“Shriii” Grimwoli, the village chief belted out loud enough to get the attention of his entire tribe. Many quickly turned to look at him with respect and fear. While a select few others lackadaisical, positioned themselves near the back of the growing crowd.

  Normally Harkell wouldn’t pay any attention to the, in his mind, pathetically small goblin mage, but after his run in with a pack of Kobolds he was curious if the uniquely intelligent man had information he didn’t.

  Grimwoli licks his lips and clears his throat of all the gunk inside, but his voice still sounds gargled “A flickering blue portal has been found.” Seeing confusion on the faces of those around him, scoffs and continues. “I can tell your fucking dummies don’t know what that means” a few mucus filled coughs escape his lips “you know like from the fucking stories”

  Gasps of realization run through the crowd, most of the goblins are scared and start hurriedly rushing home to inform their families of the upcoming shift. Harkell, one of the few goblins wearing anything more than scraps, grips tightly on to his rusty magic axe. A grim spread wide across his face.

  ******

  Kyle Bradford, sighed as he set down his phone, yet again he failed to take a selfie. For the anti-social man the best he could realistically do is sign up for a dating app, but even that has proved too much for him. For several months now Kyle has been working up the confidence to “put himself out there” as his parents would always say.

  They both died in an accident a little over a year ago. Initially Kyle had been using his grief as an excuse to put off anything social, not that it really changed the amount of socializing he did. However, after finally finishing off the annoying process of dealing with his uncle's lawyers, receiving his parents inheritance and moving back into his family home; he figured it was time to start his life.

  That was 3 months ago and he had almost taken a selfie to sign up for the app at least 25 times now. At least he was getting closer he thought to himself, before fighting back tears. Much like every other day after finishing his shift at his work from home customer service job and failing to do the bare minimum human interaction, he faces plants into his bed.

  He swims in his thoughts get lost in many dark paths only reorienting himself and starting the cycle over before he starts crying. Sometimes it’s the stupid thoughts he dwells on, mistakes he made when was in middle school that he thinks irrevocably changed his image and made it impossible to be cool. Other times he hits an actual sore subject, something that isn’t just his depression and anxiety taking a minor issue seem like a big problem. He never got to say goodbye to his parents. He can’t focus on one problem for too long. He’s terrified that if he gives in and starts sobbing he won’t be able to stop. He was scared to spiral.

  ******

  Three hours later Kyle’s stomach started to growl, he always loses track of time when he gets like this. He lifts his face off his pillow and is immediately blinded by the light. He squints and slowly stumbles off his bed.

  “Why the fuck am I like this” *He says to himself, he picked up a nasty habit when he was young of vocalizing his negative thoughts. His voice low “I just want to die”. He grabs the THC vape from his desk, takes a massive hit, until he feels like throwing up.

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  His kitchen is clean, but the sink is filled with dishes. “God dammit” Kyle sighs as gets to the sink realizing he’ll have to wash his pot before he can start cooking. He puts on a pair of earbuds and starts up an audiobook.

  WRHOOOOOOOOO

  At the sound of what seems like a really large vacuum suddenly turning on Kyle jumps up abruptly, splashing himself with suds, soaking his shirt. He takes a wet hand to his head and slopilly takes out an earbud. “What the fuck was that”

  After not hearing anything for a few moments he continues. He eats his simple cheese noodle dish right out of the pot. “Fuck washing this thing again” He says as he places it back in the sink. He heads down to his basement to get some ice cream from the freezer.

  Kyle opens the door expecting the usually dark basement, but instead from next to the bottom of the stairs he sees a faint white glow “What the. Did I leave the freezer open again dammit” Kyle says before rushing down the stairs nearly falling as he does. When he gets to the bottom he’s confronted with a closed freezer and a tear in the world.

  As though reality itself were made of glass and someone took a ball peen hammer to it. Leaving it with a massive crack, almost a tear and several small cracks spidering from it. Each part of this strange crack is glowing, the main tear giving a bright glow, each of the small fragmented sections only faintly glimmer.

  Kyle freezes, unable to turn away from the jagged rend in the world. Again like when he’s in bed his perception of time warps. At some point his legs get tired and send aching signals through his body. Finally he shifts forward, still hardly thinking, he hesitantly lifts a hand and reaches towards the crack. As his hand is bathed in the glow his vision fills with light. When his eyes adjust he slowly opens them, in front of him a glowing box blocks his vision