Across a large expansive room, the futuristic workstations that line the perimeter have all gone dark, save the largest one found in the front of the room. A lone man can be seen, hunched over the long console. Sitting in one of the two chairs, he occasionally looks up at the multitude of screens that illuminate his face. The man seems to attack the buttons and nobs before him, fighting some unseen foe. A muted and eerie light seeps through large cracks and fractures that mar the once pristine surfaces of the room around him.

The man looks over at a side screen displaying the outline of a young man’s body, and sighs in relief, “Finally, It’s made it past the heart… Wait, it’s about to reach the connection… Shit, it’s spreading faster!”

The room suddenly shakes violently and the man swears again as he reaches out in time to catch a half empty cup of coffee from spilling across the console. Lifting the cup to his mouth, his movement is arrested as he squints, seeing something in the large screen in the center. Reaching out across the console he turns a dial and the sounds from outside can be heard. The forest is deathly silent, except for the whimpering cries of a being who has long past lost the energy to scream. The image is marred by a clear but wavy film. Muttering can be heard as the man presses another button. The image in the screen goes dark then returns, clearer.

What is revealed is the view of a tranquil forest scene. Only it is displayed at an odd angle. Trees grow from the bottom left side of the screen up to the top right.

Movement, a small shadow can be seen, pushing its way out of the brush of the forest floor. When it steps into the light, filtering between the leaves of the canopy, it is clearly a creature that has seen better days. One arm is missing before the shoulder and its grey and long eared head is slightly caved in on one side. The short creature makes barely any noises as it shambles its way over towards the screen. As it gets closer, it is obvious to the man watching, that the shadows that hide the creatures eyes are unnatural. It stumbles and a jerk of its head angles it high, the light of the sun touching everything but the dark orbs, and the smoky black clouds that orbit them in its skull.

The man mutters to himself and tries a few new buttons, “No magic, no magic… Where is it all going!”

His head jerks around and suddenly he lunges for a chair in the center of the room. He quickly grabs hold of the two joysticks embedded in the armrests. With frantic movements he manipulates the controls. As seconds pass, his movements become more and more desperate. The decrepit creature falls down just feet away and begins crawling forward, filling the screen with its gapping maw. The man slams his fists into the armrests and screams as he realizes he is helpless to change the fate of what lays before him.

Futility and anger wage a war in his cry, “No not again! Damn it, Danny! Not again!”