Classes ended as they always did. A vague understanding of what was taught and a pile of homework. At this time, most students left for jobs or other classes that they might be taking. Miriam just walked outside,sat on a bench underneath an oak tree, and took out her laptop. She began typing up the notes that she took from all the classes and organizing them. The way that she can arrange the notes online helps with her slight ocd as well as studying for tests.

She never really paid much attention to the outside world when she was doing anything on her laptop, no matter what it is. That is why she didn't notice the shadow looming over her or the whispers of the few other students still in the open field. She didn't notice the people flinching when she looked up or the look of surprise on their faces. She just noticed their clothing.

There seemed to be about thirteen people in strange outfits around the open space. The majority of them looked like they jumped out of a game of dungeons and dragons. The others look like they forgot their way to their steam powered airship.

Knowing that her peace is disterbed, Miriam closes her laptop and begins to stand up. She didn't know if those were the cosplayers from on the news, but there was no way she could focus with them there when she got distracted by them once.

Miriam was about to walk away from the group when she felt a pull on her bag. She turns to see a man that looks to be in his early thirties. His skin looks young and soft, at least the parts not covered in scars. He is dressed in some sort of town guard uniform from a video game of some sort. His face only has a couple of scars compared to his arm, which is showing under his partially rolled up sleeves. One of the scars runs from part of his neck to just above his jaw. It is grizzly, but not as much as his other one. This one looks like it was made cleanly from a blade, while the others are more ragged, as if they came from the claws of a creature.

The other scar srun parallel to each other. They cut across his brow to the edge of his left eye and end just above his cheek. The other end is obscured by his dark brown hair. Miriam hates to admit it, but he does look handsome. His look would make anyone swoon if he was in a movie or show, but the scars seem like they would keep everyone away in real life. He had a serious look in his eye that seemed like he was trying to be gentle, but had suffering and understanding deep inside.

"Excuse me. Are you a resident of this plane of existence?"

"Um, yes?" Miriam asks confused, wanting to get away, but not wanting to seem rude.

"Good. Now, Have you heard of faerun or anything like that."

"No, sorry." She paused for a bit, hoping for the man to not ask her any more questions. As she did, she pulled out her phone to look at the time. Then she really needed to leave. Her shift at the coffee shop started in less than a half an hour. "I'm sorry, I need to leave. I don't know what type of cosplay larp bull you have going on, but if I don't make it to my job, there will be consequences. Now, sorry for being rude, but I'm tired of being nervous and I need to save my energy for my customers.

The man was stunned, and Miriam took the chance to leave. On the way to work, her words kept tossing around her head. She tried to sound polite, but it might not have come out that way. Growing anxiety and annoyance can do that, especially when they begin because her work was interrupted. But now, she has to calm down. Calm down before all these emotions make her yell at all the Karens and hipsters. She sighed as she made her way to her local coffee shop.

It is not big or fancy like a big brand company, but it does have it's quirks.There are a couple of tables outside, as well as plenty of window seats. Many of the local college kids come all the time to relax and study. and when the college kids leave, the tough crowd show up. They come for a number of reasons. Some like the cozy atmosphere. Some like the cheap prices. Some just come because it is where other people like them come to hang out. In fact, that is why Miriam took the job to work there in the first place. A cozy atmosphere where she could be herself and not need to push herself to be friendly or confident.

There weren't as many stresses as Miriam thought there would be, which brightened her day. Of course, there were a couple difficult customers, but it was because they were either tired or didn't know the menu. There were no angry customers, frantic rush hours, and when she took her break to work more on her assignments, everyone was understanding, and even let her have ten more minutes to finish up when she lost track of time. In fact, the work day went so well that she forgot about the encounters that made her stressed in the first place.

When it was time to finish up, it was already past dark. With the season, that is no surprise. The air was chilly as she walked out of the door with her boss right behind her, locking the place up. They waved goodbye as one got in their car and the other walked home.

The walk itself back home was a nice one. There were street lamps on every street, so she didn't need a flashlight, and the streets are supposedly safe at night. There was a point where you wouldn't have wanted to cross the road, and that was when you street racers drove by, but Miriam didn't need to cross, and she had her headphones in, so they didn't bother her.

The rest of the day was relaxing as it could get. It was a friday, so she only needed to work in the morning tomorrow, and she didn't have classes for the next to days either. If it wasn't for her need to organise everything and to keep up on her homework as much as possible, Miriam might just have a free night. Half past ten, Miriam found a spot where she could comfortably finish her work. All that was left was to treat herself to a nice bath and get ready for bed.

Miriam just had a strange dream the night before. She gets them once in a while, but she didn't expect another one to come for at least a while. This dream is similar to the one before . She is standing in the middle of a large group of people, larger than before. In the dream she is in the middle of the familiar park that she walks by at least twice a day. A vast difference from last night's where she was in a field of darkness.

The people surrounding her seem to be standing in three different groups, and Miriam somehow recognises everyone.She walks around, going from one group to another and walking back to the center, exchanging pleasantries along the way.

Miriam was confused about why she was acting like this, but this is a dream, so anything can happen. SHe walks back to the center and clears her throat. A couple of the people look to her, but most ignore her. She tries again, to the same result. The third time she actually starts to speak.

"Hey. Everyone listen up. I know some of you are confused as to why the heck I brought all of you here together. I certainly am confused as to why I became the person that needs to do this but, here I am. All of you are here because you are the only people that might even believe what I have to say. All of the weird stuff that's been happening in our world, the reason all of you came here in my town, everything? It's all because of this."

Miriam reaches into her backpack to pull out a sketchbook. Inside is a picture that make Miriam's head hurt every time she tries to focus on what it is. She can see it, but for some reason she can not comprehend what presumably she drew in this dream.

"This is what is making everything strange and more chaotic. I know most of you don't believe me, and why I know this might make some of you believe me even less. Even so, I need to share this with you. This is Anti, or at least what I call Anti. A being of pure darkness that comes from a different dimension."

One of the people in the crowd raises one of their hands and doesn't even wait for acknowledgement before they start to speak. They are one of those from the fantasy world, Miriam thought even though they are dresses exactly like a normal teenager.

"How do you know that they are the one that sent us here? I thought it was just an accidental miscalculation on a spell."

"The simple answer is that they told me. They were trying to threaten me to stop helping all of you by telling me about everything that they are doing to our world. I don't understand why they chose me to threaten, but they did, and how I'm here to tell you that I am not threatened, but ready even more to fight them."

Miriam turned to another voice as it spoke. Instinctually, she knew it to be one of the monster hunters. "And, how exactly did this Anti-whatever talk to you. It wasn't one of those silly little dreams was it?" He asks with a cynical tone, to only get glares from half of the people gathered, including other monster hunters.

Miriam could hear people begin to argue over weather her dreams were true visions or not. She was beginning to get more uncomfortable than she usually is. She cleared her throat again and some of the noise died down. But, it was not enough for her to not need to talk louder than before.

"Ahem, yes. It was from one of my silly little dreams. It was from the same type of silly little dreams that lead me to trust all of you and start helping all of you instead of minding my own business and leaving you all to figure this out all by yourselves, like I usually do. It's the same type of dream that already help saved at least one of your lives when you all decided to be stupid. It's the same type of dream that helped me gather all of you here in the first place. Now, do you want me to tell you more about these silly little dreams or do you want to know how to finally gain some normalcy back into everyone's life."

Many of the people in the crowd had shocked looks, and Miriam was the same. Even if this was a dream, how could she act this different than real life? She was so shocked that she missed most of the speech she had left to say and the questions and answers that followed. She missed the dimming of voices and the subtle fade of darkness. She missed everything until she found herself in a dark room with only one person left from the crowd. This one was wearing medieval fantasy clothing and didn't seem like he was going to change his style.

Most of his face was covered with a hood, but Miriam could make out a mischievous smile. " I got to say, I didn't expect that from you, considering your personality. Now, will this future come to pass, or will you change it?" The mysterious figure asks.

"What are you talking about?" Miriam questions back.

"Oh, so you don't know about your power yet? Don't worry. Next time we meet I will tell you all about it. Oh, and this one was a freebie. I thought using my magic might help you connect the dots better. But next time, It's your turn to choose what you see." The mysterious man keeps his mischievous smile on his face and he fades into the dark, as if he is walking though his body isn't moving in the slightest.

"Wait!" Miriam calls to him. "Who are you? What is happening here? Please, explain this to me!"

"All in due time my dear, all in due time" and with those words, he fades into the darkness only for Miriam to wake up, just a couple of seconds later, into the light.