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A Vicious Cycle

Summary:

The company had a made a mysterious technology with the power to supposedly cross dimensions. At first they think it's a failure and abandoned it on the Gray Planet with the rest of humanity's junk. Unbeknownst to them, it activates and opens a portal to a universe that was way behind in time, 2026 to be exact. Then one random man finds the portal has opened in his very own home. A man who has a simple life of just playing video games and entertaining audiences. In this story we will explore the man's perspective as he delves into the horrors of the alternate universe waiting for him just outside his closet and how he will overcome them. Maybe at the end of it all, there could be hope for the poor creatures in that wretched cave full of infinite suffering.

Notes:

Thanks for reading this ya'll it's my first work and to be honest? This is entirely self indulgent. So don't expect the story to be perfect or amazing but I need these guys to be happy and I am tired of the suffering they endure. I thought to post it here as maybe some of ya'll might like it to. I don't know how many chapters this'll be but I plan for this to be a long story so buckle up. Any errors in the writing I will try to correct is as best as I can. Also you may see a lot of references but I gots the tism so my bad. But I think it works for a protagonist who's life is mostly centered around video games and shit.

Chapter 1: That Fateful Night...

Chapter Text

Where to begin? Well all story’s start somewhere right? Things are way different as I write this but so much has happened since then I thought that maybe I’d finally get this down on paper… Or text I guess. But all stories start somewhere. So this is how MY story started. The story of how I found something unbelievable. The story of horrid cruelty. The story of how I even met a close friend.

It all started on a late Wednesday night. It was cool and raining. So tranquil and calm outside while I was inside streaming some Dead by Daylight gameplay, in which I was playing as Springtrap and doing my thing. I am a content creator of sorts and I have gone pretty far in life with it but… Sometimes I still can’t believe how far I’ve gotten. I started out small of course but after one clip of me and my friends playing a game together, I hit it big.

After the content creation scene got stale I ended up even creating my own video game. It was called inter-DIE-mensional, (cheesy I know.) and it was an immediate success. Part of it was definitely due to me already having a large following and I was worried people were only playing for that but I started seeing let’s plays, theories, breakdowns… The types of videos you’d see for a game people actually cared about and it was heartwarming to see.

My whole life I always felt shitty, like I was worthless and dragging everyone around me down, like I was a parasite just leeching off of them. All because of my stupid mental disorder. I had family always breathing down my neck about being lazy and worthless and it put me through a lot of severely depressive episodes. It'd go to the point where I would even contemplate… You know what? It doesn't matter. What matters is that I overcame that mentality and made something of myself.

But all of that was how I got to the point I am now. After my silly little game where you would control a fictional version of me and travel through different universes trying to figure out what was going on in all the worlds you’d go to. Oddly topical for the things that happen in this story.

As someone who had a not-so-pleasant upbringing I was finally content. And I was for a while now. But then we circle back to THAT faithful day. That Wednesday night where I was doing my thing. I was done with my last killer match for the night and started to wrap up the stream. I said bye to the viewers and closed the stream for the night. I shut off my computer and decided to take a shower afterwards.

When I was done I got dressed and went to the kitchen to ponder dinner when I suddenly heard a knock on the door. I looked through my peephole and saw something surprising. It was my old buddy that me and my buds just referred to as Diaz. You see, he recently came back from the military and I guess it kinda slipped my mind he was coming home soon.

I quickly invited him in and we said our hello’s and the obligatory “it’s been a while’s” and I had him sit down and I offered to order food online. He offered to pay and I immediately turned down his offer as I thought it’d be a kind gesture. He wanted Weinerschnitzel and I decided to get a burger from a local place.
After I quickly poked fun at his order because I was being an immature little shit, we sat down and just caught up on life while we waited for the order.

He had just gotten back from Korea and was just taking it all in again. I told him about my shit but he was well aware as, yet again, I’ve become pretty well known for my stuff at this point so it all kind of just looped back to him finding out. The food finally arrived and we went out onto the patio and enjoyed our food. It was raining but I live on the bottom floor of my apartment so the upper patios protected us from that. As we ate we just kind of stared out at the rain and were just taking enjoying the vibe. That’s when Diez asked a question.

“Did you ever think we’d get here?”

“Hm?” Like where we are in our lives?”

“I guess. Like it’s these moments that make everything feel so…”

“Still? Melancholic?”

“Sorta. I don’t know. I guess it’s like a feeling that doesn't have any words I can think of.”

“Huh… Yeah I think I know what you mean. Almost like a liminality of sorts”

Diez snapped his fingers and pointed with a "there it is" kind of attitude.

“Yeah that! That word works perfectly I think.”

“Eh, it's a feeling I’m well acquainted with. So if anyone would know, it’d be me. I think part of it is just the fact we came a long way from just dicking around in high school huh?”

“Well now you’re just making me feel old!”

“Bruh, I remember when blockbusters were still around man, were shriveled up raisins dude.”

“Bitch, now you’re REALLY making me feel old! We're still in our early twenties!”

“Yeah I know, I know. Though sometimes when you look back on life it can make you feel way older.”

“Yeah you’ve got a point. So what’s this I hear about a movie?”

“Oh boy…”

After that we conversed some more and I caught Diez up on my life stuff and he soon decided it was time to take his leave and sort stuff out at home. We said our goodbye’s and he left. I then looked around my apartment. It was empty and dark as it usually is at this time once again. I looked at the pictures of me and my friends. All the adventures we went on. All the fun we had.

But now everything has calmed down and that’s in the past and things are chill now. That calmness again. I went to the fridge and got some ice cream. Ben & Jerry’s tonight dough. My favorite. Sure this lifestyle was ironically on the lonelier side for being an internet personality but I DID used to have someone living here... My father. Unfortunately he had to leave because of… reasons… So now I just spend most of my nights like this.

I went to my room and put on Dr. House for the night as I’d recently started binging the series at this time. I was content, eating my ice cream and enjoying life as it was. But after a good bit of the episode, that’s when I noticed something was off about my room. It was a very eerie feeling, like something was very wrong. I remember every detail so vividly, which is odd considering my memory is so whack sometimes. But it was right after Wilson and House walked back in after bluffing in front of Cuddy’s house and went back to see Cuddy’s daughter had put a coin in her mouth.

There was a strange low hum. It was like nothing I’ve ever heard, and it caused my hair to stand on end. I was so confused on what would be making that sound. So I looked around my apartment to identify its source. As I walked towards the bathroom there was a strange coldness coming out of the closet next to the pathway to said bathroom. The air was still, quiet, and the humming had stopped. I felt a strange feeling when I looked towards my closet. Something primal, like a dread. I slowly reached out to pull open the sliding mirror door and felt my blood run cold.

Where my clothes and stuff would normally be, it was a dark… hole of some sort. Empty, Vantablack, just like a void. Time felt like it stood still at that point and everything was frozen. Like I was the only person on Earth in my dark room save for the blue glow of my TV. I thought maybe I fell asleep while watching House and it was a dream of some sort. Everything felt so… surreal and…creepy, at that point. Which helped lend credence to the dream theory I suppose.

But I still felt very uneasy looking at it, however… I had another feeling. A feeling of curiosity. So I gathered every ounce of courage I had and stepped in. It kept… going. I saw my doorway of light shrink behind me as if I was moving away from it. This isn’t possible right?... This non-euclidian geometry?

It was like I was stepping into the backrooms or like the scene in Deltarune when Susie and Kris walked into that closet for the first time. Another thing that freaked me out was the ground under me was solid. Like tile of some sort, which is strange considering my floor is carpeted.

That’s when I bumped into something… A wall. A metal one.

At this point I had to be dreaming. That was when I held my eyes shut. For probably like 30 seconds if I had to guess but it felt like hours. It’s a little trick I learned from my childhood. I used to have frequent lucid dreams as a kid and I knew that if I held my eyes shut, It would wake me up.

I did not wake up.

Instead I was met with the same darkness from before. I turned and I still saw the doorway of light to my room. I stumbled around for a little bit in the dark and accidentally leaned against something protruding from the wall and heard a distinct *click*. Suddenly I feel my eyes shrink as the light fills the room. Guess I found the light switch.

What I saw kinda just… dumfounded me. It looked like some kind of lab/bunker place. The walls made it look like I was inside of some kind of... cargo container?. The walls were white, the ceiling was white, the floor was white.

I was feeling a lot of things at this moment. Confusion, fear, curiosity, awe, and feelings that I couldn’t even put into the words. What the fuck was going on? Why is there some Doctor Who, bigger on the inside shit in my closet and why is it in my god damn home?

But before I could process all of this I heard a sound that made me jump.

It was sudden and quick and it sounded like an animal yelp. I was startled by this and was immediately drawn to the noise. It sounded like it came from outside the lab, but not in my room. Like there was something beyond the lab. What the hell was any of this? I should’ve probably gone back and called some kind of authority figure to handle this or SOMETHING, but I didn’t. I don’t fully understand why but it had to be the same curiosity from before if I had to guess. A strange intrigue.

But then I noticed a big pressurized door thing with a huge red valve on the front.. I walked up to it and stared for a minute not knowing what would lie beyond the door. And then it came to me… This is just like my game. You see, the whole gimmick with Inter-die-mensional is that the primary way “the protagonist” would go from universe to universe was using doors that he could conjure.

I now knew how it probably felt for that fictional version of me. The ominous feeling, the looming feeling of dread, yet the small glimmer of curiosity was there.

I slowly turned the valve and gently pushed the door open… What I saw astounded me. Before, I had thought this might have somehow been some weird project or prank my Youtube friends set up for me, what with the whole interdimensional door thing being very on-the-nose for me in particular. It may have sounded like a stretch saying it now but I was trying to rationalize this in any possible way I could. But now? I wasn’t so sure.

What I saw was befuddling. It looked to be a cave. A huge expansive cave with little glowing fruits hanging around. It was kind of beautiful yet scary. Something that looked straight out of fucking Hollow Knight if I had to quickly describe it. But then I heard a noise again. It was strange animal-like whimpering. It was gut wrenching, whatever it was it sounded like it was in a lot of pain. It was coming from deeper within the cave.
I knew immediately I had to see what the noise was coming from, but at the same time I had to proceed with caution. That being said I pulled out my phone and I turned the flashlight setting on and started walking forward. I was met with a bit of a ledge and realized I may need to do some climbing. So I quickly put my phone in my shirt pocket and started to do so.

The whimpering continued and it pushed me to keep proceeding. I climbed and treaded for a good few minutes and I heard something that shook me up a bit.

A voice.

It was coming from the same direction of the whimpering and it was… saddening. It was a gentle voice, and from what I could make out it said something along the lines of “Please… I need help… Someone… Anyone…”

I approached cautiously and as I got closer I noticed a blinking red light right under me as I made a step forward. At that very moment a large spike jutted out of the ground and I quickly fell back out of shock as it barely whiffed my thigh.

“HOLY SHIT!”

Those were the only words I was able to get out as I fell on my back. Thankfully I moved quick enough to avoid that but it could’ve been really bad if I didn’t react a millisecond quicker. But I heard it one more time, that voice.

“Please…”

I quickly got up and made sure to start looking under me as well as I traversed just to be safe. I made my way to the voice that had been diminishing in volume. Someone needed help and I might be the only one close enough to do so. Though at the same time this could’ve been a trap. Maybe something using a human voice? I know it sounds stupid but my mind was racing with thousands of possibilities.

Then again I couldn’t forgive myself if I left someone in trouble just because of my damn paranoia. I saw another ledge and quickly grabbed on to it and hoisted myself up towards my destination. But as I peeked over the ledge I saw it. A sight that was completely new to me, something no man probably had ever seen. Until now.

It was some kind of creature… A mammal at a glance as it seemed to have fur. It was some kind of canine looking thing that laid on the ground. It had human proportions yet animal features. Like a furry if I had to simplify it. It was on the shorter side. Couldn’t be more than 5 feet tall. Maybe even closer to 4. The more I looked at it, it had a face that was a weird mix of canine? Maybe a fox? Almost a rodent look to it too... It had black fur with pointy ear things protruding from the back of it’s head. It’s legs were more animal-like too with them being bent back like a quadruped. Yet judging by it’s stature even with it laying down, it seemed bipedal.
It had pink paw pads on it’s feet and… hands? Like it had paw pads but the hand was more human-ish and almost cartoony. Also seemed to have claws as well. It also had a large fluffy tail that was mostly black as well, save for the tip which was orange. Kind of made me think of a torch.

At this point I was trying to take in what exactly I was looking at and I realized this was not only the source of the noise… but possible the voice too... Could this thing talk??? How is any of this even possible? But as I looked over it’s form I noticed something bleak yet very strange. It was drenched in a yellow liquid. Primarily around the leg. Upon further notice I saw a gaping hole in it’s thigh where the yellow liquid seemed to be originating from. Was this it’s blood? What the fuck happened to it?

Then I noticed another red light blinking off to the right, though this light was more orange as the yellow liquid as seen before was covering it. And then I noticed the large metal spike protruding from where the blinking light was. It was also covered in that yellow liquid. I had realized the problem at that point.

It seemed this fox-creature-thing wasn’t so lucky in dodging the same kind of spike (trap?)
Thing that I had a close encounter with. I was freaked out and didn’t know what to do. Was this thing an alien? Why in the fuck is it bleeding this like bright yellow color? As my mind was swimming through a million things at once, I noticed something.

It’s chest was moving, or so it looked like it did. I carefully and slowly reached out my hand, worried this thing could instinctively lash and bite me if it were to awake. I gently put my hand on it’s chest. Soft. Warm. It’s fur was so silky it was like nothing I ever felt. And trust me on this because I am a connoisseur of plushies and the like.

Then I felt it. A beat. This thing was still alive and it probably wasn’t going to be for much longer. Thinking quickly I had to do what I could for this creature, as if my assumption from before was right, this is a sentient intelligent being.

I immediately thought about covering the wound, stopping the (blood?) flow. I knew I needed to cover it with cloth of some sort and apply pressure, at least that's what I had always heard about an open wound, so I decided it would be the best bet. I didn’t have anything like that with me so I used the next best thing. My Hawaiian shirt.

Now I know that’s goofy but I had to make do with what I had. So I quickly took off my shirt and began tying it around it’s thigh. Once I was done I then pushed on the wound as hard as I could. I just sat there like that as I didn’t know what else to do. I probably sat there for like 10-ish minutes and then I saw that my shirt was completely drenched yellow but when I looked under the shirt the wound seemed to be spilling less.

That meant one of two things. A: This dog thing was losing the last of it’s blood. Or B: It was helping the blood stay in.

As I pondered which option it could be I instinctively had my hand on it’s chest again and noticed the heart rate was not as slow. "I think that’s a good sign..." I thought. So I quickly got up and brushed my legs off, not noticing I was smearing my legs with more yellow. I hoped it wasn’t poisonous or something. But that wasn’t a priority concern right now. I needed to think of other ways to help this poor thing.

Then I thought: I had some medical supplies behind my mirror in the bathroom back at my apartment. So I got up and sprinted back (still checking the ground for those nasty fucking spike things) and quickly made my way back to the lab thing.

As I was running to it I noticed I was right about the cargo box theory. I was greeted by the sight of a large metal container with some weird unrecognizable logo. I quickly rushed through the pressurized door which was still open from before and I looked towards the wall to the right. Yep it’s still there. The doorway to my room. Part of me was paranoid it would mysteriously close but thank goodness it wasn’t gonna be that cliché. I quickly ran into the doorway and went directly to the bathroom.

I opened the mirror to the medicine cabinet and saw some pain meds, bandages, and disinfectants, all of which I grabbed and stuffed in my backpack I had laying in my room. I then looked back to the closet. Yep, still there. I took in a sharp breath and stepped through. I bolted into the lab area and ran through the door and retraced my steps (still checking beneath me). I went up the ledges I went up earlier but I was moving with more haste and urgency this time. Finally I made it to the last ledge where I initially saw the creature from before. But I was shocked by the sight of nothing.

I was freaked out and quickly looked around for it. Was it taken by something? Did it crawl away? But then I noticed something interesting. Distinct paw prints of yellow next to the puddle of the that blood stuff. I felt kinda relieved. I did something good and it helped this living being walk away alive. Even with no medical expertise I actually helped it. But whatever you want to call it, it did end up helping someone out. A bit of a bummer because I probably won't be able to get that shirt back but whatever, I have a bunch of em anyways and that should've been the least of my concerns at that point in time.

With all being said and done, I walked back to the weird lab thing and walked through the pressurized door. I made sure to close it behind me. I quickly glanced around some more now that I wasn’t as frantic and went back into “take it all in mode”. I noticed some commodities in the lab. A shower with a toilet next to it. A little kitchen setup. Weird looking machinery I couldn’t even begin to describe what it could do. Crates full of god knows what. And a weird terminal of sorts. It almost looked like the one from Lethal Company that you’d have on your ship.

I saw a button with that universal circle with the line in the center at the top. The power button. I pressed it and the screen lit up. Very rudimentary looking. Classic bright green pixelated text. I Saw a bunch of interesting menu options. “Network, System, Logs, Videos, Files, Pictures,” and a bunch of other shit.

My head was spinning on what to do with this but I realized I was getting tired so I decided to shut it back off and decided to come back to it later. It was also really late and I did have a schedule to maintain. I didn’t fully know how I’d sleep after seeing what I did, but what I did know was I was coming back to this.

I had so many questions and things that had confused me that I needed answers. But maybe this was just some kind of weird dream where I couldn’t wake myself up. Whatever the case, I decided to leave.

I returned to the doorway to my closet. Walked back into my room yet again like everything that just happened never did. But anytime I would look in there and sure enough, the lab was still there. “Seriously what in the fuck is this?” I thought.

I decided to take a warm shower to get the yellow off of me and to get my mind to relax a bit. I just watched as that strange blood went down the drain. I still was just staring down with confusion because I didn’t know what to think anymore. I was lost mentally and thought of all the ways I could go about this.

Report it to the authorities? Nah, then I’d not only probably have to find somewhere else to live, they’d probably cover up whatever this bullshit was. Make a video about it for my channel? Mmm… No. Whatever this was I wanted to keep it a secret until I knew more.

I stepped out of the shower after brainstorming options and decided I’d just figure it out once I woke up and my brain was recharged. If that weird doorway was still open…

I put on a new shirt and finally got in bed and pulled the covers over me while I put on a video to watch while I slept. I finally felt my eyes get heavier and my vision faded to black as I finally knocked out, ready for the next day.

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