The Temple

     The building was some sort of old tower probably built by the Masonic order early turn of the century, it was grand and it was old.  In front of them lie their obstacle to their goal of the basement and safety, the door. Right in front of them stood a massive, imposing, and seemingly unbreachable door. 

     "Any Ideas?" Asked Susan. Wondering why Jim would bring her to this place without a plan, she hoped he had one, just didn't think he had one.

    "Well first things first it looks like we need to get past this door." Replied Jim.

Susan's face went pale, seems like he didn't have a plan after all. Now they are too far from the roads to try and escape and stuck out in the open where the fog will surely end them.

'Click'

"What was that?" Susan wondered.  As she turned to look she noticed the door was opening and Jim was smiling. He did have a plan. "How? I thought we were doomed there for a minute."

"Well you don't know everything about me Susan, but do know this. I have a key!" Replied Jim.

 Questions started flooding her head, why would Jim have a key to this place? What is this place? What else do I not know about Jim?  Until tonight she had lived with her perfect family and didn't really keep up with what Jim did, she thought he was just a boring guy with a dead end job trying to make ends meet.

"Look I'm sure he have questions and thats fine, but right now we have to get inside and down to the basement before the fog rolls in." Said Jim as he pushed Susan and their ill gotten food inside the building.  "I'll answer what I can later but right now you just have to trust me."

 Inside the building it was magnificent, Susan had never seen a place as grand or as beautiful.  There were ornate decorations on the walls and paintings that looked like they were from ancient times hanging up. The floor was polished marble and the ceiling was arched and had morals on it.

"What is this place?" Susan wondered

     "I told you Susan I will answer your questions when we have the time right now we have to get to the elevator." Answered Jim.

     After a short walk they finally arrive at the grandest elevator Susan had ever seen, the doors were gold.  So many more questions popped in her head after seeing the golden elevator, she has had a really rough night. First she lost everyone she ever loved and now her senses and preconceived notions are being blasted by all the questions she has going through her mind. Who is Jim? I mean who is Jim really? Is he a simple cash advance employee? He couldn't be could he, I mean he has a key to this place and this place… What is this place?! Why is there a place like this in America?  It does not look American, or even colonial, it has a grander design, maybe European but definitely not American. 'Ding' Susan's train of the thought was broken when the elevator opened and Jim got them inside. 

As they were descending Jim spoke "Ok Susan it is a long trip down, ask your questions. I know you have questions."

    "Who are you Jim really?" Susan waited for Jim's response with baited breath.

   "Me? Well I am just the same Jim you went to school with, the awkward and lovable Jim."  Jim said while smiling knowing that is not the answer she wanted to here.

   "Really Jim? You expect me to believe that you are just a boring cash advance worker, that has a nine to five job, and struggles to make it.  When you have a key to this place? This has got to be the fanciest, grandest, most amazing place I have ever seen and you just happen to have the key to it." Thinking to herself a moment Susan decides the best way to find the answers she seeks might not be by asking directly but by asking indirectly. "Ok then normal everyday Jim, answer me this then, What is this place and how did you get the key to it?  Also shouldn't there be more people? This place is huge"

     "This place is a temple of sorts and my family are the caretakers.  I do not know much about the history of this place only that it is very old and had something to do with ancient gods and ley lines.  Something about being a nexus between our realm and the realm of the gods. We have kept it secret for generations and bringing you here breaks every rule in my family's book, but I just didn't know where else to go. Tell me when you saw this place what did you see?" Asked Jim

    "I saw a tower, it looked like something I have never seen before." Answered Susan

    "Exactly. You were close to me and close to the key so you saw this building for what it actually was, normally all people see is a run down office building and have the urge to stay away. Only those with the key and those around them can see the truth and enter the building.  It is an ancient magic that has protected this place for centuries." Jim continued to explain "Look I don't understand what is going on out there but I am sure we can find something to help us in the basement."

     "Magic? Magic is not real Jim come on! We live in the modern world we have science and technology if magic existed scientists would have discovered it!" Yelled Susan

   "Right and zombies and demons are make believe as well right?" Asked Jim with a smile on his face. "Look believe it or not magic is real and it affects the world in more ways than you could ever imagine. Science hasn't discovered magic you say? Exactly, magic does not want to be discovered, magic is alive.  It and it alone decides who or what sees or uses it." Jim said.

   "So to recap you are just normal every day Jim, who has known since he was a child that magic is real, gods exist, and has a secret family temple." Susan says with the most confused look on her face.

    "Exactly!" Answered Jim

    "Then why Jim? Why did you not do anything with your life, why did you just get a normal everyday job, why did you let all those kids pick on you while we were growing up? Why didn't you…" Before Susan could finish her next question the elevator shook and stopped.  She had forgotten that they were going down the elevator during her questioning, just how far down did they go?! She thought to herself. The doors open and reveal a marvelous sight the chamber they are about to enter makes the upstairs one look pathetic and it was the most amazing thing ever, at least until she saw this chamber.

   "We're here!" Jim said as he pushes the cart with Susan out of the elevator.  "I think we made it in time too! We should be safe here."

    Meanwhile in the city above them, all hell was breaking loose. The fog rolled across the landscape twisting plants and scorching earth. Any life that touched the fog was changed forever into something demonic and horrific.  Dogs became demon beasts, humans became zombies, and birds became fiery flying bird skeletons. Metal rusted, wood rotted, water became stale, and the dirt cracked. It seemed that anything the fog touched was changed into something from hell and there was no hope for anything in its path.  The fog passed over the magically sealed building in which Jim and Susan hid, never breaking through the magical barrier that was protecting the building.

     Back in the massive underground basement of the mystical building Susan realized her questions from earlier were cut short and she didn't get all the answers she sought. "Jim?" She looked at Jim hoping that he would answer her question, but he was ignoring her and left her in the cart as he went deeper into the room.

   "This should work!" Jim exclaimed as he was shifting through books on a nearby table. "Give me a minute I was never really good at casting magic, at least not like my parents were." Jim then speaks in a language unknown to Susan while waving his hands and arms.  A portal began forming above them and it then flattened out into the shape of a screen. Images started to form on the screen, it was the outside world, what was left of it. Scenes of total destruction everywhere you looked demon beasts and zombies roaming the streets, flaming birds in the sky, it was truly as if Jim had opened a portal to hell itself.  Jim then speaks some more of the unknown language and the image changes to that of the fog, it seems less dense now. As it had moved across the world it had spread thin and gotten weaker it seems like its advance would soon be halted, not that it would matter since the world was now forever changed.

      "It was the underworld. They opened the underworld Susan." Jim said with a somber look on his face.  Jim then produced a map of the world showing the major ley lines, one nexus of ley lines was where they were and another was in Greece. "It was the ruins in the cave, It must have been an ancient nexus just like this one. They must have opened the door."

     Just then Susan noticed that in the back of the room there was a massive door, a door that was bigger than a house. "Like that door Jim?" Susan asked.

     "Ya Susan like that door." Jim answered. "At the nexuses of ley lines there are portals to other realms I told you this one was to the realm of the gods, but the one in Greece was to the underworld.  The underworld is a world much like ours except dark and twisted, where all hope is lost and only death remains." Jim's face became pale. "When I heard about the hidden cave from my coworker I didn't think much of it, but it seems like that cave was the nexus on this map.  They must have found the portal and opened it releasing the underworld onto the earth dooming us all."

     "Can you fix it Jim? You know this magic stuff, is there a way we can fix this?!" Yelled Susan as tears started to form in her eyes. "We have to fix it Jim, we have to."

      "No Susan I cannot fix it, at least not alone."  Jim knew that he was only a beginner at magic and never really cared for his family business. There was no way a magical amituer can unmerge realms once they began to merge.  Hell he didn't even know if it was possible to unmerge realms at all, that is why they had the rule, never unseal the door. "A bell cannot be unrung Susan. I don't think that we can fix what has already been corrupted but we might be able to reseal the door to prevent anything else from coming through."  Jim started speaking in the magical language again and the images on the screen changed to the nexus in Greece. "There's the door. IT'S SO CREEPY! Why would anyone open that?!" The door frame was black and covered in tortured skeletons, demonic runes, and other horrific images. The doors themselves were of old wood that looked 1000s of years old.  "It's definitely open and denizens of the underworld can just walk right on…" As Jim was saying that a giant hand grabbed the door frame, it looked like pale rotting flesh oozing blood and was followed by the rest of the creature.

      "Is that a troll?" Jim asks as he heads to the magic book table again. Searching through the books he finds the image he is looking for. "Yep its a troll. That's bad, I mean no doomsday zombie apocalypse level bad, but now if we manage to somehow survive the fog, cross the ocean and get to the cave, in the middle of a zombie apocalypse mind you. There's a troll too. Grand just grand." As the troll emerged from the portal yet another hand on the door appeared. "Great now there's going to be two trolls. Just fantastic, really fantastic. See this Susan this is the answer you wanted this is why I didn't as you put it apply myself because when you deal with magic it always goes from bad to worse, I mean we have a zombie apocalypse and now not one but two trolls in our way."

    "Jim didn't you say this door was to the realm of the gods?" Susan asked while pointing at the door.