You run up the stairs of the house, with Chargrum in pursuit.

"Don't just stand there picking your nose Stinky, help me catch the little runt!" Chargrum shouts.

You reach the second floor and run into one of the rooms locking it behind you. You turn around to see that you're in a bedroom. Probably Melcar's no doubt. A single window leads outside. You could escape from it, but you then remember all the Shadows are outside waiting for you in the first place, in fact you can hear their screeching surrounding the house.

A Shadow breaks in the window just as Chargrum bashes the door open and you begin to wish you were anywhere, but here!

No sooner have you thought that, you find yourself in front of Melcar, surprising the pair of you! From the looks of things, you're in a basement, or lab. You know you're underground, because you can see there is a stairway leading up and hear Chargrum's voice coming from above. He's screaming actually.

"Wha…where did you come from?" Melcar asks.
"I…I dunno! I was running from Chargrum and hiding and then I wished I was someplace else and then I found myself here!"
"Wait. Why was he chasing you?"
"He was trying to throw me to the Shadows!"

No sooner have you said that, when Stinky comes running down the stairs.

"The Shadows are in the house and they took away Chargrum through one of the windows!"
"What?! I just erected a barrier! They shouldn't be able to get in!"
"Well a few of them have, and Argh! Here they come!" Stinky says as some Shadows come down the stairs hissing and screeching. He quickly runs towards the both of you and behind Melcar.

"Get behind me too, kid."

A few chants and Melcar unleashes a couple of electrical blasts from his fingers zapping all of the attacking Shadows. They give one last screech before disappearing.

Melcar immediately rushes upstairs to see if there are anymore Shadows, you and Stinky follow closely behind him. After some checking, it would appear that the rest of the Shadows have been kept out and only a few managed to get in before the barrier appeared. You can still hear them still trying to get in though.

"Whew. Okay. That should hold for awhile." Melcar says collapsing in his chair.
"But what about Chargrum…the Shadows…they…"
"I can't do anything. They got him and that's it. But judging by what the kid told me he was trying to do it sounds like he got what he deserved anyway. Besides, I would've thought you of all people would've been glad to be rid of him, with the way he treated you."
"I…guess so, but what're we going to do now?" he asks.
"Dunno yet, but I'm hoping the kid can help out. If he can like I think he can; then we should be fine."

Now both of you are looking at Melcar wondering what he's talking about. He sees that he'll need to explain in more detail.

"Kid, as I said you were brought here by the Nightmare Tyrant due to your strong sense of imagination. However, judging from your recent transportation trick it would appear that your imagination is strong enough to cause things to happen with the mere power of your mind. Yet, it would also appear that your power is limited. You wished you were away from danger, yet only re-appeared in another place in the house. Though my magic barrier was up at that point, so perhaps that has something to do with it. I don't know…let's test something."

Melcar points to another chair.

"Concentrate, and think about that chair being solid gold."

You aren't sure about all of this, but you're interested in this "new power" you've acquired so you comply. Perhaps you could try to even wish yourself back home!

You close your eyes, concentrate and wish for the chair to be solid gold, but it's more difficult than you thought. Your mind is periodically bombarded with images of darkness and grinning Shadows. Eventually you fall to the floor. Melcar helps you up. The chair is still the same, except it has a single gold piece on the seat. Melcar checks to see if it's real, and then he pockets it.

"Well, just as I thought, it's unpredictable and weak right now."
"I…saw Shadows and darkness…" you say still holding your head.
"It looks like the Nightmare Tyrant really wants you; he's probably linked to you psychically or something. I wouldn't try to use your power to try to get back home. You're likely to appear right in his clutches, but if we harness your power a little better, we can at least get rid of this immediate threat of Shadows. Focus on immediate help right now rather than a long term…"

Suddenly Melcar is struck in the back of the head, by a Shadow! It must've still been hiding during the search! Melcar collapses and falls. Stinky runs off, leaving the Shadow to turn its attention towards you, hissing aggressively.

You use your power to fight back

You have to fight back, as escape is not an option. You don't even concentrate; you just wish you had something to defeat this creature!

Suddenly a glowing sword appears in your hand. You also feel somewhat different, as if you have been trained to use one before. The Shadow steps back a bit, but then attack anyway. You take one swing at it and strike a powerful blow causing it to completely disappear.

You hear more coming in from the second floor again. The barrier must be weak in that area. Seeing as Melcar's out of it, you're going to have to reinforce it yourself.

"Stinky! Stop hiding and try to bring Melcar back around so he can help! I'm going to get rid of these Shadows!" you order as you run upstairs.

More Shadows are eager to carry out the will of their master, but you're better prepared for them now physically as well as mentally. You strike down the first one coming down the hallway, and then the second one, and then the next, until you get back to the bedroom that you teleported from. You can see that the same window that the Shadows broke through before is where the barrier is also "broken". The blue glow of the magic barrier is non-existent there.

Before more Shadows can get in, you begin to wish for the barrier to be repaired. While you attempt this task, you begin to hear the taunts of the Shadows trying to fill you with doubt. You also hear a more sinister voice, one that carries fear directly to your mind.

"Little fool! Do you actually think this is going to stop me? Your attempts only delay the inevitable. Eventually you WILL be mine!"

This evil presence in your mind causes you to break your concentration. You're a little shaken by hearing the voice of the Nightmare Tyrant and you've failed to repair the barrier and now more Shadows are climbing in. Fortunately, Melcar has regained consciousness and has appeared to help.

Melcar zaps the Shadows and with a few mumbling chants the barrier is repaired. Before you thank him, you notice that he's soaking wet.

"Uh…"
"Yeah I know, I'm all wet. Stinky nearly drowned me in his attempt to wake me up. Pity he doesn't immerse himself in as much water! Still, I guess it worked." Melcar replies.

"I heard the Nightmare Tyrant's voice in my head."
"Not surprised. He's probably trying to prevent you from using your power. He's able to focus in on you better because you've been in the same location for a long time. I'd suggest moving, but given that we're surrounded by Shadows, that's not really an option anymore."
"Look, can't YOU just send me back home? I mean that's what you said you'd do if I had cleared your backyard."
"Uh, yeah…about that. I was just kind of being lazy. I just didn't want to be bothered to do it. In fact I had a list of other chores I was going to have you do if you finished that one."
"What!? You lied? You mean your wife was right about you being a charlatan?"
"AM I NOT! I AM a wizard! I erected this barrier didn't I? Though maybe my wife is right about one thing, I am lazy. (Sigh) I guess I'm paying for my sloth now. If I'd just cleared out the backyard myself, instead of having you do it, the Shadows wouldn't have arrived. Bah, no time to worry about the past now, we need to solve this problem. Okay, I'll try to get you back home, without you around, the Shadows won't be around either. I know I have some sort of portal spell in one of my books somewhere. I've never had any reason to use it before though and those types of spells are very taxing. I would definitely have to take down the barrier first and of course you know what that means and I still don't know if the spell will be successful, like I said I've never cast one before."
'Is there anything we can do to slow down the Shadows?" you ask.

"Well, we can barricade the house properly before I take the magic barrier down which will take us some time, but it's safer. We'll have to hope the Shadows don't break in quickly though. The second way is if we actually try to destroy all the Shadows currently out there, before I start the portal spell. In this case we'll have to hope that the Nightmare Tyrant can't summon reinforcements quick enough."

You barricade the house

You might have new abilities, but they're still limited. Fighting a bunch of Shadows is just going to tire you and Melcar out and Melcar needs all of his energy to cast the portal spell.

"Let's barricade the house." You say.
"Alright, but I have to look for that spell first, so you'll be doing most of the barricading. Hopefully it doesn't take me too long."
"Oh, well maybe I can get Stinky to help me."
"Good idea, I would imagine he'll be able to at least be useful in that aspect. Make sure you stay focused and block out any of those Shadow tricks or anything the Nightmare Tyrant might try to do to your mind."

You take Melcar's advice and go talk to Stinky. He's still in a state of panic, and gibbering about the Shadows trying to get in.

"Hey, help me barricade the house."
"But what good will that do? Trapping ourselves in won't help! They'll get in eventually!"
"Look, we've got a plan so that the Shadows won't bother you ever again, but I need you to pull it off and that involves you helping me barricade the house! You're braver than you think Stinky, look at me, I didn't think I could fight the Shadows either and I did."
"Yeah, but I don't have any powers like you do and Chargrum always said that I was too…"
"Chargrum isn't around anymore to abuse you, so his opinion doesn't matter, in fact it never did. You're better off not thinking about anything he might've said about you. You can do this. Now's the time to prove yourself."

Your inspiring words make Stinky feel more confident in himself, probably for the first time in his life. He immediately thanks you, and begins to help you barricade the house. You spend a whole day doing this mainly because Melcar has a really hard time finding anything in his disorganized lab. You mainly focus on the task at hand as does Stinky, but your thoughts briefly wander about your home. If…no WHEN you get back home, you don't know how you're going to explain your disappearance to your Mom. You can't dwell on such things too much though, you need to keep yourself alert.

Eventually Melcar comes back up from his lab.

"Found it. Now I'm going to go back down into the basement and begin the spell because it'll be the safest place I'll be able to cast it. I hope your barricades are strong enough to hold because I won't be able to fight Shadows AND cast this spell. If the Shadows do manage to break in, well its going to be up to you to fight them off."
"And me…" Stinky pipes up.
"…well, this is a surprise. Okay, the both of you then, here Stinky you'll need something magical to fight them." Melcar hands Stinky a wand of some sort. "Make the shots count, because I forget how many charges it has left in it. Okay I would suggest you two guard the basement doorway and when I tell you the portal is open that will be your cue to make haste into it, because again, I don't know how long I can keep it open. You guys ready?"

You and Stinky nod.

"Okay, I'm going to dispel the barrier."

Melcar makes a few chanting noises and the barrier goes down where upon you hear the Shadows howling in excitement and start trying to bash their way in. You all retreat back to the basement, where you and Stinky prepare yourselves for an attack and Melcar begins to cast the Portal Spell.

All seems to be going smoothly, but then you hear the inevitable break in, and the first Shadows attempt to recapture you. Fortunately you're in a good position to fight them. They can't overwhelm or sneak up on you. After striking a few down, a smaller Shadow appears and sounds painfully familiar…

"YOU did this to me! Now I'll do what I wanted to do in the first place! Throw you to the Nightmare Tyrant!" Chargrum hisses in his new Shadow form.

You take a swing at Chargrum, but you miss and end up falling off balance causing you to fall down the steps! You're hurt, and very dizzy, but you can see Stinky trying to fight off Chargrum. He discharges a bolt from the wand, but once again Chargrum proves to be very nimble in his new form and knocks it out of his hand and him to the floor.

"Outta the way Stinky! When ya get turned into one of us, I'll make sure to really punish you, for you traitor!"

Chargrum races down the stairs towards you, just as you see Stinky getting swarmed by other Shadows at the top of the stairs. You roll out the way of Chargrum's clutches and pick your sword back up.

"Better put down those Shadows quickly! I'm not near done yet!" Melcar shouts from his own position after seeing you engaged in combat with Chargrum.

You strike down a couple more Shadows, but Chargrum continues to prove to be faster. He manages to knock you down again and jumps on top of you as your sword is separated from you.

"The Nightmare Tyrant wants to relay a message to you!" he hisses and you feel the sinister voice of Tyrant entering your mind again.

"You've lost! You cannot defeat me, I am everywhere. You WILL submit and become my servant!"

The Nightmare Tyrant is attempting to break your will and fill you with terror again, but it's not going to work this time, you can feel that victory is almost near and the Tyrant probably feels it too. He knows that if you get away back to your own world that he'll never be able to try to get you ever again. You won't be beaten after coming this far, all you need is a distraction to help you get your sword back and Chargrum off of you…

And with that thought in mind, Stinky comes from out of nowhere and zaps Chargrum point blank in the back with his wand. He screeches horribly as he disappears before your eyes.

"Should've watched your back around a traitor like me, Chargrum." Stinky smirks as you scramble to retrieve your sword.

You strike down a few more Shadows, and try to hold them back at the bottom of the stairway. Stinky's wand has run out of charges, but the better news is that Melcar has completed the portal spell! A large blue portal opens up. Now you can hear the Nightmare Tyrant very clearly.

"NO! GET THE BOY! NOW!" he roars.

"It's open! Get in quick! I don't know how long it will hold!" Melcar shouts.

"Go! We'll be alright! We can hold them off!" Stinky adds.
"I can't leave you without a weapon!" you shout and hand Stinky the sword, at which point he hands you the used up wand.
"It's not much, but think of it as a souvenir! Thanks for your help!" he shouts as fights off more Shadows coming down the stairs.

You run towards the portal and give Melcar a look before jumping in.

"Stinky's right, we'll be fine, though I'm sure my wife will yell at me for destroying half the house! Get in!"

You're sort of worried about Stinky and Melcar, but you realize you have to go now. The Nightmare Tyrant bellows again to his minions about not letting you escape as you run for the portal and entering it.

You are enveloped by blackness followed by swirling colored lights. It's all so strange and overwhelming to you that you pass out.

"Hey! I told you breakfast is ready, are you going to sleep all day?" you hear your Mom call from downstairs as you awaken in surprise.

You quickly look around your room and nothing looks out of place. Your Mom hasn't seemed to notice that you were gone; in fact it doesn't look like you even left.

Was it all a dream?

You shake your head trying to decide if it was, then you notice a small rod on the floor next to the toys you set up yesterday. It's the used up wand and oddly it's right next to a couple of figures, one holding a sword and another with his hands positioned to cast a spell. They strangely have a tired, but yet relieved look on their faces.

It wasn't a dream. It was real. Created by the power of your own imagination. You decide you'll keep this information to yourself though, since nobody would ever believe it!

You had an interesting adventure, but you're glad to be home you think as you go downstairs to eat.