When Two Worlds Collide[Jan2014]

I don’t have much time. I want to tell you something...something i have to get off my chest. Its been 6 years now since it happened and I think my past is finally catching up with me.
The previous night I had been at a party at my friend Ryans. It was crazy last night. I remember seeing the window broken when i woke up with a hangover and a TV in the room. Everyone passed out around me. I looked at the clock and it said 5:00pm. Damn, I had slept all day and still had a hangover. I then carefully got up, maneuvered over the other sleeping bodies and walked out the door.
It was a cold evening, snowing fairly hard. It was starting to get dark and I had a mile to go still before I made it home from that party.I stopped at the local bar to get a warm drink. The bar was called Frank’s bar and the owner always welcomed me. When i walked in it was completely vacant all except for one employee and a man sitting at a back table with a cloak over his head with folded hands. He seemed to turn his head to watch me as i moved. The top portion of his face was covered in the shadow of his hood. But his mouth was visible with a crooked looking devilish grin that only seemed to widen by the second with what looked like sharper teeth than a human should have. His hands were an odd blue color, almost like he had frostbite.The bartender had to snap me out of my gaze.
“Mister, mister! What are you staring at?” I turned to him.
“Don’t you see that man over there?”
“...What man? Theres only stacked chairs on the tables over there. Had to close up early because of the cold.”
I turned back to where the man was sitting. He was gone.
“Do you want anything before we close up?”
“Uhm...n-no”
I ran out the door. I ran all the way home in the freezing weather. I got home and locked the door behind me.
“What the hell did I just see? There was a man right there with the most unusual appearance I’ve ever seen. But the next second...he was gone.”
Despite how long I had slept i was extremely exhausted from the run to my house. I crashed on the couch with the TV on, airing some late night talk show.
The next morning I woke up to the sound of the TV airing some kind of news story about a murder. I heard the words “Frank’s bar” I instantly shot up from the couch, hearing what happened at the bar last night. The bartender was murdered. The same one who asked me if i wanted anything. He was dead with what looked like blue, frostbitten handprints on his neck and burn marks on his back. There was words scratched onto the front of his torso. They said:

“You will do it, will you pass
it won’t be easy, one-man class”



Just then I heard a knock at the door. I nearly fell off the couch. I went to answer it but no one was there. Only a small package that felt very cold to the touch. I opened the small 5 inch by 5 inch package but all there was in it was snow. Tightly packed snow. I thought it was just a prank by one of the neighborhood kids, so i just put it on the kitchen counter and resumed watching TV.
Ten minutes later the smoke detector went off. I ran into the kitchen and saw the package on the kitchen counter and all the snow was melted on the counter and floor. The smoke detector went off because the melted snow was steaming. I just stood there for a few seconds contemplating how this water was steaming. Water that was snow just ten minutes ago. I picked up the small cardboard box to throw it away. To my surprise a key fell through the soggy material onto the floor. A golden key and from the feel of it, it was real gold. Now I know what you’re thinking. No i can’t just pawn it off and get a few grand. My curiosity didn’t allow it. But now, 6 years later, I really wish I would’ve pawned it off. I kept it as a necklace. A solid gold key? I’d put anything solid gold around my neck. I hid it in my shirt in public though just incase i got mugged or something.
I went back into the kitchen and found a bottle of cyanide on my counter next to the melted snow that was steaming moments ago. I don’t own any cyanide. On the label in black magic marker it read “pay attention”. Next to the cyanide was a bottle of painkillers and the bottle was almost empty. Now i had no idea what this meant. Until it hit me. It hit me like baseball bat to the head. The party that took place last night. I had a hangover at 5pm. It should have subsided. Taking too many painkillers can induce headaches, it wasn’t a hangover. I was drugged. Then I remembered, Ryan doesn’t own a TV. All the people passed out, they weren’t out not because of sleep deprivation or drinking. They were dead. That murder at the bar must have been meant for me.
There was loud bang on the window in the kitchen. I hurried in there and looked outside. There was a man standing in the middle of the backyard. In the snow and cold. He had a brown cloak on and blue, frostbitten hands. He was about 6’6 and holding a bright blue glowing orb of some sort in his hands. Even though his surroundings were mostly snow. The snow seemed to turn to ice around him in about a 5 foot radius. I was horrified. The man looked just like the one from the bar that night the murder happened. I ran to the wooden knife holder by my stove and went back to the window and he had seemed to have miraculously disappeared. Leaving behind his icey surroundings and where he stood a small wooden chest was there with a keyhole. I went outside and retrieved the chest and quickly rushed back inside. I couldn’t figure out how to get it open without a key though. Then i remembered the key I had received previously. Still untouched around my neck. I took it out of my shirt and fumbled it inside the keyhole. The chest opened and I immediately felt the temperature in the room drop by at least 10 degrees. The box contained a small note. In neatly written letters it said:

“In your hands is a test, get it right, try your best,
your first clue, is not that red, but more so blue,
where you were, you will find, in the cold, your second sign”

I was confused. Someone set up a scavenger hunt for me? Well I can’t be in too much denial considering what I’ve seen. Once again my curiosity got the best of me. And I decided to figure it out. All my life regrets come from this situation, this one situation. I should have pawned the key and forgot everything. But once again, my curiosity would not allow such a thing.
I said it over and over again in my head. I couldn’t figure it out though. I started to get bored after a few hours and wander. I came to my window and saw the ice on the ground the man left. Something was there, under the ice. I could see it glowing. I went out in the pitch black environment with a flashlight and a heavy jacket. I walked over to the ice and i could see something under the ice. Something blue and glowing. Was that there before when I found the chest? I never noticed it if it was. It was fairly thin ice, only maybe an inch to a half-inch thick. I broke it with my foot and retrieved the glowing object. It was extremely cold to the touch and shaped like a cube. I picked it up and quickly ran inside before the cold emanating from it caused damage to my bare hands. I set it on the counter and wondered what it could be. It seemed to dissolve into the air as it sat on the counter and eventually disappear altogether. Just then i noticed something on my couch in front of the kitchen. Another chest. And it opened with the same key that opened the first chest. Inside was 2 notes. One read:

“Your skeleton key, you must defend,
If that key is lost, the test will end”

And the second one:

“Your second clue, it remains a mess,
surrounded in death, is your third quest”

What the hell was that supposed to mean? C’mon Matt think. Think. The bar maybe? No the cops already cleaned that up. Just then I noticed the bottles of painkillers and cyanide on my counter. Could it be the party? At Ryans house? Well everyone was dead there. Have the cops found it yet though? The note says “remains a mess” but how could the cops not have found out yet?
I was on my way to Ryans house, I figured that his house would be my best bet. When I arrived there it felt different. I stopped in front of his house and sat there in my car for a minute. Observing his house. Something didn’t seem right. The TV was still in the yard.
When i walked through the threshold of his front door. I stopped in my tracks. Everyone was still out on the couches and the floor. It was cold, very cold in his house. It also looked and felt very gloomy. When I looked around the house, I saw the TV out the window ahead of me. Something was on there. A small yellow and gold note taped to the side of it. Just then I heard a knock coming from somewhere. It was coming from the TV. When i stepped closer I saw a strange misshapen face looking back at me through the screen. The creatures face had pale white skin and sharp teeth. Too sharp for a human. I was done then. I swiped the not from the side of the TV and ran to my car and drove home as fast as i could. When I got home I panicked, thinking about what to do next. But just then i had an idea. If I lost the key the test would end. So I nonchalantly threw the key in the wastebasket in my kitchen and watched some TV. As i was doing so, I dropped the remote and it fell under the couch. When I reached under there, I not only felt the remote, I felt something else. Something cold to the touch, like a key. I retrieved it, feeling sick to my stomach. It was the key I had previously thrown away. But how could it have gotton under my couch? Taped to the key was a note, it read:

“If that key is lost the test will end”

I wanted to get rid of this key as soon as possible. I threw it out the window next. When i turned around it was on my kitchen couter with a note taped to it.

“If that key is lost the lost the test will end!”

I was really freaked out now. I had to get rid of the key. Next I put it down the sink drain. No one could get it back there. Sure enough the key was back on the counter a few seconds later with a note attached to it:

“IF THAT KEY IS LOST THE TEST WILL END”

What am I doing wrong!? I keeping getting rid of it but the test isn’t ending! I had enough after that. I took the key and went to visit the local appraiser and pawned it off. I got $5000 for it. I was walking up to my front door, feeling happy that I got 5k for that key and relieved that I got rid of it finally. When i opened the front door there was words written in blood on the wall. They were written in blood:

“IF THAT KEY IS LOST THE TEST WILL END!

And sure enough the key was sitting right there on my kitchen counter. Just then my phone rang. I of course almost stopped breathing when that happened. The appraiser was on the phone. He wanted to talk about the key.

“Matt that key is from the lost city of Mages.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“That key is cursed. Whoever owns it must endure a test. The first two clues are easy but the third and final is the most difficult and emotionally challenging”.

“The key is here with me how do you know this?”


“The key has the ability to never leave the participant in the test. I leaned this when turned around for a second to get my magnifing glass and it was gone. In its place was a note”.

“What did it say?”

“Only the one who endures this quest, can possess the key and complete the test.”

“Yeah I’ve been trying to get rid of the key but it keeps showing up”

“You have to complete the final clue. Its the only way to get out of it”

“But what if I don’t and just forget about the test?”

“I don’t know but I’m sure the outcome won’t be good”

“I can’t do this anymore, I haven’t slept for 2 days”

“Well then I suggest you complete the test or find a way out of it.”

“”Thank you, I think I know what to do now”

“ok. Call me if you need anything”

“ Will do. Bye”

Ok so all I have to do is put the key where I never look but not in a place where I never go. I decided to put the key in the drawer in my kitchen that has nothing in it. I’ve never used that drawer and never needed to so thats perfect. I put it in there and didn’t see it pop up in any unexpected places seconds later so that must be a good sign right? WRONG. Thats probably the dumbest mistake I’ve ever made. Thats what got me in the situation I’m in now and that’s probably what’s going to kill me to. My time is almost up. I have a few seconds at most. I’m writing this to the next person that falls victim to this test. All the advice that I can give you is GET RID OF THE KEY BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE. As I now throw this paper into the void between our two worlds, I wonder If anyone will find this. If anyone does happen to find this. Don’t go looking for this world. Don’t let the science community get their greasy hands on this paper. If anything you should take my advice and immediately throw this away when you find it. Don’t get help, that will just cause problems and risk the lives of billions. Its too late for me now, but it’s not too late for you. If you see a strange man with blue, frostbitten arms and a cloak.
Don’t look at him, just observe his presence.
Don’t walk over to him.
Don’t talk to him. Act like you, and the other humans around you, are the only people in the room.

To Be Continued?

reply to post by golden23


i may have made a few spelling errors in there that i didnt catch before i posted this. i cant edit it because. well its like 8000-9000 characters long and the limit is 7500

reply to post by golden23


Keep on writing. I love the short story part of this forum and people's willingness to take a chance and share their art. Thank you.

reply to post by ExNihiloRed


well i love sharing my art

Is that all? That cant be it. Waiting in antsipation for the next installment great read. Thank you. S&F

reply to post by golden23


That was some highly immersive material there. You have a skill set to be proud of. Thank you for posting this.

reply to post by TheDualityExperience

it shouldnt be too hard to make a second part. obviously not part of the competition. idk im still thinkin about it. oh and thanks for all the compliments guys