[ Location: Vivan's Bedroom ][ Date: November 1st, 1985 - Early Morning (12:45 AM) ]
The room was silent.
It wasn't the comfortable silence of a sleeping house.
It was the silence of a held breath.
The air felt heavy, like the pressure drop before a tornado touches down.
I sat on the edge of my bed, the Void Blade resting across my knees. My eyes were glued to the blue holographic screen floating in the center of the room.
[ Threat Detected: &^$%# ][ Location: Unknown. ]
"&^$%#?" I whispered, the sound scraping against my throat. "System, you're usually more specific than that. What is this?"
The text flickered.
It jittered, like a bad signal on an old TV.
I rubbed my temples. My head was still buzzing from the Mind Stone upgrade, Having a Spirit stat of 500 was a crazy power-up; it was a sensory overload.
I could feel the microscopic dust settling on the floor.
'Focus,' I told myself. 'Use the Spirit to read the screen. Interface with it.'
I reached out with my mind.
I pushed my consciousness into the code.
It felt like pushing your hand into ice water.
The garbled characters started to shift. They spun, rearranged, and solidified into letters I recognized.
& became V. ^ became E. $ became C. % became N. # became A.
[ Threat Detected: VECNA (Henry Creel). ][ Location: The Upside Down (Creel House Attic). ]
I let out a breath , I was holding.
"Henry, really... I thought you will give me bigger suspense " I whispered. "I knew it."
I know the Lich was awake early.
In the original timeline, he wouldn't make his move until the Spring of 1986. He would wait.
He would plan. He would kill Chrissy Cunningham to open the gates.
But I broke the timeline and closed the Gate too hard.
I killed his Meat Puppet too fast and brought Pennywise into the mix.
'He isn't waiting any more' I realized, a cold knot forming in my stomach. 'He's moving faster. He knows I'm here and knows I am powerful. So he views me as a rival , threat....'
I stood up, sheathing the Void Blade.
"He thinks he has time," I muttered, pacing the room. " and I'm going to wait for him to start snapping teenagers' bones. Bitch probably thinks I'm playing by the script."
I stopped in front of the window.
"Sorry, horny henry. I'm skipping the cutscenes."
I looked out at the street.
Something was wrong.
It wasn't just the darkness.
The streetlights... they were flickering.
But they weren't blinking on and off. They were changing color.
For a split second, the amber glow of the sodium lamp shifted. It turned into a sickly, impossible Violet.
A color that hurt my eyes just looking at it. It wasn't a color from this earth.
'The Colour Out of Space,' I thought, my skin crawling. 'The barriers are getting thin really fast.'
I activated [ Observe ].
The world looked... bruised.
The fabric of reality over world was stretched tight.
I could see faint, hairline fractures in the air itself.
Down on the street, a stray dog was walking past my driveway.
A large St. Bernard.
It stopped.
It looked up at my window.
Its eyes weren't dog eyes.
They were red. Intelligent.
It opened its mouth and let out a sound. It wasn't a bark. It was a low, guttural laugh. A human laugh.
'Cujo?'
The dog shook its head, the red light fading, and trotted away like nothing happened.
I stepped back from the window, heart hammering.
'What the hell was that, They're bleeding through. The Mind Flayer's defeat left a vacuum, and the other beings are rushing to fill it. If Vecna opens a gate now... he won't just let the Upside Down in. He'll let in the nightmares.'
I looked at the clock.
1:00 AM.
The house was asleep and my parents were safe.
El was safe at Hopper's cabin.
If I waited until morning, I'd have to explain things. I'd have to argue with Mike and others and stop Nancy from grabbing a shotgun.
'No. This isn't a team fight, That's childish and they don't have that much power. This is a duel.'
I grabbed a piece of paper from my desk.
I scribbled a quick note.
Mom, Dad - Went for a morning run. Don't wait up. - V
I left it on my pillow.
"Liar," I whispered to myself.
I opened my Inventory.
I checked my gear.
Void Blade (S-Rank): Loaded with Aether.
Glock 19: Loaded with Venom Rounds.
Potions: Phoenix Tears (3), Mana Potions (10).
Stone of Avarice: Pulsing with hunger.
I was ready.
But I needed one more thing.
I needed intel.
I sat cross-legged on the floor and closed my eyes.
'Mindscape. Open.'
The world dissolved into the steel grey of my mental fortress. I stood in the center of the room.
In the corner, behind the bars of the Eight Trigrams Seal, Pennywise was waiting.
The Clown was sitting on a conjured rocking chair, sharpening a claw with a piece of my own subconscious fears.
"VIVI," Pennywise grinned, his teeth sharp and yellow. "You're up late. Bad dreams?"
"Information," I said, walking up to the bars.
My Spirit (500) radiated off me like heat.
Even Pennywise leaned back slightly, respecting the power.
"The Mind Flayer," I said. "He called or cried for before I cut him off. Who did he call?"
Pennywise giggled. "He didn't call for help, Vivan. He screamed. He screamed because he knows what's waiting in the dark."
"Who?"
"The Neighbors," Pennywise whispered, leaning against the bars. "The Abyss isn't empty. You think the Spider is the King? He is a scavenger. A squatter."
The Clown's eyes flashed orange.
"The Crimson King sits in his Dark Tower, waiting for the walls to fall. The Old Ones sleep in the deep, dreaming of madness. If the Spider wins, he locks the door and eats everyone. But if he fails... if the door is left ajar..."
"The others come in," I finished.
"Bingo!" Pennywise popped a red balloon that appeared in his hand. "And they are much, much hungrier than me. I just eat fear. They eat reality."
I stared at the Clown.
"So I have to win," I said. "I have to take the Upside Down and become the Ruler so I can lock the door from the inside."
"Yes," Pennywise hissed. "Regicide. Kill the Lich, so you can take the Crown or we all die and I really don't want to die, Vivan. I like it here. You are a good boy."
I turned away.
'I don't trust him, but I don't have any other choice currently...and what did he said VIVI??? good boy!!!, Mf clown is scary.'
The Mindscape faded.
I opened my eyes in my bedroom.
"Regicide it is," I said.
I stood up.
I had Portal Manipulation and Reality Warping and I had enough Aether to power a small city.
I raised my hand and focused on the air in the center of my room.
'Tear.'
[ Ability Active: Portal Manipulation + Aether. ]
I grabbed the fabric of space-time.
I ripped it.
SSSSHHHHKK.
A sound like tearing canvas filled the room.
A glowing, slimy red crack appeared in the air, suspended in the middle of my rug. Spores drifted out.
I looked into the rift.
On the other side, I saw the dark reflection of my room. Vines. Decay. Cold.
"Knock, knock, Henry," I whispered.
I stepped through.
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