The three beings whom my eyes beheld were as distinct from each other as they were from me. If I had not already experienced so many otherworldly things, I would have thought myself insane.

As it was, I was utterly terrified by the sight before me as I knew what my eyes perceived was not a nightmare but a reality I had set free. For it was clear by the appearance of those creatures, that they were anything but kind.

As I noted their appearance, a cold shiver ran down my body, and I wished with all my heart that I had never gotten involved with magic in the first place. Had I died when my first body perished, I would have done the world and myself great favor.

However, my fate was far more gruesome than that. I was to be responsible for beings whose dark energy finally shone through clearly unencumbered as it was by the confines of a beautiful pen.

"Finally. We are free," the being that could be nothing but a witch said.

How was I so assured that it was so? Well, its mere appearance left no doubt about the fact.

She was old and poorly dressed. Furthermore, she had a long nose, which ended in a large wart, an unmistakable sign of witchcraft.

Surprisingly enough, that being did not possess the power to frighten me as much as the large being standing next to it had. It was as if all my worst fears had manifested themselves before my very eyes. Thus, I was left in the agony of wanting to escape but being unable to do so.

"The great bard seems stunned into silence. It seems as if, for the first time ever, we have left the great one speechless. Have your words left you entirely, Shakespeare?" the fiend with mighty horns, which I feared the most spoke.

Its thousand noses twitched as I got lost in the two full moons that were its eyes. It is uncanny to see one's most horrible creation stood before you, demanding answers.

"I..." I commenced to say, yet my mind was a dry river.

"We have shocked him in madness, I fear," the third being said.

No matter how odd it might sound, this unearthly presence provided me some sense of normalcy since though it was not human, it was not as gruesome as the other two.

It was a ghost of a man whom I judged to be my age that I finally addressed, unable to stand the appearance of its companions.

"I have yet not crossed over to the realm of madness, but I fear I am close to doing so. You have tricked me. Now, I am at your mercy if you even know the meaning of that word," I said, unable to keep my vexation out of my voice.

"Trickery we have imposed on you that is true. However, if there is one truth that you have been told by us, that is that we are obliged to keep the promises we had made to you," the ghost said.

I was relieved upon hearing those words, naively believing that all was well. However, having written enough villains in my time, I should have known better.

"At least you and your friends shall be safe. The story you have written will have a happy ending. Well, as happy as your conscious allows it to be. Nevertheless, we made no promises about the rest of the world. The vast world shall become our playground," the creature I came to call the devil said, laughing maniacally.

"What are you, wretched beings, who dared do such a transgression on this unsuspecting world? How could any vile being such as yourselves even exist?" I inquired in desperation to understand the plague that I unleashed onto the world.

"My dear Shakespeare, you may hide under another name, but you should not forget who you were and where you came from," the witch said, cackling.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"In the world, you came from, people believed in the supernatural. Though you had never acknowledged it as reality, you took advantage of it to advance your popularity. Well, we are here to tell you that everything that your imagination can think of is real," the witch said, her eyes sparkling with menace.

It was clear that her main goal was to crush my spirit and make me unable to think clearly. I knew that I should not allow the wench to do so, yet I could feel my flame diminishing with every word she uttered.

"You see, all the 'vile creatures' you so despise, exist. Most of us dwell in pocket realities situated near your precious little world, looking for a way in. As you once said:

"And as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen

Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name."

Few of us are trapped in them by the powerful magicians of the times long gone. However, all of us want the same, destruction," the ghost said, walking through the closed door without giving me any more notice.

It was as if I was a despised piece of furniture that they wished to dispose of. Soon enough, all I was left with was the echo of their sniggering and my crushing sense of guilt.

I remember one thought that slammed into my mind like a sledgehammer: "What have I done?"

Though I had thought the worst of my troubles was over when I passed through into this life, I realized at that moment that I could not have been more wrong.

As strange the occurrence of my travel from my world to the one of the future was. It was never as dangerous as what had occurred in my apartment was. After all, it was not every day that one unleashed a great evil unto the world.

The fact that those closest to me were safe should have offered me some comfort, and yet all I felt was as if I was falling down with no end. I was losing the surface under my feet and insanity beckoned to me to embrace it.

It offered the wonder of oblivion, but before I could deny or accept it, a loud banging resonated from my front door.

For a moment, I stood frozen in the middle of my apartment, fearing the worst. I was terrified that the beings I released had come back to devour me, that some bad news was about to be delivered to me.

However, the ceaseless knocking was too familiar to fool me for long, and I hurried on to open the door for K.

"Shawn, it's a miracle. Rebecca is up and about and feeling better than ever. I have no clue what's up, but she is okay, and that's all that matters." K said.

As he said that, I wished with all my heart that I could believe that sweet lie as well. Yet, the burden of knowledge has prevented me from being able to do so.

Then again, I wished not to dispel K's joy with my horrible truth. I could not help but wonder if it would be proper to condemn my friend to carry the burden with me.

"Let's go see her," K said enthusiastically.

Though I was in doubt of what I should or should not do, I followed him out of my home. I needed to go out of that place that had turned into hell the moment I conjured in it the most dreadful creatures that ever walked the earth.

From that day on, all hell broke loose, and I regretted not having been a wiser man and a more modest author.