Godless Domain

After the initial shock set in, Zane followed me as we ran as fast as we could, desperate to get out of there.

My classmates and teacher briefly crossed my mind, but I wasn't about to play the hero and risk becoming some monster's dinner.

We bolted through the school's front door and jumped over the gate, but as soon as we passed, something strange happened. Everything around us was eerily calm—no destruction, no monsters, just a normal day.

"Hey, Kade, tell me honestly. Am I going crazy?" Zane asked, sounding like he was on the verge of losing his mind.

"Going? You've been crazy since the day I met you," I replied, trying to lighten the mood.

"Nah, man. Not like that. I mean... what was that? Did you see it?" Zane's voice wavered slightly as he asked.

"Yeah, I saw it... well, I think I did. I don't know. It's like I'm going crazy myself," I admitted, still unsure of what I had actually witnessed.

"Then how come everything's so normal now?" Zane asked, clearly confused.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" I muttered.

"Let's just wait a bit, calm down, and head back inside. Maybe we were just seeing things," Zane suggested, trying to make sense of the situation.

I shook my head. "Ain't no way. I'm not sticking around to find out if I'm going crazy or if that was real. If I saw what I saw, then the world's about to end. And if I'm imagining things, then I need a nap or something to calm down. Either way, I'm going home." I started walking toward my house, still questioning whether I was losing my mind.

I pulled out my phone to call Elara, but the signal was out.

"Zane, let me borrow your phone," I said, feeling the weight of the situation growing heavier.

Zane handed it over, but when I checked, his phone was just as useless. "Well, isn't this convenient?" I muttered under my breath.

"Zane, you coming back to mine?" I asked, glancing at him.

His parents would kill him if he ditched school again, and there was no way he could tell them, "Hey, I thought I saw a monster and skipped school." That would earn him a lifetime sentence of punishment. No sane parent would believe an excuse like that.

The walk home was quicker than this morning's trek. The joy of seeing my house pushed away the fog of anxiety clouding my thoughts. Elara wouldn't be mad if I came home early—just disappointed. She'd tell Dad, and that would be a problem for later. For now, I just needed rest.

I snuck in through the front door with Zane in tow, carefully making sure we wouldn't be caught. I didn't see Elara's house keys, so she was probably out shopping, which was a relief.

We made our way up to my room and collapsed onto my bed.

"Man, maybe the experts are right—video games mess with our brains. Can you imagine? We probably just imagined that whole thing," Zane said, trying to make light of the situation.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, but it's weird. We both saw it. Something doesn't feel right," I replied, still feeling uneasy.

"Nah, don't read too much into it, bro. We're fine. We made it back to your house, and everything's okay. Besides, where's Selene?"

I glared at him. "I'll break your jaw before you finish that stupid sentence."

Zane chuckled, "Calm down, son. Gosh, for someone who complains about her nonstop, you're oddly touchy when anyone brings her up."

"Yeah, yeah..." I grumbled. But before we could continue, a loud smash echoed from outside.

I jumped up and rushed to the window. When I saw what was out there, a cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck. I quickly turned around and started rummaging under my bed, asking shakily, "Zane, you like RPGs, right?"

"Yeah..." Zane replied, sitting up, confusion evident in his voice.

"You know those small, midget-sized creatures that kind of waddle around in groups? They're ugly as hell."

"You mean goblins?" Zane asked, his voice suddenly more serious.

"Yeah, goblins. In the games, they're usually green. Hypothetically speaking, can they come in different colors?" I asked, finally pulling out my baseball bat.

"Well, yeah. Green's just the standard for novelty purposes, but they could be any color, I guess. They're fictional creatures," Zane replied, still unsure of where I was going with this.

"Yeah, about that... I don't think they're so fictional," I said, motioning for him to look out the window. Just in time, we both saw a group of three goblins emerging from my neighbor's house.

The sight of the goblins made my heart race, and I could feel my palms sweating. This wasn't some twisted fantasy or a weird hallucination—I was staring at real, living creatures, and they were too close for comfort.

Zane and I exchanged a look, both of us frozen, unsure of what to do next.

"They... they can't be real," Zane whispered, his voice tinged with disbelief.

"I thought the same thing," I muttered, still gripping the baseball bat in my hand. "But if that's what they are, then we're in serious trouble."

One of the goblins turned toward the street, its ugly face twisted in a grotesque sneer. It had warty, mottled skin that was an odd shade of purple. It looked just like something out of one of those RPGs Zane loved, only a hell of a lot more menacing in real life.

The goblins didn't seem to notice us yet, too busy rummaging through the remains of what looked like my neighbor's house. They were fast, too—scrambling around like savages, breaking things, throwing debris aside. It was like they were looking for something... or someone.

I felt a sickening chill crawl up my spine. My mind raced with thoughts, but they were all jumbled, all of them pointing to the same terrifying possibility: the world I knew was no longer the same.

"We can't just sit here," I whispered urgently, my eyes scanning the room for anything that could help. The bat wasn't going to cut it against... that.

"What do we do?" Zane asked, his voice shaky. His usual bravado was gone. For once, he seemed as scared as I felt.

"First, we need to stay quiet," I replied, holding my finger to my lips. "They're not looking for us... yet. We'll sneak out the back and head for the woods behind my house. If we can make it there without being seen, maybe we can figure out what the hell's going on."

Zane nodded, his usual cocky demeanor replaced with cautious seriousness. We both crouched low, moving toward the door as quietly as we could. I motioned for him to follow me, but then I froze, hearing the unmistakable sound of footsteps approaching the front of the house.

Shit.

I gestured for Zane to hide under the bed, and without a word, he scrambled to the side, pulling the blanket over himself just as the door creaked open.

Through the narrow gap in the curtains, I watched as one of the goblins stepped into view. Its snout sniffed the air, its yellow eyes scanning the street. It looked directly at my window, and for a moment, I thought I was done for. But then it turned away, as if it hadn't noticed anything at all.

I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. That was way too close.

"Okay, now's our chance," I whispered, motioning to Zane.

We made our way out the back door, sneaking into the yard. The cool air felt like a slap in the face as we stepped out into the open. I didn't look back—I didn't want to know if the goblins were following us. The only thing on my mind was getting to safety.

But then, something clicked.

"What if we stay?" I said, surprising myself. "We don't have to run. We can fortify the house, keep it as a base. It's familiar. It's got everything we need."

Zane looked at me, his eyebrows furrowed. "Are you serious? With goblins outside? You wanna turn the house into a... a fortress?"

I exhaled slowly, rubbing my face. "It's the best shot we've got. If we run now, we're only making ourselves vulnerable. But if we stay, we can figure out what's going on. We can defend ourselves here, regroup, and—"

"And what? Wait until it gets worse?" Zane interrupted. His tone was sharp, but I could see the hesitation in his eyes. "Kade, I don't know if staying's a good idea. We have no clue how many of them there are out there. What if we end up getting trapped?"

I stood there for a moment, weighing the options in my head. "We'll make a plan. We'll secure the house, get supplies. If the goblins start closing in or the situation gets worse, we can bail. But for now, we stick it out."

Zane looked at me, considering my words. He let out a long sigh. "Alright, fine. But we better have some good weapons around here."

"Trust me, I'm not going in without a fight," I replied, already starting to turn back toward the house.

We crept cautiously back to the house, making sure the coast was clear. I didn't know if we were making the right decision, but it felt like the best option at the time.

Sneaking inside, we moved quickly to the kitchen to gather anything useful. I found a couple of knives in the drawer, a hammer from the toolbox in the garage, and a baseball bat I kept in the corner of my room for self-defense. We took what we could find, stacking it in the living room.

Zane was rummaging through the pantry when I suddenly heard a loud crash from outside. My heart skipped a beat as I rushed to the window.

I froze.

There, at the edge of my yard, was a group of goblins—three of them, just like before—but this time, they were closer, making their way toward the house.

"Shit," I muttered under my breath. "They're coming. We need to get ready."

Zane ran over to my side, his eyes wide with alarm. "What do we do now? We're not ready for this."

I grabbed the bat tightly, steeling myself. "We defend the house, Zane. We're not letting them take it. If they want us, they'll have to go through us first."

Zane nodded, his hand gripping the hammer he'd found. "Alright, man. Let's do this."