It was loud. Insects skittered, crawled and burrowed through the dirt, while others buzzed and swarmed through the air. It didn't seem to matter that it would stamp out every spark of their life as they drew near, there were too many of them to care. And, none of them could satisfy the hunger emanating from within. 

It had tried, of course. But, they were too small to be anything more than a morsel. A mere taste to whet the appetite. Still, it ate them all the same. It was ever so slightly quieter after it had devoured the ones foolish enough to approach it. 

Silence. Blessed silence. It longed for the quiet, creeping death of the necrotic plains. The place that sound would only herald a swift impending doom. Or, if it was fortunate, a quick meal.

It grew quiet as it ate enough insects to pass the time. Yet, it still had to wait. And, wait. And, wait again. 

It thoughtlessly ate at a few of the plants in the area. They were tasteless, bland, fibrous little things. And, it quickly spat them back out. 

They contained the spark of life. It could sustain. But, it gave no pleasure. No cathartic release. 

It needed more. 

And, it was close, so very close. 

But, then, the prey disappeared. The scent vanished into thin air. It tore through the dilapidated ruins, turned each and every stone from their foundations. Yet, no matter how hard it had searched. It couldn't find them. 

They had disappeared without a trace. 

Or, had they?

There was something…

It was just out of reach. 

A vague, niggling suspicion.

It didn't feel right. The air hummed and thrummed with a familiar crackle of energy. It had felt it before. It held the answer. It would give it what it sought. 

Yet, the damn insects kept getting in the way!

Their wings and tiny little legs crashed and crunched through the silence incessantly. It hated them. It couldn't find it.

No… wait…

That was it. The place that the insects weren't, just behind the door that it had torn from the hinges. 

Yes, that was it. 

An anchor. A dimensional rift. It was closed, barely perceptible, even to its eyes. Yet, it was there. A tether to the mundane physical realm.

If it could smile, it would. 

It had found them. The tricky little snacks. 

All it had to do was reach out and tear it open…

----

KA-THOOM!

The entire tower shook violently, rousing Zephyra from her thoughts. The walls trembled, decorations fell from their places, books from their shelves, and the people from their complacency. 

A scream of surprise echoed from upstairs. 

Zephyra stood up anxiously and flew up the stairs. Her shorter legs struggled to hop up the stairs two at a time. But, she had to make it up as fast as she could. She had to make sure that they were alright. That her people, her future, was safe. 

She burst into the first room, wild eyes frantically searching for the source of the disturbance.

Dawn sat on the floor, covering her mouth, with a sheepish expression on her face. It had really surprised her, she hadn't expected the tower to suddenly shift. And, she had screamed, rather loudly, out of fright. 

"Ah… you didn't hear that did-" Dawn started to ask. 

Zephyra quickly stepped inside the room, grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. 

"We don't have time! Are you alright?"

"Ye-yes, I think so. What's going on?"

"I don't know. But, it's bad. We have to check on the others" She dragged Dawn out of the room with her. And, strode back toward the hall. Her sense of urgency and panic rose with every step. 

It couldn't happen, nothing could reach them here, they were safe. They were supposed to be safe. What was going on?

A door at the end of the hall opened and Karen stepped out. She turned and chased after them as Zephyra rushed toward the next flight of stairs. 

KA-THOOM!!!

They struggled to keep their balance as the floor shook beneath them. They staggered and tripped, leaning against the wall for support, waiting and hoping that it would stop soon. It had lasted longer this time. 

"What's happening?" Karen asked, alarmed, vigilant, but not panicked.

"I. I don't know." Zephyra replied flustered. "This shouldn't be happening."

"You mean this isn't normal?" Dawn asked.

"What? Why would this be normal? The whole tower is shaking and likely coming down!"

"I don't know! Magic and mage shit! I don't understand anything about this place."

Zephyra stood up shakily on her two feet, she couldn't trust the ground beneath her to hold still. She grabbed onto Dawn and helped her back up. Karen had managed to stay standing, and they all quickly continued up the stairwell to find Phil and Bob. 

"We're in a separate dimension that my Dad set up. It was his home and a study of sorts. But, nothing should be able to disturb it."

"That's not completely accurate," Karen interjected. "If the magic in the anchor point is destroyed, the dimension could be unmoored from reality and torn apart by the void."

Dawn paled and struggled to catch her breath from the breakneck speed that they traveled through the tower. "Is that what's happening?"

KA-THOOM!!!

A deep and heavy shudder rippled through the tower, knocking them to the floor again. It had lasted longer than the previous tremors. And, long spindling cracks formed through the stone walls, threatening to shatter and crumble like fragile glass.

KA-KRACK!

The very distinct and blood chilling sound of wood splintering and falling apart underneath an overwhelming force resounded through the tower with a sharp crack.

An unusual silence settled over them. They hadn't consciously noticed it, yet the entire area had hummed with the sound of ambient mana. But, now, it was gone, as if something had reached in and sucked it all away.

"I think we might have a visitor…" Karen stated, glancing down the stairway that now seemed ominously dark. 

A sharp click uttered across the wooden floor on the ground level. The sound of pointed clawed tips, skittering on the hard surface and steadily moving toward them. It betrayed a sense of weight and mass that shouldn't be possible for any living thing. 

But, it wasn't living. Was it?

Zephyra inhaled and whispered. "The Balithor..."

"The, what?" Dawn whispered back. 

"A Balithor? Here?

Zephyra. We can't face that thing. It'll tear us apart." Karen advised in a low tone.

 The Balithor was a thing of legend. A pseudo-living myth that had made its way into their world. A thing that shouldn't rightfully exist. And, the only confirmed Balithor, that had previously made it into their world, had wiped out even their very best adventurers.

"We need a way out."

Zephyra nodded and pushed past her to climb higher. "We'll have to go higher… there's a way out at the top."

They walked as quietly and as quickly as they could, desperate to place some distance between themselves and the intruder.

At least, they tried.

Yet, it seemed with every passing moment that it drew closer to them. The splintering snap of doors, furniture and floorboards being torn to pieces constantly edged closer to them. Even to the point that they were practically running, as silently as they could, and it was still encroaching closer to them.

"How much further?" Dawn whispered as a particularly gut wrenching crash split through the air. It was close. Too close. 

Likely, at the last door on the floor below them. If it rounded the corner before they made it to Bob and Phil and out of sight… 

How could something so large and heavy move so fast?

"It's right here." Zephyra answered and swung the door open in a rush. 

They had made it. But, they might not be able to get back out and to the next floor to escape. 

The study was a mess. 

It had never been the most tidy place. Her father had many papers, books, and essays strewn about the room as he recklessly pursued his expertise in areas of forbidden knowledge. Yet, he still kept certain areas clean and organized, an impressive collection of various books and study materials for reference. Yet, this was utter chaos

The tremors had shaken and toppled the many bookshelves that had been meticulously organized. And, scattered the loose materials to every corner of the room. An endless sea of paper and tomes covered every inch of the floor. 

And, underneath one particular bookshelf, Phil and Bob laid on top of one another. 

It was clear that Phil had tried to protect Bob from the collapsing shelf, but they had both been pinned underneath the heavy object and couldn't escape.

"Zephyra!" Bob called out. He could barely make out their feet from his vantage point. 

"Bob?" Zephyra called back. "Oh my goodness, are you alright?"

"We're alright." Phil answered. "Just stuck."

"Y-yeah. Haha. We're, um, totally fine…" Bob added on, clearly a bit flustered by the situation. "What happened?"

"One second, we have to get you out of there."

The three girls precariously made their way over to the bookshelf. And, between the three of them and Phil, managed to lift the bookcase just far enough for the boys to crawl out from underneath it.

Bob melodramatically gasped as he tasted the free library air once again. His cheeks were completely red and flushed crimson. "Oh, thank the gods that you found us. I thought I was going to die under there."

"There, there. Now you can die out here with the rest of us." Dawn patted his back and tried to fight down the panic that she was feeling. It was difficult not to imagine the door bursting open and some monstrosity killing them all before they could escape.

Bob frowned and turned to Zephyra.

"What's going on?"

Zephyra pursed her lips and simply replied. "Balithor."

Bob paled and nodded in understanding. "We have to go."

"Yeah." Zephyra agreed and headed toward the back of the room. "Dad had an emergency escape…"

"Why do I feel a 'but' coming?"

"But, he only showed it to me once. And, honestly, I don't know where it leads."

Bob scrambled to his feet and tripped several times over the loose books on the floor. "Anywhere is better than here."

"His laboratory is right through those doors." Zephyra pointed at a large entryway at the other end of the room. "There's a staircase in there that leads up one last floor. It was just a large empty room the last time he brought me up there. He used it as a ritual room of sorts. So, there were a lot of candles and arcane markings and things… I've only been up there once. But, anyway, one of those arrays can be used for teleportation."

"Can be?" Karen raised an eyebrow.

"I sense another 'but'," Dawn muttered and slipped on a shifting book cover.

"But… it's technically meant to move the entire tower in an emergency."

"Wha-, wait, the tower can move?" Dawn asked in surprise.

"That's not important, right now." Karen snapped.

"A better question would be, how does that help us?" Bob quickly asked.

"It doesn't. But, most of the spell is set up. I'll need to make some quick minor adjustments to have it just teleport us."

Zephyra reached the door to the laboratory and shoved it open. The room was curiously completely undisturbed. Every glass vial, test tube, beaker, and various magical components were each in their proper place and intact. 

"Huh, Dad was even more prepared than I had expected him to be…" Zephyra thought to herself.

A loud bang echoed throughout the library. 

The Balithor had caught up.