Letting Monsters into
the World
by Michael Shimek
“The
pursuit of knowledge is hopeless and eternal.”
-Professor
Hubert J. Farnsworth
Standing in front of his apartment’s
doorway to the outside, Leif was reluctant to face the inevitable. His
trembling hand rested on the handle. Apprehension, guilt, shame, and depression
all mixed into a chaotic bag of emotions. His stomach knotted up, he could feel
beads of sweat pop out from his glands, and his heart beat faster than a
hummingbird flapping its wings.
And it wasn’t because of the three creatures
that hovered around him.
They surrounded him, each one menacing
in their own different way. On his left, a humanoid shape as dark as oil stared
at him with eyes made of orange flames. On his right, a demon made of barbed
spikes and armored plates towered over him. And directly in front of him, as if
melding with the door, hung a head that chomped at his neck with vicious,
pointed fangs. Leif could tell that all three would tear him to pieces if they
could.
It was a good thing they couldn’t.
Taking in a few breaths to relax his
nerves, Leif ignored his posse of monsters and turned the door handle.
An immediate roar of hisses and boos
erupted—damn, he had been recognized
right away. As the sunny day opened up, so did the view of his fans of haters.
They all cursed and sent threats in his direction. Some held up signs to
promote their loathing speeches. Some sang songs of disgust, while others held
objects they yearned to throw; thankfully, several police officers helped
control the crowd from any physical violence.
If only the people of the world knew
how much worse things could be.
He was going to regret ever stepping
outside. But, how could he not? Becoming a hermit was definitely an option, but
Leif would rather kill himself than hole up and never leave his apartment. He
knew the day would come when he had to face the world. He knew there would be
people who would always have a grudge against him. The people of the world had
every right to abhor him. Hell, he
wasn’t even a huge fan of himself at the moment.
It was all because of one little
mistake: Leif Halverson had allowed monsters to enter the world.
He hadn’t meant for it to happen; it
had been an accident. All he wanted to do was peer into other universes, to
gaze upon the beauty of unknown cosmic mysteries. He had no idea at the time of
the true ramifications of messing with secrets better left alone.
As a scientist, conquering and
understanding knowledge drove his brain. His daydreaming mind constantly
questioned his physical and mental environments. Everything fascinated Leif. He
wanted to learn more, to learn everything about everything. Little did he know
that delving into the strange study of fringe science would end up ruining the
entire world.
It had all started when Leif attended college
at the age of twelve. With an IQ level over 150, the child prodigy had found a
whole new world open to him—his bible thumping mother had restricted his
studies while living at home, and going off to college provided him with the
freedom he so rightly needed. The first year had been boring, taking classes
the university forced him to take. But the second year, oh the second year,
would forever remain etched inside Leif’s head; it was the year he would meet
the man who would change his life, and the world’s, forever.
After becoming well known among the
staff and faculty, he befriended a Professor Marty Fenton. Marty was an
eccentric drug user who taught Advanced Quantum Physics 101 and, although his
methods and thinking got him into trouble more often than not, he was one of
the smartest people in North America. At the age of fourteen, by the time he graduated
with his first degree in Astrophysics, Leif was a regular attendee of all of the
professor’s lectures and speeches. At fifteen, he and Professor Fenton were
regular buddies who enjoyed bouncing crazy philosophies off of each other. At
sixteen, Leif had two degrees and occasionally dipped into hallucinogens while
contemplating questions of the universe with his new hero and role model.
It was with Professor Fenton’s help
that Leif would eventually find a way to peer and tap into other universes.
Together, the two friends began work on
creating a machine—a machine now confiscated by the government and sealed away
in a secret location—that would open up new worlds for the human race, worlds
accessible right here on planet Earth. Unfortunately, Professor Fenton would
never see his dream become a reality due to an untimely car accident. Leif
vowed to finish the project. Five years after starting their experiments, and
two years after the professor’s death, Leif finished the large, bus-sized
structure in a warehouse he inherited after his colleague’s passing. All alone,
except for the various videos set up to record every minute detail, he flipped
the switch to turn the machine on.
He had expected a window, a viewing
portal into one of the universes he and Professor Fenton thought they had
detected. That was it, only a hole to gaze through and examine the other side.
Nothing was supposed to traverse the gateway.
Of course, life has a way of taking a
person’s ideas and adding its own little twist into the equation.
Leif ignored his memories and looked
past the crowd of boos and hisses. He looked at the city beyond the people, at
the new world he had help create.
Shadows of an infinite black abyss
soared through the skies. Entities with fiery eyes, shapeless blobs of
grotesqueness, and creatures as large as buildings roamed the streets and
alleyways. Their eyes bore into the soul. Mouths of razor knives snapped at
random citizens. They materialized out of nowhere and popped out from behind
corners to scare anyone in their way.
An estimated one hundred million had
already entered the world, a number that rose everyday—at least the average
number entering per day was in a decline, stated by official reports. They were
a nuisance, Leif argued, and nothing else. Although terribly frightening in
looks, they were nothing more than apparitions. Not a single case had been
found where one could physically interact with this universe, passing through
tangible materials like a ghost. They were harmless, but they were also
never-ending.
Watching the monsters wander around
like people, Leif saw a bottle fly from the crowd. The green glass shattered at
his feet on the pavement, followed by hoots from the mob it sailed from.
Someone threw another bottle. Leif sidestepped the second one and dashed back
into the building before the third had a chance to make contact. He let out a
sigh of relief as he came face to face with Black Death.
Black Death: the name given to the
first being from the other universe to climb through the portal. The humanoid
figure, a bulky and muscular fellow, was pitch-black. Eyes that changed
different shades of orange followed Leif, because since coming into the world,
it never left his side.
He ignored the being. He ignored them
all. He shrugged everything off and walked back to his apartment, back to where
he could work on more positive thoughts and ideas.
Like working on his new project.
Just because the government denied Leif
from tinkering with his previous invention, and forbade him from continuing the
line of work that got him into this mess, did not mean he was going to obey whatever
“The Man” told him to do. Leif Halverson was a person who lived by his own
rules, a person who lived to explore and discover newfound mysteries in the
name of science no matter the cost.
Soon, Leif would begin his next
project, and his next project would show the human race the true dangers of other universes.
END
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