The bright blue moon in the dark amber sky lit the room in an eerie cyan aura, as the Sandman tried to piece what had happened. He had agreed to do this, after his fellow spirits had showed their concern over his exhaustion. Day after day, night after night, the constant clocks ticking had thrown the Overseer of Sleep into sleepless days, weeks, months, years. So many people going to sleep at different times, fixing their body clock for them to change it all up the very next morning. If he had known this is what he'd be doing in his old age, then he would have quit this job years and years ago. And now here they were. Glass was shattered and scattered among the ground across the floor between the two older spirits - One who saw the humans did the sleeping, the other who watched over their dreams.

"What...have I done?"

The pale man stared at the room, where countless clocks had smashed and vanished into nothing, All that was left of them was the sharp shards of glass that laid on the floor, though even those too were beginning to fade out. The Sandman twitched, and looked to his right hand man.

"...That...Wasn't supposed to happen," He whispered, before turning his back to his friend. "...Was it? That...Just didn't seem right,"

A smoke-wreathed hand found itself on the Sandman's shoulder, it's twin scooping a shard of glass from the floor. He'd known something was wrong when his watch stopped ticking, but this was worse than he feared. The glass dissipated in Mytchell's hand, and to replace it, he drew his pocket watch from his chest, clicking it's silver door open and glancing at the stilled clock face inside. Just as quickly as he opened it, it was closed again, held by its chain as Mytchell glided around the room.

"I..." he began, then scrapped his phrase, deciding on a new one. "No, I don't think so."

Bringing his watch back in hand, he clicked it open again, repeatedly shaking the thing, changing the clock face. Each was the sleeping pattern of a different human, and all of them, still. Through the mirror on the inside door of the watch, he could see no dreams, the same for every different pattern that crossed the watch's face. Clicking it closed once again, Mytchell glided to face his old friend.

"Salare," he softly said, cradling his own chin in one hand, "I'm sure we can find a way to fix this."

Salare twitched at both his real name, and the touch from his dearest friend, before he calmed down. The lack of sleep within the last century had set him on edge and as such, he barely talked to the residents of his home. He sighed before straightening up his body and brushing himself off. His friend was right - Anything that were broken could be once again fixed. He gave a silent nod before looking around the room.

"I'm trying to place my mistake...I know I practice the incantation over and over. Has my lack of sleep really begun to affect my physical and mental capacities?" He mused, as he went over the previous moments. A spell, a blur of dark magic and then nothing but frozen clocks, before each of them had cracked and shattered into a thousand tiny glass pieces. As he took a glance to the wall where the clocks had once hung, the male knelt down, lifting up something from the ground. "This...This one survived," He whispered in relief, almost ready to hug his find to his torso. But he restrained himself, and took a closer look, seeing one on the ground nearby, and another on the table.

"Mytchell, see if you can find any more. Some of the clocks might have landed on the shelves or in the bookcase," He murmured as he went to dust the fine particles off the clock face and examine it, the hands, frozen at midnight, like all the others.

Mytchell nodded in tandem with his friend, and turned away, examining the now-empty walls. "You more than anyone would know the effect that a lack of sleep will have on humans, who's to say the same thing won't eventually happen to you?"

Mytchell had watched his friend's condition deteriorate for some time now. and although he tried to lighten the burden, it hadn't helped much. Delaying the inevitable, really.
At Salare's command, Mytchell dissipated into the air, looking like a plume of smoke ascending to settle in the rafters. From there he found two more intact clocks; one having landed behind a larger, now broken, grandfather clock, and the other having come to precarious rest atop a shelf, nearly falling over. His body forming into his humanoid shape once again, he collected his finds, treating them with the care one would give an infant.

Cleaning the clock faces of dust, he laid them on a table, beckoning for Salare to do the same with his. They were stopped, yes, but not physically broken. This was what Mytchell found particularly odd. Pulling his watch out yet again from it's place where a human's heart would be, he opened it, glancing between the clocks and his watch with a furrowed brow.

"Hmm..." Salare placed the clocks he had found on the table gently with the others, brushing them off. "Are they dreaming?" He asked, almost hesitantly. In truth, he was scared to know what the fates of these last five were. He rose his hourglass near to one of the clocks, and after a moment, the sand glowed. However, the grains in the magic hourglass did nothing but stay put. "I can't tell if they are sleeping..." He muttered, almost sounding defeated. Was that really it? After dismissing his fellow spirit's concerns for over twenty years, but only listening when he was at breaking point.

He'd taken their advice. And now he would pay the price for being so selfish.

"...If they aren't dreaming, we have to look into their state of being. We're going to have to take a trip to the human realm," He sighed and looked down. "We'll need to tell the others about this too. I shall take the blame,"

Mytchell said nothing, silently looking between the clocks and his watch over and over. He turned the rim of the watch's face, a thin dial covering the outside, switching between millions of clock faces until he found one that matched one of the clocks on the table. He repeated the process for the four others, mentally marking their places on the dial.

In late response to Salare's question, he looked deep into his watch's mirror for each clock face, although to no avail. Each clock was also stuck halfway between a waking and sleeping moment. "They're not dreaming, and not sleeping..." He murmured, "But not entirely awake..." The spirit stared into the watch for a few seconds more, wondering why these faces looked different than every other stopped clock. Then, looking closer, the answer came to him.

Drifting over to his friend's side, he held the watch up by the chain, pointing to the hands of it's current face. Although frozen at midnight like every other, the hands weren't entirely stopped; instead, they twitched in steady rhythm, as if something was stopping them from ticking.

"So...I guess we succeeded...But they're still awake somehow?" Salare peered at the watch with great interest. "Insomniacs maybe? Or something worse...?" The Sandman shook his head as he examined the hand that seemed to be stopped from ticking. "Either way, this all needs to be looked into. We need to see what happened to the other humans, and what state the ones who these clocks belong to are in. It's possible we could of disturbed their sleep by our spell, and if they wake up..." He paused and stared to the ground, his hazel eyes filled with fear.

"Who knows what they'll see when they wake up. But it's our job to put them back to sleep and sort out this whole mess," He then looked up. "Come Mytchell. We have to inform the others of this, as well as get to the human realm as soon as possible," Salare gestured with his hand and walked out the door, making his way back to the main room where their companions were waiting. By the time the two reached the end of the hallway and opened the door to the room, the Sandman had gained his composure, and was once again stoic and unapproachable.

"Everyone... We have a problem," He said, his voice darker as if it held no emotion. "The spell... did not work,"

---

As midnight hit the sleepy small town on the outskirts of the big city, everything had stopped and everyone was gone. It was dark, and the lights on the streets flickered, cloaking the streets in an dim amber light before fizzling out, drenching the street in black. Only a few lights survived the black out, as power drained, their electricity supply cut. The streets outside were empty, and the deafening silence roared.

They were the only ones still in this quaint town - Five students who lived on this street were tucked away, safe and warm under the covers, though they could not sleep. Try as they might, they could not. And as they felt themselves drifting off, a noise sounded, akin to the sound of a high pitched ringing, waking them up with a jolt. Was it nothing, just a mere coincidence, or was there something wrong?

Either way, a bad feeling begins to stir in the bottom of their stomachs, giving them the sensation something is amiss. Perhaps it was nothing, but the gut feeling still remains, knotting and twisting in the pit of their stomachs. It forces each student to get and check their house beyond their bedroom door, unknowing what awaits them in the dead of the night.

Arguis leaned upon the walls of Sandman's home. All the spirits were called into Sandman's in order to await the results of his experiment or spell as they called it. Sandman and his assistant were in the Clock room, in a middle of a spell that would hopefully give the spirit his well deserved sleep. Arguis had to assume that the spell would work, because if it did not, who would know of the possible consequences in which would occur if this failed.

Arguis was about to check on how thing we're going so far, unfortunately, before he could even leave he place on the wall, there was an explosion and the loud sound of breaking glass. Arguis could not tell if the spell failed or if it succeeded, but he did not want to go see for himself. It seemed that the other Spirits heard the explosion, and even thought about checking for themselves. It made him angry, knowing that if this failed and the consequences altered something huge, they would technically be at fault since they suggested it.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Sandman and his trash puppy dog assistant walked into the room. All spirits looked at the man with hopeful eyes.
"Everyone... We have a problem. The spell... did not work," he said stoically, just as he always was.

Well...that was very unfortunate, Arguis was expecting the opposite. He assumed that with the help of the trash lackey, the spell would go without a hitch, unfortunately that was not the case, and now there was a problem that they would have to fix.

"So... what exactly are we dealing with here?" he said gruffly.

Have you ever seen those strange shadows out of the corner of your eye? You know which ones I mean. The ones that move as if they wish to live but stop as soon as they meet your foul gaze. If one were to attend the meeting of spirits they might notice these same shadows. And they might notice them again as they begin to form into a humanoid shape. And one last time as they move up to Arguis and tap on his shoulder with a stupid shit-eating grin plastered upon their face.
"I think our present situation is rather obvious to anyone with more than one brain cell." That same darkness would say as he looked down upon the brutish man. Oh yes did I mention already that this creature of darkness was Male? Well pardon me for my rudeness! I completely forgot to mention Jacksons gender! What's that? I forgot to mention his name aswell? Well damn I guess I'll just have to quit my job as a narrator, and when my family starves I'll tell them exactly who made me quit my well-paying respectable work.

Illuminated by the dull glow of his laptop screen, the university freshman reclined back into his chair as he browsed aimlessly. Jazz music played softly, contained to his room as to not disturb his parents who had already retired for the night. Though his body was ready to go to sleep, judging by the yawns he’d been making for the last hour, his mind refused to still and fall unconscious. So here he was, wasting away the night in front of his computer rather than underneath a warm, but certainly uncomfortable blanket. A yawn when the clock struck midnight and when Gavin reopened his teary eyes it was to the sharp light of his laptop screen, the only light in his room now.

“What the?” Shielding his eyes, he turned down the screen’s brightness before trying to figure things out. Tapping the power button on his desk lamp to no avail, he sat back down and scratched his head. That his laptop had lost internet connection wasn’t missed by Gavin either. That… was odd to put mildly. While he would have chalked it up to a blackout, he couldn’t think of any plausible reason for one to have occurred aside from a fuck-up at the facility. While not impossible, it didn’t seem all too likely, but there wasn't much else he could go with. Sighing in annoyance at the abrupt end to his plans for the immediate future, he wondered what to do next before something else apparently decided it for him.

Nearly bolting from his seat when a shrill noise rang in his ears, Gavin spun around to face his door with his heart pounding. Glancing around nervously, the 19-year old took a few deep breaths to calm down. It didn’t work… on the contrary a deep pit seemed to form in his stomach as he stared at the shadows in the corner of his room. “I’ve seen enough goddamn horror movies for this shit…” With that eloquent line, he powered off his laptop, grabbed his phone as a makeshift flashlight, and got up to leave the room.

What hit him first when he stepped out was the utter silence, though with the power out he supposed it made sense. The wooden floorboards were ice cold under his feet, but he managed to walk over them without even a single creak. A “skill” born from years of staying up late despite his parents’ disapproval. Pausing in front of the master bedroom, it only took a moment for Gavin to realize things were horribly wrong. His father wasn’t an obnoxious snorer when asleep, but it would be a far cry to describe him as silent. Yet that’s exactly what he heard at the moment. Uncaring of what his parents might say, Gavin opened the door slowly to be greeted with the sight of an empty bed. If his heart hadn’t been hammering before, it was certainly running at overdrive now.

Leaving the room behind quickly, he didn’t know what was going on, but suffice to say Gavin didn’t feel safe. Returning to his own, he slung his backpack before he headed down the stairs, the phone’s light at max brightness to illuminate the way down. Seeing nothing out of place on the first floor, but still unable to shake the eerie feeling, he paused only to pick up a few things. Soon enough he was out of the house with flashlight and wrench in hand, walking across his front lawn. Swinging the beam of light left to right as he advanced, the feeling didn’t abate even after he’d left the confines of his home. The silence was unsettling to put mildly, and the town seemed dead for a lack of better word. Even this late at night there were usually some cars he could hear running of in the distance, insects or small critters making some noise, really anything aside from dead silence.

Ayame sat on the floor drawing pictures in a blank notebook while waiting for Sandman and Mytchell to finish the spell. She sincerely wanted Sandman to get some sleep, but she never thought of the possible consequences should the spell fail, when she made the suggestion along with the other spirits. She sat as far away from Beast and Jackson (meaning any shadow except her own) as she could. She jumped out of being startled, when she heard an explosion and the sound of glass breaking. She looked towards the door in curiosity and concern, her fox ears perking upwards to show that curiosity. She watched as Sandman and Mytchell came out of the room and the Sandman told them that the spell failed.

She stood up after Sandman had said that simple, stoic statement. She honestly thought that the Sandman failing at a spell was impossible; She thought that he was capable of anything. She looked to Arguis when he asked his question, and Jackson when he made his comment. She asked Jackson innocently and with slight confusion "Really? 'Cause I have no idea what's hap-Heeey!" She yelped indignantly as she caught on to the subtle insult.

She shook her head and she looked to the Sandman and she asked rapid fire (seeming to move on quickly from the insult), "What happened? Is there anything I can do to help?" She was eager to help, because she figured that the sooner they solved the problem of...whatever just happened, then the sooner Sandman could get some good old Z's.

Outside of the Sandman’s, the large creature stalked along the wall silently, this was surprising for just how large it was indeed. As tall as a large house, its tail swished through the air making not a whipping sound, but behaving like a cable surging with powerful electrical energies. After a moment, it finally made a steady stream of clicking sounds from its throat, finally finding its usual window.

Coming up close to the window, leaving dark silhouette behind the curtain to those inside, the beast finally nudged the window open and stuck all it could into the main room...all it could being it’s snout.

"Everyone... We have a problem. The spell... did not work,"

With the curtain lightly draped over it, the beast finally let out a small breath before it ran a long, forked tongue along its maw. Grumbled out in a rather deep and amused, but mostly malicious tone, “WITH SUCH A MISTAKE, A SABOTEUR IS HARDLY NECESSARY.” Tilting its snout one way, then the other, and ruffling the curtain…it poked its snout further into the room, enough of the curtain fell away, exposing it’s sharp stark white teeth, “HOW DO YOU PLAN TO REMEDY THIS, SAAAAAAAAAAAAN~DEE? COME NOW, WE'RE ALL EARS.”

"Okay just settle down-- Jackson, stop treating them like idiots, we all don't know what is happening," Sandman growled at the spirit, his tone authoritative when it came to keeping the rest of the spirits in line. Someone had to play leader, and it might as well be him, even though on the inside he was just as worried as his friends. As he told the spirit off, he turned to Arguis, ready to answer his question.

"When I cast the incantation, the clocks all smashed and froze before vanishing without a trace. Only five clocks survived out of the millions that are gone," He cast his eyes downward before speaking again, looking up to the Enforcer. "Mytchell checked on their dreams - They do not seem to be asleep, but at the same time, the watch is still frozen for them too, even if the clock hand moves. I think we succeeded. I think I froze time," He stopped before shifting awkwardly. There was a slight hint of fear in the Sandman's voice. "But I think something else happened - An adverse affect - And we need to--" Sandman stopped as Kit began to shoot off questions, breaking his explanation up.

"I just said-- Yes Kit. No Kit! Yes. Yes you can, just be patient," He answered, trying to calm down the Shape-Shifter as she continued to ask him questions. However, as he was talking, a loud voice boomed, the beast just fitting her snout and pearly white sharp teeth through the window. The voice asked him a rather direct question, about how he would remedy this. He took a moment to register the question before he turned, looking to Beast.

"We have bigger problems than just trying to fix my sleeping pattern. My spell...It's done something unthinkable to the human world. Whatever I did, five humans have only just narrowly avoided the adverse affect...We need to all investigate. When we arrive at the human world we have to see what the spell did to the world, and whilst we're at it, we have to figure out why these five have been spared..."

Arguis ignored the nasty spirit of the night, it was just another piece of trash the Sandman unfortunately kept around, Arguis would have thrown the thing away. As he listened to Sandman's explanation, he started to grasp the full extent of what the real problem was. Sandman had broke the universe, and there was no way to fix the universe if Handy Mandy's clock was broken also, damn, and they now had to venture into the human world. Human's were just like the trash with tentacles and puppy dog trash.

Kit then began to ask Sandman a while bunch of yes or no questions. Arguis did not view Kit as trash, she was to young to determine if she was trash of not. Then the Beast showed it's nasty face, Arguis did not view the Beast as "trash", but as garbage, and unlike trash, stuck like Jackson's unholy BO.

So now that the situation was explained and a solution was given, what were they waiting for. "So you succeed in stopping time hmm. Except the adverse affects have now ripped almost half of the world's population. And now the earth is free of them, I think this earth is much better than the last, unfortunately your decision is final, I guess we are making way for the human world." Arguis said exasperated.

The cold touched his skin as he pulled open the door to the refrigerator. It was late but he wasn't exactly sure of the time. Even as he pulled out a plastic container of spaghetti, he was on high alert to anything that seem out of place in the house. A stray sound that didn't belong, a whisper on the stale air, the fluctuation of light and shadows. All these things were his allies in staying alive and over the years, he had grown insanely sensitive to them.

Knowing my mom she'll just end up eating it from me anyway, he thought to himself, pulling out the tupperware and warming it up in the microwave. Best if I just go ahead and eat it now.

While he waited, he kept his back to the microwave and eyes on the rest of the house in front of him. Not exactly something that most normal folks would do but when plagued with danger-filled thoughts, what else was there to do.

When the hum of the microwave came to an abrupt stop, and in the same moment all the lights had instantly been shut off; Atlas was frozen. Fear raced up his heart like a race car, circling around his body until it was unbearable to move. The house seemed so eerie in the dark, it was a maze of disaster. No sudden movements, He told himself. If its burglars, they'll be expecting me to be sleep. If I call the police now I can still save myself.

He pulled his phone from his sweatpants and noticing the phone signal was gone, cursed to himself. Why now of all times, when he really needed it? When he was really in danger? Just as his thoughts were beginning to spiral out of control, a sharp sound rung in his ears, creating a even tighter knot in his stomach. He couldn't explain it but it drove to check on the rest of his family.

One by one his panic rocketed, each of them were gone. His mother, his aunt, his sisters, even his baby brother. What the hell was really going here? Did someone sneak in that quickly and kidnap them? Or maybe It was the work of aliens! The hell was he suppose to do about aliens!

Grabbing his jacket and stuffing his feet into a pair of shoes, he swept up a flashlight before cautiously heading outside. He was reluctant to stay because everyone was missing but the outside scared him just as much. He flashed the light into around his yard, unknowingly shooting out a dim beacon. I knew something like these would happen eventually...

Simon sat on his bed. Was he tired, so tired. His feet burned from his pacing the room up and down for...A glance on the clock telling him it was 23:27 ... good two and half hours. He blinked pulling his shirt off he dropped his head down on the pillow. It was worthy the adventure he day dreamed about. It left him in a victorious happiness, the prisoner from the train of thought all captured and returned in the demon dimension, he got the girls kiss. And finished everything with a healthy beer at the tavern. The world was perfect.
Or at least the world of his story he thought off was perfect.
As he closed his eyes rolling on bed to pull the blankets from under his body on top, he hoped he will dream about this world tonight too. That would make him even happier. His mind fall silent as it listened to the silence, focusing on the wall beside his bed.
moments later a barely heard squeak from his sister bed relaxed him. She was already sleeping. She was a turner when sleeping, tossing and turning a lot during the night. Only in fever she would be completely still.

Eyes opened lazily looking over the darkness, fixing the digital clock midnight.

Too early, sleep.

Eyes closing only to be hearing a annoying loud ring. Nuzzling his face into the pillow hand reached over to the digital clock and pressed the alarm button.
The old clock had a habit of resetting it alarm time to 0:00.
Usually pressing the wrong button or a pulling it out of power would do that.
Minutes passed or at least that how Simon felt as he tried to nuzzle more into the pillow, it was warm and comfortable. He crack opened a eye it was dark... the lack of the gently red light made him frown. Again his ears focused on sounds. It was...lacking...

Sitting up in bed he concentrated further. It was really silent....as in too silent to sleep. With heavy heart he managed to free himself from the covers and making a step towards the window, only one step, before he changed his mind.

Something much more urgent demanded his attention. toilet
Stepping out his room he walked to the bathroom out of habit pressing the light switch.
After several moments he was washing his hands in the dark, the bladder happily relived. Looking at the dark situate in the mirror. His tired brain starting to work on a higher level.

One that concluded there was a power cut. He stepped out and walked back to his room door, the door of his sisters room was half open. Sneaking up to it he peeked in the room.

The feeling of urgency still remanded and managed to evolve into worry. He couldnt pick his sister breathing. Entering the room in a panic his mind showing 1001 scenes of horrible fates that could have happened, how irresponsible he was to not stop any of those. How he couldnt stop her dying in great pain, over hearing the knocking.The knocking on the wall that they shared if she felt unwell. How he didnt save her when she leaned out her window falling down on the earth in a splatter all because she wanted to pet the bird that woke her up peeking the window....

The true shock happening as he found or better said not found his sister in bed. He pulled the heavy covers of his sisters window letting the street light in.

Giving the outside a second glance, after relived sigh of not seeing his sisted with a open skull under the window, Simon noticed that was eerie quite. Not even a night bird being able to be heard.

Maybe she walked in moms room to sleep with her? Did she had again a nightmare? He wondered, checking the mothers room by peeking thougth the key hole.

"Mother?" He opened the door and the cracking of it made a shiver run down his spine.
"I am sorry" He said out of habit, the street light entering the window and bathing the bed. A empty bed. To make sure Simon pressed the covers and kneed to look under the bed.

"Nothing....Kitchen?"

Was his last guess just as fruitless. Sitting down on the chair he was puzzled. The hand watch from the hallway he picked didnt ticked. As his fingers played with the watch his mind tried to figure where his family went. They would never leave with out a notice. If something urgent happened he would have woken up due to the noise of the front door opening.
He tried calling but the phone was dead. His mobile phone out of signal.

"I am alone?..." He questioned himself staring at the darkness. If it was just a power out he would have returned to sleep and hopefully woke up tomorrow with all technology beeping telling him that power returned.

There was no reason for him to leave....expect the lack of his family...and this nagging panic he just couldnt push or ignore.

"Its like I am in a zombie movie..." He spoke again aloud breaking with his voice the silence. It was way too uncomfortable to leave it.

"I will check the neighbours hope they are awake. Thats a good plan of action...oh and I will leave a note in moms bedroom and in the kitchen explaining where I go. So at least they do not worry."

And as said he started to do his plan. "Well I shouldnt go out in the dark, people get scared if I just pop up in their faces...Where did we place the battery lamp again..."

Note written and Simon dressed in his favorite coat, he tapped his backpack. The books for school, that usally occupied it, now trowed out of it over his bed.
"Well water bottle and some food...hm... We are out of snack I will make sandwiches...4 sandwiches... should be good...What if Emma is in pain?"

Emma being the name of his little sister. "Her medicine and some generally first aid...she could have gotten hurt ... Tripped while giving nuts to a squirrel.... Everything can happen. So like the best mages say.Be prepared my son. For what? For everything."

Looking at the hand watch there was still nothing, still it was stopped at 12.00 "They are still not back... All windows are closed... I should check again to make sure..." The urge to leave and search for them was growing more and more but Simon kept himself in control as well as he could making sure the flat dont get invaded by thief or burn down. He packed at good last a cat plush in his now full backpack.

He left the front door. Locking the door. And started his plan.
"I will so upset all neighbours. I can image they will be extremely irrtated for being woken up, you know worse than a dragon." He said to himself, looking around a bit hopping to see someone looking at him as if he is crazy for talking with himself.

No one.

No one in the full building answered his knocks and calls out. Now he was on the street. "...Its more than sad isnt it that this is the first time I am out this late, isnt it?...And...where is that angry dog... he loved to at each chance bark at me...Hello? Would you scare me with a sudden bark please?....I am sorry..."

Nothing.

"Well this is weeeeeeird~ hehe... hm...Am I dreaming?....Did I manage to lucid dream? That must be it! Right, I do not to wake up yet! Okay...first order of business. Float!"

Nothing.

Reluctantly he started to walk the street maybe he will go in the 24-00 shop. Maybe they will have a working phone...if he wasnt dreaming.

"But you know for a dream you suck dream. There isnt anything extremely fascinating, no breath taking scenery no fascinating dramas playing in front of me....Really brain couldnt you have come up with something more imaginative..."

He mumbled in his chin, the shop was open...

No one.

"Hello! ANYONE!?" He eyed the desk of the shopkeeper. He slammed his knee as hard as he could agasint the desk side. A muffed cry left his hand covering mount. Tears pilling in his eyes.

"O-okay, m-maybe its real...And I just made myself a idiot...I am sorry knee...So...Did I miss something? Its not 'Avoid Simon' day or?...My birthday is in January...not today...So stop the surprise birthday party." He talked leaving the shop rubbing his knee occasionally to easy the pain. If he could just see anyone. He would give them a hug.

"Its A promise!" he told to the world.

Kai was doing push-ups on his cold basement floor. He was also thinking about showing up one of his friend's friends who met up with him and his friend and who happened to say as they happened to be talking about workouts that he had bigger muscles then Kai. Kai initially tried to shrug the comment off by saying that upper body muscles like yours that dwarfed the lower body muscles, make ya look ridiculous. Unfortunately this made the braggart mad and he ended up getting in Kai's face.

The dude then flung a bunch of insults at Kai and eventually Kai had enough. "Alright, then if you are as built as you think you are, then meet me at the gymnasium downtown in one week, and you'll find out which of us is really stronger."

He then left his group of friends and decided to spend the rest of the day by himself.

After a few minutes of thought it came to him that a decent/fun time killer would be: shopping.

So he decided to browse around a few shops and see what deals he could find with the money he brought. Unfortunately though it was his unlucky day as the only things he wanted to buy were designer clothes and they were an ok deal for those type of clothes-but still not within range of his wallet.

So he drove home and parked his motorcycle in front of the house, walked in the door and barely said hi to his mom and dad. Instead of chatting with them he made his way downstairs to his mini-gym, that he created by having already bought: a treadmill, some dumbbells, a few big blue mats and a jump rope.

That's how he got to be doing pushups at about 10:00pm after having skipped supper. After about thirty five pushup repetitions he moved on to jumprope for cardio, crunchies for abs, jogging around the basement for endurance. He was a few minutes away from quitting the jogging when he heard a weird sound. It almost sounded like a phone ringing.

Taking a few seconds to slow his jogging to a stop he was going to head upstairs and investigate when the basement lights went out.

Weird noise and now the light bulb died.. Ok then..

Reaching his hands out in front of him as he walked slowly to where he remembered the staircase was located he eventually made his way to the main floor. It was all dark up there too.

That was weird because his sisters often stayed up very late watching shows on t.v. but usually even they kept the lights on. He decided to walk through the kitchen and take a peek in the living room. He didn't see anybody, he moved closer to the couch and took a better look and there was still nobody there. Now he was starting to wonder what was going on.

The thought came to him that maybe they were trying to pull a prank on him. It was the kind of thing that they'd do and so he walked even more silently then he did before towards his parent's room. He then knocked on their door. Once. Twice. Three times. No answer. He opened the door as quietly as possible and didn't see anyone. He approached and pulled back the covers-no parents.

It dawned on him that his entire family was gone except for him. Just take a deep breath Kai, this is like one of the mystery shows and all you have to do is think sense and do what makes sense and it it'll be all right. And besides this could all be a twisted joke anyways... His subconcious tried to advise him on what to do and in this situation he wasn't going to argue with it.

No family in the space of an evening, when only hours before everything was normal? This was an emergency and Kai knew it as he quickly walked to the Landline and dialed 9-1-1...

The sounds of the keys came across to him through the phone but that's all the phone did-there was no ringing to say that the call would go through or anything else.

In frustration he threw the phone across the room.

He decided that someone was out to get his family and had kinapped the other four people he cared about and he was going to save them. He walked carefully to the porch and grabbed his leather jacket, his backpack and packed it with puddings and assorted stuff from the pantry, returned to the porch and grabbed flashlight-checked that it worked and found some spare batteries nearby and put them in his pocket. Having gathered all he thought he needed he exited his house, turned on the flashlight and walked to the street to see if any other house had lights on. He couldn't tell from the angle he was standing and so he decided to turn left towards the neighbour's house and get a better look and hopefully find some answers for what happened to his family.

Mytchell had been standing quietly beside and slightly behind Salare, arms crossed in front of him, listening. It was a skill he'd developed rather well in the years beyond counting that he'd spent as an advisor of sorts to the Sandman. A storm of fear, worry and calculative thought swirled inside him as he inwardly searched for a solution to their problem. He, more than any others, had encouraged the experiment, having seen every step of his friend's downhill spiral in recent years. It had been an easier job before; people had risen and slept with the daylight hours, with no electricity or technology to keep them awake.

But lamenting about the past was no way to handle the present, he knew. Each spirit in the Sandman's inner circle had spoken in this meeting except for himself. So, stepping forward, the Phantom cleared his throat, bringing out his watch and opening it, holding up the struggling clock face to the other spirits in the room.

"Our situation can be remedied," he stated, gesturing to the watch, held up by its chain. "These clocks are still trying to move on, but something is stopping them, and keeping their respective humans in a state between sleep and wakefulness." As a demonstration, he twisted the wheel at the top of the watch, a function that would normally move the hands of the watch to force a human to wake or to sleep. However, he wheel had no effect, as if it weren't connected to any mechanism.

"Now, I have a theory: judging by this," he continued, "It seems that instead of pausing time, we've only blocked it from moving forward. This has likely trapped the five remaining humans in a middle state, a lucid dream, if you will. Of course, I'm only speculating, and I would assume that their state is on the far more real side of dreaming, if that." He snapped his watch closed and tucked it back into his chest, filling the spot where a heart would be.

"My point is that we have no other choice than to go to the human realm, and hopefully find out what this blockage is. And I'm sure you will all agree-" he eyed Arguis, having caught the Enforcer's tone, "-that this is of priority to all of us."

Mytchell knew that his theory was only just that; theory. For all he knew, he could be way off, and he probably was. After all, in all his years of assisting Salare, he'd never encountered a situation like this. But his job was to solve problems, and he had to at least try to unserstand them in order to do so.

The spirit dubbed "Jackson" would let out a shrill laugh in response to the booming voice of the of the one spirit he could actually tolerate, the creature dubbed "Backstabbing Beast". How could something as hateful as pure darkness have tolerance for anything you may ask? Jackson asked himself this question once and came to the simple conclusion that he enjoyed how truthful she was towards those she disliked, rather than keeping her anger bottled like a Human.
As his laughter would end Jackson would clap his hands together loudly as if appreciating a work of art before falling backwards like some sort of slapstick comedian in an old silent film. He would hit the ground a moment later with an audible splash sound before reforming in a different corner of the room. The random shadows coming to life once again. (Making a continuation post)

"So we all leave our comfortable places in this little spirit realm to go back to the Human world because Mr. Sandman screwed up his spell. glorious." The shadow spirit would say before yawning and walking forward, Now at this point I must mention the way Jackson walks in his true form (As it is my job as a narrator to do so). It is a strange strange sight to behold a being of shadow walking forward, to the point that even though movement is gained through bipedal motion it appears as if the creature is crawling upon your eyes rather than truly walking.
"So how will we getting to the Human world today, hmm? Shall we all go buy our overnight train tickets and wait at platform Nine and Three Quarters?" He asked before apparating a Train Ticket made of shadow out of thin air. He waved the prop ticket in front of his face a few times as if trying to make a point.

Sandman's eyes darted towards the Shadow Spirit, a glare in his eyes as he made eye contact with Jackson before he continued in his usual tone, though he may of sounded more annoyed if anything. He turned to face the creature of darkness, his eyes cold as they focused on the fake black ticket which had been conjured out of thin air with his shadowy magic.

"You all know how we do things around here. The portal to the human realm is in the basement, of course, and when we get there, we will make it a point to find these people. But when we're there, there will be no funny business. No trickery, no tomfoolery, and especially no killing or injuring," He looked at each one of the spirits before his eyes fell to the beast. "I'm sorry, Beast, but you'll need to revert to your human form and let yourself in... I don't think you're going to get to the basement like that," He added, giving a nod to the creature's bulky appearance in true form.

"Don't worry - We'll wait till you get here. It's important we all go. And especially important that we stay together at least with one other. So choose now who you want to stick with whilst we're there...I don't want to hear any complaining like the last time,"

Kit stopped firing questions when Sandman answered and Beast stuck her snout into the house through the window, however her hyper-activeness still showed through her rapidly twitching foot. She listened to Mytchell's reasoning with curiosity. She couldn't help but roll her eyes a bit at Jackson's sarcastic mention about train tickets. She looked to Sandman when he spoke and she slightly pouted when he stated 'no tomfoolery'. When he stated that they needed to stick together in pairs, she figured that Mytchell and Sandman would stick together. Since she didn't want to go with Beast or Jackson, that left Arguis. She looked to the cold man and she asked Arguis politely (learning her lesson the last time she tried to call Arguis by a nickname and speaking to him casually) "Mr. Arguis, could I go with you?"

"You all know how we do things around here. The portal to the human realm is in the basement, of course, and when we get there, we will make it a point to find these people. But when we're there, there will be no funny business. No trickery, no tomfoolery, and especially no killing or injuring,"

Tilting its snout and eyeing the shadow spirit as it laughed and clapped in amusement, the beast let out a interesting huff and continued to bore all eyes on the Sandman once more, giving the enforcer spirit a critical glance...for, surely, he was leaving not a single spirit in this room unjudged in his eyes. Growling and rolling all six of its eyes, the beast let out a long breath, seeing where this discussion was heading…the curtain billowed in the hot air from its mouth, causing the dust of it to fall over the beast’s snout in the aftermath. With dust tickling its nose, the beast withdrew its head and sneezed loudly just outside of the main room’s window.

After a few more loud series of sneezes, the beast reached a claw into the room and set it on the floor, before peeking it’s eyes into the room again, ”EXCUSE MY SNEEZING, BUT FOR A SECOND IT SOUNDED LIKE YOU WERE ASKING ME TO TAKE ON MY HUMAN FORM FOR SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS ENTERING INTO THE BUILDING…AND FOR THAT, SAAAAANDY, I WOULD HAVE TO TELL YOU TO GO FUCK YOURSELF.”

The beast raked a claw over the floor before drawing it back and grabbing onto the window frame, for a few moments, there was silence as it’s claw seemed to shrink over the course of a few moments…but finally, the now cat sized beast launched itself into the main room and landed beside the Sandman. In what could almost be called apologetic, or even affectionate in some twisted way, the beast rubbed the side of its mutated body against their leader much like a cat, “I WILL ASSUME MY HUMAN FORM ONCE WE HAVE ARRIVED IN THE HUMAN REALM…AND, LET US MAKE HASTE TO DO SO! I GREATLY DESIRE TO SIT ON ONE OF YOUR HUMANS WHILST IN MY TRUE FORM.”

After a moment, and catching what Kit had said…the beast clicked its teeth loudly, and continued to speak up with a volume diminished low grumbling, “THOSE UNINVOLVED WITH THE SPELL SHOULD PARTNER UP WITH INCAPABLE #1,” Tilting its head at the Sandman, “AND INCAPABLE #2.” Gesturing towards the Phantom close by.

"If you really want to be that insistent, Beast, then so be it. Mytchell, you go with Jackson. The pair of you should be able to move faster than being slowed down by one of us," Sandman ordered, pointing to the Shadowy Spirit then the Phantom. He glanced between his group, before looking to Kit. "And I shall pair up with Kit. Does that make you feel better, Beast? Now the 'Incapable Spell Makers' are separated," He muttered, though his lips curved into a tiny smile at the apologetic action. Salare knew Beast wouldn't admit to that show of almost twisted affection, and he knew better than to comment on it. However, as he turned and walked to unlock the door to the basement, another option crossed his mind.

"Or, would you prefer to keep an eye on me, Beast? If I'm so incompetent, then do so," He chuckled, for the first time in several months, but it was dark and felt almost forced. He pushed open the metal door and lead the way. "Either way, I do not mind. If there's five humans and three pairs, then it will be hard to keep track of them. Hopefully they aren't all separated," He mused as he stopped at the end of the hallway. Cobwebs littered the ceiling from the lack of need to go down into the human realm. The portal, as well as the entire basement dedicated to holding it, was unnecessary for the most part, and sometimes Salare often wondered why they even needed the entrance to the other world.

Arguis was starting to become angered at the groups antics. The filth that they called the Beast decided to show its face once again, if Sandman was not in the room Arguis would have put the thing in its place and thrown it back out side were it belonged. Why he hated the Beast so much was unknown to him, he assumed that it was the fact the the Beast was useless. It was just the rubbish the followed the group around, just like the way the puppy dog phantom followed Sandman.

Kit had offered to join him, but unfortunately Sandman wanted to pair up the her. The rest of the group was junk to Arguis, so he shrugged his shoulders and walked out and went into the basement. Whoever wished to join him had better stay out of his way, or he would not hesitate to kill the thing right away. He would give Kit and Sandman a chance, but the rest had already gotten under his skin, and he did not want to get his hands dirty this time. He stalked down the stairs and waited for the rest of the group in front of the portal.

With fear on his heels, it was only the thought of being the only prey left that kept him moving through the eerily silent street. He swung his flashlight around carelessly as he did. The world was devoid of everything, no flickering lights, no insects, not even a stray sound. It made him feel utterly vulnerable.

He fought himself from hiding in a random house, feeling this was some alien abduction fantasy turned real. “I can't believe this,” He muttered, pulling his jean jacket over his shoulders even more. “How the hell did I end up in a horror story? I tried so hard not too. Dammit, it was my life's goal not to die early.”

When he noticed the odd surprise of movement, he snapped the flashlight around in the direction. “I swear to god I'm going to give you a fight unlike anything you've ever encountered,” he shouted; his hand tightened around the long handle, prepared to do exactly what he had vowed.