Creatures of the Rift

         The Pumpkin-Men stood in shock at the silver-haired apparition that had literally fallen from the sky. Devoid of language they may have been, they definitely knew a deity when they saw one. The young man standing before them was one from the highest class of gods, and proof of that was the small blue triangle in the middle of his forehead, the only element of his handsome features that seemed out of place. If this person was indeed helping the witch, then some unimaginably horrid fate certainly awaited them. That said, the tribe of the Pumpkin-People were known to have a strong sense of camaraderie, and they fully intended to honour that: there was no way that they would retreat without dealing proper punishment to the culprit who had injured their leader. As one, the mob closed in to attack the deity.

         “Stop!” boomed a voice from the ground. It was the chief of the tribe. He got to his feet slowly, still apparently somewhat dazed from the blow he had received earlier. “Are you complete idiots? Do you know who we’re dealing with here?” The Pumpkin-Men halted their combined assault, some bumping into others from behind because of the suddenness of the manoeuvre. “Apologize to him immediately!” ordered the chief. The hundred or so pumpkin-headed creatures looked at him, confused. It was their first time seeing the tribe leader in such a state of panic. “Do it this instant!” Rather clumsily, the Pumpkin-Men bowed their heads and backed off slowly from the silver-haired youth. The latter observed all this with an indifferent expression. “Well?” he asked. “I still haven’t heard the answer to my question. What the hell have I been summoned here for?”
         “It was that witch’s doing,” answered the giant quickly, pointing towards the spot where Lisa was still attached to the pole. “She had a strange trinket on her ankle and—” The deity ignored the rest of the sentence and made his way toward the witch. When he arrived she was still struggling to free herself from her bonds. “You summoned me here, right?” he asked the flailing pair of legs in front of him. “What do you want from me?” Lisa’s face was beet red from the blood that had rushed to her brain. “How about you let me down first and ask questions after that?” she snapped. The deity obliged. He kicked down the pole so that Lisa lay flat on her stomach and looked down at her expectantly.
         “There’s nothing to say,” she stated. “It was a complete accident. I meant to summon my familiar Aenox here, but I don’t have any experience with trans-dimensional space manipulation, so the result is only natural.” A moment of awkward silence followed. Then—

         “An accident, huh?” The deity did not seem particularly moved by this response, as if he had been expecting it. He shrugged. “Well I figured it would be something like that. I don’t even have my own temple yet.” He glanced at the witch disinterestedly. “I don’t suppose you know how to send me back?” he asked. Her answer was negative. “I know a way around though.” Her expression changed suddenly as she stared at a point behind his shoulder. “But before that, I’m going to have to suggest you untie me from this pole.” The tone of voice she used hinted at something unpleasant happening to both of them if he did not comply.
         “And why’s that?”
         “Because the Crawlers are here.”
         The deity laughed.
         “Those insects? I can take on five hundred of them anytime.” It was then that a sudden shadow loomed over him; he looked up slowly and blinked. “Oh shit,” he swore with the face that came naturally with those two words.
Blotting out the sky were tens of thousands of spider-like creatures that resembled a huge dark mass of flailing legs. The witch smiled sarcastically. “I couldn’t have put it better myself.”
         Crawlers were mindless creatures that lived in the black chaotic space between Yonderworlds. It would normally be impossible for them to enter one unless its barrier had already been significantly weakened or they grouped together to assail it; in this case, both conditions had been met. The witch knew of course that she was the one at fault in the first place for having opened a rift without properly resealing it.
         Still, thought Lisa. It’s not like them to gather together in big groups like this. I’ll have to ask grandfather about it when I get back. If I get back.
         [i}Slice. The witch found that her hands and feet had been freed from their bonds. Standing above her was the silver-haired deity holding a small and skilfully sculpted ceremonial dagger. “You know dimension manipulation, right?” he asked her. “Get us out of here quick. And them too.” He indicated the Pumpkin-people. His voice betrayed no urgency whatsoever. It sounded almost…bored. Lisa was itching to tell him that “Get us out of here quick” was easier said than done, but her better judgment pressed her to ask him something more relevant to their current predicament. She grabbed his arm and pulled herself up.
         “Listen, can you use Omniscience?” she asked.
         “Yeah, but it’s at a very primitive state. I can locate anything within a fifty mile radius.”
         “That’s more than enough. Bring us to the nearest body of water.”
         “Water? What for?”
         “Just trust me and do it! There’s no time left.” The deity paused for a moment, and then said, “Okay, but you’ll you have to buy me thirty seconds.” Lisa nodded and turned to face the Crawlers. They were despicable little critters indeed. The darkness that had borne them had obviously not been very particular about aesthetics because the criteria for their existence seemed to be “anything scary that has at least three legs”. Already they had landed and engaged the Pumpkin-Men, who were putting up a valiant but futile resistance. Outnumbered one to a hundred, the poor creatures could do little before being swallowed by the massive black wave of Crawlers. But now that a witch had entered the equation things would be different. It was time to turn the tables. Or at least prevent being crushed by them.

         Lisa pulled out two bottled spells from within the depths of her cloak. Fire and wind. Perfect. She would have preferred not to waste such expensive items, but she had no time to cast a spell of her own. She uncorked the bottles with her thumbs and pointed them towards the mass of Crawlers. A stream of wind and fire erupted from them at a converging angle and at a speed somewhere between sound and light. What happened next was expected. What happened after that wasn’t.
         The common belief that wind stoked fire was thankfully valid in this particular Yonderworld. A clean-sounding and very satisfying explosion occurred, sending thousands of Crawlers flying in every direction (as well as a few Pumpkin-People).The belief that fire stimulated the growth of Crawlers however, while less common, was equally valid. The creatures that had been hit by the explosion ballooned and stretched to sizes exponential to their initial ones, their tempers shrinking just as much. Terrible screeches rended the air, and the Crawlers drew back, preparing for the next attack.
         “What have you done, witch?” asked the chief of the Pumpkin-people as the Crawlers reached gargantuan proportions.
         “I’ve delayed them. Although I do admit that the side effect is rather unfortunate.”
         Okay, thought Lisa. “Rather unfortunate” was a bit of an understatement, but the main goal had been accomplished, right?
         “This way,” called the silver-haired deity in his almost-bored voice. He walked—almost seemed to glide—towards a forested area in the east at an impossible speed followed closely by the remaining Pumpkin-people. It was all they could do to keep up with him. The chief was in a particularly sour mood; he’d lost more than half his tribe and been driven out of his village—all in less than ten minutes. He swore to himself that this was the last time he would have anything to do with witches.

         Two minutes of frantic running later, the party arrived at a wide clearing in the forest. The ground was partially covered in moss, dead leaves and rotting logs. A large rectangular hole with a stone staircase leading underground took up the middle of the clearing. It looked very suspicious indeed. Which of course didn’t stop the deity from waltzing straight in without a word. Lisa sighed and followed suite. The underground passage was obviously an artificial one; affixed to the stone walls were eerily designed sconces with brightly lit torches inside them that seemed to welcome the party deeper inside the corridor. Someone or something had been here recently. The mixed scent of blood and other unidentifiable elements permeated the humid air, and the floor echoed the sound of their footsteps back at them.

         The deity came to a halt. An arch supporting a doorway stood in his path. The door was open, always a bad sign. Above it, in bright crimson lettering, was written: “WELCOME TO THE HALL OF MONSTERS. OPEN TWENTY-SEVEN HOURS A DAY. FREE ENTRY. EXIT NOT GUARANTEED.” Lisa wondered if perhaps facing the Crawlers would have been a better choice.