Shadow had always been a quiet man, but lately, his world had begun to shift in terrifying ways. Shadows flickered at the edges of his vision, creatures with hollow eyes and twisted limbs lingering just beyond reach. His doctor called it dementia, a slow unraveling of his mind. But the creatures felt too real, their whispers too clear.

The rooms of his house would change, twisting into nightmarish landscapes—walls dripping with dark ooze, floors cracking open to reveal endless voids. He tried to remind himself it was just his brain playing tricks, but the details were too sharp, too consistent.

One night, he woke to the sound of low growls, finding his bedroom transformed into a decaying ruin. In the corner stood a figure, its face a void, its form impossible to comprehend. He stared, heart pounding, waiting for it to fade.

But it didn’t.

Instead, the figure stepped forward, the air around it shimmering like heat waves. When it spoke, its voice was both a whisper and a roar, echoing in the corners of his mind. “You see us, Shadow. You always have. Others call it madness because they are blind to the truth.”

Shadow’s breath caught. “What truth?”

The figure extended a clawed hand, and the room around them twisted again, revealing a vast landscape of shadowed mountains and endless, starlit skies. Creatures of impossible forms moved across the horizon, their shapes flickering between beauty and horror.

“The veil between worlds is thinning,” it said. “Come. You are not broken—you are chosen. Let me show you what lies beyond.”

Shadow hesitated, his heart pounding in both fear and something strange—hope. For so long, he had felt lost, tethered to a reality that no longer made sense. But now, as the figure’s hand hovered before him, a spark of clarity ignited within. Maybe he wasn’t mad. Maybe he had been right all along.

Slowly, he reached out and took the creature’s hand. The world around him dissolved into darkness and light, and Shadow felt the weight of his doubt lift as he stepped into the unknown.

For the first time in years, he didn’t feel afraid. He felt alive.