Henry slowly came awake. He was back in the office, still pinned against the wall where his desk had once been.

Alive! Still pinned, but I’m alive!

He threw back his head, lightly knocking it against the wall behind him, and laughed out loud, releasing some of the emotional anguish stored within him.

It slowly dawned on him that the office was illuminated with a faint red tinge. Further investigation revealed that none of the electric lights were operational, and the source of the unnatural light seemed to in fact be from outside. Glancing out the window opposite him, he could only see part of the sky between two similarly tall buildings across the street, but it was indeed a faint red colour.

Okay. It could be a coincidence, red skies are rare but not unheard of. I’m sure it’s just that… Definitely nothing to do with those hellish invaders!

Shaking his head, he scanned the room from where he sat. His gaze quickly fell upon several mangled corpses that were piled roughly in the centre of the room. The sight caught his breath. They were clearly human, though he did not recognise any of them. Which was not surprising, as most of them were so mangled they lacked important facial features, and in some cases their entire heads.

Tearing his eyes away from the morbid scene before him, he surveyed the rest of the room. It seemed some time had passed. The portal was no longer present, but his nose picked up hints of a charcoal like aroma, that and the sickly stench of death and blood.

With the room surveyed, he turned his attention to his own situation. The steel rebar was still stuck through his chest, and a great deal of blood had soaked his clothes, as well as the floor beneath him as a result. He was quite disturbed by just how much blood there was.

I should so be dead. I guess I was… Fuck. So, Gyxr healed me? Or I’ve gained some ability that’s kept me alive…? Maybe both. Doesn’t look like steel skin though. Ah, whatever, I can worry about that later. I need to remove this damn bar.

He grasped the bar that was protruding from his chest and decided to test it with a little wiggle. It took him a moment to build up the courage and overcome the sense of dread the anticipated pain was causing. Finally, he wiggled it, and to his immense surprise, the part sticking out of his body sheared right off.

Oh sweet… Wait, the rest is still stuck inside me?

Sure enough, looking down, he could still see the shorn end of the bar poking out from his chest ever so slightly.

That can’t be good… come to think of it, when was my last tetanus jab? Oh, that reminds me, what about my foot? That damn imp bit me! And what are the chances they don’t carry all manner of pathogens? Ugh.

Henry was starting to feel ill. The question was whether it was his own paranoia causing it or an actual affliction. Looking down at his foot, he saw clearly the bite marks the imp had left. They were surrounded by the dried blood that had oozed out. He tried flexing his toes and moving his foot a bit, in an attempt to gauge how damaged it was.

It barely hurts. Damn, this is great! But, again, Gyxr’s healing, or my new powers? Eh, bar first, magical foot healing shit, later.

Henry braced himself for pain, still dubious about the actual state of the bar sticking out of his back. He could easily imagine himself moving forwards, leaving the entire rest of the bar behind, his life gushing out through the hole it left. In response to the horrible thought, he altered his plan, instead deciding to turn his torso to the side.

If the bar is still solid, then the pain should hit me as I rotate, if not then it should break off. Unless, I’ve overlooked something… Ugh, just do it!

He was in luck, as he rotated his torso away from the wall he felt some brief resistance, but there was no pain. He had freed himself from his prison. His suspicions about the bar in his chest, were confirmed when he reached behind his back and found the other end of the shorn bar sticking out of him. The part that had pierced through his body was indeed trapped inside his body.

Now free from the wall, he gingerly tested his range of movement, wanting to ensure he wouldn’t be surprised by any immense pain the bar might cause. He could feel it in his chest as he moved, it was a surreal sensation, but it didn’t seem to negatively affect him. Comfortable that he wasn’t about to be overcome by the pain, he switched his attention to his injured foot, carefully removing his shoe.

No way! I can barely make out the marks from that little bastard’s teeth. This should be impossible.

Upon closer inspection Henry noted that the surrounding flesh actually looked fairly normal, no bruises or sickly discolouration. It was difficult to get a proper look at his chest, but the same seemed to be true there.

I really want to believe I’ve gained magical healing powers. Because, that would be fucking awesome. But, I should probably assume it was just Gyxr healing me. At least for now. I can’t help but think I should have some way of knowing what these ‘powers’ are. Maybe, if Gyxr wasn’t such an asshole, he would have told me… Guess I’ll ask when I become his champion, or if I become his champion, even if I have to grill the bastard.

Spending only a moment to consider how an attempt at demanding answers from a seemingly powerful Demon Lord might turn out, Henry climbed to his feet and made to move from the spot that had been his work station, and his grave.

Henry made his way over to the window. Looking down at the street below he was stunned. It was pure chaos, like the aftermath of a vicious weather anomaly. Vehicles were scattered across the roa and pavements, all abandoned, some on fire. Even from the seventh floor he worked on, he could make out the unmistakable forms of people haphazardly scattered about, or their unmoving remains at least. A bit further afield, he noticed a large bonfire, sitting in the middle of a junction. He gaped at the sights before him, trying to comprehend the surreal madness of it all. Eventually, he stepped back from the window.

Well, shit. Though, not sure what I was expecting… Guess the police and the military didn’t fare well against the demons. Mystical demonic powers trump technology? Even… Fuck, they better not be planning to drop any nukes in the city!

Knowing there was little he could do, even if his latest fatalistic imaging came to pass, Henry looked down at his watch to check the time. It dutifully told him it was 2:45 pm, and continued to do so for much longer than a minute. It was clearly broken.

Henry pulled his phone out of his pocket, unsurprisingly it was a bit bloody, and despite his best efforts he couldn’t switch it on. Instead, he picked up the headset he used for work calls, which had been scattered a ways from his upturned desk, but that too was dead. The desk phone it connected to was likewise useless. In fact, out of all the phones in the room that weren’t just smashed to pieces, none were working.

There’s a slightly suspicious lack of working electrical devices in the office today. Almost like an EMP went off. Or some bullshit demonic equivalent. Either way, I’m kind of fucked… That much is obvious. No heating, no lights, no refrigeration, no nothing. And what about other survivors? There must be some… I really fucking hope there are some!

A brief sensation of terror brought upon by the thought of forever being alone struck Henry at that moment. Shaking the troubling idea aside, he decided to focus on more pressing concerns.

This champion I need to kill. He said they were nearby… I better get looking, and hope I don’t run into any demons on the way. Or at least not any I can’t kill with whatever powers I’ve hopefully gained.

His course of action decided, Henry scooped up the piece of steel rebar that had snapped off from his body, before making his way cautiously over to the door leading out from the technical support department, which was still closed. There was actually a large hole in the wall not far from the door, that was easily large enough for a man, or more likely a demon, to pass through. However, being a civilised individual, Henry decided he was happier using the door.

The rest of the floor was largely as he had expected, having seen a large portion of it through the hole in the wall. The layout of this level was like many of the others, wall to wall cubicles, six rows altogether, with three walkways between. Things were a bit different now though, like in his section, the cubicle walls and desks were largely demolished, there was also a great deal of blood and a few severed limbs scattered throughout. He spent some time searching for anything of interest, but found nothing, and the few intact phones he noticed weren’t working either.

He was about to make his way down to the next floor, when midway to the stairs, a voice halted him in his tracks.