Fire consumed the city, a pyre of screaming agony and shattered stone. Buildings, once proud monuments to human ambition, lay in ruin, their skeletal remains clawing at the bruised twilight sky. People scattered like leaves in a hurricane, their terror palpable, a suffocating wave of fear washing over the scene. From a gaping rift in reality, a horror emerged—not in a rush, but with deliberate, chilling slowness.

  First, only a black, elongated arm, tipped with serrated claws like obsidian daggers, snaked into existence. It hung suspended, a silent promise of unspeakable violence. The boy, paralyzed by terror, could only watch.

  The being, a grotesque mockery of life, slowly revealed itself. A misshapen fish-head atop a reptilian body, two pairs of scaled arms gleaming like dark jade, wickedly curved teeth bared in a predatory grin. It slithered forward, a nightmare made flesh, its movements fluid and deadly.

  The muted screams of the dying, the sickening thud of bodies hitting the pavement—all were a symphony of horror, a soundtrack to the boy’s impending doom. He saw their eyes, bulging, mirroring the terror that consumed him.

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  The creature's ragged breath, the dripping from its maw, were sounds he would never forget. Inch by inch, it closed the distance, its gaze fixed on the boy, savoring his fear. Then, the gaping maw, an abyss of unending darkness, swallowed him whole.

  Wham!

  The boy gasped, his left cheek burning. The world swam back into focus, sharp and jarringly mundane.

  "You boy!! You're already late for school! Go get yourself clean and eat your breakfast or I'll beat the hell out of you!" his mother's voice, sharp and laced with exasperation, cut through the lingering horror.

  Dizzy, he rubbed his swollen cheek, glaring at his mother. The threat of another slap spurred him to get up and ran outside the room with tears flowing along with a subtle whimpers.

  "That boy… yelling and screaming, shouting ugly. Who's the ugly one here, huh?!" his mother’s voice trailed after him, a smug smirk coloring her words.

  The cleaning continued, the nightmare fading into the background noise of a normal, terrifyingly ordinary day. But the memory of the creature, the gaping maw, the endless darkness… that remained, a chilling premonition clinging to the edges of his consciousness.