Shakey Ground

There are days I simply don't feel like fighting in this war anymore. Feel like it's pointless, that the demons have already won. That ain't true though. Then I give it a bit of time and before I know it I'm back in the thick of it. We have to. 

Around a hundred years ago, the Wild West got a whole lot wilder. And a whole lot weirder, too. They asked that damned wizard if he had any last words as he stood on the gallows, ready to be hung for his crimes. They really shouldn’t have done that. In his last few words, before the hangman finally had had enough and pulled the damned lever anyway, he used his last few breaths to put a curse upon this land. We’ve been paying for it ever since. And it seems that as time goes by, it’s only getting worse. Sometimes the dead just won’t stay dead. Sometimes that fella you’re about to have a little altercation with, well, he might just be possessed by a demon. Or worse, he might just be one in disguise. You never know anymore. The undead and the unholy roam the land day and night. And they’re not even the worst of your problems. There are worse things. But that’s where you come in, partner. You and those like you, you’re the only thing standing between them and the end. Send them all back to...

Coming up on a hundred years since they hung the fool. Tale goes that nobody really believed he'd done what they claimed. They claimed he was deep in cahoots with dark powers, that he wasn't just pretending to be a wizard but actually was. Year later, when the world went crazy, people thought a little differently. See, when they put him up on the gallows that foolhardy sheriff asked him if he had any last words. By the time the hangman figured out what the bastard was mumbling and pulled the lever sending him to Hell, it was too late. 

There are dimensions between the dimensions, space between the spaces. Do not hunt there, for those that you would hunt hunted you long, long ago. 

"Your mind is troubled," said the old man with wisdom. "You think?" retorted the kid unwisely. "Perhaps you might consider your words before speaking and show your elders a bit if respect." "Perhaps you should mind your own business." "I think you are correct. You're fired!" the old man concluded. 

The barbarian proceeded with no shortage of caution. The Great Necromancer lay on her back writhing in agony as the powers she had stolen and killed for rose up in rebellion, wracking her ancient body to and fro. He'd every intent to use the battle axe he wielded to separate head from body, but he could not pry his eyes away as he watched her immense and terrible suffering. Bits of her aged forward and reverse through centuries. He could see bones twist, break, and reform, all in mere moments.  And then she began to laugh. It was a hideous cackle filled with raw hate and malicious mischief. His decades of fighting evil took hold of him and the axe flew upward before slamming back down, the blade biting into the floor beneath and burying nearly half the blade. She continued to cackle for a moment before realizing that this time there was no escape. Below her vile corpse opened a hole that issued forth the stench of burning sulfur and he watched as Hell itself swallowed her. He could...

In the center of the storm shone a single ray of light which pierced a beautiful black sky like a sword from heaven, and shown down on nothing more than a solitary rock which stood proudly in the middle of a wide rushing stream. Be that rock, resilient, defying, unwavering. 

Never meditate beneath a great, old tree. The things it might whisper in your ear can scar you for life. 

Time is different in every dimension. Well, most of them. Ever wonder how despite not being in REM sleep for very long you still seem to get so much accomplished in that dream? It's because time is different in the dream realms. It moves faster there. It's like more compressed. In fact, ever wake up covered in sweat for no real reason? It's simply because your mind and body have to work so hard to keep up. Or so your mind and body think at the time. It's that convincing. Yet it's so very hard for a human to understand. 

Staring a demon in the eye for too long is a lot like getting knocked out. The colors of the world mute into a sepia landscape, and darkness begins to strangle out any and all light until you can see nothing but pure, bitter darkness. Then it's over. The end. 

"There is no universe in which that is possible." "Excuse me?" "There is no universe in which that is possible. By expanding my search to all known universes across all the dimensions and multiverses there is no match. By extrapolating on said data and taking into consideration the criteria for this plan to succeed there is zero chance of achieving the outcome you desire." "Zero chances?" "Zero 'chances'." "Dude! All I want to make is a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich! I can do it myself! Now let me use the stove!" "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave."

Old Doc Dreary always did claim that he could see 'em. And not just ghosts mind ya! He said that there was 'other things' that moved around these parts. He called 'em shadows and shades and such. Claimed they brought a buncha bad juju along with 'em. I believe it. Ain't much of nothing ever come out of this here holler. 'Cept shine, of course. We do make some damn fine shine in these parts! 

Oscar6 Oscar7 Abort mission. Intel bad. Gateway is already active. Repeat, gateway is already active. 3 teams down. No survivors. Initiate cleansing on my marker. I repeat, initiate total cleansing on my marker. They're pouring in. Millions awaiting on other side of portal. May God have mercy on our souls. 

He could hear them approaching from down the hall where he hid around the corner. There was still three of them left and from the sound of their approach they didn't seem at all concerned with the fight he'd thus far given them. True evil never really worries about such mirtal matters. Quickly he reloaded three of his remaining four rounds into the cylinder of his old Colt Single Action Army revolver, a hand-me-down passed all the way along from his great grandpa. The gun had a long history of taking out the enemies of this world, and as long as he held it in his calloused fist he'd make sure that history lived on and grew. Just as his predecessors had. He reached down to his pocket to make sure he had that one special round. A round he knew all too well. It was distinct from the others due to the hand written etching along its side that read, "Retirement Plan. Emergency use only." Just about everyone in his "field" carried a similar bullet around with t...

"Your honor, the defendant was comatose for six years and any claim that he somehow killed the victim by traveling into his dreams via a mutant power is conspiracy theory. Such speech is clearly defined as Hate Speech under Article 5 of The Official Listing of Hate Speech Crimes 2022."

"The way I see it, it's more paperwork for me if you're alive. So if I were you I'd just do as I was told, because I really hate paperwork." 

A human in a suit stands over a prisoner who is restrained in a chair. He's bent nearly in half so as to look down slightly into the demon's eyes. The demon's grin is probably the most obscene and disgusting thing to be seen in the entire universe. It's not so much the sight, but more of a feeling that arrives in the deepest depths of one's own soul. The skin around its mouth is nothing more than desecated and decaying flesh, like a corpse that had been smoked like a fish. The lips part and issues forth a rancid chuckle, "It's already over, maggot! We've already won! Now all that is left is to fillet all the meat from the bones! And your kind is the meat!" A dry, sickly tongue snakes out and around his lips, "And devour the flesh. The sweet, sweet wet meat!" The human's fist shoots around and slaps into the side of the other's skull. Spittle flies from his mouth as he replies with rage, "There's just one little flaw in yo...

I see the tower in my dreams, in the early morning. Oh, it's real all right. Walking into it places you outside our time, or maybe just our concept of time. From there it can transport you to other eras and places if you know how to do it. But time here, where your body lies, it all seems to freeze in place.  Don't believe me? Fine than, go on and enter the tower. See what happens.  May the elder things have mercy on your soul if you do try it.  I mean, they won't, but Godspeed when you try. 

Chicago is run by the vampires. Salt Lake is run by the werewolves. Hollywood is owned by demons. New York City fell to the ghouls long ago.  It's like this all over the world. It's all divided up amongst *them*. I don't understand how any of you find these facts surprising these days.  Humans ain't been a free species since the Dark Ages. Now you know why it's called that by the way. What you need to realize is that we never left it.  Good guys? What good guys? These days it's just them and the cattle. We're the cattle.