you didn’t try…you did it…perfectly” he said. Now walking up to her slowly, the wind seemed to slow down like Mike was controlling it. “I know you did” he smiled, this smile was genuine. “I…k-know but what if I made a mistake. Everyone does at some point in their life and perhaps this is mine now. After 4 years of training and all this knowledge…I…I can’t have done wrong…right?
Mike laughed “Exactly…4 years…that’s 15% of your life Sei”. Sei looked down at the piece of paper and then she saw Mikes shadow across over hers fusing into a beautiful one. “What’s the matter then”. Sei looked up at Mike saw the worried expression in his face “Tell me honestly.” she walked towards the balcony ledge “If I were to fail this exam…would you still stay with me?”.
Mike held her hands softly looking at her eagerly “Sei…even if you were far gone in your own sorrow…or you didn’t love me anymore…I would still stay with you…forever”. They stood there cheerily and embraced each other. “This isn’t the end of our relationship Sei…it’s only the beginning”.
-4 weeks later-
“I know you love me…I know you won’t hurt me” said Mike with tears now forming in his eyes. “Remember…we promised our relationship would never end…that it’s only just beginning…”.
He fell to his knees in front of the monster “please Sei…don’t”. The creature looked at him and saw the reflection in his eyes, the monster Sei was.
But it wasn’t enough.
The monster raised one of its claws and pierced Mikes eye through his skull. He didn’t even scream he just stopped functioning. He fell to the ground, dead. The second of the five.
Erick however screamed, which brought attention to the monster “Why…Mike…why!?” But his confusion was interrupted by a knock at the door, and then it opened. Behind the door was both of Erick’s friends Maisy and Seth. They had witnessed the horror and were as scared as Erick.
“What the fuck are you doing here” Erick says quickly. The creature was now advancing towards them “Quickly with me!!” he shouted. He grabbed both of their hands and ran upstairs. Away from the monster…away from the tradegy.
-1 week ago-
Jonathan lay there in the hospital bed, awakened from his sedatives. He looked around with panic on his face but was calmed by his brother Ryan.
“Where…where am I?” Jonathan asked, confused and pale. Ryan stood there with tears in his eyes “Jonathan…your okay”. Jonathan realized where he was and immediately water seeped into his eyes “What happened? Why am I in a hospital bed?”
“You w-were hurt…In an accident…do you remember what happened?” Ryan asked softly. Jonathan looked through his mind but only found shattered memories, like shards of glass scattered across a street. They were there but they were broken.
“I d-don’t know…” Jonathan struggled in his words. Ryan walked up to him and lowered down to hug him. “Well…let’s just say you were asleep and then you ended up here.
Now Jonathan was even more confused “But wait…why am I here then”. Ryan looked around with tears disappearing from his face “Don’t worry about it…it just needs to be forgotten. Ryan looked at the doctor’s report and held back the tears. Jonathan had 1 month to live. So, Ryan was going to make the most out of it and take Erick’s invitation.
-2 weeks earlier-
Jonathon was screaming “Wait…n-no don’t do this…I don’t need to be cured I’m fine. Please…I have a brother…I have a family don’t do this”.
The woman was now ignoring him completely pacing towards him. Jonathan struggled screaming out help me. But there was no answer…no help. Jonathan was stuck…there was no way out.
She plunged the needle into his shoulder, Jonathan cried in pain as the sharp point pierced his flesh, the mysterious contents were injected into his body “Well…this should be fun”.
“What have you d-done” Jonathan cried looking down as his veins and seeing them form at the surface of his skin “Just prolonging your life” the woman said.
“W-what” he said. He could feel the liquid flow through his body, it felt dense and heavy pushing through his veins and arteries fuelling his muscles with this unknown compound. “Didn’t you know…according to your vitals you only have 4 to 6 weeks to live, maybe that’s why you chose to visit my mansion”
“Yes…I am spelstorm and you are in my lab, So I have the right to heal you” She moved backwards. Jonathan was shocked, but the pain was growing in his right shoulder. He saw in horror as the bone cracked and displaced itself. Jonathan struggled in the shackles “Please…no!”. He twisted his arm and saw the veins were all visible, his arm now shaking from the pressure of the blood.
To his surprise he saw the muscles in his arm inflate, pushing the flesh up. He couldn’t stop it. It was happening to his other arm too; his bones were growing larger and so was his muscles. He pushed his arms forward trying to relieve the pain, but the pressure just made it worst, now inflating his chest as well, his clothes started ripping under his increased muscle mass.
His buttoned shirt being pulled up by his raging muscles. His entire body violently shaked as his legs started growing too. Now his entire body was three times bigger. He groaned “Make it stop!!” but he found his voice was deeper too. Suddenly his neck was pulled back and a bulge formed on it, making him growl with pain.
First his shoes gave way, the leather ripping off them. Them his shirt, the buttons shot off them flying everywhere. His jeans ripping on the lining. Jonathan had to stop this, he pulled at his shackles, he saw the metal bend and then snap. The woman cried in fear, falling over. Jonathan tried to stop her but she fell onto the cabinets pushing them over and releasing the vials all over the ground, smashing them. A piece of glass impaled his foot and Jonathan cried with pain.
The transformation was still happening, but the pain was gone. He ripped the floor shackles and saw blood on them. Just like when he first entered the basement. In fact, the entire room was just like the basement now. Smoke started pouring into the room
-Decontamination in progress-
Jonathan stood there in fear, now looking at his body he saw he was 5 times bigger and nearly 10 feet. His skin was pale with the veins still at the surface. Although it was painful Jonathan liked the change, he flexed his muscles. But now the smoke was making the room hard to see through.
He looked down at the woman, there was a shard of glass through her neck she was dead. But he then heard footprints and stood up. From the mist…he saw his brother. Ryan.
-Erick’s Group-
Erick was still shocked, Mike was dead. Impaled by the piano thing. His friend…who he invited here. He felt partly to blame for his death. He should of grabbed him and made for the door. But what now about Seth and Maisy…why were they here now. Erick invited them, but he didn’t think they would come.
They went as far away as they could. They were now in some sort of attic. “So…are you going to tell me what the fuck you are doing here guys”.
Maisy was crying to herself and Seth looked at Erick accusingly “Can you give us a moment…Mike just died”. Erick sighed and looked at Seth “I thought you were busy tonight”.
“Well plans change genius” Seth said “And I don’t think you have the right to questions…so let me ask you the question, what…the…fuck is going on here.
“Okay fine” Said Erick, he explained his 1st and 2nd encounter with Sei…when he encountered his body and his experience with Mike. Seth was most worried about the second one and so was Erick now. He had completely forgotten about his future death and by staying here longer it was becoming more of a possibility. “I….know it looks bad…and it is, but right now we need to get the fuck out of here” said Erick.
“No…” Seth said, now standing up and looking at Maisy “We need to find Jonathan and Ryan”. Maisy looked up “Wh-what”.
“Are you really kidding me Seth...they are probably dead by now” Erick questioned her. He knew Seth liked adventure and this sort of thing. But the difference between hiking and this was this was real. “How do you know that…for all you know, they could be locked up somewhere…wondering where we are”.
“Seth…this isn’t some horror movie where the heroine of the story, gets to make the decisions…this is real life and I don’t care if you have feelings for Ryan we are not going anywhere near that danger…understood”. Erick said angrily. Seth smiled angrily at him “You know what this is” …she brought out a picture on her phone of the seven of them together “This is bond…a strong bond…which we as friends do not break…I am not letting my fantasy of Ryan cloud my judgement and you know what I have a fetish for danger…so you can sit here being a pussy while I got out there and try to find Ryan and Jonathan…apeshe.”
Maisy had stopped crying and looked at Seth “I’ll come…I want to make sure they are okay too.” They both looked at Erick who was shocked. He really was the idiot here “Well… I guess I can’t leave my friends in some dungeon…lets go exploring adventurers”. He stood up and put the house map down on the table.
“We’ll split up…Seth you explore the basement…I’ll explore the landing and first floor and Maisy you explore the second floor…and if any of you see or hear Sei…don’t try to reason with her because we’ve all seen what she’ll do. Right…let’s move.”
-Ryan-
“What…. what happened to you bro?” Ryan said shocked with Jonathans new condition, he seemed to tower over Ryan, and it made Ryan feel scared. Was this his brother anymore or was it a monster just like that creature from before “I…don’t know” said Jonathan slowly, his voice was deep way deeper than Ryan’s. It came as a shock to Ryan as it did to Jonathan. “I was injected with this thing, but the woman who did it…I think I killed her”. Ryan could see now with the mist clearing a second body, it was of a woman with blood pouring out her head.
“How did you get here” Jonathan said, “I…don’t know” Ryan replied, now that he found Jonathan he was confused where to go, yes, he knew he was in a lab, but he didn’t remember how he got there. “We need to get out of here, there’s no time to wait”.
-Jonathan-
Ryan made for the door but was stopped by Jonathan “Wait…I just want to confirm something…The woman said I only had 4 to 6 weeks to live…Is that true Ryan”. Ryan stayed silent, the truth was enriched all over his face. It was guilty but filled with sadness. The emotions were flooding through his face like a light show. “…Yes, it is true”. Jonathan was shocked with tears in his eyes he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me”, he slowly advanced towards Ryan and Ryan was getting more scared. Jonathan felt betrayed, why wouldn’t his own brother tell him.
“The doctor told me after your accident, I was shocked and scared. I was going to lose my brother. So, I made the greatest sacrifice, I was going to tell you but after I gave you everything, make the last days of your life meaningful and fun. If you knew you were going to die would you want to go with me. No, you would be wrapped with self-grief, incapable of leaving it behind. I didn’t tell you…to save you…I’m sorry Jon.”
Jonathan didn’t know what to think “Well…we’ll talk about it more later, but that’s a good enough apology for now. Anyway, I think I was cured of whatever I had, so lets just standing around and get out of here”.
Ryan smiled, but suddenly pain wrapped over his face, he fell to the ground clutching his chest. Jonathan walked towards him shocked. “What just happened!?” Jonathan said.
-Ryan-
He had completely forgot about his brief showdown with that monster, his chest was stinging. It was in constant pain but then it died down as quickly as it begun. “What just happened!? Jonathan said to Ryan. Ryan decided to keep it a half-secret “Coming down here, I was attacked by something, hit me good in the chest and then I woke up here”. Jonathan pulled Ryan up with amazing efficiency.
“Right let’s go”. Ryan said, they both walked out of the room and to their surprise they were back in the basement of the manor.
-Maisy-
She had never been so scared in her life: First that monster; then Mikes brutal death and now this sneaking around a haunted house.
She looked down the corridor ahead of her and saw only darkness, it was weird how dark it was, but she remembered something Erick said about the darkness being a presence. She walked slowly forward until she was in some sort of library, above her was a skylight the room was quiet, but it felt alive.
But the weirdest thing about the room was at the back there was a table with a book opened on the first page, she walked slowly towards it and investigated it.
The Spelstorm Horror
Arrived 5, they explored and wondered. The first to go was the girl, captured and stored, transformed into something horrific and tuned. Then the next, impaled by their love and transformed into something horrible and tuned. Then arrived 2 more scared and confused one of them was and determined was the other. They separated in 1’s and explored the mansion.
1 would become 3.
1 would encounter their demise.
1 would see true fear.
Maisy stopped reading, she was horrified but there was something else too. Behind her she heard a low but deep groaning, she crept slowly behind a bookcase and stayed silent.
In came a pair of huge footsteps. Maisy was scared for her life, she tried holding her breath, but she was too scared too. She just wanted it to end. The footsteps got louder, she could hear the breathing, it was deep but untuned like it was broken or hurt, in complete sadness.
She looked around slowly as the footsteps got quieter and saw a being 4 times bigger than were, muscles inflate on their body, covered in fur. The claws were outstretched as well as the hands. It left the room and turned the corner. She waited for what must have been 5 minutes before she got up just to be sure. She went back to the book and exanimate it. Listed were names of all 7 of them but also 3 others, Maisy was confused but looked anyway.
Victor Grams
Karissa Spelstorm
Sei Everdeen
Mike Sampson
Erick James
Ryan Levees
Seth Julie
Charlotte Frederick
Jonathan Levees
Maisy Grove
It was all their names, she decided to keep the book and put it in her bag. It could be useful later. But what confused her was the other 3 names. Who was Victor Grams, Karissa Spelstorm. Wait wasn’t the mansion called Spelstorm. As well as that who was this Charlotte Frederick. Maisy didn’t know what to think.
Suddenly a loud crashing was heard behind her, she heard a scream and turned around. She saw the skylight shatter. She screamed in terror and then saw body plummet onto the ground, it exploded into blood and guts and covered Maisy. She screamed again, trying to wipe off the blood. She walked fearfully toward the remains and saw her friends head. She gasped and ran out of the room.
-Seth-
Seth didn’t know what Erick was playing at, wanting to abandon their friends. Then again Erick was never close to Ryan or Jonathon like Seth was. Seth has known Ryan since the fifth grade and Jonathan his little brother nearly as long. They were basically family to her and she wouldn’t leave them behind. Of course, she knew about Jonathans condition which was the main reason she didn’t go. She was angry with Ryan about not telling Jonathan and she wouldn’t stand around and act with the lie.
She felt like their entire relationship was resting on Jonathan which was why she had to find him. If not for his sake but for hers. As well as that Seth thought of herself as an adventurer. In fact, she found the whole thing interesting, but seeing Mike die in front of her left this feeling. She felt sorry for Maisy, Maisy was a big worrier and she hoped she was okay on her own.
Seth illuminated the basement it was dark, but she could make out broken shelves and shattered glass bottles on the ground. Time didn’t do this to this place, someone did. But to her surprise she saw something on the floor which wasn’t broken. It was a crimson book opened on the second page. She looked at it and read a few of the lines.
The remaining 6 were terrified after witnessing the heavens open, they made for an escape, but she wouldn’t let them all go. Next, he was the one to go, with the white light sculpting his skin and body. They were let go but not for long they only made it to the end of the gravel path before she wanted someone else.
Seth stopped reading, what was this story all about, she turned to the first page but to her surprise saw 5 pictures.
One was a picture of a beefed-up monster with pale skin.
One was a picture of a slender black creature.
One was a picture of a giant spider.
One was a picture of a werewolf.
One was a picture of a lizard.
Seth recognised two of them, the first two. The first one looked like Jonathan but something else. The second one was the creature they encountered before the one which killed Mike. It was Sei. Where their friends becoming monsters. Was it too late for Jonathan. She was confused by the last three, where they people yet to transform, Seth didn’t know.
But suddenly she heard voices coming from downstairs, there was a basement inside of a basement. Seth chuckled of course there was.
“Well…we’ll talk about it more later, but that’s a good enough apology for now. Anyway, I think I was cured of whatever I had, so let’s just standing around and get out of here”
She then heard a familiar scream, it was Ryan. She walked a little faster still a little bit weary if this was just another trap. “What just happened!? Said a deep but also familiar voice it was Jonathan he was still alive, they both were. “Coming down here, I was attacked by something, hit me good in the chest and then I woke up here”. Seth turned around, there was nothing there thankfully.
“Right let’s go”. Seth was startled she didn’t know what to do hide or wait, she decided to wait and to her surprise saw Ryan walk out with a pale face and the creature she recognised before. “Seth what are you doing here!?” Ryan said as startled as her. Seth paced towards them both “I’m here looking for you…guys…I got some bad news…” Seth told them everything about Sei, Mike’s death and Erick’s possible fate and how they had to leave.
“Jeez it’s worst out here” Jonathan said. “What happened to you Jonathan?” Seth said concerned. So, Ryan told her everything which happened in the lab including his encounter with one of the monsters. “So, you were in a lab and then ended up here…But how’s that possible”.
Ryan chuckled “I think we’ve all seen a little bit more than possible today”. “So, there’s time shifts going on as well as teleportation…this mansion gets weirder every second I stay here”. Seth said jokingly. She was so happy they were alive. “Right now, we need to find Erick and Maisy”. The three of them walked out with their shadows combining into 1.
-Erick-
Erick felt so bad about Mikes death. It was his fault he should have dragged Mike through those doors. Now there was no escape for them. His fate was getting closer by the minute, Erick could feel it.
Erick was back in the landing; His plan was to take on the monster which killed Mike and get revenge. He had grapped a sawed-off shotgun in their saferoom but only found 3 rounds. He didn’t even know if he could kill it. Maybe the monster was indestructible. He walked down to Mikes body. It was still there with blood still spilling out of his eye.
Erick decided to close the other one “I’m sorry buddy…this is all my fault”. Suddenly Mikes arm shot up and grapped Erick by the neck “Yes, it is…you did this to me”. Erick tried to scream but he couldn’t. Mike was holding onto him tightly. But Erick knew whatever it was, it wasn’t Mike anymore. Suddenly his head tilted backwards and Erick could hear the neck cracking. He growled demonically “You are my puppets and I will use you for eternity”. It wasn’t Mikes voice anymore but a monster. His eyes grew startling red.
Then Erick saw it. Mikes arm was twitching, the skin underneath it ripping his clothes, his arms were growing longer and thinner and the skin texture disappearing and becoming hard and marrow. The creature screamed in pain letting go of Erick. “Witness…my power…to change the will of a human and their soul to a monster”. Mike head cracked backwards again, both of his arms more spider like with long claws at the end, his legs swiftly followed. Mike fell to the ground ripping off his clothing…seemingly enjoying the transformation. His entire body had lost its skin texture and was now a hard exoskeleton. His bones in his back cracked and grew, forming a large oval rear.
His face seemed to be melting, his one eye turning into millions. His teeth growing fangs. Mandibles growing out his face he let out a monstrous roar. His entire body had transformed into the way of a spider. Erick slowly walked backwards terrified “Who are you!!” Erick screamed.
The creature to his horror spoke back to him “I am Charlotte Frederick and you are all under my dominion”. The spider cackled and slowly advanced towards Erick. Erick being in absolute fear.