Multi-Dimensional Merchant System

Standing outside the abandoned high school, Oliver could feel the rift somewhere inside. Rather than emanating from a specific point, the sense of wrongness seemed to blanket the area like a fog of corruption. His 'sixth sense', being new and strange to him still, was thrown into chaos the moment he set foot on the property.

“I guess I have to search the hard way...” Oliver sighed, only to wince at the stabbing pain in his chest. “I am not looking forward to fighting another of those things, especially with a cracked rib.”

He hesitated only for a second before stepping through the broken window-likely the exit point of the creature he killed- and into the front entry of the school. There wasn't much he could do about the injury, anyway. And he could deal with the pain... As long as he was careful to protect his injured side. The last thing he wanted was punctured lung. Or worse.

Mentally shaking off the stray thought, Oliver focused on his surroundings. The entry was laid out much as he expected. A desk arced out from the wall to his left, likely where a secretary or some sort of administrator sat to welcome people. Behind it was a row of offices- though they lacked any nameplates, he imaged they were for the Principal and other administrators.

Oliver eased open the door to the first office, tense and ready to react in an instant. His eyes scanned the empty room quickly before he closed the door. Pulling a black marker from the warehouse,

he drew a quick 'X' on the door to help him track what rooms he had cleared before moving on to the next office.

Zigzagging his way down the hall, Oliver checked and marked every door he came to. Most were completely barren, having been cleaned out when the school closed. A few had remnants left from more recent visitors- beer bottles, discarded needles, a tattered sleeping bag, and even a lone shoe... Things discarded or lost by transients, or teenagers that just wanted a place to party.

Reaching the center of the building where the hall he was in intersected another, Oliver glanced in each direction as he considered which way to go. Nothing stood out in particular, so he turned left without hesitation.

“Always go left in the dungeon... I hope video game logic helps me out here...” He muttered to himself.

Oliver was on the last pair of rooms along this stretch of hall, near where another set of doors led out to a walkway between buildings, when an ear piercing shriek cut through the air. His vision wavered for a moment as the unnatural sound seemed to strike directly at his soul. Pushing away the sensation with a shake of his head, Oliver turned to face back down the hall where the sound had come from.

Past the intersection he was at just a few minutes before, all the way at the end of the hall, another entity rounded a corner.

Staring at the creature from a couple hundred feet, Oliver was surprised- not by the presence of another creature, but by the shriek it had let loose. The one he had fought before hadn't made a single sound, not even when he drove his blade through it's chest or shot it. Was this a different type of creature? It looked nearly identical to the other one, so maybe they just have some small variances in their behavior?

The creature opened its mouth to shriek again, but Oliver was prepared this time. A small shudder ran down his spine as the sound crashed down on him, but he was otherwise unaffected... And, when its scream didn't seem to bother him, the creature charged.

Expecting the incredible speed of the creature, Oliver reacted instantly. His favorite gun, the FAL, appeared in his hands as he dropped to a knee to help steady his shot... And more easily line up his target. As the gap between them closed, he held his breath for a split second and gently squeezed the trigger.

A victorious smirk flashed across his face at the shot, his bullet catching the creature in its leading leg mid-step. The damage was obviously less than it would have been on a person... But even these ridiculously strong creatures couldn't ignore physics. This one couldn't, at least.

The impact managed to drive the leg out from under it, sending the creature tumbling head over heels. Somehow, the thing's ridiculous agility and speed allowed it to turn the tumble into a roll.

Still off balance from the unexpected acrobatics, it wasn't prepared for Oliver's assault. The rifle disappeared and was immediately replaced by the Psi Blade. Seeing the creature unable to mount a proper defense, he lunged forward. Despite the grinding pain in his side, it was a textbook thrust. His blade pierced through where the eyes should have been on the creature, and it instantly collapsed.

Still, he dismembered the corpse to be safe.

“Sorry, I've watched too many zombie movies not to double tap... Err, not really a double tap, since I'm using a sword.”

“Why the hell am I talking to a monster corpse?”

Oliver paused at the sheer ridiculousness of the moment before shrugging it off. He knew it was likely just the stress and tension of the situation bleeding off, but it didn't really matter.

At least he had a bit more direction now. He really doubted the creature had just been wandering aimlessly around the abandoned building. The first one didn't have a problem getting out and finding someone to prey on, after all. Maybe they sense people the way he had sensed them? That felt right, as they clearly didn't have eyes or ears...

A worrying thought came to his mind... The persistent aura of wrongness was messing with his sense of things... but he doubted it hindered them at all.

They could sense him, but he couldn't sense them.

After the shrieks of the last creature, and the ensuing fight, the silence felt oppressive. Psi Blade in hand, Oliver cautiously made his way to the corner the creature had come from. Rounding the corner, he saw more of the same: rows of classroom doors on either side of the hall, all of them closed.

He nearly cursed aloud when a thought hit him: the creatures didn't know how to open doors.

The door to the home where he fought the first one was broken in, but that could be excused as it having been locked. But the broken window at the front entry? The doors may have been locked, but they weren't chained... And school doors could always be opened from the inside because of fire codes.

Just to be sure, Oliver hurried back to one of the exterior doors. With a single push on the bar, he heard the click of the lock disengaging and the door swung open. Hurriedly pulling the door closed again, he glanced around to make sure another creature wasn't sneaking up on him.

“Ok, so closed doors probably don't hide the Rift. This lack of information is killing me... Hopefully not literally, though. That would suck.”

With a shake of his head, Oliver marched down the hall again. Without having to check every door he came across, it only took a few minutes to find the Rift- the shattered doors were a clear sign he was in the right place.

His eyes were immediately drawn to the jagged tear in reality itself. Eerie purplish light seemed to leak from the edges of the hole in space. It hovered just above the floor, and was only about four feet tall. Perhaps two feet at its widest, it narrowed to ragged points at the top and bottom. It seemed to pulse rhythmically, like a heartbeat... Or blood pumping through a festering wound.

Oliver's vision began to dim, and he could hear whispers in the distance that didn't make sense. Crazed rants and manic chants, nonsensical words strung together into the gibbering clamor of insanity...

Tearing his gaze away from the Rift, he heaved a deep breath and let the pain from his broken rib ground him firmly in reality once more.

“If you gaze for long into an abyss...”

Oliver trembled with fear for a moment. The crazy fight in the library to protect Sophia, facing off against a vampire, even dealing with the entities for this Bounty... None of it had truly gotten to him like seeing the Rift.

Worse yet, he couldn't even truly call it madness. It was destruction. It wanted to destroy and consume everything, even his mind.

Even his soul.

And it was sitting smack in the middle of a high school gym.

He would have laughed if it hadn't shaken him so badly.