At first, it came lightly, then a short while later, the rain began to pour down heavily. The once red sky, now covered by dark, black rain clouds. The office was dark. All the light bulbs that didn't fall out where dead, as were all other electronics in the office. It wasn't long after the tear ripped the sky open in a viscious mess, that the people began to pack their things and prepare to leave. The storm came quickly and made sure that none of that was going to happen. Torrential rain and close lightning strikes forced people inside under dangerous weather conditions and so they sat, waiting.

The only evendence that the tear was up in the clouds, was a faint glow every couple hours that sent shivers down everyone's spine. Everyone sat in silence. Rogan looked at his wounds and had them rebandaged every couple hours. Whether it was day or night, nobody could tell. The only indication being that people would get really tired. Some used a bag, wrapped by their jackets as pillows and slept near their desks. Others huddled up together in an attempt to stay warm. Mostly the ones who went outside did this though, their drenched clothes dripping on the carpet.

Shortly after the earthquake, Rogan did an inspection of the building. The photocopier room was completely smashed and all lights were out. The refrigerator in the breakroom was off and so another method of food preservation was needed. There wasn't a lot to preserve though. One microwave dinner, a box of chocolates for a charity, a few cartons of milk, skim and full cream, an apple, a few bottles of soft drink and four packed lunches. Out of the thirty people in the building, this wouldn't last long.

There was a vending machine that sat in the corner of the break room, switched off. If the situation became desperate enough, everyone agreed to breaking into it. For now, everyone tried to get some sleep. They had hoped that when tomorrow came, the rain had ceased. Rogan sat in the admin section propped up against a cube of filing cabinets in the middle of it and closed his eyes. He fell asleep almost immediately, exhausted from the lack of sleep the night before.

When he slept, he did not dream. He felt like he was staring into a void of pitch black but couldn't see his body. Like he was only a head. Then he felt something, like a yank, like he was being pulled somewhere to his left. He looked and saw it. A small, flickering flame. He instinctively reached toward it and the closer he got, the more of his body formed. He put his, now complete hand, into the fire and felt warmth rather than burn. The flame spread up his arm and created as it trailed. It reached his head the suddenly his whole body was spontaneously combusted, a searing pain reaching every inch of his being. This couldn't be a dream, he felt such an incredible amount of pain and he felt the fire in his eyes.

Images began flashing, rapidly into his vision as he writhed. One of a world crumbling, one of a monstrous face, a hand reaching out, death, carnage, flame, then a pyramid, floating in the sky with so many eyes and arms stretching out in all directions pulling people into itself. There were so many eyes that while looking at them, Rogan felt like he was going mad. The eyes all locked onto Rogan and the uncountable hands reached toward him as the pyramid began glowing red. Rogan felt the pyramid grabbing his scorched form and he screamed, waking up. He was being shaken by Glenda. She looked at him, sweating and shaking.

"So you had the same nightmare"

Perplexed and completely frightened Rogan stood up, looking at all the people around him.

"You all had nightmares?"

Rogan asked softly. Many head either turned away or nodded softly. Janet put a gentle hand on Rogans shoulder.

"We all had the same one. Of being on fire. The pyramid"

A few people shivered at the mention of the pyramid and others began to weep.

"What the fuck is happening!?"

A voice cried out and some people slumped against the wall defeated. The air in the room was heavy with gloom and depression. Rogan was the last person to wake and anyone who attempted to go back to sleep had the same nightmare, always waking up before the pyramid pulled them in. The room fell silent once more with only the rain against the windows and soft whimpers and crying around the office.

Rogan sat, rings around his eyes of darkened skin. He hadn't pulled an all nighter since highschool when he would stay up partying. He was different now, older, more mature, didnt have the energy to party like he used to. Now alcohol was something he could sip at with a few friends and make jokes about when they were younger.

The rain outside was a paradox. It was relaxing and terrifying at the same time. The concept of sleep at this point sent fear through their body, knowing that the horrible dream was waiting. Everyone was becoming sleep deprived and only a few power naps could sustain them through the day. The lethargic nature of the office caused them to lose count of how many days had passed. One man got to his feet wearily and spoke.

"Okay everyone, listen up"

Some people who were power napping, snapped awake and others turned their heads on limp necks. Rogan looked toward the man, nearly sleeping as he did. The man stayed standing.

"We need to get over this nightmare somehow and go to sleep. Its obvious that we are all way too tired to function without it"

One woman at a desk to his right spoke up.

"And how do we do that? This obviously isn't a normal nightmare"

"Well..."

The man paused for a moment and contemplated before lifting his head again.

"Its just a dream right? Why don't we just try sleep through it? It cant hurt us no matter how scary it is"

A few people looked at each other, fear and doubt taking over before another man stood up.

"I'll do it. Im so fucken' tired I reckon I could sleep through it"

The man laid down and was instantly out. Rogan walked over, curious, to watch him with Janet and Glenda close behind. The man was laying on his side, the position would be uncomfortable if it wasn't for the lack of sleep. He twitched and mumbled where he lay. Rogan had seen enough people wake up from the nightmare to know exactly what part the man was at. He assumed everyone else did too as they watched with grim looks on their faces. The man began to groan and it soon grew into a scream.

He's on fire.

Rogan thought, remembering the uncomfortable feeling before the explosion of pain. The man twitched and began to call out. Everyones faces grimaced, they remembered the fear as well. Rorgan felt his hand begin to shake from the anxiety. He would have been picked up by the pyramid now. The man's screams ceased and he lay there quietly. He had resisted the nightmare. Rogan felt a surprised expression cross his sagging face.

"Can we sleep now?"

Someone asked, unsure. Another moment of silence filled the air and a woman moved toward the sleeping man. She placed a few fingers onto his neck, right over the jugular. After a moment she moved back with a sharp breath.

"He's dead"

She muttered to herself. The person next to her, a woman, cried out. Suddenly the room was frantic and Rogan was shoved to the floor. He curled up in a ball as people ran around, trampling him. His injured arms bleeding as the wounds open up again from the trauma. The man who originally proposed the idea called for attention once more, people ignored him and ran for the exits. Rogan attempted to get up but was knocked back down, hitting his head on a wall and falling unconscious.

It was black again. The feeling of weightlessness returning to his memory. The dream repeated itself just like before but this time, no matter how much Rogan screamed he wouldn't wake up. He knew it was a dream and that he was asleep but couldn't force himself awake.

Then the tug came. It pulled him to the left where the fire was once more. Rogans eyes watered as he looked at that cursed flame. His form began moving toward it and despite rogans efforts, he couldn't avoid it. He tried to run, desperate for escape, but he arrived at the flame all the same. He looked at it, glowing mid-air. He felt like his form was a useless bug drawn to the light, powerless to fight back. The flame throbbed and he felt the strongest impulse to touch it but resisted. He refused to give in to this flame. Suddenly his form shot up, making an arm that reached for the flame.

Stop. Please.

Rogan thought, but the flame lured him closer. He touched it. Rogan began to panic, like a spider had just jumped on his hand and swiped it away from the flame. The flame was persistent though and continued to spread like before. Rogan pleaded with it, begging it to stop, fear taking over his body, then he heard it. From everywhere and nowhere he heard laughter.

It started as a distant chuckle then grew to a choir or maniacal laughter. All around Rogan the laughing tormented him, laughing at his pain. Rogans fear grew to frustration as the laughing continued and he yelled out for the laughter to shut up. He screamed it over and over again until his voice felt like it was going to break, then it stopped. The flame died and rogan was left there in the void. A voice hissed from the darkness, it didn't speak English, but somehow Rogan knew exactly what it was saying.

<Your pain is ours to feed on. Your world is ours to feed on. This was only one torturous delight>

"Who are you? What are you? Why are you doing this?"

Rogan called out reactively but only got silence in return. The darkness lingered and the flame came back. Rogan looked at it but it began to flicker and spasm, growing in size until it vanquished the darkness. Beyond the veil was a pantheon of gigantic, monstrous beings sitting in thrones of bone and blood, looking down at Rogan. Some had holes that were infested with smaller insect like monsters and bloated bodies he could only assume housed the smaller ones. Some had horns and skull faces resembling typical demons from religion. All had mouths of teeth with screaming people hanging between them.

Rogan stumbled back, shocked by the appearance of these giant monsters. He felt his cheek go hot for no discernible reason. One of the creatures sat forward and peered down at Rogan, speaking in that vile tongue, with a mouth that did not mimic the sounds it made.

<We have only just begun>

The hot feeling returned to Rogans cheek and he was suddenly awakened by Janet slapping him. She half laughed and half breathed a sigh of relief when his eyes shot open. Rogan touched his cheek and realised what had happened. Everyone was surrounding him, no panic or frantic running about. The man who initiated the experiment, moved through the crowd and knelt next to Rogan.

"You were out for hours. How did you do it?"

Rogan felt a lump in his throat bulge and he began to cry