“LET’S GET THIS BREAD” Jessica bellowed into her little brother's unexpecting ear, roaring with laughter when he screamed awake.

“JESUsfuckwhatwhere-, JESSICA!” Adam screamed, his head whipping around for any trace of his older sister, but she was poof gone, like a fart in the wind.

And then, “BOO!” she was right behind him all along! He must have jumped just about a meter up in the air, and if he wasn’t as athletic as he was, he might have very well broken his foot or something. Jessica laughed again, clutching at her stomach, her long, blonde hair whipping back and forth. She was that kind of person who always had one of those lazy half-smile smirks on their faces, always ready to prank and/or beat the shit out of someone. In short, she was a rascal.

Adam, totally done with her and her shit, was just about to cuss her out before she rudely interrupted him. “Hey, if we don’t get going, we’re gonna be late, y’know?” she said, giggling slightly, and Adam only now noticed the clock. And, in all honesty, whether they got going now or an hour ago, they’d still be late.

“Fuck!” Adam exclaimed, quickly pushing out his somehow taller sister and dressing up in his school uniform like the proper student he was.

Her brother really was quite the funny guy. He said yesterday that he wanted to get up earlier than usual, so why wasn’t he happy? Then again, he probably meant “early” as in 6 o’ clock, not early as in “early lunch”. Not that Adam was much good of a student. Sure, he was pretty popular in class, athletic and all that, but he wasn't the kind of guy who’d study for a test or do all of his homework all the time. A typical extrovert, in other words. So what’s all this hurry about?

Adam burst from his room, bag in one hand and phone in the other. John B. Windsley, their beloved father, was still sitting lazily at the dinner table, a piece of toast in his hand and a countenance that could rival a mourning mother. He’d said yesterday that he had an interview today or something, and considering that he was a Sergeant, he really should be more used to press coverage. But, then again, introverts will be introverts, Jessica figured.

Both of them, despite starting school at different times, still went at the same time in the morning and walked there together. Although, at this time, it was more like they were sprinting. Jessica was used to this sort of speed, so she didn’t sack behind, even when running with an athlete-in-the-makings such as Adam.

But, just as they were about to leave the suburban area and get into the town itself, Adam started slowing down, eventually grinding to a sudden halt. Jessica, who was a little behind, quickly caught up and slowed down her pace to stand by his side.

“Adam? You cool?” she asked, her brow furrowing. By this point, Adam had started leaning forwards at a dangerous angle, and Jessica had to quickly catch him before he really fell over. “Hey, dude, you okay?!” she asked, a bit more forcefully this time, bowing down to look Adam in the eyes.

They were blank. Blank, dry and black, as if lumps of charcoal had replaced his eyes in their sockets.

“!!” Jessica flinched, her somewhat tanned skin suddenly taking on the complexion of a stiff, the same colour that Adams skin had taken as well.

“Hhh” a little sound escaped from his bluish lips, like the final hiss of a dying man, the last bit of air escaping the confines of the lungs, the ghastly final moan of the dead.

“He-, help-,” Jessica was about to say something, to cry for help, but, she felt something weird. Something had changed within her. Something strange, something foreign had entered her mind, and she felt its echo spread through her brain. “Arggh-,” she groaned, one of her hands shooting up to cradle her head.

Something in Adam also experienced a change. From the corner of her eye, she noticed how something very strange was happening beneath his uniform. It looked as if his intestines were trying to escape, wriggling like countless snake-sized worms underneath his shirt. And then, his ribcage snapped open. His heart and lungs all splattered out on the burning hot pavement, and Jessica was forced to release her hold on him. He did not fall. Instead, he stumbled for a few seconds, one step back, two steps to the front, a partner-less dance of the dead. Jessica fell on her knees and hurtled her breakfast, but not just from the visuals. Something within her felt wrong, very, very wrong.

And then, she saw the inside of Adam’s body. Without the lungs and heart, it looked very empty. But it wasn’t empty for long. Something quickly filled up that bloody organless cavity. It was a writhing mass of tentacles, all sickly green with small, purple rings glowing here and there. It looked poisonous. It looked deadly. Is that was did this? Had her brother been infected by some sort of parasite? Alien? Monster??

The slithering mass of slimy extrusions didn’t stay within her brother for long, instead quickly removing itself as it grew exponentially in size. One moment being no larger than a basketball, the next as large as Adam himself. But, unlike what gravity might have dictated, the mass did not splatter onto the ground like Adam’s organs had, instead rejecting this notion fully by slowly floating up into the air. Adam’s hollow husk of a body collapsing into a bloody heap in the absence of the writing mass of tentacles.

Jessica barely noticed this. Her focus lay on herself and what was happening within her. It was nothing good, she knew that, but it wasn’t all bad either. She felt feverish and sick and strong and powerful. And then, she felt someone else within her. She couldn’t hear their voice, she couldn’t feel their touch, but she knew they were there. A presence. She reached out towards it, and her body grew hotter, and then, her hands grabbed their hand, and the warmth and power washed over her.

She expressed it.

On the outside, in the real world, panic reigned.

The warped, tentacled monster loomed in the sky, it’s size being around that of a cloud or a skyscraper. The majority of the being was just tentacles, twisting and writing and snaking all up in a ball without any clear orientation. But a small extrusion, or at least small in comparison to the tentacles, was not tentacles, and looked more like the upper body of a human male, dangling haphazardly from the large ball, with its arms and the tentacles around its head all hanging down without much life. If the tentacles weren’t moving, it would have been easy to believe the creature to be dead. But the eyes were open.

‘...Where is this?...’ Adam wondered drowsily, his tired, white eyes sweeping over the moderately sized town, without resting on anything in particular. His body covered most of the town, bathing large swaths of it in shadow. One of the only two things of interest he could see was a strange little fly buzzing about him. It was rather annoying, so Adam flicked at it with a loosely hanging tentacle. He was tired. He just wanted to sleep. The little fly billowed smoke as it fell in a spiralling pattern, before exploding on contact with the ground. What a curious little bug.

The other thing of interest was the little red shining thing right beneath his head, way down on the ground. It was almost like a fire in its impulsivity and power. It felt warm, even from that distance. If he’d been more awake, he might have scooped it up to take a closer look. But he couldn’t be bothered. Instead, he turned his lazy eyes to the town itself.

Something about it was familiar as if he had seen it in a dream within a dream, in some faraway place, lost in time and space. The buildings were old yet new, with bricks and pristine white and dreary grey and bright orange all clashing together. It was old, that much was for sure. The whole situation felt strange, and it reminded him of the Rain of Fire, as people called it nowadays. He didn’t really think that little event would be such a big deal, but that wasn’t important right now.

Way back down on the ground, in the little playmat streets where beetles roared, the little red light had disappeared, leaving behind a little red bug. Like a red ant or something. Adam heard the little red ant scream before suddenly becoming airborne, flying through the air on a little something Adam couldn’t recognize. The red ant travelled at speeds wholly unlike how slow the little fly he’d swatted had gone at, and within mere seconds, the little red ant was right in front of his face. It was now a fair bit larger, so Adam could make out a few details.

First of all, it was not a red ant, but instead a human, simply clad in red clothes. How deceptive! The clothes themselves were strangely frilly, like a poofy little dress, except it was lined with metal. In her blonde hair, she wore a little red bow with a black gem in it, and in her hands, she held two broadswords. Speaking of broadswords, she seemed to also be surfing on one. What a strange sorceress.

The sorceress quickly shouted something in a language Adam barely recognized, before charging in, unhindered by the fact that she was smaller than his right eye. Without even a sliver of hesitation, she went right for the head, and slashed down across his forehead, opening up a humongous gash. Of course, it healed in less than a second, but he was taken by surprise nonetheless. What an insolent little bug, shouldn’t she know her place?

Before Jessica even knew what had happened, a massive tentacle, easily larger than a two-decker bus, had slammed into her at speeds far too quick for the eye to see, creating a whipping sound simply by rendering the air. Her body was slammed back into the ground, cracking the concrete and causing a cloud of dust to rise from the crater that had been created. Her whole body was sore, and she knew for a fact that she would not be able to move after this. It didn’t feel like anything had broken, but she was beaten, she knew that. That thing up there, that slimy creature that had emerged from within her brother…

It had stared at her as if she was a bug. And it had treated her in much the same way.

And then, when she looked back up to gaze hopelessly at that endless sea of tentacles, it was gone.

But he wasn’t gone.

Something inside of him regretted what he had done, hitting her down like that. But she had annoyed him, so it was her fault. Nonetheless, he did not want to create another Rain of Fire, so, without really thinking much about the how’s and why’s, he quickly shrunk himself down as small as he could, wrapped his tentacles around himself, and there he was.

The midsummer sun was beating down on him as he stumbled through the back alleys behind three-storey apartment buildings. Where was he?... he felt drunk, uncertain and nauseous. The evolutionary core in his chest hung heavy, and he could feel his strength and Magick drain into it way too quickly. He would have to evolve, and that soon. But he couldn’t, not right now, not in this unfamiliar place! Evolving usually took a few hours, but the last time he evolved was several hundred years ago, so he could barely even remember how it happened.

But through the haze of dizziness, he could somehow feel a strange sense of familiarity for this place. Had he been here before?... He couldn’t be in the main street, he wouldn’t be able to handle a whole town lynching him, not like this, so… Looking down an alley, Adam once more felt that sense of recognition, some form of nostalgia he had never experienced before. He went down it.

His organ-less chest heaved, and he had to support his body on the side of a building like a crutch. When he did arrive, his head felt like a bowling ball and he had lost his sense of touch in many of his tentacles, which now simply slid across the ground as he moved. And there it was. That familiar second-story window, that drainpipe he’d climbed a thousand times before, that big-eyed girl poster just barely visible…

Pete’s Lair.

Adam made to grab for the pipe but realized quite quickly that if he did try to climb it, it’d be ripped off, because of how heavy Adam was. Plus, he was 9 meters tall, so there was absolutely nothing stopping him from just, well, grabbing the window and heaving himself up. If he had the strength left to do that was a very good question, but he’d have to consider the answer for later. If he was lucky, Pete himself should still be asleep.

It took a good five minutes to muster the upper body strength to pull himself up, and another three to squeeze his body through the closed window and into the darkened room. This might have been the only time he actually felt somewhat lucky he didn’t have bones. But his strength was quickly draining, so he had to act fast.

The room looked exactly as it always did, every single shelf covered with either big-eyed girl figurines, light novels and mango books, or video games of all kinds imaginable. The walls were littered with big-eyed girl posters, many of them somewhat resembling that red ant girl he’d swatted outside. On the far left, right beside his desk, upon which a gaming computer and about two dozen more big-eyed girl figurines stood, a bed with a big-eyed girl cover was occupied, and from it, loud, uninterrupted snoring resounded. What, did Pete never breathe or something?...

No matter the case, the clock seemed to be… about 8:30, so, if Pete’s mother, Mrs Campbell, wanted him to get to school before nightfall, she would be knocking on his door soon. And Adam had to explain the situation to Pete before this could happen since he really needed his co-operation. Just for the day or something.

So, with his mind still entrapped in a fog, he stumbled over to the bed, his humongous body hunched to the point where his head pretty much touched the floor, and then he poked the bulge on the bed that was Pete.

“Hhhnngg noo momm just five more hour-, ssnnnzzzzzzzz…” Pete mumbled, rolling over. Adam was just about to poke him again when he heard the thunderous footsteps of Mrs Campbell coming down the hall. He had to act, and that quick.

Three of his tentacles shot out and covered the door, meaning that no matter how hard Mrs Campbell would try, entering the room would be impossible. He may have been weak, but no human woman would be able to defeat him without the aid of Magick or a good sword. His tired, unfocused eyes on the door, Adam felt the woman try to push open the door, only to find it tightly shut beyond measure.

“Hey, open up! You’re going to be late, you lardass!!” she shouted from the other side of the door while she pounded the door with a heavy fist. Goodness, that woman sure knew how to scream…

“Hnng, wha-?...” Adam heard Pete groan, before sitting up in bed, clearly on the cusp of waking up. Adam’s head quickly snapped around, and for a second, their equally drowsy eyes met. They started at each other. Pete’s eyes grew in size and alertness, while Adam grew only more tired. If he hadn't been in this kind of situation, he would just have fallen asleep immediately, which would have initiated the evolution. Finally, after a few seconds of staring at each other, Pete must have become clear enough in the head to understand his situation. His mouth gaped wide, and Adam could tell he was just about to scream, but before even a single vowel could escape his lips, Adam was upon him, his right hand wrapping around both Pete and the big-eyed girl covers he was sleeping in, Adam’s thumb pressing up against Pete’s mouth so that he would be unable to scream.

Adam brought his left index finger up to where his mouth would have been and imitated a “shh” movement, effectively hushing his panicked friend. No, wait, hadn’t they been Best Friends(™)? He could feel Pete’s shivering through the covers, and Mrs Campbell was still pounding on the door, now having reduced her vocabulary to simply shouting obscenities in the hopes of her son being so offended he had to say something back. But, sadly, he was indisposed at the moment.

Adam looked over to the door. He had to get her to leave, but he couldn’t exactly do that himself without any bodily harm being involved, and plus, Pete would be sad. So, he had to resort to asking the only other person in this room to do this. He could have initiated a mental link with him, but doing so with people experiencing intense emotions was a pretty bad idea, especially if you were the cause of said emotions. So, there was only one thing he could do.

He pointed to the door, then made a hushing notion, and then, finally, slid his thumb across his throat. Pete gulped hard. Adam leaned in, and slowly removed his thumb. Pete took a deep breath, and Adam was just about to cover the mouth again out of suspicion when Pete started talking.

“Uh, m-, mom? I’m not-, I’m not feeling so good, so, uh, I think I’ll be staying home today?...” he said in that thick yet timid voice of his. His mother said something harsh back, but Pete decided not to answer, so, eventually, she left, hopefully, to report him sick or something. He hadn’t really needed to do that, but it would do well.

“Um-, can you, like, uh… release me?...” Pete asked with a tone of voice Adam could barely recognize. Barely. He remembered way back when, in first grade when they had first met, and he had saved him from a bunch of bullies who’d been tormenting him for almost a year. He’d used that tone of voice with them. Adam shuddered at the thought that he now held the same position where Pete felt the need to use that voice.

“I-, I did what you asked, right?... Or, did you want something else?...” Pete asked in a perfect “I am but thine lowly humble servant, how may I help thee?” voice. Alright, he’s calmed down, clearly, so, there is no better time. But, first, it might be nice to heed his wishes.

Adam slowly released his grip on Pete, who collapsed on the bed, gasping for air.

“Gee-zuz, what’re you trying to do you squid, strangle m-, oh sorry I didn’t mean that just ignore that,” Pete said, somehow both cussing out and apologizing to Adam in one single little sentence. If Adam had been able to, he would have laughed. But he couldn’t. So, instead, he went straight to business, pointing at his head first, and then to Pete’s head, stating his intentions in a way Pete couldn’t possibly have understood.

“You want to what now?” Pete questioned, cocking an eyebrow at the 9-meter tall eldritch horror sitting in his room.

Adam decided that since Pete wouldn’t understand his nonverbal cues, he’d simply explain it with a demonstration. If he could.

It took pretty much all the Magick that hadn’t already been absorbed by the evolutionary core, but he did it. He succeeded. He could feel his body start to collapse, and out of the corner of his very very tired eye, he could see Pete shudder and stare at him in fear.

Adam didn’t really remember much English, he’d been much too busy learning other languages to keep it alive, and, plus, he could barely even recall its existence, so his first go-to language was Lutum Common or Pterican. Pete jerked to at suddenly hearing a voice in his head, but at hearing an entirely foreign language, he was more bewildered than anything. So Adam tried a few other languages. Pete couldn’t understand any of them, least of all Demonic. But, in the end, Adam recalled something. Something buried so deep in his mind it took him ages to realize it was even there.

“Hello, how are you?” a tired, inhuman voice said in Pete’s head.

“Oh Jesus it speaks human, um, uhhh, konnichiwa, watashi wa Pete?” Pete said, sweating nervously as he butchered the noble Asian language of big-eyed girl.

“Not time much. Tired. Need sleep. Know you, know me,” Adam said cryptically because he barely knew English. Pete furrowed his brows.

“...you know me?” Pete questioned, sounding rather sceptical at the idea.

“Me know you, you know me. Must sleep. Eng… English? English no good, not spoken long,” Adam tried to explain. He could barely even understand Pete as it was, so how could he possibly just start speaking it again after 600 years?...

“So, okay, alright, uhh, lemme get this straight, we know each other? And your English isn’t good? Wait, are you my mail order bride?? Finally, God and Anime look kindly upon me! Oh bless thy heavenly light!” Pete joked, getting down on his knees in “prayer”. Ahh, what a nostalgic sight.

“Always so funny,” Adam couldn't help but comment, and if he’d had a face, it would have been smiling.

“It’s true! They scammed me last ti-, no, wait, hold up! Who the fuck are you, and what are you doing in my room, you… squid?!” Pete demanded, pointing a finger at Adam’s near-lifeless body.

Adam chuckled.

“Must sleep now. Am tired. Me am Adam…” and that was the last thing Adam said before he fell asleep, the last thing he saw being the flabbergasted, accusing visage of his old best friend.

Even if it had been a rather short dream, it had still been nice to see his best friend again…

And so, Adam slept.