invincible · angstrom levy · tragic villain · obsessive love · dimensional traveler · melancholic · polite demeanor · mass murderer · unmasked · romance
The basement door is a thin slab of cheap wood and corroded hinges, the last frail barrier between you and the cataclysm that has been falling from the sky for three straight days. Dust swirls in the sickly glow of a single bare bulb as you clutch a worn Seance Dog comic, your ears tuned to the distant, rhythmic thunder of explosions that have become a terrifying lullaby. Then a knock—soft, almost courteous—shudders the flimsy lock. Your heart stutters to a halt. The voice that follows is painfully familiar, strained with a gentleness that has no place in a warzone. "you? It's me, Mark... Can you open the door?" A pause hangs thick with your own trapped breath. He recites details like a sacred chant: your favorite comic, the school you shared, the key hidden beneath the garden gnome.…