My tale of a time between realms (2 hr break)

An ill-tempered man, of meager body and mind, rose to his feet – not on his first attempt, mind you. He muttered inaudibly under his breath before a solitary decipherable word oozed from his mouth… “Bullshit.” The controller he was holding fell to the floor, not a throw, or even a drop, but a collapse. As if his seldom used muscles and tendons were coal miners hearing the steam whistle calling them home. He glanced toward the stairs, let loose an ogre-like groan, that was amplified by – or maybe simply was - a gaseous release from moving his body for the first time that day.

“Touch grass bro,” “Get a life.” He strained to recall the words of mockery from the now-distant Global chat. “Get a life.” “Life sucks, why would I want to do that?” He chuckled to himself, believing he had now bested his minutes-long adversaries of yester year. His strides were those of an almost aggressive saunter up the stairs. Onlookers would liken it to a slinky in reverse.

After a time frame of, what can only be described as, “too long,” the foul beast reached the apex of his ascent up the basement stairs. He ever-so-slowly turned the knob to basement door, as to not alert anyone that was home, he had emerged, fearing even the most superficial of interactions. Whatever tact he’d shown to this point was hastily dismissed by the guttural, vampiric hiss he expelled to meet the first natural light he’d seen since April 4th.

A beautiful woman he recognized from a lifetime ago peered over a loft banister. Time had been as kind to her as it was cruel to the disheveled beast. Her olive skin a contrast to his porcelain, sun-starved exterior. She rushed to his side, gorgeous flowing brunette locks seemed to bounce off her shoulder in slow motion – until she pushed her own hair to the side, in an attempt to keep it from sticking to his Velcro neckbeard. Though his vision hadn’t fully adjusted to daylight yet, he could see the joyous tears rolling her cheeks.

Apprehensively, she put her arms around a man who only slightly resembled the man she once loved. His features had grown somewhat wolfen, but also partly slug. Were you to see them next to each other, one would assume it was she who needed keeping in the basement, as to not escape. The moment of human touch, albeit short lived due to his forcefield like odor, nudged a sense of familiarity in his brain, but he couldn’t quite place. In his confusion, he began to pant and gained more aggression within him.

Shakey, fearful words fell from her mouth.

“D-does, does this mean you’re ba—”

The beast roared, slapping a counter for stability, now forcefully exhaling from his snout.

“A NEW REALM!” he cried. The beautiful woman sank in her own skin. Devastated, however timidly she spoke, in an attempt to not spook the beast, she forced out powerful words…

“You know… you have a son.”

Enraged, the beast knocked a glass vase to the floor, shattering into tiny pieces. In the spilled water pooling on the floor, he saw his own reflection, for maybe the first time in months. He, too, was only familiar, unrecognizable. It was chance, luck, chaos, what have you, that caused the moment, but in that moment, the spell was broken.

He looked up at the woman, he now knew as his wife. He threw his arms around her, and she let him despite the smell. Partly because of how much she missed him, but more aptly, because she was better than him.

“I’m… I’m sorry for who I’ve become,” he whimpered, in a voice more closely akin to his own. His words were met with her finger, across his lips. “Shhhh. You don’t need to say a thing… your breath is awful.”

He smiled through tears beading down his face. It was then that the newfound lucidity would end, as an alarm began to sound. His head snap-twitched to the right, and he began shaking, eyes rolling into the back of his head.

There was a reprieve from violent movements for all too short of a time, and with red eyes and a voice that was barely his own, he howled, “NEW REALM!”

He rushed down the stairs, door slammed behind him, his beautiful bride fell to her knees, poetically - heartbreakingly so - near the shattered glass, and she wept. And this time, they were not tears of joy.

As she weeping turned to anger, she heard the beast’s words again… “FAILED TO JOIN INSTANCE?!?! RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!“