Alter earth
In the heart of the sprawling city, where neon lights flickered and the hum of distant machinery created an eerie symphony, A crimson eyed man with a listless expression found himself at a crossroads after a mundane job interview. The night unfolded with an ominous stillness as he ambled through dimly lit streets, the weight of aimlessness burdening his thoughts.
"Another day of nothing but the same old... I wonder if I screwed that up badly. I mean, I only answered the interviewer's honesty. Why would he get so angry?" Bram mused, his thoughts a disarray as he meandered his way home.
"I missed the gym today for that? The only part of life where I see improvement," he sighed internally, the disappointment of the day settling in. Unbeknownst to him, the air around him began to ripple with an otherworldly resonance, like the distant hum of a forgotten melody. It was in the aftermath of this job interview, on a night that seemed no different from any other, that the threads of his existence became entangled with the unknown.
As he approached the alley leading home, Bram couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss. "What is that? Is that a wolf? It's almost the size of a car," he thought, his eyes widening as the creature adorned itself in moonlight.
"Why is it so big, and why does its body look transparent like a jellyfish? Is that blue liquid its blood? Is it wounded? Who wounded it?" Bram's thoughts raced, a disarray of questions, yet he knew that he must escape. The creature's presence invoked a primal fear within him.
The city's atmosphere thickened, and an unnatural sound stirred the shadows. Intrigued, Bram followed the haunting melody that beckoned him towards the alleyway shrouded in darkness. It was there, amid the echoes of his own footsteps, that the air itself seemed to convulse, giving birth to a creature beyond imagination.
This ethereal entity materialized like a nightmare—a wolf-shaped specter with transparent organs, gelatinous and menacing. Claws extended from limbs wreathed in an invincible smoke, while a foaming mouth harbored sharp fangs. The creature exuded an aura of dimensions beyond comprehension.
In the face of this eldritch horror, Bram, propelled by a mix of curiosity and trepidation, chose to confront rather than retreat. The creature, sensing his presence, unleashed an otherworldly attack, a force that tore through the fabric of reality, leaving a vast crater in its wake. Miraculously, Bram managed to evade the onslaught, his instincts guiding him through the chaos.
Desperation clawed at Bram's senses as he seized what remained of a shattered signboard—a makeshift weapon forged from the urban decay surrounding him. With a bold and desperate move, he hurled broken pavement pieces at the spectral wolf, aiming not to injure but to enrage. The creature, responding to this calculated provocation, charged forward with a frenzied aggression, leaving an opening for Bram to exploit.
"Is this really happening? I should be running, but I can't look away," Bram thought, his fear and fascination entwining. Capitalizing on the creature's aggression, Bram lunged forward, the metal pole in his hands becoming an extension of his desperate will to survive. The struggle was fierce, a dance of survival between mortal and otherworldly. Claws clashed against makeshift weapons, and ethereal smoke swirled in the chaotic battleground.
In a calculated move, Bram aimed for the creature's vital organs, the transparent anatomy revealing its beating heart at the core. The struggle intensified as he sought to impale the creature's heart with the metal pole. The air crackled with tension as the two beings locked in a life-or-death struggle, the outcome uncertain.
The creature, wounded and enraged, retaliated with a swift and brutal counterattack. Claws raked across Bram's face, leaving a cut on his cheek as the price of the confrontation between two wounded beasts. The sting of pain added to the symphony of chaos, but Bram, fueled by a desperate determination, pressed on.
With a final thrust, Bram managed to impale the creature's heart, eliciting a pained wince from the otherworldly entity. The spectral wolf, now fatally wounded, collapsed to the ground, motionless. The alley fell silent, save for Bram's ragged breaths and the echoes of their fierce encounter.
Bruised, bloodied, and with a cut on his cheek as a visible reminder of the struggle, Bram staggered backward, his body weary but victorious. The invincible smoke that had surrounded the creature now dissipated, leaving behind a sense of eerie calm.
As Bram embraced the cold ground, the weight of his injuries and the profound exhaustion settled upon him. He now understood that survival came at a cost, and the price was etched on his face. Yet, in the aftermath of the ethereal battle, something within him shifted.
His connection to the world deepened, transcending the physical realm. His soul
seemed to be in harmony with the world, the rapid beats of his heart almost in rhythm with a foreign world. The wounds on his body began to heal as his being phased in and out of an intangible state. In the midst of pain and euphoria, darkness enveloped Bram, and the cold ground beneath him vanished.
Bram found himself in a void, neither here nor there. The disorienting nature of this new reality overwhelmed him. As he struggled to comprehend his surroundings, the echoes of a distant conversation reached his ears. A blonde woman with short, windswept hair and a tall, imposing man with locks as white as a snow-capped mountain discussed his fate.
"He's connected to the alter, but his soul is unstable, tuning into the alter frequency slowly," the blonde woman remarked, her keen eyes assessing Bram's ethereal state. Ignoring the tall man's inquiry about the fallen alter wolf, she declared with conviction, "We must take him to the union; that's the only way he'll live."
The two figures hastened towards Bram, their forms blurred as if shifting between realms. Unbeknownst to Bram, his ordeal was far from over, and the mysteries of this newfound connection to the alter world were just beginning to unfold.
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