5 Hiding In Plain Sight

I am in a dark, empty room that seems to go on as far as the eye can see. My clothes are unusually sticky, so I look down to see why.

I immediately regret my decision.

My clothes are soaked in blood and what I assume are tiny pieces of meat and bones. I scream in horror and recoil, my sudden movements creating some disgusting squelching sounds while more blood oozes from my clothes.

The reasonable option is to run away, so I try to get up. Only to slip face first in the puddle of blood that formed beneath me.

I spit out pieces of torn muscle and organs, the disgusting taste of rotten fish invading my mouth makes me vomit in the ever-growing puddle that almost reaches my knee.

*What… how did it grow so fast?!*

But something stirring in the distance catches my attention, and my heart beat increases when the wobbly walls quickly get covered in giant growth that look like multiple heads of Mermen mashed together.

The disgusting tumors squirm and moan while a metallic voice resonates in my head. It's like a thousand people with distorted voices are shouting in my mind.

YOu KilleD uS!

RetribuTion!!

Covering my ears did nothing to the voice that is growing in intensity. It grew to the point of making me fall on my knees while a sudden massive headache causes me to scream in pain.

*What is this?! What's happening?!*

My eyes dart around to find an exit; I need to get out of this nightmarish hell…

Time freezes when I notice that the wailing tumors aren't the only inhabitants of the room: I can see what looks like Mermen stepping out of the ambient mist.

Their disgusting appearance makes my stomach churn, but I had already vomited everything so I cough on the floor. I raise my head once my stomach calms down, only to vomit again since the Mermen got closer.

They aren't Mermen, but Mermen corpses.

They look like bloody rags, unholy dolls made of flesh and broken bones that spills entrails and blood with each step they take with their disjointed limbs.

The puddle of blood now reaches my waist, making my attempt to escape the marching corpses increasingly difficult as it rises. I shiver each time I touch something floating under the thick ocean of blood, but I ignore the sensation since escape is the only thing on my mind.

*I have to keep going!*

Something snags on my foot, making me fall into the blood that fills my mouth with its metallic taste. I see shadows floating in the blood…

I rise up while coughing the red liquid as I try to escape the crimson lake as fast as I can.

There's something in this lake, and I don't want to hang around to learn what it is.

My movements become even more difficult as the blood now nearly reaches my shoulders and shows no signs of stopping. To make matters worse the Mermen reached the lake, and I realize in horror that they are able to walk on the blood.

Something suddenly drags me down, and the last thing I see is a gigantic mouth lined with jagged teeth.

I wake up with a scream, struggling to breathe while my heart is pounding in my chest. My eyes scan the surroundings for any traces of the zombies.

That's when I realize that I am back in my room.

I fall back on my bed with a sigh and my heartbeat slows down while I regain my breath.

*A nightmare, it was just a nightmare!*

I reminisce about what happened earlier: The firefight with the Mermen, Riley being a Werewolf, the Hidden World…

My attempts at distracting myself with the new publications on my Facebook feed failed so I put my phone back on my bedside table and close my eyes.

*No wonder I have nightmares… I fucking died!*

My hands are still trembling despite my best efforts to calm down, so I stare at the ceiling in silence.

What am I supposed to do now? I don't want to die again so I better stay clear of the Hidden World, but something tells me I won't have a choice…

I am now involved with the Hidden World even if I don't like it.

A yawn escapes my mouth, I am tired but going back to sleep doesn't seem like a good idea after my nightmare.

But I finally fall into a dreamless sleep after a few hours of browsing the internet.

It might surprise no one to learn that I skipped my classes today. I didn't really have the motivation. And I can always Rewind after taking the test so why bother? I am also seriously thinking about dropping out…

But let's leave those matters for another day. I have more pressing ones to attend to right now. Remembering my encounter with the Mermen made me shiver since I was almost killed by a single stray attack.

It's obvious that the Hidden World is populated by very resilient creatures like the Werewolves who are immune to small calibers, at least if what Riley said was true. That means that my current arsenal is lacking, something I have to fix as soon as possible.

Don't get me wrong, I am not about to run around and gun down every magical creature I meet. But my encounter with the Mermen and the Riley and his brother acted like it was normal taught me that the Hidden World is a violent place, and I don't intend to be killed again.

And it doesn't hurt to be prepared even if I hope I would never need to use my weapons.

I am also lacking in actual protection since the ballistic plates already showed their limits against the Mermen. Their magical pressure jets tore through them like it was nothing, and I doubt they would do much against a swipe from an angry Werewolf.

I'm not thinking of anyone in particular, I promise.

I hope that I could buy some kind of magical shield, or some jammer that would interfere with spells. But this leaves us with a critical problem: I know nothing about the Hidden World other than its existence.

I need to gather as much information as possible, like the locations of vendors, or if what I want even exist. I also need to learn about the factions and the important players since I don't want to end up pissing off a mob boss by accident.

Another reason to pay attention to the dark side is that I will likely need their services: I don't doubt that certain things that are illegal in the Hidden World will be useful for someone like me.

But all those things have one thing in common: They aren't free.

Earning a lot of money and doing it as fast as possible must become my number one priority. A new cycle of operations in online casinos is something that crosses my mind but I dismiss the idea: It's too slow and inefficient for what I have in mind.

I need something that is way bigger in scale and doesn't require so much micromanaging. I rack my brain for solutions and scour the internet for something useful, but only find scams and other 'get rich quick' schemes.

A sigh comes out of my mouth as I grab a fresh can of soda from my fridge and massage my temples to ease my budding headache after two hours of fruitless research.

*The lottery doesn't look too bad now… it would solve a lot of my problems.*

The temptation is strong since it's the easiest and fastest way to earn a massive amount of money in a small timeframe. But weighing the pros and cons of the idea makes me shake my head: Winning the lottery would attract too much attention.

"I don't know what to do…" I say to no one in particular as I sip my drink and slouch in my chair while enjoying the fizzy liquid going down my throat.

I scroll down the page displayed on my computer's screen, barely paying attention to the useless websites and shady scams littering the list until something catches my attention: It's an ad for an investment firm guaranteeing impossibly high returns.

Something clicks in my head, and I want to slap myself for being such an idiot.

*Why didn't I think of it sooner… I can just play the stock market.*

Really, it's so obvious now. I can just use the Rewinder to learn how the market will react and plan accordingly to maximize my investments. And this is ideal since my small gains will be innocuous in a place where billions of dollars are traded each second, avoiding all the attention I cannot afford to have fixated on me.

*This can work if I do it correctly…*

I spend the next two hours reading about the stock market and I am now staring at my screen displaying dozens of graphs.

*Great, so now I need to set an alarm for the next week to remind me of sending all the market data to today…*

My phone rings as soon as I create the alarm, and I open the text with expectation…

Only to be sorely disappointed since the message is corrupted.

*One week is too much, I should try a day sooner…*

My next trials crushed my hopes and also revealed that I can only receive somewhat clear messages from one day into the future.

*Another mystery to add to the pile…*

The unexpected limitations of the Rewinder will slow down my progress but it's still usable despite its flaws, so I went to work.

But a text from Riley interrupts me at the last second. The content of the message makes me gulp since he wants to see me.

*What could he possibly want? This can't be anything good…*

He wants to meet me at the Hot Spot in a few hours, and I don't have a choice in the matter according to the way he worded his message.

I don't know what he wants or why he insists on meeting in that place, but I should prepare for the worst.

And so I prepare myself by starting from the basics: I rummage through my apartment for a clean set of clothes since the ones I wore yesterday are caked in blood, not the best attire to go out. I end up with a pair of black used jeans, a red shirt, and a gray hoodie. It isn't what I would call fashionable but I won't bother dressing up.

I'm not going to lie: It's mostly because I don't have a lot of clean clothes.

I reach for my pistol resting on my nightstand with trembling hands. Flashes of yesterday's massacre appear in front of my eyes as soon as I touch the grip, causing the weapon to drop on the floor with a muffled thud.

My heart is racing, and I feel cold sweat rolling on my back while my knees are trembling. My eyes are fixated on the piece of plastic at my feet. I sit on my bed and take a deep breath to calm myself and close my eyes to escape the horrible visions haunting my mind.

*You did the right thing. They wanted to kill you and your friend…*

I can't rationalize my actions.

Who am I to intervene in a conflict that didn't concern me like that? For all I know, Riley was the one at fault and I helped a murderer…

My eyes wander on the unsuspecting black rectangle on my nightstand.

Maybe I could've convinced Riley to not go, or solved this in a less bloody way… What was I supposed to do? Maybe Rewinding a couple more time could have solved everything?

I grab my phone with trembling hands, everything became clear at that moment: I can just chain my Rewinds until I'm back to before the party...

My thumb hovers over the screen of my phone: I am struggling to decide.

On one hand, there's the possibility of me being wrong and saving everyone, but the option of making everything worse is also there… And there's no telling how chaining long Rewinds will affect my mental state, especially when I consider what happened to the earlier messages.

I don't want to turn my brain into mush.

I lose track of time and stay still, struggling to decide for what seems like forever before closing the app. My decision is taken: The odds of worsening the situation and making me brain-dead are too high.

A new wave of visions flash before my eyes when I lean forward and grab my Glock, but I take a deep breath and shake my head.

I'm sure that time will stop those visions. I really hope it does.

I attach my holster and equip my gun along with a few magazines before leaving my apartment with a lingering fear that I will never see that messy room again.

The 'Hot Spot' is a busy place with a constant stream of customers coming and going despite not being near the normal hours for lunch.

*I guess the place got popular… Now, where's Riley? He's late.*

A quick glance at my phone shows that he's at least ten minutes late. I sigh as I slouch on the bench in while loading up Hearthstone.

I already played a couple of rounds when I suddenly hear some cracking noise from behind a tree that makes me jump. I feel the adrenaline pumping through my body as I reach for my pistol, ready to whip it out if needed.

My jaw drops and my grip tighten when I see Riley stepping out from behind the tree despite him not being there just a second ago.

He looks around while cracking his neck and smile when he sees me. However, his friendly attitude doesn't calm me down as I tighten my grip to the point of turning my knuckles white.

Riley is no longer the normal guy I once knew, he's a highly trained killing machine masquerading as one.

And I might be his next target.

"Hey man, how are you doing?" he says and waves at me.

"… Fine." I grumble back in response, still not letting my guard down. He might've acted all friendly back at Jason's house but who knows what happened with his family. And if Steve revealed everything... That would mean that Riley was dispatched to take care of me.

His strained smile vanishes when he approaches me and notice that I won't change my stance.

"… Come on man, what's wrong?" he asks and I answer with a meaningful glare.

"What? Did I do something wrong?"

"Please, we know that my existence is an eyesore to your family and with the way your brother acted, I won't be surprised if this was an ambush…" I reply.

Riley, suddenly realizing the reason for my attitude, sighs.

"So that's how it is… I know that Steve isn't really fond of you, but he will not betray me. And you don't know how strict our family is. If he talked, then I wouldn't be standing in front of you…"

I'll believe him for now. The worst case scenario isn't something to really fear anyway. If the worst were to happen then I would just Rewind back to the start of the day.

Not that I want to do that, being cut in half by giant claws doesn't seem like a nice way to die.

"All right, I'm sorry," I say as I release my grip and raise my empty hand as a show of good faith. "So why did you want to meet me here?"

My friend smiles and turns towards the Hot Spot. "You'll see when you get there, so follow me."

I nod and we enter the crowded restaurant. Riley pushes through the crowd until we reach a door labeled 'Employees only' and we enter the small room.

The ambient chatter dies down as soon as the door closes and Riley flips a light switch, revealing that the room is…

…just a storage room for cleaning supplies.

"Great, so what are we doing now?" I ask with a tinge of nervousness. An isolated room like this is an ideal place to dispose of a body.

Riley pushes a sequence of boxes and mumbles something, causing an ethereal keyhole to appear in the center of the room. My jaw drops at the sudden apparition of the floating construct, causing Riley to giggle.

"If you're amazed by this, then you're in for quite a ride…" he says as he pulls out a small key hanging from a chain around his neck and pushes it into the keyhole, causing the world to disappear in a bright light.

My ears are ringing, and I struggle to remain upright while I rub my painful eyes.

*What happened? Where am I?*

I finally regain my vision and realize that I am not in the storage room, but in some sort of bare metal room without windows. The only remarkable thing in the area is a large metal ring standing in the middle of the room. The elevated piece of metal is so big that a truck could pass through it.

"Ah, there you are." Riley waves at me and smiles before walking towards me and handing me a key identical to his own. "There you go. I don't have to tell you that you better not lose this."

I nod and observe the key: It looks like a regular key and there are neither visible signs nor markings that reveal its true nature. What happened is obviously magic related, but I am not really sure what actually transpired so I ask Riley.

"So what the hell just happened? You pushed some shit around, then a keyhole appears out of nowhere and then we end up in an empty room?"

He nods before answering, "Yeah, I hope you remembered how I shuffled stuff around since it's a code to make the keyhole appear, and the key transported us here."

"… What? So we teleported here?"

"Yeah, it's cool isn't it?"

*So teleportation is possible. What's next, he will tell me that unicorns exist?*

"Cool is an understatement… But what's with the big metal ring over there?" I ask while pointing at the construct in the center of the room.

Riley smile grows wider as he hands me a purple keycard before pulling an identical one out of his pocket, "I think you will love this…" he says before waving the card in front of the ring.

The ring begins to vibrate and blue energy suddenly pulses through it, revealing a myriad of impossibly detailed engravings that flows into the metal. The frequency of the pulses intensifies until the engravings are continuously lit up, and four beams of blue energy converge into a sphere in the middle of the ring. Then the sphere expands until it fills the inside of the ring before flattening into a thin vibrating film.

"Don't tell me this is another way of teleporting."

Riley nod so I smile, "And aren't you guys afraid of copyright infringements? I mean I was almost expecting someone to tell me that the seventh chevron was locked-"

My friend hides his face in his palms and sigh, "I hate you so much right now."

We laugh, then Riley turns towards the portal, "So, are you ready?"

I take a deep breath before nodding and we walk into the portal.