The sky was overcast the next morning and the mood over the breakfast table was heavy. They'd checked the news last night and they'd learned that the visions had struck everyone. It had been clear that no one understood the nature of the disaster.

Michael mindlessly ate his cereal while scrolling through his newsfeed. He passed videos of statesmen from around the world describing the aftermath of the previous days events. One video caught his eye, and he tapped on it.

The video loaded a moment later and soon he was staring at the image of a megalithic tower rising miles into the air. He slid his chair over to Alice and held his phone up for them to view. They watched as a streamer approached the base of the tower:

"Woah. This thing is huge!" The streamer said, the camera turning to face him. "We felt an earthquake a couple hours after the vision. This must've caused it."

He spent a few moments slowly panning up the height of the structure, until it disappeared into the icy clouds above. The sight made Michael's heart pound.

"Hey, looks like there's a way in," Another voice said.

The streamer focused his camera on the entrance before turning the camera back to face himself. "What do you guys think? Should we check it out?" He paused to read the comments. "'Kay, we'll go see what it's about."

A sick feeling warred with the excitement in his blood as he watched the two streamers approach the tower. Even as the tower thrilled him, the way the duo approached- Michael feared for them. A minute later, the stream cut out, his fears affirmed.

He slid his chair back to its spot at the table and looked at Alice and became aware of the disparity in their thoughts on the tower.

"I need to go there." Michael said, leaning back in his chair.

She shook her head. "No way, you'd have to be insane."

"Probably, but didn't you get excited at the thought of climbing something like that?"

"Uh, no. Why would I?" She tapped on her phone a few times. "It looks like nobody has returned from one yet."

"One?"

She glanced at him suspiciously, "Yeah, six have been spotted so far. There might be more."

Michael's eyes widened and his heart thudded. There might be multiple towers to sca- Michael stopped himself, suddenly aware of the compulsion he felt. He tugged at the compulsion and his truth forced itself forward.

Ascend the Tower.

The command had changed, but was that island in his mind really a good enough reason to enter the tower? He had gotten stronger fighting that monster the previous day, but strength alone was useless. Getting superpowers might be cool, but at the end of the day, they wouldn't add anything to the world he lived in. They wouldn't make him a better employee, nor a better spouse. He-

Alice cleared her throat. "Hello? Still with me, Michael?"

Michael blushed. "Uh sorry. It seems like my truth is influencing my thoughts." He narrowed his eyes. "Actually, I think that's why I charged at that slime like an idiot last night." He shook his head.

"Hmm. Okay." She looked contemplative. "Yeah I'm pretty surprised I jumped in when I did with the slime."

Michael cocked his head.

"Well when you were stumbling around, I froze in fear. It wasn't until it almost got you that I could act."

Michael frowned. "So the truths affect how we think?"

Alice shrugged. "Maybe."

Michael blew out a breath. "That's concerning. What else-"

Alice's eyes widened. "Michael! Look behind you!"

Michael turned and felt his skin crawl as motes of lights started accumulating in front of the entrance to the apartment. He leapt to his feet and lunged for one of Alice's kitchen knives. He grabbed the largest one and glanced over at Alice to see that she'd armed herself with a frying pan.

The motes slowly outlined the form of a tiny humanoid and with a pop, the creature flashed into existence. It was green skinned and armed with a bent dagger. Its yellow eyes scanned the room and soon came to rest on the pair.

It flashed a savage grin and brandished its blade. With a shriek, it leapt across the room. Alice acted first, stepping forward. Michael's blood chilled as the goblin moved to plunge its dagger into Alice's stomach. To his relief, Alice deflected it's blade with her pan then kicked the monster in its side.

The goblin went down hard, its arms outstretched at Michael's feet. Michael stomped down on the goblin's hand, causing the thing to screech in pain and release its dagger. A moment later, Michael plunged his knife deep into the monster. It wasn't dead yet and though unarmed, it squealed and bit into Michael's thigh.

Pain exploded shot up Michael's body as the creature's sharp teeth punctured his jeans. He gritted his teeth and pulled his knife free from the monster, plunging it in again, and again, and again, until finally its jaw went slack.

He rolled away and grabbed at his thigh as Alice moved forward to inspect the wound. The monster had wickedly sharp teeth and they'd easily punched through his denim pants. Alice pushed his hands away from the wound and after she inspected it, prepared some water to cleanse the wound. While she did that, Michael kept pressure on the injury while doing his best to clear the area around the wound.

When she had returned to her side, she began cleaning his wound, causing Michael to grit his teeth from the pain. It would be a lie to say she was gentle, but she got it done much faster than he could have.

"Okay press here." Alice pointed at a spot on his thigh, then with a grimace said, "Wish I had some gauze."

Michael followed her command and a moment later she returned to his side with some rags. She swapped out his bloodied rag for the clean ones and tightly bound them to his thigh. They grimaced at the dressing. A bite from a goblin probably made a human's bite look clean.

Michael could only set his jaw and bear with it. The hospitals were likely swamped from the aftermath of the previous day. Experts had predicted that around thirty million traffic related accidents occurred during the vision in the United States alone. Most of the loss of life thus far resulted from motor vehicle accidents with falling being the second largest cause of death, though primarily in the elderly population. There hadn't been a moment the previous night when the ambulances couldn't be heard. Maybe a pharmacist could give him some anti-

Michael's thoughts were interrupted, once again, by Alice. This time she helped him to his chair before returning to her seat.

"I think I'm done seeing blood for a while." Alice said while staring at the bloody mess on her floor.

Michael snorted while studying the off-red color of the goblin's blood.

Alice sighed. "We're lucky it didn't appear while we were asleep last night."

Michael's head snapped towards her. "You're right, we're going to need to sleep in shifts."

Alice nodded and Michael's shoulders slumped. He closed his eyes and turned his gaze inwards, hoping for some kind of good news. A moment later he found himself on his island in the void. Immediately, he felt his focus pulled towards a pedestal at the center of the island. His heart leapt and he ran to investigate it.

The pedestal had a worn-down appearance and seemed to be shodily crafted but it hadn't been there before. On an impulse, he reached out his hand and placed it on the pedestal and his island lit up. The pedestal presented a vision of how he could transform his island. He could:

Grow his island Strengthen the ground Build upon his island

The options left Michael wondering. Should he expand his island? He looked around and realized it wasn't large enough to build much of a structure upon. Should he strengthen his island? He looked at his feet and realized the island was mostly loose dirt. Those two questions quickly made him realize that building upon his island probably wasn't the best idea.

He guessed that what he eventually had to build should be a structure which embodied the truth he stood upon. In turn, he might have to do the same for any other truth he grasped at. He idly wondered at the majesty of a mental realm that spanned dozens of truths with forests, mountains, and palaces. He shook himself and focused.

He meditated on the concept of ascension and thought about what growing or strengthening his island might do for him. A greater size might allow him to better sense the new energy that existed around him. Meanwhile, a stronger island might strengthen his body. He hadn't the faintest idea of how building might help him though.

With a shrug, Michael decided to strengthen his island. Michael pushed and a wave of energy poured out of the pedestal, transforming the material that made up his island. A glance revealed that the island now looked like rammed earth instead. Satisfied, Michael left his mental realm behind.

When he opened his eyes, he noticed that Alice had closed hers. He didn't want to interrupt her in case she had realized the same thing he had. Instead, he tested his newfound strength by standing up. He wasn't surprised that he could do so, but he was surprised at how his pain had decreased. He even tried walking a bit and found that he didn't feel the need to limp.

"I take it you figured out how to develop our truths in that place?" Alice's voice interrupted his experimentation and he turned around to look at her.

He nodded and returned to his seat. "I changed the material of my island to rammed earth. Looks like it strengthened my body."

"That's good. I grew my island, I had the thought that it would help me figure out when a monster is going to appear."

"How much did it grow by?"

"I think it doubled in size, but the growth was proportionate to the amount of energy I spent." Alice said.

"Do you have anything else on your island?"

Alice nodded. "Yeah there's a pedestal and an old crown resting upon it."

Michael's eyebrows shot up. Michael suspected she'd have something on her island, but he hadn't expected it to be an object. "Do you think that crown has something to do with your aura from last night?"

"Yeah, I do, but I don't know where it came from."

A moment of silence stretched between them as they thought about their soul realms.

Changing the topic, Michael said, "What do you think we should do next? Your apartment isn't safe." As much as he'd like to talk more about their realms, surviving took priority.

Alice pursed her lips. "I doubt school will stay in session."

Michael nodded.

"I also think finding a safe place is going to be hard." She looked at the ceiling and sighed. "We probably shouldn't stay in the city."

"Should we head towards my place then?" Michael still itched to go to one of the Towers, but he knew his thoughts were being influenced by his Truth. Better to listen to Alice's judgement for now.

Alice grimaced. "Where is it?"

Michael laughed. "I live in an outlying suburb, mostly an old-folks community." He glanced at the time. "Actually, I usually head over to the Rockford's around this time for a game and some co-" Michael froze, his blood running cold.

Alice's eyes widened.

"Oh no." Michael jumped to his feet and winced at the sudden movement. "I need to go Alice." He hurriedly began shoving his belongings into his bag.

A minute later Michael had finished packing his goods. He straightened up and found Alice packed and ready to go.

She handed him his wallet and his keys, and rolled her eyes. "Let's go then."