The front door of Dr. Claire's empty mansion swung open. James stumbled out, walking out of the house and into the front yard.
He had won. James couldn't believe he had done it. He had sent Annul Sjena back, along with his horrific minions, and saved the entire earth from destruction. It almost felt too good to be true, and James wouldn't have believed he could ever have done something like this.
James looked up at the sky. The sun was rising, casting brilliant orange colors to the north. It felt warm today, unlike last night, where it had been cold. It was going to be a beautiful day.
James smiled at the sun. He had thought he would die in the mansion, and never see its light again. James had expected himself to be killed. In fact, he should have died last night, will all the fights he had with monsters. But no. He had survived each encounter and finally escaped the mansion.
James looked back at the mansion. In the morning sun, it didn't look so ominous anymore. In fact, it almost looked beautiful. James smiled once more, and began to slowly trudge toward the front gate. It was time to leave this place and go home. Take a nice hot bath, and sleep for about eight hours.
Suddenly, there was a rustle in the bushes. James turned, and saw a squirrel scampering out of the garden to the left of the path. It had a nut clutched in its mouth, and looked at James for a minute, its little nose twitching. Then it scampered across the path, going for the bushes.
But then, something shot out of the bushes and grabbed the squirrel. The squirrel shrieked, dropping its nut and struggling to get free. James gasped when he saw what holding the squirrel. It was a hand, a hand at the end of a twisted leg.
A multi-legged creature emerged from the bushes, crawling in James's direction. Without taking its eyes off James, it grabbed the squirrel's head with a second leg-arm and with a mighty tug, ripped the squirrel's head off. Still watching James, the multi-legged creature turned the headless squirrel over, dumping dripping blood from the squirrel's neck into its toothless mouth.
"N-no," James stammered, backing away from the multi-legged creature, which was crawling closer and closer. "You monsters w…were sent back! I finished the passage! Your supposed to be gone!"
More rustling came from the surrounding bushes, and faceless creatures emerged from the bushes, their heads all twitching together. They all pointed at James, and said, simultaneously, "VESSSSEL."
"NO!" James screamed. He was unarmed, having left his weapons in the basement. "Stay back!"
A pair of hands grabbed the back of his neck. James hit the hands hard with his left fist, and they let go. James looked behind him, and saw three more faceless creatures blocking his way to the gate. He was surrounded.
James backed away, turning in every direction. The multi-legged creature gave a hideous screamed, crawling around James. James kicked out at it, but the creature didn't retreat.
"NO!" James screamed, his heart pounding and sweat dripping down his collar. "I…I won! I saved the world! I…I…I-"
Suddenly, the ground trembled. The faceless creatures halted in their tracks, and started to sway back and forth. The multi-legged creature back away to the edge of the group of monsters, drinking more blood from the dead squirrel.
There was a loud crack, and a massive hole opened up in the ground, right in front of James. Red smoke began to flow out of it, encircling James.
"I…sent you back," James said, his eyes wide with shock and horror. "I…I…completed the passage!"
Annul Sjena laughed, and said, "You almost did, little worm. You did send me back, back to the dark plane of incomprehensible madness. But you did not trap me there. I was free to re-enter your world, the kingdom of foolish worms. Worms who shall soon be…eaten."
"What...but how?" James screamed. "I said the passage exactly! I read what was there!"
"You did," Annul Sjena said, sounding like it was enjoying James's anguish. "Except for one tiny, little, detail. In the final, critical sentence, you mispronounced Shanozeb. An easy thing to miss, but, unfortunately…fatal if you do. And, luckily for me, you did."
James tried to speak, but Annul Sjena cut him off. "Enough of your petty worm talk! I have waited many hours for this moment, and I shall not waste anymore time speaking with a thing barely a minute old in the grand universe. Kill him! Kill the worm!"
James turned, and a faceless creature's hands grabbed him by the throat. It began to strangle him. James clawed at the faceless creature's hands, raising his foot to kick it. But the multi-legged creature grabbed his arms and legs with four of its leg-arms, pinning them to the ground.
James gasped for air, and the world began to get blurry. The red smoke grew larger, blotting out the sun from James's vision, and Annul Sjena laughed.
"Die!" Annul Sjena roared. "Die, you insignificant animal! DIE! DIE!"
And, a few moments later, James gave one last futile gasp for air, and he stopped struggling. His eyes rolled back, growing dark, no more life in them. The faceless creature let go of his neck, and James's corpse fell, hitting the ground.
The red smoke instantly twisted into a serpentine shape, and flew downward. The smoke went inside James's mouth, disappearing into his body. The multi-legged creature released James's body, and back away. All the faceless creatures looked down at James's corpse, their heads twitching faster and faster.
Then, James's fingers twitched. His arms moved, pushing the ground and James rose to his feet. There was no more color in his features, and marks were on his neck where the faceless creature had strangled him to death.
Then, James's eyes snapped open. His eyes were no longer a normal color. His pupils were bright red, seemingly to glow. He no longer had any iris's and his mouth stretched into a wide smile.
Then, James spoke. But his voice was not his own. It was the voice of Annul Sjena.
"This worm's flesh is most uncomfortable," Annul Sjena said, feeling his new arms and face. "How can these worms live, when they are so constricted? So bound in tightly woven bodies, never changing."
"But, it matters not," Annul Sjena said. "I have been given flesh on this world, as was foretold when I was given life. This foolish worm thought he could change fate. But you never can, you can only run from it. Everything is predestined, and it was always said I would possess his dead body!"
Annul Sjena smiled, and stretched his arms out to sky. "Now," He hissed. "Now begins the destruction of this puny world. And the beginning of the end for these insects, these pitiful mortals, these cockroaches crawling along the surface of this earth. And the beginning of my eternal rule!"
Red clouds began to gather overhead, blotting out the sun's rays. Annul Sjena roared with laughter, and black portals began to open around him. Thousands of dark shapes began to emerge from them. And they began to appear in every corner of the world as well, releasing the thousands of monsters Annul Sjena had twisted into shape and being.
The Apocalypse had begun.